Yes, I am guilty.

I have been MIA all summer long.

All I can say is, I've been enjoying my family and been very busy otherwise with some responsibilities.
We enjoyed the pool a lot this hot, hot summer.  That means time actually using the pool and time to take care of the pool.  It's a lot of work.  Not complaining, just stating a fact.

It's been a great summer!

I didn't mind the heat at all.

We have also gone to visit my family more this summer than we usually do.  We wanted to and needed to. I've been appreciating my parents more lately than I have in the past. (To my shame)  Not that I didn't appreciate them before, but I realize not as much as I should have.  I'm trying to now.  


I am trying to remember to think of their feelings as parents.  One way I can do this is to think of how I feel about my children.  I love my parents and want to see them more than I am able to.  Putting my own feelings aside, though, I know how I would feel if I couldn't see my children more than 2-3 times a year.    
So, thinking of that, I have been trying to make an effort to make the long drive so they can see me.  Now, I don't mean that to sound conceited.  That's not what I mean.  I just know how important it is for me to spend time with my children, and I know they feel the same way about their children.  It benefits us all.  I also see my siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews, and their children while there. (At least the ones who live in the same town that are able to meet up with us.)


Have to run...my family is leaving for church and I don't want them to leave without me.

Be Happy! 

$5.00 Yard Sale Find

All I need to do is change the seat fabric...

I found some other goodies, too.

We didn't have room in our van so I will post photos of some of the other things after we pick up our haul.

In fact, we won't be able to get it all in one load, not in two loads either. It will take at least three or maybe even four loads. 

Yeah, the deals were THAT good!

I won't post everything, but there are a few things I would like to share with you.

 Until next time...

Be Happy!

Summer arrived just in time!

And...I guess we thought we had to cram it all in this one weekend.  ha ha

There was our grandson's 3rd birthday party

Some of our "kids" ran the 5k

and the "family" run

Then we had a pool party 

And of course, the traditional Memorial Day picnic

What an awesome weekend!

We are so blessed to have all of our "kids" and their families living close by so we can celebrate everything together.

I once read something that has stuck in my mind every since...

"Raise your glass, toast anything you can think of!"

I will use any excuse to have a family gathering.  I love to spend time with my family!

God Bless the USA

He does not know me
Yet he protects me
He has never met me
Yet he serves me
He died for me......He laid down his life for me
He is a soldier,
Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine
My Son, my Cousin, my Nephew
My Uncle, my Friend
To those who served and are serving
Thank you.

God bless you!

Haven't had a chance to be on here for awhile.  Been spending a lot of time with my wonderful grandchildren, taking care of some other responsibilities, and taking care of things "life" throws at us. 

Oh, and learning to do this...

Some has already been donated to charity.  More will be.  A lot more.  As the Lord blesses us with these things, we want to bless others.  Nursing homes, the military, local charities, and others who have a need.
My daughter introduced me to couponing a over a year ago.  She has been teaching me more about it.  We are not extreme couponers.  We just happen to find some good deals sometimes.  All of this stuff was free.  We just had to pay the tax.

Also, we don't hoard - we share/donate.  (I'm not telling you this to "toot our own horn" but so that you understand that we are not being greedy by getting this much stuff.  We have known hard times before and therefore want to help others who are in the position we were once in.)

The pastor of the church I grew up in would often say, "The Lord will sometimes give to you what He wants to give others through you."  This is what I think about when we find such great deals.  Thank you, Lord, for your blessings!

The greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master. Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him... He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today!


"Jesus said... I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live " 
-John 11:25

When I decided I'd had enough of the awful bathroom upstairs I had no idea the amount of time it would take to complete it.  I knew we would only have a few hours each week to work on it, but I didn't realize how long it would drag on by only working on it a few hours a week.  I am, however, still glad we are getting some things done.  Even if it is only little by little.

Here's a shot of the ceiling before

It's a nasty job having to scrape a ceiling.  Not that I had to do it.  Thank God for that!  And thank God that I have a wonderful husband who was willing to do it, knew how to get that part done fast, and even knew to catch as much of the junk as possible in a box lid.  So sweet of him to minimize the mess = my clean up.

