Been UNDERWATER

What a beautiful lake right? IF it were a lake! This is a local field....

Wishing I was snorkeling or scuba diving....instead I'm trying to salvage precious baby pics

doing 85 loads of laundry

Anyone wanna come by and help fold some laundry? I'll have the vodka lemonades ready!

and prepping to wash the entire basement down with bleach

Here you can see the water has covered one step completely and is creeping up to the next one...

This was MILD compared to the disaster that came as 18" of water rose....the rubbermaid's started floating and fell over....all we could hear was crashing and banging as boxes fell...

As of now we have thrown away 6 garbage bags full of stuff **UPDATED A wicker toy chest, an old oak bookshelf, a vintage record cabinet, another 5 bags of trash, my newer timelesss sofa and loveseat, 3 pre-lit Christmas trees*** ....a ton of ruined craft supplies (thank you Tia for the Michael's Gift Card....that'll help start to rebuild my craft stash. Anyone with fab holiday projects send them my way! I'm going to be a crafting maven!), ruined holiday deco (some handmade)....it is so sad to me....

In spite of the miserable flood, we still entertained (as we were having a bbq to break in our new patio). Some of my FAB ideas fell by the wayside, I didn't get too many pics of the food set up BUT we enjoyed good friends and good food....isn't that what it's all about at the end of our days?

We also had a lil Birthday celebration for me (thanks Jule)

looking for the rainbow at the end of our rain.....

Summer Swap

Mommy Holly http://mommyholly.blogspot.com/ hosted a kids summer swap! My lil guy was paired up with Jackson, Elise's son at http://www.nestsweetnest.blogspot.com/. Mickey was SO EXCITED when he realized the package on the porch was for HIM! The bubble wrap was part of the fun! All kids LOVE that stuff!

Isn't this bucket CUTE?

Thanks Elise and Jackson for all the cool stuff (water bat & ball, Animal flashcards, Chalk, bubbles, a Matchbox car and the adorable bucket).

Ridin Along In My Automobile....

The town of Pecatonica has a big car show each July. I am girl who LOVES themes so OF COURSE I had to make a travel/car/destination window! The boutique walls are a creamy vanilla color which is PERFECT for most backdrops BUT I wanted to funk it up a bit SO, I hot glued atlas pages to the wall (they are easy to remove as I tried one BEFORE I went crazy) and used it as a focal point (this will also stay up for the August "Back to School" window). I also think it's a lil Athro-ish!

NEW Garden Tour 2010

Tracey at http://acottageindustry.typepad.com/a_cottage_industry/ A Cottage Industry is hosting her annual.....

I am so EXCITED to participate this year as I am in a new home....a BLANK canvas....

WELCOME

(for this project check the previous post)
This is how our house started out....builder stock shrubs (we did KEEP the lilacs but will be moving them at some point) Builder stock plastic shutters.....WE installed the copper window boxes in EARLY spring....

Ahhhh, getting better.....some flowers in the boxes....(these were from a $5.00 hanging basket....so $2.50 a window box...not too shabby)

After digging the 3 shrubs up, we laid all our plant material out prior to planting (we had shopped 2 days before and had such a GREAT time my guy and I....I love that he gave input and seemed to enjoy creating our garden as much as I did)
We saw these FAB thick n hearty shutters in a patio book and we KNEW we could build them....Here's my guy installing them....(you can see the old shutter he's removing vs. the new FAB ones)
What a difference!!

Now onto the backyard....We had a stamped concrete patio poured out there. Here is the (semi) before.....

And the next day....the furniture is on the patio BUT WOW, where's the character? The warm welcome?

You'll have to come back to see how I warmed it up....what I did with this lil guy....
and where all these STEAL of a DEAL perennials and herbs went (when I say steal we are talking between .10 and .25 a plant)
Come back and see the as finished as it'll be this summer back patio (we are hosting a party next weekend so the pressure's on)

We Live Here....

