Beautiful Canopy of Green.

Sweet guide but did not see any animal tracks. I love the X print of the Owl.

The hike leads you up to this Dam. A lovely place to rest for sure!

That’s my Nitsuj, leading the way.

Lovely Covered Bridge.

If you see yellow tape crossing the trail, do NOT go under it unless you want to get some rock climbing in. Of course we crossed under the tape and then our trail looked like the photo above! Very narrow and rocky and below us? The rushing water. Nice. Real Nice.

Watch your step! Some of the trail has thick roots above ground. No tripping here.

I really enjoyed this short hike. Beautiful day hanging out with my honey.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Monica with Krush Designz has a wonderful shop where  you can find fun, one of a kind jewelry. She sent me an email on June 4th to let me know she would be shipping my earrings Monday morning. Guess what came in the mail today?!

This Package! And inside this package was this…

A cute little bag with a Butterfly Stamp! So Sweet. And inside the bag were these…

My Owl Earrings! Hello Friends. Welcome to my world.  I love you already.

So Fun. So Different. So Love.

Thank you Monica and Krush Designz! I will be back for more!

It’s all good. ~ Donna

If you are in need of inspiration and some cuteness in your decorating, stop by Living Locurto for some fun! I also want to mention that Amy is also the co-founder of IHeart Faces Photography of which I am a member. If you are crazy for all things photography, this group is so helpful and inspiring. This weekend I will be joining in on their Photo Walk Across America in Atlanta. I am so looking forward to that!

It’s all good. ~Donna

A condition peculiar to high school seniors, hence the subword “senior” in senioritis. Symptoms include a general apathy towards classes, homework, future i.e. college applications, restlessness and a “cannot do” attitude to surmountable school load.

Guess who has a High School Senior in her house? What  a long week this has been! No blogging time for momma. Last week was Senior Week at my son’s high school. Every day there were Senior events leading up to the weekend of Prom. Parent’s had the option of creating a senior stip to go on their child’s locker.

Step one, purchase locker. My son does not use one so we did not buy one. $3 dollars later and we had a locker. Second step, sort through 18 years of his life in photos! What a job that was! I started on the bottom of his strip with pictures of when he was born and filled the space all the way up to Senior year. Yes, that took hours!!

So many photos and not enough room!

Whew! All done and I love this Senior Strip idea! It stays up through graduation and then it’s a great keepsake which will hang in his room! Have you seen this done before? My older son did not have this project for Senior year but I was happy to have completed this project for my Andrew. My baby who will graduate on May 27th. Tissues Please.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Here’s that gold mirror that I have had for years.

Curtain rods that have been hanging around for years as well.

Before

After! That chair is there to help me hang those curtains. I really want a chaise lounge chair for that corner! Love that ORB on the curtain rods and the mirror trim.  The room is almost done with just a few more decorative touches but take a look at this….

The paint color before! Paint makes a huge difference! I used the Behr Premium Plus Ultra. It is a paint and primer in one.  Love that paint! It took only one coat to cover this dark red. It was $32 for a gallon and I used 1 whole gallon and less than a half of another. Good deal!

I love the warmth of the new color. It’s called Peanut Butter. There is more work to be done but it’s all good!

~Donna

Here is the bathroom with the standard mirror.

I purchased crown molding at Home Depot. The cost of the molding was $16 dollars to frame the entire mirror. I started out using a miter box to cut the 45 degree angles necessary to make the frame.

I thought this would be quick and easy but I did not nail down the miter box thinking I could make the cuts but the miter box kept sliding around and of course that made it difficult to cut smooth edges.  I could have nailed the miter box to a table we have down in the basement but instead I did this…

I took the crown molding pieces over to our friend Les’s house and he made the cuts with his fancy miter saw. I love this machine! Angles are set and it cuts in seconds.

All ready to stain.

My husband helped with the painting on the stain. We used Minwax in Red Mahogany 225 and applied two coats of the stain. The first coat was heavy  and after the stain was applied we gently wiped off some of the stain with a dry cloth. We then applied a second coat of  the stain but did not wipe the stain off the second coat, we just let it dry overnight. When you are staining you want to make sure to do the front and back of the crown molding. You will be able to see the reflection of the back in the mirror once you mount it.

When the stain was completely dry I applied Liquid Nails Small Projects to the back of the molding to hold the molding in place. I used liquid nails on the last mirror I framed and it held up for years with no problems.

I ran a line of the liquid nails on the back of the molding. I made sure to place it towards the outer edge of the frame so you would not be able to see the reflection of the glue  in the glass. I couldn’t remember if it dried clear or not and I did not want to chance it.

Here it is all framed! I had a wide angle lens on my camera so I couldn’t take a photo while standing in the bathroom to get the whole frame in. I took this photo standing outside the bathroom.

I love it! Very inexpensive and it makes a big difference in the whole look of the bathroom. I will be working on the two bathroom mirrors upstairs sometime soon. Let me know if you are considering this project and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Try it!  You can do it!

