Green Your Blog to Support Free and Fair Elections in Iran

I've been neglecting my blog a little lately because my kids are getting out of school in 2 days and it's been a bit busy.

But I'm tuning back in briefly to do this: (to borrow the words of LeeDumond.com) "I’ve temporarily changed the background of my blog to green to express solidarity with those who yearn for freedom in Iran. If you have a blog or website of your own, won't you please consider doing the same? . . .

If you live in the USA or any free country; where you are allowed to say what you want, do what you want, elect the leaders you want, read the blogs you want, and march in the streets if you want, then take a couple of minutes and show your support for these brave men and women who want nothing more or less than to enjoy the same freedoms you and I take for granted every single day.

It won’t take much. Put a green background on your blog or website for a week. It’s a small gesture, but it would mean a lot.

Just do it. And be thankful that you can."

To find out more, go to LeeDumond.com.

Stand With Free Iran

Little Things I Love

Today is Beautiful Life Friday at The Inspired Room. Here are some little things I love:

Mary Janes. I love them. My feet love them.

My new $49 vacuum cleaner that kicked my Dyson's butt. Kicked it all over the place. (More on that to come in my vacuum cleaner challenge post).

Morning sun on your face.

My constant companion.

The reason I need a kick butt vacuum cleaner.
Cute Corgi ears.

Stop by The Inspired Room for more Beautiful Life Friday inspiration.

Greatest Inventions

Well maybe not greatest, but here are 2 fabulous things people created that I Love ...

Hair color (yes, I already have gray hair)

Spray paint

When I posted about my little desk that I decided to paint and painted within 30 minutes start to finish, Jeannine asked me what type of paint I use and do I prime.

Well, I have learned that any project that stands a chance of getting done in my house must be done quickly. So on this particular project, I just spray painted the top layer of paint and didn't prime it at all. I don't even really know what the actual purpose of primer is, other than you should use it when you have a piece of wood that has never been painted. (According to Mr. Jones, the primer raises the wood and allows you to sand it down smoother with some steel wool. He worked for his father who was a professional painter so I'm going with him on that one). So if a piece already has been painted, I just paint over the paint. If the piece has shellac or a glossy finish and I want the paint to stick, I do a light sanding. Ditto if the previous paint job has too many lines and needs to be smoothed down a bit. That probably doesn't clear up much. I'm probably making it more confusing. Basically, I avoid work at all costs.

By the way, they do make spray primer too, which I love because it gets in all kinds of weird spots, doesn't leave paint lines and is fast. And you can use grey primer if you are going to paint the piece black.

Anyway, my hands-down favorite paint is Krylon Indoor/Outdoor paint. Have you seen the commercial for the little 360 degree nozzle on their bottles? Well, yes, I had to check that out and it is awesome!! I cannot tell you how much I love this little feature. Yes, folks, this is a paint manufacturer who understands their customers (Apparently my local Home Depot doesn't because they don't even stock this stuff). When I went to their website to steal one of their spray paint pictures, I found all kinds of really neat projects, like ...

A baby bootie mobile. I may not make this one, but I did save all of my kids' booties but they are all scuffed and dirty and bronzing them costs too much money. Wouldn't a coat of robin's egg blue look great on them?!!

And glue those stars right on the dresser ... hmmmmm, I'm going to have to glue some shells or something on one of mine.

Oh, oh, this one is my favorite. Did it ever occur to me to spray paint a shirt? Get out!!

Here's a cute Halloween project made from Dryer Hose!

You can make chalk boards out of those lunch boxes.

And here's a technique I have tried before. Use petroleum jelly between layers of paint to distress it. Be careful though. It REALLY works.

They even show you how to do aged looks like this one. Loooovee the patina.

I'm on vacation now, but I'm think when I get back I'm going to have a little get-together with all my bloggy friends and we can all share our favorite spray paint project.

Inspiration Friday

For Inspiration Friday, I thought I would stop by HGTV's Rate My Space and see what's new. Here are some pictures from my favorites:

Too see more of this designer's rooms, click here.

I liked this one too.

Here is a yummy toile bathroom. Check it out here. And check out this amazing lady's cottage rooms. I found her completely by accident, but immediately recognized the rooms as Cindy's at Romantic Home. Click on the first link to see her rooms on Rate My Space, and give her a great rating.

