Full of thanks

This post was supposed to be written last week, in preparation for Thanksgiving, but life throws you curve balls that interfere with plans. And that was precisely the point I was going to make. It's how we deal with those curve balls that matter.

I'm one of those -- an optimist, through and through. :) I can't help it. I think it stems from my teen years, which I've mentioned a bit on this blog. I had enough sad days then, and since then I just can't stand to be sad or depressed. It makes me physically uncomfortable, I hate it so much.

That's not to say I don't deal with the bad things in life -- I do. I realized a long time ago, when things are at the lowest, doing something, anything helps -- it gives you power and control back. So when things go bad, my control is to look at the good.

I was going to write about some trivial things in this post last week. Things like when the sitter cancels on your night out with friends or the hubby, and seeing that as a good turn of events -- looking at it as a chance to spend unexpected time with your children. And how many, many people in this world would do anything to have children to spend time with.

Or when the car breaks down and you can't get where you wanted to go -- I rationalize things like that by thinking it was probably best I didn't go. Would you call that fate? I just feel when something like that happens, I wasn't supposed to be in that car, at that time, on that road. I think there's a higher power at work and we often forget that, especially at the annoying times.

I was also going to talk about the more serious circumstances, like when I fell down half a flight of cement stairs a couple weeks ago -- holding my son. It was probably the scariest moment of my life. He hit his head, and I could barely walk afterwards. Within seconds he seemed fine, and after a trip to the ER, we found out he was indeed OK and my ankle (that was triple it's normal size) was only badly sprained.

I felt sorry for myself for about two seconds, and then I was overcome with thankfulness that it was just me that was hurt -- and it was just an ankle. How incredibly fortunate that my son was not hurt worse. The what ifs ran through my head and they were not good. So as I've hobbled around for the past two weeks, I've been reminding myself how thankful I am that that's all it was. I can handle with a sprained ankle any day of the week.

This is the way I deal, and it works for me. But my optimism was tested last week. We got news that my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer. I simply cannot put into words how I feel. I won't even try. For the first few hours after we found out, I could barely breath. It was like someone was sitting on my chest. Then, there were the tears, and tears. And tears. My heart is breaking for my husband. It's breaking for my stepdaughter, my sister-in-law, my nephews, for me. For my son.

And now, this bad, horrible news, has yet again taught me to see the good. It was confirmed today that his doctors think he has at least six months with us -- maybe even a year. My heart is heavy. I want to cry again and again. But I also can't help to think how fortunate are we to be able to spend this time with him over the next year. To do special things, take pictures, to create new memories.

For our son to get to know his Grandpa even better.

Every year my father-in-law cooks an authentic Mexican fiesta meal for us and our friends, usually in the fall. He obviously hasn't been feeling great, so we skipped it this year. But now, we're going to have the fiesta the week before Christmas. We will gather around him to cook our Mexican feast with him, and it will be something I'm sure none of us will ever forget. (And yes, it is as good as it sounds!)

I just can't focus on the bad. It's against my nature. I have to look to the good, and there will be much good that will come over the next year. I am sure of that.

If I can, I am asking a favor of all of you. I would really appreciate your prayers. For my father-in-law, that he feels as good as possible for as long as possible. And for my husband and his sister, that they feel comfort and peace right now. I really, really appreciate it. I am so thankful for all of you.

** I am reposting this in Live Writer since Blogger wasn’t picking it up for some reason. I apologize for the two posts!

Full of thanks

This post was supposed to be written last week, in preparation for Thanksgiving, but life throws you curve balls that interfere with plans. And that was precisely the point I was going to make. It's how we deal with those curve balls that matter.

I'm one of those -- an optimist, through and through. :) I can't help it. I think it stems from my teen years, which I've mentioned a bit on this blog. I had enough sad days then, and since then I just can't stand to be sad or depressed. It makes me physically uncomfortable, I hate it so much.

That's not to say I don't deal with the bad things in life -- I do. I realized a long time ago, when things are at the lowest, doing something, anything helps -- it gives you power and control back. So when things go bad, my control is to look at the good.

I was going to write about some trivial things in this post last week. Things like when the sitter cancels on your night out with friends or the hubby, and seeing that as a good turn of events -- looking at it as a chance to spend unexpected time with your children. And how many, many people in this world would do anything to have children to spend time with.

