Treasure Hunt!!

And so begins my journey...to find those perfect pieces to add a little sparkle to my home. Over the last few months, I have been keeping these baby blues peeled for just the right accessories to give my dining room a new look. The room is very plain-nothing exciting. I want to look in that room and say "Wow-I did good" instead of "wow...what have you done?"
My daughter always liked pretty things since she was very young. So, when she turned 17, I couldn't see a better time than to do a surprise make over on her bedroom. I arranged for her to spend the weekend with a friend and got down to the nitty gritty. I was only half way through the process of prettifying her room that it was revealed to me...Superman cannot keep a secret. Apparently he had ratted me out to the little lady a few weeks prior. I was crushed. I so badly wanted this to be a surprise. The only thing I could do was to finish what I had started. I had lost the little edge of excitement, but I still wanted to make it look girly. There were a couple of pieces of furniture that I had picked up with every intention of using for her room's big makeover.

Here are a couple of little side tables that I have given new life to.

       Before: JUNK            After: '57 Chevy

    Before: JUNK                         After: Not to Shabby!

She loved her new room.

She learned that mommy can do pretty! I learned never to trust Superman with a secret.

So, now I know that furniture is something that I am actually able to do...time to move to bigger items! I can feel the wheels turning. A little rusty and I had to spray some WD-40 on them, but they ARE turning!

 While playing "river rat" over the summer, we visited a stinky little bait shop. This is your typical little-old-man-running-the-show-while-his-little-old-wife-complains-to-anyone-that-is-within-earshot type of bait shop. While sharing an ice cold summertime beverage with that very opinionated little old wife, I happened to spot from across her yard, one of those wire baskets that you would typically see in an old deep freezer. It was partially buried on a table outside the shop doing nothing but collecting spider webs and dried leaves. My spidey senses started to tingle!! I have been looking for one of those baskets for quite some time. I had to control myself from acting like a 5 year old that just got the best Christmas present ever-i controlled my jumping up and down and squealing. I calmly and nonchalantly asked how much she wanted for the wire basket. Imagine my surprise when her response was "what the hell you want that trash for?". Still maintaining my composure, my response was simply that of a scolded child shoulder shrug. "Take the damn thing" was music to my ears!! (I told you she was a little old lady-I didn't say she was pleasant). So with my treasure in hand-I gently tossed it in the back of the truck and the rest of the weekend-I beamed. Another summer treasure that was able to get my man-hands on...a dining set. Complete with the leaves for the table, 6 chairs, a buffet/hutch combo. Can we say "GIDDY"?!?! This was given to me by Superman's oh-so-wonderful sister. I gave her fair warning prior to hauling this home-that I would be giving the pieces a "face-lift" and she was perfectly fine with it. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I have my work cut out for me on this one. It's not something quick that I will be able to do on one of my days off-but I will be sure to take before and after shots. I'm not quite sure how everything is going to work together, but I will figure something out. Now-I think I need to hit the search button for how to correctly paint and distress furniture.
Have a great day to all!!

My little for the day...another mans trash.

Where in the world did this year go?!

i suck. There....I said it. I have been so wrapped up in all sorts of things this year and I have completely forgotten about this blog that I was so excited to begin. I created 2 posts...then nothing....wth. I know I said that I wanted to take more time out for myself, but to neglect this fun stuff....not acceptable.

I can't believe that this year is more than half over and you know what that means? School begins for my little man {ok-he's 15 and 6'3"-not so little}, fall/winter school activities and sports, planning for the holidays, switching from "holy crap it's hotter than the surface of the sun in central arizona" weather to "i wish it was like this all year long" weather. Even though there is still more than a month or two remaining in the triple digits on the thermometer-my brain cells scream AUTUMN as soon as school begins.

We have had such a wonderful year. I threw a total surprise birthday party for Superman and invited his family and closest friends. I was able to get it all pulled together after all and it was perfect!

I have to say that the highlight so far was Mother's Day. Superman and the Little Man surprised me with a weekend getaway to San Diego's beaches and we've been hooked ever since. It was the first time for all of us to visit the strand of beaches and we all fell in love. I can't believe that I have lived 5 1/2 hours from the beach for 7 years and have NEVER gone. We've gone back to those same beaches 3 times this summer and I have realized....THAT is where I was born to be. On a beach, breathing in that salty Pacific air, in a little cottage, "70~something~degrees~year~round~kind~of~weather"....livin the dream. Oh the life that would be. **sigh**

My big sister and b.i.l. were able to come for a visit and we spent Memorial Weekend at the beach as well.
She. Is. Hooked.
She wants to move so bad-I think it hurts her. I would of course love to have her live close-she has such a big heart and makes me laugh. We go together like salt and margaritas. She is just another one of those things that makes my heart smile without even trying.
Filling up the summer with fun, we played "river rat" on the Colorado River a few times and made one last trip to the beach when my niece "Red M" came to visit.
She. Is. Hooked. Too.
I have had so much fun with my guys this summer and I thank them for showing me there is always time to have a good time.
Whether it be in the ocean air or on the rim of your rita glass...salt...that is my little for the day.

