♥ It's That Time of Year! ♥

It must not take much to get this country girl excited!  Strolling down one of the main aisles at our Walmart today, I saw a big beautiful display of Glade fall room sprays!  I tell you I think my heart skipped a beat!  I LOVE this stuff!  Last year someone (a blogger) got me hooked on it.  Last fall I was crazy about Maple Pumpkin.  I also liked the Nutcracker Crunch for a cozy winter scent.

This year there were four fall scents......and I picked up two of the four......Toasted Marshmallow & Orchard Apple Cinnamon.  I hate making decisions so I must have looked funny standing there in Walmart, "air testing" them trying to make up my mind which ones I would take home today.  :)  Luke helped me out a little!  His favorite was the Roasted Marshmallow.  :)

But you can bet the next time around in Walmart, I'll be bringing home the next two.....Fall Hayride and Pumpkin Spice!

Fall is my very favorite time of year anyway and there's something so cozy about filling up my home with these aromas!  Isn't it funny how a smell can be cozy?

So now go on and get you one, or two, or three, or four.....but be sure and leave me some!  :)

♥ Lovely Porches ♥

I love porches.  To me, porches give a home an instant cozy and welcoming element.

There are memories made on porches.......in days gone by especially.  In those days when times were simpler and folks weren't on the go constantly running their children to extracurricular activities, they would gravitate to the porch in their rockers, swings, or benches, and watch the kids play in the yard during the day or catch fireflies after dark, while they enjoyed simple conversations ,sipping their lemonade or coffee.  Porches were actually just an extension of their living space.  Families LIVED a great deal of their lives on porches.

I love the appeal of porches.  Every house I could or have ever dreamed of living in or imagined in my life has ALWAYS had a porch.  And I admit that I will slow down and take a closer look at porches when I drive by them.....whether they be large meandering wrap-arounds or cozy small ones......they all draw me in!

Wanna take a stroll with me today as I stop by and visit some pretty and inviting porches?  We can imagine who lives there and what it would be like to visit for awhile on these cozy welcoming porches!

Okay, let's go......

I just love that last one!  Whoever lives there would have a hard time getting me to leave!

And mine seems so simple compared to some of these, but I worked with what I have.  :)  Here's our front porch this summer.....

Thanks for taking a stroll with me today.  I hope you enjoyed the porch tour! I bet you had a favorite that you could imagine yourself on right about now!  :)

Take time to grab you a cool glass of lemonade or a cup of coffee in the morning and enjoy YOUR porch.  Enjoy the simple moments!

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Handyman in Training ♥

Our Luke is definitely an outdoor kid.  He loves playing in the sandbox, digging in the dirt, hauling stuff, building stuff, riding bikes.....anything that has to do with outside.  And even when he's inside, he's still building constantly.

And he loves to help....always asking, "Can I help?"    So I figure we better train him well so one day he will be a handyman like his daddy.   His future wife will be most thankful I'm sure.  :)

Pop gave him water and a brush to practice his painting skills first.....

Then he helped me paint the deck some....... and he wasn't too bad at it either.

Learning to handle the tiller.....

He handles this mower like a pro....My daddy (Pop) taught him.  He's pretty proud of him I think.....of how fast he caught on...especially for the type of mower it is.  Pop set up cones for him to maneuver around and everything.  Lol!   I venture to say he could mow our lawn by the time he's 8!

And he loves to help water stuff....but what boy doesn't love handling a water hose?  :)

It takes more time to stop and allow him to help and show him how to do something, but it is so worth the smile of satisfaction on his face and knowing that we're training him for the future....hopefully a wonderful handyman one day  :)

Wild hair man....that's what hard work does!  :)  

Thanks for stopping by today!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Painting Progress ♥

Remember me posting a picture of me painting the deck with a roller around Memorial Day?  Well, with the exception of one weekend, we have been working every weekend of June and some week nights when we could.  It's been a project that was attacked by Jason, my daddy, and me.  This was all done with a roller and sometimes a brush where needed......TWO COATS!

Here's a before glimpse, so you can see the transformation:  (And please excuse the clutter and plastic lying around...it's still in working mode.)

BEFORE:

And now!  AFTER:

We used the color we have on our outbuilding/shed.  It's the closest we could get to the cedar color we like in a stain, since this is a paint.  It is called Ginger Spice by Olympic.

We're still working on the rest of The Cedar Loft/Garage area.

And when we're done with this?  Well then it's time to do the house!  But this time, it will be with a sprayer where possible!  Do you hear me shouting "Praise the Lord"?  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a wonderful day!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥  

♥ Collecting for Decorating ♥

Oh to be able to just go on a shopping spree to get everything at one time that I need to decorate a room.....what a luxury that would be!  :)  But then I guess part of the fun is the hunt for that special thing..........which also gives me time to afford each one. 