Or when the car breaks down and you can't get where you wanted to go -- I rationalize things like that by thinking it was probably best I didn't go. Would you call that fate? I just feel when something like that happens, I wasn't supposed to be in that car, at that time, on that road. I think there's a higher power at work and we often forget that, especially at the annoying times.

I was also going to talk about the more serious circumstances, like when I fell down half a flight of cement stairs a couple weeks ago -- holding my son. It was probably the scariest moment of my life. He hit his head, and I could barely walk afterwards. Within seconds he seemed fine, and after a trip to the ER, we found out he was indeed OK and my ankle (that was triple it's normal size) was only badly sprained.

I felt sorry for myself for about two seconds, and then I was overcome with thankfulness that it was just me that was hurt -- and it was just an ankle. How incredibly fortunate that my son was not hurt worse. The what ifs ran through my head and they were not good. So as I've hobbled around for the past two weeks, I've been reminding myself how thankful I am that that's all it was. I can handle with a sprained ankle any day of the week.

This is the way I deal, and it works for me. But my optimism was tested last week. We got news that my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage three pancreatic cancer. I simply cannot put this into words how I feel. I won't even try. For the first few hours after we found out, I could barely breath. It was like someone was sitting on my chest. Then, there were the tears, and tears. And tears. My heart is breaking for my husband. It's breaking for my stepdaughter, my sister-in-law, my nephews, for me. For my son.

And now, this bad, horrible news, has yet again taught me to see the good. It was confirmed today that his doctors think he has at least six months with us -- maybe even a year. My heart is heavy. I want to cry again and again. But I also can't help to think how fortunate are we to be able to spend this time with him over the next year. To do special things, take pictures, to create new memories.

For our son to get to know his Grandpa even better.

Every year my father-in-law cooks an authentic Mexican fiesta meal for us and our friends, usually in the fall. He obviously hasn't been feeling great, so we skipped it this year. But now, we're going to have the fiesta the week before Christmas. We will gather around him to cook our Mexican feast with him, and it will be something I'm sure none of us will ever forget. (And yes, it is as good as it sounds!)

I just can't focus on the bad. It's against my nature. I have to look to the good, and there will be much good that will come over the next year. I am sure of that.

If I can, I am asking a favor of all of you. I would really appreciate your prayers. For my father-in-law, that he feels as good as possible for as long as possible. And for my husband and his sister, that they feel comfort and peace right now. I really, really appreciate it. I am so thankful for all of you.

Casa container - USA

Modelo 1 contenedor.
Un contenedor para vivienda puede ser pensado de otra forma y como en este caso darle nuevas dimensiones, por lo que su rendimiento se incrementa sustancialmente. Tambien el aventamiento es posible concebirlo con mayor libertad y asi lograr abundante iluminación natural. La transformación simple de un contenedor puede sorprender, como en este caso, porque va más allá de idea autolimitada a la caja metálica.

Casa contenedor
Piense funcional y estéticamente, un aspecto del proyecto no va en desmedro del otro, cuando se trata de un container. Quítese prejuicios y use creatividad. Puede entender al contenedor como una solución estructural empaquetada, modular y que posibilita terminar una verdadera casa con una obra seca, rápida y económica.
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Mejorar los pisos de la casa

Materiales para suelos
Si usted ha decidido que va a mejorar el piso, tiene varias opciones.
Puede elegir entre mosaicos, madera o incluso alfombras. Es una buena idea hacer su elección
antes de romper el piso actual. Aquí encuentra un vistazo a las opciones más comunes y asuntos a tener en cuenta, para ayudarle a hacer la mejor elección posible por los pisos del hogar.

Para ampliar la información sobre pisos de la casa siga este vínculo, encontrará una lista de posteos relevantes ordenados.

Laca de poliuretano para pisos
Envase de producto tratante para pisos
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A Christmas mantel, au naturale

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I’m so glad you all loved the mantel inspiration photos! I was so inspired by the natural looks and all the “fluff” – I think it worked for our mantel as well. I spent much of today messing around and having fun with it. I’m so pleased with the final result, I hope you love it too!

I started with natural looking pics of greenery from Big Lots – I used three at $3 each. I just laid one on each end of the mantel, one in the middle, flattening them out as much as possible:

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Then, I took the magnolias and all of the glammy (word?) stuff out of the greenery I had used last year (see previous post), then just folded it in half, and it ended up being exactly the length I needed. I laid it right on top of the greenery above.

