New Windows, cont.

 The windows in Paul's old room are now completely done. Helmut attached the roll shutter boxes and we're good to go. I just love them. Now I'm going to add a much needed paint job and move into my new sewing room.

Tony's windows are also varnished. Helmut will be attaching the roll shutter boxes and soon it will transform into the guest room/nursery.

Bird Houses

 I decided to decorate the table mums for Carla's upcoming baby shower with some bird houses. I found these at a store in Ohio and I thought Carla and I could spend a few hours painting them.

She was excited. The first color she chose was mint. It looked really good.

I decided to start with yellow and brown. We agreed to add purple and orange and stay with 5 main colors.

Too cute!

 We really started going to town. It was so much fun.

The painting progressed, more paper plates, more paint, more napkins...

Carla's adding some orange...

We had paint on the birdhouses and everywhere else. Soon my desk ran out of room. We were serious about the painting.

As you can see, our little birdhouse village is growing.

 How cute is this!

What do you think, Renee?

Now we will mount each one on a stick and add it to the pot of mums. I think these table decorations are going to be gorgeous.

New Windows!!

The new doorwall is amazing. My only complaint is we didn't install this 20 years ago. You would not believe the difference in light entering the room.

 That first step is a doozy! Eventually we will have a deck. I can't wait. I can picture myself drinking coffee on it during an early summer morning.

  

The big bathroom is also coming along nicely. Here you see the first coat of varnish. I removed the slider for ease of painting. I'm hoping to finish tomorrow. We decided on a fancier molding for the finish, I love it!!

 Here is a close-up of the molding, No mitering, Helmut was thrilled!

The small bathroom is going to require a bit more finishing. I'll need to match the paint to repair some missing plaster. No problem, I was thinking of changing the color scheme anyway, any ideas?

Hard to see in this picture but our big front window now opens to the center on both sides. It looks great!

Looks good from the outside too

The front windows are coming along. Tony's old room still needs the rollshutter.

Here is one of the bedroom windows. As you can see, a lot of work went into each one. Hats off to Helmut for an amazing job! We will hopefully have the finish molding up by the weekend. Check back for more pictures as the work progresses.

Carla's Birthday Surprise

Last April, Carla received the best surprise ever....

Smurf Pops!

 Katie's nephew requested Smurf cupcakes for his birthday. We decided to go one better by attempting cake pops! The first step was to form the balls out of cake dough and frosting.

 Katie and I certainly had enough supplies for this attempt!

 Bailey just wanted to take her ball outside, totally uninterested.

 Oooops!

 Super concentrated face.....damn balls!

 Since all Smurfs have hats, we chose to use taffy to get the correct height and shape. We softened it in the microwave and then worked our magic, not as easy as it looks. Can you find Papa Smurfs hat?

We wanted to add the ears and the noses before we dipped. The ears are m & ms and the noses are made out of taffy. Ok, ok, they look like monkeys now...

 The dip!

 Super cute! I think Crystal Kitty is waiting for one to fall down.

 First attempt, not too shabby. And to think these only took us 4 hours and cost an arm and a leg. It was well worth it.

 As you can see, Benees loves them. He was so excited!