Faux Flocked Frasier Furs, and Other Such Things...

Ok, so i'm really enjoying saying faux flocked frazier fur... I'll stop soon, i promise...

Anyway the tree is up... and for some reason, it's really hard to photograph... but here are some shots of it... i wanted to do all white, but the pink fairy always comes in and dusts my tree with pink, and then she adds candy canes... oh well, it can't be helped... a pink fairy is gonna do what she's gonna do...

I found this sweet little wreath for $5.00 at Home Depot, it was for their black friday sale...

It needs some flocking too... but i'm gonna try to settle for some of that spray on snow that you can buy at Wal Mart for a dollar..

I had some bits and peices of ribbon, and tied them all together with a twist tie, so the ribbon is quite a mix

and a sweet friend surprised me with me this glitter "Nest" today, so i just stuck it  on the wreath...

Here is a little vignette in the corner, i've been trying to use things i already have...

i have no idea what that string thing is that is hanging from the front of the little vignette...

my photos are filled with strings, dust, random pieces of paper, whole foods bags... 

i'm really not that great at the staging photographing part of it all, i just don't really "see" this stuff, visually i see the whole picture, not details...

I messed around with the mantel a little more... Wonder how many times this will change before Christmas...

The kids came over for Thanksgiving tonight, and i made their favorite, pecan pie with chocolate chips, it's epic... 

To decorate the table i had some random glass jars, and i added dollar store peppermints to them.  This really looks pretty if you have some of those tall glass jars with lids, like the kind you see at TJ Maxx all the time for nine to 12 bucks... they're  beautiful done in different heights in groups of three filled with peppermints...

I had this shredded pink paper i got somewhere, and added it to the jar...

 and a few chocolate covered cherries...

It was my funnest Thanksgiving in a long time.  My daughter (she's 21 now) actually looked at me and talked to me.  We were playing on the computer listening to some pretty songs, and she sang some songs for me, she has a beautiful voice and she likes opera!  This is the daughter who was a Bon Qui Qui double, rap queen with semi criminal mind...

  I think everyone has seen Bon Qui Qui, but if you haven't please watch...  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZkdcYlOn5M 

  

When she was younger she used to sing... but 

between the ages of 13 and 18 when she was a psychotic teenager and pretty much out of her mind.... 

she stopped singing...

I never knew why,...

but she has found her voice again... 

 ...wow... that was the best thing ever for me...

  My son who is 24 now and is about 95% "normal, but the other 5% is Aspergersy... came too, and he was drinking beer, and sneaking vodka shots... add Aspergers and alcohol and see how much fun you have if that's your kid.  

Anyway, he was really sweet, and thankful, and got all emotional when Ellie and I sang together 

we hate it when he is buzzed and emotional...

 and Ellie and i just looked at each other like "kill me now" 

and Ellie informed me that I used to say that alot when they were young and we were in our house all together...

...terrific what kids remember...

you could connect an iv with your blood directly to them, and save their life and die right in front of them as you sacrifice your one and only life to save theirs..

but what they'll remember is the fact that you said, 

"just kill me now"   ...alot...

Anyway, it was one of my most wonderful thanksgivings ever.. it's been a hard year, and i am really thankful that we were together in all our dysfunction... 

It was us, and no one will ever get us like we do...

the end

Pulling Out the Christmas Stuff... and I'm NOT One of Those People Who Packs Things Neatly Away Every Year...

So, it's fun decorating for the Holidays, except for the part where i have to drag big bins of Stuff out of the closet upstairs, which is loaded with lampshades, baskets, tangled silk flowers, boxes, candlesticks, a rotted pumpkin, (don't even ask),  halloween spiders, wrapping paper,  pillows, fabric, and other stuff i'm sure i will need someday.... that is if i were brave enough to enter to find what i was looking for...

...oh man, what a mess... 

Anyway, first victim to get a big pink bow, this cute little TJ Maxx lantern... 

Everyone has a lantern now, i know, and i've resisted, but i saw this one and folded... i do like it...

the pretty little ornament is from Marshalls...

I know, i know all my photos are so blurry, everything is done with my iphone camera, and me being ADD and rushed...

I found this darling little wooden platter made from hand hewn wood at a local shop, and couldn't resist it, but  i can't really find a place for it..., 

so for now i just propped it up on the mantel....

