I Won! I Won! I Won My First Bloggy Give Away!!! YAY!

L@@K What I won from Martha over at http://missvandroo.typepad.com/miss_vandroo/
***WoW*** I am sooo excited it is my very first give away win and her first give away-How cool is that!?!?! I didn't even know this way cool magazine existed until I saw it on her blog-where have I been? I have a confession to make...I am a magazine addict! Ha! I know what a terrible thing to have-but I really love magazines! And I have been having a blast blogging so what more can a girl ask for then a magazine about blogging! I can hardly wait to get it! Well you all need to go on over to Martha's blog and give her a visit -she has a very nice, fun, cute blog!
Thank You Martha I am doing the most ridicules happy dance while I sing and shout right now! My dog and cats think I'm crazy-my kids and husband already know I am-LoL! Have you ever seen so many !!! In a post before? Nope I bet not-I am a happy giddy girl today-one of the side affects of being me! *Thank You *Thank You *Thank You *Martha-You are so awesome!

I need some fudgy bloggy help-please!

OK Girls I need your help! I am trying to plan what goodies will be made and I want to make fudge this year for Christmas. I have my usual expected cookies and candy I make but I have a hankering for fudge. I haven't attempted it for many years because as I remember it the last time I did it didn't turn out so well. And I said "I will never make fudge again!" Well you know how the saying goes-"Never say never!" So here I am with some recipes but I don't want to have to try them out to see which one will be the best. So I am asking for you to send me your tried and true best and easy fudge recipes please. And any tips you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I am a fantastic cook and baker but fudge for some reason just didn't work out for me the year I tried to make it anyway. It didn't set up right mostly. And it was many years ago -I am much older and, ehhhemmm wiser now, so maybe it will work out this time. [You can send them to my email tamgirl0@msn.com and put fudge recipe in the subject box so I know what it is for in case your email ends up in my junk box.] I am sure it will be a great fudgy success with my blogger buddy's help! Thanks Girls!

Another Fun Award!!!

My cool Blogger Buddy Tardevil over at

http://confessionsofa40-somethingmamaqueen.blogspot.com/
Has given me this really fun award! It is called "The Book Worm Award." Thanks Tardevil!!! Go on over and check out her wonderful blog she is a very fun girl and I have had a great time getting to know her! :D

So here are the very interesting rules to this one.

1) Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.

2) Write out the 5Th sentence, as well as two to five sentences following.

I had just finished reading "A New Earth" By Eckhart Tolle. I love this book, and it just so happened to be on my nightstand still on top of a stack of books. I really like to read and can go through a book pretty fast. So here goes...

Whatever they had identified with, whatever gave them their sense of self, had been taken away. Then suddenly and inexplicably, the anguish or intense fear they initially felt gave way to a sacred sense of Presence, a deep peace and serenity and complete freedom of fear.

This Phenomenon must have been familiar to St. Paul, who used the expression "the peace of God which passeth all understanding." It is indeed a peace that doesn't seem to make sense, and the people who experienced it asked themselves: In the face of this, how can it be that I feel such peace?

And I will be in contact with my blogger buddy's that I'm passing this award onto!

My winners of this fabulous award are~

Kristen at http://kristenscreationsonline.blogspot.com/

Claire at http://ethel-loves-fred.blogspot.com/

Merrie at http://wheretheblackbirdssing.blogspot.com/

Amber at http://whiskerpalace.blogspot.com/

Barb at http://babbler-slimyslugfriends.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to see what these girls have been reading!

I recommend you go to their fun blogs and check them out-I know you will enjoy getting to know them as I have!

Check out this give away!!!

This quilt is just one of three-yes that's what I said three quilts that will be given away!!!

They are all absolutely beautiful!!!

Just pop on over to http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/ and see how to enter.

How fun it this? Good luck to all! (especially to me-lol)

An Up-Date on the "BIG" project!

