Guess who's College-Bound?

Yes!! Ryan is accepted, enrolled and will be attending The University of Mississippi (Ole' Miss) in Oxford this fall!! He is all lined up to live in the dorms and take a full load of classes. He will move down and classes start mid-August. Although he is tranferring 12 hours, he is still considered a "freshman" and must attend freshman orientation. Parents also must go and this will be just a few days before school starts.

He is very excited and we are very excited for him! His job will end just weeks before leaving and that works perfectly for him. He has been power-saving his money and doing a great job of that.

He will be trying to walk-on the golf team and that will his number one goal. He has been golfing every week and doing really well. He met up with a new golf buddy, a local chiropractor in town, and they are visiting courses all over the area. Ryan is thrilled to have someone able and eager to golf with him.


This photo was his favorite win - the Grand Champion of the local golf tournament in our former town. That trophy is HUGE. We have quite a collection of trophies and plaques. Ryan was very lucky to have been members of golf teams that all won state his 4 years in high school. 3 years in Iowa on the Bettendorf, IA golf team and 1 year in Mountain Home, Arkansas. It was amazing and quite an accomplishment. He also individually placed in state several years. He has taken a 2-year hiatus but is ready to get back on the road to a golf career!

Very exciting month for our family! So proud of both boys!!

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Have a great day!

Joys of Homeschooling High School - Update on Holt

Someone in the family is not cooperating with photos nowadays, so I will just start posting cute baby and toddler photos of him!! lol Granny and Papa, look at him curling his toes like his Daddy and Granny!!

We have been homeschooling Holt in the last year for his Sophomore year in high school and will continue until he graduates. We had homeschooled for almost 2 years when he was in elementary school, and he was always interested in homeschooling again. Well, this year has been a great success.

We had him take the ACT 3 weeks ago to see where he is at academically. He has 2 more years to go in high school and hasn't had all the math he needs, but we wanted to know where he stood. He declined to study (so shocking, NOT) considering this was a "test" run on the ACT, but he did take 2 practice tests. He came home from the test all relaxed, telling us it was quite easy.

Well, I guess he was right, because he scored a 26!!!!! Based on the report we received, he is ranked in the 93% in our state and the 85% nationally!!! We are so proud of him!! This score opens doors to scholarships as of right now, whether he takes it again or not. This is GREAT validation that homeschooling in high school CAN work and certainly quiets the worriers who weren't so thrilled we were doing this.



At this score, he can go to the local community college and get almost the entire thing paid. The scholarship will cover most of the tuition, room, board and fees! (This campus is 30 minutes away and does have dorms, which I thought was unusual for community colleges?) He would have to get a 29 or higher to get more money at that institution.

He is very excited, as are we. If everyone remembers, Ryan scored a 26 and won an Academic Scholarship that covered 100% of his tuition at the local 4 year university a few years ago.


Anyone remember this photo I put together? Holt is going to try to graduate early, maybe by the end of next year. If that works out, he will be going to college "on-time" and will be 18. We held him back a year to start Kindergarten since he has an August birthday. But he's ready to get on with it, so we shall see if he pulls it off (graduating early).

Oh, Holt has decided to get a Criminal Justice degree, and is very interested in being a police officer. He can get a 2 year or a 4 year degree with that, and we are encouraging the 4 year.

Holt, if you are reading this - we are VERY proud of you!!

Have a great day!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Master Bedroom

It's time again for Kelly at Kelly's Korner Blog to do her Friday showcase of homes. This week is Master Bedrooms.

This is our rent house bedroom. My husband LOVES red and really wanted a red bedding, and while I wanted something calm and in the cooler palette, I decided to give it a go since it makes him so happy! And it is really nice, I have to admit. The sheets are a terra cotta color, but look pink in this picture. They are more orange/brown in color in real life.




When we were first married and living in California - (22 years ago!), I made these needlepoint pictures. Took a long time, but I love them.



This was our master bedroom in our former home. This is the hallway which had a neat counter built in where we would wrap presents and such.

