A beautiful day

The weather has been fantastic lately here and I have enjoyed it so much. I worked in the garage for hours in the last couple of days and didn’t even break a sweat. I LOVE IT!!! The trees are showing just a hint of a change and I’m looking forward to all the beautiful fall colors!

I finished building the box and brought it inside to paint. Since it’s small I can bring it in and work on it easier than working in the garage and dealing with all the dust. I’m really happy with how it looks and can’t wait to start painting. Getting the finish I want might be harder than building it!

  

I have a plan in mind for a really fun desk/media table. I need to sketch it up but I’m planning to use decorative legs on it and I picked 2 up at Lowes so I could look at them for a few days and see which one I like best. I think I’ve decided but I love hearing opinions!!

I also made up a board today with all the paint colors I have on hand. It’s obvious I’m in a neutrals/blues/greens phase since that’s what I have on hand!!

 

Everyone that has seen my car will know that “H” is my personal favorite color!! lol

 

Anyone else watching  Swamp  People?? I love this show!! It’s on History channel and it’s about alligator hunters. I had no idea there was a season for them!! The cajun accents are awesome. They actually have subtitles because the accents are so thick. I want to go hang out with these people. Troy is my favorite

Woodworking

I finally got started on the photography prop for my friend this week. It’s basically a decorative box. The top will have a cushion with some cute fabric for her to use while taking baby pictures. It’s been a fun project and I’ve just been designing as I go along.
The side.
 
Two sides will have the same molding and the other 2 will have something different so it will look like 2 different boxes. Right now I only have 1 side finished.

I did get my paint already and I really like it so far, I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to play with it too much though.

Volleyball is going really well! I've had a lot of fun on the team and it's a fantastic workout!! After the first practice it took me 2 full days to recover and be able to walk! lol I never knew how hard it was to play. I'm going tomorrow to get some knee pads because I seem to hit the ground pretty often going for the ball! At least I try! I did end up with a nice bruise after practice on Thurs though so I know it's really time for pads!

Daddy built a bridge outside of Columbus and it looks really good. He sent me some pictures of it the other day.

New paint to try out!

I’ve been doing some research on the best paint to use for a good distressed look and I found Caromal Colours and I am loving the way this paint looks! You can buy it online or from specialty stores (unfortunately I don’t have any close to me) so I had to order online. I bought 4 colors and I want them right now so I can start painting! However I have to build something to paint first! That’s ok, I already have some projects lined up. I’m building a photography prop, a book shelf with a couple of drawers for a friend, and I’m working on sketching plans for night stands for our room. Now that the bed and dresser match I really need to get on the ball with the night stands! All that should keep me busy for the next 2 months! Well all that and my volleyball practices and games. It took me 2 full days to recover from my first practice, it was much more of a workout than I expected! That’s good though,  I need a good workout!

The paint that I bought. The colors with stars are the ones I ordered, the one with the diamond is next on my list because I love it!

Parchment

Chocolate

Peppercorn

The last color is called Putty but she didn’t have a separate sample of it. 

Hopefully they ship fast!!!

New Art!!

I found this site on one of my favorite blogs and fell in love with her work and HAD to add the kitchen collection to my walls. I finally got the frames painted and got the pictures up today and I’m SOOO happy with it!! I asked her to customize the colors to match everything in the kitchen and Jessica was so easy to work with! She has a website full of adorable stuff and I’d love to buy more in the future when I have more wall space! Check her out! Vol25

Ignore the mess on the table! I need a work area to paint my projects!

I bought the top 2 frames at the dollar store and already had the bottom 2. I spray painted them Antique white. Spray painting is all the  rage in the crafting world right now but I have to say I’m not that impressed, it’s way too messy for me and it stinks!

I’ve been working on a couple of items to go in mama’s shop and I’m done with 2 of them. I’m really happy with how they turned out and I love how easy it is to customize this to your own decor!

Tomorrow I’ll finish the matching clips so you’ll be able to hang cards and notes!

