These are the shoes your mother warned you about...

No I am not talking about the really uncomfortable but super cute shoes you wore to prom.
Or the ridiculously high heels you wore at your wedding.
Or the $400 pair of adorable Uggs that (gasp) your mother was right about- you really did only wear them once.

No, I am talking about THESE shoes...

Yes. These precious baby shoes. These are Trumpette diving mocks. Precious, precious, precious! But, once again, my mother was right. When I was pregnant, she told me not to buy baby shoes. That Ava would never wear them and it was a waste of money. Now, I have to say, hearing MY mother talk about shoes being a waste of money is like hearing a politician say that they want to do what the people want! It is totally laughable!!! My mother is the QUEEN of shoes! And I, of course, inherited my love for all things accessories from her. So it should come as no surprise that Ava has more shoes in her closet than most adult women. But when I happened upon these puppies, I HAD to get them! The top three I bought at a consignment sale- brand new in the boxes. The bottom "Silly Shoes" (the right shoe is striped, then the left you can wear the solid or the polkadots! SO FUN!) I bought on eBay. Hey. At least I am thrifty about her footwear!

Ava is really good about leaving socks and shoes on. She is past the stage where her feet are the best toy, so she pretty much leaves them alone. There is one pair of cute shoes from Gymboree that she has that she really likes wearing, because the sole is hard and they make nose when she kicks things.

But these particular shoes are the ones that my mother warned me about. The ones she won't wear. Or at least right now she won't. They are all size 4 except the light pink ones, which are 3's. They are the only ones we have tried, but they would not stay on! They might be a smidge big, but no bigger than the other shoes she wears!

So frustrating!!!!

Speaking of Ava, my Nana's birthday was Saturday, and we took a picture and gave it to her in a frame for her birthday (because there is nothing else to get the woman who has it ALL!!! LOL!)

First a few outtakes...

Trying to jump off the chair...

Eating the sign. She didn't like the chalk taste (it is a chalk board).

Finally a good one! This is the one we gave Nana. I also gave her prints of the others (there were like 75) so she could see how hard we worked for her gift! LOL!

Have a wonderful afternoon!!! I will be posting pictures of Ava's new PBK anywhere chair soon! It came yesterday, and it is even more precious than I could have dreamed!!!!!

I also plan on finishing my Master Bathroom redo this weekend, so (HOPEFULLY) look for a Before and After post sometime next week!!!!

We HAVE to Move NOW!!!!!

Okay, if you have weak stomach. or heart. or mind. DO NOT READ THIS POST....





So I was sitting in my bathroom this evening, I had just put Ava down, and was taking care of "mommy business" (HAHA) when something caught my attention. Something was moving. A large something. (okay, so only about 1 1/2 inches...)

Not a spider.
Not an ant.
Not even a roach.

Something MUCH, MUCH WORSE....

EEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!
(cue Hitchcock-like, Psycho shower scene-esque, music and flash the lights for full effect.)

Seriously. A scorpion. In ARKANSAS!!!! Okay, apparently they are found here. They are not dangerous. They can sting and cause pain, but it is nothing more dangerous than a bee sting or ant sting. But still. EEEwwwwwwwwwww.............. My dad assured me that they are very rare inside homes (I hope he was telling the truth and not just trying to make me feel better) and that he did not MEAN to come inside the house. I know he regretted it because a few moments after this was taken, he went to scorpion heaven (or hell).

My first reaction was pretty funny. I looked down, and I didn't immediately scream, or freak, or dance around like a nut (as I did after I processed what my eyes had seen). No, I kind of chuckled and thought "Oh look. A scorpion. That's neat." WHAT?!?!?! I need to have my head checked. My next thought was "CCCCCRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!"

And of course the hubs wasn't home. Figures. I am adding this to the list of things that have happened while he has been at work and couldn't come home to assist me...

1. Wesley killed squirrel. This has happened twice.
2. Hugo brings dead mouse inside.
3. Wesley brings LIVE (and totally freaked) bunny inside.
4. Tree falls on house.
5. I get H1N1 while pregnant.
6. Garage floods.
7. Scorpion in bathroom.

Don't think this list isn't going to be brought up when I really want something. And right now, that something is a new house. NOW. I hope- pray- BEG- that this was a rare, weird thing that happened. But I don't want to chance it. We need to move. Now. They can even have all our stuff. I don't care. This will forever be the Scorpion house. And that will forever be the Scorpion bathroom. Probably shouldn't tell potential home buyers that, huh?

"Hello! This is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. Fully renovated kitchen. Updated bathrooms. Designer paint colors. Oh yes, and there are scorpions! Isn't that lovely?!?!"

So what is the creepiest thing you have ever found in your house??? And what did you do???

