0 Outdoor DIY Recycled Art

After my husband brought home our new outdoor rug, I noticed other areas of our outdoor area started looking bare.  Unwilling to pay anything for outdoor decorations that are just going to be worn and damaged by the elements, I immediately started googling and searching Pinterest for some DIY outdoor art.

At first I just wanted something to hang on the brick wall because it looked so bare with the bright outdoor rug and cushions.  I didn't want to pay $80+ for an outdoor clock.  I searched and searched, but couldn't quite find the project I wanted.  But in the meantime, I did happen upon cute little DIY ants from golf balls.  The ones I found were on Craft Klatch and were black.  But living in Georgia and also already having a red theme outside, I thought red fire ants would be cute.  My husband had plenty of old golf balls in the bottom of his bag, and there are PLENTY of wire hangers on hand from shopping consignment sales :)

You can head over to Craft Klatch for the full tutorial (it's even got a video).

It wasn't until after I had painted the red fire ants that I realized... I now have red outdoor spray paint.  And I have some metal and wood wall art in my bathroom that has never quite looked right in the bathroom.  Hmm.. I might be on to something here.  My mom happened to be over so I threw out the idea to her, what if I paint these red?  She was hesitant at first and then finally replied with "Well, you can always paint back black over them if they don't turn out right."  Not exactly the enthusiasm I was hoping for, but it wasn't a "No, that's a horrible idea" and since she had actually bought these pieces for me many, many years ago, I felt like I should at least clue her in to the spray paint shower they were ready to take.

So I took them outside immediately and started spraying them before I lost my nerve.  The second the first coat went on, I knew it was perfect.  It adds some flavor to the blank brick wall and works perfectly with the red cushions.

0 Outdoor Living Space

Our outdoor living area is coming along quickly thanks to my rock star hubby who has basically been out in the yard every night after work.

It's funny, I used to think people who had outdoor rugs were ridiculous.  After all, it's the outdoors it should be rugged and rough and whatnot. BUT then we experienced our first springtime with our little 10 month old. And now suddenly an outdoor rug seemed like a great idea to protect from splinters on the deck.  Funny how quickly a mindset can change.

So one day a couple weeks ago when I got home from work, my husband had a surprise waiting. He had our deck set up with an outdoor rug I had noticed at Sam's Club a few days earlier. I must say, it totally changes the look of our outdoor living space and I. LOVE. IT.  Mind changed, completely.

We also picked up the two end tables at Sam's. They double as storage for our patio furniture cushions.  If we didn't hide them away every night during this time of year, they would be yellow cushions, not red.  Ahh, pollentime in Georgia. But the end table storage is a tremendous help because previously we were constantly hauling the cushions inside to a closet to protect them. It's so convenient to have the storage right there.

I don't love the throw pillows, but they actually came with our original cushion set that was destroyed within Year 1 from the elements.  So they're free.  I saw some cute ones at Home Depot the other day that were blue with red seahorses and I think would look great.  Maybe they'll go on sale...

And we're still not sure what to do with the "coffee table" in the middle.  It also originally had a cushion that went on top of it that was destroyed.  We need to come up with something to put on top of it that makes it functional as a copy table.  We're just not sure what that is yet.

I would say baby girl approves of the outdoor rug.






In fact she may like it a little TOO much since she's throwing a tantrum for having to sit with mom and dad.



And remember what the backyard looked like before?  This & This.

Now it's starting to look more like.. THIS (again, thanks rockstar Hubby.)

0 Kindermarket Week Again!

It is funny how things come full circle. When I was little I HATED going to yard sales with my parents. I used to pretend I was asleep when they'd open my bedroom door on Saturday mornings, so that maybe I could delay going a little longer. 

But now we are bargain obsessed. It's been a long, cold winter no matter where you live. Even in Georgia where we only see snow every few years, it's snowed twice. So there have been no weekend yard sales for months. 

Now that it's starting to warm into the 70s on the weekend (although weekdays are still cold) the yard sale season is kicking off again. Hallelujah!  And the mother of all bargain finds was last week... the YMCA Kindermarket. There are over 400 sellers bringing all their little kid clothes, toys, equipment, etcetera. I even volunteer to work a shift, so I can get first shot at buying.

But I have w problem. When I see a good deal ($1 or $2)... If can't say no. So I walk away with this....

Oops!!  I guess I'll never have to say my baby girl has nothing to wear this summer?

