What we woke up to today...

Snow!  And probably about an inch too!



Living in Wisconsin has been weird this year, since (until today) we've only had a 1 time snow fall of about 1 inch...about 2 months ago.  Normally by this time of year we should have had to shovel and snow blow numerous times, but this morning was our time having to.  Well, Matt was still asleep, so I was the shoveler.....but mainly only because I wanted to try out my new winter boots. :)  It's finally kind of feeling like Christmas. :)

~S~

Outside Christmas Decor!

I fiiinally decided to do outside Christmas decorating this year.  Though I kept it simple, I love it and it makes me so very happy to come home and see it in all it's Christmasy glory.

Remember when I made the amazing wreath and hung it up outside?  Well that was actually the last step in the outside decorating.  When I bought the wreath ingredients at Michael's, I also found 9 foot bundles of garland on sale for only $2.49 each!  So I bought 6, hoping it would be enough to go around the garage door and front door...and guess what?  For once my impulsiveness did not fail me and it was the exact perfect amount.  So I hung it up and then wrapped some lights around it.  Then threw some on our front mega bush too since there were leftover lights.  Simple as that, really.  Matt watched from inside and then was nice enough to come out and ask me "Aren't you freezing?" once I was almost done.

***Warning....the camera was not happy about taking night time pictures***

I probably should have tried a little harder on the mega bush...oh well.  Here's a close up picture, so you can see it doesn't look quite a ghetto as the above photos make it look.

Here's a daytime photo, so you can enjoy the wreath some more. :)



Next year I promise to try a little harder on mega bush and also do lights around all the windows...I also have my heart set on a giant wreath to hang over the garage, between the two windows.

~S~

A fabulous-o Christmas wreath!

 Now, I am not a crafty person.  I don't really like crafty things or scrap booking, but I thought I could handle making a wreath. So, while at Michael's one night, I found some amazing items on sale, one of which was a plain wreath for $4.49.  I walked around the store looking for things I could use to decorate it and randomly picked up a few things.  I didn't really have a plan besides the colors I wanted to use....Otherwise I just winged it.  Here are the items I picked out to use:

Items used:

• One plain wreath ($4.49!)
• Skinny silver ribbon (2 rolls for about $2.00 each)
• Wide, but see through Burgundy ribbon ($2.00)
• Bendy twig/silver sprig rope ($2.49)
• Burgundy flowers I thought looks Christmasy (I think they were about $3.00 each...and I got 3)

Step 1: Wined think burgundy ribbon around the wreath, while tucking it underneath some of the branches.  I wanted it to be seen, but as a background dancer, not the star.

Step 2: Circlw the twiggy rope around the top of the wreath, while tucking into place.  ( I  just tucked both ends of the twiggy thing into the innards of the wreath, while making sure it was secure by tucking the wreath branches around the twiggy part....so basically lay the twiggy thing on top and secure it in a way that it won't blow away.  Got it?  Good.)

And a close up:

Step 3: Wind skinny silver ribbon around wreath, spacing it between each strip of burgundy ribbon.





Step 4: Tuck Christmasy flowers into the wreath in an artsy-ish kind of way...or at least try to.

Step 5: Be super giddy and way too excited about a homemade wreath that took about 5 mins to make...and force your husband to admire it once it's hung on the front door...while it's raining outside.

What do you think?  Not too shabby for a first crafty try?  I honestly look for it every time I drive up to the house and keep waiting for crowds of people to knock on our door to ask where such a fabulous wreath came from....no seriously.

~S~

It's looking like Christmas in here!

I have a confession to make.  I. FRICKIN. LOVE. CHRISTMAS DECORATING!!!!  For every other holiday I am the Scrooge of decorating.  Even buying pumpkins is too much work most years, but Christmas....Oh how I love thee.  Right around the 1st of November I start bringing up putting up the Christmas tree about ever 5 seconds.  I usually wait until at least the weekend before or of Thanksgiving though, just so I don't look too crazy to the neighborhood.  And since we've had 1 day of 1 inch snow so far this year, it doesn't really look like Christmas outside, so my urges have been a little calmed...a little.

So, Thanksgiving night I climbed into the attic to get out our pre-lit tree...only to be reminded by Matt that I had made him throw it out last year because A) The pre-lit lights had stopped working (though the tree gave us 5 good years) and B) I had wanted to force Matt into being pro real tree this year.  But, since we're leaving for vacation right after New Years, it seemed kind of pointless to get a real tree for the first time when we could only enjoy it for a month.  So I dashed off to Walmart and picked up a new fake-pre-lit tree, which I plan to use for the next few years.  (Real trees also make me nervous with having a crazy tree climbing cat and little boy dog in the house).

And then Sunday after Thanksgiving I forced Matt to hang out with me while I decorated the tree with a psycho perma grin on my face.  I seriously love decorating our Christmas tree every year.  Matt isn't invited to help out, just sit and watch so I can meticulously place all the decorations in place.  Remember I mentioned psycho?  But I love it. :)

Last year I picked up all new ornaments, which are white, silver, and sparkly.  Normally I am not a sparkly person, but for Christmas I make an exception.  Here are a few of the unique ones (sorry for the blurry pics...when not using the flash, our camera is sometimes blurry):

Found at Pottery Barn two years ago.

