Around The Mulberry Bush

Never Miss Another Chaotic Update!
Enter Your Email Address
And "POOF!" Just Like That!
I'll Notify You Each Time I Post!

Powered by FeedBlitz

It's All in the Details

Well my friends, we spent the day working on crown moulding in our bedroom. It's not quite finished yet so I can't show you pictures. Sorry--they're coming soon!

But, at the risk of getting behind on my posting (Amy), I thought I'd let you know what's going on in our world.

We've stumbled across the neatest and cheapest (less than $100 for a 13x13 room) way to do 'crown' (I'm sure that's the technical terminology that seasoned carpenters use--and trust me, after all the 'crown' that we'll be installing, 'cause we plan to do the whole house, we will be seasoned!).

We were inspired by the home of one of my dealers at the Antique Mall. They invited us over for dinner and we were just in awe of the beauty of this home. I'm SO stoked to update mine now!

So...'crown' here we come! We've been putting this project off for a while but it's time now!

Billy will have to finish up while I'm at work tomorrow. Then we'll take pictures and you'll see just how easy and neat it looks! (At least I hope it looks as good as the image in my head! Yikes!)

What a Day!!

Well everyone...It's been a really GREAT day!!

Today is mine and Billy's 29th Anniversary. (Yep, we're some of the crazy people who got married right at Christmas time. What were we thinking?!?) Actually, December 24th was my Grandparent's anniversary and they were celebrating their 50th when we got married.--It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Anyway, the kids came in this afternoon and we were having such a great time visiting and playing with their new Wii.

We decided to eat dinner at our newest restaurant Montana Mike's so we met up with our friends Donna & Steve and Sandy & John and Amy & Jason and the kiddos. We had 15 for dinner!! What fun!

We had all ordered and were waiting for our food to arrive when the girls told us to open our gifts. We got a great Dirt Devil from Chell & Jess. Love it!! Then we opened Tif & Steven's gift.

It was packaged really beautifully in a Macy's box. I hated to rip it open.

Okay, it's open now but I am having the darnedest time telling what's inside.

I need my glasses--It looks like...what...M&M's?? Hmmm...okay.

Why are we getting M&M's for our anniversary? They say something but I can't tell what it is. Do they say "Happy Anniversary"? Will someone get my glasses??



Once we got it opened this is what we saw...



I'll just let the pictures tell the rest of the story.



I'm gonna' be a Grandma!!!

Eeeek!! It's the Holidays Already!?!


Can you say "OVERWHELMED"? The Holidays have snuck (is that a word?) sneaked up on me AGAIN!

But, before I get into all that, let's have a moment of praise and thanksgiving for my sister-in-law Sandy, her daughter Amy, and my Billy--(moment...moment...moment). You'll understand why shortly.

See...I haven't decorated--I mean FULLY decorated my house for Christmas in 5 years. So I'm due right? Yes, it's time.

But I'm realizing now...I should have planned better!! (any of you who know me are laughing heartily right now because you know I really AM a 'last minute kinda girl'--sigh).

Well, I decided that THIS year I'M DECORATING! All out decorating. And, because I'm a crazy girl, (what was I thinking???) I'm going to have my family here for Christmas AND have a cookie swap for my girlfriends.

But hey, I'm feeling no pressure. Because I started planning all this over a month ago so there should have been plenty of time right?

WHATEVER!!!

HOLY COW!! The time went by so danged fast!!

Before I knew it it was December 9th and I hadn't done a thing to decorate for my party on the 16th!

Time to call in the cavalry!!

"Hello, Sandy?"

"Are you busy for the next seven days?"

"Wanna' come out of your comfy little world of calmness and order into the land of chaos?"

"Wait--what?"

"You would?!?"

"Seriously?"

"Yessssss!!!"

We rushed right out into the Oklahoma Ice Storm of the Century to pick her up.

Imagine her dismay when she arrived to THIS... (I didn't get pictures of the worst of the mess--these are the 'nice' pics)
Living Room Chaos Chaotic Dining Room Chaotic Dining Room Kitchen Chaos

But what miracle workers we are!
After 40+ Rubbermaid tubs from storage and too many boxes to count from the attic--WE DID IT!!!

We worked at the store all day and came home to decorate in the evenings.

On Friday we drove to OKC to pick up my niece Amy so she could come help us finish up--(Couldn't have done it withoutcha' Ame!). We had a few 3 am mornings but it all came together just in time for the cookie swap on Sunday.
We didn't get to decorate outside but, hey! there's always next year (I'll have plenty more time 'cause I may just leave all this up so I don't have to go through this again--grin)

Anyway...betcha' you're on the edge of your seat waiting to see the finished result aren'tcha? (Drum Rollllllll......)

So...Ta Da!!--(Notice you can see the floors now) Enjoy!! Now, if you'll excuse me...I'm going to take a nap!
Living Room Living Room Entry to Dining Room
Entry to Living Room Landing
Snowman Tree--Notice 'Frosty's Hat & Cane? Snowmen
Notice the tiny little white tree next to the snowmen? That was our very first Christmas tree on December 23, 1978 (the date we got married 29 years ago). Christmas is never complete without it.

Ice Ice Baby!

I know everyone's heard about the ice we've been experiencing in Oklahoma. Thankfully, we weren't hit as hard here in Clinton as our friends and relatives in the rest of the state were. Never-the-less here are a couple of pictures I took of the ice here in our little town. (Just Click on the Picture to get the full effect).

The first picture is my climbing rosebush outside our front door:



And here is the fountain at our bank:



Please take a moment to pray for all the folks here that are without power (2/3 of the state!). It's SO COLD here and we're expecting 3-6 inches of snow this weekend.

Glittery Fun on a Dreary Day

My Sister-in-Law Sandy and I have been busy little elves this week decorating the house for Christmas and a Girlfriend Cookie Swap that I'll be having on Sunday (more about that later).
It's been tough work because I can't just put up a tree and call it Christmas...Oh No, I'm a little crazier than that. (In fact Sandy calls me her Crazy Sister-in-Law to anyone who'll listen. Hmmphfff.[grin])

Well, today she's crazy right along with me because we just finished decorating a gift box for a young girl in the 7th to 9th grade. This young girl (who we have no idea who she is) is one of over 500 children in the Bus Ministry at Sandy's Church in OKC and this may be the only gift she receives...we're not sure. Anyway--Sandy has filled a box with all kinds of goodies and, thanks to some inspiration from my friend Holly (Hollydoodle Designs--Hi Holly!) we just 'went to town' decorating the outside of it using anaglypta wallpaper, figurines, and fake snow.

Remembering what it was like to be a child we were hoping to give her a little bit of time in 'Make Believe Land'.

So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of our finished project. (Just click on the pictures to get the full effect). WE HAD SOOO MUCH FUN!!!
















Now This Is NEAT!!!

Okay my friends...this is really cool!!!

Have you ever bought items on-line and when you get ready to pay there's a little box where you can put in a 'Discount Code', or a 'Promotional Code, or a 'Coupon Code'?

If you're like me you're wondering "how can I get that code?!? "

Well, I've found a couple of sites that have all those codes & discounts in one place. HOW FUN IS THAT!!!

So...drum roll...here they are!! Discount Codes and Current Codes. Let me know how they work for you! Have Fun!!