Dumb Luck!

So it's Mother's Day weekend-Happy Mother's Day to all moms! I am in the middle of a full weekend celebration.

It actually all started on Thursday evening when my oldest grandson had his 8th grade awards ceremony. He is such an all-around good kid and I am always so thrilled to see someone other than his Nana recognize that - cause I might just be a wee bit prejudiced. He is taking advanced classes at school and maintaining an honors GPA while playing football and lacrosse, participating in numerous church and community activities and leading a very active "social" life-this kid is just an all around good guy-but, I digress!

In any case, I love these ceremonies because I really love to see how all of these kids excel-our future is in good hands! Sorry I don't have more/better pictures. We were all about the ceremony and then getting to one of our favorite restaurants for a late dinner-lol.

The following afternoon, daughter #2 arrived with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, all of my favorite foods, a lovely bottle of wine and a beautiful card and gift. We nestled in with lots of chit chat and then ended the evening watching "The Green Book".

Saturday dawned and we discussed all of our options for the day. You'll never guess where we ended up-cleaning the roof and gutters. I'm truly not even sure how we got there, but I think she knew that I would be tackling them very soon and she didn't want her old mom falling off of the roof. The sunroom, garage and hubby's office have a flat roof and a HUGE oak tree hanging over it. Once the leaves fall, they very seldom blow off of this area as they do from the pitched roof. As a matter of fact, the leaves from the pitched roof probably blow down and sit on the flat roof as well. Every year I am always amazed that none of the ceilings cave in under the weight of these things-especially after they get wet from a rain.

Becky is truly a rock star! She got all of the roof cleared and all of the surrounding gutters cleaned out. I did "ground" duty and got most of it raked and into cans. We filled 10 large garbage cans full of leaves, branches and muck and there is still a large area around the side yet to be raked once I have some empty cans again. Don't have any pictures of that little adventure either but I do have a picture of my beautiful flowers. This bouquet is full of freesia, charmelia and cut hyacinths. I have never seen hyacinths as cut flowers...and boy does this bouquet smell like spring!

And now on to my "dumb luck". I am due at daughter #3's in just a bit but I was perusing my Pinterest account until time to head. I happened upon a post of some "European" paint technique that they had used on candle sticks. And faster than a speeding bullet, I was on my way to the garage. I bought a tall, wood candle stick a long time ago in HL. It was on one of those 90% off areas where the ugly things go to die and NO ONE wants them! I really didn't want this either but I thought it might have potential!

It was made out of an orange wood of some sort and it was truly ugly. Over the years, I have spray painted it and tried to make it more acceptable but I recently noticed that when I head to my stash in the garage for a tall wood candle stick, this is one that is never picked! It just sits there year after year collecting dust.

And so, when I saw this technique, I knew there might still be a chance! Of course, me being me, I started to read the technique, saw that foiling was involved and walked away. I first went and grabbed the minute amount of watered down chalk paint I had left from the chair and kind of dry brushed it on. It was better but still not great. I then grabbed a bottle of watered down taupe craft paint and used a stiff stencil brush to pounce that on. At first, I wasn't thrilled but some sort of a chemical reaction started happening. I don't know if it was from the chalk in the one paint or, again, my dumb luck but areas sort of separated and "calcified" and I think I have "got it". I'm going to let it sit until I return home and if I still like it, it will be a "go". If not, I might be dabbing a bit more.

I'm off for some more Mother's Day fun. I hope everyone is having as good a celebration as I am. Always more to come. Stay tuned.

Here is where it ended up...replacing the railing spindle that really looks better on the couch table as it joins the other "porch pieces" and adds a bit of needed height to that left side! It's always the little things that make me happy! Lol

And yes, my Mother's Day ended up just perfectly! I didn't get home until after 10 last night-way crazy late for me-good thing my daughter lives so close.

We all helped-but mostly her hubby and kids-giving her her MD wish...work around the yard.

