One Year in the Blog World Giveaway !

I finally got the nerve one year ago today to start blogging! And what fun it has been...and inspirational...and funny...and sad...and addictive! So it is time for my gift to one reader out there! On March 3rd Eli will draw a name out of a hat to win this Bunny tassel ! Just leave a comment here to enter! I'll also have another surprise or two in the box :)

P.S. I forgot to say this is a handmade paper mache bunny head-made from my traditional recipe of a light bulb, tin foil, Viva paper towels and wall paper paste!

Dullsville

There is not much going on right now at the Swamp. I am so ready for Spring! My wonderful husband has been working away on the sheet rock- he has almost completed the mud. Next comes the sanding and much dust-not really looking forward to that!

I had a week of alterations...nothing creative....until a friend of mine went with me to Angel's, our favorite antique mall, for the afternoon. We always find inspiration there! We discovered some tiny garden stuff for Fairy Gardens. I have a old tiny greenhouse so I dug that out and cleaned it up. OK - I know I'm a little old to play with dolls......But the greenhouse at Angel's had a chandelier so I decided my fairy had to have one....and I had to make said fairy....

So now I will be able to watch my fairy (I haven't named her yet!) play in her little garden while I sew! Coming soon: a little giveaway to celebrate my one year Blogiversary !

Fat Tueday

In honor of our Dad's Cajun heritage we have dressed up to celebrate Fat Tuesday!

Sadly Mom does not know how to cook anything New Orleans style so we will be having breakfast for dinner tonight!

4th Hint

So- this is my last hint! Next week I'll mail the package with all my good wishes for this to be referral month! If not...NEXT MONTH FOR SURE! I'll show the whole picture next week after the box has had time to get there!

Dining Room Progress

As usual our weekend was spent around the dining room project, with a touch of Valentines. This is the cute mailbox I decorated for Mom's Valentine with scrapbook paper. I saw it on a blog that I zoomed by and lost! But I remembered the important points and tried it out. The little metal mailbox came from Target's $1 aisle. The scrapbook paper was added with my favorite- Mod Podge!

We rewarded ourselves for working with Red Velvet cupcakes all weekend!

When we did the Parlor last year we found this sealed inside the fireplace. Since we got a complete electric insert for that fireplace we could not use it. So now we have figured out how to use it in the dining room fireplace. First it got a paint job and had to be "glued" back together.

The new electric logs will sit up inside it. It looks good when it is turned on. The white area behind the logs reflects the fake flames! DH has the cement board attached so now we can work out a tile pattern.

The big change is sheet rock! The ceiling went up on Saturday. Thank goodness for the lift! There is no way we could work with these tall ceilings without it!

The walls started going up Sunday and Monday. He is about half way around the room!

While he has accomplished all of this (I am mostly just the clean-up crew) I have done a little sewing. The curtains are cut out, not the lining only the main fabric. I am stuck on the trim/fringe I am going to use. I'm too frugal to buy what I like best!!!! I just can't spend more on the trim than I did on the fabric! On the other hand I get a great deal on the fabric so I could justify spending more on the trim!!?? And I got a good start on another project this weekend. We have a swing in the backyard with a canopy that has seen better days- it is a least 10 years old. I've recovered the seat cushions once- but not the canopy. So this year it gets the full make over. Everything is cut out-canopy, 3 seat cushions and 4 throw pillows. I finished the throw pillows today. The canopy is about half done. I feel like if I blog about it I am committed to finishing it!

Happy Valentine's Day

3rd Hint

Awards and a Vet Visit

I feel like I've been to the Blog Grammy Show! I've been given 3 awards lately and I want to show them off! Unfortunately I am not so much of a "techie" and I can't figure out how to stick them on the side of my blog. Every time I try strange things happen!

First came Punchy's Award- hhhhhhmmmmmm! It is the thought that counts! And DH thought it was Very Funny! I did, too! Thanks for the laugh!

Next came one from Pam- Thanks Pam! I need to pass it on...need to figure out how to do that!

And the third came from Girlville! I am supposed to list 6 things that make me happy right now:

1. Snugly Pugs/Cats

2. Being Retired

3. Junk Stores

4. Electric Blanket

5. Good Health

6. Vanilla Caramel Coffeemate

Poor Eli must have gotten his eye scratched! All weekend he was weepy, so bright and early yesterday morning we headed out to the Vet. He was pretty good in the truck. I made him sit in the back seat because he likes to drive! She saw right away that he was miserable. A few tests later we were on the way home with eye drops and antibiotics and an empty wallet. I wish Blue Cross covered this health crisis!

Back in the Coupon Game

I've really dropped the ball in my bargain/coupon hunting since Christmas. Fortunately I had a stockpile to fall back on. This week I've had to restock and reorganize my coupons. This is my Kroger trip-

I saved 40%. No, we will not be eating Ravioli for the next 25 days! Son #3 does not eat many chips or sweets. His idea of a snack is a can of Ravioli and it was very cheap this week + you get $3 off when you buy 10. The other really good deal was the Multi-grain Cheerios that were $.67 by using double coupons! They were also included with the buy 10 get $3 off deal so they ended up $.37 each! I always seem to have a coupon that does not work or gets skipped somehow. It usually is not worth going back to have it fixed. I started to go back today since it was $3.00 ...when I realized that they gave me an extra Senior Citizen discount!!! I guess I need to touch up my gray hair a little! But, that balanced out the coupon they missed!

On to CVS and Walgreens...

I spent $16.58 and got back $12.49 in ECB's and will do a $2.75 rebate ...so $1.60 for everything in that picture!

Dining Room Weekend Again

This weekend DH and Son#3 carried the mantle outside and DH spent the whole weekend (except during the Super Bowl) stripping it. Since I had not worked on it with a heat gun all the old yucky paint was still on it. But now it looks like this.... nice and clean!

You can also see where he poured a concrete base for the hearth around the new electrical stuff, so we can plug in the fake fireplace. We found an insert on sale at L*we's that will do. It is not as nice as the coal burning one we got for the parlor (read: much less $$$$) but, we will not use it as much. Now we are working on how we can reuse the original tile and add to it to replace broken and missing pieces.

I completed my assignment to get the paint off the baseboard with the heat gun. The reason I do this is that it makes his work much easier. The baseboards will be painted to match the rest of the house and crown moulding. We are stripping them to clean off the 500 coats of old paint so they don't look so lumpy and sloppy.

I had some time to play a little this weekend. I made a pillow to send to the Granddog in Alaska with his Valentine dog chew! The color of the pillow dog is wrong - but the breed is right. Here he is over Christmas getting a kiss from Bitsey!

And I took some pictures of the Camelias that are blooming in our yard. The bushes are as tall as the first floor of our house! I wish I knew more about the varieties. I also have one bush with a dark red, almost burgundy, flower that has finished blooming.

2nd Hint

Such good guesses on the baby gift! But, I'm still going to just reveal the hints until after I mail the package! I sure do hope one or more of my children give me some granddaughters....I love girl clothes! But, at this point I will be overjoyed for little boy clothes again!