Just couldn't stand it....

I just HAVE to post the cutest little frocks. Just looking at these make me in a good mood. Will I ever have to money to buy all of these? Noooo. But a girl can swoon? Right?

Now...this one is simply lucious. I would not be able to put it on without *swishing* back and forth.

and with these tall, dark, and handsomes?

and something simple on the ears....such as these "all purpose" earrings. "All purpose" is what I refer to earrings that will go with anything! Practical is my middle name, honey.

Have a great weekend!

Fall Decorating on a Budget!

Just wanted to throw in one more blog post. These are my cute little dollar store pumpkins. Aren't they precious?

That's it~ I just think they are cute enough to show off!

I joined in with:

More...

Here are some of the other dresses that I had discussed. Even if no one ever looks at these posts...it is my way of shopping without money!

I worship this dress. I love how it fits falls around the body with the A-line fit and doesn't hug. The cute little rows of ruffles. And it is a deep brown overlay. Perfect for lots of turkey and mashed potatoes, right?

And then pair her with these shoes and earrings...****swoon***

Ok. So I haven't got this posting pictures thing down. But I still love to blog and still love things. So this computer ain't gonna stop me! I will just learn as I go!

Have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by!

Melissa

Turkey and "Dress"ing

Every year, at Thanksgiving, I have visions of myself, dressed perfectly, carrying the turkey and turning the corner to find my family applauding at the dinner table. Everyone is getting along. No one is arguing. The children are chewing with their mouths closed and saying "Thank you mommy for cooking this amazing dinner".

Like this. See that smile on her face and the hair and make-up looking exquisite?

**sigh**

The real story? Kids are arguing. I am lucky to have on make-up. I am pissed at my husband for not getting ice when he went to the store. My parents are coming, but running late. Oh and the turkey? UM, that would be pre-cooked from Harry's. Thank God for you Harry. You ARE the other man in my life. But, hey! I did make the mashed potatoes!!!!

I am loving dresses that I could see myself dressed in the Thanksgiving daydream. I could, really. Really I could at least dress cute this year? Maybe no one would argue. Maybe my parents would make it on time. AND my darling sweetheart of a husband would get ice. All because of one of these dresses!

So how cute is this little navy dress?

and paired with these shoes?

or maybe for comfort...and just as cute..

Love the scarf......

And did I mention that for some odd reason, OCD maybe, that I think that "Fall" colors should be worn on Thanksgiving. We can drag out the festive colors later. But, that is just my hang up!

And then there is this dress...for when I dream of the country Thanksgiving...

with these......

or these.

I have even more ideas to share tomorrow!

Much reprieve...

Ok, so once again, I am claiming to be back. And I am.



I apologize to myself and others for the long pause. I was just...well...uninspired. But not because there isn't any inspiration out there, it is just hard to get the fireworks when personal life takes over and you have to be a mom first.



Do you really want to hear my story?



Short version (again)....



Married in 2002 because God had blessed me with a pregnancy and a shot gun wedding soon followed. Are you all catching me here? Yes, I was pregnant on my wedding day after only dating only 3 months. So, YES, I was easy. But, ready, nonetheless, to be a mommy and took it on like a professional. I had a wonderful intimate wedding, with a sweet little blessing growing inside of me. The only problem was, unbeknownst to me, was that I was marrying someone completely different than what I was led to believe. So, I kept on eating the right foods...completed grad school....helped my husband at the time renovate "our" house...and then my precious son came along. SKID MARK SOUND HERE.

My husband changed. Were there red flags? Of course there were. Did I choose see them? Of course not. I was going to make this work dammit!!! I had a baby.

Things got worse. The verbal abuse persisted. I was depressed. But I poured everything into my son. And maybe my ex resented me for it. Was I perfect...God no. However, I was working full time with an infant...he chose to call his sweet manager a name I would never repeat here and was fired from a wonderfully paying job. So I had the weight of the world on my shoulders and was continuing the path of a teacher, mommy, and...wife? Fast forward a few years. I had decided that I was done. I had prayed. I had asked for God to lead me in the right direction and it kept coming to having to leave my husband at the time. We decided to take a trip to try and see what happened. Well......I got pregnant again. This time with my precious daughter.
He did not want to be at her birth and left the hospital soon after she was born. I should have left since a series of events followed. But, understand this....I.could.NOT.leave.my.babies. every other weekend. That is the usual visitation schedule and to have them with him. Alone. For a long period of time horrified me. So the protectors us mothers are...I stayed.
On a beautiful fall day in late September of 2006, something happened that I won't repeat here, and I had to leave. A divorce finally snuck itself into the life I had not carved as a dreamy 28 year old I once was. Reality and God chose a different plan again.

