January 24, 2013
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{around the house lately}
when i was a kid i remember thinking those people bagging groceries at kroger had to have the coolest job ever!
i was pretty sure if i could grow up to be a bagger i’d be happy.~funny now how grocery shopping is one of my least favorite things to do and mainly,
because you have to bag your own groceries!
atleast with the stores i shop at..
the kind where you even have to PAY to use the carts!! yeah, those.now when i’m standing there bagging groceries i can’t believe i ever thought it looked fun.
and i have to chuckle to myself realizing what a lousy bagger i would have made as i cram, shove, and pile those plastic bags just as full as i can get them!!what’s a job you used to think would be cool to have when you were a kid?
last night, shayne told me i had made one of my top three worst meals ever!
i didn’t even attempt to argue. he was right.i was baking fish in the oven and had some rice cooking on the stove, with a little broccoli in the steamer for the side.
can you tell i’ve been watching iron chef?in british accent::
“what i’ve made for you today is a hand squeezed lemon baked alaskan cod over a bed of pilaf rice accompanied by fresh herb and broccoli wasu.”yeah. yeah. you made fish and rice with broccoli. just say it how it is!!”
)i like to think i might actually be a fairly decent cook if i didn’t get so easily distracted.
more times than i can count i’ve started making something, then went and got involved in something else…
and just totally, completely forgot!
until the smoke detector is going off or i’m wondering what that funny smell is.so. with the rice stuck in the bottom of the pan and the fish shriveled to a near nothing.
needless to say. we ordered pizza.
the broccoli however was just fine.
the only part i’m sure my kids would have liked to have burnt up!***
here’s some pics and projects from around the house lately.
and once again me just whispering out a word of encouragement to use what you have and embrace where you are~so often my piddling around my home is me working out a discontentment issue in my own heart.
and remember. what you see when you look here, or anywhere on the web, is only half the picture, right. “martha stewart would choke on her craft supplies if she saw how i wad up a fitted sheet!”
love that quote~ so true. with me and all my sheets. what’s the point?1. making extra space
when i picked up this little side table at a thrift store i was planning on using it in our bedroom..
i cleaned it up a bit and spray painted it black.but when it sat in the kitchen for a few weeks, waiting to be taken upstairs, i decided i kinda liked it better in the kitchen!
i read this verse this morning and have been loving that word ABOUNDING today!
i have such a small amount of cabinet space and just having that bit extra is great!
.. also like the color it adds to the room.
my anthropologie bowls from christmas. love!
2. the other bathroom redo
it seems kinda funny to show pics of your bathroom online.
but since i already have i guess i should be over that. the upstairs bathroom had the same ugly green countertop as the downstairs..
and yep, with just a few coats of plain old spray paint it too was transformed!when i talked about this with the downstairs bath several asked how it would hold up.
well, this is the one kate uses all the time {the “girls” bathroom, as we call it}.
so there’s been curling irons on it. make up all over it. even kool aid everywhere when she and her friends decided to dye their hair.
and so far it’s holding up fine.
there’s maybe a few drops of the kool aid stain here and there. 
and then, what about those big giant wall mirrors that every home built during this time frame has?
i wondered if there was any way to change those without ripping them off and re-drywalling the entire wall!
i tried hanging a smaller mirror in the middle, but it fell. ~so until i can buy a new mirror and figure out how to keep it up there i just hung some family pictures around it in a circle..
one other thing in this bathroom –
if you’re ever looking {and looking and looking and looking} for that perfect shower curtain but can’t find it ..
try just a normal curtain. i like the way they come all the way to the floor.
unlike most shower curtains, that hang halfway down the tub…
like that weird skirt length that shouldn’t be worn by anyone under the age of 65.
you know the length i mean! 
3. the valentine tree
and yes. if you were looking closely in the bathroom those are still christmas decorations you see.
don’t judge.we also still have our tree up.
i like the coziness of it. the lights twinkling at night…
i haven’t wanted to take it down just yet.so kate and i actually cut out some hearts from book pages and plain paper and made a garland to go round it.
we’re now calling it, “the love tree!”
i guess that’s the plus to having an artificial tree.
wonder what shamrocks will look like on it?? )well. dinner is now cooking but i’m at the table and i’m not leaving this room!!!
atleast if it burns i can show my husband this and tell him i had every good intention.happy thursday evening!