I still need to counter sink the nails, do the nail putty thing, then paint, but for now here's what we've he's accomplished on the ceiling.  

Looking much better already!  The quality of the photos is really bad, I know.  I'm really sorry about that,  but the ceiling repair is already making the whole room look better!
It was sooo encouraging to get something other than destruction done in here. It's only Monday, and I'm already looking forward to the weekend.  Not for what most people look forward to the weekend for, though. There will be no relaxing on Saturday for me cuz I wanna get more things done in this room!

My heart goes out to Cindy, of My Romantic Home, and Dianne, of The Inspired Housewife, as they each lost their mother this week. 
They and their families are in my prayers.

Painting is going better than I thought.

I still need to do some touch ups and get another coat on the walls, but I'm so thrilled that Steve doesn't have to "fix" what I have done so far.  ha ha  (I've never done a paint job where he didn't have to redo the whole job.)
I'm going to be busy all this week.  Hopefully I will have time to finish painting so I can get pictures to post.  We'll see...

‎"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." -Pablo Picasso

I have a confession...I am terrible at painting.
Seriously.
I'm not exaggerating.
TeRriBLE. 
For some reason, I just have always failed at every attempt I've made. Steve always had to come behind me and fix what I made into a mess. 

Well, I'm gonna attempt it again today. It may not look professional, but I will conquer this!

In the past, I have always given up because it looked so bad.

It seriously became intimidating to me. A sort of "phobia" I tried to avoid. 

NOT THIS TIME! 

I mean- for real, Ivy?! It's paint and a wall. 

For most people painting a wall might not be a big deal. It's probably even easy. For me, it's a real challenge.

A challenge I am facing TODAY.

No procrastinating! 

Steve, already put primer on the other day.

So it's ready for paint.

Here I go...

Yesterday was a strange day...

Our older son called me to tell me he would be a little late picking up his sons because something was wrong with his car. 
When our daughter came over she told her dad something was wrong with her car.  Steve went outside to check it out and told her she could not drive her car because her brakes were really bad.
Then he had to take our other son to youth group at our church.  On the way, his car breaks down.  No warning...just stopped...on the highway...

The blessings seen in the midst of all this were...

Our son was going to take his 4 year old with him, but at the last minute decided to leave him with us. So when he had to walk to the gas station while it was snowing...

This little guy was safe and warm.

And by God's grace our daughter got her car home before her brakes went out.

So these two are safe also.

Our son had just arrived home when I called him about Dad's car. He went to pick up his dad and brother. Delivered brother to church, and brought Dad home. Two more family members safe!

Dad and I then took our van to get the car moved to a safe place. (The place he broke down was only one exit from where he works, so we were able to get the car there with no problems.)  By then, it was almost time to pick up our son from church. At the end of the day we all arrived to our homes safely.

We are all thankful for God's grace and love.

We see HIS hand in the midst of trials

and

are happy we will have more days to do this...

I'm trying to remember to count my blessings instead of my troubles.

Three little monkeys

jumping in the bed...

Well, actually they're usually jumping from the ottoman to the sofa.

WARNING:

The pictures you are about to see will cause you to desire grandchildren!

The little princess who received the baby quilt, (see my last post.)

and the 2 year old who called me at 5 am last week.

Our older grandson is always helping his little brother.

and he shares his candy with his cousin, little princess.

They all love each other and

they all melt my heart!

I thought I'd take a break from posting photos of the bathroom in progress to share another photo with you and the story with it. (Please forgive the quality of the photo.)


Once upon a time there was a beautiful little baby girl. Her mama loved her so much and wanted her to have many pretty clothes, but she could not afford to buy them.  So, her mama made her clothes.  Each time she made an outfit for her little princess, she bought extra fabric and set it aside - she had a plan for it...

The little girl loved pink and loved butterflies. 

