Somewhere Out There.................

Hi there, I am trying to be consistent here, but boy how time flies!

Let's see here, what is new here on the coast. For those of you who were in on the story about the snake in my yard, haunting me for months.............let's just say it is finally gone, thanks to myself! 'Nuff said on that subject. The weather over here has just been terrible, usually I can stand the foggy gloom for a few days expecting it to improve any day but the past month has been downright depressing.It is unusually cool and foggy in the mornings all over the bay area but 20 minutes east there is sunshine eventually but not here. Luckily that 20 minutes is an easy drive to keep us sane so we can soak up some vitamin D!

Here are a few pics from around the house. My little camera is dead and I need to get  a new one so I can get more kid pics.

This little dresser at the end of the hallway was in my childhood room.

Here are some new residents, I couldn't resist these guys when I spotted them at Home Goods.

 I changed my bedding, I don't think Dave even notices!

I was thinking the kind of shabby look but I just can't seem to keep my inner Martha from making it so tidy!
I changed the dining room table display from the tray and bucket of shells.

I had best wind this up because Typepad rebels when there are too many pics.

Thanks for looking! 

  

Well, let's see if I can revive the old blog.............

I have tried and given up several times. My guess is that maybe I tried to upload too many pics. I'll try just a couple per post. This time I will start with a crafty project............well, not really a pretty one but an unusual one. The guys needed 20 of these giant buoys printed with the boat name and number, they will be floating above theirfishing gear. Maybe Dave will get a shot of them in the water soon.

Now aren't they so very Martha?  Stay tuned and I will try to keep the fun stuff coming! Thanks for visiting, leave me a comment if you like. 

Just a little item to share...................

Saw a similar example of this from Jenni Bowlin so ordered the 7 Gypsies tray and the Beach Bingo cards by Jenni to put this together with pics of the boys at the beach..so simple!
  

It was magic inside.............

That's the catch phrase from the ads for AT&T park and Todd said it was true today when just he and I went to the Giants game. The whole day was great for both of us. The drive in and out was easy,our section companions were so nice and cheerful ( I did spring for special tickets). The weather was perfect, pretty warm in our area behind home plate and the game was very exciting with 2 back to back home runs by Huff and Uribe!! We got there early enough for Todd to get autographs from Jeremy Affelt a pitcher and Amy G the Giant's spokesperson on his glove and a special ball. Oh and we hit the schedule just right for Tim Lincecum to be pitching! Todd had his glove ready but no foul balls came into our area.All in all it was a perfect day and we both had so much fun! Special! (pardon my favorite Minnie Mouse visor LOL)

 T

 
  
  

Oh boy, you know you are old when....................

some things in your possession which have been hidden away for years turn out to be the things that the 30-40 somethings are thrifting (shopping at flea markets and antique stores) for!! Geez, that hurts. I will admit though that the milk bottle was already an antique when I bought it at an antique store years ago. I have been checking out some design blogs and remembered that I owned some of these things and went on my own hunt around here. I used to do the country style ruffly, but rustic with lots of golden oak. Now I like clean and mostly white furniture with a little shabby chic, very practical for little boys and their grandfathers not to mention dogs! I even painted the golden oak roll top desk white last year and love it. I'm going to order a new sofa tomorrow, it will be leather that is distressed too in a light sand color to go with the beachy coastal feel I have done us up in for the summer! I realized that I had these teal fish bottles stashed away that I used to have olive oil in and a quick buzz in the dishwasher made them good as new and they fit with the beach colors and fish! Perfect and fun and no $$$$ ! Thanks for looking.

I know its been a long time since the Ides of March!

Sorry, no excuse and not a lot going on but wanted to share some fun things. Summer decor, I love this season the best for decorating since it works from May thru September. The yard pics aren't fully complete but I can't seem to get it all done with it raining every week even in May, thus the plants waiting on the potting  bench. I did get the teal bird bath from Costco on the back fence and I really like the three herb boxes on the fence also planted with the appropriate herbs that I found at HomeGoods. The little summer album is one I did in a BPS class from Donna Downey a couple of years ago and still one of my favorites, if you look closely you can see that it is made from square Behr paint sample cards and a line of Danelle's for beach and summer. I will share more of the yard as I get it up to par. Thanks for looking to those who haven't given up on me yet!

 

   
   
  
  
 

The Ides of March!

What exactly are Ides anyway? Well it is March and here are some peeks at March around here.

