Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I never got a chance to post my Christmas decor during Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life: Christmas Decorations, so I thought better late than never! I love decorating for Christmas, it makes the house so festive and cheery. And since we were hosting Christmas this year I figured it needed to be extra special!

Plus my parents did my serious cleaning so it was the perfect opportunity to show all of you our house! Rest assured it well never be this clean again! Ha!

This is the view as if you walked out of the kitchen and were looking into the living/dining room. I'm proud to admit that I don't spend much on my Christmas decor. I'm a BIG fan of stores like T.J Maxx, Marshall's, Old Time Pottery, and even the Dollar General. If you mix and match things it can look really nice without breaking the bank. For instance, I use a red tablecloth for my tree skirt. Easy, pretty and I can use it other times if needed! I also like to buy vases from OTP and pile them full of red ball ornaments from the Dollar General-it looks festive and is very inexpensive! I made my dining room centerpiece with vases (from OTP), green and red peppermints (Dollar General) and thick red candles from the Dollar Tree (everything's a $1-what, what!)

This is the view when you walk through the front door. Santa had already been by our house that morning, so it's a little bear under the tree at this point!

One of the designers on HGTV once said that if you use the same design elements in repetition, it can look very high-end and expensive. I try to do that as much as possible when it comes to my Christmas decorations. I stick with traditional colors-red, green, silver and white. There are a lot of candy cane stripes throughout all the decor. I personally love it and it's even relatively easy to set up and take down. Winning!


And since I didn't get a chance to actually print my Christmas cards, here is a little nugget of adorableness to hold you over 'til next year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

LONG Weekend

Whew. I'm pooped! It's bad when you need to come back to work just to recover from the weekend. And that is especially bad if the weekend didn't even involve any alcohol beverages and Waffle House trips at 2 am!

My parents came down for the weekend and we set out to conquer quite a list of chores. H was working, so he foolishly thought he would be let off the hook. Little did he know....our kitchen sink and my dad had other plans.

Friday night we rode down to The Wharf in Orange Beach for the Zac Brown Band concert. I only go to few concerts every year, and most of them are Widespread Panic shows so this was a treat for me. Plus it's really nice to do something fun with the parentals every now and then. I realized my mom obviously hasn't been to a concert or sporting event in about 15 years because she was shocked and appalled by the $6 beers. Note to mom: Don't ever go to the Super Dome where Bloody Mary's are $12 and domestics are $8! The bleachers are much more uncomfortable when you are 6 1/2 months pregnant, but other than that it was a blast. And it was cute to see mom and dad snuggling and dancing to the slow jams.

Saturday morning, my parents where up with the chickens AS USUAL. Apparently no one ever told them that weekends are for sleeping in because they were up at the crack of dawn. Seriously--we had walked the dogs, gone out for breakfast, and taken showers before 8. Sigh. Unfortunately I will never break them of this habit. Trust me--I've tried.

Mom and I set out to register for baby items. It is just as much fun as it sounds! I'm not really much of shopper, it's just never been my cup of tea. I'm good for an hour or so and usually one or maybe two stores. But all day trips are just not for me. I think it stems from an incident in my childhood that I refer to as "The Living Room Curtain Debacle of '94". It was a terrible, horrific day of my life that involved my mom dragging me to multiple department stores in and around the Wiregrass area in search of living room curtains. We spent 9 hours looking at-you guessed it-curtains. And we went back to the same stores more than once to "get a second look" at things. I eventually passed out from exhaustion in the floor of Dillards and got a good 2-hour nap.

It took me an hour to pick out my wedding dress, if that tells you how hard that whole experience was for me.

Anyway....back to my point. She really helped me with the registeries because if it would have just been H and I, we would be lost. As a matter of fact, our first trip to Babies R Us should have been filmed we were so clueless! So now we will have a ton of stuff, even if we don't know how to use half of it! Who am I kidding--I don't even know the purpose for half of it! And mom had me registering for everything under the sun. I bet the CEOs of Graco and Walmart are sitting in their plush offices having a good 'ol laugh at the suckers who find it necessary to buy some of this stuff. And then they go out on their yachts and toast to my mom--the lady who thinks it's necessary to buy a mesh sack to wash baby clothes in. Because obviously you can't just put clothes in the washing machine!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...dad was busy fixing a leak in our kitchen sink, which I thought meant replacing the washer in the faucet. I came home to discover my husband and dog under the house and half of the backside of it laying in the yard. Apparently our drain pipe was half rusted through and the contents of our garbage disposal have been piling neating under our house for the past few years. Yum.

