My son in law Josh gave me this beautiful drawing of Thomas S. Monson. His brother Jake drew it. I had know idea Jake was such a fabulous artist. He does faux painting for a living. I think he may be missing his calling. He is a fabulous artist. Thanks Jake and Josh! (Check out the wallpaper matting)

I was at a wallpaper store trying to find some great paper for my retreat craft project. The scrapbook paper I bought worked but had to be pieced because it was too small. I told the lady what I was doing and she said that they give away their discontinued books for free. I love free:) I took home 5 books. I ended up using quite a few to re-mat different pictures in my house.

Here is one of the books I got. It is huge and really pretty.

Here are some of the pages I tore out. I cut some in different sizes to use in place of scrapbook paper. The lady told me the paper is acid free. I haven’t used it to know if the glue backing is a problem. My kids usually use my paper for school projects and posters before I get to them so they are going to have a hard time choosing now. I got some really cool paper!

Here are two more pictures that I covered the mats on.

You all know by now that I am a flower lover, so it won’t surprise you that when I drove by this house I had to stop and take a picture. Look at this cute yard. The brightest, happiest mix of flowers I have ever seen. Click on the picture so you can see the cute Santa by the door, the french awnings and the gorgeous flowers!

This house is by a friend of mine. I was going there at night and again it blew me away and I had to stop. The scalloped lights with the bright round lights inside each one. How adorable is that! Who is this cutest lady? If the outside is this cute, what must the inside look like?

A few years ago when these first came out, my sister Amy was so excited after using a magic eraser that she bought and mailed each of our sisters one. When I got it I started cleaning door handles, door jams, baseboards, scuff marks, dirty walls etc. I think I cleaned with it for a couple of hours.
My kids like using them so much that they ask me to buy them at the grocery store so they can clean walls and baseboards with them. If you haven’t tried them you have know idea how fun it is. You actually go around hoping to find more grime.
My sister said that she discovered them when she was getting ready to move. She assumed she would have to repaint most of the walls in her home. She said after washing the walls with the eraser almost all of the rooms looked as good as new. It even erases crayon.
I told my friend about them and she bought the heavy duty ones and cleaned all the grout in her kitchen. I won’t tell you how many hours she spent but she said it turned out beautiful.
Have I convinced you?? Thanks Amy!! I love it when I get turned on to new ideas that are inexpensive and practical, don’t you? If you haven’t tried one, it is DEFINITELY worth $2.99. They are in grocery stores, home depot, drugstores etc.

Do you have a messy closet that’s cluttering your mind and getting you down? Sometimes the women I coach can’t move onto bigger things until a little spring cleaning gets done.
When I first started coaching I asked a client what she wanted to be coached on. She told me the first thing she needed to do, before anything else, was to get her pantry and boys closet cleaned. I was speechless. I was ready to help her with life changing issues and she gives me closets?! Since then I have had several women want the same thing.
I feel like we carry our huge, never ending to do lists, with us everywhere we go. Then to top it off we carry around every messy drawer and closet in our heads weighing us down. Sometimes it gets to be too much.
Do you have one of those closets? Do you need a little motivation?
I love missussmartypants.com. She has an article that shows some closet makeovers and the steps to take.
http://missussmartypants.com/CDA5240F87574D8387EBDE8FEC733210/page/page.asp?id=17624

There is an orphanage close to my home. I had heard about it but had never gone to visit. Yesterday my mother took me there to meet her high school friend Priscilla. Her parents are the ones who started this children’s home called Sunshine Acres. All these years I had pictured these children having a really sad life with a bleak future. What a surprise to find out the opposite was true. It was one of the most special places I have ever visited!
It was not hopeless at all. These 70 children have a pool, church, library, doctors office, mechanic shop, wood working shop, computers, horses, pool tables, and big screen TV’s. More importantly the people taking care of them are loving dedicated people. There are about 15 kids per home which have permanent house parents in each one. The kids each share a room that is model home perfect and they keep the entire place spotless! I couldn’t believe it. Each room in each home was neat, clean, smelled good and felt good.
This part really blew me away. There was nothing on the counters in bathrooms, nothing out and not a bed unmade. She said that a design team had come in and decorated the houses for a total cost of $374.000. I’m talking, these home were NICE! The furniture was donated by model homes. It was humbling to think that a children’s home was nicer, and cleaner than my own.
What also blew me away was the fact that nobody knew we were coming and we went in home after home and looked in the bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas and there was not a thing out of place. The only way I could tell that any people lived there was a graduation gown out with an honors award by it.
When I am cleaning to make my home look this perfect, my kids always ask who’s coming over? Hmm

