Picture This

Mr. M. bought me a new camera for Christmas.

I was amazed at how much better it is than my old one.

It takes pictures of my home as I really see it.

I love my new camera.

My dinning room on Christmas morning.

This is the naughty corner where children go to think.

This wreath hangs all year round by the kitchen window.

Paper whites in the kitchen window.

Please tell why one is growing and one is not.  They were planted at the same time.

The kitchen doors to the dinning room.

I love how much light these rooms get.

A favorite quote from the movie Pride and Prejudice on a chalkboard in the hallway.

Favorites around the house.

The front door entrance.

Arbor House Lane.

The house as it looks each morning, with all the trees brightly lit.

Mr. M. has been told by fellow neighbors that our house lit up in the morning makes them smile on the way to and from work.

As you can see we did finally get some snow.

The kids can't wait to get outside and play.

Thanks for stopping by to see random photos with my new camera.
How about you?
Playing with any new Christmas toys?

End of the Year Parties.
Vintage Inspiration Friday- Common Ground
Feathered Nest Friday - French Country Cottage

Merry Christmas

I guess it is a really good thing I asked Santa for a camera this year.

My camera is broke.

I can't get the zoom to work.

Nothing is in focus.

Here are some pictures I managed to salvage.

This snowy picture is from Friday.

Arbor House lane all covered in snow.

We were all happy to see snow on the grown.

It makes it feel so much more like Christmas.

I was able to upload some of the pictures that turned out ok.

This is the new tree in the basement.

I decorated it in golds.

Normally I would say I am not a gold person but I really like it.

The dinning room is all ready for guests to arrive.

My favorite snow angels hanging in the hallway.

The living room Christmas tree seen through a mirror in the room.

The mantel in the kitchen.

My white amaryllis is almost in full bloom.

An urn filled with silver and white ornaments on the kitchen island.

Christmas in the kitchen.

All of my lights are on timers and the trees are lit up each morning as I come downstairs. 

This is what I am greeted with as I get ready for each day as I make my morning coffee.

Thank goodness Santa said I might be able to open a certain Christmas present early.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, me, I have to work today, but I am thankful for a wonderful husband who can stay home with the kids and get our home ready for Christmas Eve guests.

Merry Christmas to all!

A Christmas Look

This is my Christmas look.

I can see this tree from the office while I am on the computer.
You can see my son's head as he sits in one of the chairs watching a Christmas movie.

This is the picture I took last night while on the computer.

So bright.

So merry.

So Christmasy.

I love how the red pops on the tree even though every color in the rainbow is on it.

I love how the lights reflect in both of the windows.

You do not need any extra lights on in this room, the tree does it all.

Oh and I am still just loving my new wood floor.

I hate to say it, but, I am looking forward to the after Christmas because I know we are going to do

MY OFFICE FLOOR!

oh yeah way excited!

A little display on a table next to the tree.

I have pretty much finished decorating the house and I will try to get pictures of the house this weekend.

Oh and I have lots of wrapping.

Merry Christmas all!

Christmas in the Dinning Room

Dinner by Christmas tree light.

Now that the living room furniture is out of the dinning room we can get back to our nightly dinners in the dinning room.  I have found a solution for the messy kitchen table filled with homework yet to be done.

You see, each night we would have the battle of having the kids clear the kitchen table so we could eat dinner.  Then after dinner they would have to get all the homework out again to finish.

Homework takes a couple of hours in this house.

I can't send them to their rooms to work at their desks, because I am no fool, the work would not get done!

I do split them up to do their reading, one in the study, one in the living room and one in the basement.

The majority of the homework needs help by mom or dad.

While dinner is being made we read off spelling words or explain a math or grammar problem.

By eating in the dinning room the kids do not have to clean up the kitchen table until the work is done.

This makes life much easier and I am all for the EASIER in life!

The kids really like eating in the dinning room, it makes them feel more special.

I must admit, it makes it so I have to keep the room clutter free.

This weekend I hope to have all the decorating done so we can concentrate on Christmas cookies.

I hope of you are enjoying the Holiday season.

Oh, and Santa, if you are reading this, 

I could really use that Canon Powershot SX-500, it would help with my blurry pictures.

  Just saying it is on my Christmas wish list.

On With the Decorating

Bringing back the Christmas spirit.

The floors are done!

LOVE IT!

I knew the new floor was going to look great with my slipcovered furniture

I spent most of the weekend painting walls and trim.

Once I had that paint brush in my hand I just wanted to keep going.

If there wasn't a holiday coming up to get ready for, this whole house would have gotten painted.

I had forgotten how easy it is to paint trim when you don't have to tape first.

The final tree is up in the living room.

This tree has so many lights I actually had a Griswold moment, bamm no more lights.

 I blew the fuse in one of the extension cords.

I fixed the fuse, rearranged some of the plugs and now it is just beautiful.

I don't think you could fit another ornament on it.

