Welcome Home Son

This cool guy....alias, my son....

AND this high-flying pic....Can you guess?

means this:

He has just completed his 3rd tour of duty overseas. He is just returning from Afghanistan. I am so proud of him and his fellow servicemen and women that are protecting our freedom on foreign soils. We need to all say a big thank you when we see any military personnel in our daily life. They put their life on the line for us everyday.

I personally can't wait to say thanks in person and give a big hug to this guy!

Pull out the Paint!

Don't you just love it when you can finally replace a piece of furniture that you are so OVER?! This piece was purchased for it's size only and not it's style....or LACK of style. It is a holdover from our previous home that had an enormous cutout in a stone wall. This fit perfect for all it's non descriptiveness (is that even a word?). This weekend project changed all that once and for all. WooHoo and YippeeYiYeah!

About 3 years ago...and I am not believing it has been that long!....I had purchased this unfinished piece with a master plan in mind. So, my daughter had the great idea to get this project on the road to completion. Notice that I am placing this on her shoulders just in case something goes off course. Primer first, because that is what the book of painting rules says to do, and off we go!Of course we are waiting the appropriate dry time with a stop watch in hand. Two coats of paint later and more drying time and we are yawning by now. Time out for a little shut-eye. Sorry no pics of that moment because that is way to scary. And VOILA!!....

This is the new piece of furniture in it's appropriate place. Yeah! This is only the first phase of the master plan and I hope to post the updated look soon. We are having ice and freezing weather here in Texas and I am NOT going outside. I can get supplies to finish this in a couple of days when things thaw out around here.

Thanks and kudos to fav daughter for getting this project done. She's awesome and a hard worker. I always get work done when she is around to help keep me focused on the job at hand. "THANKS SWEETIE"

Cookbooks and a New Toy

I was just visiting The Twins Momma and saw her terrific pantry. Go by for a visit to her great blog. I had to also purge a lot of cookbooks when I moved and looking at this pic, I need to purge some more. Dear Daughter may be gifted with a few when she comes for a visit this weekend. :) When our kitchen was rebuilt last year after a fire, I had the carpenter just leave off the doors under the counter. I love it for the easy access. DH would rather NOT see them, but doesn't dare complain loudly since it does help get dinner on the table. I had an organization epiphany here. Yes....trumpets are playing in the background! I had so many small books and pieces of paper with recipes just scattered about and then it hit me....DVD storage containers.I think I found these at Target, but any style is out there to fit your decor. They are the perfect size to hold all this misc. stuff and easy to lift out to sort through when needed. These are so perfect and I know I may be using this idea in several other places around the house eventually.
Last night was just one of those nights...mornings, actually, when I just couldn't get the old mind to shut up!! I had a new toy and just had to play with it right then. I had been lurking perusing Kari & Kijsa's blog about using Christmas cards for tags. Great idea and boy, do I have cards! I just grabbed the current ones and started punching. OK, now what!!?? I have a table full of tags and what will I do with them now? This could be a crisis in the making! I see a future of tags everywhere. The idea is to be getting rid of stuff and here it is...multiplying before my eyes. I hope you can sense the bit of panic going on here.
I quit this foolishness around 2:30 a.m. before it really got out of hand. Give me some ideas what to do with these now. Any ideas will be so welcome.
Back to organizing some more stuff.....Y'all come back, ya hear?

at my fingertips

Welcome to all Y'all who've come to visit a spell. I hope you are all on board with decluttering your life with Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick. I know I can sure use some motivation. It seems the more I try to get it all together, I look around and it has all escaped!

This drawer is my 'go to' drawer when I am in a sewing frenzy. I had used these little drawer dividers in my kitchen first. Well, that seemed like a good idea in theory, but it didn't work in the everyday life. They stayed stacked up in some dark corner for a long time. Then they were rescued and put to good use. This is really what they were meant for....the sewing drawer! I used some of that rubber texture shelf liner under these little dividers to keep everything from sliding.
They have worked really hard for me here also. I don't like to waste time searching for a particular color of thread and I sorted them by color groups. Yes, yes, I know some of you are saying that is a bit OCD, but trust me....it has saved me tons of time and frustration!