0 Springtime in Georgia - Our Backyard

The minute the first 70 degree day hit here in Georgia (which, ironically, was only a few days after our epic ice storm), I started itching to make our backyard a more comfy family hangout.

When we bought our home, the yards in general were a giant mess.

You can sort of get an idea from this old aerial photo.  We have no grass, just dirt.  The front yard is a very steep hill, so no play area there.  And we're on a corner lot, so our backyard faces the side of our neighbor's house, which limits play area in the backyard.  The house is also positioned strangely, where no area gets very much sunlight.  That factor becomes increasingly frustrating every year when we're trying to pick out flowers to plant and everything I like the look off is a "full sun" plant.

Up until now, none of this has really been too big of a deal though.  Our first year in the house we built a giant deck, and other than when friends are over, we've hardly used it.  We've always just been out and about more than at home hanging out.

But baby girl changes all of that.  She loves to be outside, loves to play on the deck.  She looks out the windows with so much enchantment of everything out doors.  So, of course, I want our backyard to be more appealing while we're hanging out there with her.  I also want there to be more play area for her, even though at the moment she only moves around on all fours.  She's so close to walking.  I know by this spring / summer she's going to be walking around.

We're using this new motivation to clean up the backyard.  There was a lot of undergrowth and trees in the backyard area that we DO have, which made the backyard look even smaller.  My husband and his trusty new chainsaw from Lowe's have been clearing all that out.  He even signed my nephew up to help while he was over hanging out with us this weekend.

I'm sure if she was big enough, baby girl would help daddy out too

Last night we retrieved my husband's old fire pit that hadn't been used in years and years and years and even had a little bonfire and s'mores on the back deck.  Today was another 70+ degree February day, and we cooked some of my husband's secret recipe burgers (best burger you will ever have, guaranteed).

Kiddos learning to make the secret recipe burgers

And here's a couple of views of the backyard as it stands today.  You can see it's an immediate view into our neighbor's garage.  Hopefully we can get some evergreens to put at the property line (which is almost their driveway) to give a little more privacy. 

And this is off the back corner of the deck, the most insulated part of our property.  My husband cleared this area out and it's where we hope to put a swingset.  You see I wasn't kidding about the dirt part either.

1 I'm back... and not as good a blogger 6 as ever... and I wouldn't haveit any other way

I'm back!

I miss blogging.  Why have I been MIA for awhile?

Because I don't have time to take DSLR-quality photos.  Because I forget to take before photos.  Because when I want to do a project, I don't have time to photo document every single step.

But I want to keep blogging.  Why?

I recently ran across some of my old diaries from when I was growing up in my Mom's attic.  It was so awesome to read through them, and be taken immediately back to moments from when I was 8, 9, 10, 11... years old and remember things that hadn't even crossed my mind in 20 years.  Those events and moments would have all been forgotten forever if someone hadn't given me my first journal, and if I hadn't been diligent about writing everyday.  I'm so thankful that I can forever look back and remember those moments.  They'll never be lost, because they've been written.

And even for last year, there are many parts of my pregnancy that have already flown out of mind.  Going back through the blog entries brings me back to the day I wrote them.  And I want baby girl to be able to read through and see the photos one day and see exactly what was going on in our world as we were getting ready to welcome her into our lives.

So I'm back.  Because I want to save my blog entries, and I want baby girl to be able to look back one day and know exactly what was going on in our world during her first years on this planet.

So here's to low-quality iPhone photos, more special moments than projects, more links to I-copied-how-this-blogger-did-something than tutorials of my own.  Because life's about more than keeping up with the Joneses (blog).

0 4 Months, you must be kidding me!

Our little angel turned 4 months old last week!

It is amazing how quickly she is changing.  Sometimes it seems like she gets bigger every night.  She responds to us with whole-face smiles that absolutely melt your heart.  Her daddy can make her break into the cutest giggles you've ever heard.

I've always heard little girls have their daddies wrapped around their little finger, but this little mess definitely has BOTH her mommy and daddy wrapped around her's.

And because this little baby has WAY more cute dresses than any baby her size needs, we did a wardrobe change halfway through taking her 4 month photo...

0 I'm back and it's Gameday!

Well, I meant to take a month off from blogging to adjust to going back to work, but that turned into 2 months. How quickly time flies!

Now we have a 4 month old baby who gets chunkier every day. It's so hard to process how fast she's growing. 

Our little dawg is ready for Gameday today and I'm working on some posts for this upcoming week. Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend and stay tuned!