Ode to Autumn

I have been sneaking in and out of those blogs where people show how crafty and decorative they have been on a budget. It inspired me to try a little seasonal decorating, so HERE IT IS! What my weekly forays into the second hand stores and clearance bins have netted me. I am new at this seasonal decorating thing, so it is still a little spare.

Above is my puny little mantle. It is only 4 inches wide, so everything on it has to be very narrow! I have been thinkinthat I would like to tear it off and build a more traditional mantle, and now that I have seen what some other bloggers have done, I just might tackle it this year. My Princess house shelves weren't from the second hand store, but most of the princess house canisters on them were. The pumpkins were from a 6$ surprise special they run from time to time, and the gold candle was a customer special. I bought some fall floral picks from Michaels to stick in the canisters and the burgandy candle is from a clearance table at Fred Meyer.
Darians' girlfriend Kaila brought me dried roses this week, and I thought even though they don't really say "Autumn, I needed to put them in one of my groupings. The green leaf plate is also Princess house, I bought them on clearance last year, but didn't know how to use them. The rest of the set is on the wall in my dining room.

I decided that my Autumn theme would be harvest, so I started picking up pictures in the second hand stores. This one cost me 6$ Since walls are spare, it went on the pony wall between the living room and the kitchen.

The living room curtains are tablecloths I picked up at Target last year. I cut them to length, and sewed a pocket for the rod. The matching pillows were actually placemats that had two sides, so I cut open one of the seams, and stuffed between the two sides and sewed them closed.

My birdcage was sitting in my spare room for about a year. It is really cute, but it was white and green, so I spray painted it brown the other week. I found the hydrangea swags at a garage sale, and couldn't find the right home for them. After I painted the birdcage, I just stuffed the swags inside and I loved the way it looked. Joyce gave me the mosaic candle holder after I broke the one I bought at her partylight party.

Yep, those are plastic vegetables! I know pretty cheesy right? I bought a bag of them on a whim a few weeks ago at GoodWill. I brought them home and they stank! I rinsed them off, then soaked them in a sink of vinegar, washed that off, and now they are as good as new. The leaf swag was an impulse buy at the "Chic" second hand store on Camano Island. I also saw that basket the vegetables are in, but at $23, I passed it up. Good thing too because then I went to Value Village and got it for $2.50! (Yeah Me!) The lamp is princess house, Another Value Village find. I paid the full price of $9.99 for it because they are not made anymore. Then because I was so pleased with myself, I bought a lamp shade brand new at Lowes to go with it. The framed Bible verse is one of those fliers that door knockers leave at your door.

More Value Village pictures, and another Princess house $6. surprise (the clock). Hmm, Maybe I should have cleared the cork board before showing off huh?

More fruit pictures. The long one was a $4. find at Yvonnes in Arlington, then the two matching pictures are old Home Interiors pictures I took down 6 years ago because they were too 1990's for me. I took them out of the frames, and painted the mat and frames and put them back to gether. Now they look new. The fruit plates were also from Yvonnes, I paid 4$ each for them, but the rest is my princess house collection. The plate rack was one of my Hostess credit purchases, but it has been put away for over a year because I did not know where to put it. The leaf plates are the rest of the collection I showed you in the living room, and the gold plates behind the fruit plates were... $6. surprises from Princess house! (I have 6 more) the swag is also an old Home Interiors item I stored away after I felt it was no longer in style.

And a few weeks ago, I found this fruit print table cloth at GoodWill, I cut it down the middle, and sewed it into two panels, put a rod pocket on each, and now I have beautiful kitchen curtains. Can you see my anniversary present? Jon bought me the Keurig one cup at a time coffee machine. Apparently he thinks it is wasteful to make a pot of coffee, then only drink two cups. Which I did every morning and every evening. (This was our 15th anniversary) I gave him a card.

That is the grand tour, Does it look like Autumn now? It is almost time to start my Christmas decorating forays into the second hand stores... YAY!