She has a VERY large yard and she has taken a leaf from her mom and gone on a tear adding tons of new landscaping, trellises, a giant checker board area with bench, etc. And of course, as with her mother, one thing leads to another and lots of little details that have been on a to-do list for so long, started niggling at her and she wanted them done. We all pitched in and then ended the evening out at the pool while my son-in-law grilled every kind of food you can imagine. We ate on the porch and watched fireworks from the nearby golf course!

I also got to talk with daughter #1 in St. Pete for over an hour-lots of catching up to do. And, I had an invite to actually go down there for the weekend with my grand daughter but all of the other plans were already on the calendar. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a nicer celebration. Isn't it funny have priorities can change? When I was younger, being treated like the "queen" on MD was fine with me...and I surely never would have asked for a gift of "labor". Now a days, that is worth more to me than anything else they could bring! I must really be getting old! Lol

OK! Wow! Whew!!

I am so NOT complaining!!! You know I love a project. That being said...I truly never realized just how BIG our family room is until we started painting!!

The initial plan had been for the entire family to converge to start the family room update with a painting party. But, as sometimes happens (and especially because this was apparently planned some time ago when calendars were actually clear), life has other ideas. Grand daughter #4 had a mandatory IB volunteer project pop up so that put them coming in much later than expected and grand #1 had to work on Sunday so she and her sister had to move something they had planned for their mom to Saturday-so that had them not coming to my house until Sunday. Being the considerate mom that I am (wink, wink...and with fingers crossed they would say "no), I offered poor daughter #3 and her hubby an out as they were now the only ones here for most of the "party" but they were ready to forge ahead. And I was more than happy to join in...so, "forge" we did.

Remember the "before"

The process started with almost three hours of "paint swatching". We decided on a color called "classic gray". It is a Benjamin Moore color but my daughter prefers Sherwin Williams Cashmere paint so she gets it mixed there. This is, in my opinion, an expensive paint but oh so worth it! It goes on better than any paint I have ever used and dries quickly. Jen tells me that is why her painting contractors prefer this paint-they can get on two coats in one day with no worries!
 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is a big room. I guess I never realized how big because I have always had it pretty full of furniture and "stuff". It still wouldn't have been quite the bear to paint that it was except for the fact that MUCH of the room is barn board. There was no way getting around the fact that the barn wood had to be painted with brushes-and would still need 2 coats! Plus, the barn wood has sides so instead of just a nice flat area, the were MANY edges, sides, crevices, etc. to contend with. I swear we were at this more than 5 hours before it even looked like we were making a dent! Jen started to panic when she saw that the spaces between the boards were much more visible now with the paint and thought for sure I would want it all caulked. But, I can still surprise everyone. I actually like that you can now tell that this is real barn board not reproduction stuff. It feels very "South Hampton" beach house to me. And, even though I really do not like coastal decor, I like the shabby-chicness of this! Maybe it feels more "farmhouse" to me. I don't know but we sure saved a bunch of time with that decision!

The last of the wood tone and I was starting to feel the new vibe.

I really, really wasn't sure how I would feel once all of our wood was painted. I have always loved the coziness of this room. But, for some reason, I just knew it was time for an update. I have always prided myself on the fact that we have kept our house updated ever since we bought it new 50 years ago. And, believe me, that is a LOT of updating! I have no problem with "original" but I always wonder about people on decorating shows who complain that they have lived somewhere for years and have always hated the color, hardware, lighting, etc. Do something about it! And so I knew that it was time! The room just started looking gloomy and dated.

