I have a question....

I was watching the Today show this morning. Miley Cyrus was performing on The Plaza. They said she drew the largest crowd they'd ever had. Am I missing something? What is the draw to this girl?

Is it her wholesome-ness?I think not!

Is it her "famous" father?

Um...no!

Could it be the quality of her lyrics? You judge.

Put on your coolest dressAnd your hottest pair of shoesCome on lets go, ohGet in my carTurn the radio on up highI said highAt the red lightBoys trying to get the digitsBut we sneak byCus were heading to the clubNothing gonna stop us nowLets goAre you ready? Lets goAre you ready?Lets goAre you ready? YEAHI'm coming up with all my girlsWere gonna party like theres never a worry cusGood time rules, so no curfewWere showing all our moves the breeze so coolLet your hair downTonight you get to be a superstarYour living like a superstarSO were flirting with the dudeat the door till he says were okayMove the velvet ropeBack off, get out of our wayAll the guys got there eyes on usAs were moving up to the floorTrying to waste some timeBut were doing what we came here for

I'm saying no to that one too.

Her interview was awful. Every other word was 'ya know. She was telling Natalie Morales that she was just a normal teenager and she was trying to show other girls who look up to her that she was just like them (she said she shops at Walmart).

What am I missing?

Cheap or Thrifty?

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without

It seems to be pretty trendy to re-purpose items these days. I have enjoyed reading this blog. The woman who writes it is an avid thrift store shopper. She writes about her awesome thrift store finds and exhibits her wonderful decorating style from her purchases. This one is fun too. Every Thursday, if you go the the site and click on before/after, you can find projects that people send in showing their made over thrift store, yard sale, or curb side salvages. I'm amazed what people come up with!

I have wanted to try my hand at a furniture makeover. I have been looking for a buffet that I could put under my flatscreen television to hide all of the electronic equipment. I started by looking on CraigsList hoping to find a piece of furniture that I could wow everyone with when I re-did it. Instead of finding a dilapidated piece, I found the brand new, still in the box piece that someone was getting rid of. The price was right and so I snatched it right up. Although I didn't get to re-do it, I was pretty pleased that I could bring it home, take it out of the box, and it looked perfect in my house.

This week I thought about another project...a new mirror on my patio. Then I realized that I had the perfect mirror already; it was by my front door inside my house. It was a brassy gold so I added some copper and some black and this is the result.
Next the column. I found this at a thrift store several months ago and picked it up not knowing what I was going to do with it. I spray painted it black but wasn't happy with the result. This week I added some bronze and I now I'm liking it. Now I had a new dilemma. I needed a new mirror to replace the one from inside that I'd taken outside. I decided to look at the thrift store. I didn't find a mirror but came home with these beauties.
Would you have bought these corbels? Stay tuned for my finished project. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them but rest assured it will be fabulous.

Oh, and while I was there, I also found this cake plate. It was pretty tarnished but I polished it and now it looks usable. I'm sure it will get a lot of use.

I think I could enjoy thrift store shopping if I could get passed the smell.

Desert Rose

When I was growing up, my mother had Franciscan stoneware--Desert Rose pattern. It made a beautiful table setting. After she passed away, my sister inherited the dishes. A few years ago, she told me that the dishes were badly chipped, missing pieces, stained, etc. But she was able to get a complete set that was in much better condition and she was getting rid of the older ones. I told her not to get rid of them because there was probably something we could do with them. For Christmas that year, I got a box filled with the old dishes as well as a cute patio table. Cindy suggested I make a mosaic with the dishes for it.

I loved the idea but it seemed like a daunting project so I put it off--for a year and a half! This summer, Cindy came over and we began. The first thing I did was give the table a good coat of paint.

Then we began breaking dishes. We were laughing, wondering if mom was saying, "girls! what are you doing to my dishes?" or if she was getting a kick out of the fact that they were still being useful.

Next we began putting a pattern together. We found that we could break the dishes in such a way to get the color of pieces we wanted rather than just random breaks.

As we began laying more and more fragments on the table, we realized that the table wasn't going to support the weight without reinforcement. Cindy took the table home for her husband to look at. When she brought it back a few weeks later, he had added some decorative support. I love the new look. So once again, we began laying out the pieces.

This week, I grouted it and now it's ready for use.

I think mom would be pleased.

Service with a Smile

Tonight, just as I was beginning to think about what I was going to eat for dinner, there was a knock at the door. A woman in the ward had a big pot of home made chicken noodle soup in her hands telling me she had brought me dinner. As delicious as it looked, I was thinking, "how am I ever going to eat that much?" She said, "go get a bowl" and she proceeded to dish up just one serving for me. She was making stops to several people from church until the pot was gone.

What a delightful, creative, and delicious idea!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

When I moved to Arizona I was called to be the Laurel leader (16/17 year old girls) and the next year, I was called to be Young Women's President. One of our favorite things to do was to have Sunday Night Dessert at Sister Benson's house. About once a month, all of the girls would come over for dessert and girl talk. I loved those nights of fun and laughter in my house...it filled a void in my life at that time. And they enjoyed it too. Well, eventuallythe girls graduated from high school and I was released from the position.

Somehow this summer, with several of the girls in town, they decided we needed a dessert reunion. So tonight they all came over for the evening. They are now married, in college, working on their careers, or planning on missions. Amazing how much things change in a few short years in their lives. It was a fun night of decadent desserts, laughter, catching up, and more girl talk. How I love these girls!!

O-HI-O

My brother gave me a free airline ticket for Christmas last winter and I decided to cash in on it this week. Luckily, a flight was available when I wanted to go and I flew out to see Katie and fam in Ohio. It was fun to not have to think about it for 3 months but just take off and go. We packed a lot of fun in to just a few days.


The highlights:

a trip to the fabric store to let the boys pick out fabric for new pillow cases. I also picked up some fabric and Katie made me a purse

a day at the zoo...one of their favorite things to do in the summertime

playing at the spray ground

a picnic dinner at the park along with a ventriloquist/magic show

taking a walk with Parker while the others were napping

making a batch of raspberry freezer jam

a shopping trip to pick up school supplies. Yep, Parker is starting kindergarten next week

One night Katie and Spencer had a night out and I stayed home with the kiddos; that was the highlight of the trip. I love spending alone time with my grandchildren--something I don't get to do too often.

I also found that staying for only 4 days has its benefits; we got a lot done in just a few days and I went home soon enough that the kids were unhappy that I was leaving.

Here is the week in pictures:
The sprayground

Parker trying to figure out the magic tricks

Katie and the Crazies

Grandma's little treasures

The cute bag Katie made for me

Not only is it made perfectly, she is REALLY good at fabric selection!

Thanks for a fun week !