Weekend in Review

For the record, I REALLY REALLY need to be cleaning. I have a news crew coming to my house at 11 am (YIKES) and it is a total disaster. Dust doesn't show on camera, right???

Saturday morning was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Little Rock. We have one of the largest races in the country, and this year was no different! 45,000 women signed up!!! WOW! It is one of my favorite things to do each year, and I always do it with my mom and sister. It is inspiring to see that many women, together, for one single goal: to find a cure!!!

And these guys aren't bad either...LOL!!!

These are the dancing fireman! There is always a traffic jam at this turn, and you can see why!!! My sister and I want to run it next year, but we decided that we need to get our time down to about 20 minutes so that we will have a built in buffer zone of about 5 minutes to stop and watch them perform! They throw beads and "drop trow" (they have shorts on underneath. Dang. LOL!

I also spent a lot of the weekend (and every other day of my life!) chasing after this girl!!!! She can get around pretty good these days, and is starting to want to stand up a lot. She still won't sit up for any length of time. But it is just because she is SOOO active. So I am not too worried. :)

We have tried the "chewy bag" before, but I think she is finally at an age that she can really enjoy it. Here she is eating blue berries. She thought they were YUMMY!!!! (She has had them in baby food form before, so I knew she would like them!)

We went to the pumpkin patch again this weekend with my family. Last time we went, it was my friend Amanda, her baby girl Bella, and Ava and I. We couldn't even get the hayride to the actual patch because there were not 10 people there! This weekend, there were probably 500 people! It was nuts! We are going to have to find a new patch next year! It was too crowded!

Here are our pumpkins from the patch. I added the ribbon to give them a little UMPH! They were looking a bit drab. Ribbon can add glamour to anything!!!


I also FINALLY finished my door canvas for Halloween! Just in time, too! I don't know if I will get one done for Thanksgiving or not! I have a LOT to do between now and then, and my personal crafts are on the bottom of my priorities right now! But I am glad to have this guy done. It really looked odd with all of my pumpkins and mums...and the HOG canvas! LOL! My goal is to get a canvas done for each holiday!

Before you praise me for my uber-creative side...I DID paint this by hand. HOWEVER, I totally pretty much STOLE the design from THIS blog. I steal a lot of her designs. But hey, why reinvent the wheel, right?!?!

As I mentioned before, I have a news crew coming at 11 in the morning. Just another Monday at the Brewer's! LOL! No really, last year I was pregnant about this time, and I had the Swine Flu. I was interviewed about the flu shot, the flu, being pregnant and high risk, my recovery, etc. Well the reporter contacted me to do a followup story and get some footage of Ava. So that will be a fun time!!!! :) And I had planned on scrubbing my house top to bottom today, because they are coming and because it needs it SO badly!!! But my parents called this morning and they decided to (YAY!!!!) come over and work on getting our house put back together! My mom and I painted the master bathroom and my dad working on trimming out the floors. Here is my bathroom after the paint. I had painted it a dark brown called Chocolate Indulgence by Kilz. Apparently I was the only one who liked it. But I don't care. In our next house, there will be a room painted Chocolate Indulgence. Even if it is my pantry!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the bathroom post paint. I will do a full Before and After post soon. I just decided to paint it my Ben Moore Brookline Beige because A. It is a great neutral, and B. I bought 10 gallons of it when we moved into this house and still have about 3/4's of one of the 5 gallon buckets left! LOL!!! I always overbuy on paint! But you never know when you will need a touch up!

I also did some Christmas "Santa" shopping this weekend for Ava! I have always looked forward to playing Santa for my kids, and so I have been overjoyed at the though this year! Even though she will be about 11 months old and won't have a clue....HAHA!

I had already bought her one Santa gift...this adorable rocker from Toy's R Us. Isn't it the sweetest little thing??? I just love it! In my family, Mom and Dad usually got us one big-ish thing, but the "good" stuff always came from Santa!

I also ordered her this adorable "Anywhere Chair" from PBK. It will have her name in green on the back. Isn't it too cute?!?! All of my friend's who have one for their kids just rave about them. My child probably won't like it because she doesn't like sitting still, but maybe she will sit in it and drink her breakfast bottle or juice, maybe watch cartoons. That is what I envision, anyway. I bought it to match her room, but I think it will be a fixture in the living room.

MY PSA FOR THE WEEK:

Speaking of Christmas, I always do an Angel from the Angel Tree. Do you have that in your state? I didn't know if that was an Arkansas thing, or an everywhere thing. It is a great program done by the Salvation Army. I am already looking forward to doing one again this year. Money is tight for everyone, but these families just want to give their babies Christmas! We are so blessed, and I think that, especially at Christmas, it is a time to give and share. I want to raise Ava that way as well. If you can, do an Angel.