That makes a grand total of ............

12 trees

I love this big silver bowl filled with a mix of vintage ornaments on the coffee table.

I have not finished decorating but at least now most of the furniture is back in the living room and we can walk into the dinning room.

Thank you for all your kind words. 

It was a rough weekend for Mr. M. and reading them meant a lot. 

I hope everyone is enjoying getting their trees decorated, making cookies and all the fun to be had at this time of the year.

Oh, if you have any extra snow, send it our way........this is Buffalo and we got NO SNOW!

Always Remember to Tell Them You Love Them

Mr. M.lost a very dear friend and fellow fireman today.

It was so sudden.

He was never able to tell his boys one last time that he loved them.

He was never able to give his wife one last kiss.

He was never able to tell his family how much they meant to him.

He left before he could say goodbye.

In this Christmas Holiday time when tempers can flare, patience is thin and we are all so busy.

Remember ...........

to tell them you love them.

New Floor Love!

The floor is in and we just love it.

Mr. M. stayed home Wednesday and laid down the Southern Pine 

with our nephew helping, or the other way around.  

Due to having in floor radiant heating, they had to glue and top screw in the wood.

Friday I came home from work to find it all stained, boy did it stink.

Saturday and Sunday we put several coats of poly on.

If the room did not flow into the already stained hallway, I might have tried to just sand and wax.

This is how I plan on leaving the upstairs bedrooms.

The lighter floor will look nice against the darker walls.

Fresh laid pine flooring before stain.

Newly stained floors.

We both love the look of the wood against white walls.

I can only imagine how good it is going to look with all the slip covered furniture. 

As you can see the walls need some touch ups.

We also still have to put the quarter round back on.

Although this picture is a little fuzzy and on the red side.

I wanted to show you the transition from the old wood to the new wood.

The new wood is a little on the lighter side, however the hallway has been re-stained in the past few years.

The old wood has lots of wear and tear from children, animals and just plain old 15 years of use.

We couldn't be any happier with the way it turned out.

The wood we used is Southern Pine from Lumber Liquidators.

The price is right and we were able to order on line and pick up the next day.

In fact, we are so happy that we plan on redoing the upstairs hallway and all of the bedrooms in the same wood.  

This week I am painting the living room, both the walls and trim, same color, still love my white.

Then over next weekend we can move in all of the furniture and put up the big Christmas tree.

What a wonderful project this has turned out to be.

What a wonderful Christmas we gave ourselves and our home.

Save the Decorating for Another Day

Just when I thought it was safe to bring down ALL of the Christmas decoration boxes.

THE FLOOR WOOD HAS BEEN DELIVERED!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, this weekend instead of putting up the living room Christmas tree.

We moved furniture and ripped up old carpeting.

As much as I know how much hard work is in store for us. 

I CAN'T WAIT!

Mr. M. is at Home Depot right now picking up the glue.
We don't waste time.
Today he and I will get a big jump on laying down as much of the wood as we can.
I thought it would take longer to get started, but he is as excited as I am.
We had almost the whole room empty and the old carpeting out by noon on Saturday.

Not much left to do, move the plant, vacuum the floor.

We only have the pine armoire to move today.

Soon the living room will look just as good as the hallway and dinning room do.

Thank goodness I have most of my Christmas shopping done.

Because I will need the time to be sawing and sanding and screwing and staining.

Hopefully we will have this done in two weeks to give me plenty of time to finish decorating for Christmas.

This is the best Christmas present ever!
Well, almost, we got engaged on Christmas 14 years ago.

I hope you had a great weekend too!

I am Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for Mr. M. my pie man!

The kids are thankful for the pie man!

While we were at school and work he made pies all day.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and some pie!

Getting Ready for the Holiday

I am joining the new WHITE party BLISSFUL WHITES WEDNESDAYS at Timewashed.

I am almost finished getting all of the trees up.

Now I get to make them special.

I love looking through my boxes to see what new ornaments or decorations I bought at the end of last years Holiday season.

Take a peak into the dinning room.

Dinner by tree light is always the best my kids will tell you.

Looking at the front door from the kitchen.

Looks like Santa had to much spiked eggnog. 

One of my favorite decorations.

A simple snowman. 

An ornament from years past I made for the kid's teachers.

The staircase decorated with new linen stockings I made last year.

Are you having fun getting out your decorations?

Each box is like opening a Christmas present, so much to decorate with and trying to figure out where to put it.

Oh, I wanted to give you an update.  

I was a good wife and did not rip up the carpeting, although I think he secretly wished I had.  

Then he wouldn't have to do the work.

We are replacing all of the carpeting in our home with pine floors, however, the wood we want is on back order and will not be in until December 20. 

 I may be crazy but I will wait until after the holidays to tear my house apart.

Anyway, who doesn't love a good cleaning, organizing and DIY project in January.

Make sure to stop by and enjoy all the wonderful whites at Timewashed.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!