Easter Weekend

Easter this year was one of mixed emotion.  On Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, his defeat over death, the ultimate gift to us who are unworthy.  I feel like it is impossible to grasp the depth and significance of this sacrifice.  All I am left with is celebrating and praising God for it.  Amidst the celebrating, my church community and I are grieving over the tragic, senseless loss of a church family member.  He is in paradise celebrating, so pray for peace for the Stocks and Kirchner families and friends who are left grieving.

On a lighter note, I made my very first Easter basket this year.  Alexa spent the night Saturday and was supposed to be going to church with us.  Because of this, I had an Easter basket ready for her when she got up in the morning.  I say "supposed to" because it ended up that we were all up all night with Alexa sick.  Poor little thing!  Erin picked her up early and Clay and I went to church.  Even Clay, Emmi and Nugget got Easter eggs :)

Clay and I took Alexa to Reed's Gold Mine on Saturday.  We toured the mine and then panned for gold.  Alexa and I found two little nuggets of gold!!!  Also, while we were walking around the grounds, we heard an owl and walked through the woods to find it.  We were able to get right under the tree where the owl was hooting and got some good pictures :)

 Our tour guide

Underground in the mine

 My little diva

 Clay wants a smoker like this!

 Exploring the woods in search of the owl.

 Clay was searching for our "retirement fund"

My lovie dovie!

Craftiness!

Sometimes I am totally amazed at my craftiness!  I am just so excited that I can make cute things!!!  Thank goodness for Pinterest to supply plenty of inspiration.  Since finishing my painting job, I have had many projects on the burner.  The first being this uber-cute burlap table runner!

I also just finished this wreath.  It is a grape vine with burlap and felt rosettes, accented by pearls!  It looks good on the front door...much better than the pumpkin that has been up since September :)

I'm also working on a plant stand for outside the front door, new chairs for the table, and a vintage sign.  I want to do more of the before/after thing so you'll have to wait to see those.  The sneak peak is the first picture on this post which shows the 2 chairs I have already gotten.  I need 2 more and then I may paint them all the same color.  The one on the right also needs a new padded seat (I already ripped off the 3 layers of fabric).

The Marriage Saver

Here is one of my latest creations!  I call it, "The Marriage Saver."  I have always been very tolerant of light when falling asleep.  I could pass out in a fully lit room, no problem.  More recently, I haven't been able to fall asleep with the light on, which of course caused some conflict.  Clay wanted to stay up and read, I wanted to sleep.  This was my solution!!!  It was super easy:  I just drew out a pattern on a piece of paper, cut out 2 pieces of fabric (the other side is a different pattern), and a piece of dark felt, and sewed them right sides together with the elastics pinned to the inside.  Now Clay and I can have the best of both worlds!

Are you still listening?

Anyone know when they listen to Pandora and it keeps asking, "Are you still listening?"  Yes...I am still here...still brainstorming brilliant ideas to blog about to entertain the masses :) 

So where have I been and what have I been up to?  Well, for 2 weeks I was working on a project for my landlord.  I would work as a RDH by day, painter by night...2 weeks straight.  The only breaks I had were Sundays and my birthday, but only because my car broke down and I was forced to abandon it at work!

Updates to be watching for in the near future:
1.  My birthday celebration (I allowed Erin to celebrate her birthday with me)(lol<--- just made myself lol for real)
2.  Table runner craft
3.  Wreath craft
4.  Marriage-saver craft
5.  Cline's antiques finds...including re-vamping my re-done "dining room"!!!
6.  Ashley's baby shower stuff
7.  Nugget is spoiled!

STAY TUNED ;)

Clay...are you reading this?  Tell me if you are...this is only a test!!!

American Idol

Clay and I have been watching American Idol for the past 3 or 4 years to reach a common ground between football and HGTV :)  We get hype and get to know the contestants, even vote sometimes.

Can I just say that I am so impressed with Angie Miller who is on this season?? There is no doubt that when she sings, she is singing straight to God!  All of the songs she has chosen have spiritual meaning and the sound and emotion that comes from her is truly divine!  I am so glad to have an outwardly Christian contestant on this year.  I hope that people who don't know God will recognize Angie's passion and praise for Him and seek that for themselves!!!

Check out her original song, "You set me free."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_NhisWuq9o

My new favorite cleaner!

For those of you who have lived with me before, you know that a toothbrush and Clorox cleanup (ie bleach) are necessary features of my cleaning routine :)  My desire to have every surface in my home sparkling and as sterile as possible is somewhat overwhelming at times.  I can drive a roomie, or husband, mad in my attempts to eradicate every germ and speck of dust from the house.  Over time, I've discovered that Greesed Lightening works wonders in the kitchen, and the Magic Eraser is truly magic.  I recently found a new love!

Clay and my bathtub has these little textured dots in the bottom for traction.  Over time, soap scum, or whatev, built up and stood out as light brown circles on a white background.  I tried everything to clean them with no success:  bleach, Clorox for soap scum, Tilex, Comet, toilet bowl cleaner, Draino (I figured the acid would get it off).  Not only did I want my tub spotless, I didn't want people thinking I didn't clean my tub!!!  I finally decided to try the concoction that a patient recommended to me and that I've seen a million times on Pinterest:  1 part white vinegar mixed with 1 part blue Dawn.  Each account claims that it is a miracle cleaner but I had my doubts. 

I sprayed it on a small section, waited a few minutes, and then scrubbed like I normally do.  The yucky dots disappeared completely!  I seriously thought I was seeing things so I tried another spot....gone!  I proceeded to flip out!  I showed Clay, flipped out again.  Cleaned the rest of the tub and flipped out again!  I couldn't believe it!  The next day, I called some of my friends and told them about my discovery...I even told some of my patients!  I need to tell the world!  I am so relieved that cleaning my tub will no longer be the frustrating struggle that it used to be!!!  Anyone wanna shower at my place???