More Crown Molding

We have been busy around here! One of the projects that we just had done was adding crown molding to our kitchen and family room.  Earlier in the year, my husband installed some in our living and dining room and I just loved so it was time to add more.  I am really pleased how it turned out!

Here are some during/before shots.

Here are some after shots!   My son was trying to sneak in the photo, haha.

I just love all the cuts!

I am very happy with it.  I took everything off above my cabinets so I can see the molding.

I love the added white to my house and it inspired me want to paint my kitchen table white now too.  What do you think about that?

I also want to paint my frame and boarder to my Sacred Heart photo white too.  I am just loving white now, lol!

What do you think?  I am so happy with it.

Have a great day!

Don’t forget to sign up for the Healthiest Loser Challenge today!

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SAND, GLASS, WAVES

Llewelyn Ash {Adventures of a Glass Blower} from Benjamin Dowie on Vimeo.

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3 Ingredient Salad

Today, I thought I would share one of my favorite salads with you!

It is sooo easy and healthy!  My husband also loves it!

This is all you need…

Bagged Organic Herb Salad Mix

Marinated Celigene Mozzarella Cheese Balls

Grape Tomatoes

 

Then I just mix then all together!  I use the cheese marinade for my dressing.

It is awesome and so fresh tasting!!

This makes a great lunch or dinner!

What is your favorite salad?

Have a great day!

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I Love Fall {Casa Bella}

Today, I am proud to have Casa Bella here today!  She will be sharing some simple, inexpensive fall décor with us.

Enjoy…

I love Fall!

The leaves, the smells, the crisp air, who doesn't?  Today my girls and I went outside for a little while even though my Bella has a cough and slight cold. Some may think staying inside is best, but I think the vitamin D she got will help her immune system and get her feeling good again sooner!  So we went out on this beautiful day, and it just felt so goooooood!!!!!!!

 

If you come into my house, you will know immediately that I love Fall. (I will show you pictures of our main living area soon, but I didn't get to write this until later, and there is not enough light to show you pictures).  The paint colors, sunset and sauteed mushroom are some of our choices. I know orange isn't for everyone, but to me it is a happy color, and I splash it around here and there. 

Here is a sneak peak of my Dining room.

 

One thing I love about Fall is making some crafts.  We have all seen super pricey Michael's arrangements like these. They seem to be around $40-$50. Pretty expensive to me when I know I can make one.

 



Last year, I made these...

 

To make them, you want to start out with those carvable pumpkins we have all seen at the craft stores.  Use a coupon, or get them now since most stores have them on sale! I used orange, but in part two of this post, I will be making a white one that is different from this.  I used artificial picks, but you could use fresh flowers, or vegetables, or whatever you can think of. I will probably make one with fresh ingredients for Thanksgiving, since I will be hosting. 

Once you carve a circle and remove the top, you can hot glue a cube of craft foam inside. I have even seen these at Dollar tree, so no need to spend any more than $1.  This is the fun part!  I used picks from both the Dollar tree and Walmart, but you can get some on sale at Michael's, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, or whatever craft store is near you.  I also used some artificial mums, and cattails,  and some sparkly pears. 

This is how it looks on the shelves I have on either side of the fire place.

You can play with the height and how full you want them, but I think they really make a nice display.  Hope you try it!  Send me pics of yours when you make one, I'd love to see it.

I also made these napkin rings last year. These are actually made from toilet paper and paper towel rolls! I cut them and glued scrapbook paper around them. Next, I simply glued on a leaf embellishments. I have some acorns, some leaves, and some pumpkin ones.

 

This is how they look on the table.

 

Finally, here is a piece of Fall artwork you can easily make reusing old magazines and catalogs.  For this particular one I used a Viva Terra catalog, because I just loved the textures and colors. I thought it was a nice study of natural materials.  To make this, I glued a square of the whatever scraps I had to a piece of the same size cardboard. I arranged them in rows of three, so I would have a total of nine.  The cardboard gives it depth.  I then glued all my pieces to a piece of green cardstock, and bought a matted frame at Michael's for $5.  Inexpensive and eco-friendly!

I hope you try some of these.  Please send me pictures, I would love to see your style!

Do you like crafts? Do you reuse what you already have?

Thanks Erin!!

Please go check out her blog and follow it!

Enjoy your Friday.

Are you doing anything neat this weekend?

Are you dressing up for Halloween?  What are you being?

Have a great day!

Don’t forget to sign up for the Healthiest Loser Challenge today!

 

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EARTH FROM AFAR

Click for larger view. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

 
This view of Saturn eclipsing the sun is a composite assembled from 165 images taken by the Cassini spacecraft while 2.2 million kilometers/1.3 million miles from Saturn on 15 September 2006. The mosaics were captured over the space of about 12 hours as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow.

Seen far in the distance, at the 10-o'clock position just outside the bright rings, is a tiny pale blue dot—Earth.

