Selling my home!

So many changes have happened in my life over the past year.  One of them is that I am selling my dream home.  I truly love it, but it is too much home for me to take care of now and I have also moved about 40 min away to start a new live with my fiance.  I am hoping that this is the start of a new good book at this point in my life.

here are a few pics of my home.

Here is a link to zillow to see the listing http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2025-W-Grassy-Branch-Dr-Meridian-ID-83646/79640847_zpid/

Wish me luck everyone!

L'huile de coco fouettée

My recipe for my massage oil.......

Whipped Coconut Oil

My ingrediants:

     coconut oil

     aloe vera 

     pepermint oil

I use a jar of coconut oil.  Plus roughly a cup of aloe vera gel.  I love the healing properties both put into the mixture. Then as it was whipped, I dropped in the pepermint oil.  I added the pepermint because I suffer from migraines and the pepermint helps.

I then whip it until it is smooth and creamy.

After, I peeled off the label by filling the coconut oil jar with hot oil.

I then put the mixture back into the jar.

I labeled it....   L'huile de coco fouette

which is just "Whipped coconut oil" in french.

Necklace Holder DIY

For years my necklaces have been a tangled up mess in a box.  Yeah, not good.  For a long time I just rationalized that it was because I am not a jewelery person.  Oh well...  Then recently we were given another box of assorted necklaces.  Talk about a tangled mess!!!!  After spending some time untangling tho I realized that some of the necklaces were actually kind of nice.  So I threw on a couple one day and got several compliments.  Ok, time to get off my butt then and figure out how to keep these necklaces separate.  Plus it took me a few HOURS to untangle them all!

So,  after doing alittle pinterest research I realized I may have just what I needed already at home....

What I used.....
      Unused metal towel bar
      shower curtain hooks
      bronze paint

Thats it!!!  I had found the towel rack while we were camping.... Yeah an eww what the hell find?! but it got tossed into the camper and then in my craft room.  I then seem to have a collection of shower curtain hooks that I haven't used.

I then spray painted everything bronze.  Let it dry and then mounted the towel bar to the wall.  Then i just hung my necklaces on the hooks and then on the towel rack.  Looks ok and now they wont get tangled!

Love a nice easy project!

New Chickens!

I went this morning and picked up 3 new 1 year old chickens!

Im so excited!  Especially since it was so sad our last ones were killed.

We have yet to name them.  But I have spoiled them a bit with apples, strawberries and a banana.

Love them already!!

Bath and Body Halloween items

I was doing pretty well today at the mall with my mom.  Remembering my budget and reminding myself that I really didnt need anything right now.  Still need to get the kids a few clothes for school so that comes first.  Until that is, I walked past Bath and Body Works and saw their....

Halloween Items!

There Is something about Halloween Decor I just cant walk away from.  Not that I buy everything I see, more that I have to check it out!

I did end up splurging and getting a few things for the house.

Frankenstein plug in - so adorable!



Witches Kiss Lip gloss!  For my daughter :)

Skull Scent for my hubby's car.

Yeah I know, it isnt even close to Halloween yet.  Close enough that stores are setting out all their fun items.  This is going to be a long holiday for me.    Im never going to last!

First day of High school

Yesterday I registered 3 teenagers for high school.  I realized how much the whole thing has changed since registering for elementary school. 

The week before watching the kids get so excited to go check the school doors for a class list.  Seeing who is in their class and who their teacher is going to be. 

Then tackling the job of finding the perfect backpack and supplies.  Having everything all ready, labeled and sitting by the front door till the big morning.

Its so not the same now.

Trust me.

Google first day of school crafts and see what comes up....

first day of school cookies!  So Cute!

an adorable ruler wreath!

even the back to school get together for moms once the kids get on the bus!

Now google first day of high school crafts.....

"crickets chipping"

Did you get anything?

Nope?  I didnt think so.

So see!  Back to school for me has changed.  Not one of my kids wants a cute note telling them how much I love them stuffed inside their backpack.  (not without an Oh good grief you are such a DORK MOM! )

Nor do they want a cutsy first day of school breakfast.  (at 6:30 Im lucky if they will be awake enough to eat some cereal and drink an instant breakfast).  And, after all the kids are off for their first day, the only get together I will be invited to is one with the clutter the 3 kids have accumulated over the summer!

Fun!

Just not the same....  I did however get to write a large check.  Does that count for anything?

scentsy wax and the carpet

Im sure many crafty women bloggers spent the day coming up with something fabulous.  I on the other hand worked on this....

"scene of the accident"

My son's night light went out during the night.  Always resourceul he went in and grabbed the scentsy plugin that was in the bathroom.  Did I mention the light was behind the door?  Oh yeah, took probably 5 min for that thing to melt and then spill.

A closer look of the horror!

By the time he went to get me it was hard and actually pretty thick.  I wasnt sure if it would even come out considering the color.  I facebooked my friends for help- they recommended paper towels and the iron, so I set to work only to realize I was all out of papertowels.  OH, and I had to for some reason go get my iron - FROM THE GARAGE?  I have no idea why.