Years went by and this little girl had grown into a lovely young woman.  When the time came that she was expecting her own baby girl, her mama was thrilled that she would get to use the extra fabric for the planned project.

A baby quilt

The mama gave it to her lovely daughter at her baby shower.

The new little princess joined her one year old (boy) cousin in the heart of their grandmother.  Later, her aunt and uncle had another boy!  That little boy, now 2 years old, woke up early, got his mama's phone, and called the grandmother around 5 am this morning.  She loved that her first conversation of the day was with such a sweet young man.  

And the grandmother,

aka "Mommo", 

lives happily ever after enjoying her wonderful grandchildren!

*ok, I know I told this in a corny way, but the story is true.

See...I told you she's lovely!

Wow! There is much more work involved in this room than I thought there would be

and

trying to get rid of this ugly blue is taking a lot of coats of primer. (3 so far.)

I forgot to take a before picture of the whole window, but this is the "in progress" shot...

I'm waiting to paint the frame for the screen until I can replace the tattered screen.

I must say, though, I have always loved the charm of this old window.  Now that I see it in white I love it even more.  I'm gonna be thrilled through and through when it is finished.  I can't explain it, but I LOVE this old window. 

Here's the vanity. I was anxious to put the primer on it so I just did one side. Of course I will need to remove the doors, etc to paint them and the front of of the vanity. (The blue is even uglier in person!)

I cannot believe I lived with it this long! (Seriously, that makes me disgusted with myself!)

I'm not sure what we will do about a counter top, but I know I better get my brain a'thinkin' 'bout it...

Well, I had a new experience today.

I patched holes in the walls.

Yep, me.

I did that. 

I've never done that before.

It was kinda fun.

Steve gave me some stuff to mix up called Easy Sand. I mixed 2 parts of the powder to 1 part water. It gets too stiff to work with in 5 minutes, so I had to work quickly. I only needed a little, so I just used a plastic spoon and cup to measure and mix.

I need to get back up there now. I need to get primer on the walls. Something else I've never done before. 

Ta Da

My new basic faucet

We bought it at Lowe's for about $30.00.

(The brand is Aqua Source.)

We just got a cheap one since we needed a quick fix and didn't want to spend much money. We'll see how well it holds up. The stem and stopper seem like they could break fairly easily, but the faucet itself seems alright. 

My husband, Steve, has a saying when he has a lot to do but not enough time to do it all.

He says, "Oil the hinge that squeaks the loudest." 

Well, the plumbing was squeaking LOUDLY! 

We had to do some things out of the order we would normally do them in because, (remember my wet socks last week?), the shut off valve broke and even though we shut off the water supply it still leaked. Also, because it was the cold water supply, we were afraid our grandchildren were going to get their little hands scalded. 

There is still some brass pieces to replace in here, (cabinet pulls, doorknob, etc.), but they'll have to wait.

I am happy and thankful for

*hot AND cold water (no scalded little hands)

*no leak (dry socks)

*a husband who knows how to fix stuff and is willing to fix stuff.

I'm especially thankful now that I know he had to go into work after fixing all the plumbing. (Which meant he didn't get any sleep. Then came home, got a shower, and was called right back into work again.) He didn't even tell me he wasn't going to get any sleep or that he had to go into work. He just did it with a heart of serving and taking care of his family's needs.

What a wonderful man I have been blessed with!

Here's a reminder of what was here...

before

after

Remember this faucet? 

                                             

I said it's gotta go!

YAY! It's gone!

Now I have to go clean up the sink so Steve can put the new faucet in. 

I'm trying to decide on color(s) for the bathroom. Since I don't have a real plan in mind yet

And

since I don't want this to take any longer than absolutely necessary

I decided I need to go shopping for inspiration.

Hey, I will use any excuse to go shopping

even if I'm not actually buying anything yet.

Shifting focus...
This morning, after getting ready to go for a 

massage, 

(A gift from my lovely daughter)

I stepped into the first floor bathroom to get something and...

WHAT?!!!

I stepped into a huge puddle of water. (Don't ya just love wet socks?)