´¸.·¨) ¸.·¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ (¸.·¨¯`♥ amber
Comments (44)
Thanks for sharing! I have the same problem – forgetting to watch what’s cooking, or mistiming the elements so it doesn’t all come out together. I cooked for my wife in her last years, and she was gracious in her assessment of my “art.” Most often she would say at the end of the meal, “that was good, Normie, thank you.”
Anyway, I bought one of those contraptions that heats by some strange method only the area where the pan sits and can hold its temperature steady forever, so you can prepare foods and keep them warm without burning them up or drying them out. Only problem is, that the pans have to be magnetic, that is, a magnet will stick to them; and I have none of those. Now I have to save up for some new cookware before I can find out how good a deal I have made….I’m hoping for the day when I don’t have burnt offerings for supper.
i just cannot ever get over how you did those bathroom cabinets with spray paint! it just looks soo different and hard to believe it is the same spot.
i love the “love tree” what a great way to stretch out the pretty tree. and it looks so nice decorated as a v-day tree too!
my fav dream job as a kid? not sure- i know i thought my 1st grade teacher was the most beautiful woman on earth- i know i wanted to be her. so maybe a teacher?
speaking of watching supper- i need to watch mine! i went all out tonight- made broccoli, fried chicken, and black beans n rice. my fav meal and i really do not want to ruin it after all the hard work i put into frying my kitchen up all greasy.
have a cozy night!
Oh, I had to laugh at your “top three worst meal”!! Just about every day of our entire marriage, Bill Petty walks in the door coming in from his work day and says, “Your not burning that meat, are you?” I’m not the worst cook ever, as evidenced by our weight, but I am probably in the “top three”!!
When I was little, I wanted to be a hair dresser for awhile. I used to love doing hair, still enjoy it somewhat. But I decided that I was probably never going to find anyone who would marry me, so I’d better be a teacher just in case I never had kids. Then I met Bill Petty, and got to be hair dresser and teacher!
Love your home, and all the touches. You always inspire me! And our Christmas tree is still up, but mostly because Dannye Reigh is in Michigan, and I’m not sure I can take that 12 ft. monster down!!
I love our grocery store… they have the buggies with the “cars” attached so my kid has some entertainment, for all that’s worth. Plus they still bag the groceries AND walk them out and help load your car if you’d like.
And your home is always so gorgeous and CLEAN! Love the heart garland on your tree!!!
cool bathroom makeover! and i went back and read your aldi story. hilarious! i actually like aldi; i do know what to buy and what not to buy there, but it’s a great place to buy the basics and not pay like crazy.
That’s a great redo and beautiful “love tree”!
When I was young I wanted to be a weatherman. I used to practice in my room and even knew the terminology. I’m still a weather nerd and like tracking what is happening.My friends know who to call when they are planning an outdoor event. LOL
cute -my sister did her teenage daughter’s bathroom in Paris and black/white
I love LOVE the table as well as the white bowls with the raised prettiness on the sides. And your bathroom transformation looks great! Oh, and the one basket that you have plates and bowls in….I just put the same one in Tyler’s room to help hold all his cars and planes. : )
That bathroom redo is amazing. I am completely fascinated by the spray paint job on the vanity!!!!! Did you have to use a special kind of paint? I wonder if it would work on the uber ugly carpet in this house?
I love that you were able to get a new light fixture, too. I knew they were important, but I didn’t realize how much they affect a room until I moved in here with lights that look like the 70′s. 
I think I wanted to be a teacher as a kid. Wow, was I far off in where my talents lie or what!? That dream probably didn’t last past fourth grade. Your house always looks SO pretty. Maybe you should start a business where you help other people decorate their houses…like a friend is mine started around here. You would be good at it!!
Your home is so beautiful! Love the pics. Love reading your posts.
LOOOOOVE it. I do. have i ever said how i love how you seem to just be able to pull things together and make them look so cool, even the leftover christmas tree ornaments??
well you can.
I always love pictures of your house. And while i read this, i thot, I’d like to be at amber’s table eating rice pilaf and cod with her. It really would be fun to eat everyone’s cooking. You know? strange thot, sorry
l.o.v.e the LOVE tree ~ what a great idea!
Your tree is STILL up? I’m just teasing you…a friend of mine left her tree up when each of her 3 children graduated from high school and went to college. She decorated it for each and every season. ( 8 I love the white shelf with baskets thingy in the bathroom; we have very similar taste in decor! I’ve burned many a meal, but that’s just from being distracted by the computer!Growing up, I wanted to be a wife, mother and teacher. I got to do all three. Then, about 20 years ago, I thought it’d be so fun to be a grocery bag packer-stuffer person. YES!…because I knew I could do a much better job than most of the people who did that. I have yet to go get that job.
