April Monthly Moos {Storm Shelter Time!}

Do you remember this time last year that I wrote about the  F3 tornado that went through our area, destroying homes, businesses, and killing two people?  When Eldon and I came out of the stair closet where we had been taking shelter and went out on our porch and all we could see were the lights of emergency vehicles, we knew it was bad news.  

I told him that was the last time I wanted to take shelter in a closet.  But, as life happens tornado season passed and so did another year.  

I started thinking and worrying about it early this spring and when Eldon came home from a consulting job in Arizona we sat down to make our list of Spring to-do jobs, and we put tornado shelter on the top of the list!  

So, we scoped out the best spot, using the hill to our advantage and Eldon did the excavating.

Because of rain, muddy roads and a few other issues our shelter delivery was delayed about a week and we had to sit out the first tornado warning of the year in our closet again.  But, it was finally delivered this week!

It was a fun process to watch.  The shelter comes in two halves.

The truck backed up until it seemed to me that it was about to back into the hole.  But then things like that really make me nervous!  

He attached the bottom half to his crane and set it in place.  

I jokingly (sort of) told Eldon we should put our old twin size iron bed in there while the top half was off!  

The top half will bolt to the bottom half in those brackets that are already in place.

And the the top half came down.

This man made it look really easy!

There it is in place.  

Then Eldon started the backfilling.  

I don't know if you can tell in the picture above, but the shelter is located where the ground really slopes down from the house.  This area is where we will be bringing in dump truck loads of fill dirt to begin our landscaping for our yard.  So the shelter will be completely covered (except for the door that is actually in the hill).  We will even be able to plant grass on top!

I love that there is a little tiny window in the door.  It makes it not quite so dark and spooky inside!

Our kids and grand-girls came over to check it out and the little girls immediately decided it was their play house.  They were trying so hard to get Belle to go in with them.  

In the picture above they were begging her to come in and she was arguing with them!  They even threw her frisbees in there, thinking she'd come in for those!

Oh, poor thing.  She wants in there so badly but she just couldn't make herself do it!

So... I'm thinking I want to pretty it up a bit inside and make it a fun place to be.  What do you think?  

(Smile!)

So now, we are ready for tornado season to officially start.  And the bad news is my daughter and I have tickets and a day planned to attend the Country Living Fair in Nashville Saturday.... and a day of huge storms and tornadoes are predicted.  The last thing we want to do is stay home with the boys and the little girls hiding out in the tornado shelter.   We're hoping for a change in the weather.  I'll keep you posted!  

Happy April!

Cake Pops... And A Winner!

We have a winner for the Photo Canvas and it is Kim!  

For those of you that didn't win, remember you can still use the 35% offer code, RFS35.  That offer is good until the end of the month!

My little grand-daughter's 7th birthday is this weekend and for fun I decided to make some Cake Pops.  Have you ever made them?  I used to make Cake Pops all the time for work functions, birthdays, and special treats for friends.   

But for some reason I haven't made them in a long time.   So I was kind of excited to do it.

I always think Cake Pops make the prettiest bouquets.   I covered them with little treat bags, tied with some ribbon scraps and put them in my pretty milk glass goblets.  

You will not be getting a tutorial for these here on my blog, as I will be honest and say they are a big, messy job!  But if you've never made them and you're wanting to try, the best place to learn is from the lady that "invented" them, here.  And let me know how it goes!  

Along with making cake pops, I've been crafting little tissue paper flowers for a garland, and large tissue flowers to hang from the ceiling so it has been all fun pink and blue going on here - Jillian's choice for her birthday colors this year!  

My Gallery Wall And A Giveaway!

You may remember some months ago I mentioned that I was going to finally be tackling my stair wall?  I've been collecting a few things for some time but  taking the plunge is a whole different story.    For some reason this job was a little intimidating to me.

I've never actually done a gallery wall before.   I've seen pictures all over Pinterest of course and blog posts with instructions on how to do it.  I didn't want mine to look like every other gallery wall out there,  but I sure needed some ideas.

Cutting paper to the size of all my pictures and items I would be hanging, and then taping them to the wall with frog tape is genius!  I moved them around for days until I finally got them to a place I felt comfortable with.  And even then I left it a few more days while I made sure it was what I wanted.

The other thing I liked about the paper taped to the wall is that I measured and marked right on the paper and nailed my picture hanging hooks right through the paper.  Less marking up the wall that way.  

I got all my big items hung and then I stood back and took a really long look before I started filling in the blank spaces with my little things.  

I used some old horse shoes that we've collected through the years, as well as a few other old things that have meaning to us.

These spurs were our sons first pair when he was just ten years old and they were handmade by an old cowboy friend of my Dad's.  They are special to me!

 The above pictures were taken by my cousin at my parents ranch in New Mexico.  I love them.  I purchased frames from Hobby Lobby that look like old barn wood.

I am totally in love with the cow pictures I took and had made into canvases.  Both of them are 16 x 24 and I think they look fantastic on the wall.  

I hung a few antique tools that belonged to my husband's father.  And of course my Farmers Market sign I made and told you about here.   It fits just the way that I envisioned it would!

And there it is.  Finished!  

Now, the best part... the giveaway!  

I was contacted recently by CanvasPop asking if I would like to review one of their canvases.  The timing was perfect as I was in the process of working on this wall so of course I said yes!   I emailed them this beautiful photo that my daughter took of my little grand-daughters standing on the bank of our pond.   This gorgeous 16 x 24 canvas arrived within a week.   I love how vivid and bright the colors are.  They are very true to the original photo.  

So here is the deal!  One lucky reader will be chosen to win a 16 x 20 canvas stretched on a .75" frame depth and free shipping.  That is an $80 value! 

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this blog post!  Please make sure I have a way of contacting you should you win.  This giveaway will be open until next Thursday, April 16th.  

And to make the deal even sweeter, every reader will receive a 35% off discount until the last day of April.  All you have to do is click here to go to CanvasPop's website, follow all the very easy instructions to upload your picture, choose your canvas, and enter the offer code RFS35 at checkout.    (You will find their website extremely user friendly.)

Have you ever had a photo made into a canvas?  This is my first time and wow do I ever love how they look!  I've got a few of the ranch pictures my cousin took that I would like to have done in a photo collage for my parents and you can do that on a canvas at CanvasPop.  I'm super excited to use the above discount code and order one! 

Happy Spring!