Hello Blogger buddies! Here is the latest on the BIG project. WoW! The bottom cabinet is almost ready for the final sanding prior to staining and finishing. We used a torch to heat the paint and then scrape the old many, many coats of paint off. That was really something and made paint removal go fast! But we were very careful not to burn the wood. There were a few spots that had me concerned but it sanded up just fine! Oh and~Yes we wore masks and goggles, but it still stunk pretty bad. Bet our neighbors were wondering what the heck we were up too! Then we got busy sanding. Started out sanding by hand and then pulled out the electric sander and some 80 grit paper. That's when we really made some good progress. Good thing I don't have my acrylic nails done right now-LoL! But I will be getting a new set after we are all done-that's for sure! I will need a day of pampering! LoL! Of course I will have to do something special for my guys helping me. :)
I am not sure yet what color of stain I will use yet-any suggestions?
The photos don't do the beauty of the wood justice. You can sort of see the "tiger" in the oak. That will show up much better once it is stained. It is definitely going to look distressed no matter what we do-but that's okay I like that. I want all the "character" of the many years this baby has been around to show.
I am sooo excited-still even after the hard work it has taken three of us ~so far haven't lost my humph to keep working on it. But I must say we have accomplished a heck of a lot in just two days. I am the type who will push and about kill herself and then crash and burn to recoup. It is worth it- I want this thing done! I have lots of sewing projects waiting for me.
I think the top might be harder just because of the inside. Also I am hoping that it was truly made at the same time and that the wood looks as good as the bottom does. I am pretty sure that they were built at the same time.
I will have to use the heat gun on the glass doors and cross my fingers I don't brake the glass. I really don't want to have to take the glass out. Oh and the pulls on the drawers look like they are brass-so cool! Anyhow I will take more photos as we get along on the top piece and of course when it is all done and in my home. It will be fun to compare the "old" and the "new" look. I can hardly wait to load this gal up with all my stuff!
It kind of reminds me of something out of an old fashioned general store and I love that.

My husband and youngest son have been really wonderful helping me get this done and that means a lot to me. I couldn't do it without their help!

Well kids thanks for stopping by and reading my up-date! I haven't been online like usual so if you all haven't heard much the past two days -it is because of this project. Hope you all have a wonderful week!

An Invite to all of my Blogger Buddies...

Hello blogger buddies! I would like to invite you to visit my daughter Amber's new blog. Yes she is the one in my "this is not my dad" story!Amber is our only daughter as a matter of fact and the mommy of our precious grand daughter! She is doing a blog on pets and tips for pet care, and exchanging fun pet stories~ etc... She works at a veterinarian office and thought it might be a nice idea to share some tips-and more fun stuff! She is a lover of animals just like her ole mom. :) So if you have a pet, would love to have a pet or just plain enjoy furry little creatures pop on over and say hello to her! She is a pretty fun and cute girl(of course she's my daughter after all-LoL). And please do join her blog! You can find her here~http://whiskerpalace.blogspot.com

She is just getting started and could use some blogger buddies! Thanks~

And I will get back to ya again for some up-dates on my "large green shelf's". I have been working on them and they are coming along pretty nicely-what a job it is though! Thankfully my husband and #2 son are helping me out with that! Hope you all are having a marvelous Monday! LoL!

The Coolest Thing EVER!!!

OK maybe it's not the coolest thing ever but... it is still pretty neat! Alright I guess the coolest thing might be winning the mega lotto or owning your dream house or something like that. I know it looks ugly now but soon it will be beautiful!

A week ago I had spotted this beauty on Craig's list~for FREE! Yep that's right free! They were closing their shop after many years and needed it gone. I was thrilled because I have been looking for something to get all my sewing and crafting supplies organized. I had been checking every week for something that could work and stay with in my shoe string budget too. One day right before I logged onto Craig's list I said OK this just has to be the day I find something! And wouldn't ya know it that was the first thing on the list!!! It was posted less then an hour before I found the listing too! So I emailed back that I was interested and where and when can I pick it up. However there was no reply, and it had been removed from the listing. So I figured that once again I must be a dollar short and a day late. Although I felt pretty sure the universe had intended that to be mine~really it just felt like it-I can't explain it. I was sooo disappointed but accepted that it wasn't to be until...this morning (a whole week later) I got an email asking me if I was still interested in the "large green shelves". I squealed with delight and called for my husband-I'm not so sure he was as excited as I was. In fact I know he wasn't. He knew what getting it meant.