Now move forward to November 2008. An angel came into my life. He was in the form of my NOW husband. He SAVED my dream. He was my dream. It was him I had always dreamed of. Sincere. Romantic. Father. Provider. And he loved me for everything I am and was. He taught me to sleep at night in peace. He taught me the love in which you look at him with your children and have to choke back the tears.
However, he has his ex, who to me is a beautiful woman to look at, but can be a bit...um....so anyway. She has not made the right choices for her children and it makes me very sad. She is currently living with her 22 year old, rapper, boyfriend. But who am I to judge? I wouldn't if the lifestyle didn't effect my step-children. But it does. So not only are we in court with his ex, we are taking my ex for non-payment of child support. LOVELY.
Thank GOD we love one another so much.

SOOOOO...that is why I took a break. To try and "find" me and what makes me happy. To focus on my family. And I am sure the long pauses will creep in now and again. I will still be "trolling" other blogs and observing in amazement as I always do.
I will be fine. All southern girls find their way...and with hair done and nails manicured. Right? Uh not this southern girl, but I will try my best.

Have a wonderful week everyone1
Much love,

Melissa

I'm BaaaAAAccck!

Hi all! I took a little time to recoop from my surgery. The hip replacement went well and I am feeling much better. Thank you to all of the sweet notes of encouragement I received. :) They were so sweet. As far as creativitiy?
Nah.
I may be going to Blogger-prison soon since my creative streak has slowed down.

Has this ever happened to any of you?

I am so ready to get back into the swing of things. I am so ready to be back! So, I am off to look at everyone's beautiful blogs that I could never even compare to...but they are amazing and get my motivatin' going!

If this has happened to you...the lull in motivation....what have you done to get it going again?

Off to La-La land....

Well ladies (I haven't received a male follower yet, so I think I am allowed to say that)....I am having my surgery in the morning! I am so excited to have a new hip! I mean, who wouldn't? I get to delve into the narcotics...legally. I get to use a handicapped sticker for a while. I get to go to Physical Therapy for a few weeks and one of the Physical Therapists is a cute little number. AND.... I get to set the alarm off at the airports every time I walk through the metal detectors. Seriously. My doctor has to provide me with a card when I travel. But the thing I am most excited about? Is to FINALLY have an excuse to ride in one of those "Hoveround" things at the store!

All jokes aside. My surgery should be just fine and I know that there are people battling a lot worse. I feel like I should joke at least a teensy weensy bit, since I am only 38 and getting a hip replacement. I have bragging rights way ahead of everyone else.

I hope everyone is having a nice summer and I will be back again soon! Until then I will be in La-La land. :)

It is the most wonderful time...

...of the YEAR! For teachers, that is! It has been a crazy past few weeks. I am exhausted and as much as I love to visit my friend's blogs, I have to admit a bout of laziness paired with lack of creativity, has kept me from keeping tuned in. All of the business at work has kept my mind off of my lingering surgery. Yes, it is in 2 weeks, so I will not be online for at least a week. I have to have a TOTAL hip replacement. I had a tumor in the ball of my hip and now it is time to finally bite the bullet and get the damn thing taken care of. Thank GOD for my wonderful husband and my parents. The 'rents will be taking the kids to the beach. And my husband, bless his heart, will be here in Georgia with me on narcotics! Could be interesting..Maybe I should blog then? Give everyone some entertainment. Until then, I will post some inspiring things that have kept me spinning my wheels.

This one from "Just a Girl" is amazing:

s.l.o.w.l.y.

I am slowly getting things done. One.step.at.a.time. Because of time and money...and life. However, I did get more of the pictures hung...wanna see?

You may have seen my previous post here. But, the sad little wall, went from this...

To this.....

It looks sooooooo much better now! I used some repurposed frames spray painted with my buddy...ORB, I framed a monogrammed napkin with our last name initial, and used ORB again, to spray paint some dollar store birdies. All of the photos were just printed off of my computer.

And I was up to other mischief. I recovered an old velvet chair...that you don't want to see. I was in denial on this one. I thought "WOW....looks good for a first timer". So I happily took a pic to post.

UH...wrong.

I was really, really in denial. You know the "new mom" kinda denial. Where your newborn "just has to be the cutest child ever...no, really...modeling agencies should be knockin' down my door" That kind. And my chair was the cutest-stapled and glue gunned-slipcovered-with-a-drop-cloth-chair .....EVER. And then I saw the pic.

Enough said.

Maybe I will post a picture of the chair as a joke...one day.

Have a great week everyone!

Melissa

I am linking to...

and here...

