Say a Prayer and Light a Candle

Cause my three year old nephew, Carson, is spending the night with us tonight. Although we have spent a lot of time with him it has never been on our turf; just us; all night.

Don't be fooled, however. We are thrilled about our visitor! Carson is especially excited because he is spending the night with his most favorite person in the entire world. Me? No. Try Beau or "Hunk Beau or Hunka Beau" as Carson calls him (uncle is difficult to say at three.) In fact when my sister told him he was staying the night with us he responded with, "I LOVE HUNKA BEAU!!!" My sister said she tried to get him to say something about Aunt Kendall. She got no response.

We have planned an itinerary and I think it will be interesting to post it pre-three year old and then compare to what actually happened.

The "We don't have kids so we actually think we can schedule our

evening with a three year old" Itinerary

5:30 - 6:00 dinner

6:00 potty

6:10-7:30 play/watch a movie/buy a toy

7:30-7:45 begin homemade ice cream process (we bought an ice cream maker last night!!!)

7:45-potty

7:50-8:15 build a fort in the living room

8:20-8:45 eat ice cream

8:45-9:15 play in fort

9:20-9:40 bath time

9:40- potty

9:45 bedtime (my sister said it is ok for him to stay up late since it's a special occasion.)

Affirmations

This is too good....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

Why I'll Have Paint in My Hair at Work Tomorrow

I have been on the hunt for a hutch to go in our formal dining area. It has not been easy because I was pretty specific in what I wanted; nothing very formal, fairly small and shallow because we don't have a big dinning room and nothing modern. I'm not afraid of fixer uppers; in fact I wanted one that I could fix up. So on Tuesday I left the office for a few errands and drove by a thrift store that benefits Our House, a local homeless shelter. I thought I would run in to see if, by chance, they had a hutch and this is what I found....

I did not love it in the present state but I saw potential. Plus it was cheap (if you know me, you know I love, love, love good deals.) I bought it and since Beau was off work, he picked it up with his truck. By the way, he took one look at it and said, "I hate it." My response, "I don't care. Get it in your truck."
Of course I want Beau to love what I pick out for our house but in this case I knew he didn't get my "vision".

Who does, really?

This picture, taken from my phone because my camera was dead, does not clearly show how ugly this was. See that drawer? Someone thought it would be a great idea to bedazzle it with marble stones. The shelves are meant to look weathered and distressed so the drawer didn't exactly go with the vintage theme.

I decided to go for the shabby chic look; eggshell color and chipped paint. I researched different ways to achieve this look. However, I didn't have luck in finding the steps for my "vision". Plus following steps/directions/instructions really isn't my thing and by "not my thing" I mean it is difficult for me to read them and then execute. I have no idea how I made it through elementary school, and with straight A's.

P.S. This is why I am horrible at math.

Since I couldn't find what I was looking for I decided to play the whole thing by ear. Since I'm such an expert is redoing furniture. Yeah right.

I woke up early Saturday morning and began on the project. I used a grayish blue paint to go over the whole thing. I wanted it to barely come through the white. The paint was $1 at Lowes (I bought it from their mistake rack, or whatever that rack is.)

After this step I was convinced I was crazy and the whole thing was a bad idea. This feeling only got worse after the first coat of white paint. After the second coat I felt better and by the third my "vision" was back. After the whole thing was painted and dried I scuffed and scratched the paint for the distressed look.

Here is the finished product with decor...

I LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. it!! Beau does too! He keeps saying "This really looks good. You did a great job," and I'm all, "I know."

Because it wasn't enough to paint a hutch all day (and on the hottest day of the year thus far) I thought I'd throw in another project. I got this plant stand at a yard sale for $1.

Before

After

Here is the dining room with the hutch:
We put the curtains up today. The table extends to seat six but to maximize the space we took the leaf out and will put it in for company. I think we are going to do something, in terms of painting or staining, to the the table and chairs but don't know what. I am definitely going to recover the the cloth chairs but haven't found the fabric yet. We got the the whole suite from one of Beau's co-workers for practically nothing. Eventually we will get something new but this is just fine for now.

HGTV Can't Even Peg Me

I have been in the process of deciding my decorating style and it has not been easy. Normally I would not even attempt to declare a certain style but I have gotten the question from a lot of people. I can't even say a specific color theme because I'm not close to having one.

The way I choose the decor for my house can best be summed up the same way a Supreme Court justice once said in the sixties while trying to define the term "obscene" in his decision, "I know it when I see it."

