Put it to use... its about time

Remember when I (ok, my mom) found this at a yard sale for $1. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It just sat around for a while until I decided to put it on my coffee table with a little bit of Christmas cheer in it. Yes, that is chessey isn't it?

I like it because I can put all the stuff I want to - out on the table without it being all over the place. Its like a little drawer organizer for the table.

 

New Family Member...

Don't get too excited... its another dog! Now that we have a house and a backyard we wanted to get a "big" dog. I had been going to the SPCA to search out for a Golden Retriever that needed rescuing. I didn't have any luck. After a few months of looking and finding no golden's,  I was walking out of the shelter and overheard a conversation. An elderly couple had found a dog on the highway, she was almost hit by a car so they snatched her up. They put an ad in the paper trying to find her home, or any home for that matter. After 3 days they brought her into the SPCA, but the lady at the front desk said the SPCA was full and they could not take any more dogs at this time. The couple seemed upset because they were unable to keep her or find her a home. They didn't want to put her down, so has soon as I heard "put down" I yelled out "I'll take her!" The SPCA worker seemed shocked and said "Wow, what great timing." So I took her home and she has become a great addition to our family. She is sooo sweet and just wants to cuddle all the time. However... we just got grass in our backyard after months of dealing with dirt, and shes a digger! I have giant holes all over my backyard. So if anyone knows how to handle that - I'd love some advice.  But she's so beautiful and sweet I can't part with her. We named her Maggie and its weird how you can tell that she is grateful to have a home. Dogs are so great, aren't they?

This rug you see... yeah- she chewed sections of the green part up! I think she still has some puppy in her.

 

So that is the story of how Maggie came to be a Hearron. =) 

DIY Wreath Project

I've had this wreath for a while that I got on clearance from TJ Maxx. I decided to give it a bit of some sprucing up for this season.

I put a buncha extra Christmas decor all out on the kitchen table to decide what I would add to the wreath.  I busted out my handy dandy hot glue gun and used some mini ornaments that I bought at goodwill.

 

I tied some ribbon in a bow... that I already had (from Michaels), and glued it to the top. Its now hanging from my front door to welcome me every time I come home.

 

 

 
 

Fireplace Before & After

I'm back with a new revamp! Its about time, huh? Well remember me crossing my fingers to find a good deal on a "fireplace". Well it happened. Yes! I found this fireplace mantle with electric insert for around $150 on craigslist. I just gave it a painted face-lift and ta-da...a whole new cozy environment. At least it feels like it.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

Now I have a place to hang our stockings...

The fireplace wasn't made of real wood so I started to get a little scared about painting it. It has a super glossy finish to the "wood" so I used Sherwin Williams pro-block oil-based primer. Then I painted about 4 coats of creamy white latex paint, and about 3 coasts of black on the base section. I still need to give it a good poly coat to keep it durable, but the paint is sticking and not scratching up like I thought it might.

Its great to "click on the fire" at night to give our movie watching a little ambiance.

Deck the Halls...

The day after Thanksgiving I woke up with an extra pep in my step. Maybe it was all the good food and slept I got, but I think it was because I knew it was the day. The day we were going to pick out the "perfect" Christmas tree (under $30 that is). Okay, maybe that was a tad dramatic, but I was very excited to get our first full size Christmas tree. Last Christmas was our first Christmas being married and we were saving for our first house. We decided to opt again buying a Christmas tree. Ryan's mom surprised us with a mini tree. I was happy to have a tree in our 500 sq foot apartment. It was a great Christmas. But this year we decided we wanted to large tree to go in front of the big window in our living/dining room. We didn't want to spend much though. First thing Black Friday morning, for us that was 10:00 am - yeah we slept way in. We headed down to a local tree lot where the trees were "fresh from the farm". MAN! Trees are expensive. We wanted a 6 ft Noble Fir, but we were looking at about $50-60 bucks. Ohhh heck no thank you. I remembered seeing some signs at Lowes, so we headed there instead. It was a nice surprise. We got what we wanted and for only $29! I'm tellin' ya.... head to Lowes. They didn't have a HUGE selection, but they had good prices and good trees.

It was fun watching Ryan fit the tree into truck (with back seats folded in) of a Honda Accord. Once we got it home, we had the hardest time trying to get our old stand to make it stand up right. We had many laughs looking at a crooked tree. And then after a gigantic water spill all over the hardwood floors, we finally got it in place. I think its still a little crooked but we don't care at this point.

