The New Patio.....Finally!

I've had this post up a few days and my friend Melissa suggested I link it to Met Monday. Great idea! Be sure and visit our gracious host Susan for a list of participants!

Hi Guys! It's been a while since my last post, so sorry, I've just been busy taking care of things

and spring cleaning so I've had to back away from the computer! I will try to post more often since I'm caught up on everything. Some of my posts might be about random stuff if that' s ok. lol.... Chase is almost out of school for the summer, I can't believe it! Time is flying by.

Ok.....so you remember the giant hole hubby started digging about a month ago right? Well here it is, just in case you forgot.

Here it is as of today. Big difference huh? There is still some places where the grass hasn't grown in yet, but it won't take it long, especially with all the rain we've been having. The grass turned green quick!

Hubby really worked hard, he brought in more that 3 tons of crusher dust and sand. I think it turned out to be a little more that he thought, he's so proud of it now though. He kept asking when I was going to post it! lol.... I bought the chairs at Bed Bath and Beyond. I really wanted cushy ones, but because of the budget and not to mention they could catch fire, we decided on these more practical ones. They are actually pretty comfy! I did dress them up with pillows. (hopefully they won't catch on fire)



I splurged a little on this bench from Lowe's. After all... the chairs were reasonable!


I found these little slate tables at Kohl's.

We bought 5 yoshino cherry trees. The nursery told us they would get about 15 ft. wide and about 20 ft. tall. After they planted them... I decided to look at one of the tags....and it said 40 ft. wide by 40 ft. tall Uh-OH! Does anyone have one of these trees? I hope they don't get that big!


We did a little landscaping around the corners for now. We plan on doing more, but the rest will come later. All the rocks were free! Kevin's dad has millions of them!



This is the view from my back door. Now I have something to look at!

Kevin told me not to "flower it up" Well, TOOOOO BAAAAD! lol..... He knows that's impossible!

Here's a closeup of the grill pit. We've cooked steaks, hotdogs, marshmallows etc. It's like camping in the backyard! Everything has such a good flavor!
I posted this pic a few months ago and told you that I was going to stain the concrete, paint the furniture, find new cushions and of course plant flowers.

Here is a pic of the covered patio now. Much Better! Staining it was alot harder than I thought it would be. The colors are not what the color chips show, or maybe it was the concrete. Who knows! I actually have 3 different colors on it. I would show you how to do it, but I recommend you hire someone!lol... It's really a pain and I don't know how it's going to hold up. I painted the furniture with outdoor rustoleum olive green paint and found the cushions at Lowe's.

Chase wanted me to show you this picture he took yesterday. Look at those sweet babies!

I have always wanted some bird feeders. I'm starting to really get into bird watching like Donna at Designs on 47th Street. We have several bluebirds, but this one is some kind of finch I believe. He's blue all over, so pretty! Click to enlarge. Do you know what kind it is?

Look at CoCo. She thinks she's found a new spot! I have to keep an eye on her, she would love to catch one of my birds!

Of course if I'm going to have feeders, I have to have a place where they can bathe!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the backyard tour! I'm going to sit here and enjoy the rest of this beautiful day....tomorrow calls for MORE rain! On the upside, we're supposed to have perfect weather next week. yay!

See you guys soon!!!

~~Porch and Patio Party~~

Hi Guys! Welcome to Barb's porch and patio party! Please pay her a visit to see her beautiful porch and a list of other participants at http://www.gritsglamour.blogspot.com/ . I had hoped to show you some better pics of my covered patio and the new patio. However, it is raining AGAIN and the new patio is just smothered in mud! I will be sure and post it within the next week. I wish I had better pics of the covered patio. This was all I could get without my camera getting wet. (should have taken the pics earlier) I'll post more of it along with the new patio later on. Anyways, you can get an idea of what I've been doing...alot of planting. I also found new cushions and painted the furniture sage green. It was a dark hunter green before. I'll post the before pic next week.

This bakers rack is full of color!


Begonias and merigolds...

Butterflies and birdhouses...
Chase painted the little flower pot on the right for me a few years ago.

I picked up this little butterfly at Lowe's the other day.

I don't remember what these bright green plants are, but I love them!

I believe this is called lobella.

I call these mini petunias, I don't know the correct name. They come in such beautiful colors. I love this vibrant redish orange!

Thanks for stopping by! Please come back next week, I also want to show you my front yard as soon as the rain stops and we can mow! It's been raining and cloudy for the last week, I'm ready for some sun!!!!! I'm off to check out all the pretty porches and patios in blogland!

