Living Life Beautifully

I went online last night and looked at a couple of blogs that have the shabby chic look I like. I was impressed with some of the designs. I'm going to try to post pictures, of the things I make, a bit more often. It might encourage me to work harder I started making angels quite a few years ago. Each year I would think up another design and make them as gifts, always keeping one for myself. This is a shelf sitter angel. I bet I made her 16 years ago. This angel design is one of the first ones I came up with. It was made from a handkerchief, scrap fabric and grapevine wings. Simple and cute at the time. This bunny angel was created many Christmas ago. I sat her in my tree each year. Now she sits in my bathroom. About a year ago I ran across a wreath someone made from heart pillows made from an old quilt. I bought it, took the stuffing out of the hearts and I'm making these gift tag/ornaments. You can write on the backside. I made these a couple of days ago. I have this bracelet ...

Today was a fun day for me. I get to lose myself for hours and spend very little. I think it's much cheaper than therapy. :) I like to go by myself and I always get to meet new people. Today I got to talk and laugh with several really sweet ladies and one really funny older man who runs the Sr Citizens thrift store. This chandelier hangs in my bathroom and only cost me $50.00 This hangs on my bathroom door. The door itself is recycled. This is one of my favorite finds. It was a whopping $150.00. I love to shop thrift stores. It's kinda like looking for treasure. I might find something new or maybe something very old. I really love when it tells a story. I love things that are handmade. I took a picture of a few of the things I found this morning. I like to find things that look good together, almost as if I'm shopping with a theme. You might be asking yourself, "but what does she need with all that junk"? And my answer would be....I don't need any of it...but ...

A week or so ago I gave my cousin, who lives in NC, a video tour of my home on a dirty house day. I'm not sure why I didn't do the video on a clean house day. I guess I thought it would be more entertaining. :) Last week we had my husbands band over for a practice. Afterward, one of the guys said how nice it is that we let them practice here and that we make the house look so nice. He was kissing up because I have to mop floors before he visits due to the fact that he's extremely allergic to my cats. I told him that I really love my house. To which he replied, "you do don't you?". I think your home is an extension of you. I can tell a lot about someone by looking at their home. If it's perfectly clean, if it's a bit of a mess, if there is very little in the home, if there is a lot in the home. Everything tells a story. If your like me, I want my home to be clean and organized when someone sees it. I don't want any pet hair rolling across the floor ...

I was reading an article online about people who are perfectionists. It said something about how a perfectionist thinks, if everything is perfect, nothing will go wrong. It was, what Oprah calls, an aha moment for me. I have issues with perfectionism and guilt. For some reason, I think I can fix everything, given the chance. I believe there is always some way to make everyone happy. In this same article it had a woman who ended up with breast cancer and for some reason she thought she could have prevented the disease and felt guilty for putting her family through it. I don't have company at my home often because I think the house has to be perfect. I feel like I will be judged by my home, and maybe they won't like me. I feel like my children will be judged by my home. I remember when I was at the childrens museum, when my kids were little, and I struck up a conversation with another mother. The first thing she asked me was where I live and I was afraid to tell her thinking it m...

My legs are crawling and I can't sleep. Now I have the hiccups. It's just not my night. I had a really good day today. Nothing spectacular, just very productive. I enjoyed posting photos of the twins as babies and looking through all those picture. I was thinking how wonderful it is that God gave us pictures. I must say the most important thing in my home, other than my family and pets, would be my pictures. They aren't all that fancy or even well taken, but they display memories of days gone by, that are precious. When the doctor told Bruce and I that we were having twins, it was very cool, until I looked over at my husband and his face was a white as a sheet. Two babies. A single pregnancy is already such a miracle, but two. I remember going to Blue Bonnet Palace to watch Jay Eric and my friend Selena told me she thought I was having twins, even before I knew. By the 4th month I got tired just standing in the kitchen making myself a sandwich. My stomach was stretched beyo...

I was out watering some trees on the property and the neighbor, behind us, came over to say hello. I was in my navy plaid pj pants with a long sleeve red and tan striped shirt, black snowboots, no makeup and my hair in a clip. Lovely. But I didn't care too much. I can't count how many dead trees are on the property. Survival of the fittest I guess. The deer are desperate for food due to the lack or rain so we feed them cracked corn, deer pellets and water. Somehow one got into the garden and topped my greenbean plants. Two of the deer are so pregnant, I'm not sure how they can walk. The pond has a fresh batch of tadpoles and I'm sure the swallow eggs, on the porch, have hatched or are about to. I told my husband I wish the house was perfect at all times so I could have friends over whenever. (Not sure why I can't throw away the mentality that the house must be perfect for company. Guess it's the one little voice in my head that I can't shut up.) B...

I went out again this morning to look at the flowers. The rose bushes aren't doing great, but the larkspur are starting to bloom. They didn't get as talk this year due to lack of rain, but are still very pretty. I walked the property and found some cactus with blooms. They haven't opened yet. I know they will open some time after lunch. I'll take a picture then. I don't like the cactus, but the flowers are really beautiful. Lilly kept me company while I took pictures and even posed for a few. We call Lilly whiney butt cause she talks non-stop...just like her mama. :) The deer wanted to be fed so I did that and took a few pictures. We have two mamas who are very pregnant. It's always so much fun when the babies are born. They have them in the brush but don't bring them out to see us until they are a week or so old. At that point we have to be careful feeding them because they're very protective and will stomp and huff at us to go away so they can eat. The...