Mantel

I was inspired by many many other blogs to try to do something different with our mantel in our den.  Ours was VERY boring before, so I tried to make some changes with what we had already in the house.  Here's what it looks like now:

Ignore the two brown paint samples on the sides.  I was trying to decide between the two colors.  Almost all of the stuff I put on there was FREE.

Vase and flowers on left were from an earlier decoration, the three vases with nature things in them were a gift, and the little glass jar was found in our backyard.

Old books were ones my grandfather owned, already had the wedding picture, and the vase and sticks were from a different room.  The only things I bought were the letter (Target, $2.50) and the Ball jar (Goodwill outlet, less than $1).

I know it's more for me to dust around, but it helps make the room "feel" better and not so sterile.  I'd love to hear any feedback or suggestions you may have for improving this!  I've been switching out the flowers with ones that are blooming in our yard (whichever ones the heat hasn't killed).  Thanks for looking!

Ears Cubed

So we found out today that Emmett will need his THIRD set of tubes on Friday.  It's a new kind (t-tubes), and he will also have to have his adenoids taken out.  The tubes I'm not too worried about since we've done it twice already, but I do worry about the adenoids.  It all sounds very routine, but it's not something that we do everyday.  He has always been in good spirits when he's had these ear infections, luckily enough.  I just don't want him to be that 0.01% of when it goes wrong.  I trust his doctor, even though I don't like him or his views very much.  I suppose that part doesn't have to matter when he can do his job well.  I absolutely LOVE his NP that we usually see.  She's fantastic!  If we could just deal with her I'd be more at ease.  We'll see how Friday goes.  I'm sure it will be fine, but we always worry about the ones we love.

On a much happier note, we had an absolutely fabulous vacation in Ocracoke last week with some other southerners. :)  We had a great time getting exfoliated by blasting sand and getting eye and joint damage from playing violent X-Box games for hours.  :)  Totally worth it, though.  Gorgeous sunsets, cute bulldogs, good people-watching, and simply relaxing....ahhhhh...... :)