Art For Nursery

You might say I'm becoming a little obsessed with "all things baby" since our daughter recently found out she's having another baby in January. Her twins are 10 so while this was a complete surprise, we are sooo excited to add another member to our family. That being said, both Shannon and I have started Pinterest boards and I've been pinning like a crazy woman. If you'd like to see some of my ideas, you can check it out here. If you'd like to see Shannon's board, you can follow along here.

This week I was in Hobby Lobby, land of all things cute and 40-50% off, and lo and behold when I came around a corner, I saw the ca-utest pictures for a baby's room. I'm not tech savvy enough to know how to take a picture and text it to her so I called her and told her I was going to go ahead and buy some things for her "approval" and if she didn't like them, I could always return them. But I'm her mama and I know what she likes!

 "All of God's Grace In One Tiny Face".....love!

When she saw these, she said they were just what she had in mind. We think they are gender neutral and will work for a boy or girl.    THEN, I was in a flea market yesterday checking out my favorite booth...this guy (yes a man's booth) has some of the best stuff!   I saw an old fashioned changing table already painted a pretty shade of gray and seeing as how this will be the only piece of furniture we have to purchase for the room, I went ahead and bought it too!   Oh, I did text her a picture of it by having my 10 year old granddaughter giving me step-by-step instructions while I was on the phone!

                                                                     (source)

This is not the table I bought but looks almost identical to it including the baskets.   All the other furniture is dark cherry wood (previous baby bed) and bachelor chest.   I thought a painted piece would add interest to the room.

The baby's room is the smallest room in their house....now used as the twin's play room....but we think we've come up with the best way to arrange everything.    Of course, we can't wait to find out what she's having...hopefully no later than August....then the decorating can commence (my grandmother used that word a lot and sounds soooo Southern to me)!

I played around a little on Polyvore and came up with a very loose version of how the nursery MIGHT look....this site is addicting!

This was my first attempt to create a "mood board" and I'm not sure the room will look anything like this but what I do know is she wants to use the colors of gray, white and turquoise mix, and of course, throw in a monogram somewhere!   I kinda think this looks more like a little boy's room but if she has a girl, we will be sure it will reflect her girliness!    We are trying to work with most of what she already has and not spend a ton of $$.    Taylor was promised a room makeover for her 10th birthday back in May but in light of the new baby news, that got pushed to the back burner a little bit.   Luckily we had already purchased new things for her room before we knew about the baby and she's been promised her she will still get her "new room!"

This Sunday my mom will turn 94 years old!   Three of her four children and a good many grandkids and great-grands will be celebrating with her at her favorite Mexican restaurant and then having cake and ice creme back at her assisted living residence.  

Hope you all have a great weekend!

First Look at "New Baby"

I just wanted to pop in and share the first official photos of "New Baby"...that's the name we've given to grandbaby No. 5 until we know what it will be...hope to find out in August. If you're new here, our daughter is 10 weeks pregnant. Her twins turned 10 on May 21st so this was a bit of surprise.  After getting over the initial shock, we are all excited. I thought I'd do what I've seen other bloggers do and try and document her pregnancy...I'm hoping to get a weekly photo (please indulge me) but might be more like monthly.

She stopped by to pick up Taylor this afternoon so these were taken in a hurry...she was tired and my house is a mess!   Her husband and son were waiting at the office to head out to the ballfield...I think she planned to go home and take a nap!

So without further, ado here are her first photos...10 weeks this week.

10 weeks

 I love this next photo of Shannon and Taylor....

This baby will have two mamas, well, three counting me!   Taylor is going to be an awesome big sister!     

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.   We're off to spend the day tomorrow at the lake with our son and his family for a spaghetti dinner and getting out on the water on the boat....hope the rain holds off!

Friday Favorites

I would love to say that I'm going to start posting Friday Favorites every week but we all know that would be a big fat lie so what I'm going to attempt to do is post my favorites every month...hey, at least I'm trying!

First up let's look at some of my favorite reading material.   Many years ago a fellow co-worker introduced me to Anne George's books.   Ms. George passed away several years ago but I still love reading her books over and over..   Part of the charm is that her stories are set in Birmingham and the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area....two places dear to my heart.    The main characters are two sisters who are as different as night and day...."Mouse" (who is based on Anne herself) and "Sister" her older and much larger sister.   They get into a lot of mischief and while it sounds strange to say they are murder mysteries, there is nothing gory or sad about the murders...an oxymoron, I know but true.    Her books are styled as Southern Sisters Mysteries.

