Springtime and rodeo

Last weekend was a busy one starting with "cowboy day" for Thomas at school.
Saturday morning I had a CPR class, then softball game with Kate, then she came to spring carnival at my school.

Sunday was a day of fun at the Houston livestock show and rodeo.  This is the first time the kids have been to the rodeo and a concert - and this was Kate's choice - Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers.

These first pictures make it look like we were the only ones out there that day, but it was very crowded, 70 something thousand at that concert.  I left with my ears ringing - not so much from the loud music, but from little "tween" girls SCREAMING.  But, Kate did have a great time.  Chris ended up taking Thomas out, it was too loud for him.  Kate is an animal lover and was not too happy about the calf roping and some of the "rodeo" part of it.  We all got a laugh out of the "mutton bustin'" - 5 and 6 year old kids come out riding a sheep.

 

All rodeo-ed out!

And if you want to see "mutton bustin'" for yourself, check out THIS link

New (old) chairs

My latest find at the Goodwill this week - these two chairs $5.99 each:

(This was after I recovered one of the seats already).

They are pretty good quality chairs, made for Broyhill furniture:

After some white paint and neutral fabric:

here they are in my office / library / craft room

On the "to do" list for this room:

1. 
   
   Paint the desk white, but I think leave the top with the original finish / stain, like this one  that I saw on Miss Mustard seed's blog This was a free find - picked up in front of a neighbor's house when we lived at the old house.
2. 
   
   paint the light fixture, either white or oil rubbed bronze (like this one Miss Mustard seed did).  Her blog is a great inspiration for DIY painting projects and furniture re-dos!
3. 
   
   organize the craft / scrapbooking supplies storage.  I do have a lot more things stored in my closet under the stairs, so some of this may get moved there, once I organize and get rid of some things I don't need.

Here is the current set-up that needs some de-cluttering.  The white shelf on the wall was another yard sale find - $3!

I think my favorite thing in the room and maybe one of my favorite things ever is this oil painting, artist unknown. 

I'm sharing this post on Metamorphosis Monday.

Going Gray

On Sunday I painted our family room a very soft gray (seashell gray from Lowes).

Before it was a gold color (looks more yellow in this picture)

and here are some after pictures - sorry not very good pictures, it was gray and rainy outside when I took them.  Right now I have not brought much back into the room in the way of accessories, I am liking the clean and uncluttered look, but I will need to at least bring back in some lamps.

someone's doing homework

the candle sconces are new - from Southern living at home

doing reading homework now.  Notice the gray under the counter too - this was supposed to be the same color, (it was the small test sample) - it came out darker than when I purchased the gallon for the walls

And nothing at all like my room, but I found my inspiration for painting the room gray at the blog Dreamy Whites. 

Check it out for more beautiful pictures like this:

 and this:

So I do have more to do on my room for it to be this pretty, but the wall color is a start, right?

Kitchen curtains - before and after

This is the curtains I had up before.

View of the kitchen, the counter was nice and clean when I took these pictures, but I can't show from this viewpoint today, too much mess!

But I cleared off the table so I could take this picture.  The new curtains I bought last weekend (from Lowes)

a close up of the pattern - I like the way it looks with the cream walls and cabinets, and the black co-ordinates with the black chairs and countertops.

And another small "before and after".  This is another Goodwill original art work I bought about a year and a half ago in San Antonio (also $3.99 like the other one).  This one was painted by L. Stuckey in Brownwood, TX, August 1961 and titled "our home" on the back.

I painted the frame white and it's something nice to look at while taking clothes out of the drier.

some Goodwill finds

Found a new Goodwill yesterday and picked up some good things.

This little painting was $3.99

I really like this frame

Some good books for my classroom - 59c each, and the little silver dish, copper bucket and stoneware bowl were all 99c each.

Busy in Texas

We've been busy with school, work, selling girl scout cookies etc the last few weeks. I've been reading some of my favorite blogs but have had nothing new to post about and no extra time for projects around the house.  Hopefully that will change soon :)

These sunset pictures from last week - taken from our car driving across a bridge near our house.

Drop cloth drapes Part 2

I used some drop cloth drapes in my living room / family room on one window and with a trip to IKEA and some new curtain rods, I decided to use these on all 3 windows.

This is the "before picture - this long pipe / curtain rod went all the way across the room (this came with the house).

And after with the simple curtain rods ($6.99 each from IKEA) and the drop cloth drapes. I just used one on each side.

and the other window in the room with matching curtain rod.

and I got a new feather pillow insert for my favorite pillow cover

Sometimes a couple of little changes can just freshen up and simplify a room. I am all for simple and organized for the new year.

Back to the classroom on Tuesday, so blog posts may be few and far between for a while! Me and the kids have enjoyed our time off. They are looking forward to going back to school, and that is definitely a first for my 6 year old (I think he had a tummy ache every day of pre-school and Kindergarten), 1st grade is turning out to a be a great year for him and his confidence.

2009 was a good year for us in many ways - we moved to our new house, we had a trip to Disneyland to me and the kids got to see my family and visit for a month. We had some down times too, so we are looking forward to a lot more positive things in 2010.
Happy New Year!