After MANY enjoyable hours of my dad (the perfectionist) and his son-in-law (still tired from his night shift the previous night) working on the pipes AND 7 trips to the local hardware store, everything was patched up and ready to go. I bought pizza for my labor crew and they settled in to watch a bootleg copy of True Grit while I hit the hay at the exciting hour of 9 pm.

Woo hoo for Saturday nights!

Good thing I went to bed early because I was up early AGAIN the next morning. But sadly not early enough to catch the sunrise trip to Krispy Kreme donuts that our two houseguests took. So mom and I walked the pooches while daddy did a final inspection on his handywork from the day before.

And lo and behold...the dang pipe was leaking again! Arghhh. It's enough to make a saint cuss--and he did, actually! But after one trip to Lowe's and about 3 more hours worth of work--the pipe was repaired and the giant gaping hole in the back of my house was patched. Patched with plywood, but it was patched nonetheless.

Then mom and dad got the heck out of dodge before he found another task to tackle.

And I promptly took a 2 hour nap to recover from my hard job of supervising the repairs.

Overall, it was really a great weekend. Dayleigh's room is painted, furniture is en route as I type, and the registries are DONE. I kid and joke and give them a hard time, but it's always great when I get to see my parents. I love them dearly and they provide some nice perspective into the Hysterical District. Plus my mom likes to clean, which is an added bonus!

And she can always find some dog hair to sweep up!

A Tale of Christmas Past

Kelly's Korner Blog is having another "Show Us Your Life" theme and today's theme is holiday decor. Please pardon the photos, they were taken with my crappy camera from last year. I would love to say that our historical home's halls are decked and festive this year, but the baby (which seems to suck the energy out of me faster than a Thanksgiving turkey) has made it a little more difficult this year. So....please enjoy the photos from Christmas 2009, when we were full of holiday cheer and decorating gumption.

Actually, I'm still full of cheer, just not so full of energy. I keep hoping a wonderful elf (or husband, or mother-in-law) would magically appear, but apparently I haven't been good enough this year to warrant that type of goodwill toward men.

And in my defense, we did a TON of holiday entertaining last year that actually warranted some serious holiday decorating. We hosted our second annual Tacky Christmas Sweater Party, the appetizer leg of our street's Progressive Dinner, and the Christmas Bunco/Dirty Santa/Wine-Induced Gymnastics in the Front Yard Extravaganza. Ahhh...good times. Since we (technically I since it's a No Boys Allowed Event) are only hosting the Bunco Christmas Party this year, I figured the girls will just have to understand my situation.

I'm pooped. Every day, all day.

But please....enjoy the ghosts of Christmas Decorating Past!




This is a picture of our kitchen, plus little Lois. When you are the lucky owner of these lovely wreath-green cabinets, it makes it VERY easy to decorate for Christmas! And, just for a funny little side note--the Christmas mat you see at the base of the sink was from The Dollar Tree. You know, the store where everything is $1. And let me tell ya, folks, you get what you pay for. This mat read "Mery Christmas!"

My fabulous, artistically-blessed mother-in-law made the two arrangements for me last year (see above and below). As with all things in my life, we like to ball on a budget-even at Christmas. These are made of Dollar Tree ornaments, random Mardi Gras beads we caught the previous year, and real branches I stole during our afternoon dog walks. (Minus the Lenox candleholders, which were NOT cheap but a lovely wedding present that we use quite often.)

Here is a view of the living room (if you were standing in the dining room). I am a Christmas-tree Natzi. I insist on a real tree, every year...no exceptions...no subsitutions...and I refuse to even hear talk of the fakes. No offense to those who pull theirs down from the attic the weekend after Thanksgiving, but that boat won't float in the Hysterical District. The smell is the best part! It's even better than the fun we have driving to the hood to buy it from the local charitable organization. And it's definitely H's favorite part of Christmas! (If there was such a thing as a sarcastic font, I would have just used it for that last sentence.)