@quest4god@revelife - i’ve never even heard of one of those contraptions. what will they think of next?
sounds like something i need though~
@baileyandme - hmm. dinner sounds “YUMMY!!”
how’d it turn out? we had chicken too but would you believe when we cut into it shayne said, “i don’t think this is cooked all the way!!” well. what do you know?? there’s always a first!! 
)
@bamsniko22407 - i want to come shop at YOUR grocery store. i didn’t think the bagger boys that carried your bags to the car even existed anymore!! nice to know they live on somewhere. just not here!
@CBrown6207 - t.j. maxx, right? or homegoods. one of those!
i’ve a weakness for wire baskets~
@smilesbymiles - nope. just normal every day spray paint. well… it is the “texture” kind. but nothing special for cabinets or whatever – that stuff cost like 100 bucks! your carpet? yep. hear ya. i’ve got some nasty indoor/outdoor stuff going on in the family room here. not even a giant rug looks good on it. anything you put on it just looks ugly ugly ugly!!
i found the light at the restore {habitat for humanity} for 7 bucks! i was overwhelmed at first with replacing all the lights in this house – renting and all. new lights cost a fortune. but.. then started looking at second hand stores etc and have almost replaced all of them in the house for probably, under 40! the one in the bathroom was gold and i spray painted it. see.. spray paint is the face lift of the decorating world. now, to just get one designed to use on CARPET!!!
@fruitloops115 - not strange at all. i would LOVE having you at my table~ that is, if i hadn’t burnt the meal!!
@grace_to_be - It was my first (and last) purchase from a TV ad. The shipping cost as much as the unit. I’ll try to post whenever I use it as to how well it works…..It would be worth its price if it does what they say. I suppose a person could order it directly, but I’m not sure.
I like your ideas! I love “feathering my nest” — making my house unique. I just finished a rag rug for the kitchen made from chopped up old T shirts! I also found a beautiful old oak bench really cheap at the second hand and have it decorated with plants, an oil lamp, candles and old doilies. It is wobbly not safe to sit on, but it looks pretty with all those things. I recently bought a board and painted it white. I want to try my hand at making one of those adorable signs I have seen on Pinterest, but I can’t make up my mind which one to do!
That word of encouragement is most appreciated!
Got to love pizza.
@grace_to_be -
TJ Maxx clearance – oh yeah!!!!
I have a hutch, a small one in my kitchen I need to spraypaint. Maybe this weekend?? You’re inspiring me over here.
I see no reason to take that tree down! I always miss the cozy lights in the evenings after it’s put away. I love your hearts! Then there’s easter with eggs and then the flags and such for the fourth of july. Halloween! I mean, year round goodness.
My biggest desire was to be a missionary pilot, but mainly I wanted to drive anything motorized and big, like the trucks my Dad and my uncles drove. I should have been careful what I wished. I just found a trucking magazine left open on the floor this morning, and heard that my cousin’s boy got a job at the trucking company where he works. I hope we haven’t condemned the next generation… Actually i love driving, it’s just a hard life for the wife and kids, especially those years where at a moments notice I would hit the road to be gone for several weeks. Like anything else in life, it is the hard things that bring the rewards, so I won’t complain, especially when I have such a good job in an economy like this. Cool ideas decorating the house. We always had the Christmas tree up ’til July in the house we lived in ’til I was 13. My wife gets a lot of stuff for our house from the consignment shop where she works.
Loved the quote – just wadded up a fitted sheet about 5 minutes ago and I thought to myself I should read that one tip someone posted on how to fold these crazy things….
Bathroom remodel – Amazing! Love the pictures around the mirror. You stand there waiting on a curl to heat up and you can check out your fav pixes… might be a borrow idea for this here homestead.
As for fish… found a recipe where you mix up some sour cream and parmesean and then bake — kids will now eat baked fish without complaint though not quite as healthy as before
Have a great weekend friend of mine-!
your house looks amazing! seriously
now what i’m curious about is how you keep reese from taking those plates of that bottom shelf! i feel like brighton grabs everything within her reach and all day like i’m saying “no” “no” “no”… 
i guess she is a good bit older than my little one!
What a fun post! And I love what you said – the “shop the house” stuff is your way of battling the feelings of discontentment. That is SO good. Like, not just pray about it, or just sit there and try to pretent it’s pretty when it’s not, but do what you can with what you have. I LOVE IT.