@

Graduation

That original teeny tiny motorcycle Jon bought has given way to two much larger bikes. First because it was way too SMALL for our great big boys, and second because they took to motorcycles like fish to water.

I thouht these were pictures of all three boys, but upon closer examination, I see that the first two are Darian. The bottom is Brystan. I will have to look through the other computer to see if they took any pictures of Cannyn.

I have to say, this was the most peaceful summer I have had in a long, long time! Only one little injury, but he was back on the bike the next weekend. Maybe we will have a decent winter and they will be back out again soon.

Teenager worthy!

I cannot do the painting because of my arm injury, so I hired a couple of my teenagers to do it for me.
Look at all the hole puttying we had to do, I wish we could figure out a way to hang posters with magnets or something!

Brystan has lived in this bedroom for 6 years. He has been asking for a change for two years. But I loved this room so I put it off as long as possible... He is 5'5" and 190 lbs, cannot fit a twin bed anymore, so with the bed change, I might as well update his entire room right? (Like I really need an excuse to decorate something.)

After taping off, the boys applied first primer, then What is this? Magnetic Primer! Put it on the wall, paint over it, and your walls are now magnetic! It is kind of scary though because it is BLACK!

The red head is a cousin I bribed to come home for the weekend and help. He lives on his own, so food and money are always acceptable bribes.
Darian and Talon are best cousin friends, and work well together, I enjoyed them working this weekend. I rarely had to tell them what to do next because they did such good work.

While those two were inside, I was outside spray painting furniture. Mom's old Iron bed used to be hunter green.

the base color of the walls, a real nice dove gray, not that you will be able to see it when we are finished.

Because next we spray painted the walls with a metallic silver! The Valspar representative was in Lowes when I was asking for help. He told me how to achieve this look was to "spray a few cans of silver over your gray paint"

UM... Try TEN CANS OF SILVER AT $4.5 EACH! Oh, yeah I went back into Lowes yesterday and right by the paintbrushes was a glaze that would have done the same thing, not poisoned two healthy young men, and Not made my house so toxic we had to leave for several hours while it aired out. That little bottle of glaze would have done a nice job of making a silver room at half the price, and get this. IT WAS VALSPAR! ( I will help you, I am the Valspar representative.)

The green dot is the Mr Yuck magnet off the refrigerator! Not all magnets are working on this wall, but the sticker kind seem stronger for some reason.

I scraped the silver off the closet when I was putting the shelves back in. So, this was my fix because I certianly wasn't going to spray paint again,

The final product, Fit for a teenaged boy. I hope I can get away with another 6 years...

^

Parentalrights.org - Protecting Children by Empowering Parents -- 20 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Parentalrights.org - Protecting Children by Empowering Parents -- 20 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE UN CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

