Painted Pine Cones

Howdy friends. How's everyone liking the season so far? Thanks to ninety degree temps, we haven't had much of a fall in Georgia. But as you can see, I'm determined to get in the seasonal mood anyway.

Since there aren't any pine cones on the ground yet this year (why buy them when you can get them for free?), I borrowed these from Asher's nursery.

And took them out to the garage for a little up-do with some Krylon spray paint. (The green shade is called "Ivy Leaf", and I can't remember what the orange shade is called.)

This had to be the fastest, easiest project I've done yet. All it took was about five minutes and two cans of spray paint to get green and orange tipped pine cones.

Then I arranged them in these decorative candle holders (which, by the way, were $1 each at the post-wide yard sale);

And just like that- a cheap, easy, fast, and fun way to not only bring the outdoors in, but the fall season as well.

This is where they are for the time being- the side table in our dining room, next to the golden orange leaf tea set that is also quite reminiscent of fall.

Happy fall decorating!

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Thrifting; Round Two

Here we go again, round two of great deals from thrift and antique shops! (See round one here.)

Goodwill- Columbus, Georgia- $1.50

This pretty little candle holder is soon to be red. It reminded me of a neat candle centerpiece I spotted in Burlington Coat Factory and mentioned (with a picture) here a little while back. I might even try to replicate the hanging crystal look and possibly make some sort of stand in order to raise it up just like the one in the photo. That one was $30, by the way, and it's black counterpart was $50.

There was a 4-Items-for-a-Dollar clearance sale going on, so I had to find four purple ticket items in order to get the deal. It was a challenge, since the purple tickets were few and far in between. But I did it! And I came home with a wad of cute baby ribbon, a silver mini-frame, a black plastic file organizer that'll be great for my wet brushes while painting, and an antique sweet pea grocer advertisement framed in very old wood.

Benning Thrift & Consignment- $.25

Benning Thrift & Consignment- $.25

I have a soft spot for graphic, antiquey things like this. And of course the sweet pea immediately reminded me of Asher, that's what really sold me on it! (Like I mentioned above, I just had to find three other purple ticket items to get it $.25 instead of it's original list price of $1.30.)

Fort Benning Thrift & Consignment- $.25



Benning Thrift & Consignment- $.30

 This is an older purchase, from Asher's nursery. Funky, eclectic, $.30. Need I say more?

Goodwill- Radclif, Kentucky- $1 (I got two)

One of these guys is living on the living room built-ins, and the other is on our other living shelf that's yet to be featured on here.

And that's all for now! My next thrifting adventure will hopefully be to Gina's Junk, a neat place in Columbus I keep hearing about. So, stay tuned!

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Candles & Flowers

I've always liked candles and flowers as table top centerpieces. Who doesn't, right?

We've had this Pier1 Spiced Pear candle (found on clearance!) on our ottoman for a while. My problem with candles is that I'm shy about burning them. Because burning equals burning down, which leads to no more candle (insert frowny face here). Plus, you see the burned wicks and distorted wax.

On another note, I've always thought a little vase of flowers would look nice in this same spot. But obviously there's only room for one decorative focal item. Or is there??? (Head cocked to the side, eyes squinting contemplatively.)

That's what I assumed until I had the random idea to put a fake flower remnant on top of my candle.

Now it's a two-in-one! It took me a few days to decide whether or not I liked it. The verdict is in, and it's a yes! It's not only a great way to cover the distorted wax and burnt wicks, but now it doubles as a floral piece when we're not burning the candle (which is most of the time), and a regular candle when we do light it. (Obviously the flowers come off for that.)

The cost for this simple little idea; $0!

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No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.
{Luke 11:33}

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Oh, For the Love of Coffee

Anyone recognize this? You might if you've ever been to Hawaii's island of Oahu. And if you have, you know exactly what I mean when I say I could go for a Cappuccino Freeze plus a possible spotting of the elusive John Locke.

I don't know about you, but a nice hot mug of coffee is what I look forward to most in the morning. Other than Asher's cute little face when I get him out of his crib, of course (insert big smiley face here!). Speaking of Asher, he's decided that sleeping through the night is overrated. Or, he's been completely ruined by his week or two of sleeping in my bed while Thane was away. Either way, his couple of months of sleeping eight+ hours straight are loooong gone. Which makes a good cup of coffee even more appreciated. Can I get an amen, fellow moms?

