My Favorite Renovation: The Girls' Room

When we first bought this house in 2005

The "medium" sized bedroom

was set up for the girls to share.

It was already pink....

Very Bright PINK...

and we had been given a very solid bedroom set for them to use.

(having lost most of our furniture in flood #2)

I have never been terribly fond of a "Pecan" finish...

and the furniture was a little dated...

In the Summer of 2007,

I finally got busy re-doing their room.

Out went the wall shelves, the bright pink and the pecan finish...

IN came a peg rail, custom built display boxes for their

 porcelain dolls, an over the window shelf/ curtain rod

White painted "cottage-y" furniture and a

custom Canopy that didn't interfere with the ceiling fan!

Oh, and custom painted lamp shades with Flower Fairies on them

to put on the custom made/ painted lamps in the room : )

(New hardware for the furniture, too)

The canopy is made from @ 7 yards of light yellow chiffon that

I found at "W"mart for $1.00/ yard   : )

I used screw in supports and screwed cup hooks into them,

then used small cafe rods to hang the canopy from the cup hooks.

Easy up, easy down to wash, dry and rehang : )

The ceiling and top of the wall are periwinkle.

The walls a lovely rose with muted texture

(can't see in the texture ery well in the photos).

We made copies of Flower Fairies from a book we owned

on good matte photo paper and attached them to the

painted furniture using contact paper.

We framed others in clip frames and hung them from the pegs.

I had found the chenille bedspread at a thrift store...

used yellow and green bath mats as rugs (they don't slip)

This photo shows the colors to good advantage...

I never did take any "formal" photos in daylight.

The doll boxes were built to fit 18" x 24" white picture frames.

I glued the glass into the frame then hinged the frames to the

boxes and added magnetic latches (they are hinged at the top).

The lovely toy box with the blue cushion left the room rather quickly...

we needed two desks sooner than I thought we would : )

I LOVED this room!!!

Sadly,

The girls moved out of their joint room last saturday...

now the room belongs to the boys.

Time to buy paint!

Titanic Memory

I stayed up WAY too late last night (1:40am)

reading A Night to Remember

It is truely a wonderful book and

so very sad to realize that when it was published (1955),

those who had survived the Titanic disaster were

aging and would not be around to consult anymore...

Well worth reading...(I only started it in the afternoon)...

I have to remember to talk to my family members more often.

All those thoughts and dreams and memories

will be lost if they are not shared.

I also have to remember to write things down for

my own children. My own memories, hopes and dreams.

Latest Cakes...Catching Up

Somewhat out of focus "Princess Cake"

The cake is 4 yellow cake layers with chocolate fudge filling...

Covered with almond flavored fondant...yum.

Candy melt covered ice cream cones for the towers

green icing vines and grass...

The princesses were reverse "painted" in colored candy melts.

I did the "outlining" and my girls did the painting in : )

This was a cake for a friend and her sister who share a birthday : )

Johnnie's Lego cake for a party with his friends...

1.5" x 3" brownies with mini marshmallows coated with candy...

Joanne "built" the display tray out of duplo blocks : )

LEGO STAR WARS

love those mini marshmallows : )

The figures were built from brownies coated with fondant

and melted candy...

Catherine made her own cake this year...

Bag End

I helped with the chocolate work...she did the rest : )

The kids have such great ideas!

Catherine and John with their cakes : )

Aunt Karen's Surprise Birtday Party!

This was just the cake topper...

It went on top of a very rich 10" diameter x 4" high Cheese Cake...

The camera is rice crispie treats...

cut, molded and covered with black colored fondant!

The silver details were painted with silver dust mixed with

lemon extract on white fondant...it smelled so good...yum.

Aunt Karen taking a "picture" of her cheese cake...

with her rice crispie camera : )

Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!

Happy Easter to all!

We took this photo after Mass this morning

in our parish "grotto".

It's hard to believe the children are getting so big!

Our Proud Cub!

This is our "big guy's" first year as a cub scout

His car came in second place...by HUNDREDTHS of a second

in our Pack's Pinewood Derby!

He is Soooooo proud of his accomplishment!

This is his entire den...

four boys : )

Also the Pack leaders and Den coordinator.

Great guys.

To be honest...he did all the cutting and sanding and painting

on his car all by himself. Good job Snorkie!

Dad set the axles...good job dad!

The pack leader had the whole thing hooked up to his laptop

so it produced instant, incontrovertible results : )

Lots of fun when you have a bear cub...

for the Weeblo II's...hanging out all morning watching that many boys

race their cars that many times...whew.

Little man is having lots of fun in scouting.

Day camp type events, over night at the Franlin Institute,

nature hikes, making bows and arrows...

such wonderful boyhood adventures!

He follows a long family line of Boys scouts including his big brother,

Grandpop, uncles and two cousins who both made Eagle : )

May he continue the tradition!

God Bless you little man!

The Newest Members of the Family : )

This is Zalia curled up on the living room couch

She's put on some weight since she came home with us...

She was only 6 1/2 pounds when we got her...

she has gained at least a pound since then...lol.

"Hunny" in the yard with the wind in her hair : ) 

She is doing well as the newest member of the household...

Hunny and I at the store before we brought her home!

She is a 4 month old "Morkie"...

1st generation cross of purebred Yorkie and purebred Maltese.

She is a "Butterscotch/ Blonde/ Golden Morkie

She fits right in with the rest of the blondes around here : )

Tillie and Zalia cuddled up on the couch!

Great friends.

Zalia is a one year old Tortois Shell/ Calico Mix...

We hit the "kitty Jackpot" with this one...

She LOVES to cuddle!

Pretty Kitty

We got a New Kitty Cat!

Her name is "Zalia"  (zah-lee-a)

that's the name she had at the animal shelter and it suits her

She is a Calico/tortois shell mix

she was @ 6 pounds when we brought her home but she is

seven pounds now and on "weight maintenance" food!

She LOVES to eat!

She also loves to snuggle, be petted and,

unfortunately

take swipes at Lumpy's face : (

He loves her anyway!

Zalia cuddled up with Lumpy as he is occupied and didn't notice

Lumpy and Scooter with Zalia

Scooter thinks she's leaning out of the photo ; )

There are lots more great photos...but the are on the girls'

cameras and i-pods...I'll get some up here soon!