She told us story after story of the miracles that have happened there. Including a story when there was a huge drop in temperature and the children were cold. A lady dropped off 30 blankets in the middle of a storm and disappeared. (The exact number they needed) She was their angel. It felt so good in the houses I wanted to move in myself. They call it their miracle in the desert. Priscilla said in all the years of running Sunshine Acres, they have never once sent out a letter asking for money. She said everything is always provided. In the early years, the State put kids in and out of the home on a whim. She said that one 13 year old girl made her home there and the State came in and made her move to Phoenix. She cried and screamed when they took her away and later attempted suicide. After hearing this, Pricilla’s dad said he will never take State money again and they will never take anymore of their kids away. Children can come to Sunshine Acres for any reason and stay as long as they want, including when they go to college. The people working there are good, good people doing an amazing service. She said they have had more than 1500 children live there through the years. Pricilla’s sister said she came to help out as a house parent for six weeks and she has stayed for the past 48 years. These people are as good as gold.
The couple that started Sunshine Acres had a dream of helping kids. They didn’t know how it would turn out, but they had passion and hope. Priscilla’s mother was called Aunt Vera by all the kids and was the best storyteller around. They have a picture of her 4 months before she died with all the kids gathered around listening to her tell stories. Next to it are her words, “Don’t worry about anything but pray for everything”.
I came away wanting to do more. What a wonderful life it must be to work around good people, working for a good cause. The people there were the real deal. I met many of them and they were all like family. I could see why. One lady I met at their Thrift shop had been a house mom for 19 years.
Priscilla was proud to tell me of the accomplishments the children made and who they had become today. She said when some of them show up they had never slept in a bed. They were given a beautiful room and bed, and would still find them curled up on the floor. They even have a school on the premises to help the children catch up so they can go to public school. I guess you can see what an impact this all had on me. I am inspired to do more.
We and our children are so blessed. Thank goodness there are special people in the world that rise to the call, and help children. These people are the angels. This place is truly a miracle in the desert. Thanks to all the Aunt Vera’s, for leaving the world a better place than they found it. I hope we can too!
There website is http://sunshineacres.org/index.php

I have all of these flowers in the window behind my couch. If you look close half are real and half are fake. It’s funny because people just assume they are all real. I put a silk bunch of real looking flowers in real green plants. They are always in bloom and always look great!

In my home growning up, on the wall was a family tree that had pictures of my ancestors on it. It was always interesting to look at these people, and see where some of my family traits came from. I always wanted a picture family tree of my own.
It turned out to be relatively easy to make using a scanner. The hard part of course was collecting the photos. I had to travel the country for some of these pictures. One is from a 99 year old women in a nursing home that I made a photo copy of her family picture. One is a picture of a photo that was hanging on someone’s wall. I had to get creative. One of the real bonuses for me was when my husbands great aunt said we could have her originals. What a treasure! The family tree has yet to be framed because I am waiting to get one more picture that I was told is in a family history book.

I love pink. I can’t seem to get enough of it. I backed my built in bookcases with pink and white gingham. It shows up on my computer way brighter than it really is. It makes me happy when I see it.
I cut the fabric to fit and used spray glue on the back of the fabric and put it on. It wasn’t very hard.

The funnest part was going to all the antique stores to find the plates.

I have no idea what the words to this song mean, but it is very cute. On youtube someone commented that it is addicting. My husband listened to it and the next thing I knew he had it playing all day. So I guess they were right:)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all could be this happy and peaceful while baking.

I don’t like the terms “housewife” and “homemaker.” I prefer to be called “Domestic Goddess.” Roseanne

I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave
a man I keep his house.
–Zsa Zsa Gabor

Housework can’t kill you, but why take a chance?
Phyllis Diller

A bright person can always think of something
better to do than housework.
Ruby Lou Barnhill

I got these quotes off my sisters website. She is a famous quilter. www.WinsorArtQuilts.com

I bought this tapestry in California. It wasn’t finished or backed. After leaving it in a drawer for years I decided to staple it right to the wall and put molding around it to look like a frame. It took me weeks to get this project done. The first obstacle is the finished project is 10 feet by 6 feet. It is huge!. The second problem was that I put it above my stairs. I had to have my handyman come over and build a 2 story scafolding. I was standing on a 12 inch board in mid air trying to paint, stain, staple and glue. It was really scary!
I love it though. I better because I am never taking it down!