And now onto the next limited commodity; time. Brewing a pot of coffee was way too tedious. For me, at least, because I use a vast array of ingredients; Two kinds of coffee (I mix caff & decaff- I like a rich bold taste but without a ton of caffeine), sugar, non-dairy creamer, chocolate Ovaltine, and last but not least, cinnamon! (A friend taught me this trick- sprinkle a little cinnamon on your grinds before brewing and it takes the bitter edge off.)

So that's six steps, not including the filter and the water. And Asher's not a fan of anything that occupies my arms for more than two minutes at a time (unless he's simultaneously nursing, of course).

So, tired of this self-imposed tedious process, an idea struck; coffee storage containers! That I could pre-mix all of my ingredients in!

Off to- guess where?- Ross, I went.

But first for the mixing.

The two types of coffee plus cinnamon went into a big Pyrex and got mixed. The Pyrex really helped. With it's pouring "spout", it could easily be transferred into the new containers. Same with the sugar and creamer mixture.

And here they are; six steps down to two! And they make for very nice windowsill "decor". They're very conveniently placed right above the new spot where the coffee maker is, next door to the green firebird rooster. No more dragging six different containers out of the pantry (and then putting them back away) every morning.

I keep a measuring spoon in each, so there's no need for a new spoon everytime. (If you put your creamer/sugar in first, the coffee mixes it on it's own when it gets poured in.) I've had this little system going for about a week now. It's sped up my coffee making process so much that the first few days I felt like I was missing something.

Oh, and Thane's first question was "how will you know if you have everything mixed in the right proportions?" Just a little trial and error. It was easy to tell that my creamer mixture needed a little more sugar, so into the mix it went, and now it's just the way that I like it. Yay!

Does anybody else have a favorite mug to drink out of? Here's mine- another favorite forged in Hawaii.

The total cost of this super time-saving system was $5 ($2.50 a piece for the containers, at Ross). Well worth it! And I made up for this cost in about one trip to the grocery store. I downgraded from my all-time favorite Dunkin Donuts brand coffee to Eight O'Clock (recommened by a Kentucky-turned-Alaska friend). Now I save about $4 each time I buy coffee. And I honestly don't really notice a difference... So thanks for all the good tips everyone!

Back to Asher for a minute- lots of big news!
1. He didn't cry at all during either day of our traveling to and from New York.
2. He started sucking on a pacifier last Friday! (Same day as the trip, praise God.)
3. He rolled over for the first time on the 3rd! From his back to tummy. And (on the same day) he threw up all of his squash while I was holding him at the dinner table during a meal with guests. I'm not talking spit-up, but real throwing up...twice, huge amounts. I felt so bad for him. It might have had to do with the extra bouncy ride that two of our little guests gave him in his bouncer right beforehand.

One more thing- his new love of a pacifier leads me to a theory on why he's no longer sleeping through the night. (At first it must have been the move back to Georgia plus sleeping in the bed with me, but that should have corrected itself by now.) Now that we're somewhat settled again, I'm noticing that he hasn't been nursing as much since discovering the joy of a pacifier. Which means he might be getting hungrier at night and needing more solids during the day. That, or he's teething. Who knows.

Anybody have any advice for me? Have you enjoyed the bliss of a through-the-night-sleeper only to have him or her revert back to waking up multiple times?

And don't forget to tell me what your favorite mug to drink out of is!

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P.S. Since we're on the topic and Asher and Hawaii...



Couldn't help myself! See his 23 week photo here.

Have a great day!

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Tea, Anyone?

When Thane came home from his deployment to Iraq, he brought me this beautiful little tea set. I was thrilled to have it, and then it sat in it's box (along with a couple Polaroids of one of the sheiks he knew during his journey to Mecca), until we moved to Georgia. Once we got here, I decided it had to be displayed somewhere. Without a formal (or even informal) china cabinet, that "somewhere" ended up being on the living room built-ins.

See 'em? Not so ideal. But along with all of the books, papers, and yes, the tire pump, this little tea set found a better place. (See the shelves de-cluttered and re-organized here.)

Remember this thrift store find from a previous post?

It's the new home for the Iraqi tea set. Well, some of it anyway.

I had this piece of a faux flower sitting around, so I threw it into the mix for a nice, soft touch.

If you look closely, you can see that this tray is in need of a little touch up. At first I thought about painting it a neat color, like deep plum or magenta. But I think I'll keep it simple and just give a fresh coat of white. (The reflection from the orangey yellow glass is making it look yellow, but it's actually off-white.)

