Click HERE for the give-a-way information and be sure to follow me so you go in the 3rd drawing for this week. I have a 2nd post today so be sure and read the next one as well.

Sorry, I HAD to take a little break this morning, before working on this post. Last night, my husband got home from studying at the library all day yesterday (I sure do miss him when he is gone and I love it when he walks through the door) It was 5ish and we had a couple of errands to run and then we were going to come home and have dinner. Miss G4 (2yrs) crashed in the car and that is never good. When we got home, we could not get her awake. She slept till 3:30 this morning and when she woke up she was — YEP– you guessed it — H U N G R Y. She wanted chicken noodle soup, she likes the envelope kind without chicken. I gave her some shredded cheese while I was fixing her soup, at 3:30 in the morning. She ate a little bit and was then WIDE AWAKE. So, when I was writing that last post I was about to fall asleep–No I was not drinking while typing (excuse all typos or anything that didn’t make sense and read between the lines to understand anything I was trying to relay to you but didn’t in my sleepy stupor. You all know me well enough by now to read between the lines – don’t ya?) I had been up since 3:30 am and was so tired I had to take a snappy nap, so I got Miss G4 in bed to snuggle with me and her bigger brother G3 (4 yrs) came in to watch cartoons and all 3 of us crashed. He NEVER does that so maybe he is in a growth spurt or something. My big boys were playing on the Wii, which has been calling my name all week-to exercise on it-but I have been so busy, I haven’t done it. I MUST make time for it. I do miss exercising every day.

I have many many ideas for this blog and all of them involve fun-that is in my estimation. If my blog isn’t fun-don’t tell me, I can’t bear the thought of it. I really do wish I could have a big ol’ get together and have all of you over so we could chat and have so much fun. It would be like one big bunko party, food, fun, lots of laughter, fun little give-a-ways, lots of gals chatting, pretty table decorations—-so much fun.

So I have been thinking about several ideas and wanted to pass them on to you and see what everyone thinks about these ideas. I have been thinking about starting a couple of Mr Linky parties. The first one would be called The Knock-Off Knock-Out. You could feature something you made or bought that looks like an expensive item. Maybe you saw a expensive painting and you recreate it to look similar, or you find a room that is decorated beautifully, in your favorite magazine, but is outrageous in price and you recreate a knock-off that is a knock out, or maybe you buy a piece of furniture that looks very close to something 3 xs the price and with your personal little touches you make it into a knock off knock out, or you could be out to eat and create a recipe that is a knock off and it is a knock out in your hubby’s professional opinion (and their opinions are what really count), or you visit the White House and do a Christmas Tree knock off, on a smaller scale, and it is –yes, let’s all say it together– A Knock Out. (and if you go to the White House, you could post your escapade on my next idea for Mr Linky, that we will discuss in a minute.) Maybe you have a special event and need an outfit and you create something that has the same look as a fashion you saw on your favorite star at the Oscars. It can really be about anything. Preferably it would be best to show a picture of the item you knocked off and then a picture of your knock out piece and how you did it. This one would very easily mix with Metamorphasis Monday and Today’s Thrifty Treasures. I would probably feature this one on Mondays, so if someone was working on projects over the weekend they could get it up. What do you think about THE KNOCK OFF KNOCK OUT??? and what should the button look like? Give me ideas for THE KNOCK OFF KNOCK OUT BUTTON and I will create a couple of buttons and we will do a poll and which ever one wins will be the button design.

Here is one of the project I was working on this weekend.




I love the way it came out and I think it would even be cute turned into a chandelier for a girly bathroom light for Miss G4. It looks so shabby and chic.

So I was going through some of my other photos and came upon this picture from our trip to the Bradenton, Fl flea market.

In my opinion my little lamp creation could be a Knock Off, Knock Out. It isn’t exact and I wasn’t looking at this picture trying to re-create it so I think it is a close resemblance for not even trying. I just had an idea in my head of how I wanted this lamp shade to look. Now I need some of these, from tales from an oc cottage would be so cute in a pretty little dish on her bathroom counter-don’t you think? and one of these from A Garden To Remember. Then she would be on her way to the cutest, shabbiest, little bathroom in town.

Here is my other project, another lamp shade but a totally different look.

The second Mr Linky Party would be Welcome to the Neighborhood. People can post pictures of where they live, visit, vacation, want to retire, shop, etc. I know some people live in the same town their whole lives and know every nook and cranny of their town,. They know all the best places to get the best deals, best restaurants, best place to get your vehicle worked on; while others get transferred all over and discover new and exciting things just in time to move again, some may be in the military and move all over the world every few years. You may want to post a vacation spot you visit all the time or your family may go somewhere different all the time and you share where you went. You may go back for a visit to your home town where you grew up and feature that town. You could post the beautiful homes in your town and another time post a Christmas Event or a huge craft fair taking place, a wonderful pumpkin patch farm or an apple cider mill; helping all of us experience your part of the world and who knows some may want to make a special trip to visit your area and someone may be looking at a transfer and decide to take a look at your town because of the piece you featured. I have always thought it would be awesome to take our children to all 50 states. I wonder how many people have done that. You would want to keep your personal address private, for safety reasons. but you would want to share the town and state so people know where they are “traveling”. I would probably look at doing this one on Wed. to give me time between the 2 Mr. Linky events to get to every blog to see all the posts.

The poll to vote for which button you like is up. There are 4 button options. The poll is on the right hand panel, at the top, just under the visitor counter. To see the 4 button options click on the words I WANT TO VOTE.

I know this is late but I am going to post this to Rhoda’s Thrifty Finds from Southern hospitality blog (she just moved to wordpress so be sure and go to her new spot), since my lampshades were purchased at a local Thrift Store for less than a dollar each. I bought 8 for $5.00–that’s not even 63 cents each. In my opinion that is a THRIFTY FIND because most still had the wrap on them, and I will post on Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday as well-I guess better late than never. I am going to post to Kimba’s DIY on Wed.at A Soft Place To Land Click on DIY to join the fun.
xoxo
Cheri