I married a Brittish Boy

Upon meeting the sweet boy I now call "mine", we quickly learned that there were many new things for each of us to learn.....for him it was/is American English things....obviously, for me, it's English English things. One of the subjects typically at hand is food. I did not know what an Yorkshire Pudding was just a mere 3 years ago.....now I'm the queen at making them! :)

 They are made of eggs, milk and flour....baked in hot fat (lard or beef tallow). Much like a "pop over" might be in America.

 When I make them now (they are a treat!), Dave always exclaims how I am better than he at making them now. Makes me all tickled inside! :)

He has instructed me that the hallow insides are for gravy.....This picture is sorta bright, but I like the way the steam got captured. It's the little things! :)~

My Nephews {they've grown like weeds!}

For those of you who have known my nephews over the years.....Colton is now 6' 3". The others are just behind him and already mostly taller than me! It's like living in the land of giants over at my sister's house!

(I'm standing high on a chair for this picture!)

Something New

On Sunday, my parents surprised me by popping over with some things to plant in my yard.....one of those things was a new little oak tree! It was a lovely day to be outside.....my nephews came by too! :)

They pretty much had it all done by the time I grabbed my camera.....suppose I need to get faster at that!!!

 

I'm so excited to watch it grow over the years to come! 

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Tables

I have spent the past 2 weeks refinishing these tables for the living room:

Not that it took an entire 2 weeks, but it took bits and pieces of many days within these 2 weeks!

It's a lot of work to strip, scrub, scrap, and wash a stain off. Ugh!








 
 It started to get too cold and dusty to leave them in the garage, so they stayed on the porch a few days, where they received their final top coat.

 

Finally, they made it to their new resting places.....

I'm not so sure the color changed that much, but the luster is much nicer (they really needed something to be done with them). However, this project only confirmed how much I love my trusty ol' paint sprayer and making a "new" piece of furniture in a matter of hours (or even less time!)

So, to test my confirmation, I pulled out said paint sprayer .....

And did this.....

This dresser was purchased a few weeks ago at an estate sale here in town. It was in shabby shape, but I had plans for it as soon as I saw it! It's a lovely addition to the porch {sorry, no "before" shots!}












 
A few other projects I've done with my trusty paint sprayer include this one on the porch:

And this dry sink in the dining room:
 

It's so fun to pick up something old and beat up, and in a matter of hours, give it new life! You can bet I'll be doing a whole lot more painting and less staining in the future!

TP'd

When I pulled the curtains back this morning, here's what I saw:

HA! Our neighbors got TP'd!!!

I have no idea why they got it.....but it sure gave me a smile to start my day! :)

Move to Iowa

Yes, we moved to Iowa! In case anyone has missed this story, here's how it goes:

After getting married in April 2010, we moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Since Dave works at home and my work is quite flexible, we decided to start fresh in a new city. We loved it....we had great resources around us, a wonderful church and quickly met and made good friends.

It was early August when Dave started asking me to look at house. We knew we wanted to buy after our first year, but I thought August was a little early! Our lease wasn't up until March 31, 2011, and I really wanted to simply "be" for as long as possible without thinking about "life details" for a while.

Shifting gears for me after getting married was hard. Not because of being married, but because I was so overly exhausted. Full time school and work and planning a wedding and relocating to a new city was just about more than I could carry. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to take as much time as I needed to "unwind" from it all. I knew there was much of my heart and soul that I had put up on a shelf, so-to-speak, due to getting through school, and it was fun to just sit and ponder the things in life I had put on hold and get them back out. One of the things to really ponder was "where do I want to live"? Where does it make most sense for me to live, based on who I am? Also, it was heavy on my heart to seek out what it means to live below our means. In everything. What can we live without? What can be re-purposed for something needed, etc? What does this look like in every area possible? It was fascinating to think about all this stuff. I'm not quite ready to move to a shack and go without electricity or a car, but we did sell one of our vehicles and I have continued to purge things....though it's still shocking how much stuff I have! :)~

I finally got around to looking at some houses....looking in Louisville first. But, as I started to see myself for who I really am, I'm not so much of a city girl. I want to cook all my own food (not utilize the wonderfully cute cafes that surrounded me in Louisville), I want to make my own decor and clothes (not go to the fun boutiques around the corner), and I love to ride my bike (which isn't impossible in a city, but there's nothing like riding in the country!) So, I started looking further and further out of the city, getting to some small towns an hour away from Louisville.

Well, then that little voice said, "might as well look ANYWHERE if I'm willing to look at small towns in KY." So, I literally looked around the states at housing. That was a lot of options!!!

Then came the thought that I might as well think about living in small town Iowa. I never thought I would consider it, but then the thought of being a home owner and living close to my ever-so-handy-dad did sound like bliss. But, I really wrestled with it for a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, God had Dave on a different journey. He was open to moving close to my family as soon as we got married, but he knew it was nothing I would want. He was now sensing it was indeed what God had for our lives....for several reasons. But, he was afraid to bring up moving to IA to me...for fear I would object so fully. Well, he did bring it up first....I didn't want to admit to him that I was thinking about it too. He was shocked that I didn't "argue" about it. :) It simply just make sense at this point.

Over Labor Day weekend, 2010, we looked at several homes in Morning Sun. We liked one of them and put a bid in....and got it! We stayed in Kentucky through March 2011 and this gave me time to go to Iowa to paint a couple of times before moving things in....as well as time to figure out what I was going to do (in terms of colors and other home decisions). At this point, I have mostly spent my time in Iowa focusing on getting the house how I want it and creating other fun things with my hands. I absolutely love it here.....who knew??!!

