Just Dreaming...

Have you seen one of these in person?
It's the Miele Plumbed Coffee System: Built in Coffee Maker and Espresso Machine.
It is AMAZING and I am in LOVE with it!

I had my one and only encounter with this wonderful piece of machinery
at that baby shower I was raving about in my last post.
When I was at the shower I asked the hostess where the coffee carafe was so I could help myself to a cup of coffee. She told me to grab a cup and come in the kitchen.

She lead me to the most beautiful coffee machines I'd ever seen
built into her kitchen cabinets.

The hostess placed the cup under the spout and a minute later I had this fresh-ground frothy, creamy, steaming hot cup of pure ambrosia...
I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!!



I didn't know that fresh-ground and brewed coffee came out
frothy and creamy like that! Who needs cream?!

When I got home, I, of course, decided I needed to have me one of these
machines. It would be my hubby's best friend after all...

Well, I discovered it would only set me back about
$2,950.00 on sale {regularly $3,149.00}.

But, hey we're worth it, right?
The hostess did say it was their favorite thing in their home!

I think I'll just dream about it for now...

The Long Lost Post...updated!

Long ago, actually about a year ago I posted a story
about my friend Nancy. It was Nancy's personal and touching
story of her faith-filled road to becoming pregnant.
Click here to read her story.


Against what seemed like amazing odds, Nancy held on to her faith that
God would make her and husband parents.
In December of 2008, her and her husband Scott were blessed
with this little guy:

Baby William!
Isn't he a cutie!?


So that was the updated part of the post. Here is the
Long Lost part of the post...
I was never able to finish my post of Nancy's baby shower {for whatever
flaky reasons I had}, anyway- it was one of
the nicest baby showers I have ever attended.

Here are some pixs:


The centerpieces were flower pots with baby onesies and t-shirts tucked
among the faux flowers.

The shower guests were all given a onesie and some fabric pens.
We were asked to design and create a one-of-a-kind
onesie for Baby William.

I made the onesie on the right. I was inspired by Nancy's
commitment to leading a "green" lifestyle and eating only
healthy foods.

All the cute onesies were hung on a clothesline. Isn't that adorable?
The momma to be chose her favorite design and a prize was given to the designer.

Guess which design was the winner? Moi!


Welcome to the world Baby William!
May God bless your life to the fullest!

Under the Bathroom Counter MisTreatment

Do you have one of these spaces in your bathroom?

As we have been working on the Master bath re-do
I've been thinking
about what to do with this un-used space.

I thought it would be a great idea to hang a curtain there
with a small tension rod.
Then I could hide stuff under the counter!

So I found some cheap fabric in the remnant bin
at Walmart. It cost about $1.50.
Then I got a short tension rod for about $4.00.

I am not a sewer by any means...
so I glue-gunned the hems and used safety pins to attach the
curtain pieces to the rods.

I call it "Curtains for Dummies"- hahaha!

Summer's Room Revealed!

As promised, many weeks ago, I am finally revealing Summer's room re-do.

Here she is slaving away with the painting. Yes, I do believe in child labor, especially when it was her idea in the first place!

Of course, she didn't do ALL the work. Mommy had to go back and
cover all the spots she missed!
But she did a great job overall. I figure it's a good investment of my time
to teach her how to paint...esp. when we decide to
re-do other rooms in the house!

We made her a nameplate from a piece of fence board and scrapbook paper.

Ta-da! You were worried about that blue being too shocking, weren't you??
{I admit, I was worried!} But I think it
actually worked once all her stuff was put back in the room!

My mom {the artist} made her the curtains and the fuzzy,
zebra-striped blanket on the bed, again- Summer
picked the color scheme!

If it were left up to Mommy, I would have picked a color
scheme that included light greens & pinks, and maybe some soft lavender...
but Summer was not having any of that- NO WAY.

I have to admit, she did a good job redecorating a room that
she now LOVES, and that's all that counts, right?

Front Door Flowers

I Finally removed the fall arrangement from my front door.
Then I went slumming through the aisles of JoAnn looking for something
pretty to put in my metal hanging-vase-thing.

My buddy, Roxanne, spotted these flowers, and she said they looked "real".
With the 50% off sale each bunch only cost me $1 and some change.

I hope they look "real" enough. I always feel sorry for my across-the-street
neighbors who have to look out their windows and see the
front of our home!
That bench is getting a little worn-out looking...I won't show you
what the rest of the front yard looks like...

Let's just say the rest of the yard is not as pretty as the faux fleurs on my door.
I guess it's time to start gardening!

Little Bits of Spring "Springing Up" Around the House

Welcome to my new blog home! Glad you're here...remember,
if you followed me at Wordpress, you can follow me here too-
just sign up on the link to the right side of this blog!

Flowers have been blooming in our gardens, and my sweet, little girl has been making me lots of pretty bouquets, and flower arrangements.

I think she has a knack for it, what do you think?

Lemons have been abundant too! A co-worker has a lemon tree that grows sweet Meyer Lemons. I LOVE lemons! I'm thinking about baking a lemon cake...

Here's some birdie-nesty stuff...

More birdie-nesty stuff in my adorable bell-jar cover display, which was a
Christmas present from my awesome friend Roxanne. She has
wonderful taste, doesn't she? See the "chocolate" Easter bunny hiding
back there? Love him!

Here's the bird cage I picked up at a garage sale while vacationing
in Santa Cruz last Summer.
I repaired it and painted it white.
Now it's hanging in my entry. See that framed picture
on the wall, behind the cage? Let me give you a close-up...

It's a 3 dimensional collage of my 2 little "birdies" nestled together. My mother, the "Artist" for whom this blog is named after made this for me several years ago. I just love it,
and have it up all year 'round.