It’s all good. ~Donna

First you stand and stare in disbelief that you just created  a GIANT hole in the heating element. Then you think to yourself that you will NEVER place a lid on the side of the pan which in turn will slide off the pan onto the heating element next to it. Explosion is what you get and a huge popping sound is what you will hear. Danger Will Robinson. Danger!

You may call around to find out that the replacement for the top is upwards of $500 dollars. At that point you decide that what the heck, you will work with one element for the time. Our time = a few months.

In the meantime you might place a wooden cutting board on top of the hole so it’s not so unsightly. That in turn may be a BIG mistake.

One night your child might request Macaroni and Cheese so you turn on the one heating element that works and it turns out you turned on the WRONG broken element and your beautiful cutting board catches fire. At this point your house fills with smoke and you wait outside for the smoke to clear. You remember your dog is inside and you rush back in to get him to fresh air. Your child pulls up in their car and asks why you are outside. You say to him, “YOU WANTED MACARONI AND CHEESE!!”

At this point you decide you really need to do something about the cooktop. You research some more and find a whole new stovetop sells for $100 more than the replacement glass so you go out and buy this…

A brand new GE JP346 Cooktop! You replace it yourself since the charge to have it installed was $150.  You stand back and admire how shiny it is, then you think, WOW cooktops are expensive. No oven. Just cooktop. $666.74. Yup. The .74 cents is going to make it lucky! Never mind those sixes!

Hello Shiny Knobs!

Hello 12″ heating element with quick-response ribbons that heat straight up to the pan for efficient cooking.  You are three times faster than a radiant element’s initial response (3 to 4 seconds for ribbon elements versus 12 to 14 seconds for radiant elements). Glad to meet you!

Hello Power Boil with your 8″ heating element. You boiled 4 quarts of water in 5 minutes. I am impressed!

So this is my story of what happened to us and our cooktop. I did read the entire owners manual on this. I read all of the warnings and there are a lot of them. 3 pages! Some highlights include: use proper pan size with flat bottoms large enough to cover the heating element, foods for frying should be as dry as possible, avoid heating an empty pan and my suggestion, do NOT place wooden cutting board on top!

I did read where cast iron skillets are not recommended. BOO! Anyone use a cast iron on their glass cooktop?

Anyhoo, I have a new cooktop and it’s all good.

~Donna

The weather was perfect, the food was delicious but the BEST part of the day was sitting with the whole family laughing and just happy to be together. We are very blessed.

Me and my boys.

My son Nick who will be 24 in two weeks and Andrew who is 18. 24?! Pass the tissue please.

Nick and his sweet girlfriend Amanda.

Young love. All kissy face.

Me and my hubby Nitsuj. That’s what I call him. Justin backwards. Clever huh? Can’t take credit for that nickname but I like it!

My boys with their dad. My BFF.

Here they are all in the same place at the same time! Say Hello to Jim in the back and Matt up front. They are not blood relatives but their part of our  family and we love them. Sort of like having that Aunt or Uncle that really are not your relatives but they have always been part of your lives. That’s sweet!

My favorite Matt photo of the day.

Surprisingly I did not get many photos of the food or desserts. Shocker! This only means I spent way more time away from the camera and more fun time with the family. It’s a good thing. I hope everyone had many laughs and smiles with their families no matter how big or small, even the fur babies. Love them all.

Dictionary.Com

fam-i-ly:

1. a basic social unit consisting of parents and their children, considered as a group, whether dwelling together or not

2. a group of people who are generally not blood relations but who share common attitudes, interests, or goals and, frequently, live together

3. a group of related things or people

4. a unit of the Mafia or Cosa Nostra operating in one area under a local leader. ( No not really us but it’s listed in the definitions! AND maybe just maybe blood relatives on my Dad’s side MAY have been Mexican Mafia, but we won’t go there.)

It’s all good. ~ Donna

This is it! I think it was meant to hold media but now it mostly holds this…..

All things crafty!

It has these nifty doors that swing right open. Perfect for more things I use and might need one day. Like that little white picket fence?

Play Doh? Not sure how long that has been in there since my boys are now 24 and 18. I might need it again one day.

Look at the price on that paint! How could I pass that up? One day I might need Royal Purple Paint.

Now, that glue I did use on my serving dish project and that moss and foam has been used in another recent project. The Christmas Garland? Forgot that was there and did not use it this past Christmas but I might need it this year!

I love this sweet secret storage cabinet. It keeps all my goodies within reach, especially all those finds I might use one day. Come on now, confess up! What goodies do you buy that you might use one day? Oh, and please take a look at the mirror again. Notice anything different? Out with the Gold and in with Oil Rubbed Bronze. Those curtain rods are next on my ORB list. I am addicted to that spray paint.  Come back for another visit and you will see just how much!

It’s all good. ~ Donna