Roadkill Rescue Party!!!

Today's the day! Today's the day!!!
Its the Roadkill Rescue party over at Infarrantly Creativity!!
I'm so excited to see what everyone has created out of their roadkill.

This was my roadkill.



My dining room chandelier.
Ugly right?
Right.

When we moved into our house a little over a year ago my Mother-In-Law told me she would take me to go get a new dining room chandelier. Yeah, I'm still waiting on that.

Lucky for me Lowe's had sent me a project book and in that book was this page.

I looked at it and said to myself "I have that chandelier in my dining room!!!" I tore it out and put it in my project folder.

A year later, I figure I'm never going to get that new chandelier so I took that page out of the folder and decided to revamp my old chandelier.

Here's what I did.

I sanded down all surfaces, and wiped them off.
When it was dry I sprayed the metal parts the same cream color as the desk I revamped and painted the wood part with some paint I had left over from my front entry way. I hung it back up and it looked like this:



Better, but it still did not look that great to me.
I started freaking out a little bit because I thought I ruined it and was going to have to hint to my Mother-In-Law about getting me that new one she promised.

It still needed something so I went to Lowe's and bought 5 drum shaped chandelier shades. I brought them home and put them on and they looked SO bad!

Saturday we had to go get some tile at Lowe's so I took them back and was just going to leave the chandelier the was it was. I returned them and went about my day.

It was a "by chance kind of thing" that we had to go over to Home Depot and there, in the clearance section, was 5 regular shaped chandelier shades for $1.91 each!!! I snagged them up and brought them home. I put them on and they looked perfect except they were not all the same color so I took some of the red paint that I used on the chandelier, diluted it with some water and pained the shades.

It looks so much better doesn't it?

I love how the light shines through the shades.

So then I was not happy with the way the chained looked(I'm hard to please sometimes) so I went into my closet, found an old cream colored shirt, cut some strips, sewed them together and made a chain cover. Now it looks fabulous!!

Im very happy with the way this turned out and Im really glad I took the time to do this revamp.

Now to go join in on the Roadkill Rescue party!!!!!!

Garden Bloggers Death Day.

Busy day today with 2 posts. First off, its Garden Blogger's Death Day hosted by Kate at Gardening Without Skills. I was hoping I would never have to do a death day post but the time has come. We have had some death in our garden this month and it has come in the form of bugs. Beetles, caterpillars and horn worms.

The squash beetles came and ate my zucchini plants before I even knew they were there. By the time I noticed them they had evaded my plants and wiped them out of my garden in only a few short days. I was sad because I really love home grown zucchini. I was surprised the other day when I saw that one zucchini plant actually made it and was growing in between a tomato and an eggplant plant. There may still be hope of getting a homegrown zucchini this summer.

Caterpillars are eating on my cherry tomatoes and my eggplant.  Look at these holes in my eggplant.

I tore this guy right out of on of those holes.(sorry for the blurry pic. My camera acts funny sometimes.)

Its sad. Very, very sad. Oh well. Caterpillars will be caterpillars

I was weaving one of my tomato plants into the trellis' and I noticed small corn looking black things.

It was poop! And not just any poop. I had seen this poop all over gardening sites and I knew right away I had horn worms. I found 2 of them and boy were they HUGE!!!



They were easily the width and length of my pinky finger. They creaped me out big time.

 The girls put them in a bucket to show Ryan when he got home. We took them with us to Lowe's and let them go in a tree. I secretly hope they die. Sorry, but I do.

So that is the extent of death in my garden this month. Hopefully those stinking bugs will stay out of my garden and let me enjoy the fruits and veggies that I have worked so hard to grow.

Big day tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a big blog day for me.
It is

and

Geez.
They both sound horid, like Halloween posts or something but they aren't.

I'm really excited because I have something cool for both.

Stay tuned.

Drained.

My kids are sick.

Runny noses, coughing, sore throats, occasionally puking......

Dimetapp, benadryl, Motrin, and a nebulizer are their best friends right now.

Its no fun and I have not had much sleep this week.

I'll do my Thursday and Friday posts over the weekend.

Until then check out this weird stuff:

Painted newspaper Boy stone

Monsters for your ears

Charles Manson Christmas Cards(seriously????)

The goofiest paper bags ever

Skull Head Girl Victorian Masquerade Ball necklace

Sleepy.

