Three's Company with K-Dog

The Hill House has a new resident:

K-dog! And his amazing grill: The Big Green Egg!

With which he's made us tasty dinners!

Really tasty dinners:

K-Dog (aka "Ryan") is an architect and just got a job working at Academy's corporate office.

He was a groomsman at our wedding:

and is now looking for a good home in Houston. Until then, ladies, you'll find him at our house.

(Don't forget... LIVE blogging begins on Monday!)

Office Organization-- Filing Cabinet

I've decided it's time to completely organize and decorate my home office/craft room. Although it's been cleaned before, I feel like every few months it starts to look like a room from the TV show Hoarders. I blame this on my lack of organizational tools in the office. Things like shelves, baskets and... a filing cabinet. With so many ideas and goals for my etsy shop, I knew I needed to buckle down and get serious with that space.

So I decided to start with a filing cabinet. But I couldn't find any that didn't feel flimsy (and they were all around $200). My mom suggested buying a used one and $40 later, I brought this monstrosity home:

It was from the US Agricultural Department, exceptionally heavy and well made, but clearly it needed work:

So I enlisted the help of my dad:

Who then put me to work:

And my mom helped too:

And after a lot of sanding, we discovered that the handles were made out of brass!

My dad got busy spray painting...

And that's how I got this new piece of furniture in my office!

And I'm on my way to a clutter free room!

An Easter Bunny Visit

The Easter Bunny visited the Hill house a little early this year!

He hopped in, ate some leaves:

And hopped away:

I ran outside and searched all over... but didn't find any Easter Eggs! What gives?? Maybe he was just practicing for the big day...

Pillow Stealer

When Chris and I first got married, Chris begrudgingly allowed Gordon (who I brought into the marriage) to sleep in the bed with us.

My dog, loves to sleep.

At first, Gordon stayed near the foot of the bed. Then, we noticed that he's been creeping up towards our heads. More recently he gets right between us and puts his head parallel with ours-- as though he wants to join the slumber party.

But after last night, I've had enough. I had just started to doze off when I felt some paws on my pillow... then I felt Gordon plop himself down... On. My. Pillow. I sat up, turned on the light and snapped this photo (my phone is also my alarm clock and my camera):

You can see how he walked around my head to get up on the pillow. I kindly removed him and feel asleep... only to find him in that same spot the next morning! (I guess I slept hard.)

I'm going to try and put a pillow at the foot of the bed and see if he gets the hint. If that doesn't work, he'll have his own private little bed with a little pillow and a little blanket... in his kennel!

Wild Life

Yesterday morning I was slowly getting out of bed when I heard a noise come from the kitchen. I froze. I knew Chris had already left for work and although I'm often scared by the ice machine... this sounded different. It sounded like someone was tapping on our window over the sink:

Let's take a closer look:

Do you see it? (Click on the image to enlarge it if needed.)

A bird had flown down and was trying to get at our grape plants!

Even the birds now know that I live in a greenhouse!

Decorating for Spring

It's finally time to decorate for Spring!

Last year I bought some pastel eggs and put them inside some little house containers we already owned (usually used with candles).

I bought some rabbit candle wreaths (they look like small wreaths and they're meant to lay flay with candles in the middle).

They were so cute in the store... but after two years of them... I'm started to think they look a little creepy...

This year I got a little crafty and decorated some candles:

The one on the left is a crown of thorns and the the words are "Paid in Full" in Hebrew.

I bought some hydrangeas (that will need a little refresh in a few days) and paired them with one of my favorite water pitchers (a wedding gift):

And to make lemonade out of lemons, I positioned Chris' grape plants in our greenhouse er... kitchen with some little pastel buckets.

I've gone a little wreath happy. After making this one for inside the door,

I fashioned this one for the outside:

I really like this one and plan to make more for different seasons (like one with only yellow and purple ribbons for LSU football).

Both wreaths are listed on my etsy store, but I'll be making replicas... I'm keeping the originals for myself! :)

Oh Happy Day!

