A spray touch for a teacher

Friday, August 29, 2008

I forgot to take the before picture, but this is my new stool for my classroom. I bought it at the goodwill. I painted it my favorite color...periwinkle. I like that it has a back on it. It was an okay shade of ivory with some faded places and rubbed off places. The worst part was the brass ring at the bottom. It is important in class to be able to demostrate and see their faces to check for understanding. Since I did not have a chair before, now I will be able to demonstrate more and not be limited by how long I can stand up in front of them. I can't wait to bring it in. Also, it seems to be a little higher than other stools therefore will be perfect for writing on the overhead.

Calling all Cooks!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I got a new crock pot for my birthday from my Bunny. I am looking for new crock pot recipes that real people actually use. This new one can be left on all day and will just turn to warm when it is done. We live to far away from work to use the kind that doesn't do this. I like recipes that are not to complicated and don't have ingredients that I have never heard of.

The good thing is...

Sunday, August 24, 2008

We are having an open house and it just started raining. I don't think anyone else will be coming. Oh well. The good thing about having an open house is that you are forced to do things you have been neglecting to do for a long time. Yesterday I scrubbed the concrete on the front and back porches and did a little window mistreatments of my own. And I do mean mistreatment. Several of the windows only have things pinned up to them. But the effect is still better than nothing. I will continue to look for curtain rods at Garage Sales and thrift stores. They cost SO much. So here is what I got accomplished with the windows. These are the curtains in our master bedroom. The red ones came from the Goodwill but they were a little too dark and the light would shine through them. Not in a good way, but in a cheep kind of way. I pinned the old ones up behind it, added some candles and some pillows to make it look comfortable and there you have window mistreatment number 1. The second mistreatment happened in a very girly room. I usually don't like stuff like this but there is a reason for it. This room holds a lot of special things. I made the throw pillows on the bed when I was in Girl Scouts. They are embroidered by hand. After that my mom made the bedspread for me. Also in here is some of my grandmothers China and her trinkets. So, whenever I had the space to put it in my home I had to incorporate these things somehow. Again, no rod so I pinned up the curtain and the swag. I put some hydrangea petals in the sheer parts and pinned them at the top to make it all tie together. I have lots of plain colored sheers that I have used over and over again. I think they are timeless and with a few touches can be adapted to go with several different rooms. And they are in abundance at secondhand places.

A crafty Conglomeration

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Here is another one of my favorite creations. Every piece of it was found separately. The wired holder came from a neighborhood garage sale. The pink plates that just happened to fit perfectly came from the salvation army, and the cute little shakers came from the good will. Sadly my cat. knocked down the matching pink bud vase at the top, so I am back to the plain white one. I am always rooting more plants to give away and start new pots. This was the perfect place for them. I will add some tour pictures soon. We are having an open house on Sunday, therefore the house will be clean! Have a great weekend everyone.

Purpose Found!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Found the purpose of the tubular thing's. Thanks Christina for finding it. I can say that I will likely never use it for that, no matter how pampered chef is who made it. I am not a baker! I will keep looking for a new purpose for it. Let me know if anyone has any ideas.

A Triumph and a Quandry

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I didn't realize how important it was to update often. I am remissed. Bloggers forgive me it has been 4 days since my last post. As I said before I really like turning found objects into something useful the thingy to the right was purchased about four years ago at the good old Habitat for Humanity Store. I still don't know what it is but it has found it's niche in my home. I still would love to know what it is if anyone has any insight. It screws apart into four different pieces. I now use it to hold my many dangling earrings(I took most of them off because it looked "cluttered"), and it does a pretty darn good job of it. See where it belongs in my somewhat befuddled closet. I really love jewelry!

Quandary

I have these other things that I bought recently that I can't figure out what to do with. I bought them originally to put Margarita jell-o in and make shots. Well, they wouldn't hold water. But I still think they are pretty cool and I am just waiting for their potential to become obvious to me. If you have any ideas please let me know. Also, if you know what their original purpose was I would love to hear it. I have since seen more at my friendly neighborhood goodwill but without knowing what to do with them I didn't want to buy them. The lids come off of both sides. There is a flower shaped one and a star shaped one. HELP!

Online Music Groves

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

If you haven't heard it yet. You should check out Pandora Music Project. It is free Internet radio without commercials. I first heard of it on abc.com where I always seem to go to look up artist names and song titles after an episode of Grey's Anatomy. They have a music channel that is all Grey's Anatomy Artists. You can also type in an artist name and listen to songs by them and others that have a similar sound. You have the option to give a song a thumbs up or a thumbs down. If you don't like it, it learns from that choice and moves on to others. You can share your channels with others. It is really very neat. My husband and I take turns choosing a channel to listen to. We each have created our own. It is a great way to hear new music before buying. It is good for when you are doing anything around your computer. Check it out! Pandora. Also I just added my stations to my right hand navigation. Enjoy!

The Tour Part 1

Monday, August 18, 2008

I am told that the coolest thing about looking at blogs is seeing how other people have made use of found or rescued objects. Most of the things in my house are from garage sales, clerance racks and hand-me downs. My husband and I went from a one bedroom apartment 1 year ago to a much larger home. I found myself in need of a lot to just fill the space. What you will see now is the aftermath of a mad scramble to fill my space to make it presentable to live in and for someone else to eventually buy. The picture to the left shows a cluster of small objects that work together to fill a very large space. I am often made fun of because I will buy lots of small things in lieu of some of the larger things that may make more of an impact. What you see here is the result of that innate quality. Here is another example of that same design flaw that I have. The "stick" is my attempt to fill a very large space and bring some of the outside in. I have a very formal home with lots of intricate trim. Most people who know me would say that it is not really "me". This stick and others make my home look a little nature sheik(sp?). My mother (who is my real estate agent) made me take down the rest of the sticks. A little inconvenient having her be both. Now she feels it even more part of her job description to tell me what I should or should not do in my house. More later!

The Church of the Weeds

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Due to an unavoidable and quite ridiculous turn of events, I was home today weeding instead of at church. We have one car right now until Joel gets his new tag, and he had the one car at class. The day wasn't a total wash. I took my mp3 player out to the yard with my Christian audio book and praise and worship play list out to do some much needed yard work. Here is the before picture. Half way into The Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster I was contemplating the deeper things in life. By the time I got to Refine Me by Jennifer Knapp I was in tears and having some very good "Church" among the weeds. I have come to the conclusion that "events" placed me right where I needed to be this morning and it wasn't in a pew. I will no doubt be in one next week and would never make a habit of missing church, but today I am glad that I did. God had me right where I needed to be and I am grateful. Just in case you are interested...here is the after shot. Needs a little more pine straw but I am very proud of the seen and unseen rewards of staying home today.

Come rescue this child for I long to be reconciled to you. Refine me..All I can do is lift my heart and soul to you.

It doesn't look like much yet but hopefully with some more pine straw it will look presentable for the open house this Sunday. Here is the front, it looks much better than that stupid island.

Testing 1, 2, 3

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Okay, I have successfully created a blog and added a picture. Victoria has one already. And since she is my hero in everything from mothering to homemaking, I had to get one too. Now I suppose I will have to read hers just to figure out what one blogs about.

Here is a link to she and her sister's blog

http://christinaandvictoria.blogspot.com/