What a weekend!!!

Holy cow...we had a crazy weekend.  Even crazier than normal!!


Thursday I innocently :) decided to tear my office apart and reorganize!!


I found an amazing deal on these organizers (1/2 price at Michaels) and was so excited to put them together and organize everything!


For a while now, maybe a few years, I've been mulling over flooring ideas for this room.  I don't like the carpet.  I wanted something that was wipe able since this is the room we do art projects and crafts. So before putting in my new organizers, I decided to do vinyl wood tiles. (I'll do a post about the flooring I chose soon)  I took out all the furniture and ripped up the carpet.


And then my husband called me from the airport.  He travels for business and flies home every weekend.  But this trip home, something went wrong and he passed out and got super sick. It was so scary!  My husband is big and tough and never gets sick.  Plus he's flown hundreds of times and hasn't ever been gotten motion sick or anything. So I picked him up and took him to the ER.  The doctors ran a bunch of tests and diagnosed him with vertigo exacerbated by a sinus infection he's had since January.  Poor guy.  He's supposed to be off work for 5 days.  We'll see if my work-a-holic husband can handle that.


Everything was torn apart and my kids could barely get into their bedrooms because of all the stuff piled everywhere, so I had to finish the floor.  I was pretty strict about my husband not helping and made him rest through most of it.  Ok- why did I wait so long to do this to the floor.  It turned out awesome!!!! And the best part of all?  It only cost $200 and I did it all myself in 1 day!!!  


Saturday my son was trying to brush his teeth and couldn't grip his toothpaste.  When questioned, he mentioned that he'd been pushed off the slide at school on Friday and his wrist hurt.  What????  I felt like mother-of -the-year!  In my defense, he didn't say anything at all about arm pain and was playing video games on Friday night just fine.  After a motherly evaluation, we made another trip to the ER to get a wrist xray.  Turns out he has a bad sprain.  So he's been layed up keeping his wrist immobilized and on ice.  He's starting TCAP (Tennessee's standardized testing) this week and is right handed so hopefully he'll be able to manage it.

So that was our crazy weekend- a new floor and 2 trips to the ER.  How was your weekend? 


Home Tour: Dining Room

I was looking for something on my blog and ran into last year's home tour.  I was surprised at how much my house has changed since then, so I'm going to do a room by room home tour- starting with our dining room.


This is the view looking in from the living room.


This is the view looking in from the kitchen.



Here is the shelf we use as a mantle I posted about here.


This is our sideboard.  I store plates and dishtowels inside.


My collection of cake plates.


This little nook was so awkward, I wonder what the builders were thinking when they made it.  But I guess it worked out perfectly for some built in shelves for photos.


Notice our memory jar tucked in with the photos.


Some details: our blessings frame , a little cupboard from Homegoods and the most important message in the entire room


another view of our shelf, the centerpiece on the table, book page candlestick and covered lamp shade


an S from a friend, chalkboard doors with frames for my kids artwork, scale and wheat grass and a clock and bird 


I found this picture of what our light fixture used to look like when we first bought our house almost 8 years ago- a basic, boring brass thing.  (I especially like the burned out bulbs)  This was one of the first projects I tackled.  I painted it using a 2 step kit that rusted the metal.  I still love it and have no plans to change it.  


I can't believe the changes our dining room has over gone over the years.  Holy cow did I love the color red!!  It's so much brighter and fresher now!

linking up to:  Thrifty Decor Chick

Things I love right now

Spring in our area has decided to come back for a bit.  It was really hot in March and I worried we were just going to skip straight to summer.  But cooler temperatures have come back -in fact it's only 58* right now.  (shhhh- I'm a little chilly with socks, long pants and a hoody on.) But I love it!!

I've been working on freshening up our home and lives for Spring and these are the things I'm loving right now.  


It's no secret that I love a nice smelling house and right now I love this room spray from Glade- Sherbet Sunrise.  It's like spraying sunshine and flowers all around our house. We also have the little candles and scented oils.


Wheat grass is so fun and easy to grow.  It adds such a nice fresh touch to our home.