So today I shift my focus from the second floor bathroom to the first floor bathroom.

Me (with headache and wet socks)

+

Husband (who worked all night, just walked in as I was cleaning up the puddle, & got a phone call that they need him back at work)

=

It's gonna be a Fun day 

All is good, though. I know that there will sometimes be days like this.

God will give me the grace I need for today.

I still went for a massage and it was AWESOME!  

Thank you Lord for your grace.

Thank you Holly for the gift.

Thank you Nancy for the massage.

I feel good. nana nana nana na

This old toothbrush holder is so sweet and I love that there is a matching soap dish.
Since the holes are too small for the toothbrushes sold nowadays, I will use it for something else.  Maybe as a vase for some sweet little flowers or to hold pencils.
The roses in the soap dish are actually drawer pulls. They would be great on a small cabinet or on little drawers. I think they look pretty in this dish for now. 
How would you use these items?

We ran into a snag...

Plan A for the bathroom is a no go, so we will move on to
Plan B, although we don't know what that is just yet.
I wanted to put bead board up there, but because of the return at the top of our stairs, we can't get the 4x8 sheets up there. We were not planning to cut it down much, so even if we cut it down to the size we wanted, it still wouldn't fit up the stairs. (Neither one of us want to do the work involved use the individual boards, so a new plan it is - or will be.)

No worries. I will use the bead board someplace else in the house. 

Today I finished getting most of the rest of the wallpaper off. It came off E.A.S.Y by using diluted fabric softener. There is a small place behind the loo I couldn't reach. My plan is to ask a certain someone to get it off for me. 

Did You Know?

You can use a bucket of water with cheap fabric softener in it to clean your paint brushes and rollers.

It's the easiest way to clean them, they are soft afterwards, and they smell good.

I did nothing on the house today because I had some fun time with 3 buckets of sunshine!  aka: my grandchildren. I love the way they always come in with great big smiles on their faces!

I wanted to show you this chair I bought a while back at an antique shop.  

I paid $30.00 for it. 

It's a great desk chair. I kinda like the chippy-ness of it so I didn't paint it and not sure if I ever will. I do need to make a seat cushion for it, though. 
I think I'm the only one in my family who likes it, but that means 

it's ALL MINE!

I need a plan for both of our bathrooms. For now, I will just concentrate on the one on the second floor.

Here’s where you come in... 

I would love your suggestions and advice.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.

What would you do?

• Just paint all the walls
• Put up bead board
• Put up board and batten
• Wallpaper
• or do you have another idea?

I’m open for good creative ideas.

I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say.

Thanks for reading and thank you for your comments.

Do you do what I do?  When I'm getting clothes out of the dryer I do it one item at a time, then close the door to keep the clothes "moving" so they won't wrinkle. After I put the item on a hanger, or fold it, I get out another item and do the same thing. (I hate to iron.)

I went upstairs to get the clothes out of the dryer and they weren't quite dry. Since I didn't want to run up and down the steps again - for the umpteenth time today - I decided to just "test" a little spot of the wallpaper, while I was waiting, to see how hard it would be to get it off.  

Well...

I kinda forgot to stop

My husband said the reason we keep getting those ugly spots on the ceiling, even though we he scraped and painted it, is because someone who lived here in the past used to smoke in this room. We will need to use BIN on the ceiling this time.

So here I am, pulling off the wallpaper, and I realized I don't really have a plan together for how I want this room to look in the end. I better get busy on that...

More pictures of our second floor bathroom. 

I can't wait to get this wallpaper off!

It's peeling off around the shower, but on tight in the rest of the bathroom.

There's a hole in the middle of our shower ceiling.

What's with that?  

I've been following some pretty amazing blogs. They are my inspiration for getting back into action on this house and for starting my own blog. I will share the information with you soon so you can check them out.

I am only in the beginning stages of my blog but some of these other ladies have been at it for quite awhile and it shows. They are really great at what they do. Both in their blogs and in their homes. 

*UPDATE: I listed some of the blogs I'm speaking of under "My Blog List".

Check them out.