Flaunt Your Red Party! (Random Reds)

Hey guys! It's time to flaunt your red! What a fun event hosted by Nancy at http://southernlady-nancy.blogspot.com/ Pay her a visit for a list of other participants. when I was going through my house to hunt for red I realized I've showed you guys almost everything! lol... I still have a few things left, but I will save them for a later post. I know I have this arrangement posted already, but I added those big red passion flowers. I found them at Pier 1 the other day and bought a few stems. Aren't they beautiful?!

This is my favorite lamp. I found it at a closeout store for about $50 and snatched it right up!

This top treatment is a long story and is totally different than what I had in mind, so I will spare you the details. Let's just say after lots of thought and a little fabric glue, this is how it turned out! lol....

Hubby and I in our red about 10 yrs. ago. Now the wrinkles are setting in!

A sweet little girl across the street picked this rose at her grandmother's house for me. She knows how much I love flowers and helps me plant sometimes. It looks pink, but is really bright red.

Bye for now! I will be participating in the Porch and Patio Party hosted by Barb at http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/ on May 5. I have lots to show you and I'm anxious to see everyone else's patios too! It's going to be fun!

"Sunday Favorites"

Welcome to the first ever "Sunday Favorites" hosted by Chari at http://happytodesign.blogspot.com/. What a great idea to show some of our favorite posts from the past! She is such a wonderful lady, please pay her a visit for the list of participants.

This was one of my favorite posts because it "Flaunts" all of my red! lol.... If you have been reading my blog for a while then you know how much I love red. I have tried to figure out why I like it so much, it symbolizes love, passion, fire and I've heard it can make you hungry. Hmmmm......It is also an attention getter. When you walk into a room with lots of red it defintly shouts out "Hey! Look at Me!" All I know is that I've gotta have my red! I have also noticed that color (not just red) really affects my moods. I am happiest when I am in a bright room. Also, I have been happier since the sun is shining more and all the color is popping out everywhere. It just makes me want to :) Now, on with the post.....

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Hi Everyone! It's time for the flaunt your red party and I have plenty of it :) lol! This fun party is hosted by Nancy at http://southernlady-nancy.blogspot.com/. Her blog is a Must Visit. She has so many great ideas and sells beautiful tassels in her Etsy Store. I've been visiting her blog for a long time now and am always excited to see what she is up to. Pay her a visit!

Now for all my red.....Some of you have seen lots of pictures of my house already. Pretty soon I won't have anything to show you! My house is only 2100 sq. feet, which is fine for us, but I don't have tons of space to work with. As you can see I love red, maybe I have a little too much, but it just makes me feel happy! I've had the sofas since we moved in over 4 yrs. ago and I'm not tired of them yet. I might be in a few years, but they are still in great shape and fit in perfectly with all the decor.

I bought the runner at J.C. pennies and added the fringe on the ends to dress it up.

I ordered these pictures at Dallas Market when we first moved in, they were supposed to go on the sides of the china cabinet, but looked better here. Some of you probably remember Puddin from RMS. She is the one who suggested these red pillows.

Yip! They're all silk! I just have to dust them and they never die. lol!

This picture hangs in the hallway. It was a gift from my aunt Pat. I'm dying to show you some of her decorating. She decorated the offices at the family food business and they are gorgeous. I'll post some pictures sometime.

This is the hall bathroom done in a tropical theme with monkeys and what you see is pretty much it! See my little brass monkey looking in the mirror.lol! This rug is in my entryway. I know it's a little kitcheny(if that's a word) but it really is pretty when you walk in the door, the fruit doesn't scream out at you. all of my rugs have some black in them, I think they really ground the room. Athough, Sassy's white hair does stand out on them. lol

I posted this for Kim at http://kimsdomesticbliss.blogspot.com/ after all it is red! She just started a blog not to long ago and is really sweet. I could not find anymore of the crocodile paper like I used on Mellissa's and Barb's, so I used striped red tone on tone fabric. These will sell in my Etsy store for $25 plus shipping. Leave me a message if you would like one and I would be glad to customize it for you. I have more frames on some of my previous posts if you would like to see them.

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Update on outside projects: Covered patio is stained, furniture painted, added new cushions, planted flowers, New patio and firepit built. Dirt everywhere! (including inside the house)Ugggg....

Things yet to do: Add stepping stones out to new patio, find trees, find outdoor furniture, add landscaping around patio, finish planting flowers in front yard. Hope the budget lasts for all of this!

Have a great week!!!

