Water for Elephants...

I just finished the book "Water for Elephants" and to tell you the truth it was good. It was also fairly easy to read and I finished pretty fast. I can see how they made this into a movie it has a really good story plot and the characters come to life in your mind as you read. Hopefully later this week we can go to the movies and watch it!




(Edit- We ended up watching "Fast Five" and me with a migraine.. needless to say I didn't enjoy it much, but still love ya hunny!)

First Desk Makeover!

Seriously, I'm jumping for joy! I have been so envious of all the other bloggers out there with their cheap furniture finds and the amazing transformations. I have been searching and waiting for a desk to go in the extra bedroom. Well it paid off... Goodwill, I'm in there every other day now. I found this desk for $25!

Missing knobs, stickers and lots of damage to the top

And here is the after!

Its still missing the bottom pull handles, I've gotta go to Lowe's and pick some up. Otherwise its finished!

I sanded and restained the top then stripped and painted the rest. I only used one coat satin finish to give it a slight distressed look.

The top came out beautiful!

One coat of paint gives it a little character

Its home will be in my new craft room that I'm busy painting today :)

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New flower beds taking shape!

This has been a long time coming if you know us! I really need to do a post with pics of our house from the past and how far we've come. Anyways..... we found out that in our city you can get free mulch! So we drove the ol' pickup to the transfer station and they dumped A LOT of mulch in to the bed. Oh forgot to mention it was raining, yep...

Here is a before pic as the hubby was putting up the new skirting, there are plans for new siding sometime later this summer :)

And the after....

We got the Juniper Cypress trees from the flea market for $10 each, larger flower pots $9 each at Big Lots, flowers so far from Wal-mart $6, mulch and large rocks were free!

No way can you see it but I have a very small rose bush that I transplanted from a sprout of one we had dug up. Eventually this is going to be filled with shrubs, plants and flowers.

We still have a bunch of rocks to move and finish the right side but I'm very happy and ready to plant like crazy! Soon there will be a new rock walkway! I'll be painting the door black and stenciling our house number on it, that with new siding is going to look awesome! Can't wait!

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Sneak Peek...

I have started a master bedroom makeover. With all the other bigger projects we have going on this has been a here and there attempt at getting started. Just been doing a little sewing sometimes in the evenings.

Its also hard to want to complete the bedroom because with my husbands job he worked nights and well he had to sleep all day. We had to black out the windows in order for him to do so. But he starts a new job this weekend and had this entire week off! So I removed everything from the windows and the first time in a year and a half there is natural light streaming inside!! It will still be a little more then a month before I can purchase the new bedding and I want to make canvas drop cloth cutrains.. you know how it is changing jobs it takes a few weeks before paychecks start coming in regularly again. But I'm excited to have use of the bedroom again before 3pm! lol

Anyways, here is a peek at what I started...

The light in the picture is terrible I know, sorry! But using the flash was making a glare on the glass.

One side says Mrs the other is Mr. I know they aren't perfectly sewn and thats just fine with me :)

Might add more flowers to the middle one, after I get the bedding we will see. Stay tuned!

April Menu 2

April 15 Tacos
April 16 Chili Relleno Casserole
April 17 BBQ Pepper Jack Chicken with steamed veggies and baked potato
April 18 Grilled Ham with mac n cheese and veggies
April 19 Smokey Chicken & cheese potato casserole
April 20 Chili-Mac Skillet with cornbread muffins
April 21 >> Take Out <<
April 22 Chicken & Dressing Casserole with sweet potatoes
April 23 Hamburger Steaks with Mushroom Brown Gravy, Mash Potato and Veggies
April 24 (Dinner out after church- Hubby leaves for a week away from home for work at 2pm)
April 25 Homemade Calzones
April 26 Chicken Quesadillas
April 27 Hamburgers with fries
April 28 >> Take Out <<

Patio Furniture

Its here finally! Got the metal patio furniture out of layaway!!! 

Here they are rusty and white with so much character

The leaf details make it really unique

But of course I had found a new color that I love in the Rustoleum Hammered spray paint so here we go...

With all new paint and cushions I absolutely love them!

(please excuse the deck in progress being half stained half not! haha!)

I love the look the new paint gave the leafs. 

Ready to have a cup of coffee in the morning sitting our new comfy chairs :)

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Cherry Fluff Fruit Salad

Pulling out an old recipe from Grandma's collection to bring to the church dinner tomorrow. I needed something I could make today since later on I'm going to my parents house to help paint their gazebo. And usually Sunday mornings I just don't have the time to bake. This is a great dish to whip up the day before and put in the fridge in an air tight container. Simple easy and quick! And its a great spring dessert :)

(And for some reason blogger isn't letting me upload pics right now, I'll edit this post later and get those on here)

Cherry Fluff Fruit Salad
1 can Cherry Pie Filling
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 can Crushed Pineapple, drained
1 can Fruit Cocktail, drained
1 can Flaked Coconut, 3 1/2 oz size
1/2 chopped Pecans
1  8oz Cool Whip, thawed

Mix the pie filling and eagle brand milk together. Drain the pineapple and mixed fruit well add those and all remaining ingredients except the cool whip. Mix these together then fold in the cool whip at the last. Place in air tight container and chill overnight or 12 hours before serving.

Edit: I could not find the 3oz can of coconut but had a large bag at home already. I just used 2 handfuls of coconut and eye bawl it.