Saturday, December 31, 2011

Things you don’t know about me…

Happy New Year!

happy new year
Can you believe it’s 2012 already…time goes by so quickly and the older I get the faster it goes.  Does it seem that way to you too?

I thought, to start off the new year, I would tell you some things about me that you don’t know.   Not sure anyone will be interested, but these are things that made me who I am today, so you might know me better if you read them. :0)

In the hospital where I was born, I was the last baby to be born there.  There was a set of twins, then me….then the hospital was torn down and I believe there’s a Kmart there today. lol 

I was pretty poor growing up, but I don’t think I ever knew it, my parents always tried to make my childhood special.  I remember my daddy coming home one day with a box…it was a baby alive doll box.  I thought it was just a box because I wasn’t used to getting toys out of the blue, but my mom and dad took their last $10.00 in the bank and bought me that doll.  I kept it for a LONG time, but if you remember baby alive dolls, you could feed them real food….let’s just say I fed mine and it didn’t come out, and baby alive doll food stinks when it’s left inside the doll.  YUCK!  

baby alive

I grew up in a little house out in the country…..we had an outhouse, a smokehouse, a pigpen, (with a pig named Arnold),      a garden, a well and a pond.  I remember one time I was playing with dish liquid, trying to make bubbles,  and I spilled the bottle and it came within inches of dripping in the well…oh boy did I get in trouble!  I would have ruined our drinking water if it had gotten in the well….. God was looking out for me even then! lol

I learned how to ride a bike when we lived in that house.  A purple bike with a banana seat and a high back.  It looked sort of like this, but with a high bar in the back…

purple bike

I had to learn how to ride my bike in the grass….with a hill….and a fence.  I can assure you I hit the fence more times than I can count trying ride around the house and flying down the hill. I finally figured out how to ride my bike and ran in the house exclaiming, “I rode around the house nine times”!  I was so excited.  

I recently went back to the old farm to take pictures of the house, but it had been torn down and big barn is there now.  I sat in the middle of the road and cried…..it’s hard to see your childhood home torn down.  BUT our pond was still there.  I had a pet duck that used to swim in the pond…my dad was skimming rocks in it and hit the duck in the head by accident. I thought sure he had killed it because it’s little webbed feet went up in the air and it was down head first in the pond. I suppose it was just addled a bit, because it eventually came back up and was ok.  I sure have a lot of good memories of that old place! One summer we had a chicken disappear, we couldn’t figure out what on earth happened to her. One day she came strolling back to the farm with a trail of baby chicks behind her….now how fun is that?! I kind of miss living on a farm.

hen

We eventually moved from there into a trailer park….my mom made it into the prettiest home.  She has a knack for that.

I made a lot of good friends living there….one of which was a boy named Michael Todd Johnson.  We got along really well (ok, most of the time), but I remember one day he stepped on my foot with football cleats on and cut my foot open. I mean really OPEN.  He picked me up and carried me to Mrs. McCall’s house….she was a little old lady that lived in the park, she used to be a nurse, so she cleaned it up and put steri-strips or butterfly bandages on it.  He apologized to me for years for doing that…I still have a scar.    Ok….you remember I said Michael Todd and I didn’t get along ALL of the time?  Once before school, he took my umbrella at the bus stop, and was poking me with it..then he hid it and wouldn’t give it back.   I can’t believe I’m telling you all this, but I punched him in the nose….he went home with a bloody nose and missed school that day.   He never took anything of mine again, and we were very good friends for years!  LOL  Oh…and I’ve never punched anyone in the nose ever again!  :0)

We lived in that trailer park from the time I was about 10 until I was 15.  I met my hubby (TJ) right before we moved from that trailer park into our first house…a real house that was ours.   I remember he came over to visit us in the trailer and we already had everything packed up…I think he thought we were REALLY poor because when we eventually got moved into the new house, he looked really surprised to see pretty things all set up in the house.   I only lived in that house for a short time because my hubby and I were married young.  I was only 17 and he was 19 when we got married.   We had our first son 3 1/2 years later, and 2 more sons later on.   We’ll be celebrating 27 years of marriage on Valentines Day….I told you time goes by fast.  Now here we are celebrating New Years Day 2012…not sure where all those years went, but I know I enjoyed every single one of them. 

I am so grateful to have a nice home and beautiful things now, and to have a husband that goes to work every day to provide for us. I guess I just wanted to start off this new year with a grateful and happy heart while reminiscing about what’s made me who I am today.

