Hittin' The Road

Well you gotta have a plan!  Our trip will begin several, and I mean several, years from now.  But we are beginning the planning stages and that includes where we will go.  Shaun wants to head West.  I think it's a great start.  Today I bought a big map of the United States at Staples for $5.95.  I also bought some map pins to mark stops on our route.  Now whenever we watch a show on NPT about a National Park or sights to see we can trot ourselves into the other room and mark it on our calendar.  I also, after the suggestion from others, am going to keep a journal on what each point entails or what we want to see there. 

Even though our plan won't come to life for a long time, it's a plan and it feels good.

Small Business Saturday

Yesterday, my sister and I decided to venture out to support Small Business Saturday.  We were mainly in search of holiday decorating inspiration.  It seemed that not many businesses had Christmas decorations out, at least the shops that we visited.  But we did happen upon an area or two that were new to ours eyes.  Places that supported local artists and places, like antique stores, that showed small businesses inside of non-chain businesses.  All in all we had a great sunny day of shopping in Nashville. 

I like going to places that leave a lasting imprint of the day well in to the next day.  That's what I picked up when we visited the Shoppes on Fatherland in East Nashville.  An area that was drowning several years back that has been revamped into a thriving area.  The houses are beautiful and the shopping is just plain neato.  There are also other shops on Woodland, one of which is one of my new favorite antique shops.  We hadn't started in this area of town first but if we had we may not have gone much further.

Support local shops any time!  Not just on Small Business Saturday.

***And here comes the sad part.  Apparently, after blogging for three years here, I have reached some sort of storage limit for photos.  So until I decide what I am going to do, e.i. stop blogging or purchase storage so that you and I both can enjoy pictures that I take accompanying my blog posts, I will be posting a link to my flickr account so you can look at pictures.  This sucks.  I love sharing what I am doing but I don't make money at it so there is no support to pay for the info I share here.  Not that it is a ton of money to purchase space but what's the sense if it only amuses me?

Please let me know what you think. 

I have thought of including a paypal button to the side incase anyone wants to donate.  But alas, for me, everything comes with a price eventually.  I do so want to keep sharing with you. 

Here's where they are for now.  Sorry! :(

 

**Update: this is my sister and she is very happy that I upgraded so I could share pictures on this here blog.  I hope you are too.  If you are ever feeling friendly and would like to support my efforts here, you can donate using the button on the right. 

 

I have considered and probably will go with using advertisments on my blog but I promise they will be a select few and more than likely will be from sites that I already have an interest in.

 

If you would like to talk to me about advertising your local business or online business on my blog please shoot me an email.  I'm not the biggest blog out there by any means but I do generate quite a bit of traffic here from friends and family that could definately benefit your business as well.

A Quick Kiddo Thanksgiving Craft

Here is a pretty quick Thanksgiving turkey craft that kiddos, along with adult help, can make to play with or use in decorations.  The supplies needed are minimal.  Construction paper in brown, black, yellow, orange and red, scissors, glue and a popsicle stick.  Oh and a kid hand to trace!

Ahead of time, cut out a brown circle using a drinking glass to trace unless you can draw a good circle.  In that case, go for it.  Cut out two small circles from the black paper for eyes and a triangle from the yellow or orange paper for the beak.  If your kids are old enough to use scissors then they can do it. 

Next have the kids trace their hands on the red, yellow or orange paper and cut it out.  Glue the brown circle on to the palm of the cut out hand, then glue the eyes and beak to the front of the circle.  Use the liquid glue to affix the popsicle stick on to the back of the turkey and allow it to dry.

Your turkeys are ready for a Thanksgiving puppet show or to be place in arrangements or napkin rings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was the only book I could get at the library for Thanksgiving!  And I was happy to get it!

The Dirty Dirty - Part 2

It has literally taken me four weeks to post this.  I have had to come to terms with how awful the before pictures look of this room.  Plus it wasn't completely finished until yesterday when I gave the chair a face lift. 

You are about to see before and after pictures of my "Craft Room".  There is really no excuse for just throwing any and everything into a space  but truthfully I have had a craft room that I treated this way in the last two houses I have lived in.  Which changed their name to "Crap Room".  I honestly had a  mental plan that I would be uprooted from the space one day.   That it would be someone else's room.  Since that isn't going to happen, I decided to give the room meaning.  To sort of embrace the space and call it mine.  Only after three years of treating it like a crap room! 

So here are the before and after pictures of the room. Brace yourself.

A disaster area.  I would make a joke about it when people would come over.  Now I can't believe I showed it to anyone.  The trash bags didn't have actual trash in them.  They were summer sheets and something I drug home. 

I got rid of the wooden file cabinet and the side table housing my old printer.  I threw things away, moved the movie shelf in to the closet and put some things in the attic and other things back where they belong. 

My sister gave me two barn wood shelves (and helped me all day) that her husband made.  I kept the sewing table and chair.  I kept the desk for now although it is empty and ready to go whenever I decide to get a drawing table.  I moved one chair in from the living room.  My sister also helped (a ton) make drapes for the windows.  I plan on finding a rug to go in the middle of the room sometime.

So are you ready to see the result? 

WaaLaa!  I would make a tutorial on the chair redo but I seriously think I broke every upholstery recovering rule that there is.  Then again it would go to show you that everything doesn't have to be perfect when it's yours.  To look at it you would never know.  It can be removed when I am tired of it.  I covered it in a waffle fabric I have had for a long time. 

And there's the Dirty Dirty part two.  I have other areas that are in need of cleaning out.  None that look as bad as this I promise.  I swear I am not a hoarder.  I am busy body with a lazy streak.  That's what we will call it.  I don't put things back where they belong.  So if I can teach myself to do that my life will be a lot simpler!