Snowy Shoes Solution

I saw this on MSN.com today and HAD to share!  One thing I HATE, HATE, HATE about winter is when you come in from outside with snow on your shoes.  You have one of two options, take them off and leave them on the rug or take them off and leave them on the linoleum.  Either way, something that is not suppose to get wet, gets wet.  Then if you step on it with your socks, you have wet socks.  Well, enter this Martha Stewart solution:

Make a boot tray by the door even better: Fill it with stones (found at garden centers). Ice and snow will melt and drain through the rocks to the bottom of the tray so your boots won't stand in a puddle. Most of the moisture will evaporate, but you should clean out the tray regularly.  You can view the whole article here.

I am not sure how I will do this with the animals in our house... I can see the cat finding it amusing to take the rocks and hide them and the dog will think that they're treats.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep my animals out of this, I would love to hear them! :)

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I am so not afraid to admit that I LOOOOVVVEEEE Christmas!  I love the decorations, the food, the shopping and of course, the presents!  I am not, I repeat NOT one of those crazy people who put their decorations up as soon as Halloween is over.  I normally wait until the day after Thanksgiving, however, this year, Bryan and I will be in Phoenix until the 30th, so I wanted to get it done since I know I will be tired once we return.

This year is especially fun because we are in our new house!  I already had plenty of decor from apartment living, but a new house calls for new decor, right?...  That's what I thought too! Above you'll see the outside of our house... I am thinking we need to add more to it though... Maybe some lights on each pillar? Yeah, that's what I thought.  Next you'll see my tree.  You can see my holiday colors of choice are red, silver and white.  It just so happens to match our curtains too!  I think my favorite part of my tree is my tree skirt... It is actually just a red flat-sheet because I couldn't afford a real one when I was in college, but I love how full it looks compared to a regular tree skirt, so I've kept it!

Next is our entertainment area, easily my favorite area I decorated. I got the "Ho,Ho, Ho" sign at Target for $2.50!!! Score! I also have some candle holders that were not done in time for the picture that I will post some other time that I Love! ... Yes, there are four stockings and two humans in the house... I am that crazy person who gets gifts for their pets. Deal with it.

I love ball ordainments.  I love how simple and classic they look.  I also love how it is a huge decor trend right now! So, this year I threw them in wherever I usually use vase filler.  Easy AND cheap!!!

More ordainment decor... The bow is too big, gonna have to change that.

A close up of the entertainment area.

Let the Holidays begin!!! (Bryan and Wrigley refused to pose for the picture, so it's just JD and I.)

I'm in Love

I have to thank my friend Stephanie for this next find I have... I can't believe I've gone so long without knowing about it!  Have any of you guys heard about "Real Simple" magazine?  Um, I haven't!  But I have now!  I have been pursing their web site all afternoon and have so many things I am going to be trying around our house!!!  Check out their web site: RealSimple.com, so many great tips!!!

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside After

So - I am going to let the after pictures speak for themselves :).  Stay tuned, my goal is to have the entire house posted this week, trust me, you don't want to miss the inside. 

South side of the house - no more rotting siding!!

East side / back of the house - fully covered with siding

A quaint little porch is now on the front

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside After

Looking to the south

Back yard, the tree right in front of me is actually a cherry tree!!! So pretty in the spring and the cherries make great pies.

Back corner of the lot

Looking to the east

Side yard

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside

First off, sorry it was like two and a half weeks between posts... Right after I posted last, I hit the road for work with back to back trips and then threw being in a friend's wedding in there as well - it's been a busy month to say the least! Anyway, I wanted to get started with what I am calling "the Mother of All Make Overs."

In February Bryan decided to buy a house from his parents. His parents had bought the house in December with the intention of flipping it and renting it, but the more they worked on it, the more Bryan liked it and the more it became clear that it would be the perfect starter home (for him, not me, I still have my own apartment.)

When they started working on this house, saying it was rough would have been extremely nice. This house was worse than a sh*thole. It was disgusting, there was stuff growing in it and living things roaming around. Let me make this clear though - there were people living in the house up until the day possession switched!

The first pictures I am going to show you are the befores of the outside of the house. We hauled out 9 truck loads of heavy limestone, 12 truckloads of brush (packed down), cut down 19 trees and over 20 bushes... When I say "hauled out" I mean we removed from the back yard and moved to a friend's farm. Yeah. I had lots of blisters by the time this was done and we were all extremely sore - the best work out you could ever ask for!

Anyway, enjoy the befores!

East side/back of the house...

Front door

The gutter situation

Side yard... At one time that was a sand box turned giant kitty litter box

Front of the house, lovely red color :)

Another view of the side yard

South side of the attached garage

Stay Tuned... Mother of All Make-Overs: A Multiple Part Series

Wanted to give all my blogies (my new word for Blog Groupies) a heads up that I will be starting a multiple part series this weekend on the before-s and after-s of Bryan's new house (which I kind-of-but-don't-technically-live).

Seriously, stay tuned, you DO NOT want to miss this!!!

Goals for Summer: One Month Down

So, I thought I'd give you all a little update on how I'm doing with my goals one month into summer. (FYI, I consider summer to be the months of June, July and August, so I have until the end of August to get these done.)
Goal #1: Create Art
I am happy to say I've actually done this one!!! Quite a bit of it too... In fact, my dad the other day said to me "When did you become so crafty??" I took it as a compliment. Ideally I would put pictures of the art I have created here, but it's not all done... One of the projects I did I am going to completely re-do, another is almost finished and the final one... Well, I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures. Soon though, I promise!
Goal #2: Start Scrapbooking Again
Well, my first scrapbook project is going to be a before and after book of Bryan's new house. The house isn't finished yet, so I don't feel like I can start yet. I want to have all the pictures I am going to use before I begin. His house-warming party is tentively set for August 8th, so it will need to be done by then!!!
Goal #3: Back-up Digital Pictures
Haven't even thought about it... I still have two months.
Goal #4: Plant some Plants
Haven't done this one either, however, my house warming party is in less than two weeks, so I might try to get it done before then. If I don't, I might scrap it for the year because then it's kind of late in the season. In my defense, we had a REALLY cool spring, then all of a sudden it jumped from like 60* to 100* within a week and now, three days before the Fourth of July, it's 63* at this very second. Not much time to get into the gardening mood.
Goal #5: Plan out Meals
I am very proud to say that I've been doing pretty good with this one!!! Bryan and I have cut WAAYY down on how much we eat out and I've been going grocery shopping once a week. It's helped my wallet too, however, that's just fueled my shopping addiction.
Be sure to check back, I will hopefully have pictures of my new place after this weekend!!!

Whew!!

It's been awhile since I've posted!!! The past month has been slightly crazy. I moved back to Mount Vernon on June 1 and I've been busy working on my projects to make my apartment a home for myself. I plan on taking pictures as soon as I have everything in place and will be sure to post them. While this is not the nicest place I've ever lived in (I don't think anything will ever top my Chicago loft) it is the place I have put the most effort into and I have to say, I truly enjoy it the most out of any of the places I've lived.

I have also been busy helping Bryan with his house. In fact, last weekend I was roofing!!! Yes, me, on a roof with a nail gun. :) He is hoping to move in next weekend and of course, I will post pictures.