Once in a lifetime ~ 11-11-11, 11:11

Theres a blog I like to read called Dear Lizzy.

She has a beautiful blog and today she has posed a photography challenge.

Since 11-11-11 doesn't come around too often.....like ever, 

I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

Take a picture of yourself today at 11:11 am

Blog about it or Facebook it

Then link up with Lizzy 

If you link up there, let me know via comments.

If you don't want to or didn't take a picture, I would still love to know what you were doing this morning at 11:11 on 11-11-11 ~ let me know in the comments ☺

oh, and there is nothing in this for me, excepting quenching my curiosity

SO.....

Today at 11:11am

Smiley and I were at the mall, returning a few items.

When we reached the car, I looked at my watch ~ it was 11:10.

I grabbed my camera, checked my watch ~ 11:11 and snapped this:

yep, this unposed, bad lighting, backseat of our vehicle picture.

Ah.... the memories :)

So where were you?

Tuesday Ramblings....

Well, I don't have a whole lot of anything important to say today.  I am still reeling from last weekends camping trip.  You know, laundry, laundry and more laundry.  At least we stayed dry inside our new tent when it decided to rain.  Unlike last year (and check out our camping trip from 2009 ~ seriously, look at how small Smiley is!)! And once again we made Ziplock Omelets.  They were a hit as usual!

I'm having a hard time with the fact that a month from now, my kids will be sporting their backpacks and will be heading off to school.  Where did summer go?  Do you have kids?  Are you having a hard time with this? I know we still have a month to relax and play, but I'm already filling up August nights and weekends with football practices and games for Action and  fall softball practices and games for Sassy.  And you know, this morning when I took Zoie (our dog) for a walk it did indeed feel like fall.  62° outside this morning.  That is a far cry from the heat and humidity we have been experiencing.  Guess today will not be a pool or beach day.

Which is probably ok, since I have to take Smiley to the doctor for a Pre-Op appointment.  She is having eye surgery on the 24th of this month.  But, that's a story for another day.  Then perhaps the kids and I will go searching for a new tube to pull behind our boat.  It seems the one we have has decided to not stay inflated.  Bummer.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings for one day!  Come back tomorrow and see what a fashionista I am, Thursday, I'll be embracing the camera ~ you know stepping out from behind the camera and actually getting in the shot.  Maybe Friday I'll have something to show you that might just make you smile and next week.... well make sure you come back for a delicious chicken recipe you will definitely want to make!

Oh, and one more random thing... Last friday Jennifer Juniper asked what was our our nightstands ~ well I was out of town, but thought I would show you today ~ remarkably it's not too bad right now:

Besides a few random books and magazines underneath my nightstand, here you go, a little closer up:

A picture of "the girls"  

me, my youngest sister, Sassy, my mom, my other younger sister

A note Sassy left on my pillow one night when I went out with some girlfriends.

The inside reads, "Love you Mom"  and the there is a sticker of Wonder Woman next to the lovely sentiment.

A bobby pin ~ I typically have at least one of these in my hair throughout the day

and some dust ~ NASTY!  Sorry about that! :)

A couple pictures of my older brother and I ~ guessing I must have been 3ish in these pictures.  I love the look I'm giving him in the top right picture. Makes me smile every time!

And a picture of my sisters and my dad at a wedding from years ago ~ sad, but we don't have many of us girls with him.  Something we'll have to change!

I ♥ Faces

I ♥ Faces is having a silhouette picture link up (and we're not talking vinyl cutter here either), so I thought I would participate.

This is my entry:

Sassy, fishing off the end of the dock this summer while we were on vacation.

She fished for at least an hour that evening.

Kind of makes me wish there wasn't snow on the ground right now.....

Do you Believe ~ LINKY PARTY

Well, do you?

How about this one?

When Sassy was a baby, I worked outside of the home with autistic kids. 

One morning, she was sleeping, hubby was at work already and I was getting ready for work.

Here's a little house history ~
We were living in a little house in the big city.  It was a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1400 sq. foot, "New England bungalow" (as described when we purchased it.).  It was built in 1941 ~ not super old, but certainly not new.

