What have we been up to?

It has been BUSY!  Whew.  The good news is that Charlie's surgery went really well, and he's now on the mend...on the couch, while I get to wait on him hand and foot. :)  Yay surgery!  He's in much more pain now (and his meds make him very sleepy), but in the future his "pipes" will be so thankful he had it.  Thank you for your prayers and kind words.  Luna is the faithful sidekick good for cuddling and cleaning up any scrap of food he may have dropped on the couch.  I had Friday off work to take him in, and I think I was more nervous than he was for everything... Charlie is such a positive guy.  I seriously snapped this shot 5 minutes before we went in...and I didn't even ask him to smile :D

This weekend was a "weekend in" for us.  So, while Charlie sits here watching the Masters (and there are crazy tornado/thunderstorm warnings outside), I decided I would do an update post on little changes we have made throughout the house that I haven't blogged about and don't warrant their own blog post.  I will warn you, they are pretty boring.  So if you care to see, here are some little updates we've made.  Don't say I didn't warn ya. ;)

Kitchen Nook before:

Kitchen Nook after:  (Curtains: clearance bin at BB&B, $9.99 a panel.  Chair cushions: clearance from Walmart, $5.95 each)

Light fixtures before, straight from the 80s:

 Light fixtures now: 

They are much improved, and they give off soooo much more light, but I'll be the first to admit, they look a lot like boobs.  I mean...really... a giant boob greets you at the top of the stairs.  Thankfully they were "free" from Lowe's (due to cashing in some credit card rewards), so if we choose to change our minds in the future, I'm not out an arm and a leg.   Charlie says he like them, which makes sense because he is a man and probably in his sub-conscious the whole "boob thing" draws him to them.  Oh well!

Laundry room:

 I found this quote from Target and I thought it was a positive reminder to read every day :)  It was free thanks to a gift card from a student (I think they retail for $16).

Some hanging flowers to add color to the yard:  (Yay Walmart!)

FIRRREEEE PITTTT!!!!  North Carolina spring is the best time to have them...and they make outdoor parties really fun!  This was a splurge from Walmart for $39.


I did stop by a few garage sales today to see if I could find a bedside table for the guest bedroom.  No luck.  There were lots of clothes and children's toys.  I did find these beautiful dried hydrangeas, though!  A woman was selling all sorts of dried flowers like a European market in her driveway.  It was beautiful.  (I wish I would have taken a picture).  The hydrangeas are dried a dyed, but they look alive and lush... so much better than the fake ones.  They were $1 and the vase was 25 cents from a garage sale across the street :)

We also decided to paint the mantle:

It took three good coats of paint to get it looking the way I wanted, but it was worth it :)  I'll give you the full update when everything is dried and put back the way it should be!