When you old... this is the type of 'Pot' you get excited over.

I've been doing so much to our home in the last few months to make it feel more like 'me' and less like a yard sale threw up. Decorating and cooking have always been my thing but the last several years I've been more worried about the kids wearing clean clothes, having good food to eat and making sure once the kids leave the house my husband and I still love one another. All important jobs, yes... but important to is wanting to be in my home and looking around and feeling proud of it.

Here is a recent 'to do' project I can not check off of my list. Yeah! BTW, my mother taught me to always write 'Eat Chocolate' as the first thing on my 'To Do' list so I can check at least one thing off each day. Love that woman... she's just so darn smart (and I love chocolate... score)!

Dollar General has all of their garden items at 50% off. I went there to buy a few items and walked out with several projects... all of which I was able to complete in one evening. I knew I wanted to spruce up the front of our very bland ranch house so I purchased several item, many of them clay pots for only a few dollars each. My style is very flea market find meets cottage (I have three kids, three dogs and a husband... if it's not already distressed it will be soon after it arrives at my home) and they perfect clay pots just did not fit in to the look I needed to have.

First, I spray painted the pot robin's egg blue (allowed the paint to dry) then a good coat of Heirloom white. After they heirloom white was dry, I used the stone spray I had purchased 10 years ago on clearance for $1.99. I was a bit worried it would not work but to my surprise it sprayed out just as it was brand new. Here is what it looked like after I was done with the first few steps...

Not to horribly bad but still not the look I was going for so I pulled out the big guns to help tackle this project... Meet the Might Mouse Sander. I have three sanders (small mouse, might mouse and orbital) but the Mighty Mouse is my favorite because it's powerful and yet easy to hold onto. It may seem odd to sand a clay pot covered in two layers of spray paint along with a coating of 'stone spray' but at this stage in my life... noting is odd anymore. Hells bells.... let's just do this thing!

I had run out of mouse sandpaper pads so I used the orbital 60 grit pads and they worked fine. I sanded all of the edges to make the look more worn and made sure the sander went through all of the colors of paint in several of the areas. I wanted a really old, rustic pot... like one that had set outside in Italy for the last 50 years. I sanded, looked to see what I was coming up with then sanded again. When I was finished  with the look I thought I wanted all you have to do it take a damp cloth and wipe it off as the water collects the dust and old paint. Just keep sanding until you get the look you like, there is not any way to mess this project up as it's what you like best.

Life is always pretty hectic around my house. I would like to think I live in a wonderfully clean organized house which children who are dressed to perfection and a husband who is always happy to work on his 'to do' list I make him (anyone else picture the snow white movie when she's walking around and the birds are singing to her and landing on her window ledge) ... but who am I kidding.

My kids would wear the same clothes everyday for a week if I did not tell them to go change into clean clothes (yes, I have to specify they need to be clean), my home looks like a flea market thew up and my husbands would much rather play X-box and save the world one kill at a time than cross things off of my 'to do' list.

Honesty is the best policy... and I am honest to a fault. Want someone to tell you the truth about a situation? I'm your gal and have lost friends because they asked me what I thought about a situation... and I told them. Whoops! Oh well, the way I see it, don't ask if you don't want a truthful answer. I'm not rude or hurtful... but I do tell the truth which I'm figuring out is not always what people want.

We (meaning Me alone but hubby will tell people 'we') are painting the living room, dining room and hallway. Just a side note... why is it when he does something it's 'I' but when I do a project it's 'We'? How does that work? Back to my painting story, I have been painting walls, trim, crown molding, doors and door jams. I have paint in my hair, on my skin and under my nails. As soon as I shower and become less speckled, I start painting the next day and become covered again. I do wish I was a neat painter, taping everything off, using an angle brush perfectly and not spilling a drop of paint.... but notice I had to type the word 'wish' in my statement. My saving grace is that I buy all latex paint and our floors are hardwood with a good coat of poly on them. I think that both my floors and my body have much in common... under all the paint is something nice!

Today I am going to take photo's (I was a professional photographer so I do have a good camera but I do not recommend you buy what I have as you are able to take nice images without spending $10,000) of my house... the good, bad and ugly so you have an idea of what I'm working with here.

Happy 4th and hope you enjoy your day! Thank you to those who served and continue to serve our country as I am one who appreciates my freedom to the fullest. My husband has deployed twice (gone for 2.5 years) and I do understand what it takes for our country to be safe and secure every night.