Do you see the Merry Christmas sign?  I got it from 

Paula's Etsy shop Castles and Cottages, 

and Oh my god i love it... 

for now it's just propped up too...

along with the tinsel that is going to go on the tree...

(we'll pretend we don't see the tag still on that candlestick)

this is the prettiest tinsel ever, and i don't know where i found it or i would buy more... 

I wanted to show you a cute pillow cover my friend with the little shop found at an amazing price, 

so i grabbed one to try... 

I usually don't like red, but i do like a coral red... and these just caught my eye, and darn if i don't like it... !

I heard her talking to a lady in her shop the other day, and they were saying how everyone should have a touch of red somewhere in their house... and i was like hmmmmm... really??, it made me think... that's why i grabbed this pillow cover, and stuffed a pillow in it...

I got my other arch for the bedroom this weekend, so i'll send pics soon, i'll try to get some that aren't blurry ... 

here is my new inspiration photo from  Aiken House and Garden  Her little cottage is decorted for christmas, and it is AMAZING! 

I hope she dosen't mind that i show you this photo...

you HAVE to go look!..

The end....

New Painting Hot Off the Easel...

Hey!  Those cows are staring at me!

Ok, whatdya think... I started this painting a month ago, and was really frustrated with it, so just let it sit and gave it dirty looks, like how am i gonna make you work???   

Finally settled down to mess with it today and i'm feeling it's pretty much done... i tried to be a little imperfect with it all, and a little more loose...

but looking at it now on this post, i already see something else i want to change on it... and i've lost my light..

oh well, i will just have to wait till next weekend... which is aggravating as anything!

of course i added a touch of pink to the whole thing...

And now i'm gonna go bug Mr. Fairytale... and get him to pull down my faux flocked frazier fur... first time i've used that many F words in a row...

(without someone having to cover their ears...)  

...oops, did i just say that...

the end...

Still Messing Around in the Bedroom, and Some Other Stuff...

So, here is my bedside table, a little dresser i found at the Goodwill for $19.99...  a $10.00 mirror i painted and random stuff... 

the mirror is a little too small, not exactly what i wanted, but it's what i had...

 plus, i've been trying to tie the whole room together...  mrfracturedfairytale's bedside dresser is brown, and on it i have the door from my little cupboard in the kitchen, it has this awesome wavy vintage glass in it...

usually there are like at 10,000 books and papers and magazines on his desk, it's clean now because we had to move stuff so he could finish painting...  

 My friend Karan with the amazing shop, had these old window frames, and she let me try one out,  what do you think?  I can get 2 of them, one for mrfractured's dresser,and one for mine...   

she was pretty horrified, and said , "you mean you're going to be matchy matchy"???

And i was like... 

 "oh heck yeah... i love symmetry." 

Joni from the Cote de Texas blog , says either you're a symmetry person or not, I definitely am, probably because my life is so choatic, i love order with a passion...

So what do you think, one on each side?  They really draw the eye up, and actually it looks pretty amazing in person... 

hmmm,...plus, i could always put mirrors in them...

 

I'm mulling over painting mrfracturedfairytale's dresser white...but it's really boxy, and i don't know if he'd like that... but, you know i'm giving it the old evil eye...

I'll send pics when i get the other window frame this weekend, and we'll decide...

Anyway, i wanted to show you guys this amazing handbag i found at this little shop near work called "Pennies for Change"... It's like thrift type shop, and they sell stuff to support battered women...

It's handmade, and the original price tag on it is $250.00.  It is for sale for $45.00,  it is well made and BEAUTIFUL!  It's made by a breast cancer survivor.  Read the tags... there is a peachy pink bra that lines the inside... If anyone wants me to go grab it... i can see if it's still there today... 

I would buy it, but i have to have a ginormous handbag to carry all my stuff....  

anyway... check it out...

and i'll leave you with  this pretty christmas display from the Elegant Relic, one of my favorite shops in the world... 

just look at that wonderful old cupboard,

...So pretty....

the end...

Well, I Painted My Bed White...

Ok, so i really really waited a long time before i painted my bed white.  I liked the brown, and i wanted to be sure painting it white wasn't just impulsive and following the  fad of white painted furniture.  

But, I finally realized that I've like white distressed furniture for like around 25 years, probably some of you haven't even been alive that long!,  and anyway, if I've liked it for that long, then it can't really be a fad... at least not for me...

plus... this isn't like a million dollar bed or anything ... it's pretty dinged up

Here it is brown...

