January 21, 2010

I took this test that I found through http://www.jessicasprague.com/ on one of her blog posts and I thought I would share. You can find the test here: http://www.sproost.com/

My results really didn't come as any surprise to me, I mean come on I live in a log cabin in the woods. Granted both of those were my husbands idea, but I didn't balk much.

I thought maybe this site would give me some great ideas for our "new" bedroom once we get moved down there.

Anyway, here are the results I got:

Traditional Country

Even if your backyard isn't acres of farmland and you don't actually have a chicken coop, your house sure brings you back to a time when that was the case. You love spaces that feel casual and lived in. Furniture is practical and comfortable, and yet at the same time it's very stylish. The best part of country style is how much it highlights collection and found objects. Antiques here, garage sale finds there, Aunt Milly's hand-me-downs throughout. Unique items that used to serve very practical purposes are now on display, and their history seems to permeate the home. Each space in the home seems to invite friends and family to come in and stay a while. There is a true sense of home felt throughout.

Materials

When it comes to materials in Traditional Country homes, think rustic, warm and comfortable. Wood or natural tile floors, natural or painted wood tables and chairs, and natural materials on the soft furnishings. Stripes, plaids and florals are popular and often all are mixed in one room. Soft vintage leather and suede are common, and wrought and rusty iron also reinforce the rustic nature of the rooms. Large wood pieces of furniture are very common, and help manage storage throughout the home. Wallpaper is very popular and most often highlights floral patterns. For traditional country, the concept of minimalism is avoided at all costs. It's the collections that give the space character and reinforce the lived-in nature of the spaces.

Colors

For color, spaces can go either bright and airy or soft and muted. Think of the countryside in spring and summer with yellows, bright greens and blues. Or you can go for more of a fall country day, and go a bit darker but still stay in the earth tones. Dark browns, reds and greens. Either direction you go in, be it light or dark, the key is warmth. Traditional country rooms rarely, if ever, feel cold.

Well this all fits my entire house. The only bold color I have in my home now is in Josie's playroom and it is turquoise and lime green. With pink accents. I love this room and it makes me want to bring more color in.

Our new room has a beige color wall and instead of painting the whole thing, one because of the shelves around the top of the room, two because of money, I think I will be painting the bottom some shade of brown. I am thinking a chocolate color and then have accents of red in our room. And I'm talking RED, everything in my home is blue, burgundy, and green and I'm over it!!! I am slowly trying to redo things and have actually used some things I have to redo it. I also plan on crafting as much of it I can myself. With my new sewing machine and all! :-)
That's it for now!

January 18, 2010

Well unfortunately I do not get Martin Luther Kind day off. So I am here at work, doing nothing and twiddling my thumbs.
I've been trying to figure out something to start a business up on Etsy. I've wanted to do this for a while but after Josie was born I just didn't have the time. Now that she is a little older, she is allowing me to do some of my own things. Or it's easier to pacify her. I don't know which! :-)
Anyway, I was thinking either sewing some kind of things, but that one I'm new to so I don't' think that would be a wise decision until I get my sewing machine down pat. So then I thought about doing some miniature scrapbooks. Maybe like a theme scrapbook that a person would buy and then put their own pictures in. Which that one I am still leaning towards, because I love doing it and that I know I am good at. I would really enjoy it if I could figure out how to also do it digitally like I am doing with Josie's books to date. So much quicker. But I do really like the little theme albums.
Then I also thought about cupcakes! I absolutely love cupcakes. Give me a cupcake any day over a full cake. So I went to Barnes & Nobles not with this in mind at all. I had this idea several months ago but talked myself out of it. Knowing all the "food" rules with my Mom being a Unit Leader in the cafeteria for so many years. But then I ran across this book and it got me thinking about that again. I mean what is the difference between that and all of these wedding cake decoraters that do that in the house as well. Plus I don't' have any inside animals anymore, unless you count Mikey! :-) So why not?!
So I have convoed someone on Etsy about this and how to get started. So we'll wait and see. Now I just need to come up with a name but with cupcakes being my main store and the scrapbooks being a secondary item. Any suggestions?!

