My Day-lees

First and foremost, I want to thank ALL OF YOU who read this little 'ol blog of mine.

I wouldn't sit down and try to come up with stuff to write or show you if you weren't out there commenting and giving me great ideas!

So, THANKS.

That being said, I want to share some of my "daily" blog reads.  Most of them are on my sidebar and you can link up to them, and some are new.

Whenever I open up my blog, I literally scan for these ladies first.  They all bring something different to my life, and I just wanna share...

First of all, my blog crush...(I have two)

Meg at WHATEVER.

She rocks my world.  Her craft ideas are amazing, and what I wouldn't give to be able to afford to go to one of her craft weekends.  I. would. die!  She is hilarious and heartfelt all at the same time.

Shannan at FLOWERPATCHFARMGIRL.

She is a local girl that I am totally in awe of.  I become speechless when I'm around her.  I don't know what it is about her...her incredible heart, her eye for fashion, her spunkyness, or her decorating sense.  She gets me every time, and everyday, I MUST see what she has to say.

Chris at REDGATEFARM.

She lives in the Pacific Northwest.  Enough said.  It's a place I've always wanted to visit, and she makes it look beautiful.  She makes the cutest craftiest things, and I feel like I know her when I've never even met her.  She leaves the best comments that always make me smile.  She is a gem.

Leslie at FARMFRESHFUN.
I already have a sister, but I think Leslie is my sister from another mother out east!  She always knows how to cheer me up, and we have very similar views about so many things.  Her life with all her horses seems a little glamorous to me, but she seems very down to earth!  She is my idea of a very "green" farmer.

Katie at KATIESPENCILBOX.

Katie's blog is new to me, but her pictures are AMAZING.  If you haven't seen them, you must link up to her!  Right now.
What are you waiting for...go.

DIYBYDESIGN.

Best linky parties EVER!  She's got a lot of great ideas, and her design taste is impeccable!

THEFARMERSNEST.

This is another new blog for me, but it is cute, cute, cute.  It will be in my links on the side soon, if not tonight!

And lastly, you all know my fetish with organizing, so my favorite blog to satisfy this fetish is
IHEARTORGANIZING.

Jenn has the most amazing ideas, and I've used several.  You know why I read this blog.  You should too.

That's my list.  If you have favorites, please share them with me!

Just WHO starts a trend?

I'd like to be a person who starts a trend.

Just once.

I mean, who makes something, or sees something, and DECIDES it's gonna be "the newest thing?"

In the DIY, craft world, it used to be, and maybe still is, the felt flowers, burlap flowers, t-shirt flowers, etc.

I also think it's BUNTING.

And I have to say, I'm hooked too.

Just for curiosity sake, I typed BUNTING in the search line of Pinterest.

I found some of these images...which are beautiful I might add.

Triangular shaped bunting is probably the most popular, but they have rectangular or square as well...

or even "rag" bunting as they called it.

There is bunting for cakes...

and decorating.

I use it in  my house for many decorating ideas...I'm not gonna lie.

But, so far, I've only ever made it myself out of scrapbook paper, and material.

I've seen it made out of maps...(which is awesome...and a GREAT idea)

and old children's books...(an even AWESOMER idea!)

I just think it's beautiful to look at.

And colorful.

Maybe that's why I like it.

I have some in my ETSY shop, but I think I'm gonna make more...I've gotten some new ideas.

Now, if I could just think of something to be the "newest trend" I'd be all set!

A short lived fantasy

When I was younger...like all through my high school years, and into college...I dreamed of living in a big city.

Anything other than the tiny little town I grew up in.  I mean, who wanted to live in a town where everyone knew the business of everyone else?

I sure didn't.

The thought of living in a big city was so EXCITING to me, I couldn't think of anything else.  My judgement was cloudy.

Years turned into other years, and I never did make it to the big city, but I sure like to visit it any time I can.

Brent doesn't understand it...but Grace sure does.  And now Evan does too.

It just so happened, that's what we did this weekend, but THIS time it was in all of our interests to "get outa dodge!"

You see, the Detroit Tigers were playing the Chicago White Sox for Opening Weekend and when Brent found this little tidbit of information out...back in February...well, we just HAD to get tickets.  Suddenly the big city was calling his name!

So we did.

We planned to take a ride up on the train, do a little shopping (the kids and I at least...), watch the game, and spend the night in a hotel downtown (something we've NEVER done in all the years we've been going to Chi-town.)

We left early Saturday morning on the train leaving from the South Bend Airport.

We got to Chicago in the morning, and found our hotel...just blocks from the train station.  It was tall, and glass and just plain cool all at the same time.  We were so close to everything!

We did a little shopping, and ate lunch at our standard spot...can't go to Chicago and not eat deep dish pizza, right?

