Home Tour

Hello every buddy!

Recently Laura came over and did something I've been wanting to do for a very long time - took pictures of our home!

In the past I've shied away from this.  Even taking the "before" pictures so I could have "after" pictures just felt so pretentious to me.  Why?  I don't know - I'm overly cautious and sensitive at times.  I thought if I did this, it might act as some sort of shrine and testament to our work...  It might seem like I'm trying to boast in any "decorating skill" I have...  I didn't want to give people the wrong idea that I fancied myself some sort of house artist that was keeping a portfolio...

And then it came to me:  I needed to seriously take some sticks out of somewhere and lighten up.  It's just a silly house and some stupid pictures.

So here they are guys!  We'll start out with the living room.

Come on in - you can crank the old doorbell for fun, but it doesn't work anymore.

You saw that top picture yesterday.  (And to see before and after pictures, visit yesterday's post)  That is the view looking in from the window.  The color of this paint is "Pale Honey" - I have joked many times before that it is easy to remember because it reminds me of my husband - he is my pale honey.

If you can see it well enough in the picture, that hook below the mirror is a hand coming out of the wall.  I have been asked many times before where we got it - and it's from Urban Outfitters.

This mirror (above) was taken from my childhood dresser.  You do not want to know what kind of massacre is behind that mirror to get it up there.  It is very heavy, and thus, harder to mount.

I was teasing Laura that the collage up there is a shrine to her photography.  Every picture up there is one she took.  The painting is also from a dear DEAR friend, Holly.  The plaque that hangs from the shelf sat in my grandparents house for many years.  Needless to say, this is a very special and cherished collection to us.

If you're wondering, I'm not a huge fan of ALL the turquoise anymore.  The shelves used to be an olive green, and they really are worlds better than they used to be, but if we were staying in this house, I think I would have painted them white eventually.  I am always trying to strike that balance between having color and character but also class/minimalism.  I think if our walls were white, this turquoise would not have been an overkill, but so much yellow and so much turquoise together, I'm just not sure of.  For me, the white would have given it that more "classy/simple" look I am really searching for.  Minimalism is truly an art - one that I have yet to master.  For our new home, I have goals of making it a tad less romantic and girly, and a little more simple and classy.

But you know what?  It IS really easy for me to obsess over the details and the "should be"s and "coulda beens".  It IS really easy for me to look at Pinterest pins of houses and think about all the things other people thought of that I didn't, or want to emulate them precisely.  But this is us - these are the things that were given to us lovingly from other people, or the $1 finds I just happened on at the yard sales.  I've always loved French design, and that means to have curves in things and scrolls and chunky frames - and if that changes on Pinterest tomorrow, it will still remain true in this house.  And those are just a few of the things  that scratch the surface of what makes a house a home.  It's taken me a while, but I have peace with that now, and though things will almost always be in rotation, and I will continue to be inspired by other homes and Pinterest pins - some things will still remain with that special Wilson family seal on it that we have come to be comforted by.  "And that's"...(best Stuart Smalley voice) "O-kay."

Just be cool and pretend like that white slipcover doesn't have chocolate fingers all over it.  Thanks guys.

Do you see that green dragon above the large turquoise shelves?  It's one of my favorite things.  I saw it in a guy's yard as he was closing up his yard sale the day after.  I slammed on my brakes like a mad woman and shouted out my window if he would take a couple bucks for it.  He did and I've never regretted the way he backed away from me and his hands shook with fear as I ran up with money waving wildy and frothed at the mouth as I took his dragon and handed him the cash.

My precioussss....


Well, that's the living room area.  As I said before, tomorrow it's on to the kitchen!

Instagram, Mostly

Hi everybody!  /hihi

I talked about satiating an instagram lust here, and often post instagrammy type pictures, such as here.

Well, recently I got on instagram using our Kindle.  It's really quite exciting for me.  I love this resource for tracking memories, and I can just imagine at the end of the year, it will be a wonderful way to look back on the year, and ooh and ahh, and "Oh, I almost forgot about that..." at all the pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures taken over the past several weeks, in case you're interested.  (And if you're not interested, I recommend Ashley Ann for something interesting.)

This is a little bit of the work that's being done on the craft room. 

This guy is a robot I made for my nephew some time back.  He's been loved  enough that he needs some stitches.  I get to play doctor.

Installed a doggy door this week.  It started out very "girl power", ended...well, DUST...just, DUST.  But hey, it's in, and it is gloriously helpful.