The weekend is almost here...

and I plan to post, post, post....lots of projects I have worked on this past week. I am excited to finally have my camera back from "it's" vacation. :) Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again this weekend!

Looking back and moving on...

This week marks a sad time for my family. 2 years ago tomorrow, my uncle, who was only 43, passed away. He left behind my cousin, who by the way, did not have a mom (that is another story), and was only 12. I am not going to go into detail of his death out of respect for "little girl", but it was devastating to say the least. "Little girl" now lives with my parents since my mom was the closest thing to a mother she had. She spent every weekend with my parents, since she was born. I just wanted to reflect and think about that a bit.
Since his death, I have been through a lot. I have gotten a divorce...the process was over a year...and it was and continues to be abusive. However, now that I have remarried, it does not phase me one bit.
My life has a bright future now and I am moving on.
Since meeting my dreamboat husband, we decided to stay in the house he owned. We could use a lot more room...yes, but we are choosing to stay on a smart financial path for the time being. At the same time, I am extremely proud of the home we have created for our children in such a short time. This house marks the beginning for both my husband and I. It is the house he bought right before he and I met right after his divorce was final. Here are some pics I have taken through the past year. Thanks for hearing my story for the day. :) It helps to "talk" it out.

10 Followers!

To some this probably isn't a big deal, but to me it is H*U*G*E*. When I started blogging, I didn't think anyone would care... it is wonderful to see that you actually do! I hope to continue to grow my "followers" list, but want to send a personal THANK YOU for my first 10! Each one of you have changed my life in some way...either by introducing me to Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint (ya' gotta stop me before my children are ORB!!!) to coaxing me into "recovering" a tacky red velvet chair (that only Elvis would love). This blogging thing has turned out to be so much fun...and as soon as the camera is working, I will show the projects off that I have been working on. I can't wait for you to see! :)

Hop on!

Sunday afternoon project....

Please tell me if I am o.k. here or if I have a problem. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and all of the kids were enjoying a TV show, husband was cutting the grass, and I had about a million things to do. He had asked me for something that I had stored in my "art closet". While retrieving it, I came across an older table runner and realized "HEY! This has a similar hint of blue that my kitchen walls are sporting!" Well, that was it, and in my ADD...OCD...second of thinking...I was onto a new project. I got my glue gun, some scissors, and went to work.
In my kitchen I have those window covers that are sorta roman shades, but tie on the sides? Ya' know what I am talking about? Well, anyway, they were a bland beige. I took that table runner and showed those curtains who was boss. I cut the table runner long ways down the middle...glue gunned the cut side to the bottom of the curtain/shade/hybrid thing...and VOILA! I added color.
Does anyone else here start a project with just the slight glance of inspiration?
If so, what have you started?

Have a nice week!
Melissa
UPDATE
*****UH...my camera is not working AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! Will post pics ASAP. :!

Introducing my family...

I would like to let everyone (all 7 of my followers, but thank you to you!) get to know me a little better! I want to introduce the most important little things in my life and that is my family. Here we are in all of our glory. Believe me, any picture that we have together has usually taken about 10 minutes to get together. And by the time I am in the pic, I am usually saying some obsenity while gritting my teeth to smile. I brought 2 kids and Shawn brought 3. His are easy to point out since they have the dark, Italian blood.
Have a great day!

Shelves...

As a newbie blogger, I haven't quite filled my "portfolio". I am newly married and moved into a serious bachelor pad. Not a frat house bachelor pad, but the kind where he has been divorced for a few years and had the basics. 4 forks, 3 spoons, a knife here and there; a small and sad little picture on a huge wall, a purple sofa from Ikea and a slipcovered and badly abused loveseat. Basically everything his ex-wife hated. I won't go there. Bless her heart. :) Have I drawn the picture in your mind? So needless to say, I have moved in and taken over. Super Decoratormommaidbringinghomethebacon Lady! Basically what I am doing here is showing you all the little steps I am taking to make this house a home for my wonderful hubby and I to raise our little rays of sunshine in. At least this is our home for the time being. Until my son comes home as a 6 foot 2 inch pre-teen. And then we will probably have to move into something a little more accomodating...*sigh*. One of my little projects to fill the huge wall that housed the sad little picture (and it was an u-hug-ly picture) with shelves and pictures. The one shelf I started with didn't cooperate a first, but I provided what every teacher has in her box of magic...VELCRO!
The poor and blank wall started out as this:

And now....Va-Va-Voom!

I love how it turned out. Of course, I know..I know, I need a lot more pics and they are a comin'. But for now I just think she is the cutest little thang.




