Carrie's Minnesota-nICE

Caiden's Christmas Photo

2008-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

The top four are the blooper photos.

This last photo is the one that will go on our Christmas card:)

Taking pictures of pets and children is not the easiest task. Just when you think they look perfect one of them moves, looks away or makes a funny face. I have been trying for weeks to get a great picture of our son for the family Christmas card photo. I know time is running out. So yesterday he was having a cute hair day and even though we had some where we had to be at a specific time, I grabbed the camera and told him to stand in front of the tree. I snapped about 2o photos this time, and I think I have a winner! Here are a few silly shots from today and the one I think will make it as the central shot on the family Christmas card. Oh by the way, when I got the pics on the computer I noticed the tree wasn't turned on :( oh well. Caiden looks cute, so I guess that is what counts the most!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

2008-12-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

It snowed both Sunday and Monday. We ended up with about 5 inches of the white fluffy stuff. I took these pictures in the late afternoon (sorry if they appear dark) on Sunday. I wanted to take more pictures of the snow today, but it was a very busy day and didn't get around to it. I thought I would share my pictures of Pepsi checking out the snow. She doesn't linger too long outside in the winter. She is an indoor dog and now that she is getting older (9 years old) she doesn't like to spend too much time out in the cold. Unless she is playing Frisbee or chase the shovelful of show. Our son, Caiden, wanted to play in the snow too, but we need to buy him a new pair of boots. We tried to last weekend, but we couldn't find a pair that fit him correctly. So I guess we will have to try this weekend too.

Christmas Birds:)

2008-12-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before I love birds on the Christmas tree. For me birds symbolize life and hope for Spring. Here is some of my Christmas bird collection. I have had some of these birds since childhood and others are newer. I buy at least one special bird that catches my eye each Christmas season. Sometimes friends or family will give me a bird. It is lovely to remember their thoughtfulness each time I hang their bird on my tree. I love to unwrap the tissue paper from each ornament, and find the perfect spot for each special one on the tree. It brings back so many happy memories with each ornament that is hung. When I was younger one of my favorite Christmas traditions was hanging the decorations on the tree with my Mom. As we hung the ornaments we would share memories of them, and past Christmas's.

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

2008-12-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas tree all decorated except for a few new ornaments that still have to go on. I took pictures with the room lights on and off so that is why some of the pics are so dark. I have so many special ornaments. I may have to write more than just one tree post, so that I can show some of my favorite decorations close up. I really enjoy seeing birds on my tree, so I usually pick out a new one each year. Also, friends and family have given me birds because they know how much I enjoy them. My Grandmother started this tradition for me. That is one of the reasons I love to have a flock of birds adorning my Christmas tree.

Pepsi's Surgery Update

2008-12-05T12:03:00.000-08:00

Pepsi is doing really well. She wasn't too willing to let me take pictures of her, and her ear though. Her ear looks really good. Our son pointed out right away that "Pepsi has a pink ear!" He could see her pink stitches in her ear. She is drinking and eating well too. I have had to remind her several times that she can't shake or scratch at her ear. I have also had to remind our son to leave her alone because of her ear. He is used to playing and interacting with her so it might be a little tough. We are all glad that she is home and doing well. Thank you everyone for your concern for Pepsi and your nice comments. Thank you also for your prayers for her surgery and speedy recovery.

Poor Little Pepsi - Surgery Again!

2008-12-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Our Pepsi is having surgery again today. Last Summer she injured her right ear and a blood clot formed in her ear. She had to have surgery to remove the clot and form scar tissue in the ear to prevent it from happening again. All went well and her ear did form the scar tissue. Thanks to her vet we haven't had any problems with her right ear at all. Well, fast forward to November. We gave Pepsi her Thanksgiving bath so she would smell good for the family and not offend anyone with dirty fur. She must have whacked her left ear on something hard while shaking her body after we dried her off. Shortly after her bath I noticed a small fluid pocket in her left ear. It was another clot. On Monday she had a visit with her vet, and he recommended surgery again. So today she will have surgery on her left ear. We all feel so bad for her, but it must be done. She has been a really healthy dog other than the ear problem. We love her like one of the family. We hope that all goes well with this ear surgery and that plenty of scar tissue forms so this won't happen again. Please say a prayer that all goes well with her during and after her surgery.