Then I went to work...

And more work....


I did get up at some point because I realized my dear teenage daughter was listening to something on the radio that recommended we "all go out and cheat on our man" and something about sexing you up. 

I also began to wonder if this was how Lady Gaga spent her day.... hmmmm

Finally I got the carpet to this point....



Which, is probably as good as its going to get.  I will however have to paint the trim because it stained.   You can kind of see the pink but Im hoping once it dries (I rubbed it with a wet rage once I got almost all of it out to get rid of some of the pink.) it will be less noticable.

Oh, and I grabbed a new lightbulb from storage and fixed the night light.

So, we are hopefully all back to normal.  I hope this isnt the highlight of my day!





Changing my blog

Ok - Im CRAZY!  On the eve of a week long camping trip - what do I do?

Redesign my whole blog!  Am I the only one who has to change it around because it gets old?  I seem to change my whole blog look every couple of months.  This time I was dying to switch it over to the look of my private journal block.  Maybe Im just feeling a darker background?

Anyhow, everyone have a great Summer and I will be back next week!  The Honeymoon Suite (our camper) is ready to go!

My Laundry Room

I think I have a love / hate relationship with my laundry room.  After seeing so many here decorate beautiful laundry rooms a while back, I decided enough is enough.  I went in to try to make the room a prettier place to work in.  It wasnt easy, and not even close to so many of the wonderful laundry rooms I have seen- but it was better.  My laundry room has one glaring problem that prevents me from doing much - space.  I have none.  It was and still is my biggest downfall in my house when I bought it.  hmmmm 5 bedrooms and a laundry room the size of a pea pod.  What were they thinking??

My biggest positive however is my washer/ dryers.  I have 2 of each.  They were a gift from my parents and I cant tell you enough how much I love them.  Seriously - I LOVE THEM.  It cuts my laundry down to half the time.  In my opinion - everyone should have 2 of each!  It just rocks.  Even with the machines taking up their space there isnt even any room to sort or pile ANY laundry.  I do hate that.

Anyhow, here is a photo of my laundry room.

Dont blink you might miss it.  Oh, and that is Sarah my resident Diva who I swear ran into the room when she realized I had a camera!

Here is one side of the room.

And here is the other!

So there ya have it!  I dont get it, but it is what it is!  I wrote this post because I'm going to link this to the laundry room link up in ALL it's embarrissing glory.  Oh well, its mine :)

** edited to add- I think it is soooooo funny that after I posted this, I had an advertisement at the bottom for a website linking you to local contractors who specialize in adding on rooms! ****

Pictures from my sisters open house!

Today Sweetheart and I went down to my little sister Karen's open house.  My sister is a realtor for a development call the River District in Eagle, Idaho.  There are patio homes and regular homes with small yards that back up against the water.  They have that warehouse district feel that I love - they are soo cool.  I took out my phone and tried to take a few pictures to show you - I know you will love them as well!

Here is the front of the cottage house style.  Isn't it just so cute! And yes that is Sweetheart standing guard while my sister ran to the clubhouse for something. 

Here is a side view - It has the most amazing balcony on the side.

The entry - I would love this for my kids altho I fear it would always be messy with coats and things!

The kitchen was to die for - I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of it!

The pantry door is a chalkboard! I want this!

Yes I took a picture of inside the pantry.  But with so many bloggers decorating this space in so many good ways I thought I would share this one - isn't it so lovely?

The boys room

Artwork in the hallway I love!

And here is my lil sis.  She is a wonderful realtor who goes way WAY out of her way to help her clients find the home of their dreams.  She goes above and BEYOND!  But only because she cares so much!

Fall Cleaning!

Hello my blogging friends.

Fall is here.....


and with it comes fall cleaning!  I have been super busy today cleaning (while I wasn't running errands!).  Here are a few of my favorite cleaning websites...

http://www.cleanreport.com/

I love Don Aslet's cleaning stores - they are the best!

I live for this stuff!

http://flylady.net/

She always helps me get organized and my home all shinny.

Happy Fall and Happy cleaning everyone.

I will be prepping and painting more gourds later tonight hopefully.  Getting them ready to sell!



Anthony and the dogs

Anthony wanted to have his picture taken with the dogs the other day and then write a book about it.  He took it all very serious so it was really cute.

We are currently a 3 dog family as we have my sister's new puppy with us and we are potty training her for them.  She has been doing pretty good at the training and since we just finished potty training Sadie it just seems like the usual thing to do.

She is cute but Sadie is still our baby and Sarah is still our resident diva!

Anyhow Anthony finished his book and then took it to school to show everyone.  Anthony is a sweetheart and loves to draw and work on projects.  Here is a picture he drew out of the blue a few months ago and brought it in to us.