                                                                             (source)

Now that I've reached a "certain age" with that hopefully has come some wisdom...I'm talking about tanning!  In my youth I baked every summer using iodine and baby oil and I was one of the lucky people that tanned easily.    Then later in life I started using the tanning bed.   Now that I know the dangers (and stupidity) of that, I began my search for tanning lotions that (1) didn't have that awful smell (2) worked in a reasonably short amount of time; and (3) didn't cost and arm and a leg.    I've used several products over the years that I was pretty happy with but the one I'm using now is hands down the absolute best I've ever tried!    All the reviews were at least 4-5 stars so I ordered my first bottle about 2 months ago.   I knew my sister and I were going to the beach in May and neither of us wanted to look pasty white.   As a wise attorney friend used to say "tan fat looks better than white fat"!

                                                                         (source)

This stuff is the bomb-diggity (I've been seeing some of ya'll use that term and I think it fits this product perfectly - whatever bomb-diggity means)!   It's a little pricey (I think $30 for the bottle?) but, depending on how often you use it, can last a couple of months.   I just ordered my 2nd bottle this week as I was almost out.    By the way, I ordered mine from Amazon.   I get a good tan during the summer up on the lake but for some reason my legs don't tan anymore like they used to....so I only use it on my legs.    When I came back from the beach I had used it the night before we went and once there.   I'm telling you, my legs were so dark I couldn't even believe they were my legs!    Git ya some!

I found this fabulous recipe here and I couldn't wait to try it out.   I tweaked my recipe a little.   Instead of grilling the chicken I tossed several chicken tenders into a baggie.   In the baggie I had a packet of Buttermilk Ranch Seasoning mix and added some creme.     Shook up the bag and baked the tenders on 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes (depending on how many tenders and your oven will determine how long to bake yours).   Oh my gosh, ya'll, this stuff is delishious!

 I melted 1/2 stick of butter in a large skillet, added about 1 tbsp. of minced garlic and when the butter was melted I added a small bag of spinach and a carton of cherry tomotoes that I cut in half.   Stir that all together until blended.

 Next I added a small carton of creme (next time I'll add a little more) then stirred it all again

Finally add the penne pasta to the mixture.   I cooked a whole box (12 oz) because I plan on taking some to my daughter's office tomorrow for her lunch (aren't I a good mama?!).    After the chicken baked, I cut it up in bite size pieces and added it to the skillet along with grated parmesan cheese...lip smackin' good ya'll!   Basically, just follow Jenny's recipe and tweak it to suit you....I don't believe you can go wrong with this recipe.

My super smart granddaughter introduced me to this app for my phone.   Please don't tell me ya'll already know about it....I'm always the last to know....but in any event, we love anything monogram and right now I'm loving chevron so put the two together and what do you get?   Monogrammed chevron phone app (lame joke) but I bet you'll want one for your phone too!   

 

She downloaded the Marley Lilly app and from there you choose your backgrounds and fonts.   I can't wait to play with mine and change it up (she'll have to help me because I was driving when she did this and have no idea what to do)!

                                                                           (via)

Apple App Store Link: http://tinyurl.com/k5ubyj6

Google Play App Store: http://tinyurl.com/nytywoe

When my sister and I were at the beach a couple of weeks ago one of our first stops was Old Time Pottery (my husband calls it Pottery Barn)....we were strolling through looking here and there.  I really didn't have anything specific I was looking for but you never know what you'll find there.    We came around a corner and practically bumped into this cart that was piled high with the most fabulous things....including two gray and white chevron stools.    

The lady was standing nearby and I asked here where she got them and she said she got the last two (boo)!   BUT she said she was getting them for her new beach house to use as seating for her kids and if they didn't work, she would call me if I'd give her my phone number.    The next day she DID call saying they didn't work and she was returning them to the store the next day at 10:00 a.m.    The only thing was I didn't get the message until 3:00 the next afternoon but since we were out I rushed over and sure enough, there they were!    I only got one with the intention of using it in one of the guest rooms that will be getting a makeover in gray and white but it looks good in my kitchen too!  

I'm going to do a separate post on beauty products soon.    Oh, I do have one more "favorite" to share...this past Monday my daughter went for her first sonogram and we saw only one baby!     If you are new to my blog, my daughter has boy and girl twins that turned 10 on May 21st...the next day she found out she was 9 weeks pregnant....surprise!    Of course, we still don't know yet if it's a boy or girl but you can bet I've already got a pinterest board started which you can see here.

 Hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend!