Windsor Chairs and Table

I was in Austin today running an errand and happened to go right by a store in which I had some items consigned so I decided to stop in and see if they had a check for me. 

No check, but I found a wonderful table in just the right size for my breakfast room with a really good price tag.  Not only that, but it included four Windsor chairs that I just love. 

After checking it out thoroughly and exchanging several texts with my husband, I bought the table!

I pick it up tomorrow and cannot wait.  I hope I can sleep tonight I'm that excited.

The set is maple.  The table is 58 inches round with drop leaves and includes table protector pads and two nine or ten inch leaves that store inside the table.  The absolute best part is that this table is almost exactly like the one I grew up with.

I'll post pictures as soon as I can but for now I'll leave you with these pictures of Windsor chairs posted by Elizabeth of Blue Clear Sky and Holly of Holly Mathis Interiors.

Ethan Allan from Blue Clear Sky

Holly Mathis Interiors

Cindy

Spring Break Update

I have 8 young people staying at my house this week.  We're having a great time and they're all getting a much-needed rest . . . well except for the yard work I hooked them all into doing. 

Removing 600 square feet of sod

And moving lots of stone from our driveway to the back yard.

And that's not even all the stone.  They were great.

Then they got to play.  But the water was really cold in the unheated pool.

Last Saturday, we made the required pilgramage for everyone new to Texas.

For the uninitiated, this is the Alamo.

Remember it!

These are the boys at the Alamo waiting while the girls did their shopping.

This is the possum we watched while the girls were shopping.

And the Santa convention we saw at the River Walk after the Alamo.

We're having a great time!

I hope to get back to crafty stuff and decorating next week, but for now, I'm enjoying having all my kids home and four of their friends here.

Enjoy your Spring Break!

Cindy

Spring Break

I have big plans for Spring Break next week.  First of all, my four kids are coming home for the whole week!  That is so cool!

Along with them will be many of their friends.  Friday night is when it starts and we'll have 6 young people ranging in age from 17 to 28; two girls and four guys.  By Tuesday, one will have left and two will have joined us. 

Then to crown it off, on Friday we're having a Par-tay!  I think we'll at least double the number of young people here.

I am so excited!

But to be practical, I've been planning how to sleep that many people.  We have three guest rooms with sleeping room on beds for 5 people.  We'll also have 5 floor pads, a queen size inflatable mattress, some sleeping bags, lots of sheets and blankets and lots of floor space.  Sleeping taken care of.

We have one 40 gallon hot water heater and lots of teens and young 20s here who'll want/need to shower daily.  I plan to have a shower schedule they have to use.  Showering taken care of.

Next to consider is feeding the crowd.  I have a menu planned that includes easy and inexpensive food that kids that age like to eat. 

Here is the dinner menu:

Friday - French Bread Pizza for late night snack after all arrive between 10 pm and 12 am
Saturday - Tacos (I cooked the meat today) with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatos and shredded cheese
Sunday - Pork Loin on the rotisserie, canned baked beans, green beans and rolls
Monday - Sweet & Spicy Pork Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw - recipe found here
Tuesday - Spaghetti, salad, french bread
Wednesday - Bean Burritos, fruit salad
Thursday - Mac 'n Cheese, apple slices
Friday - Party! Nachos and Tacos with Cilantro Lime Rice and popcorn for munching

My boys leave on Saturday so I'll just have three left to feed and I figure we can eat leftovers.

I plan to make lots of cookies and bars for munching and desserts.  My daughter is a cake decorator so will make a cake for the party on Friday. 

I'm planning on making lots of quick breads to have on hand for breakfasts.  I'll definitely make my Grandma's Banana Bread as it's always a favorite with everyone.  I think I'll make pumpkin bread and apple cinnamon bread too.  Then there'll be eggs including boiled eggs for the non-cooking ones.

I'm hoping there'll be dinner leftovers for lunches and I'll expect the kids to serve themselves.

OK, that sounds like the food is taken care of.

Then to keep them entertained - as if they really need me to do that - I have a project planned for the yard.  Since we just moved into a new house we need to add plants to the backyard.  My husband recently planted two apple trees and two peach trees across the back fence.  I plan to remove the grass from the back fence to about 10 feet out and put down three inches of mulch.  That way we can also plant shrubs and perennials there and limit the amount of mowing needed.

Removing grass is a big job, as is picking up and spreading mulch.  My youngest son and daughter have agreed to help with the job.  Two of their friends will also help.  I like to say that hard work is a good use for a young person. 

I plan to post some 'before' pix in the next couple of days and then some 'during' and 'after' pictures when we're done. 

Because of the crowd and the back yard project, I may not post as much in the next week but I'll be back.

What are planning for Spring Break?

Cindy

It's a Small World

I like to check the statistics of my blog on a daily basis to see many different things such as how many pageviews I've had today, this week, this month, who is referring to my site and which are my most visited posts among other things. 

