24 Olive Street

what's been going on

Can you believe tomorrow is Halloween?? Wow, it crept up on me again. Funny how that always happens!

I feel like I'm playing "catch up" after being sick the last few days. I'm trying to wrangle up my records from my dr back in GA and find a new dr here because my Crohn's has been on a rampage the last few days. I'm really hoping and praying that I'm not developing a bowel obstruction again because I'm having some similar symptoms as the last time. I can't tell you how much I'm praying that's not what is happening.

So when mommy is sick, what do you do? Well, you make a huge Geotrax train in the living room of course!

I have a bunch of stuff I've been getting ready for a show this weekend along with getting all of the usual Halloween stuff done.

Thankfully we managed to at least get our pumpkins carved. Cause not a whole lot else got done! Whew.

Addie kept trying to put the seeds back in her pumpkin :)

Vampire, werewolf, spooky eyes, Frankenstein

I need to get better pics tomorrow night...

Addie is absolutely cracking me up every single day. She has gotten so into Halloween and I just can't wait until we start pulling out the Christmas stuff. Everytime we see decorations in the stores she gets so excited.

It's gonna be a great Christmas :)

We have a new pet in the Whitlow house...

Such a cutie :) Her name is 'Rhino' (from the movie 'Bolt'). My son didn't care that it was a girl.

Speaking of pets, I've had to make a pretty hard decision about our older dog (not the one in the pic above). I say 'older', she's 6. I don't really want to go into details but after having a long chat with the vet today we both agreed what is best. I've never had to put down a pet that was this young and even though it's the right decision I'm still feeling quite a bit of guilt over it.

I've been working on several furniture pieces along with some other fun things for the show this weekend so I'm hoping to share those tomorrow or Thursday. Tomorrow is a crazy day with it being Halloween so we'll see how much I can get done!

Vintage Finds and Handmade Treasures Market

It's less than 2 weeks away! I spent yesterday painting 'new' furniture and getting some things ready for November 3rd.

This event is being held at 10102 W. Charles Rd on November 3rd from 9am - 4pm.

You can get more info on facebook here.

I hope to see you there!

little red nightstand

I wanted to share the nightstand/mini-dresser redo I did for my son's room!

We recently switched the kids' rooms around and it's taking me a while to get everything straightened up, sorted out & looking the way I want it. Takes time...and money!

When we moved here the 2 older kids were sharing a room & Addie had a baby nursery to herself. Now I've moved the girls together & my son has a room to himself (which he loves!).

So I found this little dresser at an estate sale last month & thought it'd make a great nightstand...but with a different color of course!

So here's the before & after...

I used my favorite red spray paint for this job.

Because there was a crappy paint job and some lumps & bumps on it I did a light sanding on the top, sides & drawers.

I wasn't looking to make everything smooth, I actually like the chipped look of worn wood :)

And here it is in my son's room...

(Quilt & sheets are from Target purchase a few years back)

By the way, my hubby bought me that stuffed animal at FAO Schwartz in Vegas over 12 yrs ago when we were newly dating :)

And that blue collar (with the tags still on it)...that was from my sweet Schuby.

{sigh}

I found some baseball drawer knobs at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off. I think I paid 2 bucks a piece for them.

I found that globe at a yard sale for a buck. I need to redo a lamp to go on that nightstand but for now the globe works just fine :)

Now I just need to find an easy way to move this wall mural to the girls' room...

So NOT looking forward to that. I may just tear it down & not even try & move it. I got this wall vinyl from zulily before Addie was born and it was the biggest pain in the butt to put up. It was awful. I followed the directions (and I've done this stuff before) but I have to say it was crap. It was the only purchase I've regretted from that site (I've always been happy with that site but whatever company made this thing was crap).

So that's my next project! And finishing the painting in the girls' room. Walls are done but I still have the ceiling, and wall art, etc etc etc...

full weekend

What a weekend!

My friend Becky was in town so Friday night we headed out to see Frankenweenie at the IMAX in 3D. I normally don't spend the extra money on 3D movies...but in IMAX it was pretty cool!

Holy crap the flash on my camera phone is bright...can you tell?? hehe

Neat movie. FYI - not really appropriate for young ones. And if you've lost a pet you might get a little teary at one point...but it doesn't last long I promise!

