Is Anybody Out There?

I started this blog after moving 7 years ago from an area I'd lived in for almost 30 years.  It was a way for me to stay connected with friends as I struggled through what was, for me, a huge change and a trying time. The advent of Facebook coupled with settling in here in West Lafayette saw me posting less & less.

Recently I've been feeling inspired to morph it into a sewing/quilting blog but before I put my energy and time into it, I'd like to know if anyone still visits from time to time.  

So, if you're out there, write a quick comment to let me know!

Hugs, Leslie

Listerine Foot Soak

Are you on Pinterest?  Have you seen the myriad of pins about soaking your feet in Listerine for smooth, soft feet?  Me too!

Last night I decided to try it out and gathered together my store-brand Listerine wanna-be, white vinegar and warm water.  Of course Dr. Love and Miss B were laughing at me the whole time but I bravely soldiered on.

After a nice, tingly, warm soak I pulled out my feet to find....they had turned blue!!  I was able to scrub it all off except for my nails.  But my feet are nice & smooth :).  I think I see a pedicure in my future...

BzzAgent freebie

I've explained in the past about the company BzzAgent, a word of mouth marketing company that, once I signed up as a agent & filled out a few surveys to determine preferences & "fits," gives me opportunities to try, free of charge!, new products and services in exchange for my commitment to tell others about the products and report back to BzzAgent.

Well, last night we tried a free Kroger (or Payless, etc...) Private Selection Upside Down Cake for our dessert.  The flavor we tried is Amber Honey Apple Spice and it was delicious!  I am pretty picky about ready-to-eat products from the store and usually I think that my own, homemade, version is much better.  Well, I've got to tell you that this cake is as good as, if not better, than what I make myself!  And--so easy!  Just warm it up in the oven for 15 minutes, take it out & let it set for a minute or two and run a knife around the edge before dumping it upside down on a cake plate (or any plate!). YUM!!

Have you tried this product yet?  Do you shop at Kroger or its' subsidiaries?  What do you think of the Private Selection brand?

http://www.privateselection.com/artisan-products/artisan-bakery/cakes/amber-honey-apple-spice-upside-down-cake/

Bloglovin

I know I posted about this awhile back but seriously, have you checked out Bloglovin yet?  I have been using it for a couple of months and I really, really, REALLY like it!

Here's how I use it:  when I find a blog I like, I copy & paste the URL into the little box on my Bloglovin home page that says "search for blogs."  Then, when the blog is found, I click on it, then click on the "follow this blog" button.  That's it!

I have Bloglovin bookmarked on my bookmarks bar at the top of my page (I use Google Chrome).  Whenever I want to see what's new, I click on my link and voila!  There's my feed!  One of the best features is that  once I click on a blog to read it, it "dims" a bit so I can see at a glance what I've read.  AND, just like on Pinterest, there's a "scroll to top" button so that I don't have to grab the side bar and drag it up.

Are you using Bloglovin?  What do you think?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Family Room Redecoration

Well, I can't remember now just how long it's been but the family room redecoration process is complete! Following, in no particular order are pictures:

This first set is the floor installation by Dr. Love, a random picture of chairs & ottoman, the console table and the chandelier that Dr. Love installed against the ceiling.  I decided to go a swatch darker on the ceiling than the walls and I am very happy with the results!  

This next set is random pictures that don't match up with any of my "befores." FYI-the blank from is waiting for Andrew's senior picture this fall and there will be another 8x10 under the current one then also.

And now we have "before & afters"

Thank you especially to my old friend Yvonne (living in FL now!) who received and replied to countless text messages asking for her opinions on how this or that looks.  She seemed almost as eager as I was to try this or that and just helped me tremendously!

Details:  

All paint is Benjamin Moore--walls are Palladian Blue, Ceiling is Wythe Blue and fireplace and trim are Alpine White.  I went through many different colors of paint swatches on the walls before finally seeing one of my considerations in House Beautiful.  That clinched the decision for me!

I didn't follow any patterns in sewing up the ottoman cover, window treatments & throw pillows.  I used Rowley's Clip & Wave tape on the tops of the window treatments.  It worked beautifully!  I purchased new feather & down pillow inserts and I am so glad I did--they are much more comfortable than all the different polyester fiberfill forms I had.

The round red ottoman was a Goodwill find after I started the project.  It is just so sweet and perfect that I paid a little more than I like to pay at Goodwill but I'm glad I brought it home.