I put a beach towel under the tree stand in case I over water it again. Then I pulled out my box'o'ornaments including the Hallmark series collection I've had starting in 1991. I was in kindergarten and my mom took me to Hallmark and let me pick out a series that was starting that year. I chose Puppy Love. I always loved dogs, and I was secretly hoping if I chose Puppy Love - I would get a puppy for Christmas. =)

 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I've been feeling the Christmas cheer here at our house. I'm sure my husband is already sick of Christmas music. I usually don't have much red in my house, so its a nice change. We got a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was so exciting! My first full size Christmas tree. I felt very grown up. =) I wish Christmas happened twice a year.

 

 

 

 

I found these little birdies at the Dollar store...

I put one on my China Hutch and one my Santa sign in the kitchen.

 

Family Pictures, check.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was a good one, lots of food and family.

A couple of weeks ago my good friend Casey Hardy from Casey Hardy Photography took some family photos of us. She even got our three crazy dogs in the mix. Speaking of.... I have a new dog! I'll tell more about her later. Anyways, Casey is new to photography and doing a great job. It was exciting to see our professional family photos. The last time that happened was our wedding. Its still weird to see myself as a brunette for the first time in my life. Oh yeah... I died my hair a couple months ago. Its starting to grow out with some blonde roots and it looks like I"m graying. =)  Still much less upkeep than lightening it.
We went down to the dried out riverbed to shoot some photos. My sister Kelsey went along so she could manage the dogs while we took pictures without them. Poor thing, all three dogs were a handful in the riverbed.
Casey is coming up fast, she's going to be shooting my husbands family and us next weekend. Her first paying gig and shes only been doing this for a short time! GO Casey! You should check out her blog to see some more of her photograhpy here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving Pie!

Eat up! Thanksgiving is a busy day for me. I'm really looking forward to it. In the morning, my sister-in-law has a "cinnamon roll - Macy's day parade party", then I have lunch at my in laws, then dinner at my parents, then after dinner drinks at my aunts. Whew, busy day. But lots of family and lots of fun. I love thanksgiving. I'm a sucker for the mushy family holiday stuff. I got off pretty easy this year since I have nothing going on at MY house. I was the pie lady apparently. I went through the crazy Costco day-before-Thanksgiving rush to get a pumpkin pie and pecan pie for my family dinner. Costco wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, being the day before Thanksgiving and all. For my in-laws lunch I was asked to make a "Williams-Sonoma" pecan pumpkin pie. My mother in law gave me all I needed to make it.

I just took the Pecan Pumpkin butter from Williams-Sonoma then added eggs and cream.

I bought two Pillsbury pie crusts and used one to cut out little leaf and acorn shapes.

Once I added the filling to the pie and cooked it for 20 minutes, I added the rest of the crust and cooked for another 45 minutes. 

By the way.... I am in LOVE with Pandora.com. You type in a song or artist you like and it customizes a radio station to fit exactly what you like. You can give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to a song. If you give it a thumbs up it will pick more songs like that one, or if you give it a thumbs down it will never play that song again or ones like it. I was listening to Christmas music half the day - mainly by Harry Connick Jr. *sigh.

After the first part of baking, I took it out and added the rest of the cut-out crust to it. Then I put it back in the oven for 45 more minutes. I took a shower, painted my toes, and just relaxed on the couch. It was a great Thanksgiving eve day. =)

  Then it was all done. Just a tad crispiness to part of the edges. Lesson learned.

I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving full of family, food and good memories.

I found this prayer over at lifeingrace.blogspot.com by Eddie. I think it is amazing and a great prayer of thanks...

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. Lord God, heavenly Father, You have created me and endowed me with all that I am or have as a pure gift of Your fatherly divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. You sustain me from day to day with the gifts of daily bread in the food that I eat, the family that surrounds me, the friends I enjoy, the country where I live, and countless other benefits that I constantly receive from Your open hand. On the Day of Thanksgiving, cause me to gratefully remember the good gifts that You shower upon me. Deepen in me the knowledge of Your goodness, and awaken my heart to praise You for all of Your gifts, especially the forgiveness of sins that You have purchased and won for me and the whole world in the atoning death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Keep me mindful of Your mercies every day, and grant that I may thank, praise, serve, and obey You not only with my lips but also with a life dedicated to the service of my neighbor. To You, O Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, praise and thanksgiving, now and forever.
Amen."

A Place for my China...finally

I'm back! I've been computer-less for what feels like FOR-Ev-ER. And now I can share more about my China Hutch redo. I unpacked our wedding china for the first time - and we got married May 08. We just used it for the first time for a bagel breakfast. It was a little comical and a little romantic. Mostly, I just like to look at it now that its on display in its new little home...

Here is a before of the dining room. This was taken very shortly after moving in.

Awful lighting, but here it the room After!

 

 

 

 

 

Make me MAD for PLAID

As Christmas is coming up, I've been feeling like curling up with a cozy plaid blanket. Plaid just feels so Christmas-y and homey to me. I like these pictures...

 

images from country living