Weekend Campout.

We went camping this past weekend with a group of friends. We had beautiful weather, not too hot, not too cold, and no rain! The kids loved it. Little Sister here enjoyed getting very dirty!
Ready to go, we just need some water!

One of the guys has an old cider press he is restoring so he loaded it up along with about 8 bushels of apples and we made some VERY delicious apple cider. Thanks Ryan!

Before and After.

Before.

After.

Finally Finished.

New Centerpiece and FINISHED BATHROOM!!!!!

New Centerpiece.

Andrea at 100 wishes made some glittered gourds that were soooo cute. I didn't have glass glitter or the fake gourds so this is my version. She did inspire me! The little baubles stuck in them are old earrings I got with a bunch of old buttons.

Bathroom is FINISHED at last! I am so proud of my husband!! He did an excellent job on everything. Woo-hoo! I will post some pics later of the before, during and after of the cupboard hanging here. Now, I have to run, we are going camping and I've got a load of things to do! Happy Weekend!!

Beautiful Fall Decor

A little wreath I picked up yesterday at my very favorite shoppe in the entire world. Such beauty! Sara made this from things sold in the store and I just HAD to have it! So I convinced the shopkeeper to sell it to me even though it really wasn't for sale! I think they may make up kits of stuff so you can make this yourself. If they do, I just may have to have another!!
Just some shots of a few of the places I put it for fun.


And here is it's final posing place for the moment, on the inside of the exterior door in my kitchen. So kitcheny with the jeweled fruit and it really adds a fun pop of color. It may just hang there year round! Thank you Sara for this wonderful piece, you are very talented.

Fall Fruit pieces all glittery and ready to pop into a display or creation! Some of these were used in the wreath Sara made.

Beautiful Ribbons to add fun to fall decor or to add flavor to my ribbon box!

A shot of the old tablecloth I've been hording for years now. It will soon hang in my new bathroom as a 'creative concealment'. Check out The Inspired Room and search for creative concealments on her site. There have been some really great ones!

And we are definitely getting there! T took tomorrow off so hopefully by tomorrow evening I will have my final 'after' shots. Can't wait.

A Day at the Zoo

Sunday we went to the Cincinnati zoo with some friends. This zoo has a giraffe exhibit that opened in June of this year. The viewing area is above the giraffe pen and they have giraffe feeding a couple of times a day. Here is Little Sister feeding the baby giraffe a leaf. Very neat!
We got in on elephant bathing too! These girls loved the water! The one facing the camera went completely in the water and completely under! She also used her trunk to reach over the rocks in search of something fun to eat. Very Very fun to see. As they were getting out after bath time they trumpeted. What a noise! Hadn't heard that before.
Little Sister enjoying a moment on the lap of an 'elephant'.
Middle Sister bravely posing with and 'alligator'.
Big Sister in the jungle.

Ribbons!

I haven't been real inspired lately on a new post I guess! Still catching up from the power outage 'Ike' left behind after blowing through. Our power came back on on Wednesday last week at 11:19am. I saw the DP&L trucks at 11:00, never saw a better sight! I know there are still people out of electric and I pray they soon have it back. All those workers are sure a blessing the way they work around the clock to get us back up and running.

The picture above is a current shot of my 'ribbon box'. No, I can't get ALL my ribbon in here but I periodically redo it for fun. the pics below are old pics from Christmas time a couple different years. Ribbon is so much fun, for all sorts of projects!

We went to the zoo yesterday. The girls had a great time, I will post some of the pics when I take time to get them off the camera!

Ike was definitely here!

This is how our house looked last night and not because I was in a romantic mood! Ike sent some mighty winds our way Sunday and we have been out of power ever since. They say it will go through the weekend till everyone has power back. And this is only Wednesday! Needless to say I am getting a little tired of it! BUT, I DON"T have 10 or 20 inches of water in my house, I DO have water since I live in town, there is NOT a tree on my roof, my roof is NOT damaged, my family is all accounted for and well, I DO have a generator that is keeping my freezers frozen and my fridge cold, and last night we plugged in my computer! I was in serious withdrawal over being so disconnected!! So this morning I'm catching up a little online and feeling much better!

This is a picture of Little Sister eating a snack at 8:30 Monday night. It was completely dark in the kitchen (flash doesn't show that it was dark and it wouldn't take w/out the flash!) She keeps asking me "Why is the 'lectic' off?" Good question! I hear DP&L sent a bunch of trucks to Texas so now they don't have the means to help out their own! Go Figure!
Just a couple shots I took last night of my newly arranged craft center. I can't do a lot w/out power so this is one thing I did do! Of course, everything that HAS to be done takes much more effort than it used to! I had to empty the dishwasher last night and wash it all by hand, we were OUT of clean plates, cups, etc. Big Sister dried it all which was a huge help and it really didn't take us that long. We are thankful to have running water and very grateful that it isn't really cold or hot out.

Fall Nesting!

My light became part of my decor since it will be awhile till this one gets installed. Fabric is from Anna Maria Horner I just love her fabrics!

Then End. Of summer that is!

Just a few places I put some fall things. I doubt my walnuts will last very long but they were the best thing I could think of for getting some fall decor out of my yard at the moment!

New goodies, New light, New applesauce!

I received an order today that I had placed with 100 Wishes. I just love all her stuff, her packaging and I think her new business cards are just the sweetest thing. The silhouette is actually her as a little girl! How fun is that!


Her Soft Italian candies and the Good Night candies are just yummy. I would advise one and all to give them a try!
Last night little sister came out of the bathroom like this! She could barely see where she was going and insisted that Mommy take a picture!

My new light is actually in already! I'm so excited. It really looks great in my dining room. Good-bye ceiling fan!!
My wonderful husband replacing my light. I think he hopes I stay home now for awhile and don't get any more new ideas!

This is what I did today. Applesauce is so fun to make! It isn't hard, it goes quickly, and it is delicious!

IKEA!

I went to IKEA and Ballard Designs yesterday with my best friend. I've been wanting to go ever since one opened an hour away. I got this great light to put in my dining room. I'm sooo ready to get rid of the ceiling fan light. Somehow they just don't have the right effect for me!
This is a set of curtains I got for Big Sister's room at IKEA.
Light fixture I found at Ballard Design to put in my stairway. Right now it is part of my fall decor, I'll post some pics of that soon!
And some tall stuff to go in this basket I've had for awhile. We had a GREAT time and I'm so glad we finally found time to go. We've been thinking about it since May I think! This is the first time this year I've spent a day just having fun for me!