The black chandelier, red pendant lights and white furniture covers are all from Overstock.com  The table lamps are all from Target.

Nothing else was purchased new but I did pick up a couple of other things from Goodwill and I moved in things from storage that I was saving or from other rooms.  Also, I used paint to change the color of the tv table and the yellow tray on the fireplace.  Dr. Love built the tv stand to raise it up and get the cable boxes under it.  Those things cost over $50 on Amazon!

Any questions?  Just ask and I will respond by return comment :)

Whew!  

Bloglovin

There has been some buzz around blog-land the last week or so about Google's Reader being discontinued.  Now I have to confess that I don't begin to understand or use all the features available when I blog but I'm pretty sure that what they're talking about is my reading list that comes up down the left side of my Blogger Dashboard.  The list that I bring up every morning to check out the latest posts from the blogs that I don't want to miss (like yours!)

So yesterday I somehow came across Bloglovin.  When I joined, it asked me if I wanted to import my reading list from Google Blogger.  I said YES!  And this morning when I opened my email -- there was an email from Bloglovin with all the new posts on the blogs I follow.  SUCCESS!

Progress

As you can see in the picture, I've covered the couches ($150 total/both from Overstock.com), painted the ceiling & beams, primed the walls and Dr. Love is almost finished installing the chandelier (also from Overstock.com).  There's still a lot to do:  sewing window treatments & throw pillows, painting the walls.  And the floor.  Dr. Love will be working on the floor next week.  I'm planning on changing out the table lamps too and I have several possibilities but I'm waiting until everything else is done to see what speaks to me.

Shame on Me!

A few weeks ago I won a fabulous fat quarter bundle from a sweet blogger friend Sue.  But shame on me, I didn't email her to thank her or even let her know it arrived!  Nor did I blog about it as I intended to when I took a picture to show ya'll (I say ya'll 'cause Sue is from Texas).  That picture has stayed on my phone all forlorn.

Sweet Sue, will you please forgive my lack of graciousness?  I am truly sorry and in the future I plan to be more communicative!

Without further ado, here's the picture of the fabric....I especially adore the butterfly fabric.

Now to decide what to make!

Hanging my head, Leslie

"New" Fireplace

Over the 3-day weekend I was able to get the fireplace painted.  Now, I have some very dear friends who were appalled when I told them I was planning to paint my fireplace.  And some very dear relatives too.

I've been throwing it around for 5 years and every time I got ready to do it, Dr. Love talked me out of it.  Well, after finding some great before & after pics online he agreed and even helped!

After vacuuming it well to remove dust & cobwebs, we put on three coats of primer.  Primer at $16/gallon is much less expensive than my Benjamin Moore paint at $45/gallon!  After the 3 coats, I needed only 1 coat of paint!

I must say, it looks terrific.  You would say so too if I posted a picture of it.  But I'm not going to post any "in progress" pictures of the room so you'll have to wait a while for the reveal.  I am also going to stain my mantel...it's an old piece of lumber from who-knows-where and is bolted onto the brick tightly.  It's dark but worn looking so I'm adding some matte dark stain so that it will complement the floor (when Dr. Love gets it done) better.  And, I'm looking for new light fixtures too :)

What have you been up to?

Hugs, Leslie

In the Beginning (and a sneak peek)

After 5+ years, I am able to redecorate my family room!  No more dingy, dirty, ugly light beige carpeting.  No more ugly dingy waIls!  No more other stuff in there that I don't like :).

According to my timetable, I won't be finished until sometime in April.  We've purchased the flooring but my wonderful Dr. Love isn't going to install it until the last weekend in March.  So I have some time to get my ducks in a row and get painting!

Here are my "official" before pictures:

And here's a sneak peek at my slipcovers which arrived today!

Tomorrow's Friday!  Have a great weekend!

Hugs, Leslie

New Year Sew Along finish

Several blog posts (Do you like how I use "several?"  It's more than three so it's not a few!) ago I posted about joining a New Year's Sew Along and I even showed you the fabrics.

January has come & gone and I didn't get my blocks or project finished.  But the last few days I've had fingers itchy to sew so I finished up the blocks, sewed them together, and sewed the blocks into a project.

To be honest, I am not thrilled with how the blocks turned out.  Sewing them together was easy-peesy but I had trouble with the cutting part.  I am glad that I changed my mind on the layout though:  at first I intended to make 7 blocks of single colors but then I changed to put each color in every block.  I'm also glad that I sashed between the blocks.  I had that fabric leftover from a previous quilt sashing and I think it's the perfect width.

