21 Years Ago...........

In California on October 1st, 1988 at 5:04AM I gave birth to my first child...Aubrie Jewel.

My first precious gift from God! A baby girl weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz.

She was PERFECT and I was so HAPPY!

I remember thinking that was the best day of my whole life!

I was so in LOVE!

At her 9 month check up the pediatrician discovered that she had a heart mur mur. I said, "what does that mean?" He said, "well there is 2 kinds, one that you can live with and one you cannot." So I then said, what if it's the bad mur mur?" He replied, "well then she could die" WRONG thing to tell me!!! I left the checkup and balled my eyes out the whole drive home thinking my baby girl was going to die. Just writing this makes me tear up again!


So anyway, after a visit with a pediatric cardiologist we discovered she did have the bad heart mur mur...it was called ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) which is basically a hole in the heart. It is when the oxygenated blood mixes with the unoxgenated blood which causes stress on the heart which causes it to enlarge. The cardiologist hoped the hole in her heart would close on it's own, but it did not. In Sept of 1990 when she was 23 months old she had open heart surgery. This was such a scary time for us, but we had to trust the doctors. Her surgery was at Cedars Sinai in California which is known for being a really good hospital. She did awesome in the surgery and was home within 1 week.


Now today, Oct. 1st 2009 it is her 21st birthday and I have to say I am so proud to call her my daughter! She has grown into such a beautiful woman!! It is obvious she is beautiful looking, but she is even prettier on the inside!

Here's to you Aubrie....California's Jewel and our Jewel!

Happy 21st Birthday Aubrie!!

We LOVE you!!

Thank you God for Blessing Us with Aubrie!

Please continue blessing her, keeping her safe and in your will!

Our Kitchen Was Featured!!

To my surprise......... I discovered our kitchen remodel was featured on the

The DIY Show Off (click on link to see it)

Thanks Roeshel for featuring our kitchen and for the kind words!!

Ron & Darlene

Unpacking and Decorating

We were able to get our furniture moved back in to our home last friday...YEA! So I spent the weekend unpacking some boxes. It was nice seeing my stuff again!!

We are hoping to move back home by this weekend. Just need a couple kitchen cabinets back from the cabinet maker, the sink, faucet, and granite installed. Hopefully it all gets installed this week! I am so ready to get back to my home!! Meanwhile I'm still in the rental home and going over to our house every evening to unpack more boxes and do a bit of decorating for fall.

(enlarge photos by clicking on them)

See my pretty acorns...I got them at pottery barn last christmas for $2. I used real acorns last year when I decorated for fall and had problems with them sprouting and with bugs, so this year it is faux acorns! LOL

Here you can see a peak of my new hardwood floors. They are much prettier in person & not as dark!


Here is my new soup tureen...isn't she lovely?! I bought her at a local flea market a couple weeks ago for $8!!

Perfect for all those soups on chilly days! Oh and my little pumpkins are salt & pepper shakers bought them also at the flea market (last year) for $3.

How do you like my tall carved wood owl? Bought him at the Flea Market too about 6 months ago for $15.

The plan was to sell him around this time of year for all those that decorate for Halloween, but I kinda like him. He is solid wood. I could totally see this in a Pottery Barn catalog! Would you paint him black or keep him as is?? Would you keep it or sell it??

Take Care!!

Darlene

Creative Halloween Decor

This is a re-post from last year, but it was such a popular post with very creative ideas that I thought I would repost it because I have so many new blog friends that may not have seen the post from last year.

Found some very creative Halloween decor ideas from a store called Curious Sofa in KS. I don't decorate for Halloween but I know many of you do...so I wanted to make sure I shared this with you. I'm sure if you are like me & don't decorate for halloween you will still be able to appreciate the creativity.

Here's an easy one...just buy eyeball gumballs & put them in a glass bowl or apothocary jar.

Another simple one...but please use a fake ax!!

This is my favorite! So clever! Hmm, where can you buy some legs???
Maybe manequin legs on eBay?

Easy Easy...black licorice or any black candy in pretty apothocary jars.

Stenciled pumpkins...how easy is that? Easy!
Ok, you got me on this one! I really don't know where you could get some skulls.

Do you know??

Wouldn't this be great on a guest bed! Of course, only during halloween! Unless that is if you don't want your guests to stay! LOL!

Our Day At The Pumpkin Patch

The girls and I decided yesterday was a perfect day for a trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a bright sunny day with not a rain cloud in sight...for a change!


In case you all are in Arkansas, it's called The Garner Homestead Family Farm in Lonsdale.

(You can click on the photos to enlarge them)

Girls & I on the hayride

Corn Maze

This was the first corn maze I have ever been through

They even had a petting zoo and my girls & I love animals!

He's posing for the camera

Never too old to swing (I can't believe she will be 21 next week!)

Trying to find the Perfect Pumpkin

And..........they found them!

I even found a perfect one!

This creek was a nice, refreshing break from all that pumpkin hunting!

It was a great fall day with my 2 favorite girls!!

Stay Tuned to See What I Have In Mind For My Pumpkin!!

Darlene

We've Got Floors!

As most of you know we came home from vacation to a flooded home. We had about $17,000 worth of water damage. We had to move out while the repairs were being made. We had carpet in our living room/dining room and in our daughter's bedroom but decided due to this flooding we would go ahead and upgrade to hardwood floors. The floors were installed last week and have to say, "I Love Them." They are by Shaw called Vicksburg and the color is called Harvest. They are actually handscraped by prisoners so each plank is an original!

We hope to get moved back in this weekend. Now I better start designing some custom rugs for the LR & DR!

Wall color is SW Kilm Beige (lighter than I originally had but since the room is small & we were going with dark flooring we decided to go with lighter walls. The window insets are SW Fireweed.

I have a project I've been working on while away from my home, I'll show you hopefully by the end of the week.

Darlene

Video & Song

Would you have passed on this??

Do you have a hard time imagining what an ugly piece of furniture would look like if it was painted and spruced up? I sure do! Some just have an eye to see a diamond in the rough! I need to develop that skill! Holly over at Life In The Fun Lane sure has that eye to see a diamond in the rough!! My mouth just dropped when I saw what she transformed it into and I just had to share with you (just in case you haven't seen it) Way to go Holly!!

Would you have passed on this piece of furniture if you would have seen it at a garage sale or thrift store?? I probably would have!

**Click on Photos to ENLARGE

Now would you have passed on it...if you knew it could look like this??? NO WAY!!! Isn't it AWESOME!!! OK, I'm off to go to some thrift stores and garage sales...maybe even craigslist!