This one is for Tracy, I baked! Okay not as pretty or as tasty as hers, unless you are a dog! I gave Todd this dog set for Christmas so one day after school we decided to make the doggies happy.

How about a little Easter decor? I don't know who will see it in real life but feel like it is something I need to do although I don't make it complicated, I think the little guys like to celebrate the seasons, so I guess I do it for me and for them.

One day Todd was hanging out and said he wanted me to look for the dinosaurs he hid and I said we would do it later but we both forgot. It wasn't until later that night that I saw the one on the mantel next to the art and called to tell him I found it. the next morning when I was telling Lisa about it and I glanced over to the fireplace and said OMG there's another one on top of the other bottle! What a cute surprise!

 

That is what goes on around here usually..........regular days are good days.  
   
  
  

Okie dokie!

It has been awhile, I just can't quite get the design of this  blog to come easy, I can't get my birdie thing centered but I am trying. I do have a couple of random photos to show. I have at least been taking photos each month for another yearly album for 2010 but I haven't zeroed in on an album yet so hope to do that soon, I want to be able to keep up and do a couple of months worth of layouts at a time.

Here is something that most of you have never seen except those of you who live here. These are a recent addition around town, the downside is that they all lead to the same road! As you know due to the earthquake in Chile we had tsunami alerts all up and down the Pacific coast, we did have a surge here for a few hours but it wasn't anything to be alarmed about. We never want to see the real thing!

This cute bowl had to come home with me from Crate and Barrell. It was an incentive for me to eat cereal for breakfast instead of cookies although I am sure it would look nice filled with cookies!  It says Breakfast.

Let's see, how about some art. Who changes their art all the time? That would be me! I had been looking for something like this for the fireplace to tie in the colors of the decor but couldn't find it so I had two rectangular matching canvas' from Target that I hung side by side after flipping one over that were these same colors but in a geometrical design. The color was right and they were okay but I was thrilled to be browsing Home Goods one day and come across this perfect one. It brightens up the space and is the perfect colors and size. I split up the two others and hung one at the bottom and one at the top of the stairs! Can't beat the prices at Home Goods, I had seen similar ones in catalogs at 4 times what I paid for this one. I keep wishing Candice from HGTV would stop by and give me an idea for what to do to modernize the fireplace but I can't get my brain around getting rid of the brick! Hmmm.....evil thoughts!

I hope I haven't posted this pic before and apologize if I have but I just love the boys' favorite method  of transportation at IKEA, they just perch in these and they are good to go!

The newest and most exciting thing going on around here is Alex's new BAHA hearing aide. It is a bone conduction hearing aide  attached to a snap imbedded in his skull, yeah, I know, it required two surgeries but we are seeing a change already and it will be a matter of him figuring out how to process all this sudden new information. This kid is smarter than all the adults involved and always knows the proper timing for handling his issues! We have high hopes that this will open up a whole new world for him.

I will try to be a better blogger and share more goodies more often!  

Sharing my 2009 Yearly Album.....................

'Just got the finishing touches on this and am so glad I did it and plan do start another one for 2010! My inspiration was one planned by Susan Wyno, thanks Susan. Hard to believe I know, but I didn't have to spend a cent on supplies, I had the album and the whole American Crafts paper line handy and used that as my theme and just used a variety of the same supplies each month. It is 8x8 scanned to show facing pages.So fun and thrifty, can't promise the same for the next one but maybe, heaven knows I have supplies to last more than a lifetime!! Pardon any wonky scans and photo quality (Nov looks okay until I enter it!) and thanks for looking!

2010 here we come with camera in hand!

While Dave was gone.........................

 

  I managed to entertain myself with a few brave projects!! I was thinking I needed a new white desk but I have always liked my little oak roll top desk that I have had for years. It was a reproduction when I got it  but I didn't want to kick it to the curb since it was the perfect size for its location. I got the lightbulb idea to just refinish it! In my many observations of the HGTV decorating channel I learned that Valspar had a non sanding primer !!, I wasn't going to tackle it if it mean the old stripper and sanding procedure. This product worked like a charm (Lowe's carries Valspar), oh happy day, I have been eyeing other things to prime! It required no sanding at all. I did a couple coats of the primer and a couple of the paint, a little distressing with my handy dandy Black and Decker Mouse sander, some new hardware and voila!!! It is so cute.........go me!

Before (pardon the dead sunflowers!!)

After

Thanks for looking!