Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Hello-o-o-o??? Is anyone still checking on this poor neglected blog? Probably not. To be honest, I never posted much on this blog because I didn't like it! Not the title, not the design...nothing! So, I've started a new one and here is the link...Simple Pleasures. So, if anyone is still there, please come and visit!

And She Shall Have Music Wherever She Goes

What a nasty little bug I was sick with. And now I have pink eye!

Look what my mother & father-in-law gave me for Christmas! Well, they actually gave me a gift card and this is what I got. My first MP3 player. I LOVE it! This is not actually mine...I borrowed this picture from the internet...because a) I'm too lazy to go downstairs and get the camera, and b) it's too dark to take a good picture anyway, and c) I wanted to hurry up and get a post on my poor neglected blog!

This is just so cool...all my favorite music wherever I go. 2Gs of music. Matchbox Twenty, Gwen Stefani, Michael Buble, Kid Rock, Coldplay...to name a few. I know I'm behind and almost everybody has had an MP3 player for forever but...


So, tomorrow we are planning to go down to the river (the Mississippi) to take some eagle pictures. If the sun doesn't put my poor pink eye out! And I have to wear my funky glasses instead of my contacts. Oh well...at least I feel better...and I have posted to my blog again!

Sick Day

I am not feeling well...it's some sort of sinus/really sore throat/terrible cough thing. Yesterday I stayed in bed all day...a very rare thing. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

Before & After

We've done quite a bit of work on our old house...and there's still plenty more to do! We have a lot more before pictures that were taken before we got a digital camera. I'm ashamed to say that they haven't been developed yet. I really need to do that...I'm sure there will be surprises there! The pictures with the black edges were taken by the real estate company.

Before
It doesn't show up well here...but our house was pink!

After
Look how big the tree has gotten in five years! New pale yellow siding, windows, navy shutters, porch railings and a redo of the flower bed.

Before
This is the living room.

After
We pulled up all the carpet and found pretty wood floors underneath. That was really scary. We checked a couple of spots before we tore it all up but you never know how the entire thing will look. There was some paint but it came up easily. Good thing...because, at the time, we didn't have the money to refinish the floor or replace the carpet!

Before
The kitchen. It doesn't look bad in the picture. In person it was another story! It would take too long to list everything that was wrong here.

After
Knotty pine paneling gone! New cabinets, floor, dishwasher, sink (the sink was actually moved and centered under the windows). There are real wood floors underneath this laminate. The old linoleum was glued down with something that would have taken 100 years to remove. Sadly, we just had to cover it up.

I really need to do something about those cords. And finish the door lock repair!

We did some of the work ourselves...not all of it came out right! The door against the wall is to cover up a bad plastering job. There was a little window there. The outside lifted up...the inside opened like a door...and there were glass shelves in the middle...sort of like a little curio cabinet. It was an odd size and it was too expensive to replace...so, out it came.

So, there's part of our house. We've also redone the wiring, redone some of the plumbing, replaced the furnace and chimney liner, and had all three porches repaired along with replacing the railings. We had started to redo the bathroom but then the furnace decided to break down. The bead board, pedestal sink and commode turned into a shiny green furnace. Oh well, something to look forward to!

This And That

Things were pretty quiet around here today. I'm slightly upset that the UPS man didn't stop here this afternoon. He was supposed to be bringing the Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders that I ordered. Does he not know that I was planning on playing with them tomorrow? LOL!

Louis in his favorite place...the toy basket. Our kitties have over 90 toys!!! That's the count on the ones in the basket...there are others hiding all over the house.

How cute is this? Cutie Patootie Rufus resting on my husband's jacket.

Awwwww!

I'm sure most of y'all have heard the stories about our "illustrious" Illinois governor. Here's a sign on the gyro place a few blocks away from my house. My husband had to take a picture. Hey, no hurt in asking! Check out all the snow we had. It's almost all gone now but I'm sure there will be more.

Surprise!

Starting a blog during one of the busiest times of the year was apparently not the right thing to do! One of my resolutions this year is to keep my blog updated. Another resolution is to devote more time to being artistic. For some reason that keeps getting pushed aside and it really shouldn't. I want to spend more time working on some of the bazillion projects on my list...sewing, paper art & cards (I bought myself a Cuttlebug!), and knitting to name a few. So, until tomorrow...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Just A Little Late

Yes, I know I was supposed to have posted these pictures over a week ago! Here are some pictures of my studio and the cutting table that a couple of people wanted to see.
WARNING...my studio (in it's present state) will never be featured in a magazine shoot of pretty studios! Although we've done a lot of work on our house (and there's plenty more to do!), this room has not been high on the list. When we moved in there was dark green wooly carpet on the floor and the walls were painted a blue that was almost black. It was a dark cave. The carpet was very clean and in good shape but it was old. So old that the padding had disintegrated. After we pulled the carpet up all we had to do was vacuum up the padding with a shop vac!! Unfortunately, there was no pretty wood flooring underneath the carpet like there is in the rest of the house. There's just this speckled tile. And yes, the dark spots on the floor are where the tile is coming up! We painted everything white to brighten it up. It's shabby and it's filled with stuff that's not good enough for downstairs but I love this room! It's very cozy and comforting. Plus, you can make a big ol' mess (and it's definitely a mess in these pictures) and not have to worry about it!

This is my cutting table. A dresser with a 2' x 5' piece of birch screwed down on the top.

The top is marked with a 1-inch grid. The drawers hold fabric. The white specks are chenille...that stuff was everywhere in my house!

I really like these rolling drawer units...they hold a lot of stuff. Next to them is my husband's grandmother's sewing machine.

This is Edith. She is named for Edith Head. I know I'm not a fashion designer but I thought I'd pick up a little mojo by naming her Edith. (OK, so I'm goofy!)

This is what you see if you stand at the top of the stairs. Scary, huh? Check out the pretty wrought iron railing...LOL! Not only that, there were outdoor porch lights on the ceiling!! Wouldn't you love to have this, too?

Now we're looking toward the top of the stairs. You can see my herb garden that I brought in from outside for the winter. This is the only place to put it. The lace 'curtain' to the left is hiding some stuff that I don't want to be seen as you come up the stairs. To the right of the bakers rack is a church pew that won't fit anywhere else in the house and will probably live here forever because it weighs a ton. I know...you can't see the pew...just thought I'd mention it.

Pillow shams finished!

The chenille/flannel throw and the pillow shams. I was going to try and make this shot pretty...a book, a cup of something warm...I wanted it to look inviting. Louis thought he'd look better than all that stuff. If you look really hard, you can see Rufus to the right behind a pillow.

Louis checking for softness.

Well, the kitties like it! Here's Elvis, Louis (now watching television) and Rufus settling in for a nap!