The Dog Days of (almost) Summer

Happy Sunday everyone! Let me preface this post with an apology. Because we haven't been in "project mode" lately, our posts are coming few and far between. Hopefully, the next few months will bring inspiration and will excite us to do something fantastic. In the meantime, I have a recap of our weekend to tide you over...

First, let me just say how RIDICULOUSLY hot is was this weekend! I mean really? Did we move closer to the sun? Ugh! I'm pretty sure everytime I walked outside, I immediately turned into a melting snowman. Official or not, summer is here and I am not looking forward to August.

Even though our projects are on hold, it didn't keep us from being active. It's just too hard for us to sit still! Friday morning began with our normal routine; Rhett whines to go out at about 5:30am and Gregory let's them out. At about 6:30am Rhett is whining again because he's hungry. I sluggishly roll out of bed onto Duke (the not whining dog), who is passed out on his bed below me and I stumble on fighting dogs while trying to walk through a dark room to the hallway.

I slowly walk to the rec room, being careful not to trip on the sea of spastic, hungry creatures that are WIDE AWAKE below my feet, and I feed them (all). After everyone is settled, I then begin my turtle-like rise from the dead (mornings are not my friend). Once everyone eats, they want to go out. So, out they go and all of a sudden I hear barks of suspicion. I go to the side window and see Rhett barking and skittishly walking towards a big orange balloon that had made it's way into our yard. Rhett is by far the biggest baby in the world! He's scared of a fly! Anyway, I went to get my camera and on my way to the back door, I was greeting by Duke with what? Yes, the orange balloon.


For those who aren't familiar with Duke's personality, he is the complete opposite of Rhett and not scared of anything. So leave it to him to grab the helium(less) filled balloon. Needless to say, it popped about 2 seconds later.

Later that night, I was in for surprise number 2 (what is it with boys and their "hey mom, look what I found" stuff). I was sitting in the dining room surfing the web for inspiration and in comes Gregory with "I don't want to scare you, but you gotta look at this!" (See below)


EXACTLY!!! I'm pretty sure you just reacted the same way I did. I jumped about 30 ft into the air. I was lucky I didn't wet my pants! I can deal with spiders, but spiders that look like that with a million babies on their back? NO-THANK-YOU! I'm good. Anyway, we keep Charlotte until the following morning (I'm not really sure why, but I assure you she slept outside). He let her go in the morning because he felt bad and said she would "kill misquitos." "Whatever," I said, "as long as it's away from me." For those who are curious, we are pretty sure she was a Wolf Spider. Either way, not a fan...

Saturday morning I was up and on the hunt. Remember, we have a guest/ebonn bathroom to remodel, so I'm on a mission to find a vanity (among other things).

I found some good stuff (I'll get to that a little later on), but after I got back....


we (by we i mean me. i must have been on a junkin' high) thought it would be a great idea to wash the cars, HA! Note to self: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT wash/clean your car in 1000 degree heat. Not fun at all. However, the furbabies had a great time hanging out with us, battling over a toy.


After I lost about 20lbs, I decided to take the little energy I had left to paint Gregory's bathroom. Don't worry, I not totally crazy. It only took a quart of paint to finish, so it wasn't big. I still need to hang some artwork, so I don't have any after pictures yet. In the meantime, please enjoy the horribly boring, pepto pink, closet of a bathroom below...


After a good night's sleep, I was up once again at the crack of dawn because of our very demanding children and I got a wild hair to drive to Sumter for their flea market. It's about 45mins away. Let's just say...well I don't really have words for what we encountered. First, we went to one that was SUPPOSED to be open, but nope. 100% empty. No one. 45 mins of driving and nothing, how lovely. But thank goodness there was a second one, or so I thought. The other had people, but not many and boy, oh boy was it an experience. I took my camera thinking I could find some great stuff, but once we arrived, I just couldn't make myself take pictures. I sure regret it though, the people were amazing. One guy said "hey she's got a camera" like he'd never seen one before. It's was too funny.

To give you an idea, when we got there Gregory was like "This is great. People are just happier here..." By the end of our journey, his comment was "I will not be letting you come back here alone." It was an experience for sure. The only picture I took was the one below and I'm pretty sure this was a person's house; behind the flea market.

Even though the merchants at the Sumter flea market we toothless and most likely showerless, I managed to get a couple of things. After we returned, I analyzed my weekend goodies.

Junkin' finds recap:

• Sideboard: Yes, I know it looks like it should have stayed at the yard sale, but I couldn't pass it up for $10.00. Again, I saw Behr's Cotton Knit all over it. Stay tuned for that transformation.
• Chandelier: Yes sir-e. I got myself a fancy little light for our bathroom reno. Not a steal by any means, but I knew I'd be sick if I didn't buy it and if I went to look for one in the future I wouldn't be able to find one. Sometimes you gotta do that; buy it when you see it.
• Frame: It was a buck, can't beat a great price!
• Nesting tables: I got these gems at the Sumter flea market (remember the toothless/showerless folks). They were $15.00 bucks and again I'm thinking Cotton knit, but we'll see.
• I also got a globe (of the world) and some pottery barn linens - not pictured.

To celebrate, I made my new specialty, Shrimp salad. It's great for the summer and super simple to make. Mmm, delish (especially with avacado).

Finally, (and them I'm done. I promise) I wanted to post about a great chair I found a few weeks back. I saw it as soon as I pulled up to the yard sale. I hopped out, asked how much and the lady said "I can't take any less than $10.00." I almost choked! I thought she was going to say like $30.00 or something, but $10 bucks? Who couldn't pass it up? It's got great lines and the fabric was pretty awesome too. However, once I got it in the car and my "are-you-kidding-me?" excitement had calmed down, I started smelling a smoky smell. I then realized I had just purchased a indoor smoker's chair. Yep that's right. My adrenaline had gotten the best of me and I spent $10 on a chair that smelled like it had been in a tabacco factory for 50 years!

Needless to say, I had to roll down the windows for the rest of my trip and once home, it lived on the carport for several weeks. The smell is gone now, but it took FOREVER! Anyways, here it is. I think it's great, but one day I'll probably recover it. Until then, it's hanging out in the den to add a punch of color.

That's all for tonight. I hope that tides you over for a few days. Stay tuned for the sideboard makeover, the reveal of the pepto bath and a project I have Gregory working on ;). Nighty night and have a Happy Monday!