SHARK!

Look at this cute rug I found at Target the other day!  I absolutely could not pass it up for only 2.50!  I bought it to take to the beach with us so we can wipe that yucky sand off when we walk into the condo!  It’s so soft and cute! 

Can’t wait for the beach!!!

~CB~

Kitchen Changes…

No.  We are not remodeling our kitchen.  Our house is only a few years old—it’s not quite time for that yet, ha-ha!  I have however, seen some really cool things in other people’s kitchens lately though……! : )

I have this alcove in my breakfast nook that I love, but is not functional right now…I’m using it for some cute antique decorations but I have great visions for this alcove in the future!

One day, when I’m off my desktop computer kick and decide to go back to a laptop, I want to put my laptop here (or maybe I’ll keep my desktop and just buy a new laptop for this space?) so I can check emails and do “bloggy” stuff while cooking dinner rather than running back and forth between the office and the kitchen.  My immediate plans for this space are to move my bills and miscellaneous basket to it so I can clear off some of my kitchen counter!

I decided to move all the stuff you see above out of the alcove and onto the top of my kitchen cabinets.

Before…..

After…

I don’t know why I love antiques so much, but I do!  I love old cans, bottles, tins, crates, beaters, signs, etc.  Suffice to say I am loving the walls of Cracker Barrel!!

I still have some work to do on the cabinets, and I need to get a few more things to put on top of them, but for now, they are at least decorated and I’m feeling good about cleaning out that non-functional alcove to make it functional!  (The tops of my other cabinets are decorated similarly to the above, so I didn’t feel the need to show you all of them…….)

I have an open ended cabinet on the edge of one set of my cabinets (you can kind of see it in the picture above), but here’s a close-up of what I added in one section of it….it’s an old sifter, beater, and measuring cup (I think).

I almost forgot!  I had forgotten I had this old milk bottle in the alcove!  I can’t wait to do something special with it!

Not too many changes in the kitchen, but enough to make me feel good about making things functional!  I’ll have to show you more pictures when I get the stuff from the counter moved to the alcove!  I’m very excited!
~CB~

A Longaberger Birthday!

Y’all. I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Longaberger baskets! I love their functionality and the fact that they are some kind of sturdy! I love their color and how they come in SO MANY shapes and sizes.

I have Longaberger baskets EVERYWHERE in my house!

In the pantries……

On the countertops…..

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On top of the fridge…..

Holding Organizing junk…..

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Every year, my mother-in-law, who is WONDERFUL, buys me at least 2 or 3 Longaberger baskets. Sometimes, she buys me more than that, but SHHHH!! Don’t tell my father-in-law! ha-ha-ha!

This year was no different…..my birthday was last week and guess what she got me? This new and AWESOME watermelon Longaberger basket! Isn’t is ADORABLE? I think it screams summertime picnic!

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I am seriously in LOVE with this basket!

THANK YOU to my WONDERFUL mother-in-law for my birthday present!!

~CB~

It’s Almost Time!

Full House

Hubs and I have had to go somewhere twice this week (already) and we had Jennifer, one of our sitters (who happens to be a cousin) come babysit the boys.  She loves them and they love her—it’s a win/win situation!

Jennifer laughing and texting—who knows what about!

BOTH nights when we’ve arrived home, we’ve found a FULL HOUSE!  Well, really only one other person besides the sitter, but you get my point…….here with Jennifer was her friend, and also another one of our babysitters, Patricia (who has babysat my boys since they were days old).

Mind you, that once we got home BOTH times, they hung around the house and watched TV, etc. and we LAUGHED and LAUGHED and LAUGHED some more.

Here’s Cecil and Patricia deep in conversation……

And apparently it was hysterical!

They probably stayed an extra hour or more both nights so we could all just hang out!  It was so much FUN!

Love you girls!

~CB~

Creative Genius – Or not.

My friend Annie got me started using a new “writer” for my blog……She says “oh it’s easy, you can do it”….

I downloaded it tonight and so far…..I’m slightly lost at this point, but I can’t wait to keep trying!  I’m looking forward to having some “cuter” posts with cute pictures!

I have satellite Internet, so it’s sort of fast, and I use that fast term very loosely—but I think this will speed up the process and hopefully allow me to do more posts!!!

Thanks, Annie!

~CB~

Father's Day Weekend Fun (or something kind of like that)

I seem to be getting farther and farther behind in my postings here lately......I get caught up (sort of) and then two or three events happen and I never get the chance to blog about them. Maybe I'll title next week's posts "Back in Time"...ha!

