Anthropologie "knock offs" & Chair Skirts

Recent Decorating Projects~

Fun Finds

Fabulous Finds

A Fresh Start & Tips

"unstuck"

~Merry Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas to all of my blogging friends and faithful followers.  Thanks for sticking with me all these years!

*One of our family's traditions is to make White Peppermint Hot chocolate on Christmas Eve.  Enjoy the recipe!

White Peppermint Hot Chocolate

4 Cups 1% low-fat milk

7 hard peppermint candies, crushed

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ tsp peppermint extract

4 hard peppermint candies

1 Tbsp light-colored corn syrup

6 Tbsp frozen fat-free whipped topping

1.    Cook milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until warm (do not boil!)

2.    Add crushed peppermint candies, stirring until candies dissolve.

3.    Add white chocolate, stirring with a whisk until chocolate melts. Cook until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan (do not boil), stirring constantly with a whisk.

4.    Remove from heat, stir in peppermint extract.

5.    Coarsely crush 2 peppermint candies; set aside.

6.    Finely crush remaining 2 peppermint candies.

7.    Coat rims of  3-6 mugs with corn syrup.

8.    Place finely crushed peppermint candies into a saucer; dip rim of each mug into candies to coat.

9.    Pour 2/3 cup of hot chocolate into each mug; top each serving with 1 Tbsp whipped topping. Sprinkle 2 coarsely crushed candies evenly over topping.

Decorating Ideas & The Jingle Bell Shop

A few of my favorite things...

Kitchen update~with a coat of green paint

Free

Oil Portrait Lessons

Home Decorating with Scrapbook Paper~

DIY boxwood preservation & Family Fun

*This is our serious shot!  I can't get the others to load! :( 

Hello there.  What have you been up to?  Aside from thrift shopping for 70's clothes (Grace and I had to do so for a fun little mother daughter church fashion show), I've been doing some serious spring cleaning and sprucing up the house for company.  The cleaning came both by choice, and by necessity. We had so much rain that a room in our basement flooded.  It was really a blessing in disguise, because I was able to get rid of a lot of things, and reorganize my workshop.  I completely rearranged the shelving and tables, and I love the new look.

Updated kitchen cabinet display~

Hello Everyone!  Did you have a nice Easter?  We went to two different sessions of church.  One was on Saturday night, and the other was Sunday morning.  At the Saturday evening session, my seventeen year old son spoke on love and service, and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.  He did such a wonderful job, and the other speakers and music were so uplifting as well.

The Easter Bunny came on Saturday morning and dropped off  a few treats, instead of Sunday.  We started this tradition when the kids were little so that we can truly focus on Jesus Christ on the Sabbath. Unfortunately, we don't live near our extended families, so it was just our little family for Easter.  My kids have been so tired of ham since Christmas, so I tried to break out of tradition by trying out a pinterest recipe for crock pot orange chicken instead.  Well, It failed!  We came home to burnt chicken.  Oh well, it was still a beautiful day, full of sunshine.

And, Grace enjoyed reading one of my favorite books as I practiced my photography...

To paint, or not to paint?

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm not so sure that I believe in global warming.  :) It seems like global freezing over here.  While I shoveled snow this morning, my neighbor said they reported 19 inches at the airport, and three more inches expected tonight.  (that is in addition to what we had the other day)  With President's Day on Monday and being off both Thursday and Friday, the kids have a five day weekend.  I decided to forgo the treadmill this morning, because I knew I would get plenty of exercise.  :)  I got to the point where I didn't know where to put the snow anymore!  I'm just grateful that my shovel has survived all these snow storms, and that the sun came out to melt what was left of the ice underneath.

Tell me the stories of Jesus Activity

Christmas Home Tour~Random

This is what Grace drew on her chalkboard, and here is her personal little Christmas tree.  :)

Love this picture!

Happy Holidays!