Sorry for all the glare from the windows.




Thanks for stopping by!

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Laundry Rooms/Bonus Rooms/Playrooms

It's time again for another living space tour, courtesy of Kelly from Kelly's Korner Blog.

Anyone love glue guns as much as me?? I made the curtain over the window, the decorative cover over the shelf (to the far left with baskets on top) and the utility skirt you will see in the next photo.

To make the curtain and the shelf cover, hubby built me wood supports that were nailed into the wall and I covered/glued in fabric and trim. No sewing machines were used in this presentation. lol


The utility sink fabric cover was made with fabric, trim, fabric glue and commercial velcro. You cut your fabric to the size you need and glue the edges and hem. Glue on the trim as you like. Put one side of the commercial velcro directly on the utility sink edge and the other side glued to the inside of your fabric. And voila'! A project you can do in a just an hour!


Here are the photos before we neutralized the paint - they are smaller and I can't make them larger. I LOVED the red laundry room. The odd shape on the right wall below is a shadow from the mirror.

We also had a sun room that most of our friends used as playrooms. It was a great space that we used to watch TV, keeping the main living room on that level more of a sitting/music room.



To see the other weeks I've participated in, click HERE.


Thanks for visiting!

Birthdays, Dirty Looks and Tornados

Today's my birthday........ahhhh, no longer an even number. Now I'm 43 - an odd number. Anybody else prefer even numbers? Next year, I'll be a double number, so I will probably be content again when I'm 46. I'm just quirky like that. lol

Hubby and youngest son took me to my favorite restaurant lately - Spaghetti Warehouse. I thought I liked the pasta, but I finally figured it out - I go simply for the bread and butter. I LOVE that butter!! Oh man, I have to make some for myself. Apparently it's just roasted garlic and butter........seems easy enough. lol

Isn't this a lovely look? Wait 'til you gals have teenagers........it's a joy! lol Apparently, my offense today was taking photos. I showed him this one and asked if he wanted me to get another photo and he said, no, he liked this one.

Tonight, hubby and I will go see a movie, and NO kids are invited. lol We think we will go see "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock.

In other news.... This is the photo on the front page of the paper today.


Yesterday was SCARY!! A massive storm blew through here with 70 to 102 mph winds and sirens went off for 45 minutes. I was the only one home with the dogs, who both have storm anxiety. Got them sedated an hour ahead of time, the TV broke through with only news for 3 hours.......words like "Life and death.......take cover" went on for the entire time!!

I grabbed pillows and the smallest dog and got in the laundry closet in the middle of the house. Couldn't get Sage, our large dog, as she had wedged her way into another closet in the house and I couldn't pull her out. So Sweety and I hunkered down in the closet, texting Andy the entire time.

Come to find out, the tornado was less than 1/2 mile from our house!!! It had been all stormy and scary and then it got really quiet. I knew that wasn't good. Our neighbor just told us that when she came home yesterday in the middle of it, she saw the funnel cloud above our neighborhood. ACK!!!!!

There are thousands without power and trees and utility poles down everywhere. They said the number of utility poles down resembles when Hurricane Elvis blew through here.

Today, the sun is out and no threat of storms. Thank goodness.

Photo from ConcertLivewire.com

Oh my, totally forgot to add that Andy took me to see Sugarland last night!! They opened for Keith Urban, but we went to see Sugarland - love that band! Jennifer Nettles is an amazing singer and songwriter. It was fun! My favorite song of theirs is Stay. Click on that link to see a video of the performance.

Have a great day!

Cheri

Show Us Where You Live Friday - Bathrooms

Kelly at Kelly's Korner Blog has her Friday meme - this week Bathrooms! These photos are actually of our current rent house - they had just painted it this dark taupe before they decided to buy another house.

Right off the bat, I knew I wanted to make a huge floral arrangement, and I chose to use these burnt orange colors. I really like how it turned out. I especially love the ceramic pot - all florals and pot purchased at Hobby Lobby at the 50% off sale, of course!

