Monday, April 28, 2008

Home Decor Project 3



I have been having so much fun playing with chipboard lately!

Happy Monday,
Houston

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

It's Official....



Spring is here! WooHoo! I just thought I would share some pictures of our lovely crab apple tree with you all!

Happy Friday,
Houston

Thursday, April 24, 2008

You Get What You Pay For


The old saying is so darn true in today's world of mass production. Things are made by machine and there is no care or concern for quality. Case in point, yesterday I was a Le Target on a mission to buy fans for our bedrooms, they had a large selection with a strange price margin... some were 19.99 and others were 49.99 and there was really no in between.  I went with the less expensive (read CHEAP models).

I came home from work, fed Coleman, had C take a "tub", and then was about to read him a story when he asked if we could put the fans together so he could use one tonight. I obliged, not willingly, really with a piss poor attitude, but I began the laborious process of DIY assembly. Well wouldn't you know it, one fan had parts that had been manufactured incorrectly and the other didn't I had to rob from Peter to build Paul! Alas, it was hopeless, neither fan had a working part to correctly control the range of oscillation.

I was livid with those ridiculous fans. They were cheap and poorly manufactured.  I ranted, raved and got back in my car...so here I am off to buy some fabulous fans made by Hunter and Dougy, because they know what makes a girl swoon, vintage brushed nickel!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Moving on Monday


Just a reminder that I am posting at the Scrapbook Destination Blog on Mondays! Check out my new wall art with the Maya Road Chipboard Trees!

Happy Monday,
Houston

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Top Ten on Thursday ala Christyn

So my wonderful friend Christyn publishes a Top 10 on Tuesdays and I didn't really get to blogging this week so I thought I would do something along those lines.

Lately we, my group of great girlfriends, have been blogging about more personal things and I like that. I find other people's lives fascinating. On that note I thought I would do a Top 10 Things I am Really Bad At List... we are all good at so many things, but there are just some things I cannot do.

10. I cannot make lasagna, sure I can whip up any other pasta dish without a hitch, but Lasagna is a no go in my kitchen.
9. I can't keep a garden alive... nope I love flowers but ask me to plant some and maintain them and it's all downhill.
8. I cannot seem to remember phone numbers any longer, my cell phone has ruined me, I can only remember the numbers that I learned before having a cell and most of those aren't even in use any longer.
7. I don't know how to start a fire. I can light a match and all but I have no idea how one is supposed to be built, I know there is something about a tee pee, but I am clueless as to how it all works.
6. I can't sew. Sure on paper, no problem, but to actually make something that requires anything besides straight lines it's a no go.
5. I don't remember birthdays, I write them down with the best of intentions and then they just get past me. It's not because I don't love these people, I just forget and then I feel so stupid when I remember and have to send something belated. I guess it's the thought that counts.
4. I cannot use an electric can opener, these little modern devices throw me for a loop, I have yet to make a can open with one.
3. I can't parallel park, I never learned how.  It's sad really.
2. I cannot make coffee.
1. I am incapable of clapping in time to music. I can tap my foot in time, but clapping in time, that's different.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Feathered Friends


Many of you know that if there is a scrapbook supply with a bird on it that I will be the first in line to own one (or fifty), but you may not know that I have birds all over my home. No, they aren't live birds, just statues, paintings, drawings, or photographs.

My love of birds began when I was very young. I lived with my grandparents for large periods of my life and my Gram loved birds. At their home in Maine they had lots of wonderful feeders around the property and on the windows. The clear window feeders were my favorite, the birds were just beyond the glass and you could really see God's intricate creation. Their home was only 78 feet from the Atlantic Ocean and my Gram would spend lots of time looking out the bay window of their den with a tiny pair of binoculars at the ducks and Loons swimming by. She would call to me in excitement "Huse, come see the Loons they have their babies with them." or "Huse come see the woodpeckers." Gram could identify so many birds and very rarely needed the help of her National Audubon Bird Guides, yet she kept them on the side table near the window just in case. I used to love to look through those books at the beautiful color photos.

Now that I am older I have feeders in my yard and watch for the birds from my kitchen window. I can identify some, but others are new to me, they are different from the birds in Maine and I enjoy spending time discovering what they are. One of my favorite Colorado birds in the Flicker, it has coloring similar to a Mourning Dove, light tan streaked with peachy pink and chocolate speckles, but it makes a noise like a Guinea Pig! Whenever I gaze at the feeders I am reminded of the warmth and love of my grandparents and I feel close to them even though they are gone.

Another reason I love birds for scrapping is that we call Coleman "Bird". It all started when he was an infant. Coley would squawk and not cry, he would flap his folded arm like a wing when he drank his bottle, and he would make little motions with his mouth like a baby bird. Coley has always loved sitting on the sofa as the sun rises and listening to the birds outside. He was our "Baby Bird", our "Little Bird" and now our "Bird"y boy.

Well, I have so much more I could write but I will stop here. Enjoy the peace of the snow today.

Houston

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Home Sweet Home


Hi All,

It's Sat-ur-day! I am so happy to hang out in my own home, sometimes I just forget how much I love my nest!

What I can see right now, my cute boy playing his Lmax, the tail of a Dachshund wagging from under a blanket, my second cup of coffee, my bird family, my kitchen (LOVE my kitchen), my AW painting that looks like my dearly missed Bellarosa, the cute pillow C made in kindergarten sitting on the rocker that was in his nursery, wonderful pictures of my family, the turtle bookends my Daddy gave me for graduation, the copy of The World Of Pooh my Grandpa read to me each night, my collection of green plates from Portugal, the super heavy buffet that was the first real furniture "piece" I bought  (so glad it fits in this house too:), and Phil (my philedendrom, the only plant I can keep alive).

What do you love about your nest? It's the little details that really make it yours.

Love to you all,
Houston