These are pictures after her last surgery. If you click on them you can see her ear better

Red With White Polka Dots!

2008-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

light on

light off

top of my fridge

Cute little rooster and hen that belonged to my Grandma.

She had them in her kitchen too.

I saw these cute little plastic red with white polka dots lamp shades at a flea market that I went to. I just had to have them. I had the milk glass hobnail lamps already. I thought they went perfectly with the red and white shades. I decided that they needed one more thing to make them even more cute. So I tied black with polka dots ribbons around the shades to finish them off. For now they are sitting on top of my refrigerator in my kitchen. I wanted to have them on the counter tops, but they were too tall. I may relocate them to the office when we get around to renovating that room. They have a really lovely warm glow when I turn them on in the evening.

Silver Tinsel Wreath

2008-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

I found this silver tinsel wreath at a store the other day. Now, I do understand that this is as far away from a real pine, natural wreath as you can get. It screams "I'M FAUX" for sure. However when I saw it something spoke to me. I told my husband "go look at that silver wreath and tell me if I am crazy for wanting it." He looked at it, came back with it, and put it in the cart. He never did tell me if I was crazy or not;) When I saw that strange silver wreath it brought back wonderful memories of my Grandma. My Mom told me that Grandma used to have a similar Christmas wreath hanging on her door when I was a young child. Although, she did say Grandma's was gold. I am sure that is the reason I felt I just had to have it. It looked a little plain, to me. So I thought I would take some holiday stuff I already had and jazz it up a bit. It has a bit of a vintage/retro look, I think. Feel free to leave complements, comments, or if you do think I am crazy, you can tell me that if you like;)

Little Pink Christmas Tree

2008-11-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

This small glass tree is from Venice, Italy. It belonged to my Mom, but she gave it to me because I love it so much. She has had it for many years. I think I was in about 5th grade when she got it. I have been decorating with the white flocked deer since I bought them way back when I was in high school. I thought they looked cute placed inside this glass greenhouse.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T06:05:00.000-08:00

I will be spending time with my family today having the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and enjoying their company. I am thankful for so many things this holiday. Too many to name them all, but here are a few of my favorite

I am thankful for

the hugs and kisses from my son

his requests for "read another book" at bedtime when he is really too tired to stay awake for another book

his laughs that sound like he is trying to communicate with dolphins when he is swimming at the pool

seeing my husband and me in the things our son says and does

and the love of my family.

Here is a little turkey hand print that my son made when we went to his Early Childhood Class. It has a little poem that says:

This isn't just a turkey,

as anyone can see.

I made it with my hand,

which is a part of me!

It comes with lots of love,

specially to say...

I hope you have a very

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

My wish for you and your families is that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Home Improvement Project - New Garage Door!

2008-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

WOW, it was a lot of hard work, but I'm glad it is done! I bet everyone is sitting on the edges of their seats wondering where the instructions for this project are. Oh...... did you think I installed it? Anyone who knows me knows that I don't have the skills to tackle something like that. Don't expect a tutorial for this home improvement project;) My husband installed it and he did a great job!

