I am hosting a baby shower tonight for a good friend. She, my family, and my buddies have seen my house in all different states, but as this is technically a "church" shower that I am holding in our home, I thought I better spruce things up a bit around here. Not that I have a gross home, but those who spend a lot of time in it just don't notice all the "unfinishedness" of it- no kitchen cabinets, no trim, no towel holders in bathroom, paint that needs a touch up, not a lot of stuff up on the walls, etc. I like to make things homey, and yes, things would be easier to clean if I had less cracks to try to suck the dust out of, or if I had cabinets to hide my Tupperware pile behind, but you know what- that just doesn't really matter to me. It'll happen one day. I already have my Prince Charming, and the castle will be finished in time. BUT seeing as how there will be a lot of newcomers to our home tonight, I did use this shower to get my butt in gear on spring cleaning and de cluttering. I am happy with some changes I made in my family room:

I realize the lighting in this pic is bad, but frankly, I don't want to go take another pic. I was looking around this room last night and realized that we haven't bought any of the furniture in it- it has been adopted or made by the Skipper. I decided to pull the faded, ripped blue cover off the couch, even though the pattern underneath is too froo- froo for me. At least it is clean and does not have snot streaks on it...yet. I am not a fan of the red coffee table cover, but it is a necessity for tonight as it covers this thing. We snagged it from the end of our neighbour's driveway. Is that just a West Coast Canadian thing, or do you put stuff that is still half decent out on the side of the road for others who may need it?

This pic arrangement is one of the things that I am happiest about. Once I put in non glare glass, it will be even better.



Ok, I think that this is really cool- for our fireplace surround, the kids and I collected beach pebbles and dumped them around the wood stove. Free, easy, and we got fresh air while we were at it. I will need to glue them to tile grid and grout around them before we start using the stove again.

I thought my little beach rock candle thing here was kinda cool too. I am hoping that this doesn't look like a shrine to our wedding pic though.

Here's another look at my pebbles, just in case you like the idea. I can send you some- i won't even charge you for my labour. Shipping could be like a $1000.00 though.

If you are still here after this scintillating post, I thought I would show you the pics I finally chose to blow up for the wall.

Yup, they are cute, but I have a theory on cute kids. The naughtier they are, the cuter they need to be to balance things out.