Backsplash!!

The holidays are my favorite time of year. I love to cook. I love to entertain. I love to give! Right now, its so much fun watching my house come together because I know that each piece is one step closer to me being able to cook warm, loving meals for our family and friends this holiday season.

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful. I was able to cook a big meal for my family at my mother-in-law's house across the street and still have the meal in my new house at my kitchen table. Vaughn says that I'm probably the only woman who lost 25 pounds during Thanksgiving, thanks to the million trips across the street and back.

This weekend, despite his chest cold, my husband started putting in our backsplash in the kitchen and I just love it!

I am so blessed to have had my children and mother-in-law at my table this year! If I can pray for you, please let me know.

Homemade Christmas - Bandana Aprons

Good morning! I must start this post by saying that this was NOT my idea. I saw it on a blog, not sure which one, but I cannot take the credit. That aside, Bethanie and I had so much fun making them.

Take a simple, fun colored bandana and find a coordinating ribbon.

Pin some grosgrain ribbon cut to fit the waist of the person receiving this gift to the top of the bandana (we picked a bandana that was pretty on both sides, you'll see why in a minute). Be sure to cover up the "made in wherever" print if you don't want it to show.

Then sew it on

Now if this is an adult apron or you have no need for pockets, you can stop right there. This is my apron, the beautiful Bethanie proudly showing it off.

Or, if you're making this gift for a child, or maybe a waitress, you might fold it up halfway and sew up both sides and the middle to make two pockets. Like we did for Bethanie's early birthday present/craft project with Mom. Bethanie loves her apron. She wouldn't take it off last night. This was such a fun project and literally cost us less than $5 for both aprons. It took us only about 30 minutes to make them both as well.

Have fun making bandana aprons and send pictures if you do!! I am thankful for this time with my children this week! If I can pray for you, please let me know.

My Uncle Ron

Please feel free to pass it on to anyone who will lift this up in prayer. The man in the picture is my Uncle Ron (the woman is his wife Becky). My Uncle Ron recently came to know Christ after beating lung cancer. My Uncle Ron has two daughters and a brand new grandson as well as children from a previous marriage. My cousin Serina, would like nothing but for her Daddy to walk her down the aisle. Uncle Ron has been leaning on God to beat this cancer and his faith is amazing but I got this email a little bit ago

"He went to see about gettin his chemo device removed from his chest about 2 weeks ago, and that woulda been the end of it all, no more treatments and all that stuff. Well they x-ray him regularly, and when they did it this last final time, they found another spot on his lung, and on his brain. So, the device stays put, and he had a biopsy last monday, and the results came in this past weekend, and it is not curable, and it is not operable. So.... that's where we are now. They gave him 8-18 months. He is off duty on long term disability, he is taking radiation for his brain, and more chemo for his lungs. The spot on his brain should have never ever happened... but, somehow it did.

But.... he was told all this the first time too. And they gave him less time as well. SO, we're not giving up. We are fighting as long as he is fighting, and we are just praying out the wazoo. God does not do halfway jobs, and He did good the first time, He can do great the second time!! My dad isn't changin his plans, cuz he said he has too much left to do. Of course, he's realistic, and taking care of things, but he's not gonna quit. We still don't know exactly what type the cancer is, besides it's a "new type", which again, they said that the first time. We don't know details about this cancer yet, and I'll let you know when we do know.

He's sick, but he is relying on The Healer!! It's hard, and I'm scared..... but if he's fighting, then so am I. And I have to keep my faith, and be stronger than the first time. I'm trying to get as much prayer going out there as possible. more than last time. so have them spread it too!! Like I said, if the photo helps.... they can have it. As long as God is working, it's worth it!!! I told him all I want, the ONLY thing I want him to do.... is be there with me at my wedding. So... I told him he's just not allowed to give up, and after my wedding, I'll give him another reason. lol. But, he agreed.... so I have that promise, and God's promise, and that's all I need!!! We can do this!!! Pray it up, so it can come rainin down!!"

