Jams, Pickles, & Chutneys - Oh My!

I am so excited for this weekend. Although LH has to work a couple hours each day this holiday weekend, on Sunday, we are making time to go picking. We will be getting Pickling Cucumbers, Peaches, Pears, Apples, and maybe some vegetables. I probably should have started this at the beginning of last month but... better late than never, right?

[from http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/20189/lemon+curd]

Maybe I should pick up some lemons too...

This will be my first attempt at creating these goodies solo. My Nana makes the best of everything!  There has never been one thing that this brilliant woman has made that was not consumed instantly. And for that reason, I will be following her recipes so hopefully some day I can pass them on to my grand kids. I have always thought homemade products tasted better and were better for you and I cannot wait to get started.

Have you ever canned before? What is your favorite thing to can?

Cheers!

Addiction

Hi,
My name is Amanda and I am addicted to.... Pinterest!

I found Pinterest only a little while ago but I can't seem to spend enough time on there. And the best thing for me is that it is going to totally cut down on my clutter... I am one of those people who, when they see something (online or in a magazine) I print/rip it out and put it somewhere... On my night stand, dresser, kitchen counter, dinner table, but mostly my purse. Now it is ALL posted in one place and easy to find.

Dinner ideas, party ideas, decorating, things I want for my home or to do to my home. It is so easy to just pull it up and do it. Why didn't I come up with this idea?

Here are a few of the things I have pinned;

 For over my garage

 Cute idea above a crib

 Can't resist this chair

 A snowball tree

 DIY pillows

 A fire pit for my backyard

 Full-length mirror storage

 Coffee table made from an old deck

Jute rugs for all over my house



If you haven't discovered it yet, you simply must try it. Think of it this way. If you are planning a wedding, you have one place to put all your wants, dreams and ideas; if you are planning for a baby, you can pin nursery ideas, or pregnancy photo ideas; if you are designing or remodeling your home; you will have one place for all your ideas for your home for your designer, contractor, or your self to pull from for what you ultimately want accomplished.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and "Happy Pinning".

Cheers!

The Birthday Boy

My son turned 4 on Sunday.... at 6:08 AM to be exact. The day before LH, Hunter, and I went out to Otto's to pick up the sausages and dogs for the BBQ and it was such a beautiful day, we ended up having lunch there as well. They have a bunch of park benches out in front of their store so we got to sit and enjoy the sunshine. My sister, Becky, stayed the night on Saturday to help me set up and get ready on Sunday. She was such a great help. The only reason everything was accomplished was because of her. Thank you Becky!

LH and I went out in the afternoon on Sunday and bought Hunter some presents and had some nice time together before the party. We had decided to have a BBQ for our friends and family and LH did a great job grilling it all up. Some friends even made it out that we hadn't seen in a while and it was so nice to see their faces.

[This is the invitation that I designed]

I keep telling people about Hunter's birthday and how old he is, and every time I feel a twinge of sadness... He is growing too fast! Where is the pause button? I am even willing to rewind a year or two.... I want him to be my baby forever. To always fit right in my lap and tickle him awake every morning to "You Are My Sunshine".

I will cherish these days as they come to me and soak up every second I can with him.

Spare Room Update

 That green you see there is the beautiful padding that was under the carpet.

 And we are down to the sub floor. Yay!!! Wood floors will start to go down next week.

That space that you see there is the missing floor board.... I don't know how they missed that one.

We are busy bees

Wow!!! Where has the time gone? I have been so busy since I last posted. LH and I put on all the finishing touches in Hunter's room (i.e.: door handle, closet handles, curtains and curtain rods, minimized the stuffed animal collection); the floor is completely tore up in the spare room and we found that a beam in out sub floor is missing-strange...; we added a new porch light (I love the nautical feel); and we added bark dust (LH calls it mulch) to our front yard garden and a strip down the driveway.