So far this sits on a side table in our dining room. (Technically it's a desk, our temporary solution for a buffet.)

Speaking of Thane's deployment, he was away for twelve months during our time in Hawaii. Getting him back was by far one of the top three best days of my life! Right now they rank as follows;

1. The day I met Jesus.
2. Getting married/Thane coming home from Iraq/Asher's birth. Okay, I can't decide which of those #2s comes first, so I'll just lump them into one.
3. Guess this is still open... Not sure what to put here, but the day I had my first chocolate chip cookie is definitely a contender.

Here's a picture of that wonderful homecoming!

As well as a couple of my hunky soldier...

And last but not least, the Polaroids of a sheik Thane worked with during his journey to Mecca. (I know, kind of random...Thane didn't take them, haha, they were given to him. Along with the tackiest gold watch I've ever seen, and a ton of sheik garb.)



See the camel? I've never personally met anyone who's gone anywhere on a camel. Which gives me opportunity for praise- praise to the One and only true God of the Bible, that His Spirit is with His children always- that we don't have to journey to Jerusalem or any other distant place to be closer to Him! Like the wonderful Dad He is, He always has time for us, is always by our side, and will always be our source of peace, comfort, and whatever other good thing we're in need of. Not to mention His guidance and discipline- two things I long for and ask for continually. Okay, I don't exactly "long" for discipline, but it's necessary and totally worth it in the long run; Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. {Hebrews 12:11} So, again, praise God.

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The Firebird Goes Green

This guy is a little on the wild side. He reminds me of a rooster, but in a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter kind of way. Probably because he's actually a firebird. But we're going to call him a rooster anyway. And since roosters tend to hang out in kitchens and ours was completely void of one, I couldn't help but imagine him perched on the big windowsill over our kitchen sink.

I spotted him on a cluttered shelf at the local Goodwill. I picked him up, turned him around, cocked my head at him a little, and wondered how a firebird, I mean rooster, could hold my attention for so long. My practical side told me he was too zaney and redneck, to put him down slowly and walk away. But there was just something about him, (I still don't know what), and I couldn't leave him behind.

He needed some touching up. So out came the leftover lime green paint from Asher's nursery project. It's "503 Yellow Citron" by Folk Art (from Walmart for about $1.50), if you're wondering.

Speaking of Asher, he had his first try at finger painting. He was in my lap during this little project, and it only took him about two minutes to grab my cup of paint and do a little "creating" of his own.

Awwwww...grubby, painty, baby fingers.

And here he is! Mean and green. I was going for a contrasting pop of color that would stand out next to the coral and red curtains, plus pick up on the other lime green accents throughout the living and dining room. Although sometimes I think I might like him white again... He may have another makeover coming his way, eventually.

Oh! I almost forgot...want to guess how much he set me back? $1.50.

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P.S. See more fun thrift store finds here and here.

P.S.S. On a more serious note, a search of the word "rooster" on Blue Letter Bible turned up this verse:

Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." {Mathew 26:34}

So here's another opportunity to remember and meditate on God's word. Just like I'll remember the call to obey His commands every time I see the tassel in the laundry room (from yesterday's post), I'll try to remember this verse when I see my rooster in the kitchen. In order to actively pursue a life of faithful obedience and proclaim Christ rather than deny Him, I need as many reminders as I can get!

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Liven the Laundry

Hello friends, meet our little laundry room. When we first moved into our home here in Georgia, this little nook was nothing but an empty space. After living in Hawaii on-base housing and being provided a washer and dryer, we wrongly assumed that stateside base housing would provide them as well. It turns out that this is only an overseas privilege, and we'd never owned our own set. So, we reluctantly went out in search of a pair to bring home. Which was both good and bad...bad because we were in no way expecting to make such a large purchase, good because we needed stackable units for the ranch house. (Our laundry room there isn't large enough for side by side units.) So, we swallowed our cheap-ness and invested in these.

And now here they sit! They specialize in Army attire and cloth diapers :)

Function; check. Fun; uncheck. Clearly the space is a little sparse.

In comes this old, single curtain panel that had been sitting in a box in the attic for months. I've seen a few neighbors hang a shower curtain to block the view of their washers and dryers, and it always looks nice. So, here's my version.

