Okay, blogging isn't so easy. I spent hours typing this up yesterday and then the post would not save. My computer ended up crashing and I lost everything. Here's hoping this turns out better tonight. The bead strands themselves were super easy to make. All you need is a package of beads. I found that Amazon was the cheapest place to get them. This affiliated link was the best deal I found for the size I needed. https://amzn.to/366XboZ  I wasn't sure if the string included would be thin enough to use so I bought an extra roll since it was cheap and we go through string at the shop like cra cra. When everything arrived I tried the jute that was included and it worked great. Save some money and only get the extra roll if you plan on making a bunch. I plan on putting them on most of my Christmas gifts, giving them as gifts, making one long enough for my mantle and maybe even stringing my tree with them so yeah, I needed a truckload of string. If you want the jute I purchased, here's the link. https://amzn.to/36oqNOX You will also need a pair of scissors and piece of tape. 

 Here we go. So a few tips to begin with. I never cut my string to make my beads. I just string my beads while the string is still on the spool. You never know what will happen. You don't want to cut and then have to start all over again. Previously I have made lots of smaller strings. I use them everywhere. I use the small ones to drape over the back of chairs, garnish gifts, and to hang on cabinets. Anywhere you would hang a tassel basically. As far as knots go, you can never have too many. I tie tons of knots. You don't want the beads to come loose. I can handle them coming loose on me but I don't want them coming loose on someone I have given them to. Don't be afraid of altering the steps and doing whatever works for you. I kinda figured this out on my own so if I can do this, you can. So start by wrapping a piece of Scotch tape all the way around the end of the twine.

Wrap until you like the way it looks. I usually wrap the jute around about 10 times. After wrapping it, just tie into a knot. Actually tie it into about 5 or 6 knots to make sure it's going to hold tight. You can always tuck the knots up under the band of wrap if it's bothering you. It doesn't bother me. I am the farthest from OCD that you can imagine. I love that it looks hand made and that character and love is shown. 

 Last, cut your jute loose. Make one more tassel then you are ready to cut and trim. Cut the bottom of your tassel wrap so that it looks like the pic to the left.  After cutting the loop in half you will then trim your tassels. Trim them to even them out. 

























After you even them out you can then attach them to your bead strand. Easy peasy. Just use some jute and attach them. Tie 4-5 knots and trim excess. Wah-lah! This is a 100 count bead strand. Just beautiful!Thank you for using my affiliated links. Affiliation is just one more way I finance this small business of mine. 

 Have you ever did anything to kick yourself in the ass? Me? Yeah, I did. I think about it almost everyday. I have always told my children that it doesn't matter what they do in life, it doesn't matter how much money they make, make sure you do something that you love doing. You will be doing it for the rest of your life. With that, my oldest took it and ran. Literally he ran as far as he could go. I have not seen him in a little over 2 years now. 

 Most of his high school career he was a party kid. He said that I was naive that I did't know that. I can still remember him "posing" with a beer when he was 16 or 17.  This was the days of "Myspace." When I confronted him he said he was posing for the pic and they were just playing around. I believed it. After all, they were in Cory's jeep. Cory's dad was a cop. Why would I not believe it. He had always been a good, low key child. Never any trouble at all with the exception of fighting with his siblings when he was younger. Jason was a popular kid in school. Lots of friends that made our house their home. We were here for them all. Some of these kids were like my own. Some moved in and stayed here when they had hardships. I loved them like they were mine. This didn't always work to my advantage but I did it anyway.  Jason made the kind of friends that are with you for life. They may all go their separate ways but they are here for each other. Small town benefits when you have a group of friends that you grow up with. If I had it to do over again I would make sure that all of my children had this. Some of them did and some of them didn't.  

 I can still remember when Jason's life came to a lull. He said mom, if anyone calls or comes over for me this week tell them I'm not here. Not sure what happened that week but I just remember him not wanting anything to do with a his friends and he stayed in his room all week.  I believe this was his 11th grade year. Maybe it was a teacher that had an impact on him, maybe he was just worried and wanted to do good on a test. I have no idea but before that point Jason had no interest in grades whatsoever. He stayed in his room reading and from that week on his life changed. He was college focused and constantly worried about school. He had always been a book lover since he was a little boy. He would beg me to read to him over and over again. Most of the time the same books. He loved collecting books and would obsess over stacking them and taking care of them. One time he called me to come see his room. Empty, it was nothing more than a playroom really. He had stacked books all the way around his room next to the walls. He was so proud of the pattern he made stacking. I was so proud that 3 year old was so organized and loved cleaning his room. Never would I have guessed that my little one's love for books would lead him to be a journalist. 

