A Make-over and cleaning out my camera

We got the carpeting in my craft/t.v. room on Saturday. What a job! For us being first-time-carpet-layers, I have to say we did an awesome job! No pictures yet. Still working on getting things put back and arranged and I have to seriously sort through a LOT of my craft stuff. There is no way I can get it organized the way I want to with all the extra stuff I will probably never use. As soon as I get it all worked through and arranged the way I am happy with, I will get some new pictures. I probably shouldn’t show this. Totally embarrassing ! lol But this was the view from sitting at the computer in the dining room, looking into the living room-this was Saturday after we moved stuff out of the room.

It’s pretty dark, but yes, that is boxes and bins of craft stuff piled up- all the way through the living room and spilling into the dining room! The living room was totally piled with everything that came out of that room, including the loveseat, and we only had a path to walk through it. Looking at it, we just could not believe all the stuff. That room was NOT crowded at all! It’s amazing what a closet and cupboard can hold, I guess. And I do keep my bins of fabric and box of stuffing under my craft table. So that is the reason for wanting to ‘hoe out’ so much stuff. It was definitely a scary sight to see on Saturday. Thankfully we were able to get most of it at least moved back in the room by evening so we could use the living room again. Now I just have to get it all sorted and put away.

Calvin was a big help with the whole carpeting job. Brady helped some too, but I have been seeing ‘signs’ of Calvin finally starting to really mature at 14. He’s been a big help with several projects lately. Projects that before, he would only help with if he thought he would get something in return :-) Or if he DID actually want to help ‘just because’, he would lose interest after 2 hours and go find something else to do. He stuck it out all day long :-) He’s also been a HUGE help to Hubs with the outdoor thing they are working on. Without his size and strength, it would take much longer if Hubs had to do all that lifting on his own. Now if only he would be so eager to help me with the house cleaning! lol

Brady turned 13 on Monday.

…outdoorsy, sports-minded, MISCHEVIOUS, codename: Wrecking Ball, southpaw- but plays sports right handed...?, a bit sloppy sometimes( I think b/c he’s left handed -it literally took him YEARS to figure out how to spread peanut butter without getting it all over the knife handle and outside of the jar! lol), antagonizing, fun loving, a little airheaded sometimes, okay, a LOT, social, active, and used to be a serious cuddle bug…

Just a few things to describe him. He’s the middle child, and I think that some of those traits are some that a lot of middle children have. And some of the ones that sound ‘not so nice to say about him’…well, they can be true, but are also a part of being an older brother, a younger brother, a teenage son, and just part of being a kid in general :-)

I didn’t take a picture of Brady with the birthday cake we had, because the bakery only had flowered cakes. lol I found one with big blue daisies on the corners, and offered to smear them a bit and just put sprinkles on the corners, but he said he didn’t care as long as I took the plastic butterfly off :-) We will be having a bigger family party at my mom’s house on the 1st when my sister and her fiance can come up from Columbus.

Before I bore you to death with family stuff, I painted a cabinet the other day. It’s just an old pressboard one that we have had most of our married lives (15 years tomorrow!!!). I bought it to put in our living room when Calvin was a baby. I always kept the diapers and wipes in it when they were babies, so they were close at hand. I’m surprised it’s held up so well in all these years!

I had taken the original metal handle off at this point and replaced it with a wooden knob. You can still see that I still have a child lock on the inside of the door! lol I was going to take it off while I was painting it, but still haven’t done it. lol Well, a coat of primer and some paint and here it is now.

Not completely thrilled with the turnout. I wanted to age it with some stain, because it just looked so bright and standout after painting. It looks really ‘streaky’ in the pictures. It’s not so much in real life. I immediately wanted to repaint it, but I can live with it like this for now. It’s much better than it was, and I have bigger and better things to get to :-)

I was cleaning out my camera this morning and found a few good ‘nature’ shots from the past few days, that I would like to share.

The orchard is in full bloom and it’s beautiful! I’ll be heading out for a walk with scissors in hand to bring back some sweet smelling buds!

‘Girlfriend’, our springtime resident duck, came off her nest by the pond to gobble up a favorite treat. She was raised from a baby here, and has hatched a babies in the past, but only 3 that I can really remember, made it to adulthood-they stuck around for a few years, but finally left our pond in search of mates a few years ago. She has a mate that she disappears with every fall, but they have been returning every spring for her to lay a new nest. I know it’s her because she will come up to the house to get treats, but he will not. She has picked some not-so-great places to nest in the past and hasn’t had any survivors for a few years now. Hopefully with being so close to the pond this time, she will be more successful.

I saw this cute, fat, little butterball in the yard the other morning when I was heading out to work. I remembered I had my camera and jumped out of the van to take a few pics. He was just sitting there, fluffing his feathers and looking around. Looked like maybe the first time out of the nest.

I never see baby birds with color on them. Looks like a baby Cardinal by his bright coloring and the shape of his beak.

Cute as could be! I just wanted to pick him up and cuddle him! But I didn’t, and got back in the van and went to work, trying hard not to imagine that he would probably turn out to be a morning snack for our outdoor cat, Tarus. :-(

We saw a hawk sitting out in the middle of the front field a few days ago. I had to zoom in as far as my camera would go, and then crop it in closer to get a picture of him.

He was also enjoying a bit of prey, himself. Whatever he was standing on.

Lucky for him, but unfortunate for the other. That’s the circle of life, I guess.

The boys and Hubs have been hot on the trail of morels this past week.

Mmmm, mmm, good! We fried some on Sunday to have with dinner.

While the boys were out yesterday at one of the ‘secret morel spots’, they came upon a jenny, sitting on her nest right beside the mushrooms. Calvin came back to the house and got the camera.

He took a few pictures and then she got a little spooked. Then he got a pic of the nest. It turned out awesome!

He didn’t purposely blur out the foreground, but somehow he did. I LOVE this picture! So that is what a wild turkey egg looks like! If I ever came across an abandoned nest of these beauties, I would bring some back and try to blow them out to display!

And sweet Ganny-Gannon picked me some flowers on his way up the driveway after school yesterday :-)

After I saw the awesome picture Calvin took of the eggs, I had to mess with some settings on my camera to try to achieve the same effect. It worked on this picture.

I guess that’s it for now (like that wasn’t enough! lol). This post turned out more long-winded than I expected, but it is what it is. I have to get moving so I can get a walk in. I also have a few frames to stain so I can put a few new offers on my selling blog- hopefully tonight. They are Americana themed, in case you want to know ;-) I only have one order left to finish up, so it’s time to (hopefully) get a few new ones. While I was getting this typed up, I just had an idea for a new design, so I will have to work that one out too. I will be putting a Farmhouse Gatherings pillow on there next week too (an taking a few orders for them)- after I draw a winner for my giveaway (sign up in the post below this!), so be looking for that one if you are interested and didn’t win the giveaway.

Hope you enjoy your day!