 

I already have some other projects in mind that I can’t wait to get started on!! I love that the weather is FINALLY cooling down a tiny bit so it doesn’t feel quite as horrible in the garage and I can spend more time out there.

And finally, the huge house directly in front of ours! Sharon and I went over there to check out the floor plan and that thing is set up REALLY weird. I wish I had my camera! lol I’m sure I’ll be back over there a few more times before it’s done, I’m almost friends with the finish work crew I’ve seen them around so much! I always go over there right before it’s finished to see how everything looks.

  

And the house they are building beside it. These houses have NO yard and I’m not exaggerating, NO YARD. It’s bizarre.

More from my visit home

I’ve been staying so busy I haven’t had the chance to update the blog and when I did have lazy time I didn’t feel like fooling with it!

I’m so blessed to have a fabulous family, both my side and my inlaws. I love that I get to spend time with all of them when I’m home! I try to take pictures with everyone for Nicholas but I forgot when I had dinner with Amber and then again with Grandmama. I guess that’s what happens when you run your mouth for a couple of hours! I pray one day we will end up back home and we can have everyone over to our house and I can feed the family. The older I get the more I really miss that, and while I love going out with everyone and spending time at their house I wish that I had a home here close to our family. Maybe one day.

Meme

Dana

The boys playing

A couple of cute videos of the boys. Dana, what is Austin saying? Is that from a movie or TV show?

 

I’m heading back to TN tomorrow and I’m already looking forward to my next visit home!!

Care packages

Nicholas has asked for the same few things in his last couple of care packages so I thought I would put the list out so if anyone wants to send a package you’ll know what he would like. I know when life is busy that it can take a little bit of time to get one together and then the joys of heading to the post office so if you would like to send me money that will directly go toward a care package I will absolutely let Nicholas know who contributed.

• Protein Bars- he likes the Pure Protein brand but he’s not picky. He doesn’t like really sweet stuff so I generally stay away from caramel flavored bars.
• Drink mixes- the powdered mixes like the Gatoraid and Propel.
• Small snacks that will fit in his pocket. Those are great when he’s out on the flight line and doesn’t have the time to stop and get a meal.
• Coffee. He loves coffee! He  likes flavored ones like Hazelnut and the Georgia Pecan from Fresh Market but he also like the 8 o’clock coffee that I buy at Kroger. He has a coffee grinder so whole bean is fine.
• Peanut butter- he prefers the natural creamy kind.
• Pretty much anything with protein in it. He has started an intense weight lifting program and unfortunately the food over there doesn’t always have all the nutrition that he needs.
• Letters and pictures! He loves knowing what is going on at home and loves seeing pictures of everyone.

Nicholas is doing good, he’s just (as always) crazy busy. Yesterday he got online really late and we talked about 5 minutes because he was exhausted and needed to get to sleep.  I keep telling him he needs to get on here and update but he barely has time to talk to me and send a few emails here and there and the rest of his downtime, when he ever has any, he likes to spend relaxing with a project.
Men’s Journal did an article on the Kiowa that is interesting to read if anyone would like to pick that up. I’m going to try to get the copy Deon picked up for me today. Hopefully once I’m back in TN I can scan it and put it on here.

If anyone doesn't have N's address or lost it since I sent it out a few months ago leave me a comment or email me. I don't like putting my email on the blog because it has our last name. Thanks!!

A pup and his wheelchair…

This weekend a friend of the family called daddy because their dog hurt his back and his legs were paralyzed. Poor little guy wasn’t in any pain and still wanted to move around and we knew he must be getting worn out dragging his legs. We got online and did some research on the best way to build a chair and ended up using PVC pipe because it would be quick to put together and get the little guy moving again. Peanut’s owners couldn’t stand the thought of putting him down when he still seemed so happy and they didn’t have the money for a surgery that has such a low chance of working. I think Peanut will be pretty happy in his wheelchair for the rest of his life.