$2 Makeover

Here's my $2 makeover! I never really liked my living room window treatment. I liked the fabric color, and that is nicely coordinates with the wingback chair - and it's washable. But I didn't like the contemporary feel of having it bunched up at each end, as well as in the middle. I finally had an idea using grapevine wreaths as swag holders. I knotted the fabric in the middle, then draped the fabric through the wreaths at each end. I now have something a bit more country/rustic. Now to think about painting this summer....

Birthdays and Idol

Happy Birthday to my older sister who's now 48! I don't want to ruin her birthday, but it' rumored that David Osmond was cut from Idol in Hollywood week. But I did read that Donny Osmond will be doing Dancing With the Stars!


While looking for a photo, I found this one. I'm on the left and Michele is on the right. Cute teddy bear!

Showing off

Look what I finished on Friday! I made these snowman (one is a girl with a pink bow) bowl fillers.
I also made this St. Patricks' Day pillow. Both items are currently listed on Ebay.
I managed to complete these projects Friday while the plumber was here. We ended up having to replace the water heater with a new one. Isn't it beautiful?

Had to have the drain in the laundry room floor rodded out since that was backed up while trying to drain the hot water. I have to show off the clear drain!
Just look at the beautiful emergency shut off valve that was just installed. Since the other shut off valves were so corroded, including the old emergency valves, had to have a new one installed. We can now shut the hot water off on Andrew's and Matt's showers! :)
While we were at it, I have to show off the new insides of the toilet that keep running. Also a new kitchen faucet, since the old one was leaking and corroded. Now that we've spent a ton of $$$$, it was off to:

the Pinewood Derby for James on Saturday. He didn't win, so he was disappointed (Andrew and Matt had previously won and James has to keep up with them). But he did get a small trophy.

Now it's back to school on Monday. Maybe they will have an full week of school without any days off!

Headlines

This would make a perfect headline on the Tonight Show:

Russ was reading some Boy Scout guidelines and rules. One was "Paintball is Prohibited in Scouting!" A few lines down it read, "Guidelines for Using Canons."

Oh, there's nothing about not pointing the canon at each other in the rules......

Leaks

Last night I noticed water on the floor in the laundry room. We tracked it down to a leaky hot water heater. It's only 4 1/2 years old and leaking. It says it's under warranty, but of course not for service. The plumber is coming out tomorrow morning and we'll find out the damages. I'm sure this will set of a chain of everything breaking in the house - Murphy's law!

Just finished

I just finished a candle mat and this pillow to list on ebay tonight. Walmart was out out polyfil, and the pillow could use a little more stuffing. So, I'll have to got elsewhere this week and find some. The kids have off school on Monday for MLK day. They've had so much time off from the cold weather, it will be difficult to get back into the routine. But, we have to make up 3 days in the summer now. :(


Rachel bought herself some new big hoop earrings that she wants to show off. She's trying a different trial pair of contacts, with a slightly different prescription. It's giving her a headache. So, we'll see what we end up ordering next week.

I need to work tonight on a baby afghan that someone ordered. I got pretty far last night, but it still needs several more evenings of work. It's a beautiful shade of lavender, and made in my favorite pattern, "Sweet Dreams."

Donut run

This morning James wanted donuts. We don't stock them in the house, so we made a donut run this morning (something we normally don't do). Dunkin Donuts was pretty picked over in selection. I think everyone else had the same idea - escape the house since it's so HOT. It was something like 13 degrees, which is 30 degrees warmer than the previous night.

This afternoon I took James to spend his $5 gift card at Circuit City before it officially closes. While at the mall, we tried to find jeans for Rachel, but nothing fit. Saw that gas prices by use went up to $2.02, but down by Tim they were still just under $2. It still beats over $4 that we paid for so long. :)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fws2lmX2H40


I don't think the temp went above -7 today. School was canceled, so the kids were happy to sleep in. I did manage to go to the library, and dropped Andrew at a friend's house (3 blocks away). It wasn't too bad once the car warmed up in the sun. But taking the garbage out tonight was a different story. Andrew and Matt bundled up just to run to the end of the driveway. Right now it's -9 (wind chill of -27), and going down to -20 (wind chill -40) tonight. Tomorrow afternoon it's going to get "really" warm at be 5 degrees ABOVE zero. But that's not until the afternoon. Still don't know if there's school tomorrow or not, since tonight and tomorrow morning are going to be colder than today. We'll wait for the call in the morning.

