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Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Birthday, Trent!

It's Trent's 29th birthday today! My parents took us out to eat this weekend at Granite City to celebrate.

His birthday present from me was an iPhone 5. I think he loves it. And I do too! I might have to get one for myself now! :) It was really time for him to get a new one, though! He's had the same phone since 2007. No joke. Anyway, I hope this birthday boy enjoys his day today - we will have to have a nice dinner or something tonight to celebrate!

Happy birthday, Trent! I love you! :)

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Summer Porch Inspiration

It's almost May! And the weather's getting nicer. You know what that means....planting flowers, yard sale season...and decorating the FRONT PORCH for SUMMER! Woot! I've been starting to get some items together for the porch. And I have scoured Pinterest for inspiration. Here's a roundup of some ideas I love:
From here
From here
From here
From here
Cute huh? Gathering inspiration is a starting point anyway. Here's what I have for my porch so far that I would like to use: a white bench with two blue pillows, a hanging bird feeder, a welcome mat, a hanging flower basket, two large planters, a white lantern, a few smaller pots, an old wooden crate, and my Produce planters from Joss and Main, a garden flag and an American flag. I am in need of some plants and flowers at the moment! And I would also like to remove the paint on the porch floor and stain it, because it doesn't seem to take paint very well. Then maybe add a small rug. I think a little chalkboard that says "Welcome" like those in the photos would be cute too, right?

I just feel like I have a crazy random mix of things right now and not a clear plan. Haha. Let's hope I can make everything come together!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Flood Update and Some Front Porch Items

Happy weekend everyone! In case you didn't hear, we had a few days this week of straight rain here in Illinois, leaving lots of standing water around here. The good news is that we've been dry for the last several hours, and today is nice and sunny! It's even supposed to warm up to the 60's this weekend. Hallelujah!

Our yard is finally looking less like a lake now, and the basement is finally dry thanks to our sump pump (which does NOT have an automatic float - I'm told the auto-float is the way to go and makes your life much easier) and Trent staying up until 3:00 in the morning Thursday night to keep an eye on the water in the basement and turn the pump off. He was not a happy camper yesterday...

Anyway, even though our casa is in now the clear, there are many areas around here that are still flooded. I took the interstate to work the last few days because some of the highways out by the cornfields here get flooded with lots of rain (as I've learned), and I didn't want to take any chances!

Here are a couple of pictures Trent took this morning of the road in front of his work. It's right by the Mississippi River.
The road is obviously under water! Don't worry though, he didn't have to take a boat to work. There were still usable back roads.

Some area businesses had to close temporarily due to the river flooding, and we heard that most of the nearby town of London Mills, Illinois had to evacuate due to a levee on the Spoon River breaking on Thursday night. Here is the story. It's pretty sad - We visited the small town on the Spoon River Scenic Drive a couple of years ago. Here are a couple of photos I took there back in 2011:

Making Kettle corn for some Scenic Drive fun
On the other side of this hill is the Spoon River, which is now leaving most of the town under water.
A gorgeous fall tree by the park in London Mills
Such a cute little town. Hopefully the water will go down soon and the residents will be able to return.

In other news - I recently got a few new items for the porch - here are a couple of them:
The Produce box planters I got from a Joss and Main sale, and I picked up the herb pot at Shop Ko in Monmouth last night! I can't wait to create my summer porch this year when it gets a little nicer out. We'll most likely be making a trip or two to Lowe's soon to pick up some flowers and plants. One of my favorite times of year! I really hope the weather gets nicer soon! One good thing about the rain - Our grass is looking much more lush and green now. ;)

Friday, April 19, 2013

Structural Issues

It's official. We have a very leaky roof on our hands. And water in our basement. And a flooded yard. It's been raining like crazy this week in Illinois, leaving us with 2 feet of water in our basement, and a leaking ceiling in the back room. Last year was the hallway. (Hopefully that has been fixed, because it's all covered with new insulation, plastic, and drywall now.) Oh, the perks of living in an old house.
Our backyard yesterday morning!
Trent and I have pretty much decided we need to dedicate our summer home improvement projects to fixing structural issues. These are some of the things on our to-do list for the next year or so, in the major home improvement project category:

1. Find companies that fix foundations.
2. Contact companies to come out and give us quotes.
3. Raise the living room and hallway slightly with floor jacks.
4. Get the foundation fixed.
5. Pour concrete in the basement.
6. Buy a sump pump with a float.
7. Gut the back room and back porch.
8. Somehow get the slope on the back room (behind the kitchen) raised, so that rain can fall down easier, and raise the ceiling of the back porch at the same time.
9. Finish the hallway.
10. Put new roofing on.

Whew, that is quite the list.....And not the most fun renovation projects in my book. All I'm seeing are headaches and dollar signs...Not that all of these items will get done this year or anything. I'm just looking forward to the day when the only work that needs to be done is cosmetic and decor-related :) Maybe a nice new home would fix that issue? Ha.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Repurposing a Cigar Box

Thought I would share a little storage/decor tip today. It may not be a traditional part of a home, but a cigar box is surprisingly useful. Especially when it comes to storage solutions. I feel like it adds some character, and a vintagey-rustic vibe to a space, too. Gotta love some good old function and form. 

A little while back, we found this cigar box at an antique store:


And surprise! It stores all of our remote controls!
I think I might have gotten the idea from Pinterest (In fact it may have been one of the first things I ever pinned.) I left it unpainted though - I've seen some who have painted the outside. We prefer the worn, aged look. 

However, I did line the inside with some scrapbook paper:
It's a nice little surprise when you open it up, and it's nice and bright and fun, but yet still vintage-y.


It's worked great for us so far. We don't always store the remotes in there when it's just us at home, but when we are expecting guests over, it's nice to just stash them away so there's not as much clutter lying around! Plus, it has an owl on it...and it's no secret I kind of have a thing for owls. (bonus-woot!)


Linked up to: House of HepworthsMy Repurposed Life, The Shabby Creek CottageLiz Marie BlogTatertots & JelloSuburbs Mama, and The Girl Creative.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Some Thoughts...

Crazy how life throws curve balls sometimes. Saturday around noon, we got word that Trent's cousin's son Tyson had been in a bad car accident and was in critical condition. He passed away that afternoon. He was 18 years old and a high school senior in Galesburg, Illinois...RIP Tyson - you have many family members and friends who love you.

Then the bombings in Boston on Monday. Someone had the brilliant idea to wreak havoc on hundreds of peoples' lives and kill others for no reason! What's wrong with some people? May God be with the families and friends of the Boston Marathon bombing victims...if only there were a little more peace and less meaningless violence in this world.


Trent's family came down for the visitation and funeral. We welcomed our home to Trent's cousin Aaron, and we tried the best we could to get the guest room clean enough for someone to walk through and sleep on the bed. We have lots of work to do up there!

Ending this post on a hopeful note....that spring will finally be here to stay for us in Illinois and happiness for all will spring up along with it :)

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Cake Decorating Fun

I decorated my cake on Sunday! And it turned out amazing! It was really simple to do, too. It took me well under an hour, clean up included.


I've been wanting to decorate a cake for a while just for fun. There aren't any special occasions coming up for me or anything! (Although Trent's birthday is a week or two away...hmmm lol) So the other day, when I was getting groceries, there were some angel food cakes on special, so I decided to pick one up. 

I picked up some frosting and sprinkles to decorate the cake with, and I had some cookie frosting already on hand that needed to be used up, too.
The frosting I used was called Frosting Creations by Duncan Hines. You just get a can of the Frosting Starter, and then they have little packets you add to it depending on what color or flavor you want the frosting to be! I got a packet of Strawberry Shortcake flavoring. You just create an opening in the frosting, and dump the flavor packet in.
Then you stir it and mix it in, and voila! Pink Strawberry frosting! (It was yummy, too!)

Since I don't have a fancy cake stand, I just used one of the nice plates in my hutch that I got from my grandma!

