Thursday, September 9, 2010

More fun with sheet music




I've had so many positive comments on my sheet music cabinet that I decided to try the same technique with this bookshelf. I love how it turned out, old pages give everything such a warm feeling.


I'm selling this piece....as much as I enjoy making over furniture, my house is full! If you are a local reader and interested, email me at brosequilts(at)yahoo.com


Do you have a favorite piece that you've done? I love before and afters, leave a link in the comments so I can see your fave redos!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Pups and Parties


We got to spend an afternoon with this sweet girl over the weekend. As we were leaving the campground, we spotted her wandering along the street with a collar but no tags. After a half hour of knocking on doors and stopping people to find her owners, we took her back to our camper and made some calls.


Luckily for us, she was a racing greyhound and they are all tattooed inside their ears. A phone call to the local greyhound rescue with those numbers was all it took for them to identify her. Just a friendly reminder to make sure you tag your pets! Our dogs have two tags on their collars, one with our address and cell phone numbers and one from the vet.


We sure didn't mind spending some time with her, she was such a sweetie!



Emidio's birthday was a lot of fun! I managed to take some pictures before the kids all arrived. He said it was the most fun party ever. That just made my day!



Friday, September 3, 2010

Five










The past five years sure have flown by. It's hard to believe the baby of our family is no baby anymore. Emidio Nicholas was born five years ago today and it feels like just yesterday we were putting that tiny baby in the car and driving home from the hospital. You can tell just how thrilled he was with that whole process.


We named him after my grandfather (Papa) Emidio and they share a birthday. We're all positive that is no coincidence. My Papa passed away when I was 4 but I'm sure he's looking out for me and my family.


As is his grandfather, who his middle name is after. I'm sure those two are up there talking and trying not to laugh, watching us stumble over the difficulties of parenthood down here.





I miss those chubby cheeks.....






But then again, 5 year old freckled cheeks are still super kissable.....






A lot of people ask me about his name so here's a little bit of info:


syll. e-mi-dio, em-id-io ] The boy name Emidio has its origins in the Germanic language and it is used largely in Italian. Emidio's meaning is 'great, strong'.

Emidio is not widely used as a baby name for boys. It is not in the top 1000 names.


My family is Italian and I'm sure the name would sound neat spoken with a true Italian accent.


As my mom has always told me, it was also a ship, the S.S. Emidio.


Source



According to this site:


On 20 December 1941, 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-17 shells and then fires two torpedoes at the 6, 912-ton Socony-Vacuum oil company tanker EMIDIO returning empty from Seattle to San Francisco. A patrolling PBY "Catalina" flying boat of Patrol Squadron (VP) 44 spots the EMIDIO dead in the water with people going over the sides and getting into lifeboats.


Despite the torpedo hit, Emidio did not sink. Several days later, in fact, she ran aground on a pile of rocks off Crescent City, Calif., an amazing 85 miles north of where she had been torpedoed. The 31 survivors of the stricken ship rowed their lifeboats for 16 hours and 20 miles through a driving rainstorm until they were picked up by a Coast Guard lightship a few miles off Humbolt Bay.


I think it's neat that his name has not only a strong family connection but a history to it as well.




Today we're having some of his little friends over for a birthday party. He's requested Spiderman and Wolverine for his party. Whatever the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets.....





Forever Young

May the good Lord be with you

Down every road you roam

And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home

And may you grow to be proud

Dignified and true

And do unto others

As you'd have done to you

Be courageous and be brave

And in my heart you'll always stay

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young

May good fortune be with you

May your guiding light be strong

Build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain and in my heart you will remain

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young Forever Young

And when you finally fly away I'll be hoping that I served you well

For all the wisdom of a lifetime

No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose I'm right behind you, win or lose

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young ,Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young For, Forever Young, Forever Young

~Rod Stewart

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Non-Reveal Reveal


I'm calling this the non reveal because it's not "done" but I wanted to show you the paint color! Although, with the amount things move around in this house, "done" is never really the case.


Ignore the air conditioner, I know it's ugly but you do not want to be around me when the temperature is 90 something degrees and there is no air. Just trust me on that one.





I ended up going with two colors. In the future we'll put a chair rail up but for now a roll of painters tape was a whole lot cheaper. The top is a light gray that I mixed and the bottom is my old favorite, Clear Moon by Behr.



It was a subtle change but the lighter color really made a difference in the room. Before the paint was very blue and I'm loving it toned down a bit.






I'm thinking of putting some sort of wall lamp on either side of the hutch. I had a candle sconce up but I think a soft light would be nice in here. Hopefully I can find something vintage that we can rewire.





And we finally got those lights switched around. I'm thrilled with how the schoolhouse light looks in the kitchen.












There's a special message on that chalkboard. More about that tomorrow.....