Before and After Remodeling Projects

I wanted to do a post about the huge remodeling project we did in the spring of 2008. But then I got a little nostalgic and decided to share some of our many projects, a.k.a. "wild hairs", that we have had over the years. Our poor house has taken the abuse of a bunch of complete amateurs and is still standing. God bless her.
This is a picture of our back patio "before", with its awful, two-tiered wooden deck that everyone was afraid to walk across because of the likelihood of getting a foot full of splinters. It was surrounded by the fastest growing bushes in Ohio that were impossible to stay on top of.

This is our patterned paver patio "after" (say that 3 times fast). Yes, we did this all by ourselves. Our daughter, yes, I said daughter (the fighter), moved 20 TONS of gravel from the driveway around to the back of the house. This whole project took about 1 month from the time we started ripping out the deck and bushes.

This is one of the very first projects I attempted on my own. I couldn't take this kitchen anymore. You can understand why.

This is what happened after I got my hands on some molding, paint and black tiles.

This was a project of mine and my daughter's in 2007. We were bored.

This is the family room now. At first, I felt like I was in a sports bar. But now I like it. I'm still trying to figure out how to hide those cords. But I like the addditional space in the room after moving out that huge tv armoire.

This was the front of our house a few years ago. The metal door was being rusted through at the bottom because of the northern exposure. It was getting pelted by all this lovely Ohio weather.

This is the front of our house now. I did a fantastic job, didn't I? JUST KIDDING! This is a homearama house...lol.

This is our house after the new front door and portico. It may not be the homearama house, but everyone is welcome!

A Lovely Award

I recently received a new award from a dear lady. Michelle from Tales from the Lunchroom gave me this award. She is really funny. She works in the lunchroom at her kids' school. I love funny blogs. If you do, you should go and have a look.
So on with the award. The rules (I hate award rules) for this award are:
Link the person who gave you the award.
Select seven bloggers to pass the award to.
Here are mine:
Tara at Too Much Information

Sarah at Holden Happenings
Heather at The Loper House
Heath at The Way I See It

Andrea at Under a Blue Moon

Melissa at A Little Loveliness

A Beach Cottage

A Little Post for Tara

If you read Tara's post today about Dum Dums, you will understand this post. This is a picture of one of the very first pennies minted in the United States, by Benjamin Franklin. On the bottom it says, "Mind Your Business". I think our forefathers were onto something, don't you? I would love to have a bunch of these made to keep in my pocket and hand them out to people like the lady you met in the waiting room who insist you answer their questions that they had no business asking in the first place.

There is a famous quote by Ann Landers, "Make someone happy today, mind your own business." Words to live by.

Thrift Store Thursday

Here are some of the great treasures I found when I was thrift store hopping today. It was a good day. I got a lot of loot.

I know the scarf is from Charter Club, but I don't care. Its adorable. And only $2.99.

This is my most favorite thing. This floral compote was only $3.00.

My second favorite are these three teacups with matching biscuit plates. This was a very lucky find. The teacups were on the top shelf at .29 a piece. Then I found the five plates taped together for $2.99 a few steps further on the bottom shelf. "Fortuitous" for all you Tombstone fans.

Yes, my last name begins with a "W". How cool is that? These were the most expensive items at 2 for $4.99.

Our Insanity Knows No Bounds

My daughter and I have been such insane fans of the movie Tombstone for so many years that last summer we got these tattoos on our ankles. If you have seen the movie, this needs no explanation. My ankle is the one on the right with all the spider veins.

He Made Me Bracelets

I found these cute little metal saying doodads in the craft store, so I got them and asked the husband if he would make me some bracelets out of them. Aren't they cute?

My Daughter Fighting

I thought all you ladies out there would enjoy a mosaic of my daughter training. That's right, I said my daughter. She trains at the ultimate fighting gym here in West Chester that is owned by Jorge Gurgel. Isn't she a bad mamma jamma? She wants to train for awhile longer before she competes. I can't wait! There will be a lot of pics on this blog when she does finally fight for real! Oh, by the way, for about $85 a month, you too can wrap your arms and legs around a hunky guy with cauliflower ears.

A Purse Full of Chocolate

I just spilled a mocha latte into my purse. The worst part is that I was standing in the garage dumping the entire thing down my leg and didn't even realize it. It was raining outside and I just thought it was raining on my leg. Y ou know how Judge Judy says, "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining?" I guess you can, however, pour chocolate coffee down your own leg and tell your own self it's raining. I really like this huge Guess bag, too. Oh well, I'm going to carry it anyway. When people walk past me in the mall they can just wonder where that delicious chocolatey fragrance is coming from. Instead of Chanel #5, I'm wearing Caribou #4. Ooh la la!

Did I Over Decorate?

With all this dreary, gray, Ohio weather, I was longing for the beach and trying to figure out a way to get back down there. Unable to come up with any solutions for the immediate future, I decided to bring a little of that atmosphere up here. The spare bedroom could be a safe venue for my experimentation.....Wa ha ha ha ha!

Emily thought I had "over-decorated" so I removed a few things. Hmm...maybe I should put them back.