Whoa... look at the size of that thing!

O.k.

I must share my uncle's great find. You're thinking some really great cupboard buried in the back of an old shed, or maybe a piece of sparkly bling in the dirt, or maybe a pair of old wheels off a wagon from years ago.

Yeah, I wish.


HOWEVER... this thing is almost as good. Well, at least it tastes much better than the treasures described above....

On a trip back to Iowa he discovered this...




yeah... look at the size of that thing! My aunt is holding up a 2-liter pop bottle for comparison.

You'd need a whole sack of flour and a full pound of butter for that morel!!!

YUMMY! Wish I was back in Colorado with him to share it... cause you know he can't, or at least shouldn't eat that all himself!

One Year Anniversary...

WOW!!! It’s been just over a year since we started the bathroom remodel project! I can’t believe I haven’t shared it with you. Most of my good friends on here knew I started it some time ago; I believe I even posted a picture of my tub, then HELLO! I disappeared!

So, Let’s get to some pix, ‘cause who cares the steps that I took to tear it out, everyone can/loves doing demo (especially on a room you HATE!!!)

Shower corner before. Yep this retro, yet, festive Christmas-like paneling was covering the walls. Most of it was painted, and painted and did I mention painted? But some of it was left in its 1970’s beautiful state.




EEWWW… Here’s underneath the shower floor. Great support system as you can see, humm, do I blame me stepping through the floor on my weight or the support system. Yeah, definitely the support system. Dig the groovy tar backed linoleum?



Yeah, here’s the closet, bathroom in its massive glory! I’d take you on the tour, but this is it! In 1902 when they built my house they didn’t factor in bathrooms, so somewhere along the line someone decided to take the only closet in my upstairs and convert it into a bathroom. Yeah, that’s a WHOLE other subject!!



We (yes, my DH started helping with the demo when he knew I was serious) gutted the whole room, ceilings and ALL!!




NOW, look what we accomplished, all by doing it ourselves, well, except for some plumbing manifold installation from a plumber.

We did the electrical, most of the plumbing, installed all the fixtures, tiled, everything… and it only cost $3700 for the total remodel! The tub was our biggest cost at $1700. (I highly recommend acrylic tubs on 2nd floors!) Who knew a claw foot tub could fit in a 7x7 square foot closet! Just a little elbow grease, the DIY network, and a few smarts and anyone can do this... you might kill your significant other in the process, but it will be worth it... I promise!










Granted, it took us 7 months to fully complete, only because we took the ‘Hey, we have another bathroom…” “How many ball games this season?” “Don’t forget I’ve got classes every night this week…” “Saturday classes?” approach!

Let's try this again...

O.k. Let's see if the video works this time... *Sigh* Must have been a case of the Mondays...

Reveal at the bank!

My father/mother in law bought the old county bank in Clarksville a few weeks ago. (Built in 1882 they are the 4th owners!) Our hope as a family is to restore it to as close to the original state as we can. (then open an antique store!!)

As we demolish the apartment the previous owners put in the bank we are discovering so many amazing pieces of history.

This video is of my husband and father-in-law pulling the old oil cloth wallpaper off the wall to discover this mural. (We discovered the wallpaper by accident.) We're guessing it hasn't seen the light of day since the early 1900's as no one in town remembers this painting. The date on it is 1889.

We have found more great pieces of history I will have to share with everyone later. This was the most amazing thing to watch. My mother in law, sisters in law, and previous town librarian were all in tears as we unveiled this amazing piece of history!

Under $5.00 porch tea light

I swung by Target the other day and found these (didn't take a before pix) cute lantern tea lights for $1.00 in their dollar section at the front of the store.

Hum.... now what to do...



I have it!

Grab a can of Rust-Oleum Frosted Glass spray paint(around $4.00 at Home Depot) and a cute vinyl decal (could be from your Cricut, just a suggestion)



or a couple cute vinyl stickers...



and spray a light coating... it goes on clear but dries frosted so wait a couple seconds and see if you need more (it dries quickly)



and viola, cute porch tea lights!




(Forgot to remove my son's cap gun from my porch display BEFORE I took the pix!)


I'm linked up with...

Glitter Glamor, Birdy Style

Bright sunshiny "Hello!"

I've seen lots of people use the Dollar Tree birds, (of course I can't find a pix of the one I used!!!) and I didn't want to completely copy their ideas, so I came up with my own version of the Dollar Tree bird.

I grabbed Glitter, my new best friend, it makes everything seem to pop, and I guess after a LONG Iowa winter, I like to see things bright and sparkly!

AND the rest my supplies (sorry, no pix of the process, I was sticky and glittery)



see the rocks...