A gift from Momma Deb the year we got married "Our First Christmas Together 2008"

I always heard it was good luck to have a bird ornament in your tree...

So I got two...This feller is new this year. (From Target)

A pizza ornament I got for Matt last year.

This beast is my favorite...I think because it reminds me of

living in Northern MN when I was younger.

And of course our pickle ornament which was a gift from Matt's parents :)

The rest of our indoor decor is pretty simple.  I always pick up a couple bags of Joann Fabrics cinnamon scented pine cones.  I put a huge bowl of them on our dining room table and also a smaller bowl by the front door.  They really make the house smell holiday-icious.

And here's the other indoor decor we have going on here:

Yeah, we get pretty crazy around here.

Here's the tree again...because I love it so.

Any other crazies that love Christmas sosososososos much?????  I know I can't be the only one.

~S~

A little privacy, perhaps?

So, those of you who have been to our hone may remember our naked windows throughout the house.  And naked windows = neighbors seeing naked people in our bathrooms.  Whoops.  Probably should have made window treatments in the bathrooms a priority over mums in flower pots.

So, a couple weekends ago, I decided to get off my butt and make some curtains.  Yep, I said make.  I had wanted to put up some dark brown bamboo style roman shades in both bathrooms, but all of our windows are very wide, and I couldn't find anywhere thay sells our window sizes off the shelf.  (By the way...I had an estimate done for custom shades.....$385 per window!  PLUS installation!  Pass.)  I had four white linen curtain panels just sitting in our linen closet, not being used (they used to be on the living room windows, but then I accidentally washed them in hot water, then dried them...and they came out about a foot shorter and looked weird) 

Sooo, I measured both bathroom windows and realized that I could use one panel for both of them.  I cut them to size, leaving 2 extra inches on all sides, since I was going to hem them.

I folded over about an inch, then pinned and ironed the edge, so it would be crisp, then folded it over again, so the rough edge was completely hidden on the backside.

Now, once I had the crisp edge, I pulled out some iron-on hemming tape , pressed it underneath the hem (making a hemming tape sandwich with the fabric)....

Then ran the iron over both sides of it, creating a nice and clean no-sew hem.

And at this point I just realized that I haven't show you an update on the bathroom progress...for oh about 6 or more months...which is sad because the bathroom was the whole reason Matt and I started this blog to begin with.  Well, here is the current paint color, which is Sherwin Williams' Foggy Day color matched to Glidden's Premium Interior (Young House Love had bragged about Glidden's in the past so I thought I would give it a whirl since I'm not too attached to any paint brand.  Verdict?  I would say a 7/10...good, but not amazing.)  Here is the naked picture.  Children advert your eyes.

Here's a wider shot, so you can enjoy the color against the floors.

Do you love it?!  How about now?



I said, do you love it?!  I really don't care if you do because I would marry this bathroom if Matt ever comes to his senses and leaves my crazy, nutty butt.

Here's the downstairs bathroom window....I forgot to get a picture of it before hanging the curtain.  Now, this window is in the corner of the room, so I wasn't able to have two curtain panels, so I hung the rod about 6 inches farther over on the left side, to create a one sided curtain pull-a-ma-bob, instead of two.

We're painting this bathroom in a month or two, so the baby poop green will be gone soon.   I used a curtain rod I already had in the fancy bathroom and picked up three $5.00 curtain clip packs from Target to spread out over the two windows.  Oh and I picked up another curtain rod for the green bathroom for about $5.00.  Total investment for two bathroom windows to have curtains....about $20.00.  Not too shabby when that $20 is compared to the almost $800 a certain big chain department store would have charged us.

I realize it's maybe a little odd to have curtains like th eones above in bathrooms, but all of the curtains in our house are white, hung on the same rods, with the same clips...which I think gives us nice cohesive look throughout the house.

What do you think?  Are you happy your bare butts won't be displayed all over our neighborhood anymore?  I know I am...who knows about the neighbors though.

~S~

The only reason I hate Fall

First off, one of the main reasons I love Fall....the gorgeous changing leaves on the trees.  Seriously, that is one major thing I would miss sososo much if I ever moved away from the Midwest (besides I guess my family and friends).  Here's a couple pictures I snapped of the giant tree in our backyard on Thursday morning.

Here's Casa de Kendall looking rather Casa de Carrot Top

Notice anything else amazing above???  The tree bush is gone!  Matt and our neighbor took a chainsaw to that mo-fo a couple weeks ago...and we have not missed it's scraggley butt for one second since.   Here's a close up on the extent of my fall decorating ( If you know me at all, you would know that I am not much of a seasonal decorator)

Notice anything else amazing in the above two pictures?  We're putting in a stone retaining wall!  Stay tuned!

