If It's Not Useful

It should at least be decorative.  (and if it's only useful not not decorative~throw it out and find something better. That's my motto. If a lawnmower came in aqua with stenciled bags for the clippings, I'd buy it without even thinking twice.  But I digress. And so early in the post, too!)

A friend gave me this cute little fan. He said it was just sitting in a box in his garage and he thought he'd give it to someone who would appreciate it. 

Moi. 

At the time he gave it to me, it worked. Very well, in fact. But the cord was in bad shape so I got all ambitious and decided to give it a new cord. 

But when I opened it up, I quickly realized that it was beyond my DIY skills. I mean, have you ever seen anything like that? It's not like rewiring a lamp, that's for sure. So I removed all the guts. I felt great remorse for disemboweling this poor fan. I'd turned it into something completely non-funcional. It seemed slightly criminal.
But hey, it was still cute. Why not make it even cuter?

 In fact, why not make it so dang cute that most men just couldn't take it?

 "Girly Industrial" is a real style, right?

If not, I might have just invented it. (And now I have to go switch the base around. I didn't realize until I saw these pictures that I'd put it on backwards!)
Thanks for reading!

What Could Be Better?

Seriously. What could be better than friends who give you junk? 

(Ignore the hay bales~that's not the junk I'm talking about.)

Take a look at the rest of what's back there. 

Old doors! FREE old doors!

A few with some pretty cool doorknobs. 

Some came bedazzled and with inspiring words. (Which will come off.) 

And some just came with words.

(Which will also come off.) 

source

Here's what I'm thinking. My husband's office has NO bookshelves. None. 

So.....can you see it?? (in black?)

I Love Decor Steals.

I really do. 

They have some really cool things for sale sometimes. 

(here's a link. Yesterday's steal was SO cute!) 

 Like this little galvanized chicken feeder.

Cute, right? And it's not all super shiny and fake looking. 

(look at the handle on the lid. It looks rusty.)

It's just the right size for those little single use SOS pads. 

 So I hung it by the kitchen sink. But it would be great for cotton swabs, too.

And in other news...

 I found this old oar at an estate sale. It was pretty much covered in mud and I couldn't really see what was underneath. It was only a dollar, so I brought it home thinking I'd paint it. 

But then I washed it. 

I kind of like how it looks the way it is. I may whitewash it later, but I don't want to cover up the wood completely. 

It's going in the bathroom. 

Have you found any thing good lately?

OK, Here It Is. The Truth.

I'm tired.  Of blogging.  (I know. How can I say that? Blogging is a joy, a creative outlet, the best hobby there is!)  But it's not you! It's me! Really!  You've all been so great.  (It's my fault.I wish I'd had the foresight to only blog once a week from the outset, but I didn't. It was every day. Then it was 4 times a week. Now it's more like three and I'm struggling with even that.)  So I'm sure this confession doesn't surprise a lot of you.  My tiredness is showing and it probably has for quite some time now.  So here's the deal.  I don't want to just quit. Because I do remember when blogging was so much fun and if I just quit, I'll most likely regret it.  I'm going to try posting once a week.  On Thursdays. Just to see if I can get some of my mojo back. To see if I can keep up that pace.  And who knows?  Maybe it will inch up to twice a week.
See you next week!

The Five Best Pieces Of Advice I've Ever Gotten

That I actually listened to.

Here you go~in no particular order.

1. Marry a soft spoken man. (Advice from my Grandma Bertha when I was 17, after she confided in me that her first husband was a shouter.)
2. Never tell anyone what you don't like about yourself, because if you do, that's all they'll ever see. (Advice from a high school friend. She's was so right.)
3. If you marry for money, you end up earning every penny. (Advice from my Grandma Peterson. I believed this so wholeheartedly that I never was tempted to test that theory. But she also said "It's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man." So I think you could sum this up as "Only marry for love.")
4. Do your hair and makeup every day. You'll feel better about yourself. (Advice from a high school teacher. She was also right.)
5. Just because you know why someone is treating you like crap doesn't mean you have to let them.(Advice from my sister after she listening to me gripe for a long, long time.)

What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

Top Post From 2012

It's funny~I didn't expect to get much traffic from this post.  I liked the project, but I really didn't think it would be a big deal. 

But with over 200,00 hits, it turned out to be the most viewed and the most pinned post for 2012.

Coming in second~

Yup. The same only different. I made some fun garlands out of these colorful string flowers.

And third

Was actually a repost of some rice krispie treat kisses. 

But those weren't my favorites. 

I liked this project for

aging and darkening galvanized metal.

The downside~it only seems to work on really hot days. 

I also liked this wreath. It made a pretty big statement on our porch.

I also really liked this metal orb made from whiskey barrel rings. It also looks good on the porch. 

And because I forgot to show you sooner, I'm going to show you the centerpieces I put together for that Christmas banquet.

My husband helped arrange everything, and he actually did this one. He was very proud of himself. As he should be. :)

I ran out of red ornaments, so I used just gold in some of them.

Total cost? About $4 per centerpiece. 

Thanks for reading!

Too Cool

I was really spoiled this Christmas. My family was very good to me.

 My oldest daughter gave me these drawers she found at an estate sale. 

Aren't they cool? 

source I want to do something with them....

source

And I'm not opposed to painting them. 

What do you think?

This Is When I Love Winter

You see things during the winter that you don't see any other time.

I love it when it looks like this.

 The cows don't like it much. Maybe it's the ice goatee.

 Or maybe it's just that

 they have to wait for help before they can get a drink.

Yup. Frozen solid. Solid. It was that cold. 

This hawk didn't look too happy, either. 

 But I think it's beautiful.

 You have to be quick to get pictures of frost like this. As soon as the sun comes out, it drops off. 

Ten minutes after I took these pictures, it all started to disappear.

But it was beautiful while it was here.

Sunsets are also pretty spectacular. It's like the snow is on fire. 

Thanks for reading! 

Happy New Year!

Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word. 
Goran Persson