Easter Bucket Fun

Count me in for a couple of these absolutely adorable Easter buckets from my friend Hazel. If you remember, she does those adorable monogrammed key chains and is such a talented artist. I was thrilled to see that she is going to be selling these cute buckets at her Etsy shop starting Friday afternoon and for only $25. How sweet would these look with your little chickadee's monogram? No doubt, these buckets would have tons of uses far beyond holding the Easter Bunny's goodies. I know that the Madras family will have a couple of these filled with fun on Easter morning.

Luck o' the Irish

It appears a little Irish luck headed our way today as we finally got a contract on our home in Texas and if all goes according to plan we'll close at the end of April. While I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, we're cautiously optimistic about the sale. We can finally devote our full attention to our home remodel. That process is definitely going to be a learning experience. My first lesson is going to have to be how to majorly cut down on my "wish list." Unfortunately, with today's economy we didn't sell our home for as much as we thought so I've got to give some real thought to what I really want & need in our "new" old house.

The next few months we will be pinching our pennies so my trips to TJ Maxx and Marshalls will be few and far between :( . I've also got to think of some ways to make a penny or two... Should be an interesting spring...

A New Home

While it's no news to most of you I'm a very irregular blogger. Always seems there's more interesting stuff going on in other people's lives than mine...so I spend most of my time reading blogs rather than posting on my own. Add to that the fact that we have now moved and are working on getting settled into our new lives in Minnesota, you can see that my excuses abound. As I have tried to keep up with family and friends with news on our move, home renovation, etc. I decided the easiest way to do that was with a blog. So here's the scoop...I've started a new blog Raising the Roof that will chronicle our family's journey through the renovation of our 1300 square foot cottage. I hope you'll stop by and visit. No doubt, I will need your help with all kinds of renovating decisions from light fixtures to flooring to toilet bowls. Let's try and keep in touch.

My New Addiction

OMG~I have spent the whole day on this wonderfully fun website called Wordle. It makes those fun "word clouds" from any combination of words you create or from any website or blog you submit. Below is the cloud I created when I submitted my blog address.

What makes this site super cool is that you can choose the colors, font, layout and text. The site also includes a gallery of users' creations that can provide for tons of inspiration. It took me a little while to figure out how to save my creations and format them as jpeg images, but my perseverance paid off and now I'm hooked. My mind has been racing with all the ways I could use this. I'm thinking who needs a Christmas letter when I can just type in our year's highlights; format the text for red and green; and then print on a foldover card. How cute is that? I just finished making one for Big Sis that she proclaimed "really cool" and I'm planning to print and frame that one. The possibilities are endless. I'll keep you posted on other ideas I have, but right now you HAVE to head over to Wordle.

What a Deal!

Just had to pass along what I think is one heck of a deal from Brocade Home. With the coupon code: SUMMER, you can get 50% off all of their sale and clearance items. While I realize a lot of their stuff would not necessarily fit in with my decor, I still love to look through the catalog and dream. I do think some of these pieces might have to find a place in the Madras house since they're such a steal.

This gorgeous king sized duvet was originally $149, on sale for $79 50% off = $39.50. The matching square pillow covers are only $12 each.

This neat storage unit was originally $299, on sale for $149 50% off makes it $75

This chair was originally $299, on sale for $179. 50% off makes it $90

Maybe you'll find something to tickle your fancy...

Most Embarrassing Moment

I must admit I'm pretty embarrassed/ashamed to not have posted in over a week. I'd love to say I have several really good reasons why...but, truth be told, I just couldn't think of anything worthwhile to write about. Some of my favorite blogger friends can be so witty, insightful, articulate & intelligent in their posts that I think who would want to read anything I have to say...I can't do it as well as these other ladies. I just sit around and hope for some inspiration and divine intervention. I guess you could say that came tonight at dinner when I was sharing an embarrassing high school moment with Big Sis. After I finished telling the story, she said, "Mom, you should write about that in your blog." So here goes...

I was 17 and a high school senior at my New Jersey prep school. Our class was headed on the annual "Senior Trip" to Orlando. Wouldn't you know Aunt Flo (my period) decides it would be nice to join me on the trip? So, to be on the safe side, I packed an extraordinarily large amount of "sanitary protection" so as to not run out. Turns out, I used maybe a tenth of what I brought and had to stuff the rest back into my overloaded suitcase for the trip home. On our way to the airport, we made one last stop at some souvenir shop and fruit stand where people bought big bags of oranges and grapefruit to bring home. Fast forward to my entire senior class and some other random travelers at the Philadelphia airport's baggage claim. As the luggage started to make its way onto the conveyor belt you would see a lone grapefruit or maybe an orange on the carousel and it soon became apparent that the luggage handlers had been pretty rough on our stuff. Then, a wave of laughter broke out and fingers were pointing at this sad suitcase with a few maxi pads and tampons hanging out along with some more on the conveyor belt. My boyfriend at the time nudged me to point out the site and to my horror I realized it was mine. I looked him straight in the eye and said, "That's my suitcase. Get it off, close it and meet me at the bus. I'm getting out of here right now." Fortunately, for me, this was one time that he actually acted like he cared and handled the situation for me.

Let me tell you to have your entire senior class seeing your feminine protection spread out all along the baggage carousel is quite harrowing for a 17-year-old Catholic school girl. As I shared with Big Sis tonight, I did survive and the story makes for interesting conversation. What's your most embarrassing moment??? Care to share?

Favor, please...

Remember my absolutely adorable pink & green monogrammed tennis key chain??? (can you get any preppier than that?) Well, my blog friend Hazel, the wonderfully creative and talented artist who custom designed that little gem among many other delightful pieces, needs our help to win a great prize in Girl Indie Blog's Designer Chick Contest. If you can spare a second just click here and vote for Hazel's adorable custom kid's key chain which is #17. The grand prize includes a lot of wonderful items to help Hazel take her business to the next step. After you vote for her, visit Hazel's blog Just Add Dots and leave a comment that you voted for her. You'll then have a chance to win your very own custom key chain. Just look at some of Hazel's creativity at work. I would just love to help her take her talents to the next level.

Thanks for helping Hazel out. I know she appreciates it.