I replied to the email and said absolutely I would love to have the "large green shelves" They called us told us where to pick it up and away we went down to China Town- Seattle! Once there we realized the enormity of this beauty~but because my family loves and adores me so much and I batted my eye lashes just right and did the puppy dog eyes with a gentle smile and told them it would make me the happiest girl in the world and it was just the most perfect thing for all my "stuff"~they said no problem we will get it for you as they hung their heads, shook them and sighed a big sigh!

I guess they are used to my little adventures? Good thing they love me so much! I do make some pretty darn good thank you cookies after all!

So ~We had to rent a 14 foot moving truck and go back with tools to take it apart and move it. They needed it out of there today! The plan was to get it apart in as few whole pieces as possible. It came apart in two pieces-top and bottom. But it was 12 feet long and 7 feet tall! Wow! It has all of the drawers and the sliding glass doors too!!! How freakin cool is that?!?! I know! And I also discovered that the back side middle panels actually have a mirror that has been painted over. Don't know for sure how the mirrors are going to look once we remove the paint?

While my #2 son and husband were working on getting it apart I admit I was feeling a little bit guilty~it was no easy task! But we were already committed and there was no turning back at that point. Poor guys were really straining themselves to get that thing onto the moving truck. It is solid wood and very heavy. There was a very nice man there that helped us as well.

The 14 foot moving truck was not really 14 foot at all and the darn thing stuck out a few inches or so. They tied the thing down and couldn't shut the door. We drove all the way home like that and made it! Whew!Now this monstrosity that I happen to be so in Bliss with is in two pieces in my garage (I didn't realize it was really as big as it turned out to be).

We discovered as we removed the top from the bottom in the shop that it was actually oak and looks like it might even be tiger oak! What luck is that??? I know I am so darn excited!!! So now I have to get this thing stripped of the 60 years of paint it has on it. That's right it was in that old shop for 60 years! Why it's only ten years older then my husband~it's an antique! Imagine all the people who have passed by that? How cool is that? I know! Anyhow I just had to share my wonderful FREE find!!!

My 15 year old son says hey mom what if it is haunted? I said oh well then so be it because it is mine now! The folks at the Asian shop called "Kong Sun Co." were very kind to us and I am a very blessed girl to have such a fantastic find! I am so thankful to them for giving me this beautiful "large green shelf" as they called it. I actually think it is more blue in my opinion~OK maybe aqua? And it is more like a cabinet then a shelf~but who cares~right?

Anyhow it will soon be back to it's natural state to show off the oak~ that is if the paint comes off nicely. When I first saw it online I thought of painting it a nice creamy white or even a distressed black~the aqua wasn't going to match my decor at all. But then when I discovered it is solid oak I thought it might be sac religious to paint it??? We will see what happens as the refinishing project gets under way.

Boy do I wish I could have had the chance to clean out my garage before I put the"large green shelf" in there! Not much room to move around with all our other junk in there . Anyhow~ I will take some photos and share the process with you all. Luckily I have vaulted ceilings in my sewing room and a wall long enough to house it. But getting my guys to help move and change that room all around after refinishing it is going to be a new challenge in it's self!

Awww what a long day but so worth it! I feel like I just returned from a long journey for some reason. Crazy to get this thing and start such a big project-maybe? Having my guys happily move it~priceless!

But that's just how I am, and if this girl makes her mind up she's gonna do something~you guessed it~it gets done~one way or another!!!

Some girls get excited over diamond rings-hey I'm easy~just give me a piece of furniture to refinish that will make me happy. Well truthfully yes diamonds do make this girl happy! I cannot lie about that one. LOL! But this really is just as good as a new diamond ring~to me anyways.

Thank You Universe! I think the law of attraction really does work. I am a very blessed girl!

And thank you to my husband and son's for all of their help!!! And for loving a kookie mom like me! I will have those thank you cookies for ya tomorrow sometime! :)