Since Anthony has a lot of Autistic tendancies he has an amazing memory and focus on details that others might not pick up on.  He is loved at home and at school because of his warm happy smile and teddy bear personality.  Anthony does not like to see anyone unhappy, treated poorly, or sad as he is always trying to make his fellow classmates in the special resource room smile or laugh.  He is a good judge of character because he remembers all the little and big things a person does good and bad.

Anthony's teachers have said that his progress this year has been outstanding.  I cant believe that next year he will be in High School.  It goes by way too fast.

From Little girls room ......to young womans room

After about a year of begging from my daughter Libby to change the color of her room we finally just went for it and painted the room!

Sooo....After a new paint color, removal of ALL pink, new bedspred, addition wicker, new lamp and a bit of cleaning and straigtening her room was finished.

I have to say that everyone LOVES the new room.  When she got home we showed it to her and it was fun to see her tear up with excitement.  Made the whole weekend worth it!

Here is a "BEFORE" pic of her room...

Out in the WILD!

 Looking out my office window I spotted this bird perched up on my neighbors house.  I quickly called in Otis and Libby and we watched the large bird in awe and admired its beauty.  We watched for several minutes while it looked around so carefully....

Then it slowly crept down off the roof and onto the ground around our neighbors pond.  Our neighbors have the prettiest pond out front of their house.

We then watched as the crane dove down and scooped up one of their pet KOI and swallow it whole.  It was both shocking and amazing to watch all at the same time.  Which is why we dont have a photo!  When we realized that the bird was planning on catching himself another yummy meal, Otis went out and made some noise in the front yard to scare the bird away. 

It wasnt until later that what we feared had come true.....That all the fish in the lower pond were gone.  Apparantly the crane knew exactly where to get a good meal and now has a full belly.

The house where I lived.

A few days ago I got a call from my mom. The house I grew up in is for sale. Since my sis is now a realtor we scheduled an appointment to go see inside. I haven't seen the inside of this house in 20 years. It was very strange experience for me. I am VERY emotionally attached to this house.

My parent built it when I was in first grade. They then later added on 3 additional bedrooms and another bathroom when my sisters started hitting the teen years. I always felt like it was soooooo nice. So homey. For years I regularly have dreams about this house. Sometime I would wake up and cry. If anyone can explain this to me - please do!

It was always my dream to buy this house back and live in it until I died. It was agonizing the first time I learned it was up for sale for $350,000.00. There was no way I could afford that. It was crushing but over time I got over it - we all do ya know! This time it is for sale for about the same price. Still cant afford it but I was hoping being able to walk through it would put some of my demons or dreams to rest.

I made my hubby go with me for emotional support. He didn't get what a big deal this was for us until we pulled up with my parents and both my sisters cars were there as well as my brothers. It was like a mini family reunion. We were all so excited to see inside. We then spent the next hour walking around, talking and laughing about memories, the house, etc. It was very bonding for us I think.

First off, mom noticed right away that they had painted her marvelous Oak door red. Let's just say she was not happy. We then had to point out that the door probably needed something after 20 years. Although I will say I was not a good red. A strange Rosy red that didn't quite match. Secondly, the house smells OLD. Seriously - we are talking museum old smell here. I noticed major visible carpet pet stains so I'm sure that didn't help. Plus I was amazed at how much of it was still the original house I grew up in. I'm 38 now so yeah - that's a long time to not really update or repair.

The house does have alot of redeeming qualities that I would really love now. Its very secluded, lots of big trees, ALL on one floor (my hubby literally cant go up our stairs due to really bad knees), Has a big shop in the back for crafting, etc, and lots of room for our camper and boat. Plus I could actually have a couple chickens. Yes, its my secret dream to own chickens - I will one day I swear!! The problems however, outweigh the pluses. I cant afford it is a big one for me lol. Plus everything, and I mean everything, needs some sort of work done. We are talking new carpet, paint, (cabinets are flat dark brown and beat up) cabinet makeover, concrete repair ( its all buckling), pool repair (tiles are falling off), new deck (lets just say there were spots I thought I would fall through), landscaping (lots of trimming and cutting back) etc - you get my point. Even if I got this for a great deal - I would spent thousands more just restoring it to what it was or the dream that I know it can become.

I'm still numb from this whole process. Hubby knows that I'm still up and down about the whole thing. I guess its true that when you go back things never are the same. I always remember it being such a beautiful house. But for now I'm concentrating on the memories I have there.

Walking home from school with my sisters. That moment when you would reach our house and cut across the front lawn. Seeing the lights on in the kitchen and knowing mom was waiting for us.

Playing with my sisters all over the place - too many memories to mention...

Walking into the kitchen and finding my little brother playing in the crisco right before we were due to have family pictures taken.

All the animals we had, the dogs, sheep, cows, chickens and turkeys that lived on our small 2 acres from time to time.

Floating down the ditch along side our house all summer. Or swimming in the pool.

I have to stop or Ill start crying.

Here is a shot of the backyard.

The shop that my dad built.

The back patio- one place that didn't look the way it did when I was a kid.

Seriously tho , I probably have mental problems already since I really think living here would also be fun.