Mini Hallway Makeover

This weekend I decided I was going to paint this mini hallway that leads to our bedroom. When we painted the great room about 4 years ago, we didn't paint the hall for whatever reason. I don't remember why. We left the cutouts and the trim white so maybe I thought the hallway should be white too...? Anyway, for the past couple weeks I had been wanting to paint the hallway and hang some hooks on the wall to hold our "working in the yard" hats. I thought it would be a great place to hang them.



My Sweetheart and I stopped at Hobby Lobby this weekend and as I browsed the clearance isle, I found this mirror on clearance for $10.00! Original $49.99. Perfect! I didn't like the white but I knew I could always paint it.




I was so excited to get started! I ran to Home Depot and bought my paint. I bought a quarter of what I thought was the right color. I wanted the same color as the great room which is called Hotel St. Francis. Instead, I pointed to the color called Burned Toast because I was so excited to get started! So I got home, prepped the wall, and started painting. Then I realized the color was wrong! Too dark!! My Sweetheart told me to go ahead with that color since it would be an accent wall. But I couldn't! It would bug me knowing that I bought the wrong color. So I headed to Home Depot and bought the right color and some primer:

I primered the wall and while it dried, I taped up the mirror and spray painted it brown. Then while that was drying, I came back inside and painted the wall. This morning I begged My Sweetheart to hang my mirror. When he did, I added our hats:

Looks so much better and now we have a place to hang our hats! I am thinking of buying a small table to place Grievous' basket that holds his leashes and collars. Also, I am looking at the pictures and the mirror needs major cleaning. This is a good start though.

104 degrees in Tucson

It was 104 degrees in Tucson yesterday. It as HOT. It was even hotter in the car. And with all the getting in and out and running around it was very uncomfortable. Yikes! When it gets into the 3 digits in Arizona, it's time to stay indoors as much as possible!!


No chickens or snooping through my sister's stuff this trip. Just doctor appointments and picking up my sister's children from summer school. Oh, I do have a picture to share. My nephew Wyatt gave me a school picture. It's super cute. He is 8 years old and he begged his mom to let him go to summer school. He is an over achiever to say the least. His dream is to attend the University of Arizona. He is obsessed with the U of A. He has the most U of A stuff I've ever seen. From shirts to sweaters to bedding...he has it all.


He has to wear a uniform to school but on picture day they allow the kids to wear whatever they want. He picked his U of A jersey:

Go Wildcats!! and go WYATT!!!!!

San Xavier Mission: our promise

My sister, my nephew and I walked to San Xavier Mission last Saturday. Our walk was part of a “manda” or a promise. We walked from her house to San Xavier Mission as part of that promise. It’s sort of like a pilgrimage. We made a promise to walk so that San Francisco (St. Frances) could help heal my father’s wounds. As I type this, it sounds a bit odd. But, I grew up taking part in the promises or manda’s that my parents would make to San Fransisco so it seems natural for me to follow in their footsteps. When my sister suggested we walk to San Xavier Mission for my father, I did not think twice – I was ready to go!

I left Phoenix at 4:30 a.m. so that I could be there before the hot sun starting beating down on us. We were blessed with a day that was breezy; the temperatures had dropped last weekend to a high was 98, I believe. But we armed ourselves with water and sunscreen and I had my umbrella. We started our walk at 7:00 a.m. We arrived at right around 10:00 a.m. As we walk up to the mission, this is what we see:

It has the most amazing ornately decorated facade. You have to see it in person to really take in how truly breath taking it is. Formally: Mission San Xavier del Bac. Known also as the "White Dove of the Desert". It is a Spanish Catholic mission located in southwest Tucson, Arizona on the Tohono O'odham San Xavier Indian Reservation. The mission was founded in 1699 by a Jesuit missionary, Father Kino. The Mission is old and so very beautiful.

The inside is equally as impressive. The picture that I took with my phone just does not do it justice. I didn't want to snap pictures while people were praying so I used my camera phone and took a quick picture of the altar. It's old and worn and although it's been renovated many times, it still shows it's age. But it's beautiful nonetheless.

Once inside, we lit our candles and prayed to San Fransisco. We believe he will answer our prayers. When he does, my father, my sisters and my mother will walk together to thank him for answering our prayers.

Please pray for my father.

My New (old) Scanner

My Sweetheart bought me a scanner for my birthday 2 years ago. I am just now learning how to use it. Although I scanned a couple of things with it in the past, it was a quick scan and I really didn't know what I was doing. Tonight, I scanned this photo and changed it to black & white. I like the black and white. I added the color version on my facebook album. I can't decide which I like best, the color or black & white. ??

It was a chicken

So as I drive into my parent's driveway today, I see a chicken walking down the street. They live in the city, not in the country. I took a double look -- yes, it was a chicken. So I get inside the house and I say to my dad, "there's a chicken out there". He said, "yeah, it's the neighbor's".

So after I fixed my dad's breakfast, I went out looking for it. I wanted to take a picture of it so I could send it to my Sweetheart. You know, to show him, that there was a chicken walking down the street. I looked down the street, in the front yard, the back yard and in the side neighbor's hard. Nothing. Then I realized as I went out the front door, it locked behind me. So I went around to the back and I found that the back door was locked too. So not only did I not find the chicken, I had to ring the bell to be let back in and explain that I was looking for the chicken. Embarrassing, right?

Then, as we head out to my dad's HBO treatment, I saw it. It was hanging around the back yard! I went over, took a picture of it and I sent the picture to my Sweetheart. He sends me a text that reads: "Too funny. Do not bring it home". Just because I try to bring stray dogs home all the time, he thinks I want to bring a chicken home!

So he knows, I only thought about it for a second then abandoned the idea. After all, I don't know how to take care of a chicken!!

HA!!

Things you find while snooping.....

I stopped by my sister's house on Wednesday while my Dad was in his therapy and I found this picture on my sister's computer. Yes, I was snooping.

My dad has his Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy every day for 2 hours. So we (me and AJ) drop him off and once he has been given the okay to start treatment, we head out. We normally go back to my mom and dad's house and wait until he's ready. This time, my little sister told me her two older boys would be home so we stopped by there instead. At my mom and dad's there is no cable, no Internet, no anything. Very simple, very basic, very old fashioned! So when we had a chance to head over there, we did! AJ played video games with the boys and I jumped online. Oh, it felt good. I feel so out of touch on Tuesday's when I can't go online. I have online access through my phone but sometimes it just isn't the same!

So I looked at my email, called Sprint to fix a tech problem I was having then decided to snoop through her computer. I found her photo albums and found this cutie. I just love how excited I am. No clue as to why. It looks like I'm just entering her house. That's my mom and nephew in the picture. They look pretty excited too. It's dated March so it wasn't my birthday. Hmmmm???

Anyway, I love it. It makes me SMILE!