Future Project Friday #9

Remember how I told you I had a few projects left to do in my Master Bedroom Makeover?

One of the projects left on my "to do" list is to find something to hang on this wall above the dresser and TV.



I've been seeing a lot of Sunburst Mirrors in blogland lately. I have a convex mirror that is just hanging out in another room with not a lot of impact. I was thinking about turning it into a Sunburst mirror and hanging it on this wall.

There seems to be a lot of different ways to make them with a lot of different outcomes. But my favorite one is from Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming.


Isn't it just beautiful? And I'll be you can't guess what she used to make the "sunbursts". It's wooden skewers! Brilliant! Here is her awesome tutorial. So go check out her blog and definitely check out her "Sunburst, Raindrop, Starburst" mirror!

And don't you think a Starburst mirror would look great on the wall above my TV?


**********P.S. If you haven't already, go check out my Giveaway!**********

It's a Social Parade!

Happy Friday! I am participating in Smart and Trendy Moms' Social Parade this week. If this is your first time to my blog, welcome! I hope you'll take a look around and if you like what you see, follow along with me!

Also, be sure to enter my GIVEAWAY for a $40 CSN gift card!

What I Learned In Jury Duty

I AM AN OPTIMIST

I had jury duty today. It was my first time ever and I was kind of dreading it (as I'm sure most people do). I brought a book with me since I figured I'd have some time to read as I waited to learn of my fate. I was one of the lucky ones that had to wait around until 3p in the jury pool just in case there was a court that unexpectedly needed a jury at the last minute. In other words, I had A LOT of time to read. I was blessed by my husband who brought the kids and picked me up for lunch. That certainly helped break up the day and it was nice to get to spend lunch with my family rather than by myself watching business men and women come and go during their lunch break. Anyway, we had to return to the jury room by 1:30...and just wait. Or in my case, read.

If you're like me, pleasure reading gets pushed to the back burner after having children. I feel like I haven't read a book in 3 years! And if I do read, it's a few pages once a month, making it nearly impossible to actually finish a book. So mostly I stick to magazines and blogs since I can get through that (usually) uninterrupted or during nap time.

As I breezed through my book in the jury room, I began to really appreciate being there. After all, if I were home, I certainly would not have devoted an hour and a half to reading a book for fun. As 3p approached and I was nearing the end of my book, I found myself wishing I had more time because I knew as soon as they dismissed us I'd put away my book and who knows how long it would be before I picked it up again and finished it. Meanwhile, I heard men and women around me huffing and puffing about having to be there and criticizing the bailiff for waiting until exactly 3 o'clock to dismiss us.

It struck me that it must be stressful to live life like that. Here I was taking full advantage of a situation that I had no control over anyway. I had to be there just like they did but I was making the most of it and actually enjoying the time. When we finally were dismissed at 3:15 (how dare she make us wait an extra 15 minutes!) I was calm, relaxed and happy to be going home to my family. I figure those pessimists probably got in their cars, peeled out of the parking lot, cursed at a few drivers who were going too slow, got home and griped to their families about how they wasted a whole day at jury duty. What a sad way to live...

Oh, and you'll be happy to know that I did finish my book :)




And if you're an optimist too (or even if you aren't), be sure to enter my giveaway...somebody has to win, why not you?

Giveaway!

I am sooooo excited! I've surpassed 200 followers! Yay! You guys are awesome!

So to celebrate this milestone, and to say thank you to all of you, I'm hosting a giveway. One lucky follower will win a $40 gift card to CSN Stores . If you haven't checked out their stores yet, go do so. They have EVERYTHING from lights to home decor to toys. This is the epitome of one stop shopping!


Here's what you need to do:

One Entry - Leave me a comment that you are already following or that you are a new follower.
Second Entry - Leave me a comment telling me what you'd buy with your $40.
Third Entry - Blog, Facebook or Tweet about this Giveaway and leave me a comment telling me about it.

The giveaway will close in one week, at 12:00aCST on Tuesday, June 22. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 23. And please make sure you send me your email if it's not attached to your profile...otherwise I won't be able to let you know you've won!

Good luck, everybody! Let the games begin!

Linking to:

Awesome Cleaning Tip

There are a lot of chores around my house that I have a hard time keeping up with: laundry, dishes, dusting. But lately there is one chore that has been a real thorn in my side. It seems impossible to keep my floors clean.