Because I really loved the look of the long pine needles, I used more garland from Big Lots, for $9, and cut it up into a bunch of pieces, just sticking it here and there in the greenery. Then I cut up some sparkly branches and stuffed them in too:

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The BL garland had the huge pinecones in it, but I added a few more of my own as well.

I took my clearance WalMart lanterns from our deck and repurposed them to work on the mantel. I was so pleased with how it turned out…

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I was still craving a little somethin’ though – some color! I just can’t do completely natural – it’s against my nature. ;) So I cut up some red beady stuff I had and stuffed it in here and there, and then hung my dollar store stars from each piece of ironwork:

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I took some of the beady thingamabobs and sprinkled them on the pinecones in the lanterns:

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Which was super easy to do, because the blasted things were flying off everywhere anyway. Argh.

The result? Lurve:

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I found this little reindeer at HomeGoods and I seriously could not resist him. Adorable. He picks up the red touches in the mantel perfectly:

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Hang in there – I took a crazy amount of pictures…

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I used dollar store candleholders in the lanterns, and made them a bit taller by putting them on top of blocks of wood. I wanted to put faux snow in the lanterns, but they only open in the front, so it was next to impossible to get the snow in there. (Believe me, I tried.) So I just used my fluffy snow stuff instead:

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Because the greenery is so full (sigh), I propped up the lanterns and the tree with books and boxes so they wouldn’t disappear. You can’t even see them when you look at the mantel:

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Do you luuuuurve it? Huh? Do ya??

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I hope so! I do. I had so much fun with this! One more mantel to go, and I hope to have that up this week. It’s MUCH simpler though. :)

The winner of Pampering Beki’s necklace giveaway is Melissa Howard from Melissa and Cas – please email me and I’ll get you in touch with Beki! I still haven’t heard from Kat at Measuring my life in love who was the winner of the vinyl giveaway – Kat, give me a holler! Enjoy ladies!

P.S. Did anyone watch the Behind the Magic Disney special on HGTV tonight? OMG – it was fantastic. (Popcorn as big as my head! Sixty-five foot trees people!) Check out a rerun if you get a chance! Spectacular!!

Incrementar el valor de su propiedad

Docena de ideas
Usted puede hacer una lista corta y ponerse a mejorar su casa aumentando significativamente su valor. Siga esta guía orientadora. Por más información sobre mantenimiento siga este vínculo, encontrará una lista de posteos relevantes.

1) Límpie o vuelva a pintar su hogar. Este es uno de los métodos más rápidos y fáciles para mejorar su hogar. Si usted tiene un presupuesto limitado puede fregar la casa con un cepillo. si su presupuesto se estira repinte el exterior de su casa.

Casa mejorada
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Penthouse

Diseño
Un Penthouse en Chicago (EEUU), Montgomery, River North. Ultralujoso, ubicado en un piso 28, todo es absolutamente inspirador. La pared del hogar es de cuarzo y el mismo está alimentado a Etanol, se encuentra en la división entre el living y el dormitorio principal.

Living comedor
La mesada y sillas de la cocina son de Armani, igual los muebles del living.
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Christmas mantels

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Hello there! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a lovely day with scrumptious food – all made by moi thankyouverymuch. I done good folks. I don’t cook often, but when I do, it’s pretty darn great. (YES, you heard right Dad, I DO cook.)  :)

I’m getting closer with the Christmas decor – not sure it’s going to happen by Monday, but I’m having fun with it, and that’s what matters most, right? One of my favorite spots to decorate is our family room mantel. It’s an odd shape (corner fireplace) so it requires some thunkin’ on my part.

Last year, I was obsessed with magnolias, so the top picture is what I came up with. I really adored it, but because it’s in our family room, I’m hoping to tone it down a bit this year – I’m thinking a little more natural, a teensy bit more fun, a little less glam. I’m still going to work in the magnolia’s – at least I hope to. They are gorg

To get some inspiration, I browsed through the Internet last night and I found some beautiful ideas I wanted to share.

The penguins are the cutest idea yet, and the the other is just classic:

christmas-mantel-decorationsp_100176935_R

I LOVE the simple glass vases with white “snow” on the penguin mantel – how easy yet beautiful!