I used a large plastic ziplock bag to set the cake on so it eliminated any messes and my plate stayed clean. (When I was finished, I just used a spatula to slide the bag back out from underneath, leaving the cake sitting pretty on the plate.)


I spread the frosting on my cake using both a regular knife and a spatula to smooth it out. I didn't care if it was perfect, just that the whole cake was covered....


Once it was all covered I cut up some strawberries....

And added chocolate sprinkles everywhere, and some dabs of the cookie frosting on top.

Then finished it off with the strawberries around the edges.



And that was my simple Sunday cake decorating adventure! I was left with a yummy Angel Food cake with strawberry shortcake frosting and chocolate sprinkles!


It was delicious, too! :)


Linked up to House of Hepworths blog

Monday, April 15, 2013

Chalkin' It Up!

Chalkboard labels. Yep, I found some in the Dollar spot at Target the other day. I was so excited! I picked up two packages. There's 16 labels in each one. That's plenty, don't you think?

Since we don't have an organized pantry in our kitchen yet (yes, we need to get on that), I couldn't create one of those Pinterest-worthy amazing pantries with all of the labeled storage jars of goodies (see here, here, and here to see what I mean).... But, I did have some storage jars on the kitchen counter filled with everyday items like cereal, cookies, and pasta. Sooo...I stuck my chalkboard labels on them!





It was love at first sight! So pretty and organized. And I've only used 6 of my labels. THANK YOU TARGET for having $1 packages of chalkboard labels. I love you. The End.

Linked up to: House of HepworthsThe Shabby Creek Cottage, A Bowl Full of Lemons, and Tatertots & Jello.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Some Home Decor Loves

Happy Sunday! So glad I have a day to just relax today. Even though I'm planning on doing some spring cleaning and organizing! We've had a pretty busy weekend so far - went out for dinner with my sister on Friday then had some wine at a little wine shop in Monmouth, then got to see her new apartment. Yesterday we had to run some errands in the cities, then shopped for a little while. I didn't get much, but I did get to go to TJ Maxx which I haven't been to in a while! I LOVE that store. Saw lots of cute things there. I ended up getting a new planter for the porch and a new rug for the bathroom that is super cute!

Seeing all of the cute home decor items in TJ Maxx made me wish I could pick up a few more decor items I've been wanting. But I'm trying to stop impulse buying for a while, since we have to save up for getting our foundation fixed this summer, which probably won't be cheap. And there's a million other things on our house to-do list I would love to get done this year, too. But that's another post!

Anyway, today I'm sharing a few decor items I've been loving lately. Here they are:

1. Baskets - Particularly large ones, and I'm loving the dipped baskets (I saw one at TJ Maxx yesterday, and it would be pretty easy to DIY one), and the Smith & Hawken baskets with the little chalkboard labels at Target.
(from here and here)

2. Apothecary jars - I just got the idea the other night when we went to the wine shop to fill apothecary jars with wine corks. Boom. Instant warm, inviting decor. I also think it would be fun to use seashells for a more beachy vibe. I saw some at TJ Maxx, but didn't get any since I am not sure where I would put them in our tiny little house. (Need. More. Space.)

(from here and here)

3. Terrariums - I'd love to DIY a little terrarium and set it on one of my bookcases. West Elm gives you some tips here on making one, too. Awesomesauce.
(from here and here)

4. Milk glass vases - I have never really been into the milk glass look until recently for some reason. Maybe because I saw how pretty pink peonies can look in some white milk glass? Ooh la la!
(from here, here, and here)

5. Cake stands - I aspire to decorate cakes. In fact, I just bought a little angel food cake on sale at Wal-Mart that I plan on decorating today for fun. :) And I'd like a pretty yet versatile cake stand to set them on. Is that too much to ask? (P.S. I love that beehive one from West Elm! So freakin adorable.)

(from here, here, and here)

That's all for today! Hopefully I can get some more cleaning done around the house while Trent is at work. Have a great day everyone!

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