One of the stats I can see is in which countries in the world my visitors live.  Just recently, I've had visitors from the US, Canada, Australia and the UK which I would expect because we are all english speaking countries.  But I've also had visitors from the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, India and Hong Kong! 

I would like to say a special thank you to all of you who visit me on a regular basis from any other country than the US!  Welcome to my blog and please enjoy yourself while you're here.  I hope I can give you a little peek into how an American lives. 

If you are visiting from another country, please consider leaving a comment even if it's in your own language.  I would love to hear from you!

Cindy

My Home - A Tour

OK, I finally took some pictures of my home to show you.  We moved in December 30 and I have just about everything in place.  Sorry, this is a picture heavy post.

So, without further ado, my home:

Standing in the entry looking past the dining room alcove, toward the family room at the back of the house.

When you look to the right from here, this is what you see:

Hallway to the three secondary bedrooms.  There are two rooms in the front of the house to the right, the 'front bedroom' and the 'craft room', the bathroom is straight ahead and another room is to the left and is called the 'back bedroom'.

The front bedroom with a queen size bed.  That's a quilt in the process of being pieced together.

The pattern of the quilt is the 'Handy Andy' and is for my youngest son, Andy.

The wall opposite the bed.



The drapes in the front bedroom.  I made them 10 or more years ago for the dining room two houses ago, used them in my family room one house ago and they are now in a bedroom in my current house.

Now brace yourself because I'm going to show you my craft room.  I don't ever do my crafts in my craft room because I prefer to do crafts in the kitchen or family room.  It's really my craft storage room.

Are you ready? 

OK

I'm cringing.

I plan to make it look pretty but need some $$ to invest in better storage.  It is really convenient and I'm in there getting something or putting something away all the time.

I just needed to keep it real.

This is the opposite wall with a twin size bed and game storage.  I really need some storage with doors.

OK, now for the back bedroom:

Another queen size bed.  The drapes are made from Covington's Bosporus Toile.

I got the fabric on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $4 a yard.  I love it!



Old family pix hanging in the hall to the back bedroom.

Secondary bathroom.

Some close ups. 

I got this metal shelf at a thrift store for $1.97.  It's all rusty and I originally planned to paint it, but I really like the shabby, rustiness.

Back to the entry.  The dining room alcove is to the right.  I blogged about it here. 

The music room is to the left.

Just outside the music room.

This is a view from the family room back toward the entry and past the dining room and music room.

I blogged about my family room and kitchen here, my breakfast room here, my laundry room here and my entry here.

Thanks for bearing with all my pictures.  The only room you haven't seen yet is my master bedroom.  I'll get to that at a later date.  I gotta keep some mystery!

Cindy


I'm linking to the following:

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesday's Treasures

Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday

I got sidetracked

I promised pictures of my house today but got sidetracked and so have to apologize for not getting them up yet. 

The reason for getting sidetracked is because the house across the street that is under construction had two big piles of limestone blocks just waiting for us to cart them across the street so we can use them in our backyard. 

And, yes, I did get permission from the builder.   They were just going to throw them in the landfill!  I'm being a good steward of the earth and all that.  I'm also a big scrounge and will take any landscape supplies I can get for free.  My kids and I laid a beautiful, cottage brick patio all from free brick at our last house. 

Under Construction 2005

2009.  Needed a little weeding.

And I made a patio and walkways from free chunks of concrete at our house before that.  Why pay for it if you can get it free! 

Today we got about half of the rock moved between making a twin bed frame this morning (pix at a later date) and my husband's concert this evening.  He plays violin in a symphony orchestra.

We'll get the rest tomorrow.  Whatever we leave after that gets hauled off on Monday so I plan to get it all.  We're thinking of using it for stepping stones and edging flower beds.

When that is all done and I take some pix of the inside of the house, I'll start getting them up.

In the meantime, thanks for the patience and have a good Sunday!

Cindy

I have a confession to make . . .

. . . I've been afraid to show parts of my house because it doesn't look like what I see on other blogs.  I have it mostly done and put together since our move two months ago and I really like it.  But I was afraid to show it for fear that others might not like it. 

So tonight, I decided that I just need to show it and not worry what other people think.  I need to be me.

I have lots of furniture out and pictures on the walls because this is a down-sizing house.  We kept what we could and decided that hanging pictures on the walls is the best way to store them.  Besides, we really like our pictures; they all have sentimental value to us. 

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to start featuring parts of my house that didn't show up in previous photos.  I'm also going to show the changes I've made on the parts I've already shown. 

Stay tuned . . .

Cindy

White Kitchen Cabinets

I love white kitchen cabinets.  I had them in my last two houses and plan to paint those in my current house . . . someday. 

I keep a file of kitchens that I love so I'm including some pictures with white cabinets that show how pretty they can be.  Note that these kitchens all have different styles ranging from country to elegant but they all have white cabinets.

I hope you enjoyed these kitchens.  Happy March!

Cindy