As you can see by her message, my cousin is a strong woman! She comes from strong stock. This man, my uncle, he gave me strength, he gave me confidence. Please help us, please intercede with us and go to his blog and leave a comment. We're trying to get 5000 comments to show him he is being COVERED in prayer! Click here to go to Ron's Prayer Page If I can pray for you, please let me know.

Refrigerator - Part 2 (make it unique)

If you read yesterday's post, you learned the steps it took to make that almond colored fridge a black fridge. Today, I don't have a how-to for you. I simply have a few pictures for you. Here's what the fridge looked like when I started:And this is what it looked like yesterdayThen I took this machine and some self-adhesive vinyl and came up with this ideaand made this
The top half of the side of the fridge is a chalkboardThis is my fridge, some will love it and I'm sure some will hate it. No matter what, it's uniquely mine. There's not another one like it anywhere.

Drop a comment, let me know what you think. If I can pray for you, please let me know.

Refrigerator - Part 1 (Spray Paint)

I want black appliances in my kitchen! I could give you three or four of my Daddy's little sayings for when we said we wanted something here, but I'm sure your parents have their own...insert one after that last statement.

Seriously, though, the plan for my kitchen is black appliances, but our fridge was that gorgeous almond color that some people adore. Not me. I want black. So I searched the internet and got several articles on how to, but no pictures so you don't know how the project actually turned out and I don't want the thing to actually look spray painted.

Disclaimer: If you have never spray painted a dang thing in your life, please learn and perfect the skill before you try to paint a huge piece of your kitchen! Learn from me, you'll be glad you did. (You'll see why in a minute.)

Here is a picture of the fridge when I started. Isn't she a beaut? Ugh!

First thing you're going to want to do is get it good and clean. Start with whatever degreaser you use in your kitchen. I use Mox by Conklin, it cleans anything, I mean ANYTHING and is less than half the price of 409 or whatever and is safe around kids and pets. Then, (some websites say to sand and some do not, the paint can says to sand, so I did) sand the entire surface with a very fine sanding sponge.

Then you will want to tape and/or plastic off anything that you don't want to paint.

You will also want to cover or remove the door handles. Aluminum foil works great for this, since it is easy to manipulate to strange shapes. I was planning to take off these ugly handles and not put them back on, but the screws are inside the door so it would be a major undertaking to get it all back together and I'm not confident enough to do that.

After covering everything up, you will want to wipe the fridge down with mineral spirits or denatured alcohol to remove any traces of oil left by your hands. Then you can paint with appliance paint from your local hardware store. If you have never painted before, Valspar has some great video tutorials on their website.

In this picture, you can see the blotches from me not knowing what I was doing. I really thought I did...but I didn't.

Here we go, I learned how to spray paint and redid it. Much better!

Now then, the painting is done and the fridge will be moved into my house tonight!! YAY! It's not finished though, I still have a few things to do and will post the pics when I'm done...here's a hint, though, to tide you over

I have an idea on what to do with the door handles, but welcome your suggestions. Just one thing...they can't be painted. Even with plastic paint, due to the excessive use, any paint will come off and look bad in a short time.

Whatever It Takes

The Bible tells us, not only in Titus, but in a few places that we our take take care of our families, elders, widows and honor our parents. Because I feel that this is the only right thing to do, I was prepared to care for my husbands mother when I chose to become his wife. It is no different than marrying a man with small children, it is a package deal.

Mom and I both need our independance, while she needs daily care. We have lived with her for the last 2 years and that is very hard on both of us. We have found a solution that seems to be beneficial to us all...we bought the house across the street. The only problem is, in her mind, we are still gone. We are not there if she needs us. We might as well be on the other side of the world.

Please pray for her? She had a panic attack last night and I beleive that part of it was for this very reason. I pray that my latest find may be just the solution that will allow her to relax some. A two-way baby monitor. Gives us just as much connection to her as being in the same home. We can hear when she's up and around. If she falls, we will hear it, she can call for help instead of trying to get to the telephone to call...and we can let her know that we are on our way across the street to help her.

Wal-Mart carries one, made by Evenflow that says it has the range we will need. I am going to try an older baby monitor from one of my friends for a few days until I can get this one shipped to our store. Has anyone used one of these two-way models? If so, leave me a comment, let me know what you think of it.

