Welcome to Our World, Sadie

Last week we were able to go pick the puppy that is now our Sadie. We had an idea which one she would be but a friend who will help us train Sadie also went along to test her out. She will be Bryan's sidekick duck hunting and she needed to have certain qualities to be a good hunting dog.

She has the sweetest face of all the puppies in the litter. Nevermind that my opinion is biased because she is ours. She is playful but calm. She is curious but still reserved. I think she will be a perfect fit for us. We have one week left before she can come home. I'm still nervous but it helps to know which one she is and that she is just too precious. Her first order of business will be getting a bath... she' s a little smelly and then we can get on with getting used to each other and how we are gonna be doing all this new puppy stuff....

~Tara

Blake's Birthday Weekend

We celebrated Blake's birthday this weekend with a tailgate party at the Clemson UNC game.

We had good food, the kids threw the football, and we people watched all the crazies that were enjoying themselves a bit too much, if you know what I mean.

Blake and Gigi sat inside but the rest of us had this view of the team unloading before running down the hill. It was pretty exciting to see. And this is Maddie's favorite part... when the balloons are released.

It was a fun day and the Tigers were victorious, what more could a girl ask for!

~Tara

Some Saturday Stuff...

All the small stuff that went down that didn't make it to it's own individual post....

• Maddie and I had a girls weekend and we tried out free hand embroidery. Our Friday night attempt was disastrous because it's a little difficult to just pick this hobby up and run with it. Also, we both suffer from the perfectionism bug. It's awful really, and I had to explain to her that it's ok to mess up and it's ok to leave it messed up and keep on to the end. By Saturday morning, we had found our groove and finished the project. We hung each one in our rooms. We will do this again for sure and plan to do the monograms for her teachers for Christmas gifts.

• Blake's been practicing shooting his new bow, one he got earlier this month for his birthday and Christmas gift combined. He desperately wants to get good enough to be able to hunt with his dad at their archery only hunting club. On this particular day, proper documentation of his bullseye shot was needed. 

• I ordered these boots for my birthday this week. I love them despite the fact they have glitter in the leather. It's very understated, I guess if floral embroidered boots can be understated. I foresee a lot of wearing them around the house to break them in, they are a little tight.

• And last but not least... a Sadie snapshot... I'm kinda hoping the one in the middle is her. I mean look at that precious sweet face...

~Tara

The Other Furniture Project

After finishing up the buffet, Maddie and I decided to paint a small table that we also got from Bryan's mom's house. This piece was not as sentimental to him for some reason and he didn't object to us painting it. I really didn't have room anywhere in the house for it so Maddie got to be the lucky recipient. She's using it as a desk and it is really perfect for that for her.
Here's the before pic:

Maddie chose this periwinkle color and it does look really nice in her room that is an eclectic collection of all colors and things she loves. I will do a full tour of her room soon. Her room is one of my favorites in the house.

We found a pink chair for the desk and she's accessorized it to the max.
More pics to come...

~Tara

Restoring the Buffet

We recently were given an antique buffet that belonged to Bryan's mom. It came to us in pretty bad shape. It spent a while in our barn and also outside in a shed at someone else's home. It was pretty beat up and dirty. I researched restoring it and considered sanding and painting it but in the end decided to clean it up and go from there.

the buffet after being cleaned

badly damaged doors... we actually left these off the finished piece, they were just too bad off

gluing pieces back together

I started by cleaning it with Murphy's Oil Soap, at least 5 or 6 different times. It was so dirty that the water would turn black each time I scrubbed it. Once it was relatively clean and no longer smelly, we moved it into the house to finish it up and protect it from the weather and from being in the barn. I was still so scared to start the actual restoration process because this piece of furniture is one of the few things Bryan has that belonged to his mom. He was very hopeful that we could restore it to it's former glory and keep it as true to it's original state as possible, the way it was when his mom used it. Heirloom pieces carry such sentimental value that I wanted to do right by this old buffet and Bryan's request.

After doing my research, I decided to use a product called Restore-a-Finish. I found it at Home Depot. The buffet had some chipped up pieces that needed to be glued back down so that was step one. After the glue was dry, I started applying the Restore-a-Finish with a clean rag. Immediately I knew we had made the right choice. The old dried out faded looking wood came back to life beautifully. The next step was cleaning the hardware that was on the buffet. I just used some Brasso. After the Restore-a-Finish, a final step of applying a beeswax polish was done to seal the finish.

finally finished

some of my blue Mason jar collection and dried roses from Bryan's Mom's funeral in the clear jar

close up of the restored top

We are so happy with the results of this project. I am thrilled to have a meaningful piece of useful furniture in our home that was passed to us from my mother in law. I hope that we can look at the buffet and always remember the value all things have and the worth there is in taking the time to restore something. Whether that be a piece of furniture, an old truck (that's the next project), a relationship, anything, it's worth it.

~Tara

Update and Just Random Stuff

• Maddie's audition went well and she was selected to join Chorus. We're so proud of her, mostly because she's a determined girl and when she sets her mind to something, she goes after it full force. These are good qualities to have.

• School in general is going well for both Blake and Maddie. Moving into high school can be quite intimidating and overwhelming but Blake has done well with it and his grades are great at this point. He made an 94 on a math test he said was pretty hard, he was proud of himself and so were we. It's nice to see him be proud of his work. 

• I've been working on restoring an antique buffet that belonged to Bryan's mom. It was given to us back in the summer and I've done a lot of research on the best way to restore it. I'm in the final steps of the project and will blog about it when I get finished.

• Sadie is growing and becoming more active. She's 4 weeks old now and even though we've not picked her from the litter yet, I'm still excited to finally figure out which one she is and get to bring her home. Remind me of this statement later when my nerves are shot from having a puppy in the house. 
• 

• In October we will be attending the first annual Save a Life Golf Classic. This event raises awareness for organ donation. We are a donor family and encourage others to sign up to be a donor. It's a wonderfully selfless act of kindness to someone who is waiting on an organ.

~Tara

Audition

Maddie is auditioning for chorus at school this afternoon. She was allowed to choose her own song and, with advice from me, she chose God Bless America. I suggested she pick a song that she was sure she could remember the lyrics to, just in case she fell victim to stage nervousness. She rarely lets it show if she does get nervous, but this is a new experience, singing alone without music in front of her teacher. She practiced all afternoon yesterday and is as prepared as she can be, I'm sure. So I wished her good luck as I dropped her off this morning and we'll see how it goes...

~Tara

Labor Day

We spent our Labor Day visiting our nephews and letting the kids play in the pool all day. The guys went to NC to pick up a motor for an old truck that will be restored for Blake. The girls and kids had all the fun.

and ate a home grown garden watermelon.

and swiped their mom's phone and took selfies with their cousin.
It was a nice farewell to summer. It's been a good summer actually. Our kids managed to stay home alone for the first time ever, and they both survived and the house is still standing. We had a lot of fun around home and at the beach, (my favorite), we hosted lots of gatherings around the fire pit or sitting out in the barn. Now we look forward to all those things, just in fall.
Bring on fall, y'all.

~Tara