Asian Inspired Dining Room, From Scratch

Our home was built a little over a year ago.  It was framed by Old Order Amish.  They did an amazing job using only battery-powered tools! 

Check them out up on the roof.  With an impending storm. Without harnesses.  Or helmets.  Wow.

Here is the dining room, from start to finish.

Wait for it...  wait for it...

BAM!

I have to say, I wasn't to sure about the intensity of the blue at first, but now I love it!

Useless trivia -- these are like the chairs used on the set of "The King of Queens."

I love Kevin James.  He's a hoot!

I did the chair rail myself with a $15 miter box and composite trim.

The bottom is grass wallpaper, very textured with flecks of antique gold, sage green and blue.

I also did that myself.  Oh yeah, I rock.

Artwork which hangs between the windows.

Handpainted and found at a closeout decorator place for 10 bucks.

This was my inspiration piece.  We made it!  I found the Chinese scroll and at barn sale for a dollar a couple of years ago.  Hubby went to Lowes and had a piece of MDF cut just a bit larger than the scroll, about 4" on each side, then picked up some hanging hardware.  I wrapped the MDF with leftover wallpaper, using scrapbook adhesive (lots of it) on the front so the wallpaper would lie flat and a staple gun on the back.  Then I hammered in decorative bronze upholstery tacks to attach the scroll.  Hubby hung it on the wall.  The hanging was the hardest part as it is heavy.  

Builder's standard issue chandelier, with green crystal-like bobbles from IKEA.

See that crazy color to the right?  That's a future post!

Thifty Thursday on a Friday!

I have a confession to make.  I have an addiction.  I am a thrift-o-holic.  I love the thrill of digging in the box on the bottom under the table piled high with jumbled up goodies.  I carry garden gloves with me wherever I go, just in case.  I subscribe to the newspaper just to get the classifieds.  Well, and the coupons. 

This week was a good one.  The Thrift gods must have been smiling at me. 

Check out my finds for the week:

Well, hello there beautiful!

You're gonna look awesome in my craft/sewing/junk/whatever can fit room!

(Hanging up, of course!)

These two little guys are in excellent condition, marked "METLOX 3 F" on the bottom. They're about 3" high.  I lurve the soft green color.

Child's divided plate, from Thermo-Plate Corp

I can't tell how old it is.  It is in fantastic condition.

It has a little screw-top yellow button at the top, that you can remove, and fill the attached stainless steel bottom with warm water, I'm guessing, to keep food warm.  Maybe I'm way off on this... not sure.

But I am sure that it has the cutest graphics!

Awwwww... just look at that!

A vintage HOT PINK check file, complete with monthly tabs inside!  I never write my checks down, but how could I refuse this?  Did mention it's HOT PINK?!

Three ( I wish there were four) old glasses.  I love the yellow and black! 

(Fingers crossed I'm right but I think these are) Five Anchor Hocking Forest Green sandwich plates.  Beautiful!  I collect any old glass in this color.

Five of these cute green bowls, about the size of cereal bowls. 

SUPER AWESOME SAMSONITE!

Holy Smokes, Batman!

A little dirty on the outside, but check out the inside....

Yatzee!  Like new condition, complete with original cardboard mirror protection thingy AND  a key on keychain that says, "Low Cost Boat Financing, CITY LOAN & SAVINGS CO., Offices All Over Ohio"

I heart the interior.  Beautiful spring floral colors.  It makes me smile!

A lovely vintage plastic/rhinestone choker...  Ummm $1.99?  Sure!

This little guy seems a bit shy...

Perhaps he has noticed MY FAVORITE FIND EVER!!!!  Well, EVER THIS YEAR!!!

Here she is...

(sigh)

I found her in the bottom of a basket, mixed in with footless Bratz dolls and Barbies with chopped hair.

She was meant for me.

I hope you enjoyed the results of my little addiction. 

Have a great weekend!

Becoming a Citizen

We are a family of immigrants. 

I'm the only native US citizen.  I was born in a remote, and I mean REMOTE area of Virginia. We're talking up the hollar, back in the mountains, middle-of-nowhere, not a Wal-Mart for 75 miles REMOTE.  So... there is a bit of irony that I have chosen my family from all over the world.

Both of my daughters are adopted from China, and from two totally different geographical areas.  Because of adoption law, they both instantly became citizens upon arrival into the USA.

My husband,... his journey to US citizenship has been a longer one.  It finally came to a finish last Friday.

He his now officially a US citizen!  (And a UK citizen -- he hasn't relinquished that.)

It was a very formal and moving ceremony, much different from the swearing-in ceremony we attended with the girls while in the US Consulate in China, which was happy... but informal and fast!

At his ceremony there were 31 new citizens from 18 different countries.  There were five judges present, each of whom welcomed the new inductees and spoke about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.  Also, there were representatives from thirteen various community organizations, such as the American Red Cross, who each spoke about what services they provided and handed out small gifts of welcome such as flag pins and copies of the Constitution. 

The official Swearing-In

Here we are... a family of citizens of the United States of America! 

Circle of Stars

Whew, this past week was BUSY!  I'll recap last week as I post this week.  :)

Yesterday, M had her last gymnastics meet of the season.  It was the Circle of Stars in Indianapolis.  The event was held at the Indiana Convention Center and it was HUGE!

M had her best overall score yet and she accomplished her personal goal of making her stride circle on the uneven bars.  She was so proud! 

Here's some pics from the event:

and finally...  THE STRIDE CIRCLE!!

Woo-Hoo!

I Couldn't Help Myself....

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Happy Heart Day!

Munchkin made these for me for Valentine's Day.  How sweet!

AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH... Make It STOP!

I. AM. TIRED. OF. SNOW.

When we lived in Tennessee, I used to anxiously await a good snow.  Three to five inches was awesome!  Ohio, particularly in this year, has just worn me completely down with snowfall.  A little over a week ago we had a storm which produces 12 inches of snow.  Two days later, six more inches. Temps refuse to go above freezing.  Tonight we are expected to get 6-10 more inches.  WTH?  I have a bad case of cabin fever -- that's for sure! 
At least it makes for good photo ops!

Snow Bunnies in action!

Yep, that's my mailbox up to it's neck in snow, despite our efforts to keep it dug out!

Happy Gotcha Day!

Happy Gotcha Day Lulu!  Today makes three years since you became part of our family! 

You completed our family.  We love you!