My boy "AzMatic" and Rapping with the Carpenters

Hey everyone.  We are still here plugging away at the floor.  It is absolutely beautiful, but with busy week day schedules, it seems that Saturdays are our only real days to work on it.  I can't wait to show you.  It is actually pretty fun.  We chose a click and lock floating wood floor, so it is like putting in puzzle pieces! There is great satisfaction for me in clicking in each plank.  :)  Without a stove/oven for a month, we have done pretty well with the crock pot and microwave for meals.  Did you know you can cook pasta in the crock pot?  I've had to get pretty creative!  I think I need to get some of those crock pot liners...

I know I slow my husband down a bit because I analyze where each plank should go.  My right brain says to really mix it up...put a light piece next to a dark piece....put completely different patterns together, and vary the length of the planks.  :)   That way it will look really authentic and as if it has been there for years.  We are half way done, and it has taken us longer than we thought it would.  I didn't realize that moving all of the furniture and putting down new wood floors would cause me to do some deep cleaning...which made me analyze my whole decorating scheme...which made me realize I want to make new curtains, get new chairs and rugs, paint the piano bench, slipcover furniture, and get rid of lots of stuff.  I guess it's a domino effect!

So, I will probably have lots of new projects to share in the coming months.

A few months ago, my son Ryan was looking through all my old records for good "beats" for rapping.  He has a way with words, and is a talented artist.  It was so fun when he was listening to old albums with me and telling me how good they were.  :)  He loves rap, but there is not a lot of  "clean" choices out there to listen to.  So, he got permission to use a beat he found online.  Then, he wrote his own lyrics, and produced his own "clean" rap.  He went to a local recording studio for the finishing touches.  The result?  I couldn't be prouder, and his peers and other successful online rappers are loving it.  He put together a great song with outstanding lyrics.  And, we laugh, because he is may be the only white LDS mc/rapper you may have ever heard of, or will ever hear of, and this might be the cleanest rap out there!  He is lighting up twitter and gaining a following.  My favorite is his last phrase of the rap...

If you got good seeds to plant, lets get it started.

but if you just got weeds to plant, get out my garden.

:)

You can Listen here...https://soundcloud.com/ryan-bingham-2/carpe-diem

So proud of my boy for having the courage to put his art out there!

"I'm coming mother!"

My grandpa on my mom's side passed away almost 13 years ago.  He was one of twelve kids.  I have lots of wonderful memories of him and his cowboy hat and boots.  Although he was a rough and tough cowboy, I saw that big heart of his get more emotional over the years, and I watched him wipe away many tears of joy over his family.  When he would see me he would give me a big hug and say, "How ya doin' Robbie." He lived a long full life, and even survived a dangerous mission assigned to him in world war II.   Last week, I found out that another one of his sisters slipped away from this world...her name was Ann, and she was 102 years old!  I think she is the third oldest child.  (I'm pretty sure she is in the front row with the bow on her collar).   Since her passing, I have been thinking more about my relatives, and the important link they are in our family chain.

Both of my grandfathers were wonderful men.  When my Dad's dad was in the army during the war, he played in the band.  I told a little bit about him in my "moon winks" post.  I still have two living grandmothers who are beautiful, strong, selfless women.

Grace's middle name is Adeline, which comes from her great great grandmother.  The picture below was taken when she was nearly 50 years old.  My dad has wonderful memories of his grandmother.  He said she worked hard every day, and everyone liked her.  She had many friends and would do secret little things to help or surprise other people. She had great faith, and always said her prayers.  Before she died, she could see her mother waiting for her in the spirit world.  She said, "I'm coming mother!"  

Dad says he knows it was a happy time for her.

I'm grateful to learn about my family history, and of those that came before me.  I hope I can teach my children of their heritage, which is why I have decided to include these pictures and snippets of their lives on my blog.  I look forward to meeting my ancestors after this life, and I am grateful for the knowledge that because of the beautiful sealing ordinance brought back to the earth through Jesus Christ, and  found today only in His sacred temples, I can be with my family forever after this life, and not "til death do we part".