Wall Revamp

I've been wanting to do something with my large living room wall for a while now. It was looking a little empty and sad.

But, with the help of Pinterest I was inspired to try something like this.

I waiting for Micheal's to have a really great sale on all of their frames and went to town. All of these frames were 40 to 50% off plus I had a 25% off coupon.

The idea of hammering a bunch of new holes in my wall was daunting. I was a little nervous, but my Facebook buddies encouraged me on. I took down everything hanging on the wall and decided what I wanted to keep or get rid of. Then I took my new frames and organized everything on the floor first.

This was an important step. I was able to sit and stare at it, move them around, send a picture to my sister for her opinion. All I got from her was 'I don't see a picture of me'. No help, Seester.

Then I took a roll of old wrapping paper and cut out templates of all the frames, also marking where the nail would need to be placed. This is also a very important, and slightly time consuming step. But DO IT anyway. I used my cutouts to arrange the layout up on my wall. See, no new holes yet.

Again, I was able to sit back and just stare at it. Decide if I really liked it or if it felt off balance. I did end up moving a few of them around. And once Jeremy got home I gave him a hammer and told him to get to work. All he had to do was hammer the nail through the nail hole on the paper. Then I ripped down the paper and hung the pictures.

Some of the frames still have the generic happy family photos in them. And that's a blank canvas on the far right. But I figured getting it all hung up was more important than actually filling the frames. I'll get to that, eventually.

Here is my "holiday" wall:

Thanksgiving 2011 Recap!

There was some of this:

Family Turkey Trot - That's me, in the back second in from the left

And some of this:

Drawing turkeys

A little of this:

One little monkey jumping on the bed

And a little of that:

That was Uncle Jeremy's doing. She thought it was hilarious.

A lot of this:

Cohen takes his music very serious.

Some of this too:

I didn't edit this photo. I love the vibe. Babies, toys, and visiting with friends and family...sums up my Thanksgiving.

And of course:

Christmas decorating. Lola was...um..helping..yeah, that's it.

And look at THIS:

Lil'mama acting like she has always lived here.

How to play stickers according to Dolly

She had to school her Uncle Jeremy on how to properly play stickers.

Conversations at Home

Jeremy: It sounds like they are saying 'walking in an orgy wonderland'.

I stopped to listen and then I crack up laughing.

Jeremy: Tell me I'm wrong. That's why you don't mess with Christmas songs.

I'm thankful for my neice.

This is the girl of my heart.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for a good book...

...that distracts me so thoroughly I forget to post a 'thankful' post.

Oops. I missed a day! LOL. This week has been crazy busy (and it ain't over yet).

I'm thankful for fun blog swaps!

I signed up for Jessica and Ashlee's super fun 'Just Add Color' fall swap. We were matched up with one other blogger and we had to send each other a scarf and a nail polish. How fun is that?!!

I was matched up with Mariah..a fellow OOTD girl.

When the UPS man dropped off my package I swear I 'squeed' and did a happy dance right in the living room. My husband shakes his head at me a lot. I can't understand why. I had also received my first birchbox that day too. So it was a FABULOUS mail day.

The package came at the perfect time because the weather dipped the very next day and I was able to sport my brand new plaid scarf. I love the purple and blue in this scarf. So fun! It was exactly the POP I needed for my outfit.

I'm sure you notice in the above picture (AND in the pictures below) that my nails are blue. In my birchbox I received a sample size bottle of Zoya polish in Noel. I had TWO new nail polish to try. What was I suppose to do but paint my nails one color and my toes another?

I am currently sporting my swap nail polish, Sally Hansen 'All Fired Up', on my toes.

My FAVORITE thing about this polish is the wand. I've never seen one like this, but they should ALL be like this. It's short and wide..instead of long and thin. It made painting my toe nails super easy!

GGrrreeaatt picture of my double chin and the polish wand.

I was beyond thrilled with my package! Mariah was a great swap partner and I cannot wait to see her post about how she styled the scarf I sent her!!

I'm thankful for Mack

This is Mack. He turns NINE tomorrow.

It seems like just yesterday he was only five. And Spongebob was his favorite.