This weekend it had warmed up out so Mikey put Josie's coat on her and let her go out and run around the deck. Levi is loose and on the deck. Last fall she was scared of him if he got to close. But not now. Mikey knocked on the window for me to look and she was yelling at "Evi" to "itdown!". It was so cute. She looked so small standing next to Levi. She was doing really good with him, didn't mind him much and he didn't mind her either. But then he got in her face sniffing and done his snorting and that was all she wrote. Mike had to bring her in and she came crying to me "Mommy, Evi, (raspberries), Evi, (raspberries)" It was funny! But then about 10 minutes later she was back at yelling for him through the windows.
She is learning so much right now and I absolutely love it!!! We were playing this weekend and she was signing Ring around the Rosie, you can really understand the Ashes, Ashes part and the Fall Down part.
She is also playing with her Lego blocks and actually connecting them and stacking. Then when we were done and we were cleaning up, we sing the clean up song, because Kayla does that. And she has said Clean up for quite sometime, but while we were singing it, she also said Everybody. Stopped me in my tracks, and I asked Mike if he heard her. Which he didn't and she hasn't said it since.
Really is making me not want to be at work, because I don't want to miss anything she is doing and learning. But I know I have to be here. Sorry baby girl!!! :-(
Well that's it for now. I'm in the process of working on my photos so that should be coming up soon as a post.

01-15-10

Today is Granny Glodyne's birthday. Happy 79th Birthday Granny! We are going to her house tonight and Mom is making cheeseburgers and french fries. Sounds so yummy to me! I have been craving them.
I have decided I will not be getting a Flu Mist next year. I have been sick three times now already this winter. I am never sick. I didn't think much about the first two sicknesses because Josie was sick and I caught it from her. But this time only Mommy has the cold and I am trying my hardest to not give it to her. Her being sick is absolutely NO FUN!!! She won't let anyone else deal with her except for Mommy. Which I love that she is so dependent on me, but on the other hand it is also very tiring!
For her 2nd Christmas, it wasn't all that much fun. She got strep throat. I took her to the Dr on Tuesday morning the 22nd. They took a strep culture but said it was negative. The poor kid kept running a fever. I was switching Tylenol and Motrin trying to help her with her comfort level. She would do okay about an hour after you would give her one and then about an hour before it was time for her next dose, you could tell she was really uncomfortable and her temperature would get really high. Well the Dr's office called on Wednesday evening right before I left work and said that she did have strep. So off to Marsh I went to get her Amoxycillin. All Christmas this is what we dealt with. She didn't feel well enough to have much fun and no one could touch her except me.
I came down with it on late Saturday evening. I laid around all day Sunday and told Mike that if what I had was what she had I didn't blame her for being so grouchy! That was awful.
By New Year's we were all doing good.
Then she got to enjoy all of her new Christmas presents. She got a bounce house from Grandpa & Grandma Jones. That thing is huge and is taking up my kitchen and living room but she plays in it daily and really likes it. I have been trying to get a good picture of her in it but haven't succeeded yet.
She got a kitchen from Papa Doug and Mama Carole and we have "offee" daily. Along with pancakes. She really likes playing with it.
She got an American Girl stroller from Uncle Rick, Aunt Michelle, Riley and Kayla. The girls always fought over Kayla's at her house so Michelle got Josie her own. She is really getting into playing with her dolls. She will sing Rock a Bye to them. And now she even cradles them and bounces them around the house saying "shh shh". Just like Mommy does to her.
Mommy & Daddy got her a 4 wheeler. When we can get her on it, she likes it but she doesn't get on it much yet. I figure this spring she will have fun with it out on the decks.

Josie's actions and temperament right now at 17 months:

• She loves to color. And when she says color she rolls her "r". Sounds very redneckish.
• Is obsessed with Elmo, we have to tell her Elmo is sleeping. But now she is also getting into the other characters and when you tell her Elmo is sleeping, then she will say Big Bird, sleeping, Cookie, sleeping, Abby, sleeping, Grover, sleeping and lastly Zoe, sleeping. Then she gets off the subject for a few minutes.
• She is singing along with her cartoons now.
• She loves books. She will sit down in the floor open them up and just start babbling as if she is reading them. We took her to Barnes and Nobles on New Year's for the first time and she wanted her coat and hat off right then and just started going through the books. Made Mommy very happy because I love books.
• She is more about fruit than she is about chocolate. She was a sweets baby but now all she wants is fruit.
• She throws everything. Especially when you are getting on to her for something. That gets really annoying and I can't wait til she outgrows that one.
• When she knows she is going to "Aunt Chelle's", she will say "Iley" for Riley but she won't say anything about Kayla, so when you say what about Kayla she will say "Be Nice". Those two fight, take toys from one another and Josie pulls Kayla's hair. Mom says it is getting Michelle & I back for all the arguing we did.

I think I have us all caught up now.