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No Strength

All my life, I have been strong.
Physically if not always mentally.
This week I injured my arm at work. I was trying to get deep into the tissues of a clients back, and leaned into my stroke using my shoulder as the fulcrum.
POP
My Bicipital tendon just popped out of the bicipital groove, and all of the sudden, I could not move my arm. I finished the massage using every ounce of creativity available to me. Then immediately had my doctor father look at my shoulder.
That was Friday. I spent the weekend unable to function, laying around with an ice pack on my shoulder, taking anti inflammatories, (NSAIDS) and napping. My poor husband does not know a thing about the kitchen, so his offerings for dinner included pizza (twice) corn dogs and french fries, Burger King, etc.
I am grateful for all he did this week, fixing said dinners, doing mountains of laundry, and working all weekend.
But
I did feel a little miffed! I am the one who keeps the house flowing, and here I am laying around like a baby, watching someone else do my job. And actually feeling critical of how he is doing it. What a wake-up call.
Some of the things I realized:
1. I can be an ungrateful B!
2. Jon can get the job done in his own way if allowed to.
3. My boys are SPOILED!
4. Even on my laziest of (healthy) days, I do alot of work.
5. I am so used to being the healer, I forget that God is the ultimate healer.
6. I have to ask for help. I cannot just assume that I can do everything all the time.
7. Now, this is the most important of all, I LOVE MY HUSBAND!
SO
As I regain use of my arm, I am more appreciative of the things he does, little tiny gestures, like always doing the laundry, calling before driving home to see if there is anything I need from the store. Taking the boys out biking for the day, so I get quiet time. Taking those pesky side trips to pick up school things that keep popping up.
TODAY
I have about 60% range of motion in my shoulder, Thanks to a trip to see another massage therapist, and another chiropractic adjustment. I have been applying Castor Oil to my shoulder because it works through the lymphatic system to remove inflammation. I have also been making a detoxifying juice using the juicer, so my healing is actually moving very rapidly. I still have no strength in my right arm, and have rescheduled all my appointments this week. I think I will try a little housekeeping, and maybe, just maybe, the family can have a healthy dinner tonight...
Thanks for praying for my healing. I have been sharing my progress on facebook, and I know everyone there has been praying.
LOVE, Karyn

Facebook | Karyn Rosebrook-Morris: Signs

Facebook Karyn Rosebrook-Morris: Signs
I thought I was being clever and tried to write my post in one place and copy and paste to another. But, I got it wrong, so just click on the link above, it will take you to my facebook page so you can read this. LOVE!

Not in the news today...

I read an article about the current U.S. President announcing the abandonment of plans to develop a small missle defense system in Eastern Europe. Russia has criticized the deployment of missle defenses in eastern Europe on the grounds that ten interceptors pose an effective challenge to its own massive arsenal. The real goal of Russia has been to weake the influence of the United States and NATO in Eastern Europe. http://blog.heritage.org/2009/08/27/obama-officially-abandons-missile-defense-in-europe/. Another looming issue is that Iran has not ceased building its nuclear weapons as was "promised" in fact, as early as next year, Iran may be nuclear. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Middleeast/iranbriefingroom.cfm
Normally, I read this information, and just file it under stupid politicians, but I am being led to share this for a completely un political reason.
Ezekial 38 describes an attack that is yet to happen. It concerns Isreal, and End times prophecy. The attack comes from Persia (Iran) and the land of Magog (Russia). The goal is total innihlation of Isreal the nation. Verse 15 (KJV) And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army: 16) And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
Do not believe for one minute that the things that are happening in this great nation do not affect the rest of the world. Many ""Changes" are coming, and you can "believe in" only one thing.
JESUS IS COMING!
We are told to preach the GOSPEL (good news) throughout the world, to every living creature. Guess what? It is happening. We have spread our missions into every corner of the world. Even the deepest jungles of Africa, Even in the Islamic Hell of the East. Christianity is the only way to be assured of salvation. Jesus Christ is the son of God. He became man so that he could pay for our sins with his blood. The Bible says only by blood can sin be forgiven. Jesus made the final blood payment for every sin. Yesterdays, todays and tomorrows. By believing in this sin payment, accepting that it was made for you, and by professing that belief, you can be assured of going to heaven when you die.
Or...
When Christ returns to gather his church and pull them out of this world to spare them from the wrath of God which is yet to come.
I have started a new study, and will be posting further notes as I find the information I am looking for.
The decision to read or not to read is yours.
If you want to comment, go ahead, I will delete any nasty comments, so just don't leave them.
I believe that everything is coming into place, I do not think we can stop it, Just slow it for a few more years. The communist regime is merely a tactic to take us to the one world order. Universal health care is simply a diversion to take our thoughts off of what is really happening.
Are you ready? Is your family ready? Do you know that you and your household will be spared from what is to come? If not, contact me privately, I would like to talk to you further..

Keeping my eyes to the skies, And my heart to my fellow human beings, because I too do not wish any to perish. I love you, and that is why you are reading this.
Karyn