What's On Your Wall Wednesday!

Welcome to What's on your wall Wednesday hosted by Barb at http://gritsglamour.blogspot.com/. Be sure and visit her and a list of the other participants. What a great event!! Today I thought I would show you my teeny tiny laundry room. I think it's about as small as you can get! That's ok, it's just for washing anyways so I'm not in there alot, lol.....Can you tell I don't like washing clothes? I know some of you ladies probably don't mind it, but I just dread it! But if we want clean undies it must get done!! I love this rabbit picture. I ordered it a long time ago at market and recently added the iron topper.

I found this little hanging plaque at my store.....Yep! Hobby Lobby. I found the iron hanger there too and added the leapord print ribbon. I think this cost a whopping $6 for the whole thing! Everything was half price.

This wall was empty forever! I finally found these pictures at JC Pennies.

Guess where I got this?????

And this??? It's great if you can remember to hang your keys on it. I have it on the wall right when you come in from the garage and we still search for our keys!

This is the way I feel! He He!! HL again......They just have such great stuff!! There are really not any other places (reasonable) around here except for T.J. Maxx and Tuesday Morning. I don't think their stuff is as cheap as HL when they have the half price sales. You just can't beat it!

Well, I think you have seen almost everything on every wall of my house! The only thing I haven't shown you is my master bath. I'm looking for a shower curtain to hide the ugly shower. I might have to have something made, I will post it some time though. Have a great rest of the week! I'll be busy working outside, it's supposed to be in the 80's for the next several days. Yipee!!!

Oh My! What a mess! (our backyard project)

Hey guys! I just wanted to show you our latest project. I guess I should I say hubby's project, he's the one doing all the work! This is going to be a patio made out of pavers with a fire pit in the middle. We have both been wanting to do something with this backyard since we built the house almost 5 yrs. ago. Of course we really wanted a pool, but that just not going to happen. With the help of a little tax refund we decided to go ahead and start this project. Hubby wants trees all around so he will feel like he's in the woods camping out. I told him that will probably take about 10 yrs. lol... We will have to buy small trees and watch them grow. We also want to do some landscaping around the patio and of course a sidewalk, or stones/pavers leading up to the patio. I was a little concerned about how this would look almost in the middle of the yard, but since we are going to have a fire pit, it has to be 15 ft. (I think) away from a structure and that's where hubs wanted it. We will eventually landscape the corner and maybe put some seating over there too. We'll see how this goes first. We have been looking on HGTV for ideas, but I would LOVE to hear some of yours. This has been really hard for me to visualize. I'm still working on the covered patio. I have bought 3 different concrete stains and they are all hideous! However, I think I might have something now. I'm going to work on it soon if the weather cooperates. By the way, we just had our fence stained, it looks 100% better. Hubby didn't do that, we had a guy do it (cheap). I can't believe he is actually building this....he's not usually a handyman, but is really excited about this. It's a mess right now, but hopefully it will turn out nice. I will defintly be updating you on it soon. He wants to finish it this weekend, but I have my doubts. lol....

Now that the weather is getting nice it's hard for me to sit at this computer. So much to do! I've been checking out all of your blogs this morning, lots of great stuff and wonderful recipes. I'm going to be copying them down. Talk to you guys soon!!

Spring is here! kind of......

Hi guys! Well, spring is officially here, but here in Arkansas there is a freeze warning for tonight. Maybe the warm weather will be here to stay soon! I just wanted to show you a few things I've done to spring up the kitchen. You might recognize the rabbit arrangement from my header.

Remember this rooster arrangement I spruced up for fall? Well, I used the same flowers, just changed the container and added the rabbits from pier 1.

BAM! It's spring!


I got this "Spring" sign at Hobby Lobby half off. It can go outside, but I like it in the kitchen.


These tulips were so pretty and they lasted for quite a while. I recently changed the fabric on these chairs. I liked the fabric fine, but a few of the chairs were stained and I layed a glue gun on one of them. Ooops! I guess the fabric was discontinued because I couldn't find it anywhere.

I changed it to this red and gold striped fabric. It was easy, just stapled it on!

This cute candle holder came from Hobby Lobby too.

Yes, the birdhouse came from guess where? Hobby Lobby. I'm sorry if you don't have one in your town. I don't know what I would do without it! This birdhouse was solid red, I painted the green and yellow on it to give it a little more color.

Things are coming along on the patio, I'll be posting it before long. I also have an easter tablescape I'm working on for tablescape Thursday so be sure and stop by! Have a great week!!