Thanks for your prayers, and if I can pray for you, please let me know.



UPDATE: I have been researching two-way baby monitors for this use and have found more than 8 reviews for the Evenflo Whisper Connect 900MHz Two-Way Baby Monitor (pictured above) for this specific usage and all of the were excellent, 4 and 5 Stars. The only one who did not rate it 5 stars for elderly care said to be sure you do not have a 900 MHz cordless phone, they will cause interference. I have not yet gotten this monitor, have to find one, since Wal-Mart is out of stock online and in-store but when I find one, I will post my own review.

Exciting Things are Happening

There are several exciting things for me to be Thankful for today. One of them, as you can tell in the picture, Vaughn got the sink installed in the bathroom and the water heater may be installed on Saturday...then we can move in sometime real soon!

Another thing that I'm thankful for is that this blog has hit 500 readers in the last two months!! How did that happen? Anyway, its pretty exciting for me. I just want you to know how very thankful I am for each and every one of you who takes the time to read what I write.

Maybe the very best one for last, in a few weeks, my kids will be home for a whole week and my boss is talking about closing the office so that I can be home with them! I am blessed!

Leave a comment, let me know what you are thankful for? If I can pray for you, please let me know.

Homemade Christmas - Memo/Picture Board

Okay now, somebody say, "Finally Kaci!" Here ya go, another Homemade Christmas idea that's not only inexpensive, but quick and easy. I took an old cork board/white board combo and turned it into something that would go better in my front room office area.My office area is in my very pretty front room and I didn't think this board quite went in there, but I needed something for memos, notes, and pictures. If you don't have a board to recycle, you can also use a piece of half inch plywood, MDF, or Masonite if you have some laying around or have a piece cut at your local hardware store. Honestly, after doing this project, I might redo it later with a piece of wood because the cardboard backing on my board liked to collapse when I was stapling.Cut a piece of quilt batting to be just a little bigger than your board. I got some that was way too thin so I doubled up on it. Staple the batting to the back of your board. Be sure to pull it tight. Follow the same steps with your favorite fabric. Cross-cross a coordinating grosgrain ribbon in any pattern you like across the front of the board and staple to the back.Hang in your location or give as a gift!
This project honestly took me only about 20 minutes to make and cost less than $10! Have so much fun and please send me a picture if you decide to make one too! I have Two more projects in the works, so check back soon! Have a great day and if I can pray for you, please let me know.

Before and (Almost) After - Bathroom

Well, every day we're a little closer to getting to move into our beautiful home. This project, I'm sure, would not be near where it is if it weren't for my wonderful, talented husband and all of his hard work.

This is what the bathroom looked like almost when we started. By the time I got to take pictures, Vaughn had started cleaning things out, so the old toilet and sink were already gone. You can see in this picture what bad shape the wood floor was in. This was the only room where we decided the wood was not salvageable.

I'm sorry about the blurriness of this picture. This goofy girl needs to learn how to hold my, I mean her, camera still.

See this little tiny cabinet in the corner here behind the door? That right there is all the storage that this bathroom had. Well, my sweet husband and our dear friend Aaron fixed that right up.

Here it is, isn't it just beautiful? I love the way that he used the old window space to make a shower shelf. Wonderful use of that space. That light on the right is really pretty lit, it just didn't show up right in the picture, so I turned it off and the other lighting just hasn't been installed yet.

Look, this one's not blurry! This may very well be one of my favorite parts of this room. I really love the built-in shelves in the wall so they're not taking up space in this small bathroom. A pedestal sink is sitting in the storage room waiting for me to polyurethane the trim so that it can come home too.

Here you can see the beautiful cabinet that Vaughn and Aaron built, giving us more than four times the storage space and just adding a gorgeous touch on top of that. Also in this picture, you can see the floor. As much as I love wood floors, I think that tile is much more practical in the bathroom and this tile particularly lightens up the room, giving it a bigger feel.

Thanks for stopping by today! I will have two home made Christmas ideas for you this week, so please check back. Have a wonderful day and if I can pray for you, please let me know.