 Long story short, my party going high schooler graduated high school, not without a flaw though. He lost a credit and had to walk the following year with kids that were not in his class and he barely knew. A heartbreaking thing for me to watch and something that weighed on him heavily. His principle said it was "a lesson" but no lesson learned there except that sometimes when you work hard and put your heart into something it's still not enough. My baby boy, actually my oldest, went on to college, working several jobs, at one point 3. He worked at a golf coarse, had a booth at our shop, and refinished furniture for the shop in his spare time. He went on to college and graduated from the University of South Alabama with degree in Print Journalism. In his last year of college he made a loan and studied abroad. Traveling was definitely in his future plans now. He graduated then took an internship in Jordan to work for a non- profit. The organization helped Syrian refugees. Jason loved it. He worked there until the internship was over. He came home and searched all over the US for a job. He traveled from Cali to DC. It's such a shame that our newspapers are going away and the art of writing is being lost. We must adapt though. If we need to go online it's just something that we will do. After months of looking and no callbacks, he made the decision to go back to Jordan where there were more opportunities. Broke and smart, he went and I have no idea where but "with a friend." I'm sure he couch surfed for a while but eventually landed a job with the Jordan Times. He worked with them for a while and got the opportunity to go teach English in Socatra, a remote island off the coast of Yemen. Yemen being one of the most dangerous places in the world, required a work visa. That had to be the most scared I have ever been in my life. Just waiting for his plane to land and him get far enough in that he could contact me. There is very little reception on the island. The pictures were amazing and time he spent there was priceless. He taught English to the tribal people. Beautiful memories made I'm sure but his momma still missed him. He returned to Jordan and has been traveling and writing like crazy. Freelancing and teaching English, he's living the life he loves. I have no idea when I will see him again. He messaged a few days ago and said he might come home for Christmas. I didn't tell him that his dad said he'll believe it when he sees it. After all, he said this last year and the year before. When he left he said he would be back in 6 months. I have only myself to blame. I don't know if he will ever come home again but I do know that he is doing what he loves and it's all my fault. 

One of the first things that came to mind when we decided to renovate the kitchen was a farmhouse sink.  It had been a dream of mine from long ago for the future house. I mean long ago since we lived in a mobile home that we purchased when we first got married. Yes, I said mobile home. It was our first home together. It was new. We bought 3 acres and planted it out on a hilltop in God's Country. We raised our children there for 6 years until we got enough money to buy a house. After that we rented it out for a while. It didn't take us long to figure out that most people don't respect your property like you do. We then sold the house and sold the land back to the company that we bought it from. We made a small profit off of the land and that helped us get started in our new home. This was way back when all I ever dreamed about was white kitchens and solid white fluffy rooms. The word "farmhouse" was not a thing. Painted furniture was not heard of here in the South. The only trace of painted furniture was leftover remnants of what was left behind by the 70's bad glazing trends. I would see beautifully painted antiques on Ebay under the name "Red Barn Antiques". For years I told Paul that is what we needed to do. I was thinking the Ebay thing of course. No way did I ever think anyone around here would want painted furniture. I was alone in my world of painted furniture as far as Southern Alabama was concerned. I just thought that white looked clean and comfortable. I knew that if things were white I could tell if they were dirty. That was the life I wanted with 4 kids. Call me crazy but that was the direction I was heading in. It wasn't until many years later, that I started doing it for others. 

