Last night's scrapbook/card class...

I had fun with the girls last night again. This is the last night until August though. How in the world will I ever manage with out my monthly Stampin' Up class? It is almost like Christmas as you sort of forget what you ordered the previous month. So here is what I wondered last month...

Aqua Painters - Add water and dip in ink to have a water color effect. We actually pressed the lid against the pad to get ink on the plastic lid and dipped the painters in that. I will have to make something with it and post it later.


Sprinkle Stamps. You can use these as a background by pressing in slightly darker ink than the paper (see thank you card below).


Our presenter (Courtney) made these for us before we got there. I love it.


Here are 2 of the cards we made. We made 3, but it is a Father's Day card and will have to wait.

Thank You card - "chalk board" effect my taking black paper and dipping rubber stamp in tacky white ink put design on paper then applying pastels the ink. Make sure you have ink that will stay tacky long enough.


General summer card - Note to self... stamp before you punch the piece out. I didn't get my Cherries all the way in the white circle. Oh well..


Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend and doesn't have to drive too far. Gas prices are crazy.

Nashville's Centennial Park

Centennial Park is fairly small. Nearly any where you look you are reminded you are in the city, but I think that is what makes it feel that much more precious. I love this park. Here are a few photos I took while I was there yesterday. I took Beth's suggestion and "watermarked" my photos. Thanks Beth!























Hope you enjoyed the park as much as I did. For more information on Centennial Park or the Parthenon go to http://www.nashville.gov/Parthenon/index.htm.

All New And Shiny!

We finally did it. We've been buying one appliance at a time for our kitchen. Aside from the black dishwasher all our appliances are GE "CleanSteel". We decided to only buy when we got a good deal so, we got a brand new in the box over the range microwave for 50% off and a like new display model glass top range for nearly 50% off. We had been waiting for a good deal on fridge. Let me tell you... finding one we thought would be a good deal was tuff. Every time we went to Home Depot or Lowe's we would go straight to the scratch and dent to see what they had before going to get what we went for. Finally we found our fridge at Home Depot. it was marked down several hundred dollars. Mainly because a big scratch near the bottom of the doors where a shopping cart got it. Cliff counter offered and they lowered the price another $200. Anyway here it is!


Because the fridge is so much bigger than the old one we had to take down the wall on the side that made it look built in.

It was a display item and it had fake items inside it. They ended up leaving them in it. Don't they look delicious?


Lately Saber has been very sweet to everyone. This rare except first thing in the morning she has always been moody. Maybe she is growing up! I told Cliff it was because he threatened to bring home a "nice" cat. Anyway here she is being all cute and cat like.

Bathroom Debate

This poll is a lot closer than I ever thought it would be. If we are only going to please half the future buyers, I would rather do what we prefer and that is the large shower. We may figure out a way to do what Pattie says and make it smaller than the 60" but larger than 38". What ever works in the space. I just hate to lose out on my beautiful shower door. I scoured the earth for the door of my dreams and found one about a year later (ok, so I'm picky), which makes me reluctant to go with a smaller shower since the doors are too big to do a 4 ft shower. Too bad we can't add another 10 foot to the house and put in a double vanity, large shower and jetted tub! That sounds perfect in theory, but we would never get all of our money out of it if we did that. Plus I think it would be too close to the property line.

For Mom

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day today.

Not Much...

Because I don't have anything to talk about and I've been looking through my photos for portfolio pictures... I'll post a few pictures. I have thought more about the bathroom and will got back to Home Depot and see if a 48 inch shower will work in the space as Pattie suggested. Thanks Pattie!

Here is a picture of Saber.


A picture of my husband and I last May at his brother's wedding. It is quite possibly my favorite picture of us.


And my 2 favorite pictures of my youngest neice Makayla. She will be a big sister this summer!




I took all the photos, but the one I am in. Cliff's friend took it. Too bad he is in MI or I would hire him as an assistant . :)

The Great Debate

Before I tell you what the deal is I need to give you a little background first. My husband and I bought a small house 2 years ago knowing we would not live in it until the end of time. We will probably stay for another 5 years. This means anything we want to change about the house needs to be something that will be widely appreciated.

