Show and Share Day

Aside from settling in, vacationing, having fun at our pool, I have been

PAINTING, PAINTING, PAINTING!

I have been inspired by various blogs to find things at Goodwill, garage sales, and things even in my own home to refurbish, repaint, or rework, whatever the case may be. I have taken small stock in spray paint as of late and every time I turn around I am outside spraying the stinky stuff over anything I get my hands on.

This particular piece of furniture was handpainted by me. I didn't use a lick of spray on it, but I'm sure I have projects to post about that have everything to do with Rustoleum, Krylon, or a K-Mart special.

My hubby and I purchased this drop leaf table years ago because I liked the antique look of it. Every time my friend, Barb, would see it, she would say, "You should refinish that table. It would be so pretty." I would defend it to the enth degree because I just liked having an antique piece of furniture.

Fast forward a few years, and I finally got the nerve.

I have been seeing robin's egg blue pieces everywhere, and accents of the same color in stores, on design blogs, etc. I LOVE THE COLOR! My dear husband thinks I'm crazy. He just lets me have fun with it. :)

So here is what I came up with. My blog friend, Jennifer, at "The Magic Brush" has helped me with different painting techniques. She is a professional faux finisher. Check out her blog here.

What do you think?

This table was actually inspired by a desk I painted for my girls. I'll post that one later today or in the next few days.

I'm linking up at "Just a Girl."

home again, home again, jiggety-jog

We decided two weeks before we even went on vacation that we would cut it a little short and have a "stay-cation" for the rest of our time. That time began today and it is good!

Before I get ahead of myself, we had a great time in all the places we visited.

D.C. was sooooooooo hot! The temperatures were in the mid 90's along with humidity. As you all may well know, when you visit our nation's capitol, you walk to see all the monuments, museums, and all that good stuff.

We started our day at Arlington~ a place of honor, commitment, and sacrifice.

I love to go there and appreciate what's been done for me.

It's a beautiful place.

We then went to see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Veteran wall, the WW II Memorial, and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

We did all of that in one day!

After D.C., we stopped in Baltimore to see our friends, Debbie, Jaden, Kyla, and their dog, Gracie. Can you believe we met them on the Mediterranean cruise we took last summer? See this post and this one, too, for cruise photos. We spent a lot of time on the cruise getting to know each other and Deb invited us to visit them some time. I love it how God brings people together in unexpected ways. We had so much fun with their family.

After Baltimore, we headed north to New Jersey.

We spent 3 days there and kept busy the entire time. We did almost all of the things I listed on my last post that we wanted to do. Photos soon to follow! :-)

Now, back to our stay-cation. I love to use that silly word. It works. Staying home and enjoying what's here while relaxing and possibly getting a million things done, too.

For example, my husband put trim on the chicken coop he and Austin built, they also mowed the lawn. Industrious hubs cleaned out the garage, built the basketball hoop thing that is now in the attached garage, and vacuumed the pool. He also went for a swim twice, and watched a movie with us. We are in the middle of, "The Miracle Worker." Such a nice family film.

I, on the other hand, did laundry, emptied my suitcase, did a mini project, went to the pharmacy to pick up my thyroid medicine, stopped at Goodwill and found the cutest dress, went to see my friend, Christine, briefly, stopped at a garage sale, cooked dinner, went swimming with the family, and then watched the movie, too.

See what I mean? Everyone is happy to be home and we are still on vacation.

Hope you have had a great Friday.

heading east

Our family is heading to D.C. tomorrow for a whirlwind tour. We have been wanting to take the kids there for awhile and now is our chance. Just a side note here... because of the nature of how hectic life has been, is it weird that I would rather stay put right here and vacation in our own home? Can I get an amen to that? Seriously, I am soooooo tired.

Since we deplaned from England in Chicago several short months ago, it has been one event, one project, or one broken appliance after another. Whew! I'm tired.

So my hubs and I sat on the couch a couple of nights ago to determine whether or not we really should go. We concluded that the places and people we are going to see are important. We also wondered when we would get around to doing it in the future. Family vacations will not always happen and since the kids are growing up so quickly, we have limited opportunities. We want to take advantage of the time we have together now.

After D.C., we'll be driving to Baltimore to the Inner Harbor. We have some friends there that we will be seeing. The next stop after Baltimore is New Jersey. My home state. We'll be there for a quick 3 days and then it's back home again. We just might be driving in the direction of Niagara Falls, on our way back, which is a sight to behold.

Things to do on our agenda during this week long adventure are as follows:

The monuments lit up at night

Walk around in Georgetown & have dinner

Arlington Cemetery

The Smithsonian

The White House

The Capitol

Lots of walking hand-in-hand

The Inner Harbor

A water taxi

Maryland crab legs

Great conversations

Giddy girls

Coffee Talk

Family

The Jersey Shore

Kid hugs

An Italian Feast in Hoboken

Cuban or Puerto Rican Food. They're both delicious!

Life long friendships reunited

Walking on Washington Street

Eating a slice of Benny Tudino's Pizza. What! That slice is giant!!

We want to go crabbing, but there's just not enough time

Photos

Ice Cream Cones

Lots of photos!

Giant Italian subs from Lisa's deli or Biano Mono's

A Lobster Tail at Georgio's Bakery, it's cake, not seafood

Visiting the cemetery to see my mom and dad

Seeing the New York skyline

and that's only the beginning of the list!

We'll miss our pool, our friends, our little kitties, our new chickens and the fresh eggs they lay, our comfy home, and so much more!!

Thanks for hanging with me through this busy summer in which I post very little.

Be Blessed!

two weeks later

These girls were lookin' a little rough a couple of weeks ago when we brought them home.

see??

Poor Ying looked the worst, but this little cutie is stealing everyone's heart. She loves when you hold her so that she can nibble playfully on your fingers.

And Molly & Lilly love adventuring around on the homestead. They think they own the place now. You should see them climbing trees already!

We love them to pieces.

And speaking of loving animals, my next couple of posts will be dedicated to what's been going on around here with regards to loving different ones. Stay tuned...

The Trio

Meet Ying,

Molly,

and Lilly.

The newest members of our family.

We went to Indiana for our niece's wedding and came home with 3 kittens from 3 different litters that came from 3 different family members. Ying was found on a boat by my brother-in-law, Scott. Poor thing was so scraggly looking, not Scott, the kitten, especially because his dog (Scott's) was licking her to clean her up. Molly came from my sister-in-law, Kris, mother of the Bride, and Lilly is from my mother-in-law's (sweet mom of my wonderful hubby) farm.

We saw a beautiful wedding (Brittany & Richie) and now have an even bigger (9, count 'em) family. Our precious 5 (See side bar for their photos) couldn't be any happier.

And since we (my hubs and I) have new carpets and everything, they are outdoor kitties.

The End

Land that I LOVE!

I was really surprised how when we first moved to England 6 weeks prior to Independence Day in 2008 just how emotional we would be on that very day. I literally cried about not being home to celebrate with our family & friends this momentous time of the year that commemorates our independence, freedom, patriotism, and blessings.

Last night we were at the home of some friends along with over 300 other people to honor our country. This family welcomed all of us in style with food, games, contests, all ending in a beautiful fireworks show. And then as the fireworks were going off, "Born in the U.S.A." came on by Bruce Springsteen and I felt tremendous joy to be back here.

The weather for this entire holiday weekend has been glorious here in Michigan and I couldn't feel more blessed by God than I do right now. I hope you are enjoying life wherever you are, too.

Happy Independence Day!!