The idea on the left below is where my mind is heading…big fluffy pieces of greenery shooting out everywhere (photo courtesy of Country Living). I love the use of ironwork on the one on the right:

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Again, simple but fluffy on the left. The picture on the right isn’t a mantel, obviously, but I LOVE the swag and vinyl lettering on the mirror, and the snow globes on the candleholders. Brilliant!:

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The left below is F.U.N. and sooooo easy to do. The right mantel is classic, but what really drew me to this picture was the huge disco ball (?) ornament (?) hanging from the ceiling, complete with greenery. You know how I love me some greenery:

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Below, classic yet again (can you tell my style?) – one with just a bit of greenery, the other with a boatload of candles. Both oooooh so pretty!:

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This one I loved because it could be an ode to my hubs…he would LOVE this. I don’t know why instruments work so well for the holidays, but they scream festive to me, especially when they are displayed like this:

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What do you think? Love them? Our mantel is coming together in my head…right now it’s just a pile of fluff and stuff. I hope to show you later on this weekend!

Oh, and I haven’t forgotten about the winner of the jewelry giveaway…but the turkey has knocked me out for a second night in a row. I’ll announce that this weekend too.  :)  Patience grasshopper…

Estilos arquitectónicos de casas

Diseño & Decoración
El estilo en arquitectura es asunto primordial que define diseño y decoración a la vez.
Las características de los estilos se encuentran en los diseños de planta, arquitectura del interior y exterior de las casas, más los aspectos decorativos. En la siguiente lista usted puede buscar contenidos de este blog segun los diferentes estilos arquitectónicos. Se va completando paulatinamente, a medida que suma contenido por los posteos publicados.

Mansión Moderna - Imagen de www.sxc.hu
Haga un comentario, plantee una duda en un comentario y no olvide agregar este blog a sus Favoritos.
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Instalación de contrapiso para sótano

Pisos
La instalación de un contrapiso para el sótano puede ser un trabajo entretenido, rápido y fácil si todos los materiales de construcción y herramientas están disponibles y listas.
Sea cual fuere el tipo de piso que usted planea utilizar, ya sea de cerámica, porcelanato, laminado, madera o mosaicos, el material del contrapiso debe protegerlos del daño de la humedad del concreto. El contrapiso de un sótano debe servir al propósito de proveer un suelo cálido y confortable para toda la familia.

Por más información sobre pisos de la casa siga el vínculo, hay una lista de posteos relevantes ordenada para que pueda revisarla con facilidad.

Piso de porcelanato + madera
En la instalación del contrapiso, los diferentes materiales requieren de métodos diferentes. Un contrapiso convencional está construido de madera con vigas de madera que cuenta con placas de madera clavadas a través de ellas.
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Dormitorio rústico y Minimalista

Muebles.
Ambientación de un dormitorio austera con madera rústica. Lo natural está exaltado por el blanco de la tela y su textura y por la madera cruda. Apartamento en Melbourne (Australia). Puede que sea una solución cuestionable según la primera impresión, pero hay varios factores a poner en la balanza. Por un lado es material reciclado, por lo que muestra intención para una causa, puede ser una opción para jóvenes inconformistas, por otro, el tono de la madera inspira calma, tiene una similitud con lo crudo no con lo inferior en calidad o precario.

Dormitorio rústico
Idea de Mark Tuckey para reciclar cajas de embalaje. Visite el sitio web del diseñador www.marktuckey.com.au

Es una solución inspiradora que puede equipar una cabaña de fin de semana o vacaciones.
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Puertas de fibra de vidrio residenciales

Aberturas
¿Por qué más personas están pensando en comprar puertas de fibra de vidrio? La respuesta es que las puertas de fibra de vidrio están hechas de tejido apretado de vidrio por lo que resultan super fuertes y pueden durar muchos más años que las de madera o las puertas de metal. Las puertas de fibra de vidrio residenciales son preferibles sobre las de madera y metal por màs razones. Una de esas razones es que son más fuertes que las de metal y no se queman ràpido como sucede con las puertas de madera.

Por ampliar información sobre puertas y ver fotos siga el vínculo, encontrará una lista de posteos relevantes ordenada para su fácil repaso.