*

Frigid, Arctic, Bitter, Cold

Here's the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow. The numbers do NOT include the wind chill. The high tomorrow is -3. The kids are hoping the buses won't start tomorrow so they can have a day off school. They do have next Monday off for MLK day.

My Bible study was canceled today. Most of the older ladies didn't want to drive and go out in the cold and snowy roads. Tomorrow they canceled MOPS, so no childcare job for me. Hopefully they won't cancel another MOPS (different location) on Friday.

Tonight I'll stay in, help do some homework, and hopefully watch some of American Idol. Gotta find out which night Donny Osmond's nephew will be on.

The end of the world

Yep, it's the end of the world. Andrew is WILLINGLY wearing a GREEN t-shirt. It's not black or grey. It's green. This hasn't happened in ??? long. Of course it's the Mountain Dew logo, so that made him happy. Now if he would ask for another haircut.......

Bowl fillers!

I just finished a couple sets of primitive carrot bowl fillers - just ready for spring. Unfortunately, it's not spring around here. Yesterday we got about a foot of snow. Tomorrow were suppose to get more. Our snow blowers are getting a good workout again this year.

After church today, I went grocery shopping (along with everyone else who didn't go out yesterday). I then took Andrew to Kohls. He wanted a green, as in bright green, t-shirt with the Mountain Dew logo. He only wears dark colors, so I'll have to get a photo of him wearing something other than grey or black. He also found a Tony Hawk hoodie. I used a $10 off coupon that I got last time I was in Kohls. They will be remodeling our store, and were giving out $10 coupons to attract business during the mess.

It's now off to pack lunches for tomorrow.

Toothless!

James finally lost his second top front tooth on Wednesday. It was hanging by a thread on Tuesday evening, and when he woke up, it was out! He's 8 1/2, and just losing his front teeth.

The Christmas decorations are down, and it's back to the school schedule this week. No more sleeping in. :( Rachel has managed to get her contacts in before school, and is quite happy about showing off her new look. Now she wants straight teeth, but that's not as fun.

It snowed several inches this morning, and we're expecting more snow tonight. James will be happy to play outside and try out his new snow block maker. I'm sure the younger girls next door will come get Rachel to play with them outside.

I need to get some stitcheries done this weekend. I have a couple traced, but need to get started on stitching. One is a Valentine pillow, and the other is a Valentine candle mat. I might try some vintage quilt heart bowl fillers created from the pink and white quilt piece. I just need a few more hours in each day...

Ebay preview!!

I just finished a couple sets of bowl fillers to list on Ebay tonight! I'm trying a different approach to Valentines Day and doing more than plain hearts. I had found this wonderful vintage quilt piece a couple months ago, and was waiting to use it for Valentines and spring projects. I'm even thinking of some spring butterflies with quilt wings. These should be listed later in the evening.

The first night it took Rachel 50 minutes to get her contacts out. Tonight, it was down to 3 minutes (she timed it). She even got them in this morning for church in record time. Hope they go in tomorrow morning quickly, as it's back to school. So much for relaxing and sleeping in every morning.

Before and After

She did it! After spending about an hour and half trying to get the contacts in and out, she managed to do it. Now to see if she can get them out tonight and in tomorrow......

Happy New Year!

We stayed home last night. Some homemade pizza for New Years was requested, so we made individual pizzas for dinner. I'll have to make them again, as no one complained that "it's just cheese" "there's pepperoni on MY slice" "yuck, bacon". Everyone could create their own toppings - even James' without hardly any cheese.

This morning Matt wanted to buy a Nintendo DS. He's been saving all his money for a long time, and dreaming about a DS. (he had an old Game Boy Advance - no flip screen). So, he took his pile of money and......



This is what he came home with! He wanted the cobalt blue, but all the stores were out of them. He also liked the silver, so opted for that. It was the last one at Toys R Us. He's now going to save for some games.


I've started some Valentine crafts today. I have some gingerbread and snowmen cut and sewn. I will be adding some vintage quilt hearts on them to make them Valentine-y. I still have the next 3 days without much to do, so hopefully I'll get them done to list on Sunday on ebay.

Rachel has an eye dr appt Friday afternoon to see if she can get contacts in and out (before we order them). She's motivated, so hopefully she'll do it!