Have a great week!!!!

Fireplace Woes...

I have a problem. A BIG, glaring problem. One that greets you as soon as you enter our living room. My fireplace (cue ominous music now). I am usually very decisive and confident in my decorating choices. But there is just something about this fireplace that has me stumped. We have lived in our house for almost 3 years and I have never liked this fireplace.

Now I enjoy having a fireplace. I like that we have the option (though I think we have only used it once) of having a fire. I love that we have a chimney for Santa and a mantel for our stockings. But this particular fireplace just makes my head hurt...

Lets explore my problem in detail (WARNING: OBSCENE AMOUNT OF PICTURES BELOW)...

This is my fireplace. I know, I hate it too. The fact that it is a corner fireplace is one challenge. It is difficult to arrange the room, and this beastly thing takes up far too much space for what it is worth. Also, because of the angle of our ceiling, we have an odd line running across the top of the fireplace. It makes it challenging to accessorize because if I put identical accessories on either side, they look weird because the ceiling is a different height on either side. ...I know I have put way too much thought into this, but it (obviously) bothers me a great deal.... :)

The mantel, to me, is really the only redeeming quality about the beast. It is solid wood and has great detail. I have thought about painting it a glossy black, but that would blend too much with the red brick. The brick isn't BAD, but it isn't great either. Normally I am the first to take a paintbrush to something I don't like. But brick is a different story. Because it is a costly and messy fix if I don't like the results.

So why don't I just cover the brick with a beautiful stone or tile? Good question..

1. We are not going to be in this house many more years and I am not sure if that is really a smart place to put my time and money. After all, surely there is someone out there who likes the red brick, right??? and

2. This. Yes. The one place the builder decided to go all FANCY on our house back in 1992. The curved edges of the hearth. So covering it is kinda out unless we built out the hearth, and really that is too much work. If we decided for some reason to stay here, then maybe. But for now, no. (And my Dad is thanking the Lord!!!)

And now on to the accessories dilemma...

I love these candle sticks. But I am not convinced I love them HERE. Thoughts?


My Pa-Jim's flag from his funeral. This is the highlight (to me) of my mantel, and I would leave it there forever. But sadly, it is to leave me at the end of the year, and won't return for at least 4 years. My Nana has instructed that it be passed from cousin to cousin each Christmas, and so I have to give it up this year. :(

This is one of my wedding portraits that hangs above my fireplace. I love this picture, but I do feel a little self-conscience having such a large picture of myself above our fireplace. But right now there is no more wall space to hang it. Eventually, I would like a large family portrait up there. But we might just wait until our family is complete to invest in that.

You can tell that this was long ago- we still had carpet! Here was the fireplace after we moved in and did some painting. I had painted the wall above the fireplace a dark chocolate. I liked it, but the room is dark anyway and that was just too much dark. Also note that the insert had wooden handles and brass accents. It is just amazing what a little time and black paint can do! ;)



Here are some pics from online that inspire me...

I love the layered look of this one...

This one speaks to my simplistic and pseudo-symmetrical side. I love how it overall appears symmetrical, but if you study the accessories, there is really a lot of variations going on. GENIUS!

More wonderful layering of framed art. Love this look. I also love the look of empty frames laying on top of each other.

This is much too "beachy" and a little too cluttered looking for my taste, but there are some elements here I love. The letters are brilliant, and the overall personality really speaks to me. This is a catalog shot, I think, but you can almost tell the personalities that live in the home. I like that...

This, to me, is a realistic shot of what I really want. A bit eclectic, some layering, symmetry that is pleasing to the eye. I love it. But I still struggle with that stupid ceiling angle!!!

If anyone has any ideas, thoughts, inspirational fireplace redos, etc., PLEASE share!!! I don't know if I can take it much longer!!! :)

PS- I did mean to mention, when I repainted the wall above from brown to tan, (technically from Chocolate Indulgence to Brookline Beige- don't you wish your job was to name paint colors???) I added some sparkles to the paint. So although the color is the same. if you look closely, the wall above my fireplace now has a little more texture and sheen to it. More subtle than I really was going for, but oh well.....

Silhouettes

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the silhouettes I did for my sister. I then did a pair (and dang-it if I didn't forget to take a picture) of my cousin Sloan and her fiance Tyler for their first home. Under Tyler, I wrote I Cor. 13:8 "Love never fails" and under Sloan I wrote their wedding date. I was SO nervous to give them to her at her recent wedding shower. I was afraid that she wouldn't like them, but they turned out to be a huge hit with everyone! So I have been doing them more and more. I even recently (thank you Heather! I am so excited about my first "commissioned" pieces) sold a group!!!

But while doing some price research I noticed that there were mostly people and pets, and that objects were not done in silhouettes often. This got me to thinking... there are a lot of objects that I find beautiful. They have nice lines, or good movement.