In case you want it, our new address is:
PO Box 42
Morning Sun, IA 52640

(yes, the town is so small, we have to go pick up our mail....it doesn't come to our door, but we're lucky so far....several small town Post Offices are closing altogether these days!)

Creating {how I spend my time these days}

The art of having time in my days. Ah. This was so lost during my years in school, working full time....then the whirlwind of packing up life and moving into marriage. I love that I have been able to get back in touch with my creative side. It was left on the shelf too long....getting all dusty and rusty! I have felt like a new flower opening up its petals by renewing my love for creating things. I had no idea I would love owning a home as much as I do. I love having my own space to create beauty. I also love creating "smaller" things....paintings and purses and making plain things fun. Here's a few things I have done (hey, and I can rhyme too!)

This bag is made from Michael Miller fabrics....this was so fun to make, I'd love to start an etsy store.....maybe only in my dreams, but I certainly don't need 100s of purses....which is what is going to happen to all the fabric I have! 

These pictures I made with scrapbook paper, Modge Podge, and some paint. I just noticed too that you can see the wreath in the mirror....I made it out of coffee filters.

You'll see Modge Podge has become my best friend......this was a plain wood bowl from Ikea....now it's custom for my home. :)

This was once a tortoise shell colors word....now it looks like this and sits on top of my office shelves. 

More Michael Miller fabric....put on canvas for my downstairs bathroom.

With each new day, I feel like my soul breathes deeper and deeper.

Quilts {my new fabric addiction}

Since I have had time now to tap into my creative juices, I have discovered fabric. Oh, I can get lost forever looking at the colors and patterns! In order to do something with the fabric I do buy (why can't I just buy it and look at it???!), I have a new-found desire to make quilts. :)

My very first quilt was put together the week back in August (or was it July?) that was a scorcher, temperature-wise. Over 100 degrees....what else was there to do, but stay inside amidst the air condition, sewing a quilt!

It's considered a "rag quilt" where each piece was quilted first, then the edges put together and frayed. I don't think these pictures do justice to the fun, whimsical colors! :(

I didn't know how to do the binding, so I just guessed. I did it wrong....and learned how with my next quilt. I may or may not rip it all off and redo it.

I have learned to know several designers in the fabric world (well, not know them personally, just know of their particular style or line of fabric).....and have fallen in love with Michael Miller, amongst several others. I couldn't resist these colors, so I did a "practice" quilt....a "real" quilt this time, piecing all the parts together first, adding the batting and quilting last. I did the binding the "right" way this time!

I'm itching to start another one, but am waiting until I have several other needed projects done. Plus, in the dead of winter, having a sewing project will be a good thing! :)

Bedroom

Upstairs is our bedroom. Again, I don't have any before pics, but it was just white walls and blue carpet. Here's what it is now:

That bathroom that you can see needs updating.....but that will be for another year. :)

Also, upstairs is my sewing room/laundry room and a large open space that we will make into a bedroom(s). All updating yet to come!

Offices {before and after}

Our home has two back rooms on the main level....rooms that could be used as bedrooms, but we need office space, so these rooms have worked out perfectly!

Here's what mine looked like before:

Now, I like color....but whoa! I couldn't wait to change it.

 

New carpet, and here's what we had: 

See that big empty wall? As soon as I got to town, I started hunting odd end tables and coffee tables. I don't have any "how to" or "process" photos, but I cut all those tables in half, painted them, and secured them to the wall.....ta da! My built-in bookcase: 

Stepping back a bit:

I have plans and material for a white slip cover for that chair. I'm excited to get to that one of these days.

Looking into the door of my office, this is what you see:

This just makes my heart happy:

Dave's office was interesting:

I had my Dad put up a bead-board ceiling. It turned into a bigger project that I assumed it would be....I probably should have just painted it. But, he's awesome and here's how it turned out:

I need to stain his tables and floorboards yet....the projects don't really end with a house, do they?

Living Room and Dining Room {before and after}

Changing light fixtures has been one of my favorite things to do. It makes the house so much more "me". Here's the living room before:

The dark woodwork was throughout the entire house.....but I wanted it to change. So, as you'll notice a lot, paint saved the day!

We put new carpet down, I made curtains, and here's what we have now:
 

And from standing in that doorway:

I don't have a "before" for the dining room, but here's one in progress:

Check out that light! It was something lovely from the 50s (maybe). I'm sure someone may find it fabulous, but it needed to go. :)
 

Can you tell that I need color!!! :)~

Kitchen {before and after} and bath

When it came to looking at houses, I didn't even want to look at this one, based on the web photos. When we walked in, I immediately saw all the potential. I'm so glad I was talked into seeing "just one more" house! 

The kitchen was dark as a cave....much of the house was, actually. This is the only before shot I have: 

You can't really tell how large the ceiling fan was....but I was shocked at the difference after putting in a new light fixture! After white paint, new knobs, and moving the washer/dryer unit upstairs, this is what we have: 

 

 I just realized you can get a glimpse of what the porch was like with this shot....just plywood walls. Back to the kitchen, here's what it's like now that I've added the finishing touches: 

Much brighter now! I love being in my kitchen. Here's the view from the other side: 

I thought this blank wall was a perfect spot to put something we want our house built upon.....so we chose Psalm 34:3.

I about lost my salvation putting it up there.....but that's a whole new story! 

You can see how this leads to the downstairs bathroom. I didn't take any "before" shots....so here's the "afters": 

This was the most recent room I painted.....and I had a lot of fun with it! :)