A Homecoming...

We spent the last few days in middle Tennessee and I had a blast introducing "the gang" to Franklin and Leiper's Fork, my hometown. The weather was absolutely ideal, I was able to see some of my favorite Tennesseans (both current and former) and we even had time to do a little early birthday celebrating. Jason had been working for weeks, along with my old friends Tiffany and Patty, to surprise me with a little early 40th birthday party and it was amazing! We also attended my friend Niki's wedding to wrap up a perfect weekend. 

Gramma and Grandad Beaty's house in pristine shape, although the garden in the back is now a manicured lawn.

Jewel's Market was around the corner from Gramma's house looked exactly the same, including the sign.

The gals at my surprise birthday in The Fork. Jennifer (Brown) Hacker, Kelly (Garrett) Hancock, me,
 Heather (McCandless) Ryan, Tiffany (Ciullo) Taylor and Patty (Lee) Cannon.

Kohl decided to take a shot at the mechanical bull while
we sampled the food at the Leiper's Fork Chili Cook Off.

Our old barn, still in great shape, in Leiper's Fork.

An infamous tree in our household (that was involved in a sledding accident). 
The old yard was in immaculate shape, as was all of Leiper's Fork. 
I was glad to see everything had been so well cared for without much change. 

Our old house, though not too recognizable. The front room had been revised, but the big windows
 still spanned across the front. The deck, garage, smokehouse, chicken house and many of the trees
 had been taken out, but the metal roof and paved driveway (complete with a iron gate and keypad...
yes, I was tresspassing) were nice additions.

The 5th graders (Merritt Woodham, Lauren Taylor and Skylar Hacker) became fast friends!

The 2nd graders (Bryce Cannon, Alex Cannon and Kohl Woodham) along with Porter Taylor 
(my sweet red-headed godson) had a miraculous marathon playdate with no quarrels!

The wedding was at a beautiful venue in the "Cool Springs area" 
(that didn't exist when we lived there) on a historic farm. 

My sweet friend Niki on her happy day! Mason jars were filled with fruit tea or beer 
and bottles of soda pop (we call it "coke" regardless of what it was) were enjoyed by
all the little ones. The tables were topped with milkglass vases and wildflowers that 
the little girls had Niki put in their hair at the end of the reception. Such a great day!

"You Just Got S'mored"

That's the caption that Kohl wanted me to use... We've played in the Atlantic, gathered shells, showered, cooked dinner, ate and cleaned up. Now it's s'more time, and maybe a quick game of flashlight freeze tag (Kohl's request). The weather is absolutely amazing, by the way!

Headed to Hunting Island!

We're taking the kids (and the dog) to nearby Hunting Island for a night of camping on the beach. This trip is going to be a test run for a longer camping trip planned for cooler weather (it's 86 degrees right now with a low of 67 for tonight). I'm certain we'll use this as a big learning opportunity, but for now, we have the essentials: tent, water, hot dogs and s'more fixings.

Pictures to follow...

How to Destroy a Perfectly Nice Piece of Furniture (or "My New Bathroom Mirror")

It usually starts out with a vision in my mind for a piece of furniture or home decor item (that usually doesn't exist). After weeks of searching or refusal to pay exorbitant amounts if money for the item, I usually give up the idea... until...

I've been known to (more so than not) buy something with the full intention of destroying it to get what I want. I have to give massive thanks to my dear husband who has walked into a room catching me ripping off fabric from a chair or covering something in spackling and just sigh. My response is always the same- "Just love me for who I am!" His is also the same- "I DO!" (in an exhausted, frustrated and somewhat helpless voice).

This is my latest victim/project (Jason loved the outcome by the way...)

1) Start with a perfectly nice mirror.

2) Add spackling at random.

3) Cover with base coat (Kilz). When dry, paint solid color (mine was a beautiful grey).

4) Once the base coat of color was painted, I sanded and scraped the high spots on the frame, exposing the white spackling and base coat. I used a Ralph Lauren Aging Medium in a Tobacco color (love that stuff) to paint in the recesses of the frame. It dries a little shinier than I like (the grey is an eggshell finish) so I used a dry brush with a scant amount of grey to knock down the shine and the darkness of the glaze. I wanted an aged and "chalky" finish (hmmm... do I have any more black chalkboard paint in the garage? Would Jason absolutely cringe if he found me painting the mirror now that it's hanging on the wall?)

5) The finished product, though not a very good picture. I LOVE it!
I can only imagine how much better my makeup will look now that I have a mirror to look in!

A Good Line...

I occasionally find humor in some of Kohl's essay test answers. This week, it was his Religion test.