I've been slowly collecting things to decorate the bedroom that we just worked on remodeling in March and April.

Everything I've gotten so far has come from thrift stores and flea markets/antique malls except for the twiggy star, which came from Etsy. 

Found this ladder at the Antique Gallery too.  :)

I've still got a few things in mind that I'm waiting on and something I want Jason to make for me for that room.

I'll be excited to share the decorated room when I'm finished with the collecting (just a little more) and the decorating!

And I'm so behind on my blog visiting...please don't give up on me if you haven't seen me around lately....I'll be by soon! 

Thank YOU so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ Summer is Here! ♥

I thought I'd better pop in here and let you know that I haven't abandoned my blog!  I'm here!

My nephew and his wife (Trey & Shauna) are here for a week, so we've been busy.

But to catch you up on a few things.......

Our mini vacation turned into a stay-cation, which turned into work around here....imagine that!

What was supposed to be a spray-the-deck-and-be-done-in-a-day didn't work out that way.  But does it ever work out like planned?  Nope.....we're having to roll it all on....the entire BIG deck!  And not just one coat....but two!  So needless to say, we're not even close to being done.   Why do we start one project before we are finished with another?  :)

But the kids are enjoying the pool in spite of the deck painting. 

Alot of swimming has been going on around here.  We got the pool opened and ready last Friday and the kids swam in 66 degree weather.  Not this girl.

We've had friends over.....

School is over for awhile....and we celebrated because Algebra 1 is finished (and we're trying not to think about Geometry and Algebra 2).

Oh and Joy and I got new genuine cowgirl boots......we've wanted some for so long!

And Mr. Luke has been practicing his casting skills getting ready for fishing......which he has been talking about doing for some time now!  :)

The next few days will be busy as we have a trip to the zoo planned, a homeschool book sale, and a wedding, but I'll be back as soon as I can!

Thanks for stopping by!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Little Work Outside ♥

While we have plans to do much more, we've barely scratched the surface of our to-do list outdoors. 

We did create a new landscaped area and planted strawberries there.  It looks pretty and is close by so I can keep a watch on them because have lots of little rabbits hopping around here, and I'm pretty sure they'll like nibbling on those.

Jason and Luke planted potatoes and Luke loves helping tend to them!

We're really hoping this little nippy weather that moved in doesn't hurt any of our plantings so far!  We still have plans to at least plant tomatoes, onions, and squash as well. 

Oh, and this little project was purely cosmetic.  :)  I've wanted something along the sidewalk that leads from the carport into the sunporch.  We've gotten this far with the stones and dirt.  Got to get this project finished up next weekend hopefully!

Always something to do.......but always so worth it in the end!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Beware of Snakes

Luckily neither of my boys have ever asked for a pet snake. I have to admit that I've always worried that day might come.   Colt would be the one looking for a snake, but only to shoot.  And Luke is probably just as scared of them as Joy and me.  This is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned  :)

This is the sign I found in the yard the other day designed and placed by Luke. 

That's my boy!  :)

Luckily, we haven't run cross any snakes yet this year in our yard yet.  But then, the chances are pretty good that we will........that's just part of country living. 

Have a great weekend!  :)

♥ Update on Bedroom Makeover ♥

When we start a new project around here, it seems like something always slows us down, but I guess that's pretty much the normal for everyone.  Also, we should have learned by now to only have one project going at a time.  But it seems we haven't learned that lesson yet!  In the midst of this, we have been doing some projects outside as well, or at least starting on them. 

But........the bedroom is painted.  The floors are down.  The trim is stained and back up.  The furniture has been moved into place.

Now it's time for the fun part......decorating!  The furniture was inherited from Jason's dad.  See the brass hardware?  It's getting a makeover.  I also just purchased bedding yesterday.  It was meant to be.  :)  I'll have to tell you more about that when the bedroom is all put together. 

So there's still work to be done, but this part is the part I really enioy!   :)

Have a great weekend! 

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ A Little Progress ♥

Before we got too sick around here, and mostly because of Jason's hard work in one particular day, we made a little progress on the bedroom makeover.

The wallpaper border was tough getting down, in spite of the fabric softener trick.

The entertainment center was torn out.  Jason plans to reuse the wood to make me a cupboard for The Cedar Loft.

Repairs were made to the walls.

The flooring is stacked and awaits us on the sunporch. We got a great deal, so we got enough to do the master bedroom too.  Guess that will be the next room on the makeover list!

Actually, the painting is done, but that will be for another post.  Here you can see what the paint swatch looks like with the laminate flooring.  I took one with the flash and one without.  It's so hard to capture that true color.  It reminds me of a gray/green.

We hoped to be done by now, but then we didn't plan on the flu hitting our house.  I'm happy to have as much done as we do.   Hopefully this weekend, we'll get that flooring done!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our bedroom remodel adventure!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