Tackling the Guest Bedroom

It's time to bring the least-used room in the house up to date! We have family coming all the way from Arkansas in a few weeks to stay at our house, swim in our swamp pool, and eat our food. I can't wait! Since I've been working non-stop on rooms in the house that get lots of use, I've put the guest bedroom on the back burner. Many projects elsewhere have since been finished and enjoyed, and with some approaching guests just around the corner, I thought it was time to make some small updates to the guest room.

This room has been tricky for me. It will be the room to eventually transform into a nursery, so I didn't want to make any permanent changes that would later need to be redone. But hanging a little artwork and adding some new lamps? Those are things that will find places in any room! It's fun to have a blank slate with which to work.

I found the mirror at TJ Maxx last week and thought about it all weekend. I decided to check Monday morning to see if it had been snagged by someone else. With the angel's chorus and the halo beaming around it on the shelf, I knew it was still there so that I could bring it home and make it mine all mine. I measured twice, pounded a few holes into the wall to get it right, and then stood back to admire the new sunburst that added so much to the room.

Some lamps were purchased last night from Target with my intentions to spray-paint them a cheery yellow. When I got them home and placed them on the nightstands, I realized that the scale was all wrong. I can get away with bigger lamps here, and I intend to do just that!  So back to Target they go today, and I will continue to search at Goodwill for the perfect pair of lamps that are ready for a spray-painting makeover. Go big or go home. I've only said that a few times in my life, but it certainly applies here.

The goal is to paint the nightstands from antique mint green with gold handles to something a little closer to our style. We bought them at a rich lady's estate sale for $10 a piece, and I've been a little hesitant to paint them in case they actually are valuable. I wish I knew when I was home so I could tackle a two-day project such as painting some furniture! I am thinking they would look great white. And then the bright yellow lamps on top to add a pop of color. Ideas?

I am also hoping to add some more accessories to the dresser to make the room even more inviting. I want my guests to feel special and that the room was created just for them! That's pretty close to the truth, anyway! It's been fun so far!

Any suggestions for the room before I go crazy with decorating?

Independence Day 2011

Ah, the blessed celebration of the founding of this wonderful country! In case it has gone unnoticed previously, I'm rather a fan of the men who founded this wonderful country. Particularly one with white hair who ran things first. I always look forward to the day that we can BBQ, shoot of fireworks like pyro-maniacs, and spend time with loved ones in celebration of our freedom.

Hubby and I awakened to a flag in our front yard. Every holiday that deserves it, the Boy Scouts of America place a flag out front to honor the people of those holidays. Sometimes I wake up and think, "I didn't even know today was a holiday!" It's nice to support the Scouts while being reminded of special days in our nation's history.

That afternoon, we traveled south to Gilbert for a BBQ and swimming party at my sister's house. Other friends, Russ and Jen, were also invited, and they decided to bring their 14 month-old Owen along. What a cute kid. He and Evan had a blast playing together all night long.

After swimming for an hour, our stomachs began to growl when a neighbor's grill was fired up. We climbed out of the pool, and Joe donned his Pig Apron to become Master in Charge of the Grill. Soon we had burgers and hot dogs ready to go with broccoli salad and potato salad. To wash it all down, we enjoyed some blood orange soda from Costco...Joe's favorite! Everything tasted so yummy! What is it about food that has been cooked outside on an open flame?

We then headed outside to admire Russ and Jen's new Honda Pilot and to allow Evan to see some sparklers before heading to bed. As with most things, he showed no facial emotion! We all think he was enjoying it, though. After he fell asleep and we all enjoyed some ice cream, we trooped back outside to enjoy the 100-degree temperature and some more fireworks. Joe went all out and, with Hubby's help lighting things, provided quite a show! It was fun to see each different fountain firework displaying such beautiful colors. And some of them even whistled.

We all called it a night around 9:20 PM and headed home. It was such a fun way to celebrate our nation's freedom! I'm so grateful to live in this country!

Four Days of Fun

I went to work this week! What a treat indeed. I've been so antsy to get on the road again that I didn't even mind that the call came to leave Sunday afternoon. At least I got to attend all of church before heading to Willy-Gateway to get the airplane from maintenance. We flew it to Sky Harbor and were all fueled and ready by the time the passengers showed up just before seven o'clock.

It felt so good to fly again!

We flew late into the night to arrive in Minneapolis-Anoka airport. Since we landed at midnight, nothing was open. But we had called ahead to ask the line guys to wait for us so we could have a ride to the hotel. I'm glad they were there. Parking can always be a challenge when I'm unfamiliar with the airport. Within an hour I was curled up in bed trying to sleep. We had an early show the next morning to take three passengers to Madison, then Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As he left the airplane, Big Boss said he would be gone for two hours and wanted to go to Toronto. I scrambled to submit our online departure information to Customs, which requires an hours notice to allow us to leave. We got inside the FBO and their internet was down! So we drove to McDonald's to use the Wi-Fi while Terry ordered lunch. I got the form submitted just in time, and Big Boss didn't even know there was a problem. We try really hard to make his travel as seamless as possible. He has it pretty good with us!