 We closed on our new house the week of Katrina.  After she went through we immediately started painting and renovating. I can still remember one of the first days that Paul came home from work and peeked through the sidelights of the front door. He said, "You painted the bricks?" in utter horror.  I could hear him from outside with the door shut. That was the brick fireplace of course. It didn't take me long to conform him into my way of thinking. When we purchased this house, it had linoleum flooring in the kitchen. It was coming up and would actually stick to your feet when you walk through the kitchen. I would almost give anything to have before pictures of this house. We had mustard daisy wallpaper in the kitchen. Peacocks from the dinning room to the foyer. Almost every inch of this house was plastered in 70's wallpaper. Yellow shag carpet graced every square foot of flooring that did't have linoleum with the exception of parkay wood flooring in the foyer. We picked out new tile and got it laid in the kitchen. New appliance came little at a time. Many years later we removed the old shag carpet and replaced with heart pine. This has been a slow renovation. When I say slow, I mean a 15 year renovation. We still have one room left to floor. Our room of course. This new kitchen renovation, by the way was not a planned happening. This is our second kitchen renovation here. It came about because our tile started cracking. Come to find out our joist were giving way. There was no underlayment under the house and it caused the joist to rot. Our house is build on a crawlspace. When you have a house on a crawlspace, you should have a moisture barrier on top of the ground to prevent ground moisture from coming up and rotting the wood under your house. It was just something we assumed was done before we bought the house. This house was built in the 70's. Not sure if the previous owners did not know or if they were just not aware this should have been done. Something I will never do again is buy a house that is not on a concrete slab.

 So in December of 2019 we decided to bust up our tile flooring and see what we were looking at. When we discovered that our joist were rotting we were faced with no choice but to replace them ourselves. What could have been a 25-$30,000 professional job was not an option for us. Not only was this not in our budget, it is something that Paul just does't do. He does't hire help. (Insert eye roll emoji here). I knew this was about to be a long process but I was not up for the flooring of my house to be open to nothing more than a tarp for the next month. At times I thought this would never end. Some nights I was scared that may be a possum would sneak in. If I heard the faintest sound I would yell squirrel. So you say, quit complaining and help the poor boy. I did. I did indeed. I crawled under the house and helped lay the underlayment. I scrubbed mold on the wood subfloors laying on my back. I helped and did everything I could to lessen the burden on him. To my surprise there was barely a living thing under the house. No spiders and super clean with the exception of  a little mold. Together we did it. We finished replacing the joist and sealed up our floors. We decided to continue the heart pine into the kitchen. Our goal was to finish this house off to the best of our ability for the new owners whether it be our children or someone we don't know. Did I mention that before breaking open the kitchen flooring in December of 2019, we purchased 15 acres to build our forever home on? Nah, I left that out. Well, we did. It still sits there today as it did when we purchased it in Feb 2018. To be fair, when we purchased, I had no intention of rushing to build. We planned on focusing on our business and building when we got around to it. That does't bother me at all. I have drawn out the floor plan for that house square foot by square foot and when we get to it we get to it. If we should decide not to that doesn't bother me either. Although the property has absolutely stunning views, my heart has always been to build in Union Church which is the northern part of Grand Bay. The Dawes Road or Jeff Hamilton Road area would be perfection. I missed my opportunity a few years back when a 10 acre plot came up for sale at $110,000. I was too late when I called. It was already pending. Property in that area of Grand Bay rarely becomes available. Most is family farm land and gets passed from one generation to the next. Being that we have a horse and will be building a barn,  we would have to have at least 10 acres. We have agreed that if the opportunity arrises in that area we will sell the 15 acres that we have. Hence, I'm not in a rush to build. 

 Several people have asked my how I hang my signs on my brick wall. Well, I use these amazing little things called brick clips. Only available seasonally in one local store, I have had to hunt them down online during the year when I run out. They are a miracle hack to hang with on bricks. No holes to drill, simply clip them on your brick and they have a hook to hang on. Here's that link for the brick clips- https://amzn.to/37OW1RD 

