I've waited for these for a loooooong time......

I have wanted black couches for a really long time. I think since we bought the brwon leather set way back when. Anyway, this year Dad said if I could sell my other set, I could get new. Surprisingly that was ENOUGH motivation for me. So, I did just that. I surprised myself and Dad. There are things I miss about my old furniture and things I love about the new set. Glad it worked out for me. I still have pillows to make and want to make a seat cushion for the time out bench. I also need to change how the deck door curtain is tied back and a few other small things but for now I'm happy and excited that black is in my life!

My Cute Clock

Bought this vinyl clock kit while I was in Georgia at Christmastime. Then I bought a round wooden circle from Lowe's and put it all together. The result---I LOVE IT!!!! I hung it down in the basement family room. LUUUUUURVE IT!!!

Ummm, a VERY Mysterious Illness

This is what happens you when you have several stress filled years and then find out that cancer has invaded your body. Then you allow doctors to remove the cancer and then give you all kinds of drugs known to man and the medical profession. Eventually the meds interfere with your body and this is the result of a body gone wild. It started out as hives and resulted in THIS all over my body. I itched like crazy and couldn't get much sleep. Soooooooooo, the doctors gave me more meds and more meds and..........the cycle of abuse for my body continues! Not sure if my body will ever recover from this cancer thing--seems like things just keep cropping up here and there because of it. There's a saying that says if the disease doesn't kill you, the treatments will! I'm starting to see the wisdom in those words! Anyway, thought I would show you why I was off the radar and off the highways for 3 weeks. All the meds in my system made it impossible for me to drive so it forced me to stay home and not drive anywhere. Not to worry tho, I'm driving again and hitting all the stores as usual! And just so ya know, I spared showing you any private parts but rest assured I had this stuff from the top of my head to the cracks of my toes (and EVERYWHERE in between)!!!

My Man is Handy!

Dad made me this cute shelf for my living room. I hung it above the old antique sewing machine. This guy is sooooooooooo handy. I saw a picture in a catalog and the sell price was $140.00. Dad made mine for under $20 and I had another $12.00 in knobs that I bought at Hobby Lobby while they were on sale. I LOVE this cabinet and definetely the man who made it!

Ain't She a Beaut?

Dad was so kind as to buy me a laptop for my bday. I did get it early (like in February) and that proved to be a good things as it had to be returned for a bad CD drive. Only took a few days and a replacement showed up. I love not being tethered to a desk. I love that I can take this silly thing ANYWHERE in the house. Yep, I've even been known to carry it into the bathroom a time or two! Shock, shock. I'm still waiting for Dad to reload some of my scrapbook software onto it but for now I am LOVING this new little beauty. She has made my life complete! BTW, I loaded Skype onto it yesterday so am able to Skype anytime you want to show me my beautiful grandchildren. How's that for a hint?

Out With the Old & In With Some New.....

We have been busy replacing things the last few months. Some of our stuff is wearing out and others we just felt the need to go on to newer things. One of the biggest changes has been to take John out of bunkbeds and put him in an "official big boy bed"! It's a full size. He got so stinkin tall that he couldn't stretch out in the bunkbeds anymore. Dad made the headboard and side rails. We want to build drawers to go under it so John can hide his stuff better but that is a project for another time. He is loving the extra room. I still have some things to do in his room like paint his nightstand and do a little rearranging and rehang some things on his wall but for now he's pretty content with his big boy bed!

$20 worth of Treasures!

Look what you can buy at Cracker Barrel on a Saturday morning for $20!! Dad and I went to Easton's favorite place for breakfast this morning--I've been craving those luscious pancakes ever since Easton shared one with me in Georgia at Christmas. Anyway, after breakfast I looked around the store for a minute and found all this stuff in the Clearance Bin! It was all discounted at 80%!! You know that I just LOVE a good deal and this definetely falls into that category. I was soooooooo excited -- until Dad said, "You don't even put up a Christmas tree. What do you need all this for?" Silly man! I might just put one up this next Christmas so I can use my cute new decorations. He stole my thunder so thought I would show you girls what treasures I found. I know you all will appreciate my find!! Here are the details of my purchase so you can know what a REALLY great buy this was: 1 felt tree topper, 2 felt "JOY" ornaments, 4 felt snowflake ornaments, 10 crocheted balls, 8 wooden ornaments (4 red and 4 green). The most expensive item was $2.60 and the least expensive was $0.60!!! Can you believe it?! And yes, I bought ALL they had in this line of ornaments. I'm not stupid!