Still, I want to say, "Hi my name is Kendall and I'm french country," or "shabby chic" instead of "Hi my name is Kendall and I'm french country meets rustic, meets french bistro, meets federal with a hint of dutch colonial, meets american with a touch of cottage style thrown in for good measure."

In hopes that I would be able to get a definitive answer I took a quiz on HGTV's website. The quiz consisted of pictures and questions that you sort and answer. At the end when I clicked the submit button I was excited to see what the experts of HGTV thought. The answer..............

20% formal

20 % french country

20% federal

20% nantucket

20% vintage antique

"Hi my name is Kendall and I'm eclectic. Get off me."

I have found some examples of styles I love and ideas I am using for the house. Feel free to make your own analysis of my decorating style because I give up.

I'm pretty sure that I used that paint color for a small shelf I have in the kitchen that holds cook books.

Don't Forget to Vote!!!

Tomorrow is the day if you haven't voted early.

By the way, the necklace was my mom's when she was in high school.

Neat, huh?

Weekend, I Already Miss You

Weekends are never dull for the Thornton crew.

Of course there was Rommel.

Then we found a park off of the Saline River. Saw lots of geese with their babies. So cute! I took this after the mom and dad got tired of hissing at us and walked off. I think it was because I warned "I WILL spank a goose." Cue Beau's eye roll.

We fished on the banks but had no luck. I found this magazine rack at an antique store in Bryant. I love, love, love it. The rack is a great blue/green color with a detailed scene on the front. I am always looking for unique pieces to go in the house.

I hung out with the nephews and helped my sister with bath time which was pretty eventful.

Hudson and the tongue. L.O.V.E. IT.

I Think He Mentioned Something About Moving His Voter Registration to Saline County

My in-laws went to Lubbock for Beau's cousin's graduation (Congratulations Mallory!!) so we got to puppy-sit their dog, Rommel. The first night he was pretty pitiful because he was homesick but by day two he had made himself at home, clearly. The above scene is what I found this morning after I brushed my teeth.

I'm pretty sure he enjoyed his stay but he was thrilled when my in-laws took him home.

We really had a good time with a dog in the house and think we can handle one of our own. I'm sure we'll have a shelter pup by summer's end!

Ode to Mom

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

I ruined your bladder,

on the 21st of June.

Love,

The Middle Child

If you need an explanation: Every year when Mom tells me happy birthday she closes with "and my bladder has never been the same sense."

I feel so blessed to have such an amazing, strong and loving mother.

Mom,

Thank you for your love, prayers, wisdom, friendship, encouragement, sacrifices and character. You are the best and I love you so, so, so, so much!

I am equally blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law whom I truly love. I cannot begin to express my appreciation for her kindness. I have always been made to feel like a member of their family.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and feels as blessed as I do!

Green Thumbs

I went to the Ouachita Nursery with Mom yesterday so she could pick out her Mother's Day present. The nursery, by the way, is amazing. They are very reasonable and have beautiful plants and flowers. In an effort to beautify my front steps I got some annuals and planted them in a pot that belonged to my grandma. I also re-potted an indoor plant my in-laws gave me.

The turtle came from my mom. She got for us last year when she went to War Eagle.

It's Worth Making Two Posts in One Day

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

You MUST. Even if you are not into the cake shows on t.v.

The Bluebirds Have Taken Over Part 2

Don't worry, these are not the birds. These are the steak kabobs we were cooking on our NEW GRILL with our friends Ryan and Debbie when this picture was taken:

We have baby birds!!!! Since there were four of us on the patio I guess the bluebirds didn't think they could take us so they flew far, far away. I relived my horrific story about almost being attacked and Ryan was all, "I'm going to look in the bird house," and I'm all, "NO DON'T!! THEY WILL KILL YOU AFTER THEY PECK YOUR EYES OUT!" Since Ryan clearly didn't remember Hitchcock's "The Birds" he opened the house and we saw at least three babies sleeping soundly. So soundly, in fact, I thought they were dead but we watched closely to see that they were all breathing. We took a picture, closed the house and ran like heck!

I would like to stop the story to throw this out: when I did my research on bluebirds last week I read that it is ok to check on the babies in the house when the parents are gone because bluebirds have a horrible sense of smell and cannot tell if the house has been messed with.

Back to the story: after we went inside the mom and dad checked on the babies and then began to find more food. I'm convinced they get no sleep. I guess it's a lot like humans when they have a new baby.

Beau and I have been talking about the whole process/miracle taking place in our backyard. We're amazed at how in a matter of months the bluebirds built their home, laid eggs, hatched them and are taking care of them. And how in a matter of days they will teach their babies how to fly and the process will start all over again.

What a great reminder of how amazing our God is.