We ended the night by landing around 8:00 PM in Toronto-Buttonville airport. I always carry my passport just in case Big Boss wants to "pop up" to Canada. I walked to Jack Astors from the hotel and ate a delicious Greek chicken salad before calling it a day. Because we didn't know his plans enough in advance, we had to spend the night in Toronto before flying to Scranton, Pennsylvania early the next morning to clear Customs. There wasn't much we could do about it since Customs will NOT help at all if you're in a tight time crunch. We spent a few hours in Scranton on Tuesday morning before hopping further down the east coast to Baltimore. This is always a fun stop, simply because of the incredible people-watching that can take place in the FBO. It's always packed with something exciting going on! After a few hours in Baltimore, we tried to get into Raleigh-Durham but failed. We battled thunderstorms during every single flight this week, but this one was so big that the airport closed! We were put in holding with about twenty other airliners and flew in circles for half an hour before I found us a place to land to avoid the storm. We landed at Rocky Mount-Wilson, North Carolina for some fuel. Since Raleigh wasn't going to be opening any time soon, we flew to Atlanta instead. After flying far around some more storms, we landed at about 7:30 PM. I was very excited to be in bed soon, but Big Boss decided to fly to Florida that evening to avoid weather in the morning.

Soooooo, after a quick dinner in Atlanta and getting the airplane fueled, we were on our way to Ft. Myers, Florida at about 10:30 PM. I had been awake since 5:00 AM that morning and didn't function very well on the radio. I kept waiting for someone to ask if we had been drinking! I slur when I get tired. What can I say? We had to pay a late fee for the FBO line guys to wait for us, and soon we were all in the van to the hotel. I slept like a baby, though not long enough. Big Boss showed up an hour early the next morning for our flight to Tampa. We were there long enough to make a grocery store run for some more bottled water, then a stop at my favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, for lunch. I stayed under 500 calories and still enjoyed one of my favorite dishes...the Factory Chopped Salad! I was really careful with my meals all week on the road. Thankfully, I still managed to lose weight!

After Tampa, we flew over some building thunderstorms and over the Gulf of Mexico to arrive in southeast Texas called Harlingen. It's about an hour south of Houston and is presently on the edge of a huge tropical storm. Of course! We had rain and wind to battle from that storm but managed to land safely. After about four hours on the ground in Harlingen, we flew to Addison, Texas near Dallas. Again, one of my favorite stops. We grabbed dinner at Pei Wei before heading back to the airport. Big Boss surprised us all at 10:30 PM by saying we were heading home! Approaching was a big working holiday weekend, and I think he wanted to be home to prep for it. I don't mind! After more thunderstorms and slurring on the radio, we landed around 11:00 PM local. My car was still at Willy-Gateway, so we took a taxi (after waiting forty minutes for it to show up...am I the only cursed person when it comes to calling a taxi?) to Terry's house, then to Hawker Beechcraft in Mesa for my car. I turned the oldies up and sang too loudly so I wouldn't fall asleep on my drive home. I pulled into the driveway at 12:30 AM...one very tired kid.

It was a typical Big Boss week which results in lots of airports, early mornings, and late nights. I am still working on getting rid of my sleep debt so I don't get sick. But it was sure fun to be working again! Other than the lack of sleep and the awful storms on every flight, I would say the week was pretty darn perfect.

Sixteen cities in four days. Not too shabby, eh?

Mesa - Phoenix - Minneapolis/Anoka - Madison - Milwaukee - Toronto/Buttonville - Scranton - Baltimore - Raleigh/Durham (couldn't land) - Rocky Mount - Atlanta/Cobb County - Ft. Myers - Tampa - Harlingen - Dallas/Addison - Phoenix

Games & Grub

I'm constantly looking for an excuse to have people over. For the past ten months, I've had some reason or another to not invite a bunch of neighbors, well-loved by us, into our home. It was just a few months ago that we finally got furniture in the living room and had more than an area rug in the space. It was difficult to have a house full of fun peeps without giving them the option to sit down.

Now that we're all furnished, I've been dying to have a party!

My last shindig was Easter Dinner with my family over two months ago, so this party has been a long time coming.

I made calls on Tuesday when we decided Saturday would work. Everyone was available! So I made paper invites and delivered them that evening. Then I got to work designing the menu. We wanted to do finger foods while playing games.

Games & Grub Menu

Alton Brown's Spinach Artichoke Dip with Artisan Baguettes (hands-down the BEST ever)

My Baking Addiction's Rolo Brownies (please try these...we all died they were so good)

Multi-Grain Crackers with Cream Cheese Spread and Raspberry Chipotle Drizzle

Homemade Chips and Salsa

Fruit Skewers with Vanilla Yogurt Dip

Gummy Bears

Bite-Size Candy Bars

Lemonade in Mason Jars

Bottled Coke

I spent Friday and Saturday preparing for this party, not including all week that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I could hardly contain my excitement. For me, the anticipation of an event is almost as much fun as the event! People started showing up exactly at six, so I didn't take any good pictures of the food table before we devoured it. But let me just say, I think we all got our fill and had a blast. And it looked purdy, too.

We've had a running list of people we love who need to be invited over. On the top of the list are Ted and Ann, Tom and Hope, and Chris and Karen. Our neighbors are hilarious people who we knew would make the evening magical, and they certainly didn't fall short in the entertaining category. We played Say Anything, a little bit of Battle of the Sexes (until we realized that none of us could answer anything), and Catchphrase. I am pretty sure the girls won in everything. And Hubby kept score, of course.

Pandora quietly played the Bread station in the background, which was perfect music for the evening.

I'm already craving another shindig. Is that an addiction? One of the main reasons I was so tickled to get our own house was so we could have parties galore. I am hoping this was the party to kick-off our entertaining careers!

The only dissapointment was that I had to run away to work on Sunday, leaving Hubby with a mess to clean in the kitchen. It was spotless when I got home, without a single word of complaint from my wonderful man. I'm so glad he likes these parties as much as I do and enjoys having people over!

And that he knows how to do dishes like a pro.