Canoeing on the New

We went to the New River this weekend for a little camping trip. The main activities we're fishing, eating, fishing, eating, playing around, eating fish, and fishing some more.This week we have had a lot of rain so the river was a moving! So even though there was a lot of fishing going on there wasn't a lot of fish catching going on. Joe actually had the two catches of the weekend. But some of the guys shared their fish with us from an earlier trip and we had an awesome fish fry Saturday night! We went with a wonderful group of friends and had some really great fellowship.

Ellie got a little crazy with her marshmallow! :-)

The days were beautiful but the night was a little challenging! We had a pretty serious storm roll through during the night and I don't think anything was dry in the morning. But thankfully the sun came out and dried up all the rain!

Joe and I went for a canoe trip down the New. It was a 5 mile trail and it was awesome! The water was moving so good we really didn't have to row very much at all. Our first rapid we came to didn't go see good though, we filled the boat up with water! But after pulling over and dumping that out we were good to go for the rest of the trip. Going down the river and seeing God's creation was such a great time for us! Check out some of the scenery we saw...

My idea of canoeing!

Sweet Sunday

On some blogs that I follow they do a "Wordless Wednesday", I wanted to do the same concept just a different day, so I thought I would do "Sweet Sundays" instead. I love Sundays!! Sunday is our official family day. We almost always start our Sundays at church and then we'll go out to lunch or make something ymmy at home and then normally the rest of the day is just good ol' quality time together! So I thought it would be a good day to share a little something that's on my mind or in my heart.



This was taken a few weeks ago at my cousin's graduation from UNCW. We only got to see Jonathan, my brother for a few hours. I miss being able to spend time with him and his girls!! Joe and Jonathan have such a good time together! What a blessing family is!!!

Master Refresh

I finally got the "new" Master bedroom painted and a few new touches added. It only took MONTHS for me to get motivated but hey it's done and I am really enjoying the results!! I really wanted to do something a little different from any thing we have had in the past. I LOVE color but the cool colors are really intriguing me recently. So I thought that our bedroom would be a great space to try it out. I wanted to do a monochromatic color scheme with just a punch of color. We went with Coventry Gray from Benjamin Moore for the walls. I kept the same duvet we had since it was white, added some pillows and window treatments from IKEA. (I love being able to swing in IKEA and pick up something! Too fun!!!) So we've got grey, white, black and hot pink for our punch!

I still need artwork for the main wall of the bedroom. I am thinking about using some of the decal artwork that is so popular now. Truthfully I can see why - you get a nice big bang for your buck! I still can't decide which one... Will you help me choose??? So here are the options:

one, two, or three...

The decal would be on the long wall (see below.) I would like the decal to come out from behind the window treatment panel. I like the idea of having it in black with hopefully a some pink mixed in, but some of the options are only one color. So we'll see which one works out best.

Our first garden

Well... we are going to try a garden this year. We have done some tomatoes in pots before but this will be our first time for having an actual vegetable garden. I did some research on what we need to do to get our garden started. Placement is important, your garden needs 5-6 hours of sun a day. But most importantly was the soil. We rented a tiller and thankfully had some of our very own BLACK GOLD (as Joe likes to call it aka compost) to mix in with our lovely red clay earth.

The good Lord blessed us with rain yesterday so the ground was nice and soft and incorporated well. We had decided that we wanted to do tomatoes, squash, zucchini, red pepper and some herbs. I will keep you up to date on the progress of our little guys. We're hoping we'll have some fruits of our labor... maybe enough to share! Here are some before, during, and after shots...

Our plot of earth...

Joe workin' the ground


There they are... Wonder what they'll look like in a few weeks...





Our sweet little garden

There were a few tools we purchased to help with our garden endeavor...

We decided to get a rain barrel and a drip hose to help with the watering. This was the best deal we had found around $60.00 at BJ's

We had started our composting efforts last year around this same time. We did the very simple option of using sticks on the bottom for air and then just adding grass clippings, leaves, and kitchen scraps. We covered it with 2 black garbage bags to create some heat and then placed heavy pieces of wood on top to keep the critters out. Now this was not the prettiest option but it did work.

This year we actually splurged for a real composter. This also was the best deal we've seen around for $40.00 at BJ's. Now we have a pretty little composter beside our trashcan and we look forward to making more BLACK GOLD!!

