a few snapshots from the past few days

December 6, 2008 – 8:08 am

Busy! We’ve been *very* busy! Last night, I didn’t have the energy to check email before I went to bed at 12:00. For me, that is tired! :) Here are a few pics from the past few days.

Sugarplums

sugarplums

Peanut Butter Truffles

peanut butter truffles

Genny always decorates the mailbox

Genny always decorates the mailbox

Young ladies from church came to help. A blessing, to be sure! Below, Ashley and Ruth. Yesterday, Brooke, Samantha, Ashley, Susan and Bob came to lend a hand. SO helpful!!

yeah for helpers!

I no longer climb ladders, but my helpers are great at it. :)

ladders are essential

Niko thought all the boxes from the attic were very interesting.

Niko explores the Christmas boxes

Our house pictured on a 1912 postcard…this is an enlarged copy of both sides of the card.

our house on a 1912 postcard

While painting, DH took the window panes out of the windows and replaced the rope on the weights.

new ropes for the window weights

Ruth decorated this little tree in the master bath, but after I looked at it for a few days, I decided it needed a good dusting…too much powder on it from several Christmas seasons in the bathroom. :) So I took everything off the tree, gave it a shower, wiped down the lights, washed the ornaments and put it all back together. Now it sparkles.

little tree in master bath

Happy loves the wooden ladder, but totally ignores the metal one.

Happy loves the wooden ladder

I wrapped the baby pictures. Along with DH, these are the best gifts I ever received. :)

baby presents

DD tries out the upper bunk…the bed won’t be done for the open house, but next week Ray should be able to get it enclosed and finish the steps up to the second story. DD slept on the lower bunk last night. :)

bookshelves for the upper bunk

Back to work! I have three hours of sugar cookie decorating ahead of me. ~~Rhonda :)

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foam board houses

December 3, 2008 – 8:16 am

A few weeks ago, I saw a pretty display in a store. White houses and trees, flat and glittery. I thought, “We could do that!” My sister drew a pattern from the picture I took.

making a pattern

She cut the patterns from foam board.

pre-glitter

The buildings and trees were sprayed with texture paint (which was brown…couldn’t find white) and then sprayed with white paint. The texture added a lot to the overall look of the pieces. After the paint dried, a hot glue gun was used to run a thick line of glue along the border.

adding glitter

And the glue was sprinkled with flaked opalescent glitter mixed with white glitter.

third layer

How cute is that?

first layer

We leaned the finished houses and trees against some candles and books to get an idea of what it will look like. They will be attached to something to make them stand straight and will decorate the cookie table during the open house.

finished village

I’ll put a snowflake themed tablecloth on the table and pile some fluffy “snow” around the base of the houses and trees. I think they’re going to work well!

~~Rhonda :)

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dd’s room in progress

December 1, 2008 – 4:15 pm

I know it’s crazy to try to get some of this stuff done before Sunday, but DD has been SO patient and looked so forward to having her room remodeled, that we want to see what we can finish before the open house. The carpenter told us he could have the bed done in time, so we are hoping that turns out to be so!

DH has been painting the room for the past several days. A little more work on the woodwork and the painting will be done.

DD's room in process

The lime green is in a small indention in the wall. Her desk will be placed in front of this window. The closet to the right will be removed after Christmas and a new closet will be built to the right of the door to the room (which is where I was standing when I took the picture).

The carpenter is building a two story bed nook (the bedroom ceiling is 12′). The upper story will be a second bed for company, as well as a library nook for DD. The bed will have walls, windows, and steps up to the upper part. Each bed will have a ledge for a clock, a lamp, etc. Gary wired the outlets for us last week. Above the ledge will be shelves for books, display, etc.

I’m looking forward to posting pictures of this room when it is completed!