Those mums started off a nice deep red color...but then I sort of forgot to water them...like not even once since I bought them weeks ago (I did water them after this picture though).  We've always hated our front door, mainly because it looks like a side door, or a door that would lead into the garage, not the main door of your house.  We've thrown around the idea of purchasing a new one, with a higher up window for more privacy, but I think for the time being we're going to paint this one (weird, I know) and maybe do something to the glass for more privacy...possibly foggy a stencil design?  As far as paint goes, I am in love with all doors yellow, but alas a bright yellow door would clash pretty badly with our red shingles, so I'm thinking of a deep burgundy, like the house numbers.

Another reason I love fall?  Cute puppies playing in the leaves.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering the answer to what I hate most about Fall?  Well, all those beautiful leaves have to go somewhere, don't they.

That's only about half of them too, the apple tree is still full and green.  Here's our neighbor's yard for a comparison.

Seriously, not fair.  Our's again:

Raking is one nasty annoying job, but someone's got to it...And that someone's name is Matthew.

Oh, and you should stop by my good buddy Moe's blog too TheParkland Project (She's also fixing up here house and blogging about it).  Happy Fall!

~S~







Behind closed doors

I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE looking in other people's medicine cabinets, linen closets, kitchen cupboards, and refrigerators to see how they organize it all and what kind of products or food they have.  LOVE IT.  So, if I have ever been to your house, it's very safe for you to assume that I snooped in one if not all of the above mentioned places...probably more than once.  And definitely will again.

So, when another blog I like to read, Young House Love, recently showed the inside of their fridge, I decided to copy suit and show you guys around our kitchen cabinets and fridge.  And speaking of fridge...we have a new one!  Not brand new from the store, and not new to Matt, but new to our kitchen.  Confused?  Well, it's the in-laws old fridge, which they very graciously unloaded onto us when they got a sparkling new one.  Our old fridge came with the house and is probably at least 10-15 years old, which is no big deal, but the freezer has always had a problem with leaking water and creating giant icebergs of ice all over the inside.  And the freezer never really stayed as cold as we would have like it to.  Which made my paranoid brain all crazy with contaminated fear of the frozen meat not freezing enough to be safe to eat.  Ahhhh!

Anyway, Friday night Matt went off to Hillsboro and picked up the fridge, then came home and drove his truck into the backyard (so awesome to see a truck in the backyard, seriously.) and we unloaded the newish fridge into the kitchen, and brought the old one out to the garage (to hopefully be sold on craigslist).

Ok, so I never actually got a picture of the black hole fridge in the kitchen, mainly because it just looked like a giant black blob in all pictures, but check out the stove/microwave area, and then picture a fridge looking about the same way:

Here's the fridge space, minus said fridge (view from the sink):

And the view from the stairs (going up, to the right of the photo above):

Matt kept saying how big the kitchen seemed without the fridge in there, which it did, but alas we need a fridge.  Here's the new (to us) fridge all plugged in and cleaned up!

Show stealing dog vs cat fight going on at this time too

So, as you can see from the above picture...all of the other kitchen appliances are black (stove, microwave, and dishwasher), so the newish fridge definitely does not match at all, but we figure unmatching appliances for a couple months is muuuch better than a leaking freezer.  And it also gives us a chance to try out the side by side style of the fridge/freezer, vs our old freezer on top-fridge on bottom style.  So far I'm liking it ok, I like not having to bend over to look in the fridge, but the inside feels a lot smaller, with the fridge space being about half as wide. So it's a good trial run for this style (since we plan on getting a new fridge this winter).   Here's the inside shot, for you nosey types ( I love nosey types):

As you can see, we aren't extreme freezer users, but it's good piece of mind to know it will all stay frozen now.

As you can also see, we are extreme condiment users.  And speaking of extreme condiments, here is what the counter tops looked like, after the old fridge was emptied out:

Yeee gods.  We ended up throwing out about 1.5 garbage bags full of expired condiments, left overs, and old food I had forgotten we even had.  Case in point, there were three different bottles of bloody mary mix in the fridge, all opened and all expired.

And just for the heck of it, here's the inside of our other cabinets, starting with the food cabinet, which is the upper cabinet, to the right of the stove/microwave:

And yes I'm psycho about all the labels facing front and everything being straight.  Like my owl toothpick holder?!  Mamma Deb gave the to me after I mentioned I am nuts about owl stuff lately. :)

Here's the corner cabinet, to the right of the one above, which hold our plates/dishes:

We received the black dishes as a wedding present (Momma Deb again) and I love them (but they chip really easily), and hope to transition over to white dishes at some point...I'm thinking I'll add a little bit at a time (hence the white bowls).

Here is the third and last upper cabinet, to the right of the kitchen sink, which houses our glasses/mugs/glass ware...And yes I have two Dunder Mifflin coffee mugs:

We also have three drawers in the kitchen, and here they are....I think you can figure out what each one is used for:

Top:



Middle:

And bottom:

There are also two bottom corner cabinets, but they are a disgrace right now and need to be organized, so you're little butts will have to wait on those.

But what do you think of the new-ish fridge?  Do you like having a side by side or are you a freezer on the bottom or freezer on the top person?  Do you like condiments a little too much like we do? :)

~S~