Anyway, while I was getting ready for work all of a sudden I heard the washing machine start up.  Yep, this certainly startled me as I was the only one home (and my husband wouldn't have turned it on because he didn't know it existed... Hee Hee Hee), besides Sassy and she was in her crib. 

The washing machine was located in the basement which was 1/2 finished and 1/2 unfinished ~the part that housed the laundry room, furnace and water heater.

Well, I went down to the basement to check it out. 

The washing machine was on the spin cycle.

I opened the lid and looked inside.

There were no clothes, towels or anything other washable garment in there.

What was in there was ..............

Fish Hooks (about 10 of them).

(source ~ wikipedia)

To this day, I have NO idea where they came from.  It was winter and nope, hubby had not been fishing.

Freaky!

Anyway, you can read my other ghost stories here and here.

And I would love for you to link up your own (I'll leave it up for a few days), or leave one in the comments section!  Hope you play along :)

A window where there wasn't

 

Yesterday, I showed all of you my "new" laundry room!

I.LOVE.IT.

BUT.....

It is lacking something.

For starters, a window.

Hubby and I talked about ripping out the wall to install a window.

These talks didn't last long.

Reasons?

#1 ~ Cost

#2 ~ The view

I really like my neighbor, but I don't want to look at this ~ every time I'm in my laundry room:

So, enter Jen from Hope Studios.

I was remembering a post she did using an old window and voila.... A PLAN WAS BORN!

I searched for old windows.  I was looking for a certain size, and I knew I wanted panels.  I looked at our local reuse center ~ nothing ~ well in regards to size, shape and look.

And then one day I was shopping.  And I spotted a window. It was new, unfinished and inexpensive!  JUST WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!

I primed this baby.

Painted it black.

Gave it a couple of coats of white.

Sanded  a bit to weather it.

Wiped on some mahogany stain

and ......

Alrighty.

I have a window, now what?

I had a picture enlarged.

Cut it into pieces that would fill each panel,

then taped them in.

Flipped it over, hung it up and VOILA...

a  room

with a

View

The only bummer now is when I'm doing laundry, I look out my window and see my hubby pulling the kids in the tube behind the boat on a gorgeous summer evening while I'm stuck inside.

Not sure I like that idea.

HA!

Don't forget, today is Tuesday and that means PARTY DAY!

Come be inspired!

 AND  

don't forget about the linky party and giveaway that starts here on THURSDAY! In honor of my 1 yr blog anniversary, I want to know why YOU started your blog!

Go here for more details!

Don't forget, today is Tuesday and that means PARTY DAY!
Come be inspired!

Laundry Room Redo Reveal

We Have:

Torn out
Put in
Painted
Put together
Installed
and
Re installed

and NOW,

I think we are finally done!

Here are the before pictures:

Organized, yet messy looking shelves and hanging bars

(and those clothes hanging over the bar?  They are air drying)

The white standing baskets? Laundry

Lost of shoes and ugly flooring. 

It was peel and stick tile that was chipping off (and yes, that is duct tape in the above picture holding the flooring together!).

Another organized mess.

Ugly boring walls, more open shelves.

The "art wall"

And now?

I'm in LOVE!

Brightly painted walls

And cabinets.  OH HOW I LOVE THESE CABINETS!

The tall ones are part of the PAX system from Ikea.

Really customizable!

They have different widths, heights, door styles, handles, interior styles and colors.

The ones above the washer and dryer are kitchen uppers, also from Ikea.

And we were able to add shelves, baskets and hanging bars where and if we wanted.

Check out the insides of these babies! 

Hubby, Sassy and I each have our own.  Action and Smiley share one.

And instead of doing all "cubbies"  I designed one to just hold shelves without doors. 

Just for sorting laundry.

This ALMOST makes me WANT to do laundry.

 ☺

sort of.

Come back tomorrow to see some accessorizing!

AND

don't forget about the linky party and giveaway that starts here on THURSDAY!

in honor of my 1 yr blog anniversary, I want to know why YOU started your blog!

Go  here for more details!

Until Tomorrow....