A Week of Fun---

We rarely have a day with no where to be. Between my husband's 3 jobs, my job, the little girl I babysit a handful of times a month, Church on Sunday, Church on Wednesday, have I mentioned we are a little chaotic. So to have 2 days this week with nothing to do AMAZING!

Monday Steve was on vacation so we did school in the morning and then we were off!
EPCOT!

First ride of the day, the tram



Every year in October (and the beginning of November) there is a Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Wine is not our thing, but we LOVE FOOD! My boys are really adventerous eaters and love to eat around the world.


Pot-stickers anyone?


Our very own map reader


It was really crowded (on a Monday??? We were shocked!), but we had a great time.


On Tuesdays the boys go to an Umbrella School (they take Hands on classes like Legos, Cooking, Science and a Sports class). They love it and I get 4 hours TO. MY. SELF. Soooo, while they were there I stopped at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and picked up this

More about this in a later post, but I will tell you it has been WAY more work than I anticipated (Steve, if you are reading, blah, blah, blah, I know, YOU told me so).

Our Finale for the week was the beach


Some body boarding


Living on the edge


See the lighthouse in the background, the boys loved that


It was really rejuvenating to have a couple days of fun, but I brought home sand from the beach, in my camera. So now all of my pictures are really, really blurry. Anyone know how to fix that? :-(

OCTOBER!!

I love, love, love fall. But, we live in Florida, so our fall is rarely crisp or chilly, it is just NOT SO HOT!

It is this time of year when I spend many hours a week running outside getting ready for this

The Disney Half Marathon. It is my way of not gaining a million pounds over the holidays. I do not run, fast, AT ALL. But I do get out there and push myself through 13 miles of fun.

We spend lots of days enjoying the local theme parks (Food and Wine Festival anyone??)


And hopefully it will be nice enough to open the windows to get rid of the paint smell that is sure to be filling my house.


And, of course the end of the month will bring


HALLOWEEN!

My Fall Table

Here are some pictures of my fall decor in better light.



Uggg, I still got a glare on one of the pictures. Getting a good picture of this has been really hard! And yes, I know everything is a little crooked and not quite right. My kids are still not sure what to think of this and will touch it (and play Star Wars through it!)

Here is what I did
I stole, ummmm, copied Melissa's Dollar Tree Hurricane Vases and filled them with stuff from the Dollar Tree and JoAnn Fabrics. I also printed a picture of my little guy from last fall and put it in a frame I had lying around. I spray painted the scrolly part in front to blend in with the table.


For the other side of the table I took a lantern I bought from PartyLite a million years ago when I had no kids and a "real" job that has been hanging in my garage for the last 9 years (seriously, it has been hanging on the garage door track since we moved in because I could not figure out what to do with it). Add a picture of my older son and a black picture frame that was hanging in our hallway. I took some Orange craft paint mixed with mid-evil gold glaze to tone down the black frame.



Here I ran into a slight problem. The frame did not have a stand. No worries, because I am such a fantastic house keeper, I still had this guy laying around

Yep, a Santa stocking holder. He has been moved around a million times in the last 9 months since everything else from Christmas is in the attic. Now he is a picture frame holder.

On top of my refrigerator I found a clear plate that I swear I have NEVER seen before. Painted some orange craft paint on the back and stuck a spider on the front and now the middle of my table has a little height.


Then I found this silver tray with bunnies on it (again, I have no idea where this stuff came from!)


Covered the bunnies with some leaves and a pumpkin and I am DONE!


Total Cost: $14.50--I am thrilled!
2 Vases from Dollar Tree $2
2 Candle holders from Dollar Tree $2
Leaves and Pumpkins from Dollar Tree $4
Leaves and Pumpkins from JoAnn's $5
Craft Paint $1.50

Still trying to figure out what to put above it on the wall,but for now Fall greets up when we walk in the house.

Liking up to Nester's Fall Mantel Party

The Buffet Transformation

I always thought I would be the mom who would decorate for the seasons when I had kids. Well, in the 8+ years I have been I mom I have been a terrible failure in this department.