I will say that now the ceiling looks even dingier and it probably could use a new coat of paint. That being said, may I remind you that that it the ceiling that I spackled with HAY mixed into the spackling! It was an idea from Lynette Jennings (one of TVs first home decorators many years ago). She did it on the walls but I knew I would be changing wall color a lot so I chose the ceiling. That combined with the wood gave the room an Irish pub kind of feel and I loved it. But, it will NOT be fun to paint so it is going at the end of a VERY long list of to-dos and if I live long enough....Lol

So here is where we are as we speak. I raised the window valance. Almost left it off but the sun is brutal as it sets on that side of the house and I only pull down the shade occasionally as I like to look out. The rug is gone and the kids surprised me with an 8X10 (the size my decorator daughters have insisted I needed all along. I guess the size of the rug is a big deal. I always chose the smaller size so I could center it without it going under any furniture much. I guess that's a design "faux pas"! Plus, a 5X7 is much less expensive!) sisal look but carpet feel rug. It is supposed to arrive on Wednesday. And then, even to my untrained eye, that rectangular, slate coffee table is not doing it any more. We are on the look out for a round table but this will have to suffice until I find "just the right one"-meaning one we all agree on. It may be a long summer. As I have said before, I trust their vision but I still have an opinion on things I really just don't like!

Here's the one I'm thinking of. It has the dark brown wood of the mantle and the dark metal of the other metal accents in the room. It is only 36" so some editing will be necessary when I'm doing my holiday decorating!

The other thing Jen did was pull the two chairs out from the corners. As much as she would like for one of them to have found a new home, she did have to admit that when I have any company or even just family, all of this seating is necessary. She also would like those two ottomans gone but for me, it is comfort over style in this case! So, nooo.  I would NEVER have thought of this arrangement in here although I do "float" furniture in other rooms. I love how it frees up that end of the room and makes it "walkable".  You probably can't tell from these pictures but we were now able to move the huge TV armoire-another bone of contention as they would like the TV on a smaller unit but because it also houses my CD changer, TiVo, surround sound, Blu-Ray player, tons of DVDs and candles and, of course, my many, many family pictures, this remains the best option-at least for now-down about a foot and it makes the room seem even larger!

I seriously love the clean, fresh feel of the room now. I am anxious to see how the rug anchors this space. We toyed with a lot of other ideas but, for now, I am thrilled with this. Mission accomplished!!

And then, on Sunday, everyone (except grand #1) was able to be here and we all headed out for lunch at one of my favorite, downtown restaurants. Trust me, my sons-in-law were there, they just won't stand still for pictures very often. lol

There is a little bit of "mopping up" that I want to do today but for the most part I'm done...until I'm not. I was beat last night but then I sat down in my chair and this is what I saw...my beautiful Mother's Day flowers and my beautiful gift of a new room. It perked me right up...but not quite far enough to get up and get the camera so you will have to squint through my grainy phone camera pix. Sorry.

And then, this morning I went outside between our FINALLY, very welcome raindrops to find my standard size gardenia bushes in full bloom. I only planted them as small, beginner bushes last year so I am thrilled. Lots of little chores to do today while we get some more expected rain so I am off. I'll be back when the rug arrives so you can give your opinion too. Stay tuned.

Quiet Morning

I hadn't been planning to do a post today, but things are quiet around here as I wait to hear some details on the plans for this weekend. I don't want to start any big projects so I went out to the gardens just to enjoy our morning temperatures before things get HOT around here today. The hydrangeas are all starting to bloom and the large hedge around the stone patio is particularly pretty. And, all of the gardenias are now in bloom-both the minis and the full size.

Of course, my first instinct was to grab the clippers and start cutting bouquets. But then the dilemma struck-yes, I know, all problems should be this "overwhelming"...but, I told you it was quiet around here and I was going stir crazy! Lol Should I cut them all and make HUGE bouquets for the house or leave them where they are? With all of the company (albeit, family) coming this weekend, I know that most of us will spend time out around the pool and these blooms really make the area gorgeous!! But, the inside likes to get its "pretty" on as well. So, I did what all moms preach to their children-I came up with an equitable compromise. I cut enough gardenias to fill a small vase and scent the house just enough and then I cut the hydrangeas that were sticking out too high or too low. In most cases, they were the smaller ones but I am OK with that.

