Father's Day

I know, I know, I'm a day late, but ON Father's Day, I was with the father of my children. :) Good excuse, eh? I still want to honor this man with whom I have the pleasure of co-parenting, so here is a collection of my favorite Daddy shots.

J & Daddy nose to nose on Father's Day 2010

Daddy & J2 all dressed up at church, May 2010

Family snapshot in May 2010 ~ Daddy & his boys, January 2010

Daddy & J2 cheek to cheek, December 2009 ~ Story time with Daddy, December 2009

One of our first family snapshots, October 2007

 3 Generations in July 2007! ~ Daddy & J, September 2007

A big Happy Father's Day to my Dad too! 

My Dad and me, October 1975

Here we are, 30 years later getting ready to walk down the aisle at my wedding!

I hope you had a fantastic Father's Day with the special fathers in your life!

~ Ellie

Prettying Up the Place

I know many of you have been blogging for years, but the whole blogosphere thing is a recent addiction hobby of mine. One of the first blogs I started following was Donna's Funky Junk Interiors. I was amazed at how Donna can take something completely ordinary and change it into something really cool! I don't think she would be offended if I said that sometimes the "ordinary" is quite junky! If you haven't been to her blog, check it out! I love her little home office out of an entertainment center, her mattress springs as a memo display, the shutters and gates throughout her house and a certain window decoration.


That I copied. Shamelessly. 


It's flattering, right? When other people take your ideas and use them in their own way in their own spaces? I know I love it when someone says that something I did was just what they were looking for and they want to do it too! Right?!


Besides, Funky Junk Interiors is one of those professional seeming blogs. She's just so polished and experienced and all of her projects are so cool! Not to mention the amazing photography! Please, do yourself a favor and read the entire post at FJI.


Case in point: Donna's window treatment. 

Photo from Funky Junk Interiors

Here's my window before:

Bare window and eye-sore of a stud!

Yeah, we took out a partial wall to give our table enough room in the kitchen. That's another story for another time! But the weird thing to the left of the window is a stud partially sticking out of the wall. I painted it the wall color and put that little stained glass piece on top to hide a hole. Yeah, I know, it still looks dumb!


Enter Donna's window treatment above, adapted to my taste and what I had on hand. 

Prettied-Up Window

I love it! It works to conceal that sticky-outy stud, and it pretties up the window! I didn't have a drop cloth laying around, and at first I tried folding over a tan sheet and using the clothes pins, cuz that's one of the elements I liked so much about Donna's curtain. But it just. didn't. work. Then I remembered these lacy curtains we inherited when we bought our last house. The hanger I used is the kind that unhooks at the bottom so you can slide dress pants onto it, so I threaded the curtain onto the bar. 

I threaded the curtain onto the hanger

After the whole set-up fell down a couple times (two little boys, remember?!), I tacked it up with a nail thru the hook at the end of the hanger. 

MUCH better now!

Do you see another reason why this works for us? We don't exactly have the need for privacy here! That's an advantage I love about living in the cornfields country!


Thanks, Donna, for the inspiration on how to think outside the curtain rod!


Linked to





~ Ellie

Storms & Crafts & Walkers, Oh My!

We had to hide in the basement during two different storms today. 

Great picture of the garden, by the way! Those black parts dipping down are when the storms get scary!

I hate that! I'm learning to like a good thunderstorm, but when these HUGE BLACK fronts roll in and you can hear the thunder when they're still miles away and you're out in the cornfields by yourself (our house, not me personally) and can see these things coming for hours... 

Looking west from our house. This storm was coming FAST! (Hello, neighbors!)

Well, it gets intimidating. We don't have a TV (hooked up) and I find anything online to be out-of-date by the time it gets there. Same with the weather radio. It alerts us in the middle of the night for random things a few counties away and doesn't alert us to scary-looking storms until they're on top of us. And when it does, it's like, "Ooooh, scary thunderstorm with high winds and rain. Chance that it might be severe. Go inside and shiver in your basement until it passes." Well, thanks. I can see that much!! 

The view north. Again, great shot of the garden. Where were these pictures for my post earlier this week? I might have to edit it to add them.

My husband took the pictures as he was home for the second storm. They don't bother me nearly as much when he's here! After we came out of hiding and finished supper, we headed outside to see what everything looked like. There was some flooding of one of the roads (dirt) and the fields to the east of us! This is how much rain came down in less than 45 minutes! 

Flooding in the drainage ditch. The water was flowing over the road!

Pretty crazy, huh? Can I move, please?

Anyway, I finally took the time this week to do a craft with my 3-year-old that he got from his Grandma for his birthday a few weeks ago. 

My little artist. 

It's a birdhouse kit! J got to paint everything by himself! 

Isn't he a cutie?!!

Then we let everything dry.

The next day we put it together.

Everything is better when you use tools!

All done!

He's smiling for the camera, can't you tell?

Little brother approves!

I'm feeling so left out!!!

