Really Radical Room Rearranging *

   * Thanks to Tom for the title--I think I shall have make use of his talent more often. ☺
    When we moved in to our master bedroom in the new place, pretty much all we did was plunk our furniture into place and hang a few pictures on the walls wherever there was a nail handy. My MIL already had window treatments up, which I left in place.
     It may be hard to see in the picture, but the swags are tan with purple flowers, and the bedspread is gray and black, so nothing was meshing; and I was stalled on decorating ideas. My biggest issue was, since this is a temporary move; I was not willing to spend a lot of time or money on paint, new curtains, new bedding, or new anything for that matter. Does that sound hopeless or what? I thought so too, which is why it stayed that way for over 3 months.

    One night last week, I was ranting to my husband about how horrible I am at decorating and all sorts of random blubber...How about those hormones? :)  Barely three days later, ideas started to form, and I emailed my sister telling her that she needed to come soon to help me do a face-lift on the room. She had Saturday free, so we set the date, and she arrived, bringing leftover tulle and lights from our wedding. Here are the results:

      I'm just loving the effect of the white lights...I've always loved the cozy feeling they give to any room!

      I dried at least a dozen hydrangeas from my flower beds with no real idea of what I would do with them. Obviously, I found plenty of places to put them to use!

    I had found those little corner pieces at a thrift store for around 25¢ quite awhile back, so I just painted them to match the flowers. The purple hydrangea is artificial, and belongs to my mother-in-law. That's one fun thing about living in her house, I just scouted around to find things to add little touches here and there! The white cabinet will be used for baby things when that time comes!

   I'm sure it could use the hand of a more skilled decorator, but it's an upgrade from what it was, so it makes me quite happy! I'm keeping my eyes open for a bunch of decorative pillows for the bed...if I have to make my own, I will.
   Here's the best part of the deal: other than the white lights and tulle from my mom, I found everything I needed either in my collection of stuff, or somewhere in my mother-in-law's stash. The most we spent on this project was 21¢ for an anchor to hold the tulle and lights up on the ceiling. :)
   So, I just had to share a little bit of my happiness with you, and now I'll go on my merry way! Have a lovely evening!
                 

Warning: Boring Pregnancy Update

   You've been warned, so if you get to the end of this post and say, "boy, that was boring", don't blame me. :)
   It's mid September already...how can it seem like the months are passing quickly, but the weeks of pregnancy are ticking by so slowly? Strange.   
     It's officially feeling like fall here. There have been frost warnings the last two nights, though I haven't seen any on our lawn yet. The crisp autumn air and blue, blue sky make me feel really excited. I'm not exactly sure what I'm excited for, but there's just something about this time of year that I love! A few of us church ladies have been enjoying some of our last days of picnic lunches and chats by the lake. Soon we'll move indoors for sewing circle and book studies.
     This Thursday I'll hit 18 weeks. By our best guess anyway...my doctor wants another ultrasound next week to see if we're on track with the due date. I kind of think I've felt a few flutters of movement, but at this point it's still really hard to tell baby movement apart from other rumblings in the belly! I think someone switched out my digestive system, because it's not behaving like the one I had before...I now keep a big bottle of Tums nearby!
     I definitely have a tummy, but it's not really out there yet. I know I should be thankful for this, but, like my doctor says, it could just look like I had a big thanksgiving dinner. That's a bit disconcerting, because to people who don't know I'm pregnant, well, I just look like I had too much supper! :) I guess that's ok, I'll get my fill of being humongous I'm sure.
   Up until now, I've said that I didn't really have any specific pregnancy cravings. However, I've recently discovered a unusually strong liking for orange juice, so I stocked up on it yesterday when I was grocery shopping. Google tells me that this pregnancy craving is not unique to me.
   I've noticed one big blessing of being in my 2nd trimester: my energy levels are much higher! Maybe not quite normal yet, but what is normal when you're pregnant, anyway? I am very thankful that I was able to can 30+ pints of salsa, and freeze 50+ quarts of applesauce without feeling too tired and overwhelmed! Even though I didn't have a garden of my own this year, God provided a way for me to get the things that I was really wanting to put up this year: a good price on really yummy corn from the neighbors, free tomatoes from my mom's garden, and a good deal on 3 bushels of nice apples!
   In other news, we attended our 4th and 5th weddings for the summer over the last two weekends! We sang as part of an octet at the first one, which was quite fun, actually; and served drinks at the second. Serving brought back memories, because that's how Tom and I met just over 4 years ago! :)
  And that's it for now...forgive me for a picture-less post. Perhaps in the future I'll be brave enough to post a baby bump picture, but not today. :)