On Friday afternoon, I was sitting at work thinking, "I wish we could do something fun this weekend".....lo and behold my phone rang and it was the hubby announcing he was officially done loading melons and he wanted to do something fun too--or go somewhere. Since I've known him longer than I haven't (uh--that's a long time!), I KNEW he was going to suggest going to his family's river house on the Suwannee. This was so NOT my idea of FUN! Since it was Father's Day weekend, I conceded and decided I would go with him to the river house. As soon as I got home from work on Friday, we were packed and ready to go.......

As soon as we got to the river house, the boys were ready to swim!

This is Nolan, climbing a tree to jump down into the great unknown.......

Sorry for the blurry picture--I had my camera on the wrong setting, but you CAN tell it's one of my monkeys swinging into the water!

We had a lot of fun on Saturday riding in the boat.....
And the hubs and I took a ride on this.........probably my favorite thing to do at the river....

The boys also had fun trying to catch minnows and just playing in the water.


We didn't do a whole lot else at the river, but sit around and eat, fish, swim, etc. but it was nice and relaxing!!! (and in the hubs words, fun).

On Sunday evening the boys asked if they could start a fire outside and roast marshmallows. Mind you, I have NO IDEA where on earth they got this idea from, because 1. I'm not sure they've ever roasted marshmallows and 2. Their mother does NOT do "outdoorsy" type things. Especially not in 100 degree heat!

Additionally, I don't do many spontaneous type things....I was cleaning house and that was that. It finally hit me this afternoon that no one in 15 years is going to care that my house wasn't perfect--my kids wanted to make memories NOW. They will NEVER remember that my house wasn't clean when they were 6 and 4. They WILL remember that I always said "NO" to fun things because I was too busy. I put down the vacuum and headed outside.

They lit the fire and waited....waited....waited....


Finally, it was time for roasting! Never one to let the party get boring, I decided S'Mores would be perfect!







Carter enjoying the fruits of our labor.....ha!



Happy Father's Day!! ( I do believe he's giving me the stink eye, Carrie!)
~CB~

HOT HOT HOT

Y'all. I'm gonna (that is Southern for I am going to) let you in on a little secret. IT IS SO HOT!!!! I don't know if I'm getting older (I am, seein' as how I turned 30 on Monday, but that's another story), or what, but I just about can't take this heat! Thank goodness I'm heading to the beach in a few weeks!

Yesterday, when I left work.......apparently, at 3:59.......

This is how HOT it was.......and this is actually a few minutes after I left work, going down the Interstate.....um. You have to look towards the bottom of the picture where it says 101! YES 101 degrees yesterday at 4:00...can you believe that? UGH. HOT HOT HOT!
Yes, please also ignore the dust at the bottom of the speedometer and the fact that I drive FAST. No comments on speed please. I'm well aware I'm a speed demon.
Hope you are enjoying your HOT HOT HOT summer.......Daytona Beach, here I come!

~CB~

Way Down Upon The Suwannee River.....

Last Saturday, our Sunday School class had a small gathering on the Suwannee River. You might recall our last gathering that I wrote about. It's always a good time, for sure!

Boat riding, dock jumping, watermelon eating, and good FUN is what Saturday was all about! Most of us don't get a lot of time to just "chill and relax" and it was so nice to be able to do that at Dennis and Tammy's on Saturday (shout out and THANKS to D&T)!!

Here's some shots of the gang....you can see how concerned we are with the kids in the background playing in the pool, LOL!!

Jason, Danny, Lindsey

Leo, Rhonda, Michael

Charon & Tammy

Hail, Hail, The Gang's All Here!!

Kellie B. brought down some melons from the local packing shed and this is what was left of one. Who likes watermelons? (ha-ha)

Leo slicing up some melons for the kids.....

Most of y'all know how much I just LOVE (read: sarcasm) the Suwannee River.....you know I do NOT do bodies of water (unless of course I'm in the pool or the ocean in Hawaii, which is crystal clear).......Jason and Kelly decided to jump off the high dock at one point on Saturday. Of course, my ever-present camera captured the big JUMP!

I'm pretty sure Kelly is trying to tell me something here, but I'm not sure what. I see Jason laughing in the background, so who knows...... ha!
We missed all that weren't there and can't wait to get together again soon!! I'm hoping to do a giveaway sometime in the next week or two and also catch you up on all my goings on!

~CB~