I posted yesterday that I was going to pick my youngest grand daughter up from school because her mom and brother were on a field trip to St. Augustine and not due back until right before Harrison's guitar recital and her dad was "out in the field" for work. This is another of my arts and crafts kids-she loves it so I thought I would see what I could come up with for a simple gift for Mother's Day for all of the moms here this weekend. Once again, Pinterest to the rescue! I really didn't want to run to the store for supplies so I found just the right project that only used supplies I had on hand. And yes, I actually have a laminating machine. After so many years of crafting with kids, it just made sense to buy one and I can't tell you how often I use it. I also had these tassels in my scrapbooking supplies. Luckily, they were one of the few things that I did not sell at my garage sale or I would be posting about my "Murphy's Law" history of getting rid of things and needing them the next day...but, I digress!

Again, if this had been when I started "grand-motherhood" 22 years ago, I probably would have insisted on a clothing change as well as a hair style-or at least a barrette...and you can believe me when I say I did try the barrette thing and you see where it got me Lol This time, I let her be happy in an outfit that she had been in all day and played hard on the playground in but, I am 22 years into this and getting too tired to fight any more. Ha-ha. Besides, if this one was all gussied up, we might not even recognize her as Presley!

Thankfully she has finally reached the point where she will pose for me. Sometimes it still might take a bit of a bribe but not this time. She had fun. We took these:

She chose the one she liked best and we did a bit of correcting on the color, etc. and then printed them up. Then, all it took was cutting them out, running them through the laminator, cutting again and attaching a tassel and we got this:

They're really cute and since we are all readers, it is a kid generated gift that we will really use-I still use all of the bookmarks the kids made over the years-and we won't need to find wall or shelf space when we're all trying to de-clutter a bit. Win-win solution and simple and fun to boot.

Harrison's recital went fine although Mom, dad and Hudson literally walked in one minute before it started...one of those kind of days where you need to be in more than one place at a time. Forgive my phone camera picture...not the best but this is Har with his group. He did great considering he broke a string and didn't ask either mom or dad if they could run it to the music store (as well as first go by the band room and pick up the guitar) until the morning they were both walking out the door. Teenage boys!!! Remember, Jen and Hud had an early start to St. Augustine and dad (who is an engineer and has all sorts of road, bridge and sink hole issues to confront this month) was off to the field. Suffice it to say, he played with only four strings but, since this is a beginner group, I don't think anyone caught on...wink, wink!

So still no word on ETAs for this weekend so I am off to see what other trouble I can get into. Stay tuned.

Celebrating...Times Three!

I think I have told you before how we love to "milk" a holiday or celebration in our family. Sometimes it happens just because "we can" and other times it happens out of necessity! Such was our Mother's Day this year. Our family is scattered and very busy and committed to things like jobs, school, etc. Since we can't always all travel to celebrate every occasion in our family, we do try to find ways to do so individually no matter what or when!

I have posted about our trip down to daughter #1 recently...and all of the fun we had. We managed to fit in a belated Mother's Day celebration from last year and an early one from this year.

Then, daughter #2 had planned to come to Ocala one day this past week to celebrate with me but instead, daughter #3, hubby and I went up to her house. We did the beginnings of a living room re-do and squeezed in another little celebration.

And then yesterday, daughter #3, Presley, hubby and I hit the road for a little adventure...which it always is with this daughter. Somehow she has the least competent "Suri" on the face of the earth. Maybe it's because she made hers a "male". He gets us lost everywhere we go! Thankfully, we have now come to expect it so we watch signs a little more carefully and didn't really do too badly yesterday!

We headed to Madison Florida. This was about a 2 hour drive so we had some fun conversation along the way. Our goal was "The Fancy Flea".

The vendors were all along the main street in Madison and along the sides were lots of cute antique and gift shops and cafes. It is a very charming little town.

