Happy Birthday DaShawn!

As most of you know, DaShawn happens to be one of my favorite little men in the whole wide world! I am so lucky that I have gotten to spend so much time with him over these past few years, and today is a big day! Today is DaShawn's 5th Birthday!!! So this post is going up to display a few of my favorite pictures from over the past 5 years!

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I hope now you see why he makes me melt... My heart breaks just a little thinking about how fast he has grown, and soon I am going to have to realize that my little man will grow to be a big man! Happy Birthday DaShawn! Love you and can't wait to see you tonight!

Enlightening

A few weeks back, Jackie and I went thrifting in the cities. We found a Goodwill Store and just had to stop. It was the most amazing Goodwill I had ever been to! It looked like the ones in the commercials (my local Goodwill looks nothing like the commercials)! Anywho, we found all sorts of goodies, including the two lamps below.

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I scored these for $5.99 a piece and I have to admit it was a learning curve once I got them home. I loved the colors of the middle sections, but for those who know me well - I am not a fan of gold... so I started to disassemble them, only to discover I needed a little guidance... you know what that means?

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I had to ask Chris for help. Upon taking them apart, Chris told me that one of them had a broken/missing piece... dang! So he taught me what to look for next time... so none-the-less it was an enlightening situation. After he got all the pieces separated I spray painted all the gold, bought a new piece for the bulb to screw into at Menards ($2.99) and purchased a lamp harp.

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- These are what they look like after! I purchased both lamp shades at Walmart ($10 each), the one on the right required the harp, so that was plucked up at Menards ($2.49). So here it the tally:

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Green Lamp

Original Price - $5.99

Lamp Shade - $10.00

Total - $15.99

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Cream Lamp

Original Price - $5.99

Bulb Piece - $2.99

Harp - $2.49

Lamp Shade - $10.00

Total - $21.88

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Chris thinks the green one is a Hunter green color, I see it as a teal - we've decided it depends on the lighting... this lamp will go in the guest room. The cream colored lamp is going to find a new home in our bedroom. Very happy with the way they turned out and still thrilled that they were cheaper than buying new lamps. Most importantly, I love that future picking advice received from the hubby - like building a future buyer's guide for thrifting!

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Happy Monday!

12 Minutes to Happiness

I have been hunting for a good deal on a patio set for over a year now! I have a hard time paying full price for something I want, not something we need... (you know, with the exception of Rigley the Rhino, story here) So a year later, a new Menards store opened nearby and I found what I was looking for!

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I didn't want a patio set that was cushioned or had fabric seats. It rains too much and I don't like a damp tush... so I knew I wanted something that was all metal! I wanted a table that didn't have any glass and plenty of "drainage" as it will be outside all year round with the elements and lots of heavy snow!

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I received a Menards flyer advertising a patio set just like this for $239 at full price. I "hm'd" and "ha'd" to no end. Then they had their Grand Opening sale last weekend and the set I wanted dropped to $199! I had Menards rebates totally $34... so that meant that the patio set I loved would only be $165, score!

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We drove to town and snagged one up! (Side note: I got to ride on the elevator at Menards, I didn't even know they had one! Small thrills I tell ya!)

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Chris hauled it out of the truck, and 12 minutes later we had this! Just in time for the rain to start!

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- So we got to enjoy this guy on Tuesday evening, me with a glass of wine and a book (just started The Hunger Games series), the sun was shiny, Chris was outside with me working on his school work, then he got up and grilled supper! Great night! Happy Friday! - Oh, and to the commenters :-) Chris is going to attempt plumbing this weekend, I'm a tad nervous, but I will just continuing painting! We love guests and we plan on having a "gathering" sometime this summer! But as always, feel free to come on down anytime!

It's Electrifying

Anyone else have Grease Lightning running through there head now? Sorry...

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- So it's time to get down to business. Last weekend, we decided that it was time to put some new outlets in the kitchen. See there are currently three outlets, two only the wall with the microwave/sink under the cabinets and one on a wall near nothing. Not the most convenient locations... so we decided to rectify that - and when I say "we" I mean that I had the idea and Chris did all the work!

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The first steps were easy, clean out the cabinet. Take on the top, which was never attached. And lastly flip it over to see what we were dealing with, again easy cause it wasn't attached to the floor.

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Chris decided to scrap the whole base and build his own - cause I hated the toe kicks underneath, nothing but dust collectors in my mind. This proved to be a rather time consuming process turning our afternoon project into a two day project.

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The next day we brought in the new base and attached it to the floor. Following that we (by we I mean Chris) drilled a hole through the floor into the basement.

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The cabinet got attached to the new base and wires were ran from the breaker box in the basement.

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Chris ran all the wiring... He is a genius, I swear he can do anything when he wants to.

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After he finished installing them, my job was to put on the wallplate, woo hoo, bring on the screwdriver! (Oh and I promise that is not a dirty cabinet - that is where your knees hit when you sit at the island and the paint has rubbed off...)

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While I was putting on the wallplates, I turn around to see him drawing on the wall between the stove and the fridge - this is the most used countertop in the kitchen! I panicked a little to put it lightly. I had full confidence about him putting the outlets in the island, but running wiring in the wall made my stomach a little queezy and I was immediately trying to figure out how I was going to cover a giant hole in the wall - so I decided to go outside and spraypaint something...

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I am happy to announce that I should never doubt his abilities (remember he's a genius when he wants to be)! I now have three new outlets in areas that I use all the time, in the wall for mixers and in the island for parties with crockpots! Yay!

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Alright well that's all for today! Happy Thursday!

Work Boots Are On

This weekend we made sure to put our work boots on! Our plan was to tackle a couple of the projects we have on the list and finish up a few others. Well, we decided to start one and upon dismantling - we realized that this quick project was going to take much longer than we anticipated.

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So our boots got a good workout this weekend while we spent some quality time in the kitchen with the drill.

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I will share our weekend accomplishments throughout the week... so be patient as I sort through pictures! I'll leave you with one distraction that was a constant presence. This little booger continues to grow on us... literally?

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- Happy Monday!

New Toy

So I know it's been awhile, but life happens - and I'm not about to tell it to slow down!

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Just wanted to post an update about my new toy! I finally bought the camera lens I have been eyeing for the past year. It's a Canon 50mm that allows we to get an f/stop of 1.8! Woot woot! Bring on the blurry backgrounds! And because the only test subject around my house is four-legged and furry, here you go!

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When I asked him to look fierce, this is what I got! Deer in the headlights. Oh well, focus on the blurry background, love it!

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- Even though life has gotten overly busy, I promise that the projects ideas are still flowing. We will be finishing up the blue room soon and I will post all about it and the little DIY projects that are going into that room. We have a second guest room in the making. Also some bathroom repairs/updates. And big plans for the living room and dining room - new coat of paint (seen above are the choices we have narrowed down to), and some big makeover projects including the table project I mentioned HERE, a finished chest mentioned HERE, and a new exciting project that is finally coming together! - Stay tuned and Happy Tuesday!