This is one of my all-time favorite iron pieces, and thought it looked lovely over the tub.

One view of the room.

I'm into big pictures in small spaces, and loved this in the toilet area. The cabinet to the left is one my husband made in high school, and it holds our towels.



Were this my personal house, those light fixtures would be gone in about 2 minutes, replaced with something oil-rubbed bronze!

Here's a photo from our previous home - it already had the wallpaper. We added the new lights and I made those window treatments. I purchased the cream metal squares at TJMaxx, ordered bronze glass buttons off Ebay, glued them on, and then made that shear curtain with tabs at the top. I think my Mom actually did the sewing on the curtains. When we moved in, there was navy carpet in the bathroom, and we replaced it with that tile. Looked much better!


This shows the shower and the toilet room door (one with the tassel) and entry to the master bedroom once it had been neutralized with the paint and carpet. This post HERE shows the color it used to be. Raspberry Truffle with Pittsburgh Paints (and it had the navy carpet as well). lol

And finally, the little toilet room in the master bath. This photo still shows the navy carpet. That room had it's own door, so hubby was happy. lol


This was our bathroom in the basement. It already had the wallpaper, so we just went with it.

This was our powder room on the main floor. I loved the red walls and black accent pieces.

And just for fun, I am showing you the ONLY room in that entire house that was not painted nor had wallpaper. The 2nd bathroom. I struggled wanting to paint it, but we thought we should leave one room untouched. lol

To see the photos from previous weeks, click HERE.

Thanks for visiting!



Cheri

Paint Party!

320 Sycamore is having a Paint Party and I just found it! After you peruse my blog, you will see I am a crazy paint girl - color rocks my world. I am very bold and not afraid of color. If I don't like it, I (or someone I hire!) can always repaint. Color simply calls to me, makes my world go 'round.

So, first up, EVERY girl needs one of these - a Paint Deck!!


I'm a licensed real estate agent (in referral due to disability) and a former Accredited Home Stager, and I LOVED using these paint decks. Just go in to your favorite paint store and ask to buy one - at Pittsburgh Paint, they were $10 a few years ago. So worth it!

OK, my favorite color of all time - Carob Chip from Pittsburgh Paint.


Here is the room in different lighting when we staged the home for sale and made this room a formal dining room, and added a chandelier. This home had TONS of natural light and I do recommend that your paint poster board and put them around your home to see what looks good in your home and your lighting. When we were selling our home, we neutralized it (except for changing the paint in this room - most recommended we leave one room bold. Notice the neutral carpet? lol)

When we moved in, the room was blue:

I never liked it, and tried this beige. Just didn't make me happy, so we then tried the Carob Chip. Love!!

Purple is a very tricky color. This color chip looks almost black and has a deep brown tone to it. I would never have picked it had someone not recommended it - and had I not, I would have been trying A LOT of different plum colors until I finally found this one - it was just what I wanted.


Have you ever painted a room using the darkest color on a swatch? Ack - it can be scary!

My second favorite color of all time is Raspberry Truffle, also from Pittsburgh Paint. It is the 2nd from the bottom of the next swatch -

We used it in several rooms, but here was our Master Bedroom. The navy carpet was already there, so we just considered a neutral until we could change it. lol

I prefer the gold bedspread - thought it warmed the room perfectly.


Oh, and here's another house we used this color in:


We hadn't gotten the new trim up, yet. My preference is white trim, as you can go bold easily with color.


Also, I LOVE that color swatch from Sherwin Williams that includes Ivoire and Blonde. If you have oak cabinets and really want to set them off perfectly, that is THE color to use. Here was one house we used it in:



And finally, our current rent home. Lucky us, it had color too! Here are some photos, although I do not know the paint names on these.


It has been said that perhaps I need a color intervention, but until then, I will continue to let color bring joy to my life and spur creativity within me!! Be bold - give paint a try!

Thanks for visiting!

Cheri