 If you are local to our shop, you can order the address sign for $39. I usually use old table leaves to do my signs on. If this bothers you, you may want to opt out. I will be the first person to tell you that I am not OCD. I like flaws, I like character. I like knowing something has been reused and that it had a previous life. What I don't like used is my pillows though. These awesome fall pillows came from Kirklands. https://fxo.co/9wNf. With this link, they are offering free shipping till October the 31st. If you sign up for their emails, you can also get a 20% off coupon. Not sure if the codes are stackable since I myself can't use my link, but it would be worth a try. These are not outdoor pillows but I have had them outside for several weeks now and they have done great. My porch is covered though. I would not recommend leaving them out in the open weather since the dew falls thick here in Alabama. The porch lanterns are available by special order through our shop. They are half lantern that can hang backside on the wall. I originally bought them to flank my mantle but they just looked too big so I have thrown them here and there. They were kind of pricey so I didn't order any for the shop. The fall colored thrown came from our shop. It's been there for almost a year now. I remember hanging it on an antique ladder last Christmas with a lot of other tartan wool throws. They sold out but this one stayed. I'm guessing it's because the color wasn't so Christmassy. But hey, it's perfect for fall!! The patio set is a vintage set that I inherited from my grandmother. It has been here in our old shop being stored for years. It used to be too plain for me but I didn't want to part with it since it was a family heirloom.  I had a more ornate antique set of the porch. You know, the old acorn / grapevine sets. My style has changed as it often does. When we painted the brick white I wanted something black and simple. Bingo, this set came to mind and I was ecstatic that it finally fit what I needed. So, the ornate set went under an oak in the front yard and this set was the clean lines that I needed. 

The wreath and letter are from Hobby Lobby. The letter is one of the gold ones. I sprayed it black. I'm not yet affiliated with them so I don't have a discount code but as you may know every other week Hobby Lobby items are on sale. If it's not on sale this week, it will be on sale next week. If it's not on sale, you can google "Hobby Lobby coupon" any day for a 40% off any non sale item.  Just recently they have changed protocol to exclude certain items but it's a great deal if your item isn't excluded. The great thing about Hobby Lobby is that you can just pull it up on your phone and they will scan it.  A lot of retailers are still asking for printed paper coupons. 

 The chippy antique urns came from my antique shop of course. Don't say I take all the good stuff. These have been there for over a good year and you haven't bought them so there. Really, I think because no one wants a single, but hey, I told y'all I don't like perfect. I don't do the matchy matchy colors and the really perfect stuff, although matchy matchy planters are fine. Non- matchy are good too.  I think I covered everything here. If I left out anything, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you with the answers. 

 

Fall comes and goes way too fast for me. It's my favorite time of the year without a doubt. This spring wasn't too bad but usually our springs here in the South are either too hot or too cold. Fall is always perfect. It's the one time of the year that I love to get outside and decorate. I enjoy spending time on the deck with my babies and our family. The hammock is always out and bonfires are an everyday thing here. We keep the fire bowl up on the deck in the fall so it's easy to walk out, light up, and get cozy. Yes, we can put away some smores. If the grandbabies are over we usually do them every night. 

 It's so important to have an outdoor living space somewhere footsteps away from the living room for me. Kids today are so involved in their phones and binge watching that I think it's great to catch their attention with a cozy spot outside. When Lindsey walks through the living room and I have the hammock out, she immediately makes a B line for the deck. Even if she is going out there to lay down, it's fresh air. If Braylen and Stella are here, they follow. That leads to major cuddle, tickle, and family time. Priceless moments happen on our deck. 

 We have plenty of garden lights up that create a cozy ambience. I don't get into adding candles and lanterns like some people do. I just don't have time to keep the glass clean. Garden lights do everything I need them to. We have a hammock swing also on the deck for Stella. Of course we bring everything in at night. I have left our hammock out for a few days before to come home and find mold spots appearing from the dew overnight. That lead to several hours of bleaching it out. I actually used a tide pod the first time this happened and it nearly ruined my hammock by turning it a bright ultraviolet purple. It took several bleach baths to get it back to normal. I purchased our baby swing and adult swing chair hammock from the Hamanica company via Etsy. They are a handmade company. Although they have beautiful full size hammocks, I was able to find more affordable options through Wayfair. I love our deck and wish I would have had this set up when all of mine were little ones. Now all I have to do is get my grown kids to come home and spend time here with us!

Today we added lighting to the inside of our cabinets. I chose this set of 3 puck lights https://fxo.co/9w7K from The Home Depot. Out of all the lights they had, this set made the most sense for us because we needed linkable lights. I had one outlet installed above the cabinets so that we could do our own lighting when we were ready. If I didn't choose the linkable light sets I would have need 4 outlets to plug into.  I really wanted the set with remote since I won't be able to turn these off and on without climbing somewhere but the remote set was battery operated with double stick tape to hold it in. I felt like we needed something better since the home may belong to someone else eventually. I hate for lights to start falling long after we are gone. 