The game was great...we even got free hats when we went in the gate...

White Sox won!  Brent was highly disappointed about that!

Then we went back to the hotel, found a PF Changs for supper, and the kids went swimming.

I stayed in the room and watched the cable TV we don't have at home.

This morning found us eating the hotel complimentary breakfast at 7:30am, then swimming again, doing a little shopping...and heading back on the train to South Bend.  I even got to visit my favorite store..Anthropologie...before we boarded.

We had a great weekend.  I'm ready to do it again...maybe in a couple of months.

Is this what hibernation feels like?

Our school vacation is almost over and I couldn't be more sad about it.  However, we've been livin' it up for the majority of the vacation.

Now, to most people, what I'm about to say, may not be considered livin' it up, but to us, it's great.

You see, we got a Wii for Christmas (yes, we're the LAST of society to get one) and Brent and the kids can't seem to stop playing it.  There have been contests before lunch, after supper, and right up until the ball dropped on New Year's Eve.  This, however, has allowed me plenty of down time to work on scrapbooking, card making, sewing, and every other project on my list.  It's been AWESOME!

Last night, it FINALLY snowed.  We haven't had a decent snow since before Thanksgiving.  It's Winter, mother nature, we need to see it for pete's sakes!

So, that means, they might go outside today and get pulled on the sled behind the 4-wheeler.  Something they all enjoy. 

We have 3 more days (counting today) before we go back, and I plan on making the most of them.  I have a copy -cat recipe for Mrs. Meyers hand soap to make (I'll share more later), some jam and jelly to can, more sewing to do, and some small furniture to move.  You see how my job really gets in the way of my to-do list? 

So, while I'm contemplating all this, I'm linking you up to Rachel Ray's top 12 recipes of the last year.  It happened to come on TV this morning while Brent was channel surfing, and we all watched it (or rather they watched it, and I listened from another room.)  Some of the recipes I've made, and some I'd like to try.  Maybe you'll find some you like too.

I hope you all are already having a ROCKIN' NEW YEAR!  Welcome 2012!

Feelin' Giddy

Organizing things makes me giddy.

I know that's weird.  I know my husband thinks I'm weird for it, but it just makes me feel "put together."

Can anyone else understand this?  Am I alone in this?  It's comforting to me.

I recently read on someone's blog (and I can't for the life remember whose...) that they were in the middle of organizing their house BEFORE Thanksgiving.

How honorable of them.  What a great idea! Then I up and told Grace we were going to do that in her closet over Thanksgiving break.  She looked at me and said, "WHY would we do that?"  Which really means, "You mean I might have to work?" (at this stage in her life...work is just the worst punishment EVER!)

But I thought, what a great time to do this, right before Christmas, when we probably have too much of what we need, and we're close to getting more. 

Excellent idea, I'm on it!

So, not only will Grace's closet get a once over, but also my hall closet.
Now, I don't have any before pictures yet, but let me just tell you, it's the tiniest closet in the house, which is really dumb, because it's for COATS.  Come on home designers out there...who builds SMALL coat closets?  Coats are big!

I'm eyeing something along the lines of this.

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I like the shelf on the bottom with the baskets for gloves, hats, etc.  I like the storage underneath for boots and the shoes that my kids usually leave ALL OVER THE RUG!

I would love for Grace's and my own closets to look something like this.

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My shoes are in disarray, and I don't know what to do.

My craft area is really in pretty good shape, but wouldn't this look nice?

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I think these baskets are swoony and use them wherever I can.

Right now Katie Brown has a line of them at Meijer.  Awesome.

In my entryway, I would literally DIE for a bunch of these.

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or these...

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I would also like to take all of Grace's shopping bags she has been saving, and frame them like this.  She's so into fashion right now, and this would just fit her room's "image."

So, that's my plan for Thanksgiving break...well, along with shopping on black Friday with Grace (first time ever with her...she's so pumped.) 

What will you be doing, well, besides eating Turkey?

A little background

I am the quintessential farm girl. I grew up on a farm, went to college, met a man and fell in love. Moved to a "city" for 7 years, and because the said man wanted to be a "farmer" moved back to the country, and now live on a small petting-zoo like farm.

However, I never quite got the desire to live in a big city out of my blood. It's there, probably not in the amount it used to be, but every once in awhile, it flares up.

You see, when Brent and I started dating, I had just made plans to go live in Grand Rapids close to my aunt and uncle, and start an apprenticeship type of thing at his business. I was already to go. My dad and I had made the trip, I had toured the business...I was making plans.

Then Brent and I started dating, 6 months later we were engaged, and 6 months after that we were married.

Whew!

So, plans for the big city were put by the wayside.