And with a little spray adhesive, glitter, rocks from the yard, spanish moss, and two married pieces of junk, I have "Spring!"





I'm linked up with Becky at Beyond The Picket Fence!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Lucky the Leprechaun visited my kids in the middle of the night.



I hope they had a good day! And you too!

Friday Craftin' Day!!!

I love my Fridays! I don't have to work, I've decided the housework can wait until Saturday when the family is home to help. This past Friday spring hit in Iowa, but I haven't quite thawed out yet. I have, however, been thinking about spring and Easter, summer campfires and backyard parties with friends...

So I came up with a few goodies to get the mood...







Hope you find your Spring Fever!!!

I've been bit!!!

Oh dear, it looks like I've got the rash, the fever, and the itches...

Blog jumping all day isn't good for you, you know.

There are so many ideas, so many smart women, so many creative people...

Now I've been bit by the jewerly bug.



I've seen these glass tile necklaces all round, and felt like I needed to try my hand at it.





They are so addicting! I made the Wonder Woman one for my SIL for her birthday, the couple is Mike and I on my mom's porch... and I loved the washer necklace idea. Unfortunately I can't give any one person props because you can find both these ideas everywhere in blogland!

Hobby Lobby has become my new best friend, they have 50% off sales ALL THE TIME on jewelry!!! It's going to be another sickness.

I need some bug spray, some lock down, and some of this....



or it's going to be ugly!

So, I'm off to my second home, ya know, they have charms half off this week!

What a sight!

Looking forward to a nice weekend, my husband left his student teaching placement in his styling 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 98... as he turns the corner he could barely turn... power steering went out. SO, car to the fix it shop, I called my mom to see if we could borrow a car for the week.

As we were heading out to her house, we came across a couple bald eagles. I ran home to get my camera, hoping they would still be in the field. Yepers! So, here are some pix I took... I thought they were beautiful and wanted to share!

Oh Happy Day

*sigh*

Yesterday was Monday. I hate Mondays... I hate Mondays even more when the high is only 8 degrees. After a long, and I stress, lllllooooonnnnnnnggggg day at work, I headed home to a grumpy family. (Seasonal affective disorder is in full swing at my house topped with Iowa Test of Basic Skills)

SO, I start making supper, think to myself "Self, I wonder if anyone got the mail yet, maybe there is a new magazine to make you smile". So I pulled on my boots, trampled out to the mailbox, snow up to my kneecaps, and found the mailbox empty.

*sigh* (again)

Pulled my boots off, shook the snow off my jeans and asked the fam if anyone got the mail (fingers crossed). "Yep, Reyna got it, it's on the back of the couch!" Awesome, I might be in luck yet.

Humm... a box...



interesting... oh wait, look at the tag...



it's from someone who knows me by my junkin name. Hum... *heart racing* did someone make my Monday even better than Hearst Publishing could?!?!?



Yes, yes, YES someone did. Robelyn dear sweet Robelyn has made my day! A couple months ago I tore my old box springs apart and sent her a box of junk with the material off the box springs. And look what she did with it!




Isn't it absolutely, positively, most definitely the most gorgeous think you have ever seen! (My husband didn't show my enthusiasm so I had to call my mom!) She even used some of the junk pieces I sent her. The springs on the side are what held the big springs to the box spring frame.

I could never put into words how special this purse is. Not only because a friend made it with her own two hands, but it holds pieces of things that were mine. It's so personalized in so many different ways. I am truly thankful to Robelyn for her thoughtfulness and kindness. We are a special breed of people, we truly are.


So,



Thank you! Thank you!
THANK YOU! Robelyn...

I have officially been...

I got my craft on!

Well... work is slow... or I procrastinate, either way I have been spending a serious amount of time checking out other blogs out here in cyberspace (who says it was during work hours?!?). There are so many talented, resourceful men and women out there! I love jumping from blog to blog finding all these great ideas that I wish I had more time to do!

So... Friday's are my days off. I stopped by Hobby Lobby to get some supplies after work on Thursday (like I don't have enough stuff at home) and decided I would take a 'Mom' day and just play with some of the ideas I saw, and came up with myself.

Here's a look at my dining room table, I have a craft room in the basement, but I'm not going to show you a pix of that, there is a reason why I'm working from the dining room table.



After trying some StazOn on glass that didn't Stay On, I moved onto necklaces for my daughter and her friends (didn't get pix of them). But I did decide to make myself a new keychain. And a couple more...



I should have scheduled more 'Mom' time, oh wait, I did, I cleaned the whole house, painted the hallway and stairwell, and did 5 loads of laundry... maybe I should have scheduled more "ME" time instead! Hope you all find 'me' time sometime this week!