~~Rhonda

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menu plan monday ~ december 1, 2008

December 1, 2008 – 10:53 am

I’ve missed a few weeks of menu posts. I’ve been so busy that by the time I think of it, we’re into Wednesday or Thursday! Made the menus…just didn’t get them here. This week will be *very* busy, with prep for the open house on Sunday. So, easy and quick meals with some crock pot meals thrown in. Love that crock pot! And don’t forget, you can find a lot of other menu ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

Monday
deli turkey / ham sandwiches
chips, veggies, dip

Tuesday
sloppy joes / buns
cole slaw
grapes

Wednesday
crock pot BBQ chicken / buns
chips, veggies, dip

Thursday
spaghetti
garlic bread sticks
peas
corn
green salad

Friday
crock pot Italian beef / buns
grapes
veggies and dip

Saturday
order pizza

Sunday
deli turkey / ham sandwiches
chips, veggies, dip

I’ll leave you with a picture of the nativity. This is the week I need to remember what Christmas is about. With all the prep and decorating we do, and especially right before a big party, it’s easy to be caught up in the “to do” list and neglect the reason we celebrate Christmas.

nativity and angel

~~Rhonda :)

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thanks, hgtv!

November 30, 2008 – 11:16 pm

We’ve redecorated the addition which includes the guest room, and I knew the Christmas tree had to be something other than the Victorian themed tree we’ve had in the past. The new decor is cottage / country chic. I found a pink tree for DD#3’s room on Ebay, so decided to use her old tree for the guest room. I looked at silver trees, flocked trees, and other new trees. Too expensive. I was watching HGTV the other night, while working on a computer project. I saw a show about Christmas decorating…I think it was “25 Great Holiday Ideas,” but I’m not sure. Anyway, on the show, they spray painted a tree gold. I thought, “I can do that!” Only in silver. :)

I used shiny silver spray paint and a fine glitter in “antique silver” color.

spray painting the tree silver

I experimented on a small piece of garland, trying three different colors. Once I moved on to the tree, I started at the top.

spray painting the tree silver

I worked in sections. As I sprayed a small section, I sprinkled it with glitter before it dried.

spray painting the tree silver

I love the way it turned out. The green has been muted and the shiny silver lightens the entire tree.

spray painted the tree silver

I used white LED lights on the tree. The color is very white and looks better with the blue/white room than the incandescent lights that glow with a yellow cast.

silver tree

Genny and I tried some silver icicle stands on the tree and I think it will be the perfect finishing touch. Now I need a tree skirt…

silver tree

~~Rhonda

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front door snow

November 30, 2008 – 12:17 am

We’ve been very busy here! Getting a lot done, though it always seems there is more to do. Got a long list of “to dos” to go! Today Genny made several runs to Wal-Mart, she decorated the mailbox, we decorated the guest room tree, and this evening, Genny and I made snowflakes for the front door.

cutting paper snowflakes

Genny taped them in the windows.

decorating thef front door

Pretty!

front door snow

Looking through the snowflakes into the front room.

living room tree lights through the snowflakes

Tomorrow, I’ll post a picture of the guest room tree. I put white LED lights on it and lots of silver ornaments. Oh, and I spray painted the tree silver! :)

~~Rhonda

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tree skirt for the living room tree

November 25, 2008 – 4:51 pm

The living room ceiling is 12′ tall. The Christmas tree sits on a 2′ tall wooden box to raise the 9′ foot tree to 11′. I had a large piece of fabric that I had draped over the box in years past. This year, I cut it to fit the box and used velcro to attach it.

I began by cutting a strip of fabric long enough to go around all four sides of the box. I used self-sticking velcro to attach the fabric. One side of the velcro was adhered to the box and the other side to the top of the long strip of fabric.

tree skirt

Once that was done, I cut a square of fabric to fit over the top of the box like a table cloth, making a hole and a slit in the back to fit over the tree stand.

wrong side of tree skirt

Velcro was again used to close the seam. One piece of Velcro was placed on the front of the fabric and one piece on the wrong side (the back).

velcro seam

The tree skirt now looks finished and is much easier to place under the tree. And it stays in place! DD#2 will be glad to know that. It was always her job to crawl under there and try to clothespin the whole thing together. :)

covers the box beautifully

~~Rhonda

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dd chose the colors…

November 25, 2008 – 4:17 pm

In the midst of everything else, we are painting DD’s room. She will be eleven soon and chose these colors. Aqua blue, bubble gum pink, and a touch of lime green. The woodwork will be glossy white.