The climbing rose bush right outside our front door just screams Spring!  It has it's first blossom and smells sooooo good!


We just got this new throw pillow from Ross.  A total steal at $15.


My neighbors are moving soon and didn't want to take this basketball hoop with them, so they gave it to us. We have already spent a ton of time outside shooting hoops.  It's a little bit smaller than average so my 4 year old can make baskets.  I really like that.


I'm always on the look out for new make up and recently started using this mascara by Covergirl.  It really thickens up and elongates my lashes without gunking them up.


Oh my word I love this new cd!!!  Rascal Flatts is my favorite and their new music is killer!  In fact, I saw them play Changed  live last night at the "All for the Hall" concert to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame.  It's so fun living in Nashville and getting to have these once in a lifetime opportunities.  (ps Keith Urban, Lady A, Thompson Square, The Band Perry, Vince Gill and the Oak Ridge Boys were pretty awesome too.)


Our trees have full leaves now, but a few weeks ago, this is what greeted me when I looked out the window.  I think I'm going to blow this photo up and hang it in my home.

What are you doing to freshen up for Spring?

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend!!

We had our annual family egg hunt.


One of our favorite tricks is we fill 3 different color of eggs, one for each of our kids.  My daughter gets pink and my sons get either blue or green.


They each get exactly the same number of eggs filled with the exact same things.  It's just easier for us that way and eliminates the fighting.


They help one another out looking for each of their eggs.


I hope each of you had a wonderful Easter!!

Rag Wreath

How about a fun little pennant rag wreath for Spring?


I forgot to take photos of the process, but it's very simple.

Supplies:
*vine wreath from the dollar store
 *fabric in bright and fun colors
*a little bit of ribbon


Process:
*Turn on your DVR to some tv shows you need to catch up on.  (I got caught up with The Voice and Dancing with the Stars.)
*Cut your fabric into many small strips.  Mine were about 1 inch by 6-7 inches.  
*Tie each strip onto a vine of the wreath.  It takes a bit of time, but it's easy and mindless.
* vacuum yourself and the floor around you.  The fabric sheds!!


for the pennant:
*cut a diamond shape so when it's folded in half it makes a triangle
*sew around the edges, then put them in the laundry (wash and dry) to fringe them up a bit
*iron them
*sew them onto a piece of ribbon
*tie it onto the wreath


Easy, cute and inexpensive!!  




March photo a day

I am still playing a long with the photo a day thing from fat mum slim



 I like the prompts she uses and it challenges me every day to come up with a photo that represents our family's day to day activities that might otherwise not be recorded.  Here are my photos for March:


1. up- on the wall at my son's pre school
2.  fruit- strawberries and chocolate for an after school snack
3.  your neighborhood
4. bedside


5.  a smile- my boys laughing at Target
6. 5pm- dinner time
7.  something you wore- the last wearing of my son's old shoes 
8. window- a daffodil my son picked for me sitting in the kitchen window


9.  pizza on red plates
10. loud- my son turns the sound up on my iPad as loud as it will go
11.  someone you talked to today- my daughter after a bad day at school
12. fork- shredding BBQ chicken for dinner


13. a sign- at my kids' elementary school (ps look how hot it is!!)
14.  clouds- jumping on the tramp in swimsuits.  In March.
15. car- filling up our van with gas
16. sunglasses


17.  green- St Patrick's Day surprises
18. a corner of your home- my messy desk
19. funny- my crazy boy sporting his St Patty's Day bling
20. before and after- our new deck


21. delicious- freshly baked brownies
22. kitchen sink
23. moon- there was no moon this night so this is my big kids after an evening at Chuck E Cheese


24. an animal- the only animals at our house
25.  breakfast- he eats these for breakfast every single day
26.  a key- my key chain
27. your name- an initial in my craft room


28.  trash- boxes needing to be taken to the recycle bin
29.  feet- my foot on the gas pedal of our car
30. toy- kids meal toy from our lunch date (his choice of restaurant)
31. where you relax- my sweetie and I relaxing in bed with our iPads

Have you been playing along?  If not just start today.  Here is the list for April .

linking up to:  House of Smith's