I wanted to get the look of a curtain without having to buy one. So, with that in mind, I pulled out this old single curtain panel that I didn't have any other use for (it used to hang over our single half bath window in our Hawaii condo- originally from Ross for about $7. Did I mention that I used to live within walking distance of a Ross? That was a bad idea.)

I originally thought I'd just hang this panel on one side of the washer and dryer in a way that it wouldn't actually close, but would give the look of a could-be-closed curtain. But after doing a little experimenting in Photoshop, it was clear that a panel on each side would look much better.

There were two things working against me; time travel has not yet been invented, and this panel came from Ross. So, even if time travel was an option, chances are I'd never find a matching panel. (Anybody that's been to a Ross knows what I mean.) But since they didn't need to close and I only needed a thin strip for each side, I borrowed a little idea I saw on another great blog and made two out of the one. All it took was a straight cut down the center and a little bit of hemming!

Alright! Moving along to the curtain-hanging supplies; the only item I didn't already have on hand was the pack of safety pins, and they were about $1.50 from Walmart.



Safety pins? Yes. I'll explain in a minute. I was originally going to use little white hooks that I already had, but they were harder to get into the wall than I thought. Nails worked just as well (if not better) for this purpose.

Here's one half of my curtain. See the little safety pins fastened in even increments down the top row where the rod would normally go? Since the fabric is double layered here, the pins are only poking through the back layer and are totally invisible from the front.

Doing things the conventional way=spending money. It's funny how shiesty you can get when you want to avoid doing that. Here's my anti-money-spending solution for hanging these panels; safety-pinning them to the wall via a nail. The safety pins act as a little loop that slips right over the head of the nail.

Before kicking off this little laundry room makeover, I inched the washer over to the right so that we'd have optimum space on the far left hand side. Now there's room for my mini ironing board (from college, the only one I've ever owned) to hang out here. And I imagine that more than just stray socks will find there way here soon.



After "making" this little bit of storage space, I realized it would be hidden by the curtain panel. Bonus! Didn't see that one coming, but I'm glad it did. And here we are with "After Picture #1", featuring this little functional storage space that's totally hidden from view!

And in the following photo, you'll see a few decorative pillows coming out of storage for a second- or maybe third, who's counting?- hoorah.

There are two benefits to being a pillow hoarder. One; there are always a few extras on hand to go in new and exciting places (like laundry room shelves). Two; okay, I only know one. But who says they can't be just as pretty on a shelf as they are on a couch? I've got a couple on the built-ins in the living room and in our master bedroom. At one point I even had one propped up against the mirror on our dresser.

The tan and terracotta rug was also a cheap Ross purchase. It was sitting in our guest room previously, sort of- but not really- complimenting the peacock curtains. Notice the red and white glass bottles? Those are my new detergent containers. See more about that little upgrade here. And for your viewing pleasure, a tassel. These things go back to the Old Testament priesthood. Who knew? (Me I guess, but not till I idly wondered where they came from.)

And I had to get a shot with the frames... I didn't plan it, but it's really nice how this whole space sort of goes together. The earthy, orangey frames and flowers really compliment the striped terracotta curtains and pillows. I suppose that's the benefit of having certain colors that you tend to like. Over the years, you buy things that compliment each other.



It sure does feel good to get use out what I've had sitting in a cardboard box since October. The curtains went up for just $1.50 (the cost of the safety pins, which I needed to get anyway just for general purposes). The only other purchases made for this space where the two glass bottles, at $2.50 a piece. So, for $6.50 this little space is no longer a plain Jane. And don't forget all of the leftover safety pins that I'll get other uses from!



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P.S. See how to sew simple kitchen curtains (on the cheap!) here, with the start of my "kitschy kitchen" re-do. Updates on this coming soon...

P.S.S. To hang curtains for less (via spray-paint), see this post. To widen your curtains and get more light into a room, see the how-to here.

P.S.S.S. (Ha, last one!)  I wasn't totally crazy when I mentioned tassels being in the bible. Here it is;

"Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God." {Numbers 15:40}

That's actually really interesting, I didn't realize they were meant as reminders to love and obey God. Okay, all goofing aside, I'm going to try to do this every time I see those pillow tassels. I'm a firm believer in using things for what He originally intended! (Unlike the current use of the rainbow, for instance.) Anyway, there are no doubt a ton of ways I also don't honor God, many of which I probably don't even realize yet. But praise Jesus that I'm a work in progress, by His grace and patience alone!

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