Izzy Invades Again

As some of my devoted readers who have been with me from the beginning remember, our cat, Izzy, has decided to single pawingly destroy our home. In her previous post, The Izzy Assault, you learned how she is trying to destroy our brand new carpet. Well, now she is out to destroy our trim. In our previous house, the doorway trim became her scratching posts, and we are rallying all our backup to try to prevent a similar disaster from befalling this new home.



As you climb our staircase to the upstairs hallway, all looks serene and orderly.


Gazing down the hallway, a slight breeze causes the hair on your arms to rise, and slowly you begin to realize that something looks out of place. "What are all of those blue streaks?" you gasp.



In our efforts to save the doorway trim, we have sacrificed style and taste, and have covered all of the doorways with contact paper (sticky side out).



It seems to be working, and the slight tacky (no pun intended) look is worth it to avoid this:

So for now, the battle wages on with an end anything but imminent. And here's the cat oblivious to her negative propaganda being dashed about the blogging world.

Bargain

Look what I found at Joann Fabric for $5!! It will look great with my cast iron bedroom furniture, but the only problem is I have no idea what to put in it. Any ideas?

The Never Ending Curtain Saga

So do you remember my initial curtain quest? Well, I'm still searching. I have tried sheers from Target, sheets from Ralph Lauren, and now I ventured to Joann Fabric's custom order fabric. My plan is to make window mistreatments similar to these from The Nesting Place blog with some patterned fabric--still to be determined. It might be one of the swatches below. I then would like to hang some type of tie up shade, maybe like these. So here is my currently boring tan and slate gray/blue living room. Any suggestions on the fabric or how to add some color with the blinds? Until I choose curtains, I didn't want to put up any pictures or add throw pillows.

The H.R. Flu

So I think Josh and I have officially got the home repair flu. These past two weeks (post Madi's birthday party) we have both been unmotivated and lethargic. Josh has maintained a work ethic in organizing our desk and home related papers, but I've--well--I've really not done much of anything. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still feeding my family and keeping the house some what organized, but as to any projects, well, shopping sounds more fun. And going to the pool sounds more fun. And laying in bed reading sounds more fun. Maybe it's that end of summer rush to do all those relaxing things you planned, but never got around to due to this project or that task. So maybe after today's trip to the pool, I'll be more on track and able to share some home project fun. Or maybe after this weekend, I'll get around to breaking out the paint or finishing organizing the garage or moving all the objects I stacked at the bottom of the basement stairs instead of walking 10 more feet and putting it away. Maybe. . . but now. . . I'm going upstairs to lay beside the cat on my canopy bed. . . with a book. . . to read. . .

Window Mistreatment Party

So I'm joining in the window mistreatment get-together over at The Nesting Place.



Here is my most recent window mistreatment for my kitchen that was so newly painted. This is a Gabriel Brother's find, which after I got my scissors after it, looks perfect. It's nicely held up there with a tension rod-- no power tools for me!




And here's the leftover fabric just waiting to be used for some pillows or chair coverings. I'll get to that later. . . much later.

And here's my bedroom window, it is completely mistreated by not evening having a curtain to call it's own.


Maybe that's because the bed frame stole them all!

I won the fabric lottery!

So today was the first time since moving that Madilyn and I ventured out into the big unknown to do a little yard sale shopping. I happened upon an ad for a 10+ family community yard sale, and decided to check it out hoping that the sales would be within walking distance of each other, so we wouldn't have to play the hop potato in-and-out of the car game that all one-year olds heartily enjoy. We arrived finding 5 sales grouped together, and sprung from the car eagerly anticipating the bargains laid before us. We left encumbered by a rooster clock calling out for a new color and new picture,


about 9 pieces of clothing for me (5 of which did not fit--but the 50 cents was worth it for the other four), a Elmospalooza VHS tape (should we really be buying VHS's? aren't they out of date?) that Madi couldn't pass up,

and the jackpot of all jackpots a large box of upholstery fabric for $1, yes $1 for the whole box.





Now you may ask, what could I possibly do with all that fabric. Well here are some of the items awaiting a little pick me up.

First Birthday Cake

Here is Madilyn's 1st birthday cake! I must say all those Wilton cake decorating courses really paid off. I worked at Michael's Craft Store as a scrapbook instructor (until they stopped offering classes). I was able to get to know the cake decorating instructor very well. So I took her courses, and voila!

It is a torted white cake with pink and green butter cream icing and royal icing daisies. A little lopsided, and a little crumb filled, but hey, that proves it's made with love!