I whipped this cute lil personal addy flag out while at the boutique yesterday! I saw it on another blog's crafty party and I can't remember her name or blog BUT did leave her a comment (if you're out there, leave me a comment and I'll put YOUR link up!) *****EDIT**** Thank you LaKeta at One luckee girl http://1luckeegirl.blogspot.com/2010/07/placemat-flag.html for the FAB inspiration! You ROCK girly!
Start out with a Dollar Tree placemat (these are really FAB thick backed cotton mats that have a linen look)...print out the font and size you want the numbers to be....trace them onto your mat (after you've folded over your loop to put the flag through)....color in with a permanent sharpie - EAZY, PEAZY lemon squeezey!

I am NOT a sew-er SO I thought I'd give gorilla glue a shot! (if you do use this method, put a piece of foil UNDER the mat in case the glue bleeds thru....use something to hold together....I just placed my mason jars fulla sugar and flour on top) It DID hold the fabric together BUT left me with this....
No worries because then I get to use THESE....to embellish

Hmmm, sure wish y'all were closer, I needed an answer in a jiffy.....the red didn't look so good when laid against the turquoise, I'm sure the white with black polka dots would've been SWELL but a girls gotta stay true to her inner kitten....

I used some of this on the end of the ribbon so it wouldn't fray....

Come back in a month and I'll let ya know if it held up :) I highly recommend giving it a try....you;ll have a fun unique addy marker (unless you and the neighbors get together and make one), it's inexpensive and adds a FUN pop to the front yard!

Linked up here...

Off to check out all the FAB lookin projects I saw when I linked up!

Road Trippin'

On Sunday my guy, the kids and I hopped in the car and headed to Galena....I asked if we could sidetrack and go to Dubuque cause there was this store called "Willows" that is always at the Sandwich Flea and has the BEST displays evah! Being the sweetie he is, he said absolutely! While in search of 4th Street, we perused through Main street Dubuque....FOUND Willows (did y'all hear me shout YAHOO!?!) and at the end of the street was this....

Fenelon Place Elevator Co. The SWEETEST lil' midwest OPERATING cable car I've ever seen! Fab story....back in the late 1800's, as the story goes...."in 1882, Dubuque was an "hour and a half town" in that everything shut down in town for that amount of time during the lunch hour. J.K. Graves, an area banker who was a former mayor and state senator, lived at the top of the bluffs. His office, however, was at the bottom. He would go home during the lunch hour, however the trip would take at least half an hour. He liked to eat then take a brief nap, but as he only had 30 minutes he found doing both impossible.

So he came up with the idea of building a railroad from the bottom to the top of the bluff. He approached the city for permission to build an elevator, which was granted. Graves hired John Bell, a local engineer, who built a funicular railway modeled on those in the Swiss Alps. Originally, the cable car, which was built for Mr. Graves' private use, was in a plain wood building, with a coal-fired steam engine boiler and winch. A Swiss style car was lowered up and down on two rails by a hemp rope.

The cable car operated for the first time on July 25, 1882. Graves would have his gardener let him down in the morning, pull him back up at lunchtime, let him back down after lunch and a nap, and finally pull him back up at the end of the day. Soon neighbors began asking Graves for rides."

Isn't that some AWESOME history?!

There were the most AMAZING views from the top....Here's a self portrait of my guy and I.....

While we waited for Willows to open, we went into this sweet lil ice cream shop.....

Peanut Butter filled Piggies (I have NO IDEA where my piggy obsession came from BUT I think they are just adorable!)

Iowa Pig Pops

And TA-DA! Me in front of Willows!

(be impressed it was my guys' idea to take a pic of me in front of the store...isn't that CUTE?!)

Now be disappointed as I am a horrible tourist....didn't take any pics inside the store....I was too enamoured to even THINK about a pic!

Cute sign on Main Street in Galena...and eat we did...HERE

Fried Green Tomatoes....http://www.friedgreen.com/index.cfm

It was DELISH!

Thanks for coming along! WHO knew Dubuque was such a cute lil City?!?! We WILL be going back! Maybe Fall? I bet it's gorgeous there that time of year!

A lil blue....

...paint transformed these.....

I threw a green water goblet into the mix as I plan to make a tier tray like Julie did here.... http://www.joyshope.com/2010/06/carnival-of-tiered-trays.html

What a pretty ensamblage.....don't ya think?

I just L O V E my piggy with wings! I am newly infactuated with pigs with wings....go figure!

HAPPY FRIDAY peeps!
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