I know this isn't the type of post that causes a lot of excitement, but here is a picture of my new garage door. My husband backed the trailer hitch into, and knocked a small (cat sized) hole, in the old door. He said he was going to tell the neighbors that I did it, but I got the word out before he could - LOL. Every time our son saw the hole he pointed at it and said, "naughty Daddy!" Also some sort of small animal, that I suspect is a cat, had been coming and going as it pleased through the hole leaving small chunks of fur on the edges of the hole. I told my husband that either it needed to be fixed or replaced before our garage became the home to every stray animal in the area. The door was old anyway and needed to be replaced. My husband spent all last weekend (and I mean all) replacing our old garage door with this shiny new one that we bought at HD for the bargain price of $125.00! It is so nice to have the new one. I am so thankful that my husband put in the time and had the patience to deal with this home improvement project. Installing a garage door is harder than it looks. He deserves a nice restful Thanksgiving holiday. Hopefully he will get enough rest for more home improvement projects to come;)

On a side note: that "lovely" purple trim will be painted white to match the door in the Spring. The former owners chose the color. We knew right away all the purple trim had to go, but it has taken us over 4 years to start on this project. Hopefully we will have all traces of it erased by next summer.

Happy feet!

2008-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

When I saw this cute penguin cinnamon stick scented candle I just had to have him. I have been adding touches of silver to my living room and thought he was perfect for the holiday season. I haven't decided for sure if he will go on this table 0r another spot. When I get up more of my Christmas decorations I am sure I will find the perfect spot for him.

Chandelier Dressed For Christmas

2008-11-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

My Christmas decorating style is a little on the vintage/retro side. I use a lot of white with fun, bright colors thrown in. We don't really do much of the typical red and green. The colors and decor of our living room clash a bit with the traditional Christmas colors. Here is our chandelier all decked out for the holidays. The art on the walls are photographs that I took at Como Zoo Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Kitchen Decor, Owls and More...

2008-11-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I don't have a really large kitchen so the decorating space it limited to an area that is over the stairs leading to the basement. We have slowly been working on giving our kitchen a face lift. We decided not to totally gut it, but work with what we have. The house was built in the late 50's so it does have some charm, and we wanted to keep that. Also we are working on a budget, so we kept the painted maple cabinets and repainted them. We also painted the walls a sunny yellow called Spiced Butternut by BEHR. We replaced lighting, and decorated a bit. During the winter months my husband plans to tile the counter tops and back splash, and change the flooring. These pictures show some of the decorating that we have done. There was a house shaped shelf structure already existing on the wall. We thought about removing it, but it is actually built into the wall, so we decided to paint it the same color as the wall to minimize the look of it. The previous owners had painted it a contrasting color and it really stuck out. I wanted downplay it. I decided to use it to display some of my favorite stuff. Our accent colors are red and black so a lot of the decor reflects that. I recently found the cast iron owl trivets at a local thrift store and placed them on a ledge with in the "house." I am still not sure about them, but I think they add to the vintage feel of the home. So I think I will let them roost for awhile. The two frames that flank the "house" contain old recipes from a cookbook published in 1966. They are a great economical do-it-yourself form of art . On an adjoining wall I have four photographs framed. My Mom and sister recently visited Europe together. These are photos that they took while they were there. When I was young I lived in Europe for five years. Their photos brought back so many good memories for me, so I had to frame some to put on my wall.

I'll show the rest of the kitchen when we get the renovations done on it. Right now it is not especially pretty;)

I apologize for the quality of the photos, we don't get a lot of natural light in this area and even the flash didn't help much except to throw spots of glare off the glass from the frames.

Christmas Tree Up!

2008-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

I admit, I have started decorating for Christmas and Thanksgiving isn't even here yet. Seeing all the holiday decor in the stores is too much for me. I have my tree up, but not decorated yet. We have a three year old and the last two years we put a baby fence around the tree so that he couldn't get at it, get hurt, break it, break the ornaments, etc. This year I am trying not to put up the ugly fence. So by getting the tree up early without ornaments maybe he will get used to it and not try to touch, pull, and remove the ornaments once they do go up. One can hope;)

Here is my tree. I hope you will stop back to see it decorated.