I had one leftover block that I will probably incorporate into the backing....I like to do that.  And all of the extra pieces that got cut off I sewed together to make scrappy blocks.  I will put them in my stash for now.

So without further ado:

Do you have any sewing projects going? What're you planning to do next?

My next big thing is a redecoration of my family room.  I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!  So excited, that I just screamed it!  I've been wanting to do this room since the day we moved in but other rooms came first.  Now it's time!  We've already bought some gorgeous wood laminate flooring to replace the nasty carpeting, I have slipcovers ordered and my paint colors picked out.  I'm even going to paint the fireplace!!  I'm having fun in the planning stage--I'm not doing the actual work until the end of March.  But that will be here before I know it!

Dinner's calling....have a great night!
Hugs, Leslie

Christmas in January

I know that Christmas is over but look what I received in today's mail!  Back in December, Cathe of "Just Something I Made" posted a giveaway of one of two fabulous books from Country Living/Hearst Books.  When she contacted me to let me know that I was one of the winners I was thrilled and immediately started wondering which book I'd receive.

Imagine my surprise to open the envelope and find BOTH books!  Christmas in January, right?!  Thank you Cathe and thank you Country Living and Hearst Books for sponsoring Cathe's blog!

Now, go on over to Cathe's blog & check out all of her wonderfulness :)

Hugs, Leslie

World Travelers

My world travelers are still in Guatemala.  Here are a few of the pictures they've emailed me or I've stolen off of Miss B's facebook page.  They are having a grand time doing God's work!  Without further ado:

They'll be home Saturday night!

Sew-A-Long!

I see Sew-A-Longs on the "cool" girls' blogs quite often and sometimes wish I had the time/inclination to join in.  But as a lifetime "uncool" girl I always hesitate.  What if they don't like me?  What if no-one talks to me?  What if I sign up but don't make/take the time that participation requires?

So, when one of my very first favorite blog authors, Sue at CollectInTexasGal, posted about committing to a sew-a-long, I decided to check it out.  It's an easy project.  You can shop for fabric or use up your scraps or choose something from your stash. To learn more about about the sew-a-long, head to Sew Can She.

 I decided to use some of my scraps.  In the fall I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to cut all of my scraps into 2.5" or 5" strips, depending on their current widths.  I prefer to quilt with precuts anyway and the size is versatile enough for most projects I would attempt.  Then I sorted them by color & put them away.

The week one assignment is to decide on your fabric.  That's it.  Just choose fabric.  Which anyone with any fabric sense knows will take a week in itself anyway!  So I got out my strips and decided to make several blocks by colorway.  Here's a picture of what I have so far:

These are just what I pulled from the 2.5" strips.  During naptime this afternoon I shall get out the big guns (the 5" strips) and see what I can do with those.

What will my finished project be?  I dunno.  I won't decide until I'm further along in the project.  It depends on how the finished blocks look, how many I have, etc...

On another note, Dr. Love & Miss B were able to Skype call Charlie & I yesterday and it was great to see their smiling faces back-lit by sunshine and 80 degree weather!  They are having a fabulous time.  Today their work begins.

Please let me know if you join the sew-a-long too so we can encourage each other!

Hugs, Leslie

Play Time

I am in the middle of spending 10 days with the most terrific 18 year old son ever!  That's because Dr. Love and Miss B are in the middle of spending 10 days in Guatemala on a missions trip.

So while those cats are away, we've been busy "playing."  Which really translates to talking a bit more that we usually do, watching movies and eating out over the weekend.

I am enjoying spending this time with Charlie.  He has one more year left of high school and then I figure he'll be off to greener pastures.

What're you up to these days?

My Favorite Fall Scent

My favorite fall scent for my home is the smell of apples.  I adore Yankee Candle's MacIntosh scent but, due to price, I can't quite make myself spring for more than one of them a season.

Enter Glade Expressions Collection (see photo above).  I am a BzzAgent and, as such, I often get to try new products, often free of charge, and share my thoughts about them with friends & family.  And so it is with Glade Expressions.  I received, totally free, an oil diffuser and a fragrance mist in the scent of my choice.  So, when I saw "Fuji Apple & Cardamom Spice" I knew that it was mine.

The fragrance mist is a refillable version of a spray air freshener and it works really well.  Because the refillable holder is contemporary, it blends well into my home decor and I can leave it out where it's handy instead of trying to remember which closet I stashed it in.