Or they mean a lot to me or my family. Which is what inspired this piece. I have to say, he was harder than I thought he would be. But I love the results and he was worth the effort!

Presenting the silhouette painting of a UH-60 (aka Blackhawk) Helicopter.

Along the bottom, it says...

Arkansas National Guard - Razorback MEDEVAC - "That others may live..."

My attempt at an artistic photo. Not so great...

My husband would be UBER disappointed if I labeled this a Blackhawk. It is technically a UH-60. Duh... ;)

"UH-60 Down" just doesn't have a nice ring to it!!! HAHA!!!



I considered doing it in a bold color, like red. But because the subject of the painting is unexpected, I thought I might just keep to the traditional black & white.

I am really pleased with the results. Did I say that already? Oh well. I am! Now I have to explain something to my friends who are not married to military pilots. Most of my friends' husbands have "normal" 8-5 type jobs. So they probably don't have a lot of job related displays in their homes. Pretty sure my accounting friends don't frame spreadsheets! HAHA! But Pilots are different. Especially military ones. We have something in almost every room relating to something aviation. In our bedroom, for example, we have an air-nav map of Iraq framed on the wall and a wooden scale replica of a UH-60 on the dresser. NOT normal home decor. Even our daughter's name, Ava, is aviation related. But his career is a lifestyle for our family, and while he may be the one who goes and flies the thing, we are an aviation FAMILY.

Sorry for that tangent, but it leads to a humorous (or at least I think so) story- the other day I was with my friend Amanda (her hubs is also a pilot) and we heard a helicopter. We found ourselves discussing the type it might be based on the rotor noise, and what type of pattern he might be flying... Okay, maybe you had to be there. But for two new moms spending the day at the pumpkin patch with their babies, it was odd conversation! HAHA!

What item or object in your life is "silhouette worthy"???

By the way, if you want to see a video of my hubs uber cool job, click here.

If you want to learn some impressive facts about the UH-60 to impress the man in your life, click here.

I WAS FEATURED!!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

Eeekkk! My heart flutters at those sweet words! Seriously, I am like a kid on my birthday today! One of my all time favorite bloggers, Cara over at Live the Home Life featured my kitchen and hall bath redo on her amazing blog!

You have GOT to check out and follow Cara's blog! She is amazing! She is a Realtor (so she knows all of the great things about that...) AND the girl can make a piece of trashy furniture into a treasure!!!! What a happy day it was when I found her blog!!!! Sigh.... Life has never been the same.... :)

I'm also inspired by her furniture flips and am secretly looking out for a small piece I can flip. Haven't found the right thing. Yet. ;)

Have a wonderful day!!!!

And because I know you REALLY look at my blog to see pictures of my sweetums, here ya go! She turned 8 months yesterday, and this was our monthly birthday photo shoot.... pretty dang cute, huh???

Oh no. Mommy has that camera thing out again...

Sweet 8 Month Old!!!

It is such a hard life, being this pretty....

My happy girl! She is really like this 98% of the time!!! I am so blessed!!!

"I'm how old?!?!?!?"

HGTV and I: A love/hate relationship

I love HGTV. I love the ideas, the tips, the products that are featured.
But I also HATE HGTV. I know....I said it. But I have good reasons...

1. On HGTV, a kitchen reno takes thirty neat, clean, fun minutes. In reality, it takes thirty (or more) hard, dirty, smelly, annoying days.

2. On HGTV, DIY projects are super easy because you have an HGTV trailer full of every tool known to man and a hunky professional carpenter standing beside you showing you what to do. In reality, you almost never have the right tool, and the hunky carpenter is your dad or husband who would just rather do it for you (or would rather you not do this project at all).

3. On HGTV, things are hired out ALL the time. In reality, most of us (especially these days) don't have the expendable income to hire work out at will.

There is one, glaring exception to this rule...

RENOVATION REALITIES.

YES! Finally a reality show I can get behind!!! Have you seen this show! I love it! It is fun, sad, and makes me feel so much better about my novice carpentry skills! The one where the guy is redoing his kitchen and screws the top cabinet into the drywall without hitting ANY studs, and it falls (more like JUMPS) off the wall 10 seconds after he walks away is my favorite! Freaking hilarious!!!!

I don't mean to make fun of people's skills. Lord knows what it would have been like trying to do our kitchen without my dad.

BUT...

I love DIY projects. I love the fact that I am not only the brains, but the brawn (well, at least some of it) behind a beautiful finished room or decor.

And speaking of DIY, here is the BEFORE picture of my current DIY project:

I am painting today and cannot wait to show you the AFTER!!!! Hopefully in a week or so!!! :)

Have a wonderful day!