Meanwhile, I made a card for my Grandpa. I know there are people out there that really make cards, but what I really wanted was a simple card with a little homemade touch. So I found an old blank card (I think it's a leftover Christmas card from eons ago that my Mom gave me. Thanks Mom! No, I'm not a hoarder!!!) and gathered my dollar store supplies.

Textured tissue paper in fun colors, fabric-looking ABC stickers and a blank old card.

I cut a piece of textured tissue paper to size and glued it to the front of the card, then put on the letters to spell "Grandpa". I thought the glue would disappear when it dried. It didn't. I'm glad I put it on in a somewhat logical pattern, cuz I can pretend it was intentional! Polka dots!

Easy card with accidental intentional polka dots!

You want to know a secret? I don't have the before pictures handy to prove it, but that card is on my kitchen counter. Which is covered in contact paper! *gasp* I totally wasn't planning to go into it in this post, but our house was built in the 60s and had only 1 owner before us, yet you could not imagine the layers of filth we cleaned to make it livable. The counters were pink with sparkles and the sparkles had worn off in spots and other spots were gray... Yeah. This is my just-get-me-thru-till-we-can-fix-it-right solution. And I love it!

Alrighty then, back to the topic at hand... Baby J is ALMOST walking! In fact, he took two steps a couple days ago and FOUR today, all by himself. Without holding on, of course--if he holds on he could (and does) walk around all day! 

Doesn't he look so proud?!

So there you have it. I'm watching the lightning outside, hoping another storm system is NOT on the way. Have a great weekend!


~Ellie

How Does Your Garden Grow?

There's nothing better than a delicious meal made from food you grew in your own garden. Not only are you assured of its freshness and quality, but you have the satisfaction of literally eating the fruit of your labor! I love to look at the supper table and realize most of the food came from our garden and we're paying pennies per serving for all this goodness! 


We have a huge garden. Seriously. Huge. See?

J1 gets to help Daddy till the garden!

Ok, you really can't see from that picture, so you'll have to trust me on this one. DH says it's about 90' x 100'!


Now would you believe me if I told you that I'm new to this gardening thing? Yeah. I am. I'm also new to the midwest. Four years ago I was living in Las Vegas, of all places. 

Paris Resort/Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas

Not that I have anything against Las Vegas--I loved living there and have dear friends who still live there, but how did someone from Las Vegas end up in the Midwest? Good question. But you're not getting the answer in this post! This post is about my garden, folks! I had houseplants that sorta stayed alive. And a couple patio plants that would live as long as I remembered to water them twice a day. 


Before that? California, baby! I claim California as my home state, but we didn't officially move there until I was 10. In California we had some landscaping that I helped to keep alive and healthy. I remember the occasional tomato plant and some chives. Before that? Washington state. And I do remember gardens there, but I was like 5! 

We added some flowers to our garden this year, but the ones in this picture belong to someone else!

So three years ago we had a small garden (cucumbers, zucchini, corn, peppers, potatoes...) on a church member's property. See? I can prove that I was trying to learn how to garden, even tho Baby #1 was only a few months old and my husband did 95% of the work!

Just to prove I actually was gardening!!!

Baby #1 with our sweet friend, Helen, age 90, whose property our first garden was on. Helen would watch J while he napped so I could garden. She passed away this spring at age 93 and I miss her!

Two years ago we didn't have a garden at all--we were in the process of moving out to the country (literally in the middle of the corn and soybean fields!). One of our dreams for this place was to have a huge garden. So... Spring of 2009 rolled around. 

• Plans? Check. 
• Seeds? Check. 
• Tiller? Check (big time garden, remember?).
• Experience? Husband's--check; mine--were you reading the above?
• Ambition? CHECK.
• Time on hand to keep up with the garden? Husband's--not much; most of the responsibility fell on me. And the list goes on! (I LOVE lists!!!! Thanks a lot, Mom!)
• Curious toddler? Check
• Gigantic 9-month belly due to impending birth of Baby #2? C.H.E.C.K.

This is actually the huge belly from Baby #1. Baby #2 was bigger, but it's late and I can't find that file!

We were planting the garden the day before Baby #2 was born. I think all that bending finally sent me into labor. The rest of that story is, once again, for another post!

Thanks to my DH and MIL, the rest of the garden got planted. It was a few weeks before I ventured out there and I had several things I still needed to plant. DH was working, so I would read online how to plant something. Quite a bit of it survived and thrived. (This is Iowa, after all. Kind of a given.) Some things didn't.

Why do weeds grow so much faster than vegetables?

We're still eating last year's potatoes, btw! 

This year's garden has much more potential. We're seasoned now! I actually know the difference between a weed and my long-awaited basil! We expanded our variety of plants and included things like homemade trellises, raised beds, and purposeful combination of plants! For instance, the tomatoes are interspersed with marigolds and garlic to keep nasty bugs away. We also used a special tractor attachment to plant the potatoes--genius! 

DH tills the garden.

Affectionately referred to as 'Black Gold' around here!

J1 intensely watching that tractor! See the gates leaning up against the barn? Yeah, those are now pea and cucumber trellises! My husband is amazing like that, thankyouverymuch!