After being inspired by blog after blog after blog, I was ready to be the mom I always wanted to be!

Step One: Motivation
Check: I fell in LOVE with THIS. You have to see what Meredith did here!


Step Two: Find a table on CraigsList
Check! I found this less than 10 miles away for $25 Beautiful, right...






I emailed the seller and I was too late, BOOOOOOOO!
But, the fates were kind and the first buyer never showed up!! YEA!!!!!!

I have to tell you, I know NOTHING about furniture, no really NOTHING! One touch of the front of this thing and I noticed the drawer fronts were plastic? That did not deter me, did I mention it was $25... Thanks to blogland I felt confident I could paint anything so mark it SOLD!

Step 2: Prime and Paint
Check! What color you ask??? Heirloom White of course.









Step 3: Glaze
CHECK! But, I must not have taken any pictures when I did that?? Sorry!

Step 4: Go to the Dollar Tree and JoAnn's for decor and "shop" at my house for things I could use
CHECK!

And here she is (in terrible light, or lack of light in this case!)




Don't you just love my tablecloth/drop cloth. I should have removed it before I took the final picture!

Now I have a place to decorate for the seasons! I love that this is the first thing I see when I walk into my house (I should tell you that I put it into my Formal Living room, not in the Dining Room where a buffet should go).

Next up...Paint the kitchen

You may have noticed that I failed at joining Melissa at her Party. I started my project, it was taking less than an hour and way under $10, but I could not find the hooks I wanted to complete it. So, it sits, unfinished. right below where it will someday hang on the wall.

Until I find that perfect set of hooks, I am on to painting the Kitchen. I will post of picture of my before later (you know, after the dishes are done and it looks more presentable.....)

Overwhelmed and Undermotivated!

Looking around at the task(s) ahead of me, I have to admit I am feeling VERY overwhelmed! The 2 projects I have worked on so far have really motivated me to keep our formal living and dining rooms clean...at the expense of the rest of my house!

I have never been a great housekeeper but all of the sudden I feel overwhelmed at the mess I have lived in for the last couple of years. So why can I not take this feeling of being overwhelmed into motivation to keep going??? I am trying to be realistic and just do one room at a time, but I want everything to be perfect and done NOW!

I need to kiss and make up to the FlyLady, I need her...bad!!

Hmmmm, a challenge

I am going to rack my brain and see if I can come up with something for this "event"

Put away the Spray Paint

About a zillion of the projects I have found in other blogs use this


so I ran to Home Depot and bought 6 cans.

In the last 4 days, I have spray painted a buffet, hardware, a lamp, a picture frame. I was about to paint a lantern thingy when my 8 year old stepped in and stopped me.

Good thing he was here while my husband was out surfing this morning

One little idea has made me into a crazy person

I have been wanting to make (OK, really I was thinking I was going to buy) a place for my boys to put their shoes and school bags.

Well, while I was looking I found this and now I am inspired to try my hand at making things.

Here is my first project

I found this amazing transformation and it became my inspiration!

We bought this right after we got married to put in our little apartment. For years it sole purpose has been collecting junk. It seemed like the perfect piece to destroy....I mean transform.




Thanks to the millions of blogs I have now read about redoing furniture I knew I would need to use a primer and lots of people said they use Zinnser CoverStain, so I bought that. I went to work sanding and priming and all was well.

Until, I noticed him...Mickey Mouse in my primer. Somehow a Mickey Mouse confetti piece got painted on. Hey, we love Mickey Mouse around here so I left him. Our very own Hidden Mickey!!



And then I started painting....YIKES. All of the sudden this seemed like a very bad plan. It dried and there were brush marks everywhere (apparently I do NOT paint in nice straight lines). So I sanded, and painted and sanded and painted and sanded...you get the idea. Until I decided it was good enough! Perfect I am NOT!



And then I was able to add my favorite part, the vinyl monogram from etsy



LOVE IT!!!

Here is the finished product


I am going to get a new lampshade for the lamp, but overall it is done!

It was so much fun and I have already started my next project.....here is how it started



So thanks to the internet, I am now crazy craigslist lady covered in paint and primer!