I Won the Carpet Fight...

Phew...where do I begin. I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately. I have been busy with work, life, and home. We had a busy weekend. My sister and her family came in from out of town this past weekend, and a girlfriend from Vegas was in town. So we hosted a small gathering at home with old friends. Always a great time to be with old friends isn't it? Other than I felt like all I did was cook and clean, well I truly enjoyed our time together, and we did order pizza for the gathering, so I cheated that time.

On the homefront, yes I won my carpet battle with Lowes. Well...honestly it wasn't a battle, I called and told them that the color was horrid, and that there had to be a mistake. So, they asked for a sample of the carpet...and we waited. Well, today I checked the messages after work, and there was a voicemail from them telling me that the manufacturer agrees that the color was defective, and that I could come in and pick out a different carpet. Thank you Jesus! See...I wasn't losing my mind or my eyesight, I knew something wasn't right!

The guestroom enjoyed its first guests, and they tell me that it was so cozy and inviting....even though the room isn't complete yet. I know, get off my butt right?! I'll get there. A few things to share with you in the guest room. First, the lovely shutter panels that my sister made for me with the matching fabric to the comforter. She did a terrific job, I was so happy with the result. As we speak she is working on panels for the windows in a coordinating fabric too, if you're reading this sis, no pressure - really! So....no more pictures until I get those panels up, and a new chair for the room. Hopefully it won't be too much longer, and we can call that project done.

Also, we have a huge deck in the backyard that needs some TLC, years have really wore out a lot of the floor boards. So, we started to tackle that project as well. We had a big part of the deck boards replaced, and are hoping to get the rest done later this summer. Next year we'll tackle the boards all the way around the pool. It took 2 guys three full days to change out the boards, and they tell me it was HARD work. But they did a great job, and I'm really happy with the turnout.

And since the weather can't make up it's mind, I decided to put out the front porch furniture. A little mismatch, but oh well. It's done and we can enjoy sitting on the porch when it's nice out, which we did a lot of over the weekend when sis was visiting. Happy Birthday to my two beautiful sisters who are celbrating their birthday's in May. One on the 24th, and the other on the 31st!

Ok, so that's pretty much it for now. I have a book report to proofread for my 10 year old before I hit the sack. I promise to be over to chat with all of you soon. Sorry I've been a bad blogger friend lately. Hugs!

Look at these beautiful Spode plates I ordered for the guest room. It's a set of 6 and part of the Blue Room Collection by Spode. They are just beautiful. Can't wait to hang them!

And here are the shutter panels my sister made. Ok, now these are adorable!

Here is a snapshot of the deck. You can see most of the main level was replaced, and

that corner area on the second level. That's where the boys run and jump into the pool

And the entire area where we have our patio furniture is new too,

boy does it make a huge difference!

And a couple pics of the front porch with the summer furniture out and ready for some warm summer days! Stop on over, we can sit a chat and drink a glass of lemonade.

We'll chat again soon my friends!

And the Winner is...

Drum roll please.....the winner of Classic Charm's giveaway is...........................................ROSIE from Rosie's Whimsey! Congrats dear Rosie! Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll mail your prize to you. Thank you all who participated, this was fun! There were 33 comments, so I put all 33 numbers in a bag, and drew one number. Number 15 came up, and Rosie was the 15th person to leave a comment. Wishing you all a wonderful week!

And, still working on the guest room. I found this lamp on the internet. I think it's so pretty. Waiting for it to arrive.

GIVEAWAY...

Ok friends, I'm having my FIRST GIVEAWAY. What do we have here. Well, I am giving away a lovely Vera Bradley travel organizer in the Mesa Red pattern, and a coffee press that I purchased in London on one of our vacations. Yes, it's very special as I carried it on the airplane with me all the way across the ocean, so it wouldn't get damaged. So, just leave a comment to enter the drawing, and I'll be drawing a name one week from today. So let everyone know to stop on over for the chance to win these lovely gifts.