Puertas de fibra de vidrio
Modelos de puertas residenciales
Una puerta hecha de fibra de vidrio puede durar 1 hora y media sin quemarse del todo, de hecho es una de las principales razones por las que los clientes están buscando nuevas puertas y las puertas de fibra de vidrio para uso residencial están empezando a ser la mejor opción para los compradores.
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Escalera caracol escultórica

Espiral de peldaños.
Esta escalera caracol es una obra de arte, todo un objeto decorativo como una escultura Moderna. Los peldaños blancos como lóbulos o pétalos ascendiendo es espiral resultan fascinantes.

Escalera caracol
Una casa prefabricada, como la que sostiene a esta escalera, es una vivienda de un nivel superior gracias al diseño italiano.
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Casa de energía positiva - Francia

Minipaneles solares.
Esta es la primera casa solar en Francia que produce la electricidad que consume y tiene excedente. Se llama Maison ZEN (Zero Energy Net) y fue concretada en el 2007 en Montagnole, Savoia. Fue realizada para demostrar que es posible construir con las técnicas disponibles, sin emisiones y generando energía, incluso para entregar a la red, por ello energía positiva.

Maison ZEN
Los paneles empleados son de menor tamaño, de origen alemán (Sulfurcell) y tienen mayor capacidad de producción de energía fotovoltaica. En el tejado se aplican como una cobertura de tejas planas.
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Deck con madera de cedro

Patio & jardín
La madera da un buen aspecto a los muebles para deck. Le agrega atractivo a las sillas y mesas, tambien da una sensación natural. Los muebles para deck construidos con madera de Cedro tienen un aspecto elegante y sofisticado. Los muebles de deck que utilizan madera de Cedro requieren de menor mantenimiento durante su vida. La madera de Cedro muestra fuerza natural y durabilidad. La fortaleza de los muebles de madera de Cedro de deck es importante. También son livianos y portátiles. Por más información de casa y jardín siga este vínculo, hay una lista de posteos relevantes que podrá revisar.

Deck
El Cedro resulta un maravilloso material para usar en una serie de productos de construcción, incluyendo los deck. La madera de Cedro es blanda, no sólo es atractiva con su belleza rústica, también tiene muchas virtudes naturales que le otorgan resistencia. El aceite de Cedro proporciona defensa contra los insectos. La madera de cedro es resistente a todo tipo de insectos, incluyendo a las termitas, pulgas, etc.
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Our holiday porch

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I’ve always loved my tried and true Christmas decorating for our front porch and yard – it’s simple and elegant. (I told you how I do it back on this post.) But this year I was feeling like it needed a bit more fun…I think it’s because our son is getting older and becoming more and more obsessed with Christmas -- just like Momma. ;)

So I wanted to make it a little more whimsical and colorful this year. I started with the wreath I got on clearance last year at Target. It still needed a little somethin’ somethin’, so I just took a plain greenery wreath and smushed them together with wire, like so:

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I love how it gives it a bit more dimension (see first photo). Lurve.

For the rest of the porch, I did my regular deal with greenery and lights, but this year I added some bling and color with $5 worth of ribbon and $15 of plastic ornaments. I just wrapped the ribbon around the greenery and then hung the ornaments from the centers of each with floral wire:062

Whew hew! Color! Just want I wanted.

I take the floral pots that hold my mums in the fall and keep the soil in there so I can just plop the little trees in. I added some of the plastic ornaments to the bases of the tree just for fun (and color!):

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Not sure I’m loving the little bows on top of the trees, but c’mon, they are pretty cute.

I added some ornaments to the wreath over the garage door and the wreaths on the windows, instead of the sad little bows I’ve always had on them:

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PK at Room Remix posted about just twisting some ornaments together with floral wire and I don’t know why the heck I hadn’t thought of doing that! I love how they look on the wreaths!

Many of you have asked about the iron pieces hanging in our windows – they were actually gold “snowflakes” I got on clearance at Pier 1 years ago. I spray painted them black and hung them with fishing wire from the drapery rods:

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I took down the blinds we never use on these windows and now you can really see them from outside! They don’t look Christmasy most of the year, but they do with a wreath in the window. ;)

I love how the front porch decor looks through the transom window from inside.

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This may be how it looks with the door closed:

062 But this is how it looks when you open it:

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Holy Christmas mess Batman!!

I’ll add some daylight pics of the porch tomorrow…the ribbon looks soooo gorg during the day too.

Did I mention I was hoping to have ALL of the Christmas decor up before Monday of next week, so I can sit back and enjoy it all month? I hear you laughing at me. I can do it, I can. Only 13 more bins of stuff to go. ;)

 
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