I also have several older spools of thread that just made the above drawer get all out of wack. This older jar is perfect for older spools. Before you think I've gone OCD AGAIN, there was a really good reason the spools are stacked. I had thrown them in there and had about 8 spools left out in the cold. Sooooo.....I dump them all out and start over....stacking them. I was wanting them to fit in one jar. As you can see, there are still a couple of lonely gals waiting to get inside. There may be another jar that needs to be filled when I gather some more of these little spools I spied in yet another drawer.
You get a glimpse of just a small bit of my laces. I had a lot of these old wooden spools lying around for years. One evening was spent wrapping about a dozen of these spools with my pieces of lacey goodness. Having all these items around are good to inspire creativity and I get to use some of my favorite things.

sewing first and painting second

Here we are with all our ruffles and ribbons in place. Phew, that was a lot of ruffling for about a dozen little skirts. Perhaps I will locate a little fashionista soon for a show and tell moment.

I have been clearing my mess....oops.....Organizing! my space and locating the table surface to work on again.

And here is a sneak PEEK to a project that is in progress. It is a surprise for a reader and I don't want to give it all up yet. I can say it does involve wire cutters, old papers, decoupage probably and of course...PAINT.

Valentine Round Up

Grab your hats gals and hang out with this cute little guy! I recently scanned a lot of old cards from the '40's and really fell in love with this one. There is such an innocence that is so appealing with all of these older cards.
I am finishing some cute bedrolls for kiddo's just like the real cowboys use. If we have some good daylight, I'll grab some photos of all the work from these past days.

Flyin High in Texas

Nope, I wasn't jumping off the roof of my house for a thrill.

But, imagine doing a parachute jump to start the New Year!

Well, let's just give a big YeeHaw to my brave girlfriend, Heloise,

who did that very thing!

Photo courtesy of Kin Man Hut-/Express News

Of course, a gal can't pass up a fashion-worthy moment of suiting up and jumping with the Army's Golden Knights. Who gets to do that at the 'drop' of a chute....sorry for the pun. That was bad... (smiling with a suspicious glint in the eye).

photo courtesy of David Evans

A mission accomplished in the list of exciting things to do and a great start for 2009! That looked like great fun, but I am also content just to wave from the ground and enjoy the photos. Now, inquiring minds want to know what your thoughts were as you exited the plane and on the drift towards the earth? Tell us more and maybe a few hints on keeping it together and not screaming like a banshee all the way to the ground. I am thinking of my own personal reaction of course.

photo courtesy of David Evans

Happy Soft AND Stand up Landings as we say in Hot Air Ballooning and it applies just as appropriately in parachuting adventures.

Check out http://www.heloise.com/ for more pics and grab a few hints while you're there!!

Getting Ruffled!

Progress finally! I just had to hang some of these little skirts in the works to see progress happening. My worktable was out of control with all the ruffles and that isn't the end of it either. These are all waiting their finishing touches to put the frill on just in time for Valentine's for some sweet little girl.

I'm already out of posting time because the sewing machine is calling me. So, let's get stitching.....

Whoa down there 2009!

It seems just yesterday was New Year's Day and already it's flying by! OK, that's an extreme exageration. I'll be saying that in a few months anyway. I already need more hours in each of these past days. My work /cutting table is out of control with all the sewing that is going on this week.

This is actually a large space to work on. I had padded it to also be an ironing surface for larger projects. But, alas, I am left with the smallest possible corner to cut out all these pieces and I'm ironing pieces on a small quilting press pad next to my sewing machine. Go figure! Isn't that how it always works out?

In a couple of days, I hope to have all of this IN CONTROL and organized as finished projects. I will share that pic in victory and celebration of Mission Accomplished.

A GRANDMA BRAG MOMENT

Doesn't that smile just make you want to giggle with joy? Sigh....She obviously got a visit from Santa. She is so far away, but the photos help close the miles between us. Hmmmm, where are some pics of my son in Afghanistan? hint, hint to him to send a pic.
A sidenote on all the kittens and the momma cat - They all have homes in other parts of the area. We helped them pack their little suitcases and went over the travel plans and said our good-byes. (wiping a tear) Maybe we'll get a postcard later.
I hear the chaos calling and I must abide and get that machine to humming again.

Ahhhhh!

Happy New Year!

Chester is a lesson to learn from, just take it easy and pull up a shoe for a pillow. This is pretty much how it looked around our house today when we weren't watching football games. My sweat shop is open and the sewing machine is humming again. Ahhhh, the sound of a breaking needle!
I am hoping for a beautiful day tomorrow and put away my Christmas. Don't ya just want to scrub the house from top to bottom after the holidays? My mind says YES, my body says WHATEVER!! We'll see who wins out in the next week. This is always my 'spring' cleaning time of year and it really energizes me.
Busy, busy, busy....I think I'm going to find a shoe for a pillow.

And a special thought for my dear S-I-L....

.When you're pushing 50, that's exercise enough!!