A Field Trip

Faith had her very first field trip this week.....she's in 2nd grade and has never been on a field trip until this week (another reason I am LOVING this new private school we put her in!)

Earlier this week, we went to Magnolia Gardens, the oldest public gardens in America. You can check out their website HERE

Just amazing.

We loved it there...they had beautiful scenery, amazing history that dates back before the Civil War, and gorgeous landscapes! Why  haven't I been here before??? It's only 20 minutes away from my house!!!!

Just check out these pictures.....

That alligator sure is pretty WAAAAAYYYY over there.....he was at least 6 feet long....thank goodness he was FAR away.

They also had a petting zoo, which was everyone's favorite part of the field trip. These animals are so used to people, so you can walk right up to them. This rooster was about 2 feet away from me!! Isn't he gorgeous?

I liked the pigs....and Faith did too....they were so ugly, they were cute!!! (and FAT as pigs too!) ha!

Look, it's Thanksgiving dinner!

Faith took a liking to this deer...even named her "Lisa"....(.Lisa?!?!?!?!?)

Faith's 2nd grade class with the teacher....we LOVE the teacher!!!!

The little girls in her class are so sweet, fun, and get along so well!!!!

My sweet girls took a break from tree climbing to pose for a picture!

The best part of the field trip was getting to spend some one on one time with Faith.....being a "temporary" single mom of two kids, it's hard to get any one on one time with the kids lately, so this made my day to get to hang out with Faith. She's such a fun kid and I love being with her!!

I think I may have had more fun on the field trip than she did! ha!

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Cute Lamp Redo-Deployment Project #26

I have seen this particular style lamp everywhere.

Finally, after a trip to my local Goodwill, I came across one for $2!

I love Goodwill.  Good gosh, I love Goodwill.

I bought a can of Ocean Breeze spray paint from Wal-Mart and spray painted that baby.

Bought a new lamp shade from Target.

And now I have a fashionable lamp for my side table.

I am loving the splash of blue!!!

Here's a sneak peek of what else I am working on this week....I"ll be back later this week to share! 

Eeeek! I am so excited!

Creative Organizing

One of my lifelong goals is to be organized.

Oh, one day....

I will be organized. 

Mark my word.

And one way I will get there is by reading blogs like

THIS

I came across Creative Organizing this afternoon, and I love it!!!

Hopefully you will too!

Happy Friday everyone! 

Ballard's Outdoor Rug Knock-Off: Deployment Project #25

Check out these rugs from Ballard's Designs.

An 8' x 11' braided outdoor rug just like the one(s) pictures would cost me $699.....

I hope I don't offend anyone, but who in their right mind would spend $700 on an outdoor rug???????

Instead of spending $700, I went to Lowe's and purchased a canvas drop cloth for about $15 and painted stripes on it!!!!

I just measured and taped. Then painted.

I am currently working on sprucing up my back porch, and this custom "rug" added a nice touch to it!!

I realize this is not close to the quality of a $700 rug from Ballard's.....but it works for me.  I spent less than $20 on this rug, so if it gets dirty it won't stress me out.  Think about the stress you would go through if you were trying to keep a $700 OUTDOOR rug clean....

I'm still working on my back porch, so check back soon to see what else I am doing out here!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Linking to.....

My Backyard Eden

Domestically Speaking

Me and My Bucket

Someday Crafts

Sew Much Ado

The Thrifty Home
House Of Hepworths
Somewhat Simple
Life As Lori

Remodelaholics
The Shabby Nest

You've Got Supper!

 I was just introduced to this awesome site yesterday, and just HAD to share it with you!

It's called You've Got Supper (click to take you to the site)

Each week, they will email you a meal plan, along with a grocery list.

And it's FREE!

Instead of sorting through cookbook after cookbook and wondering what to cook for dinner, you can let You've Got Supper do the planning and create the grocery list for you!

How awesome is THAT?!??

Check them out!

Happy Monday, everyone!! 

Flashback Friday

It's Flashback Friday.....

I'm flashing back to October 2006...

Faith was 3 and a half, and Miss B was about 4-6 weeks old....

(ready to go trick or treating)

(hanging at the punpkin patch)

(fun at the fair)

(Daddy and his girls...I'm not the only one who looked exhausted at this time... thanks to being up ALL night with a baby that NEVER slept)

Check out Miss B on her Daddy's chest.....O.M.G.....this picture gives me baby fever! Look at that SWEET baby!!!!!!

Miss B with our beloved Tucker who we lost this past June. He LOVED our girls....as you can see, he was such a trooper when it came to taking one for the team!!! ;-)

Happy Friday!!!!!

My First Furniture Refinish...Deployment Project # 24

~~~~SQUUUEEAAALLLL~~~~~

I am soooooo excited about my new chair makeover!!!! It's my very FIRST attempt at refinishing a piece of furniture! 

I wanted to start with something cheap and small to see if I could pull it off. I bought this chair at Goodwill for $4!! I figured, it's 4 bucks; if I mess up, I'm only out of $4.

Here it what it looked like when I bought it last week......

I have a little electric mouse sander, so I sanded it first...nothing heavy, just enough to take some of the finish off.

I also took the million staples out of the seat to get the fabric off the original. Easy as pie!

After taking the fabric off, I measured out a new piece and restapled the new fabric to the seat with a staple gun. Again, easy peasy!

Next I spray painted the chair using "Ocean Breeze" blue that I purchased at Wal-Mart for $3. I only needed one can.  (I was going for a color I had never used, just to try something different...now I can't wait to use this color on more stuff).

I also spray on some Lacquer to give it a shine!!!

And here is my new sweet, fun, funky chair......

Again.....the BEFORE...

And, the AFTER.....

I can't wait to get my hands on something else to refinish now!!!!!

We're Famous!!

CHECK US OUT!!!!

WE'RE ON BILLBOARDS!!!!!!

...and sides of buildings.....

...Our kids are in the movie theaters.....

...and artists are jumping at the chance to paint our pictures!

Okay, I am joking.

We aren't famous.

But looking at these pictures makes me feel famous!

Check out PHOTOFUNIA and you can do pictures like this and feel famous just like I did!!!

It's fun, and FREE!

Custom Shadow Box : Deployment Project #23

Customizing A Shadow Box

I wanted to frame the gown my youngest daughter came home from the hospital in.

I bought this shadow box at Hobby Lobby recently, but didn't like the color of the frame.

I took the back of the frame out and covered it with fabric, hot gluing it around the back side of the board.

I taped up the glass in the frame (because, for some reason, it wouldn't come out of the frame). I made sure there was no exposed glass.

I spray painted the frame white.  I used packing tape to tape the gown on the board...it was too hard to pin and I didn't want to ruin the clothing either.  Taping was the easiest way.

Then I just inserted the board back into the frame....and there you have it. A perfect, pretty shadow box with Miss B's "home from the hospital" gown!

Soooooo easy and fast. The longest part was waiting for the paint to dry.....

And it looks great hanging on her wall!

Have a great weekend!