Check Out This Blog

Yesterday, I stumbled across a blog linked to Tracey's wonderful blog, and I thought I would share it with you. It is called Becoming Home, a tale of first-time homeowners. They are remodeling their first home and blogging about the experience. I really love how the blog is designed, and the house is adorable. I think it is going to look amazing when they are done. Check it out.
I got this great link from Becoming Home, too. It is a website called From Accents that sells magnetic chandelier charms to dress up your lighting. I will be shopping there today. Ambiance Interior Design sells them too.

What I'm Reading

I have to share a great new book with you. It is Expressions: Taking Extraordinary Photos for Your Scrapbooks and Memory Art by Donna Smylie and Allison Tyler Jones. This is the photography book I have been wanting for years, but just finally found. It is about taking memorable photos of people. The authors give ideas on how to be more creative, as well as technical lessons on things like composition and lighting that are understandable but not too difficult for the average person. I think anyone could immediately improve their photography skills after reading this book. It is awesome!!!

Ok, I also have to share a link to an adorable new scrapbook store. My scrap style is very basic, and I don't go nuts over all the scrap stuff, but I would *love* to go to this store because it is so adorable. It is called By Design Scrapbook Boutique. It makes me want to redecorate my scrap/craft room. You may recall my recent posting about organizing my scrap room. I did have a deadline of 30 days for the I'm An Organizing Junkie contest, but got a little bogged down with what to do with *years* of photos. I was going to reorganize them all into boxes, but couldn't bring myself to do that. I had an epiphany last night ... instead of organizing the photos, I need to just sit my butt down and *scrap* them. Nothing fancy ... just using classic black or natural background. Journaling Heidi Swapp style. So I started last night, and I actually have almost completed a scrapbook. So, I have not forgotten about this project, but I'm not quite ready to show you the results. Stay tuned.

And since you might have noticed by now that I love photographs, I will end my post with two of my favorites I took this week. The boys and I are on our own because Fifi (that is what I call my daughter because she is a princess) is away at camp. This experience will either change her for life (she doesn't like dirt, bugs or water without chlorine), or it will cause every camper there to suffer for a week.

"...but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14

Inspiration and a Cool Mom Resource

I know everyone does inspiration on Fridays, but I am doin' mine today ladies. The other day,

Vintage Pretties told us about "Rate My Space" on HGTV's website. The website is sooo neat, you've got to check it out. You would have to have thick skin to post a room on there b/c some people are *really* mean with their comments. I digress . . . I found this beautiful room done in colors I have been drooling over lately. I'm feeling a master bedroom redo coming on. But I'm not telling my honey just yet. I'm going to wait until the time is right. ;-)

I also found an interested little blog today. It is called Girl Talk, and it is a blog for moms about how to talk to our daughters about the dangers of drinking as a teenager. I'm going to have to go back and take a closer look later, but it looks like a great resource. My daughter is in middle school already (GASP! she's only 11!) so the time is here. Now I just need to find a blog about how to talk about what NOT to do with boys! Letting kids grow up is painful sometimes.

Oh yeah, and a quick story for you. Our neighbor has a cat named Cleo, and Cleo pretty much is pest control for our entire neighborhood (and possibly other neighboring developments). About 2 weeks ago, my son was playing with his friend who owns Cleo and they found Cleo's stash (ie, snacks saved for later). My son picks up a rat with a stick and puts into a hole (former location of a tree) in our yard and covers it up with rocks. He tells me about it, I ask my honey to get rid of it. Fast forward 2 weeks and I'm in the backyard with the dogs. They are "herding" the soccer ball, when the puppy peels off and gets busy sniffing the hole. When I finally get a clue and realize what he is doing, he has a big black thing in his mouth. I scream "drop it" and he takes off as fast as he can go, straight for the basement door and up stairs. Before he got to the staircase though, I hold up a treat, he drops the rat and I lock him outside. Dead crusty rat with legs sticking in the air on my basement floor. I go up to get a bag and my daughter and all her friends figure out what is going on. Next thing I know there are 5 girls and my 2 boys in the basement screaming and carrying on. My youngest son decides to play a trick on me . . . I go down the basement stairs, and when I turn the corner the rat flies straight at me from across the room. It actually bounced off my chest!!!!! Yes, I did scream. The funniest part was, the kids all said "oooooh, dad's in truuuuuuuble." Life with a 5 year old boy . . . a tiny glimpse into my life. Guess that wasn't a quick story. TTFN.

What Makes a House a Home

What makes a house a home . . . it's all in the details.

Dig through your kitchen and find something pretty.

Put a pitcher of ice water, tea or lemonade on the table.

Greet everyone who walks through the door like you haven't seen them in 2 months.

"My home is not a place, it is people. "

Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar",

1991US science fiction author