Part of the problem is we have a GIANT cottonwood tree behind us so we are constantly dragging in cotton and cotton-related debris from outside. Combine that with the food that drops (gets thrown) from toddlers during mealtime and I feel like my floors are in a constant state of slovenliness.

And it's just not an option to vacuum daily. First of all, my daughter is still scared of the vacuum so if I vacuum while she's awake I end up having to hold her while I do it. That's not very practical for daily vacuuming. Secondly, the best time to vacuum is while they're sleeping, but let's face it, anything that risks waking sleeping children is automatically vetoed. I usually do my whole house vacuuming on the weekend when my husband is home and can either take the kids out for awhile or at least distract my daughter long enough for me to get the cleaning done.

Then I had my brilliant stroke of genius. I remembered that my grandma used to use a sweeper at her house. You know the ones that are not electric and you just "sweep" them across your carpet?

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought one for $25. They don't have a picture of the one I bought online, but it's similar to this one:




Anyway, it's awesome! After the kids eat or someone drags in a chunk of cotton, I simply pull it out, "sweep" the carpet and tuck it back in it's place between the fridge and the wall. It's a great way to keep my floors clean in between vacuuming. I love it!

And the best part is, my son loves it too! He's actually been doing daily sweeping for me! Gotta love that!


(His head got cut off because he was Super-Speed-Sweeping).

Maybe you know about this awesome time saver, but if not, you might just have to go buy yourself one. I promise it will change your life...or at least your floors!

Future Project Friday #8

Freezing Meals in Bulk

Sorry I'm a little late with this post. I worked today and seriously I am pretty useless after a full day of work outside the home. I'm hoping I'll adjust soon since I'll be working a lot this summer while my husband is off.

So that leads me to my Future Project Friday feature. In previous Future Project Fridays, I've featured home decor and craft projects. Today's feature is a little different.

As I've been working more this summer, I've decided that cooking when I get home from work is not an option. My husband does a great job of taking care of the kids all day while I'm at work and he is more than willing to cook dinner when I get home (isn't he awesome?). However, since his specialty is mac 'n cheese and hot dogs (no offense, honey), I feel I need to come up with another plan.

Then I remembered reading about Bekki at The Little Red Hen when she was guest posting at Tatertots and Jello. Anyway she was talking about how she cooks 3 month's worth of meals at a time and freezes them.



Now granted, I may not be able to start out by cooking for 3 months at a time, but Bekki started out slowly and maybe I could too. Not only does it save her time each night, but it also keeps them from eating out (which is one of our weaknesses) because there's always something prepared.

I also recently came across this great post about freezing meals over at Vermillion Rules. She also posted this follow up with more great tips.

Anyway, I'd love to try to start doing this. I think it would make life a lot easier...whether I'm working or not! I recently made these Turkey Pesto Meatballs (which were DELICIOUS, by the way) and I froze half of them. So I guess in a way, I've already started!

How about you? Do you freeze meals? Any tips/recipes to share? Do you cook for a week? a month? more?

Another Lamp Transformation

A few weeks ago I showed you this brass lamp I found at a garage sale for only $3!


Well I finally finished transforming it. I'm working on a living room/dining room makeover this summer and the room has only one overhead light. So I've been on the hunt for some additional lighting (especially since this room also doubles as my guest room/craft room).

I cleaned it and got out my handy dandy spray paint trigger and black spray paint and went to work. Here's what it looked like after it was painted.


I love the pineapple detail at the top and it looks so much better in black!

I searched high and low for a lampshade that was substantial enough to handle this large lamp and wouldn't break the bank (who knew big lampshades cost around $25!). Fortunately, we have a Tuesday Morning store close by and I lucked out with this great shade for only $10!


In this picture you can see the pleated detail of the shade. It really adds some style to an otherwise plain drum shade.


As great as the new black lamp with the new lampshade looked, I still felt it was missing some detail. So I headed to my Joann's (with my 50% off coupon!) and bought some beaded trim. I hot glued it around the inside of the lampshade and voila!


Now it's perfect! Here's a close up of the beaded detail.


Between this "new" lamp and these new beauties I just finished, I think my new living room/dining room (guest room/craft room) will have plenty of task and ambient lighting! And they're pretty nice to look at, too!


Having fun at these parties:







Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home