HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

(from photobucket)

That's right, Happy Birthday to me, today!

Thank you for stopping by my blog on my day! I generally take myself shopping on my birthday for my to me-from me presents. :) This year we are hanging out with some sweet friends of ours: George & Leslie. And shopping we may! We haven't made up our minds just yet.

What's your birthday tradition? I'd love to know!!

Let us E-A-T!

A long, long time ago, in the days before Pinterest and other smart ways to keep inspiration organized, I once saw a kitchen adorned with big letters...and I loved it.

I promptley went to HobLob and purchased my self the same letters...E...A...T! And fully planned on painting them black RIGHT THEN and putting them up in my kitchen.



Well, that never happened. Now, 3 kitchens later, I have no idea which wonderful blog I was stalking but I have my letters done and I want to show them to you!

Hold on! After some quick googling, I found my source. Thank you Beth @ Home Stories A-Z for being so memorable!

Ok.

I learned that you must prime cheap particle board letters or use better paint.

Here is after one coat...I know! Can't even tell:




..Terrible!!!

Plan B: (I'm getting good at plan B lately.) I primed them and painted I-don't-know-how-many-coats! I got a little heavy handed on one coat and had to do a little light sanding but after the next coat, you couldn't even tell.

My idea was to lean them above our pantry...I thought it would look cool just up there...willy, nilly and random- Just like me! Jj vetoed that idea.





And since he doesn't do that often, I got these little 3-M things so that I could hold them to the wall without messing up the wall surface since I wasn't sure how I would like them. The holder things are velcro...one part of the wall and one part on each letter.





I love them! Jj does not. He actually asked me to take them down...My plan was to respect his wishes as he almost never says anything about our decor.

But then, we were at a local steakhouse, The SmokeHouse in Lee's Summit, MO and we saw this:


>> You still with me? I do have a point. I promise! :)





I wanted you to get the whole effect...





Just one more...



Point ahead:

I think it restored his faith in me because he hasn't said that he doesn't like them anymore. However, I have mixed ideas...my good, good friend Leslie said she like them (after I asked her) but I think she was being nice. :) I asked my friend Nicole, she LOVED them. I asked my step-Mom, she said they looked just like something I would love. I'll take that as a vote in my direction.

So, the score is 2-2. What do you think?

Should they stay or should they go now?

How do you like that? Slipped in a little song lyrics on you now didn't I?

*Linked up to Best DIY Project of November over at Beneath My Heart. (I hope Traci doesn't kick my out because my post date is December 1. I really did complete the project in November.)

Christmas Center Piece

Secret: This was actually our center piece last year. I forgot to blog about it so I just saved it... is that legal? I hope so!



The glass tray and trio cups are from Southern Living at Home (now called Willow House). The darling little Christmas balls are from my vintage collections. These particular minis were added during a solo junking trip on a monumental birthday!



Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE vintage Christmas ornaments? Well, I do!! Love them such that I just can't hardly let them lay at the store...must...take...home!



You might remember that I decorated our Christmas tree last year in vintage, mostly Shiny Brite, ornamentsr. I just loved it! Will I do that this year?? Wait and see! (please)

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I'm so glad you are here!

Thank a Veteran

Not just today, but every day, every single time you feel proud to be an American, every single time you look around and appreciate our great Nation, every time you wake up in Free Country. Thank our God and thank a Veteran of the most powerful military in the entire world.

To our many service men and women and their families:

Thank you, from the Jones Family!

An epic fail followed by success...I think...

It all started two Thursday nights ago while I was lounging on the internet. I was going through some of the Fall Outdoor Spaces Party over at Thrifty Decor Chick. I saw a few things that caught my eye and I ended up spending some time on the Creative Juices for Decor site...

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the pictures of what Selina had done to her brother's kitchen cabinet pulls!! Go ahead, click here and check it out...I'll wait. Told you it was AWESOME!!!!

Wondering why I nearly fell out of my chair?? I have those same pulls, minus the rose. But I have that porcelain part...plus a little sassy brassy but the same pulls!!!!! Here are mine:

I have a bunch of them!! Re-purposing would same me literally, a couple hundred dollars!!