Saturday was the Brian Regan show.

And I got to wear my new boots thanks to some birthday money :)

Always photo-bombed by one or all of the kids or dogs! lol

Oh my gosh, the show was hilarious!!! And he did the little league bit for an encore. I nearly peed my pants!

At my son's game someone said 'good eye Ben!'...he looked over at me & giggled! Oh man...

Addie started getting sick on Sunday so sleep has been a scarce commodity the last few days.

I was going to take advantage of nap time for the little one & pull the fall/Halloween stuff out of the garage...but she woke up before I could finish this post! Maybe when the kids get home from school. Don't want to be like last year & do it on Halloween!

my bad...

I haven't blogged in over a week? Really???

Whoops!

I'd love to say that we jetted off to some fun adventure or vacation but that wouldn't be true.

Nope, just busy with the everyday stuff. You know, the stuff that steals every.last.minute of your day!

Let's see, last weekend we headed up to Green Bluff to do some pumpkin pickin...

Addie loved it. She didn't want to be carried...she wanted to be down & in the dirt!

Love the look on her face as she sizing up these pumpkins! hehe

I think the frosts killed my garden, what do you think??

Scary looking, isn't it?? Almost Halloween-ish. Maybe I should put some spider webs on it! hehe

I really need to get things in the ground so much sooner next summer. But even though I didn't get to harvest much from this year's garden, the area is started & I know that it gets good sunlight & the plants like the spot I picked!

Finally found some fabric I like for some curtains in my family room...and on sale!

And I should hopefully have enough left over for a pillow or 2.

I've really taken my time decorating the house this time around. I hate putting a bunch of stuff up and then hating it 6 months later. Since we're planning on being in this house for a while I want to wait & do it right.

I took the kids to a Halloween store to get ideas for costumes...

Creepy!

We also had a little fun with the presidential masks...

I was laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants!! hehe

OH - I got my van back! After 4 1/2 weeks in the shop it's brand spankin' new! It looks so much better without that freakin' huge gouge in the side. Now if anyone else comes NEAR me I will lose it! hehe Just kidding....kind of...ok, not really ;)

I finished a nightstand/dresser redo for my son's room...

I'll have more to share once there's better light (aka this afternoon!)

I've been trying several recipes found on Pinterest. Found some really good ones, some that were just 'eh'. So here they are (just click on it to go to the link)...

Spaghetti with chicken in white wine parmesan sauce - super easy, I did 1/4 c white wine & 3/4 cup chicken broth. Didn't want the wine taste to be too strong with the kiddos. Everyone liked it.

Sweet & Sour Chicken - this was AWESOME. The entire family loved it. The end.

Creamy Tomato Pasta - another great one. Used frozen pasta. The wine added a nice flavor to it. Again, my picky family loved it.

Homemade Chick-fil-A nuggets - these were really good. Didn't taste exactly like the real thing but great nonetheless. The sauce....oh my word it's good! And tastes nearly identical to the CFA sauce! Since we moved we don't have CFA so this is the next best thing!

Tastes Like Lasagna Soup -  I was really excited about this recipe but didn't really care for it. The noodles are just weird in soup.

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken - oh man was this good! The only thing I did was add a little bit more corn starch for the sauce to make it a bit thicker. SO good!

And for dessert...

Nutella Gooey Butter Cake - sinfully decadent is the only thing I can say to describe this. And trust me when I say...it's better the 2nd day. If you're like me, you'll dig into this thing before it even cools off. Believe me, I totally understand :) But the next day, when it's had time to cool & settle, oh man. Mmmmmm!!!!

I just pinned these Pumpkin Oatmeal Double Chocolate Chip Cookies so I'm gonna give those a whirl. I love me some pumpkin! But sadly, I'm out of oats so off to the store I go!

My good friend is coming into town tonight and we're going to see Brian Regan on Saturday. SO excited. He's one of my absolute favorite comedians! CanNOT watch my son's baseball games without hearing his skit in my head...and giggling to myself :)

Have a lovely day everyone!

goodbye September, hello October!

Hello October! With your cool weather, crisp afternoon breezes, fall colors, leaves falling, pumpkins, sweatshirts, apple picking, warm comfort food, fall decorating.

Love.it.all!!

I'm off to finish a ton of laundry...lots of fall/winter clothes to wash!