I hope the new year holds peace, prosperity, health and happiness for each one of you!
May God bless you in this new year~!

Missy

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Favorite 2011 Posts!

I thought I’d do an end of the year wrap up and hit some of my favorite posts from 2011.  My ALL TIME favorite before and after is my…

LAUNDRY ROOM
Before:

How to decorate a laundry room

After…..

laundry room makeover

laundry room ideas

I just never get tired of looking at my laundry room before and after pics! I still LOVE my laundry room!

Then there were the chairs from Target my hubby bought for me last Christmas, but I didn’t re-do until sometime last summer…

TARGET CHAIR:
Before:

target

After:

how to upholster a chair


I really liked this tutorial because it was so cheap and easy and made such a HUGE difference in my cottage kitchen. :0)

CABINET FEET TUTORIAL:
Before:

how to make cabinet feet
After:

cheap cabinet feet


The next tutorial after pics just amazed me…looks like a totally different space! LOVE it!

DOOR HEADER TUTORIAL:

Before:

how to build door headers

After:

door headers


This before and after was SO easy and made such a HUGE difference in my boys bathroom….don’t know why I waited SO long to do it!

MIRROR MOLDING:

Before:

how to add molding to a mirror

After:

how to add moldings to a mirror

 

This makeover took some serious time and effort, but it was really worth it…it still looks like the after picture almost a year later….so I KNOW it was a good makeover! lol

PANTRY MAKEOVER:

Before:

pantry makeover

After:

how to organize a pantry

pantry organization

 

I got my new camera in 2011 and had to have a cute cover for that plain black strap…you KNOW I had to make it more girly! lol

CAMERA STRAP TUTORIAL:

Before:

how to make a camera strap cover

After:

IMG_1359


This is my boys linen closet in their bathroom…it didn’t have any shelves in it when we bought the house, I remedied that situation!

CLOSET ORGANIZATION:

Before:

how to install wire shelving

After:

how to organize a closet


Then there was the old drawers from the 1916 house that was torn down in our town.  They went from this…

UNDER THE BED STORAGE DRAWERS:
Before:

what to do with old drawers

To this…
After:

under the bed storage ideas


I also got to attend a couple of fun blogger events this year too!

The first was a Bloggers June Jaunt with a great group of gals, but headed up by Gail Wilson, from My Repurposed Life.

Our whole group…

bloggers

Beckie and I in a Peddlers Mall in Indiana.

Infarrantly Creative


The next bloggers event was a craft party with Traci, from Beneath My Heart….we had a wonderful time!
This is me, Traci and Gail, from Gleanings from Gail.

beneath my heart

Here we are with our crafts…what a fun day!

beneath my heart


I would never have believed when I started this blog that I would have made so many wonderful friends.  There are many wonderful people out there in bloggy land and I’m SO blessed to know YOU! You guys really know how to make a girl feel special and loved. 

I truly hope you have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Love you all!

Missy
I’m linking this post up to Rhoda’s year end post on Southern Hospitality.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Treasures Vignettes….

I have so many wonderful memories attached to almost every Christmas decoration I have.  I remember bottle brush trees from when I was little, so they just have to have special spots in my Christmas décor…..

cloche

This is a very simple vignette, but I wanted the trees to be the main focus….something so simple can be so pretty when they’re all grouped together under glass. My mom gave me the cloche’ many years ago, so the whole thing reminds me of family and Christmas from years gone by.

bottle brush trees

I have some of my most treasured antique ornaments behind glass. My mom gave me the old bowl, and it’s filled with well worn ornaments from times past…

aqua vintage ornaments

This next set of ornaments holds a very special place in my heart.  I received this entire set, including the silver compote, in the mail this year from an amazing blogger friend. She is one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever had the pleasure of “meeting”. I hope to one day meet this gal in person and hug her neck, but until then…you know who you are, and you’re a treasure among treasures and I love ya dearly!

sweet friends

Aren’t they just beautiful! I have to tell you, when I received the box in the mail, I opened it from the bottom and out came the silver piece first and I was just in love…I thought that was all that was in the box and I was thrilled!  Then I noticed more things…I started unwrapping the carefully wrapped ornaments one by one and sat there in my upstairs hallway and cried like a baby.  It sure was a wonderful surprise…..what a blessing! You know, all of you are blessings to me! Every time I see how many people read this blog..I stand amazed. Every time I read your sweet comments, it makes my day brighter and my heart swell…I really do love you guys!

old vintage ornaments

Old ornaments are one of my favorite things in the whole world and they’re getting harder and harder to find, so I treasure the ones I have so much! My favorites are the indented ones….especially if they’re pink!  Do these ornaments just scream my name or what!?!

indent ornaments

Do you all love old ornaments too, or do you prefer the newer stuff?  I wish I could go back in time and gather all the things I love from years gone by and bring them back with me to today…wouldn’t that be fun?!

