Red sure makes my plants pop

Here is my submission to southernlady-nancy's Flaunt Your Red party. I had posted her Mr. Linky button earlier today, but here it is again. It will take you to her party. Scroll down and enjoy what other participants are doing. Have fun!

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I'm done with my little project - yea!

Here are before photos. Too dark.



Pretty plants that got lost on the black cabinet top.

Last Fall, I painted this cabinet, which is a basic Sauder, black and switched it with a desk that is now in our office. I love plants and as I bought them over the past year I just set them in pots and put them up here for lack of a better place. The pots were too dark and they really belonged in my living room (where they now sit waiting for new plants ~ guess what I'm doing next!)

So I scouted around my house, garage, Meijer, Walmart, and Goodwill for a mix of pots and baskets that would work better. The first thing I did was add the red placemats to create a contrast between the black cabinet top and the pots. Then I added more splashes of red by painting the bands of the bushel basket (middle, from Meijer, less than $4) and the other basket (at the left, sitting in my garage for 5+ yrs.). I added pictures of my kids when they were little that were already in these red frames. I love shopping in my own house!

I love how the red makes everything pop!

I splurged on this pretty red thing @ Walmart for $25.

I am like a hummingbird and a butterfly

What makes red and all its hues so attractive?

Love this tall Cardinal flower, a type of Lobelia, found here.

A precious picture found here.

I'd love to see this in my backyard this summer.
(from Wikipedia)

This picture found here leaves me singin' for summer!

This is what happens while I wait for paint to dry. I mess around on the Internet. Of course, it's not like I don't have anything else to do! Bathrooms could be cleaned, floors could be mopped, but somehow my computer shouts my name the loudest.

...For what it's worth, I have done 2 1/2 loads of laundry today in addition to my affair with the computer. That's for Hubbie in case he reads this. {grin}

.........20 minutes later............ok, paint should be dry, the dryer just yelled at me, and my son has a friend coming here in an hour. Gotta go!

Flaunt Your Red ~ I found a party!!!!

Wow, since challenging myself to spread red around my home, I've been seeing nothing but red!!! I was pretty busy with work stuff this week, so today is my Git 'Er Done day. I've bought a few things, shopped my house, and grabbed the spray paint. Will post soon!!!

In the meantime, look what I just found! Today is Flaunt Your Red day at southerlady-nancy's place! It's a party with Mr. Linky. Click on the button to take you there. Have fun!! I know I will....I'll have to tear myself away to get my own stuff DONE, 'cause today IS the day!! I'll join the party and post here when I finish. Woo hoo! Go there. Now!

The power of a new skill

Today I learned how to turn anything into a jpeg picture!!

(See my new blog header?!) Wow, this is quite exciting for me. I know so many of you will think I'm really slow, even backwards maybe. ("You're just NOW learning how to do that?" "Where have YOU been?" "Geez, everybody knows THAT." "Ugh, Mom, get with it." I hear you, I hear you.) Seriously, though. I am so excited that I can now do so many new things on my blog and other things I'm involved in. Just about all of my computer skills - and life skills, really - are self taught. I believe in trial-and-error because that's how I learn best. It's a productive day.

If you are in the dark ages like me - surely I'm not the only one - and would like to know how to make something a jpeg, comment here and I will share it in a post.

(CORRECTION: I can't actually turn just anything into a jpeg. My husband is still my silly, goofy husband.)

Challenge: How can I incorporate more RED without it being overwhelming?

Thank you, Misti at Studio M Design and Decorating, for inspiring this week's challenge! In honor of Valentine's Day, Misti posted lovely pictures and ideas about balancing your space with red.

Credit: Southern Living

Isn't it yummy? I, too, enjoy red. To me it says, "Come on in and make yourself comfortable." I especially love the idea of mixing in a little orange with the red. I'm trying to do that in my Living Room, but Hubby doesn't get it. Yet.

So......I'll spend some time this week pondering, trying things out, and looking for additional ways to spread some red cheer around my home.

JOIN ME! I'd love to hear your ideas!!