Hugs to all and good luck!

I Can Breathe Again...

Well....today was the last day of the training class, and boy am I happy that's over. It was a lot of work to get prepared. But the manual that I put together was a hit, so much so that now they are looking for another manual for one of the other programs we use. Yipee...do a good job and get more work. Funny how that works huh? I'm now backed up on my "regular" workload, so I spent most of my afternoon getting some of that caught up, though I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel yet.

Still haven't resolved the carpet issue, and frankly I'm tired this week, so I'm leaving it to hubby to fight the battle, he's real good at that :)

You know getting new carpet was really good for cleaning up the bedrooms and closets, so I have a pile of stuff for our subdivision garage sale. Our neighborhood has this subdivision-wide garage sale the first Saturday of June, so I'm preparing my "stuff." Hubby and I rearranged our boys' room and it turned out really cute - a few photos to share with you all. And I moved the red plaid chair into their bedroom, looks really perfect in there don't you think?

Ok, and get ready all because I'm doing my first GIVE-AWAY on my next post. Stay tuned, you'll be glad you did. Wishing you all a great week.

Here is a snapshot of me teaching the class. My side-kick/co-worker is also standing in the front of the room, we make a great team and we have a lot of fun. And I do love her so!

And it was raining this morning, so I was having a BAD hair day - :(

Yep, that's me in the black/white blouse.

A snapshot of the red chair we moved into the boys' room

Another snapshot of the boys' room that we rearranged. They are happy!

I'm Still Here - More Project Updates...

Yes, I'm alive and well. Boy have I been busy at work these days. We have a big training class next week, and one of my tasks was to build a training binder on the computer program that I work in daily. The binder ended up being 56 pages, but it's at the printer and so now we just have to make it through the training next week. My co-worker and I will be the instructors, so we've been working our fingers to the bloody stumps on the computer!

Anyhow, where do I begin....I have a lot to update you all on. Ok, remember I ordered the comforter for the guest room with no shams or bedskirts because it's discontinued, and the queen comforter was all they had, plus I noticed they had king full sets but I don't have a king bed. Anyhow, after searching the globe for some shams and a skirt to match, nothing. So, I thought I would e-mail Rose-Tree which is where I ordered it from. I asked if they by chance had an extra king skirt they could sell me and that I would alter it to fit the queen bed. You won't believe the response I got. They wrote me an e-mail back that they were going to alter shams and a bedskirt for me and will ship it with my comforter - FREE! WHAT????? I was almost in tears with joy - I mean is that customer service or what? Boy, I think I have an angel on my shoulder, don't you? Yes, my beautiful bedding arrived yesterday, and below is a picture of it on the guest room bed. Sorry, no other pictures to share as that room is still in progress. I also found some lovely little Spode plaques at Marshall's so I hung them over the closet doors in the guest room, they are really cute. That's about all I've done in there, oh and the carpet is new in there too. You can kinda see it in the photos.

Ok, so the carpet installers came to install carpet in our family room, guest room, and master bedroom. And I don't like the color of the carpet in the family room, so I'm fighting with the manufacturer to replace it, not sure how that's going to turn out. I was really upset over the color, it just looks so ugly to me, then this evening the voice of reason stopped in - MY SISTER - and of course she calmed me down as usual telling me it looks fine what's the issue....so as I sit here typing, it's growing on me. :) But I still think it's got to go!

And, I've been so busy, I hadn't had a chance to see what's growing outside, what a shame. So, I purposely went outside and took some pictures of the two trees in the front of my house, and my red tulips. It's my favorite time of year, when everything is in bloom, so pretty.

I'll be over to visit all of you soon! Thanks for stopping in to see me. Hugs to you!

new carpet in family room - hate the color!!!

Bedding arrived for guest room - it's really pretty!
Spode plaques I found at Marshall's

one of the trees in the front of the house - filled with blooms!

my red tulips