Notice the missing one? Wait for the fail. :)

I left a comment for Selina, the author of Creative Juices for Decor telling her how much I loved her idea to paint the pulls. Her re-do was ahwile ago so I was wondering how the pulls were holding up. She said brother's reports are good for ware. I thought what the heck! We don't like the sassy brassy so if I can paint them, the project will be free, if I ruin them well...they are on the replace list anyway.

I started with priming...Just grabbed the first primer I saw in my stash...happened to be Kilz. Here's where my epic fail came in. The primer went on thick and nasty and clearly was not going to work.
Look: told you it was bad!

Oops. Good thing they were on the replace list but really? I would rather buy cool rugs or some cool fabric for curtains or pillows.

SECOND TRY! (Is that like radio edit? Just kidding)

Jj suggested a different primer...turned out he was correct! First though, I sanded the metal part with 220 grit sandpaper (that's fairly fine) but it too like 60 (really rough) to get the shiny surface off the porcelain. Anyway, I sanded them down really well, and applied 2 coats of Krylon primer for metal.


To paint them, I knew I didn't want them lying on their sides for paint to drip and pool and such. I did a quick scan around the garage and stopped at the trash can. Enter cabinet pull holder:


It actually worked very, very well! I added 2 coats of primer followed by 2 coats of Oil-Rubbed Bronze (pretty sure it was Rustoleum) spray paint. I followed it up with a clear coat made by Rustoleum too.

I let them dry overnight and installed them!


I love the way they look; now we will see how well they wear!

**As this post publishes, it's been one week and all is well.**

***Edited to include that I liked up to Trifty Decor Chick's November Before & After Party, here.***

****And as of 11/7, I think the pulls have been up for about a month. All is well!! I am about halfway through the rest of the billion, just over 30, pulls in my kitchen.

But think of all the money we have saved!!!!!

It's officially a Home

I got a kitchen rug!



(Actually I had it at our old house but it's still what makes a house a Home right?? Candles, curtains and rugs! A handsome man I know and love, proclaimed such years ago!)

This one I got from Pier 1 many, many moons ago. I love it because it looks like the rag rugs that my Aunt Lou (who lived to be 102...say it out loud. :) ) and many others used to make. It feels to me, like someone put their love, in that rug, to me. And I like it. And kitchen sinks are made to have a rug in front right?

Do you have a rug in front of your sink?

Beautiful Eye Candy

A couple of weekends ago, Jj and I traveled back to our old town Columbia, MO. We were delighted to see our friend, Faydre marry her Prince Charming, Mike. Of course, she was a beautiful bride; that's just a given!


What I really wanted to show you is this Church!!!

I told you! AMAZING!!!!!! It's the "downtown" Methodist Church in Columbia, MO. The proper name is The Missouri United Methodist Church.

Congratulations Mike & Faydre. Thank you for including us on your special day!


(They were going so fast, I couldn't even get focused! :) The picture looks like I was still focusing on that AMAZING alter! Oops. )

Love,
Laura

Ornery!!

So I hear lots of giggling coming from our living room and I go to investigate...


I see my Stevie, looking skyward. The giggles are coming from him!!!


And this is why! He had been dusting the mantle and decided it would be fun to throw his rag up into the fan. Well...it was funny!
Of course we turned the fan on to see what would happen. It threw the rag off onto the catwalk for the upstairs hallway! Who knew it would go that far!?!

What's been in your fan lately?

Favorite Things...radio edit

{I just wanted to say 'raido edit'}

But I did forget a part of my kitchen...

See my first favorite post here and the second one here.

...I have two ovens!!!



I used my oven at my old house mostly to store pans and to make cheesy bread. I am actually looking forward to learning how to use my oven well enough that I will need two!

What's your favorite oven recipe? Trust me, I need all the help I can get!!

I do have some wonderful friends, don't I!!

Happy mail!!

Look what I found in my mailbox this past week!!

House warming cards from my sweet friends over at CardMaker Magazine's CardSwap Board.


Made just for us by my friend Golda.


Made just for us by my friend Elaine.


Made just for us by my friend Shawn.


Made just for us by my friend Rhonda.


Made just for us by my good, good friend Lora.


Made just for us by my friend Margaret.

We are so, so blessed! Thank you, all of you!!