Monday Should be the New Sunday

Today is Monday, but it was like Sunday for me. That is a nice perk of being a teacher...you get random days off of work due to holidays that people don't even really celebrate (no disrespect former Presidents). Will left for Cleveland today and he won't be back until late Friday night, UGH. So, it's just me and the Samsonator this week - hooray for him (he is already counting down the days until his daddy gets back to give him a belly rub). Friday I got home and found these beautiful roses and some chocolate covered strawberries, which didn't last long enough for me to photograph. These goodies were from my sweetie, but I also got PLENTY of sugary goodies from my students. Did you know that teachers get the most Valentines??



For lunch today, while the snow was falling (it was so pretty), I made a time old classic for lunch - grilled cheese. Why did I ever stop eating these. They are so good!
Yesterday I started working on some "SPRING" blocks. I purchased some culled lumber - lumber that is 85% off at Home Depot because it is "damaged" - and had the Home Depot worker cut it for me. It was just a 2 x 4 and he cut it into 6 blocks for me. Three blocks at 5 inches and 3 at 6 inches. I picked Avocado Green craft paint to paint the blocks as my base.
Then I used different scrapbook papers to put a background on the front of each block. I used an Exacto knife to cut the letters out. Lastly, I Modge Podged it all on to make them stick. I just realized that my "S" block is upside down in these photos! WHOOPS! I am thinking of adding some ribbon and buttons to give it an even cuter finished look. I can't wait to make other blocks for different seasons. I am going to do one for Auburn Football - can't wait for football season again. I think I will also do one for the 4th of July and the possibilities for Christmas are endless..

I bought this mirror about a week ago from Home Goods. I'd had my eye on it for over a month and finally I just bought it. I think the design is so cool and the color is almost identical to the paint color in our kitchen. The mirror hangs at the top of our stairs - so you can see it right when you walk in the door. I couldn't really get a great shot of it...

Yesterday I finally found some decent priced lemons and limes. These will go in my glass jars this spring/summer.

Our arched grid made a perfect way to display Valentine's cards.

I think for Christmas I will tie some fun ribbons and burlap together and string it across the grid and then use clothespins to hang Christmas cards.

Will and I had our eye on these ledge shelves from Pottery Barn for a long time, however, they were pretty pricey. We found these 50% off at Hobby Lobby this weekend and spent Saturday night putting them up. (Thank you husband). Now the task is to find things to put on them. I love the empty frame idea, but I bought this empty frame to make my jewelry organizer - so I'll be on the lookout for other empty frames that would maybe work up here. We got that big metal jack at Home Goods and I think it will look cute once other stuff is up there.
I decided to make a red H to put on one of the shelves. I just bought a paper mache H from JoAnn's Fabric for $3.99. I painted it a chocolate brown color and then went over it with a true red. Once it was dry I sanded the edges to give it a little bit of a distressed look and then rubbed this Distress Ink all over the edges.

I sealed it with Modge Podge and let it dry.

Here it is on the shelf...I don't know which shelf it will eventually go on, but it looks good for now.
Here is a shot of one of my favorite new accessories in our living room - our metal jack!

We also got this cute PANTRY sign to hang, can you guess, above our pantry. We found this at Home Goods for $3.99!!