So many ideas, so little time

My Busy Brain

Oh, my, it's been five whole days since my last post. Where has the TIME gone this week? I will tell you. I've been busy thinkin' and thinkin', could you tell? Thinking about why I have a desire to share my thoughts and why anyone would want to read them. Thinking about where I want this blog to take me. At the same time, I am doing quite a bit of soul searching about where I am in this period of my life. I am not currently teaching due mostly to circumstances beyond my control (I won't get into THAT here.) So...I am trying to take advantage of the time I have to settle myself into a comfortable life that is rapidly changing with kids growing up and out of our house {grin, grin} er, I mean {sniff sniff}.

So the big question is, what do I want from my life from this point forward? I do pray about it A LOT because my future is not entirely in MY hands. After five days of THINKING, I have concluded that my desire to blog and share my ideas is very RELATED to my state of soul searching. Very simply, I am taking time to set GOALS. Things I want to accomplish NOW. And, things I want to set the stage for for the future. I hope it doesn't sound like I am rambling, BUT here is what I am going to try with this blog thing. Each week, I am going to set a GOAL. This goal will actually be disguised in the form of a question. I'll post it and then spend the next several days researching the Internet, looking at what others are doing, and trying some things out myself. My plan is to post the things I find and try. To share with you because I love to share. And to keep me on my path of goal-setting and making my home a more comfortable place to be.

DISCLAIMER: You probably won't see expensive, it's-nice-but-I-would-never-be-able-to-afford-it stuff here! I am mostly a down-to-earth and frugal person who enjoys simple, pretty, fun, and practical things in life. While I love to visit expensive homes and look at fancy things, I am much more comfortable in a space that is casual and fun. Maybe after living in an all male household for the past 22 years, I feel pretty settled in spaces where "boys can be boys"!

With that said, the teacher in me knows you can LEARN a lot from what other people have done, even when it isn't your cup of tea. I am a firm BELIEVER that you can use your IMAGINATION to adapt most anything to fit your needs and desires. I love CHALLENGES that get my creative juices flowing. Stay tuned for my first one!

I scored a deal for my kitchen at Goodwill

The Nester is doing a series featuring quick fixes you can do to spruce up a space in your home. She's given lots of ideas that require only ten minutes and little or no money.
Here’s mine that I added to Mr. Linky on her site:
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I've been so inspired by my new blogger friends and their finds at Goodwill that I couldn't wait to go myself to see what kind of treasure I might find. Today was the day. With a couple of trays in my hands, I headed towards the cashier when I spotted a huge box of framed pictures. I am a sucker for frames - maybe it's an addiction? - and told myself, No, don't even look. But, I looked. In that box was exactly what I have been looking at for my kitchen, but didn't want to pay the $25 price. Even on Ebay, it would wind up being that much after shipping.

As you can see, I got my sweet treat for five bucks!!

The former owner took the protective cardboard off the back - see part of it still tacked on? Maybe she got it as a gift and didn't care for it. Now, it's become my gift for me!

Are you curious about what it is?

Ta da!

Here is how it fits with my kitchen.

For you IKEA lovers out there, you may recognize the rails hanging under the cabinets. I can hear some of you cringing because I have so much out in view. When I cook, I love to have my tools and spices within arms reach. When things are out of sight, for me they are out of mind! (A flaw that I am working on. {smile} )

My kitchen consists of standard oak cabinets, almond appliances, laminate countertop, and white tiles. This, to me, spells D-A-T-E-D and B-O-R-I-N-G! I feel there is nothing like cooking for my family in a kitchen that says ME. So, I found these small Chef tiles at Kohl's. And last summer, Mom, Sis, and Niece had a Girls Day Out at a place called Naked Clay. With my Chef tiles in mind, I painted these smaller tiles to enhance the boring white backsplash. With a little creativity, a lot of fun with my girls, and some heavy duty Velcro, I went to town above my stove.

Now you can see why I am so excited about my newest Chef. I think I will have to name him because I will probably wind up talking to him as I cook in front of him!