public display of affection and Thanksgiving reflection

The last few days have not gone as planned...

but they were WONDERFUL!

We made a trip to Home Depot on Black Friday to get a new garbage disposer.

We left with the new high powered, quieter, bigger disposer

and a new stainless steel sink and new kitchen faucet.

My husband (who is not a plumber, electrician nor handyman with any significant skills)

removed the old gross sink, broken faucet and dead disposer

and installed the shiny new sink, industrial style faucet and new disposer

all by himself in a relatively short time (Friday evening). 

I'm so proud of him and am so happy he did this.

He did a great job using fewer curse words than I expected

and it turned out great!

Thanks Jeff!  You're awesome!

Public hug :)

Our Thanksgiving didn't go as planned either but it was maybe even more special.

We had planned to spend Thanksgiving with my family (a total of about 12-15 people).

My husband woke up with a bad headache and didn't feel well.

So, we decided to stay home, just the 3 of us.

We still wanted a traditional Thanksgiving meal but we had none of the food.

We headed to the grocery store mid-morning (and it was crowded!) on Thanksgiving day

and bought all we needed.

By 6:00 pm, we had traditional turkey and dressing 

(my family's old recipe; I'm going to have to post that sometime)

along with side dishes, rolls and some southern sweet tea.

When my family gets together, we love to play Scrabble and

watch the Cowboy game on Thanksgiving.

We don't have a Scrabble game at my house 

(it's at my aunt's house where we were supposed to be)

so we appreciated the technology we have in 2011

and we played Words with Friends on our iPhones.

It was really kind of fun and nice to have a quiet

Thanksgiving holiday with just the 3 of us.

We hung out all day together.

I can't remember the last time the 3 of us spent quality time

together for a whole day.

With two working parents and son in high school, 

we all have our interests, hobbies and commitments 

which keep us very busy.

So, this was a special Thanksgiving for us.

It won't be long until this guy is off to college, on his own, 

bringing home his girlfriend, working and someday married.

We might not have that many more opportunities 

with just the 3 of us again.

I loved it.

Hope your holiday was just as great.

From our home...

Wishing those of you around the country a safe and happy holiday 

with your family and friends.

what we made with an old windmill base

Remember when I snapped up tons of goodness from my 

cousin's cottage?

One of the things I grabbed was this base to an old windmill.

I brought it in because we had big plans for this.

It still has the price tag on it...$12.

You can see my plans, can't you?

It's perfect for making a vintage industrial floor lamp.

So, we ran down to Home Depot and bought a $10 lamp kit.

If you've never done this before, 

the directions are on the back of the kit

and it is EASY!

I've re-wired lamps before so 

my husband decided to try this one

and it took him about 5 minutes...okay, maybe 6.

We grabbed a natural creamy white square lamp shade

and there you have it!

For less than $25, we have a one of a kind

vintage industrial floor lamp.

 

What do you think?

I love it all rusty and a little bent in places.

It would be just as cool with a fresh coat of white paint too.

I'm leaving it like this for now. 

 I like the contrast against my white beadboard.

SNS at Funky Junk

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm

One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons

White Wednesday at Faded Charm

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Farmhouse Friday at LaurieAnnas

a little bit of HGTV excitement around here

We live on a very quiet little tree-lined neighborhood street 

with no drama and nice neighbors.

So, imagine my surprise this morning when I got in my car

to leave for work and realized there was a camera crew

in the street.  In order to back out of my driveway,

I would have to back into their "scene."

Turns out, it was an HGTV crew filming an episode

of "Househunters" at the house for sale across the street.

Apparently, they filmed there all day because my son saw them 

packing up when he came home from school.

So, I whipped out my trusty iPhone to snap a couple of 

really quick pictures and then thought, oh heck, I'll just

go ahead and get a little video for my blog friends.  

Pardon the poor quality since I was in my car, in a hurry and 

late for work.  You get the idea though.

It was interesting because there was no HGTV truck.

It was very hush hush.  

In the video when you see the car pull up, 

that's "take 2" which is why I was waiting to leave.

That car had to back up (now blocking my driveway)

and roll up to the house for a second time.

Anyway, thought you might find it interesting.

You don't see a cameraman 

in the middle of your street everyday.

It's the closest I'll get to ever being on any HGTV show.

imitation and flattery

"Imitation is the sincerest of flattery." 
  --  Charles Caleb Colton 

I spotted a picture on Pinterest that really caught my attention.

It was from this great little blog.

She turned a soft drink crate into a spice rack.

A Formal Feeling Comes

I've never had a great spice rack.  

I've never found one I really liked.

I do like this idea though and since I have a crate or two,

I decided to imitate it.

In fact, I have the exact same Dr. P red crate.

I first thought about using this one because I like how old it is.

However, with age comes some wear and tear 

and although you can't tell,

there are parts of the wooden dividers that are missing 

so they don't make great "shelves."

Not a problem, I'll use my red one.

I picked up jars at Hobby Lobby.

You see the price?  It was 50% off that week so we didn't have to pay much.

I filled up the jars.

Then put some handmade labels on them.

You know, I like the little jars just sitting there.  

Here we go...my new little spice cabinet.

My husband wants the labels facing out

but I like it with out the labels showing.

We'll memorize quickly enough which spice is where.

Thanks to the blog, A Formal Feeling Comes, for my new spice rack.

Saturday Nite Special

I'm at Suzanne's today!

I'm guest posting over at

Meridian Road,

one of my favorite blogs.



Hope you'll stop by and see my post

and check out Suzanne's awesome blog if you haven't already.