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New Doors Opened

This weekend Dad and Mom came down to work on the house.  Our tasks were to paint the entry way so it wouldn't be so dark and to create the new door from the LR to the Kitchen so there are 2 doors to create a better flow between the 2 rooms.  The projects were successful! But I still have to paint the new doorway and my house is still a wreck.

The Porch before:

 

The Porch After: 

The LR Before:

The LR After:

The Kitchen After:

I'll have better pictures when the house is back together and I have finished painting.

Quilt

I am so excited that for my birthday, Melanie made me a quilt!! I love it. And I didn't even have to get married or have a kid for her to make me one! yea! (though I would like to do those things...)

She picked out perfect fabrics of stripes, dots, paisley, swirls, and damask patterns. And of course, in greens and browns!

Updated Entry Way

But it's not finished! Here's the first look.



Dont worry, the pinky tan and the brown are going to be painted this weekend by my wonderful mom -- who will also probably pick out the colors. (And dad and I will be cutting a hole in the living room for another door to the kitchen!)

It's on the way!

Master Bathroom Makeover

There is still some dressing to do, but man, there is a HUGE difference from the original state!
LOVE IT!

Could this be my new kitchen?

30 Min Project - Jewelry Frames

I am not sure where I saw this idea. I am pretty sure I didn't come up with it on my own, but I have way too many necklaces and my jewelry tree couldn't hold them all. So, I decided to make some Jewelry Frames to hang them as well as add some much needed decoration to my master bath.

I bought 2 frames on clearance at JoAnn's (I later found out why they were on clearance... one is a half inch bigger than the other - but you cant beat clearance!). I proceeded to Lowes to buy some hardware cloth (which only came in 10 feet rolls, but it will come in handy when I cover my fireplace after the bats leave), and a couple of boxes of S hooks. Tools I used include a staple gun and industrial/kitchen scissors or wire cutters (both worked).


I didnt cut the fabric cloth exactly to size on the first one, but I did on the second. Either way works fine. Just use the staple gun to fasten the cloth to the frame and trim any excess if needed. I stapled it directly to the back, but it would also be good to staple it to the inset of the frame (where the glass would sit) so that there is a little more space between the wall and the S hooks. However, since my hardware cloth is flush with the wall, it does support the S hooks -- so either way you want to go should be fine.


Then hang on the wall like any other frame and load on your jewelry!


Frames from JoAnne's (on clearance) - $20
(and you could definitly get out cheaper on the frames - I just loved these becuase they were green and matched the master bath)
1/4 inch Hardware Fabric ($10 feet, but only needed 2 feet!) - $13
(either have a girls craft project weekend and all chip in for this -- or if you need it elsewhere to keep critters out of the house, etc - the cost offsets itself)
3 packs of S hooks (but only needed 2) - $0.89/each = $2.67

Weekend Project - Garage Goodness

I cleaned half of the garage and had an organization project this weekend. I still need to paint the bottom half of the wall. It was giving me troubles with peeling paint. But so far, here are the results:

Vacation - Day 3

This morning we got up and did 2 dives. Apparently a storm blew through last night that brought high winds, so the waves were pretty big. Of course, the waves have no influence on your actual diving --- just the ride (or should I say rodeo) out to the dive spot... and troubles getting back in the boat. Mom hurled several times while she was waiting on the boat to come back and pick her up after the dive.

But the dives were good. We saw a few sharks towards the end of the first dive. But, nothing like the school of 10 sharks that I dropped into on the second dive. Might I also say that I was the first in the water with these sharks for a while? A little uncomfortable, but pretty cool. I think later we'll be feeding sharks. That will be pretty fun too. Nurse sharks by the way. Here are some pics from today:

2 of the 10 sharks (they feel like sandpaper by the way)...

and a trumpet fish.

We decided not to do any afternoon dives. I took a nap by the pool and mom took a nap on the bed. Pretty much another lazy afternoon. Tomorrow we will be diving the blue hole. Have to be on the dock at 5:30am!!