I also recommend getting an compost pail for the kitchen counter. Joe got this from my Mom for his birthday last year and it has been so nice to have. It does a great job of keeping the stinky smell away and really encourages you to keep your kitchen scraps. Here's a list of things to put in your compost and what not to put in there.

This is the one Joe got from Crate and Barrel

And one more...

So after finishing Emily's blanket I decided to tackle a trickier pattern. My mother in law, Carole had made a poncho that she thought I would enjoy trying. I thought this would be a perfect birthday present for Ellie.

Now this pattern is not so easy. There were a lot of new abbreviations that I had not done before. But after a little tutorial with Carole, I was on my way. I had a few hiccups, actually had to pull out 6 rows and start over!


So here's a picture of the poncho in the pattern book


I was very happy to find the yarn at Big Lots for $1.50 skein!!! I love a bargain!



Check it out... What do you think?? It's looks pretty similar to the one in the picture...

I also made her a scarf with the "fun fur" so she can use it as a scarf or like boa for dress up. I got some ribbon yarn at Big Lots too - so that's on the list next!

I have been busy...

not posting blogs obviously since I haven't posted in a while! But I have been busy with some projects - mostly knitting. My goal was to make a knitted blanket for all my nieces and God children. So, for Emily's one year birthday present I finally got to making her's. The pattern is in this book....

The great thing about this pattern it's an easy one to start with. You only need to know how to cast on, knit, purl and bind off. I love the "seed stitch" (K1P1) border.

So here's Emily's blanket...

Hopefully she will love it!

Making a little jelly...

I love Orange marmalade! I love it mixed with some horsheradish mustard to make a yummy dip for coconut shrimp (think Outback.) Or on a yummy PB&J, orange marmalade is great combo! Joe had a friend bring him a large shipment of oranges from Florida, so he decided to make some homemade marmelade for me.

Orange Marmalade

Yields about 7 half-pints

2 cups thinly dliced orange peel

1 cup thinly sliced and seeded lemon

1 quart chopped orange pulp

1 1/2 quarts water

Sugar

Combine all ingredients , except sugar in a large saucepot; simmer 5 minutes. Cover and let stand 12 to 18 hours in a cool place. Cook rapidly until peel is tender. Measure fruit and liquid. Add 1 cup sugar for each cup fruit mixture, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Cook rapidly almost to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if neccessary. Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Cover and let stand 12 - 18 hours

Stir frequently to prevent sticking

Sterilize jars and bring to temp

Recipe courtesy of Ball Blue Book of perserving

Some inspirations

After the re-arrange I am still trying to find new "homes" for everything. We had a really great collection of family photos in the previous den, but I didn't want to put the same thing in the new den. I want the room to feel different. So I had all these great photos, and I was trying to figure out where they were going to go.

Today I was checking out some of my favorite blogs and I came upon this. And I thought "Perfect!!" Julie had already introduced me to this really cool company. Check out their website! Some really cool ideas! So I thought that I could do something similar but for FREE and get instant gratification. So I decided to hang the photos in our hallway (which calling it a hallway is pushing it) and do my own version of "art." Another inspiration of mine was Julie's recent project in Emily's room . Too cute!

Take a gander... Whatcha think?

We have acquired a really fun collection of photos. Some are current pics and other are of our grandparents, our parents growing up, our nieces, nephew and God children. There's even one of Joe's great great great grandfather; he's the one smoking a pipe with his sock suspenders on! Too fun!

Now I just have to find a home for all the artwork that used to be on these walls. It's going to take a while for the dust to settle after this re-arrange!

A "little" rearrange

Well I have gotten the itch again to change up some things in the house. We live in a 1950's three bedroom ranch. The bedrooms are similar in size and a few years ago I decided I would rather have a den than an office so we switched our guest room to the office. And made the old guest bedroom a den. I have loved having 2 separate living spaces but wanted to change some things up, again. So last weekend I recruited my sweet sweet husband in rearranging some rooms. Not just moving around furniture in the rooms but switching rooms up! We moved the den furniture to the living room - the living room furniture to the Master Bedroom and the Master bedroom to the den. I am loving the new den (previous Master Bedroom.) I love the wall color with the sofa, rug etc. Thankfully that room is good just like it is.

But unfortunately the living room and office are going to have to be re-painted. I am in the midst of selecting new paint colors and will hopefully be painting this weekend!!! Here is what I am thinking for the living room...

The fabric behind the paint swatches is the sofa color.

These are the options for the Master Bedroom

Any favorites???