The oil diffuser is, to me, much better than the reed ones I've tried in the past that really don't scent the air after the first day or so unless you are religious about flipping them upside down.  You just click the card into place and never touch it again!  And, it's been more than 30 days since I set mine out and my living room still smell terrific!

Now, let me go on about the Fuji Apple & Cardamom fragrance.  Heavenly.  Light, fresh, juicy.  MUCH better than Yankee Candle's MacIntosh scent.  This could be a year-round scent for me!

I do have some coupons still that I haven't given out so shoot me an email if you'd like one, I'll even pay the postage to mail it to you if you like!

Have you tried the Glade Expressions line?  What did you think?

Leslie

It's been a long time...

...since -I last wrote a blog post. Mostly because I just don't have the time like I used to. Partly because Facebook and Pinterest keep us caught up on a daily basis.

 So, here are things randomly:

 Bri & Andrew are turning 18 next Sunday. Andrew is registered to vote and received his Selective Service card in the mail yesterday. I love that he's taking his voting duty seriously and is trying to decide which Presidential candidate will get his vote.

 Bri is a Senior. She has applied to college and in another month or so we'll receive her acceptance or pending acceptance letter. She has applied to our local Big 10 University.

 I took the summer off from work which was really a no-brainer because I would have only had one child. Two children moved away and the third comes on a school-year schedule. Due to the summer off, I "lost" the last child. So I currently have only my sweet 3-year-old but in another two weeks I'll get his baby sister :).

 I've done some additional sewing and quilting. Finally finished up the red, white & blue quilt from 3 (!) years ago. I cleaned out my stash & got rid of things I didn't like. The rest I cut into either 5" or 2.5" strips to make a scrappy quilt of an as-yet undetermined pattern. I find lots of inspiration on Pinterest.

 I've been walking/jogging since mid-May. I've lot inches but not a lot of weight so a few days ago I added calorie-counting to my routine. I hope it helps! It certainly makes me think more about the portions of foods.

We had a terrific vacation in July in Traverse City, Michigan. We believe we've finally found the area we want to return to every year AND the area we'd like to retire in someday!

 My mind is a blank so I'll quit before I'm done:)
 Happy end of October!

Meijer Gallery Wrapped Canvas photo prints

I have been remiss in sharing with you this wonderful product! Have you heard of these? Seen these? Done one yourself? This picture of Dr. Love & I is actually a photo of my own canvas print. I was able to try out Meijer Gallery Canvas Prints for myself absolutely free because I am a BzzAgent!

What does that mean to be a BzzAgent? BzzAgent is all about social advertising. I get to try samples of products (sometimes full size!) and report to the companies who provide them-free of charge!-as well as spread the word (my opinion) to my friends & acquaintances. Almost always I am provided with coupons to pass out as well J Interested in becoming a BzzAgent yourself? Find out more here: BzzAgent.com

So, the Gallery Canvas Print described on Meijer’s website:

“It's simple to bring your favorite photo to the Meijer Photo Center and have it transformed into a Gallery Wrapped Canvas Print—overnight. How? Just upload the photo to the HP kiosk, choose the canvas size you'd like and submit your order. Then come back the next day to pick up your beautiful work of art!

Your photo will be printed on high-quality, Gallery Wrapped Canvas that is ready to hang immediately—no need for extra framing.”

It really was that simple! Choosing which picture to use took longer and was much harder than uploading and ordering at the in-store kiosk. (By the way, “kiosk” is one of my favorite words—I don’t know why but I like how it sounds and how it’s spelled!) I don’t take very many photos that are artistic in nature/quality. Usually I’m just snapping with my iPhone to text to someone or post on FaceBook. Because of that, I had a really hard time deciding which photo to use for my free print. I finally chose this one of Dr. Love & I from the first Christmas we were dating, because I really do love it and because I only had it as a 3x5.

So, I spent maybe 5 minutes total from the time I entered Meijer until I was back out in my car. The upload was simple to do. And the pick up the next day was easy-peasy too J

I do have one caveat: I think a photo that isn’t as dark would look much better than mine. I’ve seen some great examples posted by other BzzAgents and they all look terrific!

This would be a terrific gift to a newly-engaged couple, for new parents & grandparents. How cool would it be to take in a child’s artwork & have it made into a gallery print?! The possibilities are endless and because the price, at around $40, is great, you’re only limited by what you can imagine! Check out meijer.com/photo to learn more about Meijer Gallery Wrapped Canvas Prints. And let me know what you create!

