1 more giveaway from V! Totally!

OK 1 more giveaway that I am totally excited for!

V over at V & Co. is giving away these moda fabric packs.

She made a totally cute rag rug that I think I will totally try to make with 1 of these, so I really need to win!

PS I am totally going to make this!

Probably an "R" but you get the idea!

My NEW favorite color

true to my word, I painted the broken mirror frame my new favorite accent color.

it's blue ocean breeze by Krylon

(i'm a little surprised it stuck because it was only about 25 degrees in my paint studio, I mean, basement)

(don't tell the landlord)

and the topiary stand, since is was just begging to be painted...

and because I learned 3 things in the 1 interior design class I took at Ricks College,

1 being I didn't want to major in interior design, 2 being you need to group things in 3 or more odd numbered groupings,

I just had to paint 1 of the 19 tin stars floating around our house :)

(the 3rd thing being, interior design majors are snobs and their male LDS professors are suprisingly flambouyant, at least the 1 I had was)

{ I don't really have 19 tin stars, without getting up I can only see 6 :) I know there are more though}

I love that blue with my red and white stuff

and this girl, whose blog I just love, and just lives up the mountain from me, but I haven't met in real life, or blog life for that matter, made a quilt for the Nie Auction tonight, in this color scheme... anyone want to win it for me??

7 years, probably more

(they really wanted to touch but I didn't let them get any closer. what kind of mother do you think I am?)

and it was my own fault so I can only be mad at myself.

I was rearranging again, and set it down to hammer in a new nail and it slid and fell over and broke.

It's a 34 year old mirror people! I'm ticked!

Now I think I am going to paint the frame that hip turquoise-y blue that is popular right now and frame a smaller frame or something...

I'll let you know how it turns out...

and the stockings were hung.....precariously

The garland looked like this for about 2 weeks... I didn't feel like decorating it because Max kept unplugging it. Then I figured out a way to run the cord up the wall and over the top railing and plug it in a spot that he doesn't notice very much.
{poor photo skills at work}

Now he is more interested in the buttons on his stocking. I am just waiting for him to pull it all down.

A fun Christmas game

We have been out of commission with the sickies but I think we are finally out of the woods and I can see smooth sailing ahead. (How's that for a whole bunch of different colloquialisms mixed together) At least I had most of the decor up before I got sick so I could just lay around and be sick and think about how to change stuff up. Max has been helping out a lot with the rearranging of the decorations.

Notice how the bottom half of the tree is ornament-less??

This is the usual array of pulled off ornies, he just pulls a couple off whenever he happens by the tree. luckily most of them are wooden and unbreakable.

The Culprit caught sled handed!!

He's the only 1 of the kids that has ever been this grinch-y about the christmas decor.

Tomorrow I'll show you the before and after of my garland. {Before and after I figured out how to outsmart the little grinch. :)}

Project Update & Happy Birthday Megan

Remember this little cutie?

This is the inspiration:

That Ali Edwards is so creative! She does it all!

Here it is so far:

I need to take the time to pick out and print out pictures in the right sizes.

I also need some more "R"s

** I think today is Megan's Birthday!**

Hence the song... That's how I remember it.

Happy Birthday Megan!

(If it's not til the 23rd then just read this post again then :)

Star Mill

I found this antiques and junk shop in American Fork and I am in love! It doesn't look like much more than an old flour mill, which it is, filled with a lot of old junk, which it is, but I just love it! It smells like my grandma's old house, you know that musty, dank stink, but it sure brings back the memories. They had a ton of stuff and I just kept telling Jim "My grandma had that". The guy that runs it is so funny and friendly. I told him I was collecting letter "R"s and he wrote it down and said he would look for them for me. His house is also part of the "shop" and filled with just everything imaginable. It's hard to describe it for you but just imagine the pages of any country living or country home magazine or Anthropology catalog and you get an idea.

I will probably try to haggle more over the prices next time but look what I got!

OK So you are probably saying "what the heck?" But just you white enry iggins, (in my best Eliza Doolittle voice) it is going to be so cool when I get done with it!

Another fun thing, across the street from the shop is a rope swing over a little stream. The boys had a great time swinging and getting their feet wet.

Excuses, excuses and a cute pillow

I have lots of reasons for not blogging lately, mostly, I haven't taken any pics of anything lately and I have been sick and it has been really hot, and wimbledon coverage has been on, and the olympic trials, and the list goes on... (OK I just noticed wimbledon is going on and I never watch it) We had a 2 week lull between sessions of swim lessons and I am really glad they started up again today. It's good to have a routine that gets us up and out of the house for a while. NOT like school at all :) The big boys have been real b-o-y-s lately and I am ready to ship them off to military school. The Princess has been mastering her yes and no skills and ruining all her clothes with mud and popcicles. And this guy is taking a handful of steps, and more each day, especially if he thinks I'm not looking.

Do you like my new pillow?

Jim would like to know when I am going to stop buying "weird" random pillows. I told him I have never bought a "weird" pillow so how can I stop? :)

It was only 6 bucks at Ross and it looks pretty patriotic with my blue denim slipcovers.

The Goodmans are converging on Utah this week so hopefully I will get some good pics!

Wish me luck! Welcome July!

Melis NEEDS Decorating Help!

OK! So I only have 8 weeks to go til this baby is out, (scheduled the c-section for July 5, 7:00 am) and I have been saying the usual, this baby will probably sleep with us just like all the rest did for quite a while so I don't need to redecorate Brooke's room yet, yes, a boy and a girl in the same room until the housing market comes out of the downward spiral it is in and we can move out of this house. ( I could rant on that for quite a while, but I won't) ANYWAY! Now I am feeling like doing a project, or it might get pushed back til after the big boy is out of the way. (Coming soon to a blog post near you, I may just do a photo anthology of all the huge bellies which are the Russell children in Utero.) Seriously, these huge bellies are rediculous! To make a longer story a little shorter, I need ideas of how to make their room more on the gender neutral or a little less pink, side. Brooke's crib is white, dresser white, I think I just need another dresser for now, because the boy will sleep either with me or in the bassinet in my room, but her room is pink, pink, pink. Pink bedding, flowers, girly stuff everywhere.

UPDATE: I wrote that first part last week and now it's a new day and I am thinking of doing a white chair rail, with the pink paint above and blue and green and pink and white stripes below. I need advice though. Has anyone painted stripes before, because I can't tape off a straight line to save my life. Is it something really worth doing? Or should I wait until I can bend over and breathe at the same time before I launch such an endeavor. Anyone? I'll try to find pictures to give you an idea of what I'm talking crazily about.