Saturday "Before & After"

So recently I have become obsessed with all of these awesome "before & after" pictures that I see all over Pinterest and the internet in general.  Have you seen some of these things?  People do AMAZING things with old crappy furniture.  One of my favorite blogs for inspiration is called Better After.  Go check it out - some of the stuff is unbelievable. 

Last weekend I bought an old dresser on Craigslist for our basement.  I plan to do a sweet little before & after with it.  I received my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint this week in Barcelona Orange and I can't wait to have time to do that project.  I'm hoping to get started this week!

This weekend though I did a quick project that has been on my list for awhile.  Sheridan's room is the most finished in the whole house.  I like the kids rooms to be nice so that when they are here on the weekends they are comfortable and it feels like they have their own space.  Her room is purple, turquoise and lime green.  She has been using one of our old nightstands which we bought forever ago and was definitely in need of some work.  Her headboard and chest of drawers are white and then there was this old crappy brown thing.  So this week I bought a new drawer knob and I went to work on it. 

Here is the before:

 I mean it's not HORRIBLE by any means but for a little girl's room, it needed to be...well, more girly!

So here it is once I was finished with it! 

First I sanded it down - which was my first use of a power tool on my own might I add.  I am woman hear me roar!!!  HA  Then a couple of coats of white paint, painted the drawer purple to match her room and put on a sparkly new drawer pull. 

Oh, and for a fun little surprise I lined the drawer with scrapbook paper (using Mod Podge) to match her room as well.  It turned out really cute!

So there you have it!  My first offical "before & after" project.  Pretty simple but it made such a difference in her room.  She loves it which makes me happy!  :) 

Happy weekend everyone!  Off to opening day of baseball!

Day 360

So today is day 360.  I know this because of  my handy dandy recovery app on my phone.  I can't believe that next Wednesday (God willing) will be my one year anniversary of sobriety.  I was talking with my sponsor today and she hit the nail on the head - in some ways it feels like forever ago and in some ways it feels like it was just yesterday.  I look back on the girl that I was last year at this time and I don't even know who that person is.  It's not the person I am today, that is for sure.  Life is just so good now.  That doesn't mean I don't have bad days.  That doesn't mean that some of my ugly little character defects don't like to show up sometimes.  I can still get to where I beat myself over little things sometimes (Like losing an important piece of mail and having to request another...), I can still get to where I want to wallow in a bad day, and I can still get to where I feel like what I'm doing isn't good enough if it's not perfect.  But today I can recognize these things and snap out of them quickly.  I have tools today to deal with these things other than drinking and partying.  That is a beautiful thing. 

Last night I was able to see a good friend decide to surrender and start living a new way of life.  I was so proud of her because just recently she wasn't sure if she was an alcoholic or not and she was now finally ready to admit it.  I also was able to see someone who I met last year at this time celebrate her two year anniversary of sobriety.  It never gets old seeing someone celebrate an anniversary or decide to change their life.  Having these strong women in my life helps me get through every day and so many of the women I have met over the past year have inspired me in ways that they probably have no idea about.  Who knew that there women just like me?  Wasn't I unique???  HA

Last year at this time I was 5 days from going to rehab....without even knowing it at the time.  I didnt know I was going until 24 hours before I went.  I think it was better that way.  I couldn't talk myself out of it or make excuses as to why I didn't need it.  Because I was really good at excuses and manipulation and denial at that point.  I like to think I'm a completely different person than I was then and I think the people around me would agree that I am.  Emotional and spiritual sobriety are wonderful things, that is for sure. 

I'm rambling now and I could sit here and go on all day about how thankful I am for the life I'm living but I'll spare you that torture :)  I still have a long way to go in this program and I hope to continue to learn for the rest of my life.  I will be giving my lead for the second time next Monday night at my home group.  I feel like it will be much less scary than doing it at a podium at the treatment center in front of that huge group!  Then a week from this Sunday I get to celebrate one year!  Woo hoo! 