Hope you all have a very Merry CHRISTmas and a blessed New Year!

Missy

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Christmas Foyer Window

Christmas Mantle

Hey guys!   Today I wanted to show you my Christmasfied foyer.
I started out by hanging our white fuzzy stockings…I filled them with some old toys from years gone by. :0)

See the pink lantern?  I got it marked down at TJ Maxx for $7.00….it was red, which would be fine for traditional Christmas colors….but I’m a pink girl, so it got spray painted pink. Besides, I’m using it all year long, so it definitely couldn’t have stayed red…Ya'll know my house has no red in it at all! lol (oh and it has a flameless candle in it, which makes for a festive little light at night!)

Christmas decor

The little pink trees came from Michaels last year after Christmas…they were half off….I bought three.  I love my old glitter tree…I don’t even remember where it came from, but it’s a Christmas staple in our home now.

mercury glass

Here are my Dollar Tree vases I made filled with fake snow…also from the Dollar Tree.  Have you seen it?   It came in a little clear baggy inside a can and it was a fine powder….you add water and poof, you have snow! (ok..you have to mix it up..then poof!) :0)
I added my white bottle brush trees and a couple of old books for some height and voila’! (I sound like a magician…poof and voila’!) LOL

Dollar Tree

OH…you see that cute little snowman?  My middle son made that in 5th grade….I treasure the things my kids made growing up. He’s 19 now and I wouldn’t take anything for all his little Christmas projects we’ve made together. 

how to decorate a foyer for Christmas

So that was my Christmas-y foyer!
I’ll do another Christmas post later this week and show you a few little vignettes around our home.

Merry Christmas!
Missy

Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas Gift Idea….Delicious and Fun!

I told you all about our wonderful Choir Christmas party we had last weekend, and wanted to share the treats I made for each choir and band member.  I found this idea from Pinterest and thought it was a fantastic idea for a gift for a lot of people.
By the way, if you aren’t on Pinterest, if you’ll leave me your email address, I can send you an invitation…if you click HERE, you can follow my boards too!


First I went on Ebay and found two buckets of these Wilton Cookie Cutters…they ended up being less than $20, which is pretty doggone good for 36 gifts!

Wilton cookie cutters
Then my mom helped me out by baking me her FAMOUS Coca Cola cake in a shallow pan. (hers is better than Cracker Barrels any day of the week!!) This recipe works great because the icing is like fudge and accepts the cookie cutters without getting smashed. This reminds me…. I need to get her recipe!!  (you could also do this with fudge!)

I took each cookie cutter and arranged them on top of the pan of cake first, so I could maximize the amount of cookie cutters I could get on top of the cake.
inexpensive christmas gifts for a crowd
Then I gently pushed them down  into the cake.  I went ahead and did them all at once, so I wouldn’t mess up any of the cake, taking them out one at a time. 
coca cola cake
I used a little icing spatula to remove each of the cookie cutters. Guess who got to eat the little pieces that were left?!  Oh yeah baby, we all munched on that!  (this picture is making my mouth water….that icing tastes exactly like rich, creamy fudge!)
christmas gift ideas
After I lifted the cake filled cookie cutters out of the pan, I wiped off the outside of each one so it wasn’t too smudgy….you want to make a nice presentation. :0) 
chocolate christmas
You can decorate them with candy etc, if you’d like at this point.