For a whole lot more on how this image was created and what its details reveal, check out the JPL Cassini page. Click here for a bigger version.

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THE SECRET LIFE OF TSUNAMI DEBRIS

Portions of houses and an overturned boat afloat in the Pacific after the 11 Mar 2011 earthquake and tsunami off Japan. Credit: US Navy/ Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd.

The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) in Hawaii reports that somewhere between 5 and 20 million tons of tsunami debris from the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan is migrating quickly across the Pacific Ocean.

Crew from the Russian tall ship STS Pallada spotted furniture, appliances, and a fishing boat with the home port 'Fukushima' painted on it after passing the Midway islands—part of the Hawaiian Islands Archipelago—last month. That's 2,000 miles from the epicenter of the quake. 

This is the first confirmed sighting since shortly after the disaster, when the massive floating remnants of coastal Japanese towns—more than 200,000 buildings—simply disappeared from view.

The image above shows the likely path of tsunami debris as of 25 Oct 2011.

The IPRC research suggests this path based on 678,305 tracers released from the northeast coast of Japan beginning 11 March 2011—the same day as the quake. 

You can watch an animation of the full dispersal here. The fluid dynamics are beautiful.

  
This video shows the IPRC prediction of the long-term—5-year-plus—travels of the tsunami debris. The original animation for the statistical model is here.

As you can see from the video, the debris, after bouncing off the west coast of North America, is likely to get trapped in the North Pacific Gyre—along with all the other garbage collecting there. The plastics will last close to forever. 

As an interesting aside, monstrously huge rafts of tsunami debris may well be one of the mechanisms by which life originally dispersed to the Hawaiian Islands. 

Pallus' rosefinch, Carpodacus roseus, native to China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. Credit: M. Nishimura via Wikimedia Commons.

  
A new analysis of the genome of Hawaiian honeycreepers reveals they're not descended, as thought, from the honeycreepers of the Americas, but are instead a sister taxon to the Eurasian rosefinches of the genus Carpodacus.

Based on a genetic analysis, the precursors of Hawaiian honeycreepers probably arrived on Kauai and Niihau about 5.7 million years ago and continued to diverge into different species after Oahu emerged from the sea.

ʻIʻiwi, or scarlet Hawaiian honeycreeper, Vestiaria coccinea. Credit: Paul Banko, NPS.

 
It's possible that huge floating mats of tsunami debris—perhaps from Japan—brought the ancestors of Hawaii's present-day honeycreepers to the islands.

Those of you who've spent time at sea know how land birds get blown off course and will rest on any platform on the water—ship, boat, raft, the backs of sleeping whales—as they fight to stay alive.

Maybe the current tsunami debris will transport some newcomers to the Hawaiian Islands.

Townsend's warbler rests on a boat. Credit: Andrew Revkin via Flickr.

  
If so, would we recognize them as naturally-delivered refugees? 

Or would we try to exterminate them as human-introduced aliens?

The papers:

• Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner. Marine Debris. pdf.
• Heather R.L. Lerner, Matthias Meyer, Helen F. James, Michael Hofreiter, and Robert C. Fleischer. Multilocus Resolution of Phylogeny and Timescale in the Extant Adaptive Radiation of Hawaiian Honeycreepers. DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2011.09.039.

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Cinch Weight Loss Testimony

Check out this awesome testimony from Tess, who just finished the Cinch Inch Loss Program.

“I am so excited to have the opportunity to share this awesome system with anyone who would like to have a healthier lifestyle. " Tess says.

Tess, 40 pounds healthier.

I've gained and lost weight most of my adult life. One time, I got as high as 200 pounds before I even admitted to myself that I was gaining weight. At that point I began walking six to seven miles three days per week and eating better. As a result, I got back to around 160 pounds. Unfortunately, my weight did not stay there. I would roller-coaster from 160 to 175 pounds, but could not seem to get below 160 pounds.

Four years ago, while pregnant, my weight went up again and I hit 201 pounds. I was devastated. It didn't matter that I was pregnant, I was over 200 pounds again and I did not want to be that heavy.

During the first exhausting months after my daughter was born, a friend suggested including Cinch® shakes in my diet. The first thing I discovered was the huge boost in energy! Not believing it could be from the silly little shakes, I stopped taking them. Within two days, I lost that energized feeling.

So I started the shakes again and felt so much better. I still had energy to jump out of bed and begin the day, even if I had been up at night with the baby.

That inspired me to add the entire Cinch program. Over time, I dropped to 150 pounds. That is 10 pounds lighter than I had been able to get before being pregnant.

It was amazing.

That was more than three years ago. Today I am still using Cinch products and enjoying the energetic new me. I am so excited to have the opportunity to share this awesome system with anyone who would like to have a healthier lifestyle.

Thank you, Cinch, and thank you, Shaklee!

 

Thanks Tess for sharing your Cinch experience! 

If you are looking to get healthier and drop inches, take our Healthiest Loser Cinch Challenge starting Nov. 1st!

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