The market itself turned out to be a bit smaller than we had imagined but it really was perfect because I had anticipated tons of crowds and endless walking and there was neither...just lots of very nice people all out enjoying a beautiful day. We had a lovely time meandering throughout all of the booths and shops enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade along the way. Just about the time we were all done shopping, we were getting hungry. We knew we wanted a sit-down restaurant and a nice glass of wine with lunch and could not find that in Madison (I'm sure it was there somewhere, we just couldn't find it) so, thanks to Google, we found a place that sounded interesting and headed to Live Oak.

I probably never would have thought of stopping where we did, but because of all of the wonderful reviews, we decided to give it a try. We had a wonderful lunch-family cooking with an upscale twist. If I ever find myself in this neck of the woods again, I be be sure to come back...if Suri and I can find it again!

I had hoped to show you my little Mother's Day gift I made for my girls, my sister-in-law and myself but the finished product is still in Gainesville so all I have to show you is the process-sort of.

I know I have posted many times about how I like to use my mom's things as jumping off points for gifts to my girls-another small way to remember her. I have all of her costume jewelry and her scatter pins are something I remember her wearing but knew that even if I passed them along and they would be cherished, they would probably just find their way into jewelry boxes and be forgotten as most of us don't wear pins much any more.

And so, thanks to Pinterest, I saw this idea and knew it would be perfect.

I found the small oval frames at HL and actually had the linen left over from the 4th of July pillow covers I made. I wanted the pins to be removable just in case anyone took a notion to wear the one they chose, so I cut ovals of Fun-Foam to match the size of the opening and then gave them a small spray of adhesive and glued on the fabric. I put the frames together and brought along the box of Mom's pins and let everyone choose whichever pin "spoke" to them.

I am happy with the way they turned out-just a simple little reminder of a very special mom that can be nestled anywhere we want! I'll show you my finished product once I get it back!

And here is just a sneak peek at my next project. It is something I have had on my list for a few years and when I saw these antique wooden feet at the fair yesterday, I knew this would be the year! Think 4th of July!! Stay tuned!

Happy Mother's Day!

I guess "lightening must have struck"! I played around and played around with my computer and new printer and just by accident, I discovered that if I turn the printer off and then back on, I could get the CD card to read. So, I can now at least download new pictures and get them into their files. I still can't use my old, comfy photo program but I can work with them on Picasa. I know a lot of people who love Picasa-I just don't happen to be one of them. But, for today...

I was a little sad this year when I realized that for the first time ever, I did not have a Mother's Day gift to buy. I always loved shopping for my mom. She was easy to shop for because she loved everything but she especially loved to dress nicely. She loved silk blouses, pretty sweaters, nice jewelry, soft nighties, etc. I guess you could say she was a "girly girl"-even at 91! She had a good life but she raised my brother and me by herself so we always came first. Once we were grown, we enjoyed spoiling her a bit. I loved buying her name brand clothes that she would never buy for herself. And every time someone complimented her on an outfit I had given her, she would call me and tell me what they said and thank me again. I still find myself checking out the petite areas in the stores and making note of what she would like.

And so, I decided to make a little something for my girls so I could stay in the spirit. I knew it couldn't "be much" or I would be chastised for spending too much. And then I went back to my trusty friend, Pinterest. I remember seeing something from a blog that I had pinned. A quick trip to Lowes and I was pulling out my trusty chop saw and having a ball-I'm always happiest when I am in the middle of a project and have saw dust in my hair and paint and stain under my nails!

And, before you knew it, this mess had gone to this...

And, I really feel that way. I not only love my girls, I like them. We have fun together. I only wish they all lived as close as daughter #3!

So for my three daughters who have grown in  to amazing mothers and all of the other moms reading this, I hope everyone has a day feeling as loved as I do-and just a bit sentimental today as well. Off to find new projects soon. Stay tuned.

Mother's Day 2012

We love you Mom and we miss you!