Home Improvement Project - Tray

2008-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I love all the special touches that bring a little glitz and sparkle to a room, but I am a bargain hunter and like to buy stuff on sale. Often that means your options are a little limited because by the time the good stuff goes on sale or clearance, a lot of the good stuff is gone:( A recent discovery of mine..... ok, ok, I am a little behind a lot of people.... is spray paint! Did you know you can paint almost any old junk and make it look a whole lot better? Well most of the time. Recently I noticed trays for coffee tables painted in pretty metallic paint colors in some of the stores. Imagine my luck when I came across a plain wooden tray at a local thrift store for $2.00. I grabbed it up knowing that if you see something you like you better grab it quickly or someone else might. Anyway I took it home with me and hid it in the garage so my husband wouldn't see more old junk that I carted home and had "amazing ideas" for. Well I forgot to take a before picture of it, but here is the after. I primed it, painted it with Krylon Metallic spray paint in the color Satin Nickel and used a clear topcoat. I think it turned out rather nice. It looks really cute on the coffee table I begged my husband to turn the car around for because it was sitting near a sign that said FREE STUFF! What bargain hunter can resist a sign like that? I have "amazing Ideas" for that coffee table too by the way;)

Home Improvement Project - Silver Table

2008-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Before

After

Every now and then I decide to try to turn something old or ugly into something new and improved. My husband and I decided to take this side table, which I really didn't like, and make it into something that we would want to have in our home. I am not sure if the before picture shows it, but the table top is really just pressed wood. It had some sort of faux wood (picture?) on top of the pressed wood. The legs of the table were solid and I saw some potential in the shape of the table. We painted it with Krylon Brushed Metallic paint. The color is Satin Nickel. Then we used a clear gloss topcoat. The handle was shiny brass, but we painted it black. I found the lamp on sale at Target for 50% off. I love a bargain:)

Please forgive the missing baseboard molding. Our living room is a long work in progress;)

Fall Fun

2008-11-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures of my son and dog playing together in the yard. The nice Fall temperatures have quickly given way to the sharper, colder Winter feel. We have had a couple of lighter snowfalls. I am feeling the need to get up the Christmas stuff even though it is not yet Thanksgiving. Maybe it is the quick transition from T-shirts to Winter coats. In Minnesota the Winter can be very long. I love the bright anticipation of decorating for Christmas. The cheery decorations can really help get you through a long Winter. Maybe that will be my excuse for not removing the Christmas decor till well after New Years ...... or like last year, not until after Valentine's Day;)

Handmade Gift

2008-11-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

I am a little late getting to the party, however I wanted to join in the fun!

is having a "I Can Make That Party"Thanks Chris for hosting such a cool party!

My son who just turned three on November 12 created this painting for me. I think these would make great Christmas gifts for family. I just love it. It looks great in our living room and it is so special to me because he painted it.

Forgive the photography. I had a hard time getting a pic without a glare.

More Fall Decorations

2008-10-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

These are some decorations I have in my built-in. The squirrel was made by my Grandmother and my Grandfather "carved" my name in it when I was just a little girl. It is special to me because of this. I keep it around all year because it makes me smile. I love the little Wizard of Oz dolls from Mc D's. They are just too cute. I requested them when my son got a happy meal. I kept the dolls, and gave him little cars instead;) He likes little cars better anyway, so he was thrilled with his prizes.

More Halloween Decorations!

2008-10-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that Halloween is almost here! I thought I would share more of my holiday decorations.

Fall Foliage

2008-10-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is the real stuff. There aren't any faux plants here! I thought some of you who don't get much Fall color, or haven't had the leaves change yet might like a sneak peek. These leaves are from our neighbor's tree. Our maple isn't nearly as pretty when it changes. The leaves turn spotty and yellow and fall off. Right now they are everywhere. I am sure this weekend we will be spending some time raking. We are also planning on going on a Fall color drive this weekend. The Fall colors are pretty much perfect right now. This is my favorite time of the year!

Halloween Decorations

2008-10-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Halloween and I love to decorate for the holiday. Here are some of our Halloween and Autumn decorations.