Another reason why we are so busy (I should really say sidetracked) is that my son is turning 4 on Sunday. 4(!!!!)...... Wow! I don't know if I am sad or happy. Time went by way too fast. OK, so here are the ideas/plan I have for Hunter's birthday;

• We will BBQ this;
• I will make the birthday cake-Chocolate w/ chocolate butter cream frosting (and birds on top... Hunter has requested that twice now...);
• It will be decorated with Pirate theme;
• and more to come...

I will post actual pictures after the big day :)

Cheers!

P.S.
I made Hunter's invitations! I will share those with you tonight.

And.....onto room two!

I missed posting last night because I was wrapped up...tearing up the carpet in the spare room. WOW! Can I tell you how much I hate carpet...? I know some people love it, and to each their own, but I despise it. Let me tell you why; I hate that scents get trapped in them, I hate how easy they are to get dirty and how hard they are to get clean, I hate shampooing them (that process takes way too long), and most of all, I hate ripping them out to see the dirt and dinge that creeps it way through to sit on the padding under the carpet. Have I grossed you out yet (I am not even going to mention the things that LIVE in carpet)? This is why I am so thrilled that we are doing solid hard wood throughout the house, along with some natural stone in the bathrooms and kitchen.

Last night I emptied out the spare room, removed all the doors, covered the window with paper so the neighbors do not peer in, and started to rip up the carpet. I only got half of the room up and the padding is still on the floor but my intention for tonight is to remove the rest of the carpet and all of the padding and haul it all to the side of the house. I think I should be able to accomplish that tonight. OH! I should probably start taking some pictures as we go. I will remember to get my camera out tonight.

More to come on this room soon.

Cheers!

Images to Swoon

Since we haven't started to tare out the floor in the spare room yet I thought I would share with you a few (cause there are many) of my home inspirations.

I just want to curl up in this bed and never leave.

A perfect place to sit and have tea with friends.

I lust this.

What a beautiful place to make a meal

I am thinking of putting those drapes in every room of my house.

Imagine eating here...

...and sipping your coffee here...

...and tucking in your kids here.

I am going to install those shelves in my sons room, against his wall with the window

Wow! I could keep going for days... I have so many inspirational images that I am going to start calling this Inspiration Mondays.

Happy Monday all!

Cheers!

One Down...

One room down and 8 to go!

The first room we tackled was my son's room. We put him in the spare room while we tore this one apart. This is what it looked like when we moved in.

We tore up the floors, patched and fixed areas of the walls and ceiling, removed all the trim, and removed the closet and bedroom door.

Then we added hardwoods, large white trim, paint (from our color pallet that I let Hunter choose), a new bedroom door and closet doors.

The semi finished product....

There are a few finishing touches that I will be adding this week; Hardware for the doors, some of Hunters art work, and I will be taking out the pop-up tent thing. Curtain panels are already on.

I would love to do this on his window wall. What do you think?

Hello World!

Today marks the first day of my journey.... well... at least publicly. I am so excited to share with you what my style is and how I design my home. We are renovating room-by-room (Lovely Husband's idea) so we don't have to live in complete chaos.

We bought our first house back in January. At that time we gave ourselves a goal of one year to get through the house going room-by-room.... It is now 6  months later and we have one room done! This is not due to procrastination, trust me. My Lovely Husband (LH) has started a business as a contractor on the side (his day job is being an accountant) and has been very busy. He is going to start slowing down on that front and we are going to get the ball rolling again on out home. I also have a full-time day job so all of our time spent renovating, designing, and decorating is done on nights and weekends.

In the next couple days I will post pictures of our house and I will post about all the updates as we go room-by-room. This blog will not just be about designing room-by-room. I will also post updates about the brilliant thing I find and bring into my home, how I bring it all together, my daily homemaking, and family updates. What I love most about all the design blogs I follow ( or should I say, am obsessed with) is that I feel like I know the women writing them, and that is how I want you to feel as well.

Tell me your thoughts, your ideas, and if your so inclined, about yourself. I would also love your questions and if you would have done something differently. I can't wait to share this journey with you.

Cheers!