Happy Friday!!! 

After the day I had yesterday (Broncos winning notwithstanding) I couldn't be happier for the weekend in front of me. 

Poor Jack has a terrible ear infection that is causing him soooo much pain, which is just heart wrenching since there's not much to do about it.  He went to the doctor yesterday and started antibiotics which hasn't erased the pain yet.  We give him ibuprofen and special prescribed ear drops for the pain but it does little to soothe him.  It's awful.  I don't think there's anything worse than watching your child suffer.  At one point Jack was bawling to my mom to just kill him, it hurt so bad.  Yeesh.  Meanwhile Dylan has been having an asthma cough during the night as well.

So here's my list of reasons why yesterday stunk so very much:

~I was exhausted from lack of sleep due to sick/in-pain children
~Stella (the new dog) decided to paw slap me in the face when I woke up
~Our shower head is broken and the metal clamp we use to keep it in place fell and landed right on my pinkie toe.  FROM SHOWER HEAD HEIGHT!!!
~I was late to work
~My co-worker is out sick so I have to do the work of 2 people
~I spent a half hour filling out paperwork at the doctors office, went halfway back to work when my mother called to inform me that they couldn't see him without the insurance card, which was at our house
~Drove to and from the house and was stuck behind the slowest people on the planet  going both directions

So basically it was just the worst morning ever.  The day did get better though and we were able to go out to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Broncos kick the Ravens butts. 

But enough of my belly-aching.  I teased on Wednesday that I was going to try my hand at burlap wreath making.  Well wouldn't you know, I went right home and got to work.  My mother suggested I use wire hangers to make my wreath frame, so that's what I did. 

Ugly little sucker, isn't it? lol

As you can see, I bent the hangers into some semblance of circles and tied them together with twisty ties. lol  Pretty ingenious, right?

I cut my linen burlap into strips.

First attempt was terrrrrible. lol

After my first attempt I was obviously not satisfied and had almost decided to just give up but I figured I'd give it one last try.

A little better!

"A little better" is about the only commendation that I can give it.  Hey, you can't say I didn't at least try  to MacGyver it...  I looked up the wreath frame on Hobby Lobby's website and it's only like $2 so I think I will invest in one and try again.  To be continued...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and please pray that Jack's pain goes away.
~Holly

Said with all the attitude of, "Why don't you cry about it?". Maybe I will  then!  This convo hasn't technically happened to me, it just popped in my head.  lol

I was just sitting here looking on Pinterest working and contemplating my next project.  I believe it will be a burlap wreath for our front door.  I found a good tutorial here http://pinterest.com/pin/30047522487165257/ from blogger Katie Marie over at All Things Katie Marie. 

Katie Marie's wreath.  So pretty!

 I just happen to have some linen burlap at home.  It looks like burlap but it's actually made out of linen.  It isn't in a 4 inch roll like the tutorial calls for, but I'm thinking I can cut it into strips and make it work.

Also I'm wondering what else I could use instead of buying a wire wreath form... You see, I'm suuuuper cheap. Seriously though, nothing gives me greater joy than finding random stuff in my house and making something beautiful out of it for little to no money.  I think the most expensive stuff I've bought in my whole "re-decorating my living room" kick has been paint.  Not too shabby, I'd say.

Anyhoo, that is what's on my mind today.  I'll keep you posted on my wreath project progress. ;)

Happy Hump Day!
Holly

P.S. Did I just post a blog entry 2 days in a row?? Say whaaaa?  I'm pretty sure that's a first. 

Hello everybody!
     I hope y'all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  I sure did.

Last week I got the urge to try some pallet art.  Thank you, Pinterest.  Luckily for me, my work uses pallets and we just happened to have a few out back that were damaged so they let me take one.  Score!  The one I chose had 5 usable boards, which were a pain in the ankle to take apart.  I say pain in the ankle because that's what was injured in the board removal process.  Dan was hammering the boards to get them off the pallet and I was bracing it from the other side... in flip flops... and bam! the board flew off and got me right in the ankle.  You can't say I don't suffer for my art, I've got the bruises to prove it. ;)  Anyhoo, he finally got all the boards off.


I did a light sand with our electric sander because these guys were quite splintery let me tell ya.  Then I slapped on some white paint to give it a white-washed look.


Easy peasy.  I like the nail holes, I think it gives it character.  So then I hand wrote out the phrase I wanted, which of course, I got from Pinterest.  I wrote it with a grey sharpie because I figured it was light enough to paint over if I messed up... which I did. lol  After that I painted over the sharpie with the same navy blue paint I painted our front door with.

Happened to have a small, long board on our side yard which Daniel cut into two pieces to attach the boards together.

I stole these picture hangers from a frame we had that we don't hang. Yay free hardware!

Here's the space before my art was hung...

Big ol' blank wall.

Drum roll please......

Tada!

I'm in looooove with it!  Not only was it free, but I get the supreme satisfaction and pride knowing that I made it.  What did we do before Pinterest I ask you?  I love DIY projects.  My living room/dining room are decorated mostly with things I made or re did.  All the framed photos we have are ones I took as well. 


I'm sure Daniel was expecting that pallet to live in our garage for months like so many projects I have waiting in the wings.  I have a medicine cabinet in the back of my car that I picked up for free from the RE-Store.  Not sure what I'm gonna do with that just yet.  So I'm especially glad that I knocked this project right out. ;)  

Can't wait to paint that piano...  But I'm thinking that'll be a surprise project when Daniel's outta town for work. That project won't be free either since I have to buy paint and some new brushes.

Have a great week!
Holly