It will be here sooner than you think...

Christmas will be here in less than a week!

Are you ready???

I finished my shopping last night, and everything I have so far is wrapped. We're still waiting on some packages to come in the mail, so hopefully they'll be here soon.

Soon I will post some pictures of gifts and cards that I made, but not just yet. I don't want to spoil the surprise for the lucky recipients that read my blog...

What are your plans for Christmas this year? Christmas Eve, we'll be heading out to my parents' house for dinner. Christmas Day we're having my family over. I'm really looking forward to it.

Dining Room

Since everyone asked about it at scrapbooking, here's a picture of my dining room. I still need to paint the ceiling and do some touch-up work, I love the color. It makes the dining room seem so much warmer! I think I might put up some cafe curtains, too.

Sarah is sleeping on the footstool, and Tracy is sleeping on the couch. I didn't figure he'd want to be in the picture.

Painting Project

Thursday morning I'm leaving for Asheville, NC with my mom. We're going to see the Biltmore. It's something my mom has wanted to do for a long time, and I know we'll have fun! Usually when I'm gone, Tracy has some kind of project planned, and this time is no exception. This weekend, he will be painting the dining room. Here's what it looks like now.






We went to Lowe's last weekend and picked out the paint color. Amazingly, we both liked the exact same color. It's called Mocha Syrup. Hopefully I'll like it when it's on the wall, too. It's a little darker than what I had originally planned, but it really matches the placemats and dishes we got for our wedding. I can't wait to see what it looks like when I get home!


I'll share pictures of the trip when I have time!

From Drab to Fab...

OK, that's kind of a dorky title, I know. But it's amazing how one little thing can make such a big difference. A couple of weeks ago on my finger post, I mentioned that I went to an Uppercase Living party. Today, the product I ordered magically appeared on my front porch. I ordered something to go in my bedroom. Here's what the wall looked like when I got home from work today:

I have been looking for something to go in this space for a long time. A picture, some kind of flower arrangement, a wall hanging, anything! And now I've got something. This is what I ordered:

It didn't take me very long to put this up at all. I just followed the instructions, and I measured...twice. And this is the after picture:

The designs come in all different colors, and I was amazed at how well this matched the trim and accents in my room! I had a really hard time picking out one thing because I liked half of what was in the catalog.

I think I need to have my own party, because I want to order more. I want to get something for my living room, and maybe the dining room, too!

Don't Rain on My Parade...

We had an unusual thing happening in our back yard, and it started about a month ago. I wish I had some pictures of what we started with, but just imagine a very plain 17 foot flat-bed trailer. A blank canvas, just waiting to be turned into this masterpiece:

Our church men's group, under the direction of my very patient husband, Tracy, worked on this every Saturday for a month! They worked really hard, and I was impressed with their creativity. The decorations were created and attached by our church scrapbooking group. I think it turned out great.

John made the cake topper out of styrofoam and painted it. How cool is that! The cake decorations are tissue paper flowers.

also really glad I got Tracy that air compressor last Christmas, because it was used for every part of this project.

Tracy used our wedding runner to cover the seats. Sometimes I wonder why on earth he would save something like that and then it turns out to be exactly right for something else. I guess Maggie liked it too, because she hopped right up there just before I took the picture.

We finished decorating everything the night before the parade. Fortunately, we covered the entire thing with a boatload of plastic sheeting. Unfortunately, while everyone was waiting to ride in the parade, it started POURING. This was shortly after Tracy hopped on the motorcycle with Katie so that he could drop her off to ride in the parade. I saw a few pictures from the parade and I think the float held up pretty well--I think they just took off some streamers. Everyone was totally soaked, but they had a great time.

Note to self: No more float building! It's hard work! And it makes Tracy grumpy!