If my bedroom was painted blue, i would have left it brown, because those colors are perfect together... but since my bedroom is now this beigey gray, it all looked too muddy to me, 

Plus from the dining room i can see into the living room and bedroom, so in an overall view, I thought the white would look good with my white slipcovered chairs,

...that they would kind of play off of each other...

so i decided to go for it. 

I found some Annie Sloan paint in a little town close to me and i bought some "old white"...

This is the bed after 2 quick coats, it's not distressed or waxed yet....

What i really really liked about her paint, is the way it "grabs" whatever you're painting.  Loved that....

I decided to paint the oval in the middle a little different color, i have plans for that oval, maybe some little white flowers or leaves or something....

I want a better mirror for over the dresser, so i'm watching the curbsides!

sorry, i'm not showing the whole room, i'm still messing around in there trying to get it all right... I have to touch up the "Dream" over the bed, i was gonna paint over it, and decided not too... so i had to paint around all those little swirly letters... fun 

 and you should see mr. fracturedfairytale's bedside dresser... omg...  it looks like a hoarder lives only on the dresser...  he's so perfect in every way and very tidy , and  i keep thinking just leave him this spot, but ummmmmm....

I might have to tell him someone broke in the house and stole all the 6 million books and papers off of his dresser..

you think that would fly?

 I'll post more photos when the room is more pulled together... hope we haven't all died from old age by then...

Soooo, anyway, how many of you are enchanted by old photos..

I love them, especially when i find someone like this lady

I love her...

look at the flowers in the shabby pot beside her.. and her little attitude...

and check out this mom and her daughter...

I just look at these photos, and it blows my mind, that this is a moment captured in a person's whole life, with loves, and children and parents, and pain, and birth, and smells, and sweat... 

a whole universe...  and how they have come and gone... 

and it gives me the strangest feeling...

And, one last thing... check out these crazy things my friend is selling in her shop...

they are old roots, and hand made...

she's gonna make them into light fixtures..

freaky cool, huh?

the end...

Upstairs Bedroom - You Know the One Where the Adult Kids Come Stay With You and Leave it Trashed...

So... warning, warning... When kids grow up and turn 18, they don't leave.   Well, actually, they leave, and then they realize stuff like paying for your own heat, and gas and housing and stuff really sucks... So they come back home, and then they trash your house, and leave all the stuff they don't want, and go have fun.  And then when they run out of money, they come back and do the same thing again, until they're like 52...

So if you think they will move out and happily and safely go on with their lives, 

you're on crack.

plus they leave the dog or the cat, or both....

So basically this is the upstairs room where they stay, AFTER I've cleaned it up for the four thousandth time...

In this photo, you can still see the plastic corners on the little flower print,  i found two of them at TJ Maxx for $12.99 each, and i was deciding whether or not to keep them...  They're each different but the same, and i decided i do like them... so they're keepers,

and the plastic was removed

Here is a full view of the room, at least the best i could get with my iphone...

when we were thinking of buying this house, i told the realtor, if the owner would leave these two beds, we would buy it... because i loved the stripes

the room was red when we moved in

and we painted it this wonderful color called "Carolina Inn Club Aqua", i think it's valspar paint

Is it me, or is that an insanely long name for a paint color?

The rug was given to me, the side table from le dump...  the little chair has one arm broken off... 24 year old son, you know the one who puts texas pete on everything he eats, his clothes and on the carpet...  

right now, the room is in the process of cleaning up from my kid, so there are no pillow cases on the pillows... they're missing... 

Ok, so i'm exaggerating about the kids, sort of ... 

I actually really like them alot

...mostly when they're not here...

Mr. Fracturedfairytale's kids are actually "normal", and really cute,  and for now,...  they are finally pretty much on their own,  living way more interesting lives than we are... 

He and I don't really don't want to be interesting, 

we like how boring we are...

  

My kids, (21 and 24 years old)  are not quite there yet... 

they still make my eyes twitch, and my hair fall out, and cause me to take prescription medication... 

they do stuff that totally freaks me out, and i'm like what???!!!

GAAAAAAHHHH!!!

and then they're fine, 

 then i have to go into recovery for 2 weeks afterward...

until the next crisis

but i'm sure that's only temporary...

(i know, on crack)

the end...