We have vacated the premises...

That's right we are finally taking our family vacation {in August} I know. We'll be back on August 11th with all the glorified details of our travels.

Can you tell who is ready to go?

Good Times

Thought you might want to see how my kiddos pass the time when they are out hunting {estate sale} shopping with me.

Hey, it's better than trying to see just who can annoy each other more.

I just hope that the bystanders can understand!

Christmas in July

I am amazed all the things that can be created out of this one little can.

So while at my favorite store last week {Goodwill} I spotted these little lovelys. And flashed backed 30 years to my early childhood.

The shape was great and the frame was even better. I wiped them down and popped the picture out coating it with a few coats of chalkboard spray paint. First I had planned on creating some Halloween hangings but they are in such great shape I thought Christmas!! So the frames received a few coats of crimson spray paint and then I wiped a nice stain over the top for a bit of distressed look.

I think these will be perfect gifts for teachers and family friends. Packaged up nicely with some chalk and an eraser! It's never to early to start thinking about Christmas, Yikes!

Happy, Happy...Janome,Janome!

Looky at what my mom and dad got me for my birthday this past weekend!

I am in love!

Does this mean no more hot gluing my curtains now?

I just have to figure out where to start!

Amy Butler or Heather Baily?

Yippie! A Bedside table!!!

I finally found one! I have been on the hunt for a nice bedside table for my daughters room. And I scored one at Goodwill this week.

It 's got beautiful long legs , dove tail drawers and is heavy. The style matched the desk she already had from PBT perfectly.

Sadly someone decided to decoupage lovely flowers all over the top. For the love of Pete, WHY!

So first I had to strip those pretty little buds off. That's when I noticed the reason behind the WHY. Someone had puddy filled a good sized dent and tried to cover it up. So I was stuck. Do I really want to go to all the work and sand and fill and sand that top?

Um....NO!

So remember this?

I decided it was time to put it to use and sprayed it the same color as the handles on the table (Watermelon).

After a nice coat of primer and 2 1/2 cans of Ivory spray paint I was done! Using a small piece of sand paper to distress around the edges.

Please, please tell me that the "distress" look will always be around. We all know what children can "accidentally" do to furniture!

Here is what she had before ... {please no comments on the wall color...I know it glows but she loves it}

This table was fine but had become a little unstable and was lacking drawers. Please overlook the uncoordinated picture. It hangs there untouched with sentimental meaning.

And here is what it looks like now...

Yes, I did move that sentimental picture and replaced it with a little sparkle.

I am thrilled with how it turned out and Hannah has already filled up those drawers with her girly things.

And guess what?

I only paid $13.20 for it!

I also picked up this little frame for $0.90 cents.

All I did was spray the frame black. Then placed double sided table on the back of my picture and taped right over that little spring bouquet.

Happy Hunting! And visit all the other great finds over at

Naps on the Porch and Blue Cricket Design and CSI Projects

Ahh it's over...for this year!

Gabe "graduated" from his first series of swim lessons last week. And even though daddy had hoped he would be swimming on the last day, he was very close.

I observed two things while {sweating} setting watching his class.

First, the boy is not afraid to hold his breath under water for an un real amount of time. I really thought I was going to have to dive in on a few occasions. At one point a lifeguard went to check on him! So I wonder if he wished he was a fish sometimes!

Second, He was soooo excited , on the last few days of class, to jump off the diving board. Gabe ,being the first in line, ran off free and happy and did the biggest belly flop you have ever seen. And NO ONE was in the pool yet. It all happened so fast and I was for sure he had knocked the wind out of himself. But, up he came with a smile from ear-to-ear! Gabe,Does your tummy hurt?

No, why mommy?

Hmm...maybe I'm the only one who can see that it's beat RED!

He came running over to me and asked if I had seen him. Sure thing honey, but can we try jumping in feet first this time?

Something tells me that he will be jumping head first {fearless} in whatever life brings his way!

Dallas or Bust Baby!