Now, he's too grown up for Spongebob. Instead he likes to play video games.

Just yesterday, he was a scrawny little boy that would make up songs and dance around the living room

Now he is almost as tall as I am.

But it doesn't matter how tall he grows or how old he gets. He'll always be a little boy in my eyes. And I'll always hug him a little tighter. And I'll always call him 'baby'. And he will always have a very special place in my heart because he made me an aunt.

Happy birthday, Mack-a-roni.

I'm thankful for stain remover

I spilled a single drop of my pumpkin spice latte this morning.

Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. But today...today I was wearing white capri pants.

Dang it.

I'm thankful it's Friday

Play Along!

1. A nervous habit I have is   I blush. When I have a room full of people and all eyes are on me, I blush really bad. I feel like my cheeks are on fire.

 

 

2. Something that makes me sad is   neglected/abused children and animals. It's inexcusable .

3. Today I am thankful for   my husband. He is my constant, my rock.

 

 

4. My favorite room in my house is   the "office". The third room in our house, which is too small for a bedroom and has the backdoor in it has become our den. We spend nearly 100% of our time in this room.

 

 

5. I can't stand  people who act like the world owes them something. Life can be shitty and unfair. Sometimes, it sucks. But you deal with it and move on. No one owes you anything and your life is as good as you decide its going to be.

6. If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would   take Lil'Mama to the vet. She needs to come in this house..right now! And I can't do that until I know she is healthy.

7. The last person I hung out with was   my husband. We hang out every night. lol.

I'm thankful for our bleeding hearts

This is Lil'Mama.

Well, she actually started out as "Tink" or something equally unfitting. She once belonged to our hillbilly next door neighbors. They kept her as a strictly outdoor cat and even though I cannot 100% confirm this...I'm pprreettyy sure they never fed her.

During the summer, which was the most BRUTAL summer I can ever remember, she became a regular visitor to our back porch. It was covered and the concrete was cool. She would lay under the coffee table and just pant. What else could I do but start giving her water?

As the summer went on and "Tink" was still hanging out. And I noticed that she was just so skinny. SSooo, I kind of..sort of..started feeding her..just a little bit. Jeremy will tell you..she was so thin. Except for her growing belly. That's right. She was pregnant. Which is when I took to calling her Lil'Mama.

She had her kittens but kept them over at the next door neighbor's house. We only saw the kittens a handful of times. There were three..and then two..and then only one. Until there were none. I don't know what happened to them. I sort of don't want to think about what probably happened to them.

Our hillbilly neighbors eventually disappeared. Oh, their stuff was still at the house...still is...but they have stopped living in the house. But Lil'Mama is still here...on our back porch. We are now feeding her on the regular. She comes when I call her. I'd say she has decided to stay.

I thought, at first, that we would sort of just foster her. Feed her and care for her until we could find her a good home. That was my TRUE intentions. I even put it out there on facebook. BBuutt..she has sort of grown on me...damn it. So we have recently made the decision to keep her.

We haven't been able to take her to the vet just yet. For one, it's right before the holidays and our extra money is tied up in other things. And two, we are still waiting for the hillbilly neighbors to officially move out. We don't want to put in the effort of vetting her if they decide to come and grab her. I really don't think they will ever come back for her..at least I hope they won't.

So, for now, until we can make sure she is healthy and safe to be around our other animals, we've set her up a little house on our back porch. It isn't much, but it gives her some place to go as the weather gets colder. I actually made her a rice pillow...from scratch..with a sewing machine. I don't sew, people. But I sure did stitch a rice pillow that I can warm up for this little kitty.

I did not want another animal. I was quite adamant that we NOT keep her. I mean, just take a look at the brood of animals we already have living in this little love cottage..just to your left there. That is FIVE animals..Lil'Mama makes six. That is just insane. But it wasn't really up to me. She picked US to be her people. And how can I argue with that?

* I will never get in the habit of asking for money on my blog...but if you happen to be feeling charitable and would like to donate to the cost of housing (we want to get her a insulated igloo house..smallest one is $100) and vet'ing (spaying is $60 + the cost of shots and illness tests) Lil'Mama, please email me at justjinny@hotmail.com. *