The weather is nice here!  The girls and I started putting the old trampoline together.  Looking back, I see now that I probably should have put the camera down and disciplined the gladiators (or at least acquired some popcorn or something....)

I can take pictures, too, mom.

That's probably just about the best ones. If you would like to follow me I am...you guessed it, figmilkshakes.

A Walk Around the Block

Let me tell you, I could take you on a walk about three blocks from our home that would make you feel like you weren't in the desert anymore.  You would see houses with Southern style wrap-around porches, evergreen trees as though they had traveled from the forest, and even stone cottages with brightly painted doors reminiscent of England. (And then there are some things that remind you exactly of the desert...and I love that the best.)

On days when I feel my identity is the "to do" list, and I lament the feel of wetness around my belly from the dishes splashing up on it -  I get out for a walk, and look at much of this beauty.  There's something about this neighborhood that inspires me, there's something about the quiet walk that reminds me to count the ways I love thee - and after these walks, I find it is not only easier, but I am grateful and happy to get that bless-ed list back in hand. 

And sometimes I take a camera.... 

The picket fence.  A "dream home" staple, but also good to be readily available for killing vampires.

And guess what?  Somebody was throwing these out, and I grabbed them up.  Not sure what to do with them just yet, but hey...free..........................oh, and sodium.

Family Name Flash Card Dealie

HellOoOoo friends!

Do you like my new blog header?  Really - I'm not fishing for compliments, I'm not sure if it's too busy.  Is it too busy?

I guess I like it.  All my favorite blogs have these really eloquent, minimalist yet beautiful blog designs, and I was thinking I wanted the same thing - but when I sit to try to recreate that look, I just can't find anything that I feel strikes that balance between eloquent and expressing my personal sense of style.  Maybe I'm just not eloquent (I think I'm okay with it...)

Anyhow, I'd like to hear your input.  (And now that I have written that last paragraph and thought it out to convince myself that I do indeed like it...I am now just fishing for compliments.  :D)

Well, onto the next thing.

A friend gave us these GREAT flash cards.  We had no real use for them, since Maggie has already learned her letters in school, but I just adored the art work on them, don't you?

I thought of different things that could be done with them.  Really, I think they would make a great HUGE piece of art if I wanted to take the time to hang them all side by side, but motivated by the desire to not want to take on a huge project (motivated by laziness, if you will excuse my oxy moron), I remembered this project I had seen on Pinterest, this is how they ended up:

I also thought these would be really fun in a kid's room, with the letters to spell out, "Sisterz", or even in a play room, spelling out, "Have Fun".  They do just seem to lend themselves to fitting into a kid's area, but I opted to spell out our last name to put in the front room area, just for the sheer fact that it is a little bare in some areas and needs a little more to fill up the space.

Thanks for checking it out! I'm linking up at Sugar Bee Crafts, Tuesday Confessional, and  Handmade Tuesdays - all of which you can find buttons to in my Link Parties tab up top.

Christmas Mantle

Hi guys!

Well, I did mention here I would post our Christmas mantle once the rain went away, and the sun came out to help my little (but trusty) camera along. 

And then life happened, as life often does, and it took me a while to get this thing photographed, but here we are now. Christmas "Mantle" time. (Of course, I say "mantle" in the quotes because, as you can see, this is not a literal mantle.  It's just a shelf with ambitions of being a mantle...well, little guy, here's your big break.)

You can't see it in any of the photos, but for the branch with the frames, I cut pages from an old dictionary using words that reflected Christmas: stable, Mary, manger, etc., then I wrote the lettering on top.  In retrospect, I wish I would have planned out my lettering better, but it's alright in its own flawed way.

I wanted something that made me think of poinsettas.  I love poinsettas.  I added these flower cutouts just by using a piece of double sided tape stuck to the shelf.

 

Well, all in all the "mantle" makes me very happy.  I feel it expresses the true meaning of the season coupling thoughts of "God with us" and family/friends -  I cherish all these when I see the stockings grandma crocheted, the painting my dear friend made, the photographs my other dear friend took, and of course, "Emmanuel", the reminder of the sacrifice my Savior made.

Does it get any better than that?

----

On another note:  Thank you so much to everybody that voted for our Christmas tree photo at the Country Living contest!  It didn't win because of cheaters there were so many great, inspiring photos out there... but it really does sincerely just mean the world to me that so many of you would care about little ole' me and my lil' ole' family having a chance to win a silly thing like a Kindle!    /blush

Thank you!