DD10 chose the colors...

We have a carpenter building a double decker bed (ceilings are 12′). He hopes to have the bed done before the open house. He will also build a desk area with shelves and cubbies, and put in a new closet with a bench seat that can serve as her “launch pad.” The pictured closet was added in the 1920’s and we will remove it after the end of the year. The launch pad is a place for her to prepare for the next day…a place to set out her clothes, her shoes, her book bag, etc.

The upper bunk will serve as a guest bed and as a reading nook. There will be shelves on the wall for her books, a lamp, and an outlet for other needs. DD has been *extremely* patient while this all takes longer than we had planned. The desk and closet will have to wait until after the Christmas festivities. But we are hoping the bed will be done soon!

~~Rhonda

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saturday a.m.

November 22, 2008 – 12:04 pm

I am working on the glass tree this morning, stringing new LED white lights on it. It’s a new tree and it is taking some effort to get the lights on in a way I like. This tree is hinged so the lights can stay on it while it’s in storage, which will be nice. Hopefully it won’t need much tweaking next year. After the lights are on, we will decorate the tree with my collection of glass and spun glass ornaments.

Genny came last evening and she is working on the Victorian tree. It had been in the guest room in prior years, but with the remodel, the theme no longer fits. So upstairs it goes to DD#1’s room and the guest room tree will get a whole new look this year. I’m thinking white and silver, but shall see how it comes out when we get to it. Last year, DD’s tree looked like this:

paper doves

A photographer came by this morning to take a picture of the living room tree for the paper. We are hosting a public house tour December 12 and 13, to raise money for the mission fund at church and he wanted a picture for that. Thankfully, the living room was decorated and in good order! Thanks to Brooke who helped me straighten the downstairs yesterday. The clutter of construction and decorating was getting to me. We worked through the downstairs rooms and it looks so much better than it did. Whew! So glad it looked good for the photo, as he didn’t call ahead! :)

I will post pictures later. Wanted to get something posted to keep you up to date on how we’re doing. ~~Rhonda :)

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other things and sour cream sugar cookie dough

November 20, 2008 – 9:22 pm

A quick post here…I’ve been pretty busy. This morning I painted the two closet doors for the hall in the addition. DH will have to turn them over this evening and I’ll give the other sides final coats in the morning. When he gets home from work tomorrow evening, he can install them. Yeah! It will be good to have the closet doors operational again!

I began painting the old book case. I plan to paint the inside with the same yellow we used in the hall and will paint the outside white. Today I began with a coat of Kilz to seal the wood.

I replaced some lights on the Victorian tree. Wanted to get to the glass tree, but didn’t have time.

I ordered fabric for the curtains in the guest room. Laurie calculated all the yardage for me. Thank you, Laurie! I had to order from three different sites to get all the different patterns I wanted, but they should be winging their way here before long.

I made the Sour Cream Sugar Cookie dough. Double batch. That’s a big load for a mixer but my trusty Kitchaid can handle it easily.

sour cream sugar cookie dough

This is a very tender dough and needs to chill in the fridge before it can be rolled and cut. Since I made such a large batch, I’ll leave it in the fridge at least 24 hours so it is completely chilled. I covered it with plastic wrap, pushing all the air out. It may be several days before I get around to baking the cookies, but the dough will be fine.

sour cream sugar cookie dough

Tomorrow, I hope to put the lights on the “glass tree.” The tree I had used for years was finally too worn out to use again. It took a long time to find a tree I thought would work well for the glass ornament collection. The tree has to have plenty of free space among the branches to display the ornaments. I finally ordered one and it looks like it’s going to be a good choice. Genny and I began “fluffing” it last weekend, Genny finished it while I took DD to music lessons, and now it is ready for lights.

I’ll take more pictures tomorrow. :) ~~Rhonda

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