So now...I am asking everyone for the perfect color for my walls. I would like a deeper khaki. What do you think? And what suggestions do you have?

I hope to post more through the weekend. But with all 5 kids in the house. I am not bettin' on it.
***p.s.
Did anyone recognize the little birds? They are my dollar store re-vamp. Just spray painted them with rubbed oil bronze...my new best friend, thanks to all of you talented ladies out there..:)
Linking up to

Spring Break 2010....what a partay!

It was nothing but a good time at my house.
Um...not. Maybe a wet t-shirt?....of sweat. Drunk?....with frustration.
So I decided to get a little crazy with only 2 hours remaining of my Spring Break.


OK, so I am not a professional and I don't play one on this blog....

BUT, this is what my husband came home to the other night...


and this...


Alrighty then....
And let me tell you he was not exactly giving me hugs and kisses. Hey now. It isn't my fault he walked in on me in the middle of one of my OCD, manic episodes. Really?
And to let you all know...this is not a post about how to decorate or how to organize. And like I said before, I literally had a few hours to come up with a plan since my kids were due home the following day. So this is what I came up with.




and then this....




even a bunny found a cozy little spot.


So please know that this is mainly for my sanity. And it was done in 2 hours with spray paint, plastic boxes, and lots and lots of toys. :)

And as a side note, the old me from the 1990's would have had an absolute heart attack if she had known that she would have ended up organizing and cleaning during her Spring Break!

Have a great weekend!
Melissa

Hissy Fit...

This morning I had an all out HISSY fit. Since I had decided to start my new blog, I just had to post some pictures of at least something in my home. Right? My computer and camera conspired against me. They had other plans. But, my hissy pulled me through as it always does, and I finally got a few pics downloaded. Onward.
I had posted in a previous blog that I had used some drop cloths as table covers for my small, intimate wedding (you should have seen my mom and sister's face when I pulled those babies out when they asked "what are you putting on the tables?" GASP....loved it...priceless). Well... they now hang beautifully in my living room and I absolutely love them. Since I am on to my next project today, I am posting just a pic or two today. Hope you like them as much as I do. Later...fried green tomatoes... YUM to the freakin' YUM!




And a bonus ballet shoe and husband's sunglasses if you can spot them...whoopsee!

Inspiration

I have five children all in the house...at. the. same. time. every other weekend. Yep. My new agenda these days is taking our small house and creating more space (or creating the strongest margarita possible...but that is another post...nervous grin). The pictures I am posting are of things that inspire me and I hope to re-create. Stay tuned, because I will make them happen. It may be a year from now, but I will make it!

HELP!

I am in need of a quick fix. OK, Here I am trying to be all "blogger like" and follow in the footsteps of all of my muses out there. My first project was going to be creating a photo wall. Yesterday, I installed a shelf. Well, it is sagging forward. Does anyone out there have a fix to this? I was thinking maybe velcro down the back? Thanks so much!

The Marriage of two Families...are we crazy or just in love?

I think we are a little bit of both. The wedding took place at a lodge, Fish Hook Point Lodge to be exact, in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It was dreamy!

With five kids between us and families coming together, it was a weekend marked with cussing...um....I meant craziness. But love was all around and I was marrying my dreamboat.



At some point during my "I am in love and want to have a sweet, intimate, homey feeling wedding for everyone to enjoy and come together and love one another...and blah, blah, blah" mental state, I decided to do everything myself. And I mean everything. We all know what that means. I won't even go there. But the weekend ended up being everything that I wanted and all five of the children are happy. We are in love and love our new family!!!!!!!!!!! Here are some pics of the celebration.





The cake was purchased at Publix and decorated with real flowers from Harry's Farmer's Market and a bird's nest I created with two birds that are obliviously in love with 5 sweet little eggs. *Get it?*

The "V" was covered in moss and placed on the mantel of the beautiful stone fireplace and draped with a ribbon of soft white flowers and candles. The centerpieces were grapevine wreaths with flowers from Harry's placed in Mason jars. Mirrors and candles were from the dollar store. The birds and eggs found a comfy spot in the center.

Brown bags and plaid bow welcomed guests to treats of Coca-Cola, Moonpies, and S'mores.

All tables were draped in dropcloths (Oh yes I did!) purchased from Home Depot for $9.00. Those will be repurposed on my living room windows. That post to follow soon.

These here pictures are just a tip of the iceburg of the fun and festivities had by all. My dreams are coming true...a big family, a wonderful husband, and a blog. What else could a little ol' southern girl ask for?

Oh yeah.

I am craving something fried. :)

The Beginning...

This is the launch of a longtime dream of mine. To launch a blog about everything that is important to me.
More to come soon!