A Thrift Store Makeover

A couple of years ago, I found this beat-up old rolling cart at my local thrift store for $10.00. I immediately liked it, but didn't quite know what I would do with it. I brought it home anyway, and didn't get the inspiration to do anything with it until a couple of months ago.

So, I took it apart and gave all of the pieces a good scrubbing. Then, I gave each of the trays a coat of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Primer in White. Next came a couple of coats of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint in Banner Red Gloss. Once it was dry, I put it all back together, and, voila! I had a brand new rolling bar/tea cart for my dining room:

I love how it turned out, and I'm glad I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it.

Peg Doll Necklace

See this little girl?

She's on her way to Maine to see this little girl ~

(that's my lovely niece, Violet)

I love the little wooden peg people that you can get in just about any craft store...they are really inexpensive, and there are so many things you can do with them. I saw this idea on one of my new favorite blogs recently, so I thought I'd give it a try this past weekend. I love the way it came out, and I hope that Violet will like her, too!

Of course, the boys were intrigued, and wanted me to make something for them as well. So, with a little inspiration from Her Cup Overfloweth, I came up with these:

I made this Superman for my nephew. I made a Spiderman for Griffin, but he went missing less than 4 hours after his paint was dry, and the Batman I made for Camden vanished not long after (thus, no photographic evidence of their existence)! Hopefully they will resurface, but in the meantime, I'm having a hard time not painting up a whole little family of peg dolls!

Peanut-Butter-Chocolaty Goodness

Oh, Lordy...is this pie yummy. The boys and I enjoyed a lovely cookout with Rex, Kasey, and Banzer on the 4th of July (Steve was under the weather, so he missed out on all the fun, unfortunately), so I made this pie. You may recognize it from The Pioneer Woman ... when I saw it on her website, I knew I wanted to make it. Very, very simple, and delicious beyond imagination. I would put this pie in the same category as a cheesecake (i.e., super-rich) - - so yummy that you want to go back for seconds, but if you eat too much, you will most likely wish you hadn't.

The Tree Fort

Steve started building a tree fort for the boys back in May, when his parents came out for a visit. I think we can safely say we are entering the home stretch of completion. It turned out so nice, and the boys just love it! There are times when I want to take a chair and a good book, and go hide in it myself (like today, for example - - Calgon, take me away!). There is some painting yet to do, and I still need to make a curtain for the door and shades for the windows, according to Camden. We picked out some cute canvas material the other day, so I must fire up the sewing machine this weekend and get it done.

It appears that there isn't a roof on the fort, but Steve used some clear plastic stuff, so that daylight would still shine in....love that idea!

The boys wanted a little sign to hang outside the door, so here is what I came up with.

I was happy to finally find a home for this nifty cow bell - - my mother got it for me at Stonewall Kitchen back in 2005 when I was home for a visit. Unfortunately, our house is brick so I've never been able to hang it up!

Birthday Boy

Lots to post about, lots of new pictures...lets spread it out over a few days, shall we?

Camden turned 6 on June 19th. I'm really not sure how that is even possible. I think my heart breaks a little bit, each time he grows another inch. No matter - - he could be 6'5" and he will still always be my baby.

I had the "birthday table" waiting for Camden when he woke up, and you'd better believe he zeroed in on the cupcake pretty fast. I think it was in his belly before 7:00 a.m. We had fun looking through his baby album together, and I told him all about the day he was born. Every time we'd turn a page, Griffin would point to a random picture and say, "Is that me?"

I couldn't get a great picture of this, but I made a fun little birthday banner to hang over the fire place, using a picture from the day he was born, and each of his birthdays. I think I'll just change the number and add another birthday picture to it next year!

Camden's birthday happened to coincide with the annual Cherry Festival, so Steve took the afternoon off, and we all headed to the park to enjoy the rides.

Back home that night for some birthday cake. Since Cherry Festival is a pretty busy time in these parts, we decided to hold off on the birthday party until this past weekend.

As you can probably guess, Camden's party theme of choice was "Titanic". He was pretty specific about what he wanted for a cake, and so I spend quite a bit of time distressing over how the heck I was going to make a Titanic out of cake and fondant, but in the end it turned out just fine.

The iceberg was sort of an afterthought, but think Camden liked that as much as he liked the ship!
Fondant is really very easy to learn how to use, and I am amazed at how many things you can do with it. I can't wait to try another cake with it, soon.

Camden had a great time with his friends, and both the boys were good and tired that evening. I think Camden was pleased to have converted some more people into Titanic fans, too.

The Dead Laptop Battery Blues

So my laptop died last week. I come to you via the old, slow desktop in the basement. I don't often get the chance to sneak down to the basement to use this computer, thus the lack of emailing and blogging from me for the past few days. I can't upload pictures on this computer for some reason, so all you are getting from me today is a boring, photo-less post about how I can't wait for my new laptop battery to get here.

On the same token, I have to admit that this break from my laptop has been very, very refreshing. I've realized just how much time I spent on my computer on any given day, and I'm determined to have different Internet parameters going forward. I think as a stay-at-home mom, it is really easy to get sucked in to an open laptop, dozens of times throughout the day. It is a good distraction, gives me a mental break, and really, it can break up the monotony and a tough day. However, without this distraction, I've gotten a lot more done, and I've spent my time in a much wiser fashion. So, we'll see what happens when the UPS man arrives with the box from Dell. Sigh.

I'm obviously behind the 8-ball on all sorts of blogging though - - such as the annual Cherry Festival, and my sweet baby boy's 6th birthday. So, lots of pictures to follow in the coming days.

Thoughts on a Rainy Day

I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain, and my first thought was, "Yay! I don't have to water the lawns tomorrow!" Then, I promptly went back to sleep. It is 8:00 a.m. now, and still raining, so I'm guessing there won't be any swimming lessons this morning. We shall see. Swimming lessons began this past Monday, and Camden is doing great! He has much more confidence in the water than he did last year, and I have a feeling he'll be making great strides this summer. Griffin...not so much. While he enjoyed the "Mommy & Me" class last year, he spent the first two classes this week, screeching and clawing at me and wanting to get out of the pool. So, we are officially drop-outs, I'm sad to say.

Steve's away at annual training right now, and these little boys have been working me over this week. Now, I'm not looking for any sympathy here, because I know all of you know exactly what I am talking about. The bickering. The toy-throwing. The tantrums. The general unruliness of a 2-year old and an almost 6-year old. These are the times where I feel very sorry for my poor mother, because I am quite sure my brother and I caused her the same heartburn I am feeling now, when we were little. Alas, that's not all we've been up to this week, thank goodness. We've managed to throw in some ice cream, some crafting, lots of yard work and gardening, some baking, a little kung-fu, one child with runny eyes and a fever, and some birthday party planning, to round it all out.

Speaking of gardening, I'm finally starting to enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of my labor. All of my radishes have been picked and eaten, I've made 2 cups of pesto (which I promptly froze in ice cube trays and popped in the freezer), and I've baked some rosemary bread. I'm so happy that my herbs are doing so well this year - - I love having them right there at my fingertips.