Merry Christmas!

And yes, if anyone wants to take pity on my and come pick out, purchase, drag home, set up (straight), decorate, and eventually take down on or shortly after January 2---by all means c'mon! I'll even make you some shrimp n' grits as a thank-you!

One Green Kitchen

The topic for "Show Us Your Life" over at www.kellyskornerblog.com is...KITCHENS! Wah, wah, wah :(

Normally I would include my disclaimer at the end of a post. But, since there are multiple pictures on this post (yay for me and technology as today we are friends) I thought I would apologize before you view them. I am not a fan of our kitchen. It is remarkably better than before--so much so that I won't even post the pics. All I can say is you wouldn't believe the magnolia wallpaper that some misguided, tasteless soul thought was beautiful.

Don't worry, it was not my mother-in-law who picked out, purchased, or pasted that hideous wallpaper on those poor unsuspecting walls, so I'm not offending her. :)

This is the view (kinda) as you walk into the kitchen from the dining room. We (again, I use that term loosely) replaced the old linoleum with new tile right when we moved in. Thanks to my handy dad and husband, we now have neutral flooring throughout the kitchen, laundry room, and both downstairs bathrooms. If you notice in this picture below, the door leads into a small hallway with our laundry room on the left and a bathroom on the right. The walls are a color called "Butter". I wish it was a little brighter, but the grass-green cabinets call for something a little more subdued, don't you think?

As of today, we are still working on renovating the cabinets and countertops. I can't decide if I want to just sand, paint/stain them, and get new hardware--or if I want to call a spade and spade and burn this mutha down.

No seriously....I can't figure out how to burn JUST the kitchen, so I've had to learn to live with it until we can save enough to do it the way I really want it done. Or until I win the lottery, which will probably happen before we can save that much! In honor of the "just live with it" motto, I have convinced myself to embrace the grass-green cabinets and laminate countertops. I decided if I can't beat it...I'll accessorize it! So...I throw every funky piece of art I can find (or steal from my mother-in-law and her friends) on the walls and call it a day. Throughout the past years we have collected a Bob Marley painting from Jamaica, a Ginger Woechen "Lucky Dog" canvas, Nana's beer stein (spell check someone, quick!) collection, a bobo painting I did (that you see below on the baker's rack) plus a few other odds and ends that didn't match anything else in my home. Yep...that's how I decorate! Take that Martha Stewart!

Now...since my kitchen isn't exactly where I want it to be right now, I thought I would include some of my favorite designs.

At night, when I curl up in my bed next to H and drift off...these are the kitchens that haunt my dreams. Can you just imagine having a cocktail with your girlfriend here? I sure could! We could sit here at this little island and gossip about how awesome it was that I found someone to make my fridge look like part of the cabinetry. I could astound you with interesting stories about my trip to 'ol Paris, where I scoured antique shops to find my to-die-for chandelier.

And then H would come in and ask why in the world WE needed a chandelier. And I'm back to reality.

This is probably more our style. I like some open cabinets, just not all open cabinets. I also really like open shelves in a kitchen. This room just looks comfortable--like you could hang out and cook all kinds of fish tacos in this place!

But....if I had my absolute D-R-E-A-M kitchen, it would look like the one below. White is so chic and classic. How could you possibly eat breakfast in this kitchen and worry about the emails on your blackberry or the laundry on the floor? I love the tall ceilings with the molding, too. Simply gorgeous.

In reality, I could never have this kitchen in my house. I would have to get rid of Chuck and Lois (the pupper dogs) because dog hair doesn't exactly go with this room. Only someone who owns a Chihuahua or Yorkie could realistically call this place home--not someone with a mutt and a Lab. (No matter how awesome they are!) We just can't do white in the Hysterical District (and it has taken me longer than I care to admit to finally admit that to myself).

And now...a little lagniappe....

My Kitchen Must Haves:

Stainless steel appliances

Granite countertops

Deep kitchen sinks

A window

A hanging pot rack
Wine rack