Chris has been working and hoping and digging and watching our garden. And today, we were able to enjoy the spoils of his hard work:

One strawberry! We shared it. Chris was very proud of himself:

And I'm pretty proud of him too. Although, I hope the next time maybe there will be enough for each of us to have our own strawberry. :)

More Shed Excitement!

Chris and I (but especially Chris) have loved having a shed in the backyard! (In case you missed it, here's where you can read about The Shed Weekend.)

But even though we love it, it is missing something. Something that this hole will fix:

This really long hole that my husband spent almost all day Saturday digging:

That hole is going to help provide electricity to the shed. Because every shed needs electricity, right? I mean, without it, how are we going to power deep freezer??

His second shed project of the weekend? A patio:

As much as I tease Chris about all the planting and outdoor work he does, I must admit I really like the way our backyard is shaping up. And I really did enjoy being his water girl for the weekend and watching him become more and more proud of his efforts.

But still, I'd kind of like my kitchen back.

I've complained about our greenhouse I mean kitchen before.

Well this morning, after Chris left, I walked into my kitchen to find this:

In my sink.

If I stay patient, they'll eventually grow grapes in the backyard. The silver lining: I have an excuse to not do dishes! ;)

Decorating for Mardi Gras

It's Mardi Gras season!

All King's Day (or Epiphany) was on January 6th. For most Louisianians (and those that celebrate MG like this Texas girl!) it marks the day that you are allowed to decorate for Mardi Gras (kind of like how you have to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas).

So, on January 6th, I did just that. Since Christmas is red and green (and gold for our family) it's easy to transfer over to MG-- swap out the red for purple!

Here's our "Mardi Gras Tree":

You can see our tree from the front window, so I keep the lights off. Being in Texas, I'm afraid that our neighbors will think we're lazy when they see a Christmas tree up at the end of February! But once you come inside, it's easy to see, that this is not a Christmas tree anymore!

We jazzed up our garland too, here's a close up:

Those "feather sticks" are a converted boa that we used at our wedding. 

Here, I've changed the red Christmas balls with purple ones:

You can also see I've hung some masks on the wall.

A simple boa provided the lagniappe I needed for the dining room mirror:

The saying (which means "Let the Good Times Roll!") is up year round.

We (finally) bought a new table for the kitchen. It's a high, rectangular table with 4 high chairs. I LOVE it! Before we had a "dofor" (as in, that'll "do for" now) table that was hardly used. Now, people gravitate to this perching spot and the room looks so much bigger!

I gave it that tacky Mardi Gras tree for some flair.

I made this fun banner for the kitchen:

Here's a close-up:

I'm thinking about selling it on my etsy store. How much should I charge?

With that, Mardi Gras season is in full swing! King PD (Chris' dad) and his court have taken their official photos (I'll post those soon) and the King's helpers (aka, Jojo, Laura and I) have planned and plotted for the 130+ (and growing daily) guests of the King at the Krewe of Orion Parade and Masquerade. Let the good times roll!

Decorating for Christmas Part 2

In an earlier post I documented our Christmas decor that was pretty much a repeat from last year (our first Christmas in this house). I've added on since then and now (less than a week before Christmas) I'm pretty sure I'm done for this year!

Last year we had no place to put our Christmas cards (something I didn't really realize until it was too late) so this year I made use of some vertical space:

You can barely tell, then there's ribbon back there that the clips are attached to. I couldn't find tiny, colored clothes pins, so I just spray painted the normal ones!

Last year I worked on two Christmas themed cross-stitches and this year I'm finally able to show them off:

The second one is part of a series, but I've only finished "Three French Hens" and "A Partridge in a Pear Tree". My goal is to have "Two Turtle Doves" done by 2011's Christmas season!

Last week's Friday Art Project were these guys:

And this week's was this banner:

(I've been told that means "Merry Christmas" in Cajun.)

Lastly, I used my Cricut to cut out some vinyl and jazz up some candles that go around the house:

I just love coming home to a festive house! Happy Birthday Jesus!