Just a quick post to let you know about a fabric giveaway at Material Girls Quilt Shop.

It ends today so hurry up!

One of my biggest problem areas at my house is my living room.  It has a funky {not in a good way} layout and really, the couch can only go in one place.  Sad, I know.  So after 5 years of the same arrangement, it was looking pretty stale.  I was in a rut.

So I begged  respectfully pleaded with my cousin, Wendy, who is a very talented interior decorator to come and give me some ideas on how to tweak my house so that it looked and functioned better.

I know that I had before pictures somewhere, but now I can't find them, so these will have to do.

Look past all the beautiful people to that sad, sad living room.  The couch usually doesn't go there, but I was trying it there to see if it would work.  It didn't.

In this one, you can see that the chairs are sort of back where they usually are, but kind of just sit over there, all lifeless and blah.

So you can see, I really needed some expert advice.

Wendy came and we just moved a few things around. 

Then we moved them back. 

Then we moved them out and brought things from other parts of the house in.

And this is what we ended up with:

Now I know some of you are saying "That really doesn't look much different than it did before."

This is true. 

The furniture is placed in pretty much the same location, but notice we swapped out the black chairs {that I never really loved} for these two other chairs that I already had in different rooms. 

 It feels so different.

We took the plant off of the table and added a lamp, some photos and the frog.

{This is my favorite part} we hung fancy-framed artwork in the faux fireplace.

We brought in some of my favorite things to the mantle

We brought this great comfy chair from downstairs and placed the cheetah ottoman in front of it.

{more favorite things}

It may not look completely different, but the room feels different because new life was breathed into it.

Thank you, thank you Wendy!

I'm thinking maybe I'll make some slipcovers for the chairs to lighten things up for spring/summer.  What do you think?

If your rooms are feeling stale, don't be afraid to rearrange, replace, remove, and add the things you love that are hiding in other parts of the house. 

Be fearless!

My cousins decorating business is called Good Egg Interiors.  Her rates are reasonable and she is great to work with.  If you would like her information, send me a note and I will get you hooked up.

To coop or not to coop? 

That is the question.

I've been trying to get over my aversion to raising chickens.

From a self-reliance standpoint, I think it's a great idea.

But I also have lots of concerns.

#1-The mess.  Those of you who already have chickens, what is the mess level?

#2-Taking care of them.  Is it a huge commitment to feed, care, and clean up after them?

{can you tell i'm worried about the mess?}

And most importantly,

#3-Where the coop would go and how it would look in my yard. 

Superficial, I know, but the yard's just starting to look nice and I worry about junking it up.

With something like this:

I've been trying to find some nice coops to inspire me. 

What do you think of these?

samsworkshop.com

...I bet I can totally talk my husband into building one of these chicken mansions...

If we get chickens, I'll probably end up with something in between.

Does anyone know of any cute coop blueprint sites?

Scattered.

That's how I feel lately.

Here are a few of the things I've been up to:

I made a new spring wreath.  I wrapped cream burlap around a grapevine wreath and added some forsythia.  I'm not sure how much I love it yet.

I made some more flowers.  I do love these.

I've been working on January's block of the month {yeah, I know it's March} from Chitter Chatter Designs.  I still need to finish sewing flowers on and then embroider the whole thing.  And do February's block.  And March's.

I've been planning and gathering stuff for our upcoming Relief Society Birthday celebration.  We have a pioneer theme this year and these are table toppers.  I think it's going to be a fun night.

Here's the invitation.  Jamie Holt and I made 140 million of them yesterday.

And remember this sad little window?

I finished the shade for it.

I  picked up this shelf at the thrift store.  I have big plans for it.

I've also been busy chasing after these two little crazies.

{He and his brother were preparing our FHE lesson on Abinadi...:)}

...and to top it all off, I have a major case of spring fever...

Oh yeah.  Remember my pledge to have my office orginized three weeks ago?  I haven't gotten to it yet.

{sigh}

Uh oh.  Yesterday I realized that I have become THAT mom.

Yep.  The PB & J mom. 

3 times a week. 

I should have seen the warning signs.

My kids telling me about their friends' awesome lunches, and the occasional "I traded...", and the stomping whenever I mentioned peanut butter...

I should have figured it out. 

But I didn't.

Because who doesn't love a good PB &J? 

Apparently my children.

So I need some lunch ideas. 

Quick.

February has been brutal.  In a good way.

At our house, we have 3 birthdays in February.  Birthdays are fun and exciting and special.  They come with fun surprises and gifts.  And cake. 

{This was a chocolate mint ice cream cake for Jesse's birthday}

{This was a yummy Snickers cake that Tyson and Mindy Dye made for my birthday}

{This was Bella's cookie brownie cake}

A single birthday cake from time to time is really nice. But 3 birthday cakes within two weeks of each other--plus Valentine treats and a chocolate torte for a church activity, not to mention miscelaneous goodies--

{Valentine cherry pie}

I think you get the picture.

We have had more than enough treats this month.

We are soooo ready to move on.

That's why I was so excited to pick up my very first Bountiful Basket on Saturday.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous when I went to pick up my baskets of fruits and veggies on Saturday morning, but it was pretty painless.  I had pre-ordered and pre-paid online the Monday before, so they just handed me a box and checked my name off of their list.

THIS is what I got!

There is a ton of food here!

I had to immediately wash everything because my kids pounced as soon as I walked through the door. 

I also had to clean out my fridge so everything would fit.

My meals and snacks this week will be centered more around the fruits and veggies, and it will be way easier to whip up a great salad with all of the neat stuff that came in my basket.  I know I could just go buy at the grocery store, but I don't.  And I certainly couldn't get all of this food at the grocery store for the price that I paid for the basket.

I have already ordered my basket for next week and can't wait to see what is in it.

Click here if you want more info on Bountiful Baskets.

Today I find myself in the middle of 7 or 8 projects. 

As you all know, I've been going through a little organizational and decorating crisis.  This stems from my long-held manic assumption that my husband would finish grad school, find an amazing job in an exotic location and we would move into the house of my our dreams.  While holding this assumption {and nurturing it with healthy meals and lullabies} I stopped caring about my current house {why bother if we are just going to sell it, right?} and decided to put off organizing things until we moved and were happily settling into our new home. 

POP!

{that was the sound of my bubble bursting}

Sometimes things happen differently than you expect in life--not neccessarily for the worse, but long story short, we are not moving. 

And I have neglected my house. 

And now it needs me.

So today, I thought I would show you my next project.  This is another one where you might want to scroll past fast if you have any heart conditions.  This is our office.

Nice, huh.

I've decided to show you all this fine photo, because now I have to clean it.

I, Kathy, promise to whip my office into shape within one week of this post.

There.

Another project that I had written off was dressing my kitchen window. 

Here it is.

So, so sad.

I recently purchased the perfect fabric for a nice valance.  This will also be completed this week.

There are many, many more things to do in this house. 

I also have some other projects going on.  Here are a few of them:

I need to finish making my son's birthday cake,

I'm waiting for the fabric to finish this quilt to come in the mail,

and I need to finish getting these Visiting Teaching Messages ready for everyone to make at Relief Society on

Thursday night.

What've you guys been up to lately?  I would love to see your projects.  But I don't know how to let you link them up here.  Does anyone else know how?