We made our annual track down to Dallas for some back-to-school shopping for the kiddos. Nothing says FUN like 48 hours of marathon shopping with a 9 and 4 year old! And sadly this is not an audio tape book. We resort to DVD babysitting for our sanity.

{Yep! I also get a view of Ikea. Darn the luck!}

Being blessed with a great friend { manager of the Embassy Suites in Frisco, TX } allows us a great penthouse room overlooking the Dr.Pepper Baseball field and filled with goodies when we arrive. I love having friends in high places! Hee...Hee...

Hannah and Gabe think having their name in chocolate is just the best.

Thanks Bill we all had a fabulous time, just like we always do!

I have to confess a bit of the trip was for me. As I have a birthday fast approaching we stopped by a few of my personal favorites. One of them being Sprinkles Cupcakes! I got lucky with the flavor of the week being Key Lime.

Just down the street from Sprinkles is , in my personal opinion, the best mall ever! Northpark has both an upscale and lower scale end. Here we are going into the "upper" end side. This is what we where doing as we walked past valet parking. As I am thinking to myself yes, we are THAT family!

Wonder if Calvin will be contacting us anytime soon looking for his next underwear model!

I have a prediction to make and it really makes me feel OLD. Peace signs are the hot "new" thing for fall! Hannah is in love with them and here she is sporting one of her new hats, in pink none the less.

We made ourselves right at home kickin our shoes off {along with all the other kids} and running around the duck pond in the mall. Just happens to be right in front of Barney's and Kate Spade.

But the kids loved thinking they were doing something "forbidden" climbing the big flower pots.

This was the happiest I have ever seen Gabe at a Mall.

That is until we rounded the next corner and came upon the Grand Opening of the Lego Store and Dan the Master Lego Man!

As luck would have it the kids where able to help build a part of the giant Yoda that was to grace the new store.

I need Dan the Lego Man to come to my house every now and then. My kids were hanging onto ever word that he said.

Thanks to my honey for a great trip and carrying all those bags for me {smile}!!

Welcome to the land where everything was fabulously PINK and Girly!

If you are ever makin' your way through Oklahoma down I-35 you need to put exit 31B, in Ardmore, down for a potty break.

The family and I were headed to Dallas this past weekend and I had finally decided that I wanted to stop here{after many years of driving by}...and so we did!

I failed to take a picture from the road, but lets just say if the 100 pink bicycles lining the circle drive , doll heads along the fence posts and the 12 foot ice cream cone don't catch your eye nothin' will.

This place was packed with all kinds of goodies. Clothing, jewelry, party goods and books. I happened to pick up a great new cook book titled Down Home White Trash Cooking. This place was so much fun. I will have to say the boy's in our family were ready to go before we even opened the door. But lucky for me the cat, parrot and poodle {with hot pink toes} kept my 4 year old entertained.

One room had beautiful maps from all over ready for you to use however you pleased. The porch was lined with shelves full of iron cast goodies.

Goodwill Makeover

I had a total of about 5 minutes to scan my local Goodwill, expecting to find nothing. When out of the corner of my eye, on the bottom shelf ,(calling my name!) I saw this...

Oh Lordy!! I ran over a grabbed it up. It was then that I realized it was footed {giddy} and turning it over saw that it was a mere $2.70 {really giddy}. Colors of spray paint began running through my mind. Lime green, turquoise maybe hot pink for Hannah's room.

But after studying it a bit I really liked the patina that had taken effect and thought I would keep it that way for a bit. It's really hard to tell from the quality of my pictures all the detail that's in this tray.

For now it's callin' my front entry table home.

As I was running to check out I glanced over along the wall and saw this leaning against it.

I almost didn't even bother to go over and take a look. But boy am I glad I did. This is a HUGE frame and about 4 inches thick. It's wood but not solid. Making it light enough for me to carry and to hang on the wall.

You guessed it. Half a can of black spray paint later..here is what it looks like.

I already had this letter G hanging in our home. So I thought it might look a bit more dressed up with a nice frame around it.

I purchased both of these items for $6.70! Not to bad I would say!

Want to see more great finds then head over to Southren Hospitality  and Silly Little Sparrow and check out all the great post's!