Raised bed, one of 6 before we ran out of old fence planks. Each bed is 4' x 12'.

The most amusing part to me? The garden didn't get planted for a full MONTH later than it did last year. With no brand-new-baby excuse!

J2 is cuter than a bug's ear (what DOES that MEAN?!!!) and a year old.

Oh, I'm not trying to say I know a lot about gardens--I don't! I have SOOO much left to learn. But if I did it with no experience, a brand-new baby and a toddler last summer, you can do it too! So? Do you? I'd love to hear, How does your garden grow?

All pictures by ME with my trusty point-and-shoot. 

~ Ellie

Master Bedroom Switcheroo

I love our warm colored bedding, but with spring in the air I had to change it up.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I had all the bedding/curtains, so it was free to me!!! And now it looks like summer in our bedroom!

~ Ellie 

Nursery Tour

My baby is 13 months old, so it's been awhile since I redid his room, but this week I took his things out of big brother's room and back into the nursery.

See, a few months ago I found crib bedding on craigslist for an amazing price that matched my older son's room, so we jumped the gun and combined rooms. It was super-cute and I know I'll love it again when the time is right, but now is not that time! The boys would play and keep each other awake at night and they'd be awake again before 6 AM! I already had the baby sleeping in his pack 'n play (love that thing!!!) at nap time, so we decided to take the double bed out of his former room and claim that space for him again. It's only been a few days, but the boys are sleeping several hours longer each night and bed time is so much easier!

Here is how it looks from the doorway.

I love the warm brown! It's like a milk chocolate candy bar! The bookcase was in my room when I was little and the rocking chair was given to us by church friends. I'm currently looking for a cozy chair for the two of us to snuggle on.

One of my favorite things about this room is the window treatments.

I got the little Winnie the Pooh curtains at Target when my older son was born, but when we moved here I wanted something more substantial over the window. I asked my husband to screw small scraps of wood right into the studs above the window--one on each end and one in the middle. Then he screwed a long, thin piece of plywood into the scrap wood to make a shelf.

I took some dark brown corduroy fabric my MIL gave me and cut a length a little longer than the window was wide. I cut along the finished side, so I didn't even have to hem it! Then I took some old upholstery tacks and had an instant valance! I hung a regular curtain rod under the valance contraption--it doesn't match anything else, but no one sees it! The valance also hides the blinds. Right now I'm still using the cheap-o paper kind cuz they're SO effective at blocking out the light.

Here's another no-sew project:

This throw is just another scrap of fabric with ties on the unfinished sides.

This pillow is also no-sew!

I wrapped an old pillow in the new fabric, used fabric glue on the seam a tied up the other ends.

Here's the little guy's crib. It's a hand-me-down from a dear friend. It still has her son's teeth marks on it and he's 10 now! She also gave me some adorable Winnie the Pooh bedding which I like as a set, but with the mattress on the lowest setting and having a little guy that likes to climb on the bumper, I figured it's better to have a plain sheet! Oh, and a no-sew skirt!

This one I used sticky-backed velcro to attach the same free fabric to the crib. :)

I love how I hung Baby's name letters!

I got a stick from the backyard and used garden twine to hang the letters.

It's so much cuter when you can see the name, but in my commitment to privacy, you'll just have to use your imagination!

Moving on around the room... J2's closet got a mini-makeover too. My boys have SO many clothes and I buy virtually none of them. They are blessed to have cousins just older than them. Gotta love hand-me-downs!

Baby's changing station is on top of a dresser than I refinished during the loooong cooooold winter I was expecting him.

I got it from craigslist for $20 and spent hours sanding it. The staining didn't take very long and it matches all the other wood things in the room, but I'm not completely thrilled with how it turned out. Mostly my fault, cuz I dropped a drawer and the corner broke, so I thought I sand it down to make it round... and 2 drawers later decided to STOP cuz I hated it! I thought both drawers could go on top, but they didn't fit there, so to me it's ruined and mismatched! I've thought of building up the corners with wood filler, but ... Sigh.

Anyhow, I stained the unfinished peg/shelf from Michael's when I was expecting my older son. I love this Pooh picture frame with pictures of me and my husband as babies. Fun!

One more fun decoration is the series of Winnie the Pooh framed art series. Again, free to me! It was a gift from a friend at my older son's baby shower. I used thumb tacks to secure the ribbon. I'd still like to hang them from decorative knobs...

A new thing I did--inspired by blogworld--was apply some ORB spraypaint. Our house is old and needs some lovin' (PLEASE don't look at the flooring!! It's on our long list of projects!). The heater vents got a nice new look!

So did this picture frame.

Well, I think that's about it! We (and by WE, I mean Mr. G) put in a new light fixture and new switch plates--oh, the windows are new too! Hope you enjoyed the tour!


*Edited: I linked this to Angie's Window Party over at The Country Chic Cottage. Also linked to Feather Your Nest Thursday at Secret Garden Cottage.

~ Ellie