Dec 14, 2010

ONE OF "THOSE" BLOGGERS

Hello friends. Remember me? I hope so!

I am sorry to say that I have become "ONE OF THOSE BLOGGERS",  and here I am again with my tail tucked between my legs. I have just been on a different track lately and have been working from the time my feet hit the ground in the morning until going to bed at night. I finally am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and right now I am in a good place. 

The entire upstairs of my house has been turned upside down and has been a maze of boxes and piles. I have had "men" of all walks of life in my house a lot of days for the past weeks. Once that stopped happening, a little thing called Thanksgiving and Christmas came along and stole most of my days. 


Here are some of the pictures of my house, projects and life lately:

Containers have been stacked up in my house for so long I am starting to need to dust them!



The office was our first project started.

before painting:




after painting:



installation:




finally, a space to call my own!



And now for the bedrooms:

#1 and #3 changed bedrooms.
 I was determined to not move the junk, papers and clutter from one room to the other and so I spent at least a week going through EVERYTHING and making piles for them to go through when they got home from school. 
I have bought storage boxes and file boxes more than anything else lately.
I believe the girls actually hated me for a while! 

This was #1's bedroom during the process.



after being painted with the color #3 picked out:



Now for the hard part,
 all of this stuff had to be moved into a much smaller bedroom.



This is the end result. 
#1 is all moved in to the "smallest room in the house".
We will add the finishing touches and find the perfect new bedding after Christmas. 



#3 got new furniture for her new bedroom
along with new bedding. 



I have a lot of work to do still,
 but I am just happy to have spaces that resemble rooms for now.



I really like the darker tops on top of the lighter furniture. 


She did a great job picking everything out.


This is #3's jewelry display for now.



We are going to order this....


 to replace the silver desk and set it up like a jewelry counter in a store. 


I don't have a before picture of the bathroom. I am not sure what we were thinking six years ago,
but it was Pepto pink with glittery gold circles painted on the walls. 
The cabinetry was white, but I am so happy with results of painting them a glossy black.
We have plans to replace the tile countertops and tile in the tub area with a solid white granite sometime in January. We already pulled it aside at the office and someone just needs to come and measure it and cut it. We are going to also update the faucets with brushed nickel and still need to hang all of the hardware.
We did things a little backwards in here, but it will all turn out the same in the end. 

(The curtain is just thumb tacked up. We are trying to decide exactly what we are going to do there.)




This little cart was in my grandparents house.
I am going to paint it and spruce it up a bit with glass shelves.




We have set aside the projects upstairs for now and moved into 
"Project Christmas".
I woke these beautiful (and angry) people up early one morning and informed them that
  all
Christmas decorating would be done as a team effort
 and finished in one morning or else it would not be done.


...and all of the Odom elves got to work...








...and my supervisors kept a good eye on them.....



...and low and behold, it was done!!!


 And we were rewarded with a beautiful little snow!



 It is beginning to look and feel a lot like Christmas!



Nov 8, 2010

21st BIRTHDAY


I have a major week ahead of me. I am on a mission to get finished with a couple of big cleaning and organization projects.  My plan is to have my garage loaded with Goodwill donations by the end of this week and my closet, bathroom, laundry room and living room to feel and look like a model home. You know who is out of town this week.....again..... in balmy Palm Springs and it is just me and my animals all day long working our little tails off while #3 is at school. 

On Thursday the contractors will be here to install the office cabinets upstairs. The sheet rock has all been replaced and the room has been painted. I am very excited to get everything in and in place. Right now there are boxes from the office stacked up in the TV room and I cannot wait to not have to see that mess every time I go upstairs. On Friday, the carpet is getting cleaned upstairs and while that is being done I figure I would unpack the office stuff and get that all organized. I want so badly to pull all of that carpet up and install hardwoods and just do big rugs in all of the rooms. That might be a project for the spring. 

So that is my week ahead and for some strange reason I am too excited about all of this cleaning and organization I will be doing!

We had a great weekend!

It was #1's twenty-first birthday!

Her roommates threw her a party in Chapel Hill on Friday and then she and #2 came home on Saturday.
It was so nice to have everyone here at once.

Here are some pictures of her celebration:



#1 and BF1 (boyfriend 1)
He has been hanging around our house for over fours years now. 






This champagne was given to me in the hospital after
 #1 was born. I kept it all of these years just for this very picture!!

"It's a Girl!"















 No birthday would be complete without looking back at old picture albums. 
This is #1 and her great grandmother, "Granny". 



This is our "You Are Special Today" plate. 
Someone gave it to us as a wedding gift and I love it more today than I did back then. 
We use for any and every special family day and celebration, not just birthdays. 




I cannot believe my little girl is twenty-one!

Happy Birthday Brittany!



Nov 4, 2010

ITALIAN HARVEST ROAST



We finally have experienced some autumn weather here.  
The other day it was a dark dreary wet day and it got me in the mood for cooking one of our favorite autumn time meals. I love this  Italian Harvest Roast because it is so easy. With all of the fresh herbs roasting away in the pan, along side the onions and garlic, the house smells wonderful.


All I do is place onions, potatoes, garlic, carrots (which I forgot this time), grapes, hot Italian sausage and chicken breast into a roasting pan. 




I sprinkle an Italian seasoning blend (I use Pampered Chef), salt, pepper and heavily drizzle olive oil on top.
I then place fresh thyme and rosemary on top of the chicken and pop it into the oven for about forty five minutes. 
(425' on convection roast)

While that is cooking, I make a balsamic glaze with brown sugar and balsamic vinegar on top of the stove to drizzle on top of each serving. 




It is the perfect hearty meal on a damp dreary day...





and it is soooo easy!


*****************

And yes, it does sound really strange that there are grapes in this. I thought so too until I tried it. They roast down and become rich and wonderful. They are a good counter to all of the earthy flavors of the herbs and the heat from the Italian sausage. I guess they add to the "Harvest" theme. 


Nov 1, 2010

HALLOWEEN AT OUR HOUSE






Just some pictures from around our house of Halloween weekend.
I love this potpourri with the ghost and candy corn in it. 








The table in the foyer...




Front door...











This was the first Halloween in 19 years that  I did not have a trick or treater !

So guess who was volunteered to be outfitted in costumes this year?

Little Lola was a Banana Split. 



Charlie was a hotdog. 
He was not as cooperative as Lola. 



There was a lot of wrestling going on.
That was the funniest sight ever..... a hotdog and banana split chasing and dueling all over the yard. 







Mr. Bubbles was a pumpkin again this year.




And this  perfect pumpkin...










became an awesome jack-o-lantern! 



I guess it is about time to pack all of these things away and start thinking about Christmas.
I walked through the mall last week and was dumbfounded at the Christmas decorations already out. 

Can you believe that?