Pleeeeze...Inspire Me!

Has anyone out there been struggling with inspiration? I certainly have! I need to be inspired in so many ways! First, to paint. I haven't painted anything since the first of the year. I want to but that driving inspiration simply isn't there. Second, my flower gardens are in great need of some TLC but, needless to say, I'm completely uninspired to work in them. Third, my house needs some freshening, such as paint, new curtains, new rugs; you know those things that can give a room a face lift but it's not happening because I've hit bottom in the inspiration department. I could keep going with fourth, fifth, sixth, but you get the picture so I'll stop there.

 I'm completely surprised that I'm uninspired to get these things done because, honestly, there is so much out there to inspire me. I've thought maybe it's not inspiration that's the problem but a lack of energy. But if you are truly inspired the energy to get it done is part of the package. Inspiration ignites excitement and excitement ignites energy.

 I found this little bit of inspiration (photo) on Pinterest. It does inspire me. I've been wanting to do a chalk board for my kitchen and the chalkboard in this photo has me excited to get started on it. I have some chalkboard paint and a frame, you can bet it is on my list of things to do this weekend. I so love the wire basket in this photo as well so I am going to try to find a way to add it to my finished chalkboard.

 One thing that I was inspired to do recently was put board and batton up in my dining room. Well, truthfully, I didn't put it up, my husband and son did. But I did help paint it. That's another post though. I have photos to share. Look at that, I am inspired to do another post.

Til next time

~willa~

The Knots Prayer

Wow! It's been a while since I posted anything. These past few weeks have been busy for me and I can imagine it's the same story for many of you. Life certainly knows how to keep us busy!

 I saw this prayer pinned on Pinterest and wanted to share it here. I'm sure I am not the only one with "nots" in my life. This certainly hit home with me; I didn't realize how many "nots" I have let control my life until I read this. I hope it will be beneficial to all who read/pray it.

 I haven't mentioned it here but my older sister was recently diagnosed with cancer. She went through 4 rounds of chemo and had surgery over a week ago. After surgery she had a rough go of it for a couple of days. I must admit it really gave me a scare. She's home and recovering well but will be going through another round of chemo in about 4 weeks. Life certainly seems fragile when these things happen. Death doesn't seem to close to the door until it starts knocking closer to home. Also, about a month ago I went to visit the dermatologist to have a mole checked on my back. The doctor removed it for a biopsy and told me she would call if there was a problem. I didn't hear anything for 2 weeks and then received a call from her office. I picked up the message after her office had closed and had to wait until the following morning to return the call. Since she told me she wouldn't call unless there was a problem, well, you can imagine the things that were going through my mind. I was certain that it was going to be bad news. The hours ticked by, ever so slowly, while I waited to call. Once I had her on the phone, I let her know I was ready for the bad news! She stated "Honey, it's not bad news! I just wanted to let you know everything checked out ok". I was so not expecting that response! The things we put ourselves through!

 Til next time.

 ~willa~

The Giveaway Winner

First, I apologize that  I am getting to this drawing late. It was a hectic weekend! Thanks to all who entered the give away for the prim bunny bread board. Sadly, it can only go to one home. The winner of the bread board is Melanie of "From Melanie's Home to Yours". Melanie, please email me your snail mail addie so I can get this in the mail to you. Another give away is in the works so please keep checking back.

Til Next Time

~willa~

Best Movie

Hi Blogger Friends:

I have to blog about this movie "War Horse". My Sweetie and I went to see it last night at our local theater; we've been wanting to see it for a while but went to see some other movies instead. Movies like "Sherlock Holmes" and the "Mission Impossible" three, both excellent movies but nothing compared to "War Horse". This movie is by far the best movie I have seen in a few years, maybe even longer. When I go to a movie, I go for entertainment, I don't go to critique it or feel that I need to see the best movie possible for my money. I'm happy if it entertains me. But this movie, "War Horse" more than entertained me; it drew me into the drama from the very beginning; it made me laugh and then it made me cry; it crushed me, then lifted me up. I was truly swept up into the emotion, the scenes and the drama of the movie. It is one movie that my Sweetie and I talked about on our way home. We talked about, not just one major scene, but many of the scenes and we talked more about it the next day. In typical Spielberg style, he went above and beyond and directed/produced a move of exceptional character. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

Til next time

~willa~

January Giveaway.

