It's Time to Move!

We are packing up and moving out!  Our house is finally finished and we have spent the past couple of days getting things ready for the big move.  This brings lots of emotions - nervous, sad, happy, excited, frustration, fear...you get the idea.  I'm definitely going to miss many things about the life we've had here in Del City.  I will miss being so close to my mother and father in law, for one.  They have been such a HUGE blessing to us.  If it wasn't for them and their generosity we wouldn't be where we are today.  I know my kids will miss them.  BUT, I have already promised them that they will still see Grandma and Grandpa because we are only going to be 30 minutes or so from their house!
I am also going to miss Target.  Yes.  Target.  We currently live only a few minutes from Target.  I can just run over there whenever I need something and it's not a big ordeal.  Same with Hobby Lobby.  I will no longer live "just a few minutes" from HL.  We are moving "to the country" so there won't be a Sonic, Taco Bell, Walgreens, Homeland or any of my other "conveniences" closeby....BUT....I'm trading that for peace and quiet, stars at night, our own little pond, space for the kids to explore, an unblocked view of the sky, and lots of the sounds of nature!  It's a fair trade, I think!
I will try to document the process and blog when we get everything set back up. We will have to switch to a DSL modem because we will no longer have access to our cable modem....no Cox on our side of the river.  Since there was a tornado last week, not sure when they will be out there to set everything up.  So, I will miss reading all of my favorite blogs.  But I should be busy unpacking anyway, right?

Welcome to Our Porch!

Well...I'm about to have a back porch!! I'm SUPER excited.  I have all kinds of plans for our back porch and how I want potted flowers and a backyard fire pit (like this one)  I want a picnic table and my sweet husband has already bought me a new rocker from Cracker Barrel for Mother's Day.  (I told him that my rocker will need a "friend" - maybe for my birthday :)  I plan to spend LOTS of time on our back porch.  I hope to invite guests over to sit for a spell as well.  I've been seeing some cute signs that say "Welcome to Our Porch" and I really wanted one.  Of course, I didn't want to pay a bunch for it.  So, when I saw this sign at a garage sale the other day for only $3.00 I had to buy it.  I wasn't a big fan of the saying on it and I knew it would be great for my "porch" sign.  So, with a little paint and some stain I made a sign perfect for the porch.  Or really, would it be a patio?  What is the difference between a porch and a patio anyway? 

So, here is what the wooden sign looked like when I bought it.

This is the spray paint I used.  Just something I picked up at Hobby Lobby. With a 40% off coupon, of course!

 I skipped a photographing step, but before I painted it red I spray painted it with white primer first - so the black letters of the old saying wouldn't show up. 

After I painted it red, I stained it with some "walnut" wood stain.

I typed out my phrase on Word using the font "Harrington".  Then I taped the phrase onto the sign and traced over the words with a ball point pen to leave an impression on the wood. 

Then I took a sharpie and drew over the ballpoint pen impression so I could see where my black paint needed to go.  Plus, I thouht this would help me have neater letters since I was able to stay in the lines :)

And here is the finished product.  I'm happy with it.  The picture isn't so good because the glare is so bad.  But I'm happy with it.  I might try to distress the edges a bit. 

I got this idea from my friend Stef.  You can see her sign and her tutorial here.

Thanks for stopping by!!

A Super Easy Way to Clean Your Microwave!

I started to clean my microwave the other day and had a thought..."I wonder if EVERYONE knows how easy it is to clean their microwave?!?!"  I used to have a hard time with getting the inside clean without using chemicals.  We try to keep our food covered when we cook but it doesn't always work out that way.  So, after a while, the splatters really get stuck to the inside of the microwave. 

One day I was watching a talk show or something when they said, "All you have to do to clean your microwave is to cook a lemon!"  I thought to myself that this sounded easy enough and so I tried.  It IS super easy and it works very well.  PLUS, it's all natural. 

This is all you do....buy a lemon. How easy is that?!? :) Then, slice it up into a microwave safe bowl with water.  I then just cook the lemon water for about 2-3 minutes.  Just long enough to get the water nice and hot!  Once it has cooked in the microwave then just let it sit in there for about 10 minutes.  You want it in there long enough for the lemony steam to start working.  Once it has sat for about 10 minutes, just open the door and take a dry towel and wipe the gunk away!!  It is SO easy.  Depending on how dirty your microwave is, you might have some trouble spots but overall this is very simple.  And when I'm done I just throw the lemon peel into the garbage disposal and grind it up to give it an extra little cleaning.  (Oh and while I was wiping down the microwave I took the knobs off my stove and threw them into the lemon water.  They tend to get greasy and the lemon water cleaned them right up - but be careful that water is HOT!) 

Vintage-ness For My Walls

I spent the afternoon today working on things to hang on the walls in the new house.  We are going to have a lot more wall space so I'm going to need things to hang on them.  It was cold and rainy so it was a great day to stay inside :)

My first project was a framed Homco picture and a framed Homco mirror.  Both were purchased from the thrift store.  I really like the frame of the bird picture - and I'm still not sure if I like the frame on the mirror yet?  I didn't really like the gold paint, though, so I brought out the spray paint.  I took the glass out and decided to get rid of the bird print that was inside.  Madeline and I really love birds so I found a great print on The Graphics Fairy of a bird and used that.  I really liked how it turned out and Madeline wants it in her room :)  

My second project came from a calendar.  I was in Walgreens today and found this calendar on the clearance shelf for only .50 cents!  You can find some really great pictures/prints in calendars and I really like to use them in my crafts.  I love the picture I chose for this frame (that I bought at Hobby Lobby)!  I like it because it reminds me of the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis" and that's one of my all time favorite movies!!!  

Here is a picture of the house in Meet Me In St. Louis.  If you want to read about it, you can here:
MeetMeInSt.Louis  

These last few have the most personal meaning for me.  The first picture is a photo of my Great Great Grandfather (He is on the right).  (I'm not exactly sure who is seated next to him, though.)  Anyway, my Great Great Grandfather was originally from Missouri before he came to Oklahoma.  He was a farmer in Missouri and Oklahoma.  His daughter was my Great Grandma and her name was Violet - that is who I named my sweet Violet after :)

This is hard to read - but if you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see it better.  This is a letter that my G.G. Grandfather (photo'd above) wrote to my G.G. Grandmother.  It was written in 1909!  In it he describes some of the things he had done recently and he talks about having made $3.00 from the sale of something and ALL the things he was able to buy with only $3.00 (a shirt, pants, shoes, tobacco) Interesting stuff! 

This last photo is one of my favorite things I'm going to hang on my wall.  I actually had this framed at Hobby Lobby because I couldn't find a frame that it would fit in.  This is a Lease for farmland from my G.G. Grandfather and his brother in Missouri.  They were tenant farmers.  This was dated 1897!!  He was only 23 years old!  I thought this would go well with my "faux farm" decor. I really want to live on a farm and live in a cute little farm house but since I can't, I thought I would decorate it to look l ike one! :)