If all my greenery hadn’t turned brown and fallen to pieces on me I’m sure it would still be up. The cozy factor is just so great.
I loveLOVE your whte living room. I just want to go and curl up on one of those sofas!
And you do an amazing job of it! That bathroom – I can hardly believe it’s the same room! You’ve got such great skills – I love your style and you eye for placement. Just so lovely.
And the love tree is darling! What a great idea.
Oh, and one more thing.
xoxo
Gorgeous Amber! Love those white couches of yours and wonder how you keep them white
One day I shall have a big comfy white couch. Maybe when our guinea pig croaks since the kids seem to think the guinea pig belongs on the couch right besides them.
You are so creative and have such an eye for detail! Love what you have done with your home. So many creative inspirations!
Those metal containers you have the pretty dishes are exceptionally cool!
Thanks for sharing and always love your posts! Have a wonderful weekend!
Your house looks pretty perfect to me:) great job! Loving the pictures in a circle and you crack me up with your cooking mishaps!:):) so did you serve te broccoli with the pizza?
i remember hearing martha showing oprah how to fold a fitted sheet just so and line up the edges in the linen closet…again. just so.
all that to say…i hear ya. i do. what’s the big deal? 
and i bet that i think of that about everytime i’m working with sheets…and i pretend that I AM ON The Show, demonstrating how real girls do it in real life so that we can move on to fun things…wad. wad. wad. stuff. stuff. and the crowd ALWAYS roars with approval…and i am a star.
this post is so many things…i always love peeking into the homes of my friends. and you have such great ideas, taste and tweaks. those wire baskets, your arrangement of things, the colors—so pretty. and sorry about the echo…but i hear you on this too…”working out a discontentment issue in my own heart.”
and i’m laughing about your cooking adventures. i’m so distracted, i think it started after labor and delivery…just saying.
gulp. hand raised. and sometimes hobby lobby’s 50% off ribbon helps too.
my dream job as a kid was to be a mom…and a nurse. somewhere back there i was also going to design clothes and be an architect. i’m not a great bagger…but i hate those self check outs. what’s next? them having ME clean up on aisle four? my word. before ya know we’ll be unloading trucks in the back.
happy Friday dear friend! thanks for sharing such inviting lovelyness.
Love your creativity in your bathroom! I’m guessing the mirror is glued not clipped to the wall? I bet it wouldn’t be too hard to rip it off and I bet you wouldn’t have much drywall to fix if it’s just glued. The pictures look great! It looks SOOO much better than it did and the tree looks great…you might start a new fad with the later:P I think so often when you have to use what you have it looks so much cuter than if you could ‘do it right’ because you use every day stuff
i’m so behind : )
rex put the ‘leftovers’ of last nights dinner away for me last night …. straight into the trash!! i hear ya on meal flops : )
you’re such a rockstar shoveling your own drive … it sounds so very winter -ish & old fashioned.
enjoyed all the blog moving talk. last month rex asked how many email accounts i’d created trying to start new blogs – translated – quite a few!! …. if only xanga was more user friendly in the blog printing department .. [sigh] …
and your tree!! that is great. your home is lovely. for the sake of keeping it real, next time you do a here’s the house post can’t you turn around and snap the laundry basket full of clothes ; )
stay warm friend & happy weekend!!
blush. with my little book length comment i’m still not done. just an fyi and a btw
i still have two wreaths and christmas lights on my back porch. it’s just so welcoming.
and i just plain love lights. a love tree is way more fun than say…something for the upcoming ground hog day!
Everything you’ve done looks great! You have talent- You might be on to something with the “love tree.” Good job!
To prove children really do fry your brain cells I forgot I had commented on this post earlier! LOL Double comments from Deb the dunce!
I LOVE the love tree! such a neat and cozy idea.
your decorating style is beautiful.
Your house looks beautiful but I want to see the other side of the room!;)
Oh, wow. I absolutely adore the restfulness of white and aqua. Your house is so beautiful! I would love to visit sometime!!!
I kind of like the idea of leaving the tree up & decorating it for each individual holiday!
Have you seen this idea? http://impatientlyprayingforpatience.blogspot.com/2010/05/mirror-frame-tutorial.html You could put a “frame” around your bathroom mirror to give it an updated look. There are several different ideas floating around Pinterest.
Ohmuhgoodness! I’ve not been on here in ages and I’d forgotten what an awesome interior designer you are! Seriously! Your sense of style and photography brings warm fuzzies to my brain! <3
@bakersdozen2 - hiiiiiii!!!!! i miss you here.