Hi Blogger Friends:


I finally have my January giveaway item finished...Whew! and yay-whoo! You know how much I love bread boards and painting on them. I scrounged around through all my vintage lovelies to see if I had a fine looking breadboard to paint on but the only one I had was a short board that really didn't fit the bill I was looking for. So, what's a girl to do? Why pull out her handy dandy band saw and cut one out...of course. That's exactly what I did, I traced out a pattern on a piece of pine and cut out what I wanted.

I painted a spring design on this board. It's a design by Terrye French and I have taken a little license with it so it would fit on my board. I added a vintage cookie cutter, a rusty jingle bell, a prim tag and tied it all together with a strip of burlap. There is something about bunnies that speak spring to me. This gal looks like she is walking through a field of lavender, maybe collecting some bees for her bee keep. Of course she has invited her friend Sheep along. I just love this design which means you will probably be seeing a few more items with this sweet design painted on them. Ok, let's get to the business end of this giveaway. If you wish to participate in the giveaway please follow the rules below.

To qualify for this giveaway you must:

**be a follower of my blog

**be a US or Canadian resident

**leave a comment on this post

**If you do not have a blog please add your email addie to your post.

That's it. However, I would so appreciate if you blog about this giveaway, add to your blog sidebar and/or tweet or facebook. This giveaway ends 1/28/12 and a name will be drawn and posted on that date. Thanks to all who enter and good luck.

Til next time

~willa~

Are you Pinning?

I love Pinterest! I confess I am addicted to this site. Pinterest is loaded with beautiful things to see, creative ideas. gardening, recipes that are scrumptiously divine and so much more. It is one site that I visit everyday and each time I do I am inspired. If you haven't visited Pinterest before, try it out...http://pinterest.com/

This photo was taken off of Pinterest.  It is displaying ideas for re-purposing sweaters.  Isn't this clever? I would like to give it a try with the many sweaters I have sitting in my closet.  You can visit my pin boards by clicking on the red "follow me on Pinterest" icon on my left side bar.  I hope you will choose to follow me and if you are on Pinterest, let me know I would love to follow you.

I'm late getting my January giveaway finished. It was a busy week last week so I'm working on it today and some this week.  I had to take a couple of weeks off from painting with all the busyness of Christmas and I must admit I have missed having a brush in my hand and I'm ready to get back to business.  Stay tuned!

Til next time!

~willa~

My Christmas Puppy

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas; we certainly did. We had a house full of family and friends, lots and lots of food and desserts. At this point, I will be happy if I don't see another dessert for a couple of months. Ugggh! I must say I did good this year though; my goal was to not gain any weight and I didn't.

My Sweetie bought me a Kindle Fire. He ordered it 3 weeks before Christmas, opened it and played with it til a couple of days before Christmas. I wonder if he got it for me or him. I haven't had the time to sit down and play with it or read the directions on how to use it. I should ask him to give me a tutorial since he knows all the ins and outs on how to operate it. Honestly, I didn't mind him playing with it, he will probably use it more than I do. I like my laptop.

This is SadieMae, of course. She was such a good gurl with all the extra people in the house. They all loved on her and spoiled her. Maybe that's why she has been moping around the house for the past couple of days; she's not getting all that attention.

Thank yous to all who stopped by with Merry Christmas wishes.  I enjoyed visiting some of your homes this season too.  Many of you inspired me with the tour of your beautifully decorated homes. 

I'm working on the January giveaway. I hope to post it by this Friday so keep checking back.

Til next time

~willa~