Private Selection-A BzzAgent Report

I am a BzzAgent. What does that mean? BzzAgent is all about social advertising. I get to try samples of products (sometimes full size!) and report to the companies who provide them-free of charge!-as well as spread the word (my opinion) to my friends & acquaintances. Almost always I am provided with coupons to pass out as well J

Interested in becoming a BzzAgent yourself? Find out more here: BzzAgent.com

So today I’m reviewing 3 products from Kroger’s Private Selection brand. Now, I actually shop at Payless which is under Kroger’s umbrella. In other areas of the country, your store may have a different name.

Loaded directly onto my saver’s card were coupons for three free items: a Private Selection Pizza, a Private Selection Appetizer and a Private Selection Dessert. Brianna and I went in the store yesterday afternoon, chose our free products, scanned them at the self-check station, scanned my card and walked away with my free items. Oh, and I also received a coupon for $3.00 off my next grocery purchase…how sweet is that?!

We chose the Margherita Napolitano pizza. It looked good on the box and we both like mozzarella & tomatoes. The pizza looked good coming out of the box, baked up quickly in the oven and was cut into 5 good-sized wedges. Retailing for around $5, this was a huge hit with Andrew and everyone agreed it was very tasty!

For the appetizer, we chose the Mediterranean Inspired Hors D'Oeuvres collection. These were puff-pastry in delightful shapes filled with yummy stuff like mushrooms, spinach & artichoke, and sun-dried tomato. Retailing for $7.00 for 9 pieces, I found these to be pricey but absolutely as delicious as anything I’ve ever had in the finest restaurants I’ve been to. I won’t be buying them every week but they would be a nice treat for an in-home date night with Dr. Love. They baked up easily in the oven very quickly too.

Our dessert choice was the cream puffs. We left them on the counter to thaw while the pizza & appetizers cooked. Brianna melted a chocolate bar and drizzled it over them and they were wonderful! Again, as good as anything I’ve had in a restaurant! These retail for $5 and there were easily 35 in the box!

As always, I have coupons to share-this time they’re $2.00 each! And with the holidays coming up, don’t hesitate to pick up any of the wonderful Private Selection frozen foods to serve and enjoy!

Teens/Children and Internet Security

When Miss B and Charlie were younger, it took a long time for me to let them access the internet without me right by their side the entire time. I progressed to letting them surf pre-approved sites but absolutely NO SEARCHING!

About three years ago, Miss B wanted her own facebook page and Dr. Love and I made her register under her nickname and our last name (which is different than hers). We weren't sure what facebook was all about and we wanted to maintain her anonymity. And there was the caveat that we knew her login and password information. A few months later, we were more comfortable when Charlie joined and he's under his own name.

When the kids got phones, we wrote up call & text usage rules, explained them in great detail, made them explain them in return and made them sign their names to the rules. One of those rules is that Dr. Love or I can (and do) check the text messages sent/received at any given time and woe to you if you've deleted your entire in/out box!

So when I was given the opportunity from BzzAgent to join a campaign for TrueCare Awareness Online I was not of a mind to be a part of the free, 3-month trial subscription. But then I decided to try it just to see what it's all about.

This is how it worked: As a BzzAgent, I was given a free, 3-month trial subscription to the TrueCare program. In return for the free subscription, I was asked to evaluate the program and share my opinion with my friends. Hence this blog post :).

I signed up with TrueCare, gave them Miss B's online subscription logins, etc... and then began receiving alerts when certaiin words & phrases showed up in her posts, notes and comments. Suprisingly to me, I got alerts when she used the word "fire." She was quoting song lyrics about God's refining fire. I got others alerts as well, she once wrote of "hating" something, but there was never anything that was truly inappropriate for her to write. I do like that any alarms words/phrases written by anyone else on her page show up in alerts as well.

I realize that not all parents are as vigilant as I am. I am blessed that Miss B's & Charlie's relationships with Dr. Love and I are good ones. I don't seem to have sneaky kids. (I believe I know why but that's a topic for a different post altogether!). So, I think the TrueCare Awareness Program can be of good value for some parents. The cost is low, only $10/month.

I don't plan to continue the service once my trial period is over. I still have a good handle on the kids' friendships, internet usage, etc... But I do recommend it for anyone who is looking for a little extra help!