Hope everyone is doing well an enjoying spring as much as I am this year!  :)

Projects in the Meadow

Happy Saturday everyone!  It is kind of a dreary, cold day here so I decided to post about some of the recent projects that I have been working on.  I kind of go through stages as I've mentioned before....and right now I am totally in DIY project mode.  I just love making things for our home and for other people.  It keeps me busy which is a definite plus and things are so much prettier and SO much cheaper when you make them yourself (most of the time anyway!).  I have a lot of projects that are in the works but here are a few I have finished recently!

First up, I saw these adorable pinwheel wreaths on Pinterest and just knew I HAD to have them for my front doors for spring/summer.  These are super easy to make and SO fun.  It was a pretty cheap project.  You just need a styrofoam wreath form, ribbon to cover that if you chose (I just used cheap sheer ribbon in purple), and scrapbook paper to make the pinwheels.  You thumb tack the pinwheels on once you make them an viola!  Here is a great tutorial on making them if you would like to add some color to your doors! 

My cousin recently asked if I would make birthday cakes for her little girls' birthday parties.  Of course!  I love to get to bake and decorate pretty things.  I usually stick to cookies but I'm starting to dabble into cakes so I thought, why not?  I made these pretty little princess cakes for them and they loved them! 

 Now my biggest thing going on recently is that I'm learning to sew - yes, ME.  Learning to sew.  I never thought I would see the day.  But I bought a sewing machine and thought, no time like the present.  I wanted some curtains for our breakfast room but couldn't find a darn thing that I loved that wasn't an obscene amount of money.  And I'm not all about paying an obscene amount of money for things.  My Granny and my mom both sew, crochet, you name it so I knew my mom could teach me.  We spent a day learning to use my machine (it's computerized....she wasn't used to that!) and then we set to work once my fabric came in!  I went for very basic, easy curtains for my first project.  I found that the most time consuming part was the measuring, cutting, ironing, etc.  The actual sewing part wasn't bad at all.  Here I am looking like I just rolled out of bed when mom knocked on my door fabulous working on my project! 

 Here are my pretty-ful (I like to make up words) curtains hanging in my breakfast area!  I used clips to hang them up on the rods as I like this look.  They turned out perfect!  I'm so ready to do another sewing project now!  These were much cheaper than what I would pay for something that I loved.  I would say I have about $120 in this whole room of curtains right now including the clips (thank you JoAnn Fabrics for your coupons!). 

I have a few more projects that I'll be working on in the next week or so.  I am going to sew some pillows with outdoor fabric for our front porch AND my big project - painting a dresser.  I just bought a dresser on Craigslist so I could paint and distress it for our basement.  I paid $75 for a huge dresser and mirror and I just ordered my Annie's Chalk Paint to use for this piece of furniture.  I absolutely cannot wait to get started!  I'll post pictures as I go.  I just found out about this Annie's paint (I'm a big behind I guess) and it looks AMAZING.  No prep work?  Sign me up.

Easter & The Azalea Path

Hey all! I haven't written in so long because well, we have been so darn busy! Which means of course, I have SO much to write about but so little time. So I'm going to try to split all of this up into several different posts. I think I'll start with Easter!

This was the best Easter I've had in a really long time - it was my first sober one! It was so nice actually enjoying every single detail of it all. I enjoyed making the Easter baskets (I think I made 7 this year by the time I did our kids and nieces and nephews!), watching the kids hunt eggs, eating the yummy food, and spending time with my family. Here are a few pics from our holiday!

The weather was perfect Friday night for a bonfire! So we grabbed our giant marshmallows and out to the backyard we all went!

Will & Sheridan hunting eggs at Aunt Tanya's house - we had the perfect weather!





My nephew Wade and Sheridan looking in the bushes for those well hidden eggs!We always have to dye eggs - I think I'll make them do this with me even when they get older - my mom still loves to do it!

That next week my mom, my Granny, and my great Aunt Jane all went to the Azalea Path in Union, Indiana. I had no idea this place even existed but it is gorgeous! It was a little chilly that morning but it was so beautiful. I would LOVE to have that in my yard...if only someone else would take care of it all for me! We also went to Smith's Greenhouse which was like heaven on earth if you like flowers. We ended up filling the back of my car by the time we left! I couldn't pass up those beautiful flowers!


I have so many more things to blog about so stay tuned! Lots of projects I've been working on, books I've read, recipes I've tried, and things going on around the Meadow!