It is moments like this when I don't mind Olivia getting a hold of my camera and taking over 100 pics in less than a half of an hour. In fact, I thank her. I would have never been able to capture a moment like this. Thank you Olivia.

Out With the Old. In With the New.

This is my sewing machine.



We only knew each other for a few weeks before she died.

6 layers of fabric was just too much for her.

I took her to the dr and they said there was no hope so I replaced her with this.



Yes I am now advanced, LOL.

We are getting along great. She has proved herself worthy by sewing through 6 layers with no problems.

I think we are on the path to a long, beneficial relationship.

Olivia's first day of preschool.

Not technically her 1st day of preschool ever but its her 1st day this year. She was really excited.

Like her skirt? I made it :)

I could have sworn I was on week 12........

Anywho, aside from the squash beetles that destroyed our zucchini plants the garden is booming! I think the compost really did the trick. Look at this pumpkin!



It looks like a watermelon to me but I looked up pumpkins online and sure enough they all look like watermelons before they turn orange. You learn something new everyday.

Notice that our panty house idea is not working out so well. We are in the process of figuring out how to cradle them.

We also have an eggplant growing.



Ain't she perdy?

I'm really excited about this little girl because we LOVE eating eggplant parm. around here.

Green beans are growing,



Green peppers are growing,



TONS of tomatoes are growing,









I seriously don't know what we are going to do with all these tomotoes.

We have 3 cantaloupes growing too!!



I dug some soil up around the carrots and the sweet potatoes and those are growing well too. I cant wait to dig up those sweet potatoes. I love eating them with butter and brown sugar(probably why I cant loose this weight, LOL).

The strawberries are growing as well but Ryan says we are not supposed to pick strawberries the first season to help the plant get established. Apparently, bearing the fruit is hard on the plant. Whatever.

Here is a shot of the whole garden.

Summer Squash and Couscous Caserole.

With a crazy baby on the loose sticking every thing possible in her mouth and choking on it, construction workers coming in and out of my house, kids starting school, and the self esteem shattering disappointment of gaining 5 lbs. after I have been running/walking 2 miles every freaking day for the past 5 weeks I have had very little time (and alot less enthusiasm) to cook anything new, cool, or unique. I did however try this recipe I got off of Mama Manifesto. Everyone in my family ate it up even Ellie. They even asked for seconds. I ate the leftovers today for lunch and they were divine. Click the link for the recipe, read the blog, make the casserole and tell me if you liked it or not. oh and eat a piece for me because I'm sure I will never be able to eat it again without gaining 20 more pounds :(

Happy cooking!!!

I'm ill.

Not really but according to our resident physician,

I'm dying and I cant sew all week.

After seeing how the doc parties on her days off,

I think I'll be getting a second opinion.

Back to school.

Today was my Bela's first day of second grade.

I was sad to see her go.

This morning she dressed herself.
She picked out a cute dress from Children's Place, a pair of pink Converse with pinker glitter stars, rainbow heart socks, a pony tail and her glasses.
Nothing matched, her glasses were bent, and her shoes were tied real crazy but I let her go.
I had to.

She's getting too big.

I now regret sending her to camp for 6 weeks and

I secretly wish Olivia would have started school before her so that I

could have some alone time with my first born.


Aren't they a sight for sore eyes in the morning, LOL.

I hate how time goes by so fast once you have kids.
It is the one time you wish would go by slower. So that you never miss a second of it.
Funny how life works out isn't it?

Etsy.

I love Etsy.

I love that I can log in and buy my cousin some gifts that will help her with her new biz

Business card holder from Owlsay and personalized note cards from Debs Design

and my expecting cousin an Original Diaper Wallet for her baby shower

Diaper Wallet from Blue Turtle Collections

I love that for Christmas I can buy this for a friend who just learned to knit

Project bag from Messie Craftie

and one of these to hang on her tree as a memento of what she was into that year,

knitting ornament from Two Girls Laughing

and my cupcake obsessed sister one of these to hang on her tree.

felt cupcake from Cutie Goodie

I love that when I was learning to sew I was able to find a DIY dress kit to get me through my first project

DIY dress kit from Little Fish Big Pond

and all these great fabrics for future projects,

The Fabric Farm


Sew Good Fabric


The Fabric Bar

I'm obsessed with Savor soaps,

And my girls are obsessed with these,

Pretty. Messy. Flower. Joy's Hope

but what I am most obsessed with is the word "handmade".

I have to buy handmade.
After all I took The Handmade Pledge.

You should too.