So far so good. 1) The first summer we lived here we put a door (sliding glass door, because it wasn't a big enough room for french doors) in the dining room and built a huge deck later on we.. 2) Installed under cabinet lights in the kitchen 3) Added flowers to the bear landscape in the front and 4) Moved the cabinets around in the kitchen so that the fridge door no longer slams into a wall and will open all the way now.

Who ever did a complete remodel of the house last has the 11x11 bedroom with the bathroom making it so that we have to walk all the way through the house to use the bathroom near the kitchen when we have a guest. Then the washer and dryer are in the mud room and visible as soon as you open the side door and the master closet is 6 1/2 feet by 13 feet. So... we want to remove the shower from the bathroom next to the kitchen, move the washer and dryer in to the now half bath, make what was the washer and dryer area a large coat closet and put a full bath in part of the master's closet. We will remove the linoleum and put tile down instead. making the master bath with heated tile. We recently purchase a shower door for the shower we will take out. We want to reuse the shower door in the master bath, but we don't have room for a large shower and double sinks. So the question is...

Would you rather have a double vanity and small corner shower or a large shower and a 30 inch single sink? (See my poll below the "About Me"). See below for a visual of the space. If it makes a difference the guest bathroom has a tub/shower combo and we found some great pocket doors to use in the master bath. Click on each image to enlarge.


Large shower.


Large shower in 3D.


Small shower with double vanity.



Edited to add: If we do the large shower it will be coustom made with tile and if it is a corner shower it will probably be a fiberglass model.

The Numb And The Restless

Cliff did great in the surgery today. Supposedly his surgeon is one of the best. My impression of him in the couple of visits before the surgery was great. I have friends that praise him. So far it has been good, but Cliff was worried when several hours later his fingers were still numb. The Doc had told him it would be numb for a while. Cliff's "a while" is different than his. The nurse informed us that is normal and it could last up to 36 hours. Cliff was appalled by this. I don't know how is that much different than him being numb for months before the surgery on a constant basis and much much longer than that on a regular basis.

He is so Restless. Before they put him under he wanted to go to Opry Mills (a Nashville mall) to get my engagement ring fixed. I told him I didn’t think that would be a good idea. When he came out he was still ready to go. He is such a busy bee! I told him again that it wasn’t a good idea, but we went to Krispy Kreme instead (drive through) then went home. Just so he could pace around and tell me how bored he is. He isn’t really good with down time. I don’t know how he is going to make it being off work for 2 weeks then being on light duty for at least 4 more.

Today wasn't a bright and shiny day like yesterday. It started raining right before we left the hospital and we are having storms come through shortly. Maybe hail and high wind there may also be tornadoes. I hope everyone keeps safe tonight.

What A Beautiful Day!

How could you be in a bad mood when you wake up to this?


The sun was shinning bright like a promise of what is in store for the day. Hopefully Friday will be the same!

I made Banana Nut Bread last night for Cliff to have for breakfast today. He has Carpal Tunnel Surgery on Friday. His ring finger and middle finger are always numb and he has had trouble sleeping for the past 2 months. Anyway I wanted him to have a yummy breakfast today. He loves this recipe. I do not make it all the time since it is not exactly healthy food, but the bread is delicious. If only he knew that I had to run to the store last night at nearly 10pm to get enough flour (he was asleep since he has to be at work at 4am).

The recipe is for two loaves, but is easy to half. Here it is...

Banana Nut Bread

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons soda
• 4 cups flour
• 6 large bananas, very ripe, mashed
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans
PREPARATION:
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift dry ingredients together; add to creamed mixture. Stir in bananas and chopped pecans.
Pour banana nut bread batter into 2 well-greased loaf pans; bake at 325° for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. This banana nut bread recipe makes 2 loaves.



Hope you have a bright and shinning day!