It was ok. We got started having a family, and the country life became more important to me. I didn't want to raise my kids in a city. Where would they run around? Where would they grow to love animals? Where could I go outside my back door, and not have people staring at me.

The country.

However, each year we travel to Chicago. The nearest "big" city to get my fix.

It's our annual destination for vacation.

Brent has family that live about 1 1/2 hours outside of town, so the end of our trip to the big city usually involves visiting them afterwards.

This past summer we took the kids to the Lincoln Park zoo, which is nice, but maybe not so much for kids our kid's age. However, once we left the zoo, on our way to the hotel, we had to take a street (I don't recall the name) to get back out to the main highway.

Suddenly we were transported to the neighborhood of my dreams.

It was what I had always pictured my house would look like if I lived in a city and had a million dollars in my pocket.

There was a whole street full of them. Side by side. All cookie cutter, but adorable just the same.

Kinda looked like Bill and Claire Huxtable's house (name that show!)

I couldn't tear my eyes from all of them.

But then I remembered, I don't want to live in a city. Just being gone for a week of vacation in a big city nearly does me in. I can't wait to get back home.

I can't wait to be surrounded by this.

Serene acres of corn or beans blowing in the wind. A green yard (well, most of the year that is), that my kids can run around in, and we can have friends over to ride the 4 wheeler in.

So, for now, I'll dwell on how good I have it. I'll let my city "fix" flare up only once in awhile.

Once a year of city livin' is good enough for me.

If I had a MILLION dollars...

If I had a million dollars...heck, if I just had $100,000 I'd already have it earmarked.


You see, combined, my husband and I don't make a ton. Surprising, I know, but we don't. We've always been careful with money, however, and we're not frivolous spenders.


We WANT to be, but we're not. We've followed the Dave Ramsey budget for years. We're paying our bills every month, we're saving for retirement, and we have an emergency fund, but that's about it. Unless we each save our weekly "allowance" for weeks, we don't buy anything big.
We've decided being able to go on a family vacation every year is more important than some other things.


Now, I'm not complaining. We have a happy life. A "homey" home filled with used/borrowed/hand-me down things. Things we've chosen for ourselves. But we don't have the extras.


Try to keep your shock under control when I mention we don't have a Wii, we don't have ANY flat screen tv's, we don't have a gaming system, and cable/dish is just a long-forgotten memory.

Guess what, we're alive. We actually walk among the living without having any of the above things.


Now, don't get me wrong, we would probably enjoy many of the above things, but our kids know they are ok to live without them.


However, it doesn't mean we don't WISH or WANT things.


I get all these wonderful catalogs in the mail, and just drool over the pages. I mainly get the catalogs for ideas. I know I can replicate many of their things on my own, for peanuts, but I like to dream people.


Here are some of my current wants....you'll see what I mean.


I was looking through the Garnet Hill catalog the other day. Beautiful catalog, beautiful website, beautiful ideas.


So, if I had a million/$100,000 to blow, I would probably buy the cashmere sweater in the top corner. (Just for the feel alone) It was originally $178, and on clearance it's still $68. The grey sweater is more my speed in price. It was $88, but now retails for $24. Manageable. The skirt, however, is my FAVORITE! It was $138, and is now $39. A possibility....but I'm currently looking for patterns to see if I can make it myself. The rings, lastly, are very cool, but on clearance for $98 a piece, is ridiculous.

I have also long dreamed for a bathroom that I LOVE. I don't have that. Our 3 bathrooms are passable at best, but here's what I found in Pottery Barn. These are much more my speed, if I could only wrap my measly budget around them....

Then, the living room and bedroom.....ah. Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware once again captured everything I've been dreaming of.

The vintage gameboards, the armoire, and the colors of the bedding. Beautiful. You see, we've been using the oak tv cabinet my husband made in shop class in high school. It's 20 years old, and I have a feeling if my husband has anything to do with it, it will die along with us.



And lastly, outdoor ideas have been flashing through my head for the last 5 years we've lived in this house. I would love a flower garden out back, and a pea-gravel patio area or deck with wicker furniture, etc. One of the problems, we have no trees and live in an area surrounded by fields, so things are windy around us. There is no wind break, and I could just imagine wonderful wicker chairs flying all over the yard on a regular basis. Can't help but dream about it, though.

The set with the red umbrella from Pottery Barn is ONLY $699 on sale! And the sconce for the front porch is only $80 on sale. (without the extra cost for numbers). I'll just go right out and buy these tomorrow!


Now, remember, I'm not complaining. I'm NOT. But you can't help but feel a little green every once in awhile.


I have to keep remembering, we can't take any of this when we're gone. We can't. But sometimes it would be fun to have some just for a little while.