 These were super easy to install since we were able to move our cabinets to the floor and work on the tops. Honestly I don't know that I will ever attach these cabinets to the wall unless it's for the new owners when we move out. It has been super convenient moving them around. If we would have attached them when we first put them up, I would have never been able to change them when I figured out I wanted the small cabinets on bottom instead of the top, which is how I originally designed them. Thank goodness for honest daughter's that give their opinions. I sent Cassidy pictures of the small cabinets on top and a pic of them on bottom. She said they look like they are upside down in the first picture. lol. I never noticed until she pointed it out. We flipped the small cabinets to the bottom and then I though, why did I not think of this from the get go? Instant breadboxes and now I can actually use the tiny cabinets instead of them being way up by the ceilings. I love the look of them on bottom. Getting back to installation, these took less than 30 minutes for each side. Paul used a hole saw bit https://amzn.to/35vo45C that he attached to his drill. He uses a Milwaukee m12 drill  https://fxo.co/9w7M from Home Depot. A great deal at only $99. 

  To get started you will need to measure out and mark your spot. I wanted mine centered in the middle of each glass door. We measured out and marked our spots. Then Paul attached his hole saw bit to his screw gun and went at it. After we got the hole cut we noticed that the puck light would not go down into the hole because of the plug sticking out the side. You would think the light company would have had this figured out by now since these lights are used a lot for sinking into cabinets. Our cabinets are standard thickness so I just wonder how everyone else is working this out. Thankfully we have a router https://fxo.co/9w9J so we routed into the top of the cabinet until the puck fit snug with the plug falling into the sunken spot. Yay! It's in. After that we put the cabinet back up in place, cleaned up our mess, and flipped the switch.  I have to plug this Milwaukee shop vac real quick so hold up. https://fxo.co/9wA5 It's absolutely the best thing we have ever purchased as far as tools go. It beats lugging the big shop vac in from the shed. You can see how small and easy it is to carry around. I keep it under the kitchen cabinets. It's so easy to pull out and vacuum drawers with or to carry out to the car. This is a great Christmas gift for your guy too. What guy doesn't love Milwaukee anyway? Okay, so back to our project. For right now we threw the switch up on top of the cabinets but will soon be adding crown so I'll have to come up with a solution tomorrow. We can either run the switch and cord down the right back corner of the cabinet on the outside, putting it to the left of my sink or just leave it on all the time. I'm leaning towards leaving it on all the time.  Maybe we can add a trap door on the side just in case I ever need it off. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I love it! Now just to add crown. 

So, I have been head over bed tired this week. I mean, I can't get up in the am early to save my life. Literally, if there was a fire I may pop my head up and then go back to sleep. Do y'all ever get like that? I think I need a B12 shot. I know I stay up late working every night but usually have no trouble getting up early regardless. Maybe I'm just getting old. I know I am but dang, I can't slow down. I have too much to do. Maybe I'm just exhausted. Maybe it's just caught up with me. I wish I had another me to run the shop and do everything. There are just not enough hours in the day. Interruptions really crash my day up too. I think if I could get through a whole day without interruptions I could get a lot done. I should have started my day off picking tag sales all the way to the shop but instead Paul went and said he didn't find anything. I feel like I would have found plenty. There's one of my flaws. Thinking that I have to do everything. It's not that people don't constantly offer me help. They do. I just think if I don't lay my hands on it or do it myself, it may not be done right or complete. 

 So it's late, I have lagged. I'm still at home and it's 11:00 am. One more cup of coffee and I'm out of here. 

When designing my cabinets, one of the most important things to me was storage. Style was right up there but I knew I could incorporate my own style with pulls. I love the apothecary look these pulls bring to my cabinets.  These pulls can be purchased here. https://amzn.to/3lIG4A7 Where else can you get a 10 pack of pulls for only $7.15? Only here! These pulls are antique copper. I needed the bronze look to tie in with my faucet and hardware but the highlight of the copper edging to tie into my overhead copper lanterns. Stay tuned to see those. They do have full out copper you can also access from this link. I purchased those also for furniture I was refinancing at the shop.