I bought some really cute little bags to put my goodies in….
gift ideas for a group
christmas bags

Then I put one cake filled cookie cutter in each bag and had an assembly line going with Carson…I bagged, he twist tied.  :0)
christmas gift ideas

We actually took it a step farther and made hand made gift tags and put them on with red pipe cleaners, but I forgot to take a pic of that part and I had already given them all away when I remembered.  Sorry…bad blogger!  lol
christmas gift ideas
I
thought this was a wonderful idea for giving gifts in large numbers.  You could give them out to your neighbors, church choir, friends or whatever. 
Have a Merry Christmas…it’s getting closer!!  (Carson lets me know this each day!)  lol
Missy

Monday, December 5, 2011

Our Christmas Mantle

how to decorate a mantel

I can’t wait to show you all the decorating I’ve been doing for Christmas, but first I have to share with you the crazy, but fun week I’ve had!  Wednesday night at  church it was my turn to take part of the snack, but apparently we had more bringing snack than we realized…we had SO much food that we ended up sharing with the men’s class in the other room! lol  Then Thursday was our bi-weekly homeschool co-op group at church…we always have fun when we all get together. :0)  Friday night was our annual ladies ornament exchange…we play dirty santa and steal each other’s gifts, and the third time it’s stolen the gift is dead and belongs to that person…what a hoot seeing a bunch of ladies from church “stealing” from each other.  It was all in fun and we had a ball…and ate WAY too much!  Saturday night was the Christmas party at our house for the choir/band/media groups at church! I was a bad blogger and didn’t take a single picture, but it’s because we were having SO much fun it was ridiculous!  We had platters and crockpots of food covering every surface in the kitchen…our church people can cook!  I believe at last count we had 31 people, but we had some others drop in and out all throughout the night, so I’m still not sure of the accurate count.  I handed out door prizes all throughout the night and we just had a wonderful time fellowshipping!  You’d think by now we were done partying wouldn’t you?! Nope…we had our 45th Anniversary at our church on Sunday….what a day! We had most of the pastors represented from all 45 years and had multiple speakers all through the day.  We had an amazing spread for lunch and stayed until about 4:00 in the afternoon, but didn’t have church that night, so we stayed home and watched movies, snacked and played games.  What a crazy fun week! (that’s why I’ve been missing in action on this blog…I didn’t have a spare second!)

Ok…now on to Christmas décor!….hopefully you stayed with me through that whole novel I just wrote! lol
Today I want to show you my Christmas mantle….I love it!

I decided to use my vintage skates, crystal garland, and the cutest little fluffy owls you’ve ever seen! (oh and that window is one of the ones I told you about my mom asking the guy in the drive thru of the bank for! lol)

how to decorate a mantle

Here’s a little broader shot so you can see everything.  That chair usually goes where my Christmas tree is sitting now, so I just scooted it over in front of the fireplace because we needed that extra seat for the party and I won’t be using the fireplace for a while anyway.

how to decorate for Christmas

I got the NOEL letters last year, after Christmas, from Walmart for .25 each…I LOVE them!  You should have seen me after decorating with them though….I had glitter all over my face. :0)

christmas mantle


Here are those adorable little owls I was telling you about.  I have to tell you that I got them from last years ornament exchange….and yes, I did have to steal them for the 3rd time to make sure they went home with me. (don’t judge me!)  LOL See their sweet little nest with the golden glitter eggs….so stinkin’ cute!
(they came from Pier 1)

Christmas owl decor

See the little trees on the ends of the mantle?  I got those from the Dollar Tree….I bought silver and gold and stacked them, because I knew I wanted to have both colors on the mantle and I thought it would be a good way to tie them both together…I think it worked out just fine.

Christmas Mantle

I nestled some gold balls, poinsettias and berries into some greenery that I lit up with white lights.  I made sure to arrange things at different heights and levels so your eye would have  a smooth transition from one item to the next.

how to decorate for christmas

OH, I have to tell you what Carson said when he came in the room after I had finished the mantle.  Here’s the conversation:

Carson- “mom”?
Me- “yes, Carson”
Carson- “I just have to tell you….”
Me- “tell me what honey”?
Carson- “I just have to tell you, I think that mantle is your best work ever”.
Me- Smile

That made my day!

Christmas

One final look…..

how to decorate a mantle
how to decorate a mantel
how to decorate a mantle
Our Christmas
Christmas Mantle
Christmas Decorations

I wanted to get all my decorating finished early this year so I could take time and enjoy the holidays with my family.  I want to make sure my kids remember the true reason for this beautiful season……..
Jesus came to this earth as an infant babe to offer himself as a sacrifice that we might have eternal life….HE was the first Christmas gift.   Let’s all take the time to stop and remember the first Christmas gift, the one true gift,  as we give to the ones we love this year.

Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

Missy

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