Smiles to all and God Bless!!



Good Bye 2011!!!

     Christmas has come and gone, back to work for a few days and then a New Year to begin. There are still a few days left of this oh so wonderful year of 2011. It's been one hell of a year if I do say so myself. Valentine's Night and Superman brought me to the ER to find out that I needed to have my Gal Bladder removed and was in the hospital for 4 days. Met up with family at the Grand Canyon-borderline blizzard conditions. First MAJOR teenage girl drama (which I am SO over) during the summer break. Beginning of Autumn we had a family scare/emergency and I had to fly out to Kansas for 2 weeks-could just strangle my baby sister for scaring us-but glad she is back to herself. I broke my ankle on 9-10-11 (happy that I just had a boot and not a cast). And with the recent holiday-my daughter has decided to move back to Kansas with her father. So, without any reservations, I can honestly say....2011 sucked. Plain and simple.

     Every year that comes in, brings the painstaking task of coming up with a resolution that I can actually stick to. In the years that have passed, I have never actually made the main resolution to lose weight. Well, I think it's about time. I want to set a goal to better myself physically. With that, I am certain that emotional and mental health will do nothing but improve.

     I'm not going to tell you that I have tried every fad diet out there...I haven't. I not going to tell you that I've tried all the exercise videos...I haven't. I have-however-done one thing....become lazy. Plain and simple. I'm not going to blame my health and weight on anything other than me. I know I have time to squeeze in SOME type of exercise....somewhere. Like a majority of women today-I have a family to raise and take care of while working a full time (out of the home) job. {Don't get me wrong, I give credit to those stay at home moms that work-it's tough to balance it all. I would have loved the opportunity to do that while my babies were little.} My day starts at 3:30 a.m. with the ritual wake-up shower. Getting to the office at 5:00 working for 12 hours-I then head home to feed Superman and the boy-clean up-laundry-miscellaneous chores around the house and I'm spent-head to bed at 9:00 p.m. and pray that Mr. Sandman will not only sprinkle-but whack me upside the head with his bag of sand and knock me out for a solid 6. So maybe I should revisit my resolution and say this, "I will make time for myself on a more regular basis to take better care of me". I think that might be a more obtainable goal than to "lose the weight".

     Feeling better and getting over this nasty head cold that has attempted to kick me around and keep me down for over a week is my main objective right now. Superman's birthday is coming up at the end of the week and I had so much planned as a surprise. Well, last night, he informed me that he would LOVE to go to the lake this weekend....crap.

btw...my little for the day....a nice box of soft Puffs tissues!!

    

Testing the waters........

So I think I have personally discovered where gray hair comes from. Life. Plain and simple. It's the everyday wear and tear on a person that keeps the world of Cosmetology in such high demand! Don't get me wrong....I love doing what I am doing. It gives me such joy to know that I can make my children and my Superman happy with a meal that took 5 hours of prep or something as simple as a cupcake. But sometimes, I get to the point where my plate is piled up so high, it reminds me of that feeling during the Holiday feasts-you just don't know where to start. With my children getting older-and not needing mommy to do so much for them (they're generally happy with me just feeding them), I have found a lot of time on my hands to do other things. Things that I WANT to do. I have interests, found hobbies and things that I truly enjoy doing. Holy cow, this means that dusting has purposely been ignored by me for a month (only to see if anyone else would actually notice) in order for me to find time to do something I want to do. I actually mentioned it to the son and Superman last night-"didn't even notice" was their reply. Seriously? Staring at the huge TV and Gaming system every day-you never noticed? And then I felt it.....another strand of my hair-gray....total sad face.


At the start of December, I and my co-workers drew names for the yearly Secret Santa 12 days of Winter Gift Exchange. I was so excited to get started on all the ideas that I had spinning in my brain. I wanted to make each idea come to life. I wanted to see the joy on my recipients face when she saw each day what I had made for her. It was such joy for me, to hear the compliments-no one knowing who had placed the special little gifts out. Some made me feel kinda bad about going "over the top". I don't think those people know that I spent so little money on the gifts. This was one of my favorites. I spent 33 cents per tile at the local hardware store. I set my mind on having all of them drawn and painted in one Sunday afternoon. To my surprise, they turned out so much better than I envisioned! And the look on her face when she showed them off was....priceless. She is a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan and I tried to find something special for that last "reveal" day in stores. Nothing could even come close to this set of coasters. Who knew that something so small, could make a smile so big?



I decided to dip my toes in the "blogging-waters" to see if it is something that I would want to do. Maybe share my thoughts on life, children, relationships. Everyone has a story, everyone has their own battles they are fighting. And everyone has their own little things that make them smile. What's your little?