The Groundhog says "no" but the Daffodils say "yes"

This morning around 8am my local Groundhog, Beau, saw his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter.

My early blooming daffodils seem to disagree with Beau's forecast.

Although Beau has a 94% accuracy rating (yes, really), I hope that he's wrong this year.  I'm looking forward to warmer weather!

Built-in Bookcases

While my house is a new construction, it's designed to mimic craftsman style.  That's part of the reason why my husband and I decided on this house as our first.  It has the trim details lacking in most new houses but it also has the conveniences of new homes (walk in closets, attached garage, and no major updates required).  However, it did lack one thing that I find almost essential in a craftsman house: no bookcases flanking the fireplace.  I realize not every craftsman home has bookcases around the fireplace but this house was obviously built to have them.

This is the "before" picture with two gaping holes around the fireplace.  So I asked my handy husband very nicely if he would consider either building bookcases or hiring someone to do it.

Having recently purchased this house, we didn't have a lot of extra money to hire someone and my husband is a bit of a perfectionist so he decided to build them himself.  And I'm so glad he did because they look wonderful!

He started by removing the existing baseboard trim so we could save a little money and reuse it.

He framed out the base.

I wanted to have an outlet on the bookcases so I wouldn't have to hide cords.

We painted the bookcases the same color as the trim to make it look like they had always been there.

We were able to reuse the baseboard.

We had to buy the top trim.  The hardware store didn't have the same trim that was on the fireplace but we found something pretty close.

I decorated with blue, green, and white because it gives the feeling of being outside.

Now the room feels like it has everything that it should.  I use this space as my "winter porch."  It has great morning sun which makes it the only room where the houseplants can survive.

Linking with:

Miss Mustard Seed

Savvy Southern Style

Pantry Organization

How embarrassing!  This is my corner pantry "before."  Actually what's more embarrassing is this is after I threw out all of the expired food and organized a little.  Seriously, there were things from 2007 in there.  Talk about gross!

My husband and I didn't purchase our house until 2009 so that means that we actually moved expired food!  Lesson learned for the next move...

No organization.  Things just stayed where I carelessly shoved them after coming home from the grocery store.

The worst place was the floor.  Honestly, can you tell what's trash and what's not?

So finally I got fed up with the pantry.  I'm a little fed up with the entire kitchen but I have to start somewhere and the pantry is a good spot.

I started by removing everything from the pantry and cleaning the shelves and the floor.  Ideally I would like to paint and install better shelving but that's for another day.

Then, I put large, non-food (at least non-human food) items on the floor.  I bought some bins for recycling (plastic grocery bags and egg cartons) and some for all of the dog stuff.  And there's a lot of that...

Next I put the cleaning and food storage items together.

I put breakfast items together to I'm not fumbling around in the morning trying to find something to eat. I also collected all of my baking ingredients into a bin so everything is easy to find.

Syrup and honey went into a tray.  Just in case the containers leak, it won't be a major cleanup job.

I used a couple of plate racks to hold my cook books.  The Jadeite cake plate is one of my favorite pieces so I put it where I would see it anytime I opened the pantry door.

The thing that I'm happiest about is being able to see the floor!

If you compare the last picture to the before picture, there's not really a dramatic transformation.  At least not looking at the picture.  It's more dramatic in person.  But it makes me a little happier :-)

Wreath with Burlap Bow

I finally got around to adding a bow to my wreath.  I didn't add any more decorations because the bow is large and, like the Gingerbread Men, I like the simplicity.

I used burlap garland and instructions from the blog, "On Sutton Place"

The post with the instructions can be found here.

This is a great blog with so much inspiration!  I encourage you to visit if you haven't already.

The Joy of Baking (Even when it's not from scratch)

Oh, the joy of baking (even when it's not from scratch)!  I don't know what it is about baking.  Maybe it's that what I usually bake isn't necessary to living.  You don't need cookies.  But they're one of life's little perks.

I love making Gingerbread Men.  One of those simple things for winter.  Like Blackberry Cobbler during summer.

I never decorate my Gingerbread Men.  They never look right when I do.  And, I kind of like the simplicity.

Shopping in Historic Downtown Senoia, GA

My mom and I had a wonderful weekend shopping in historic downtown Senoia, GA.  If the name sounds familiar to you and you're not from the area, it's probably because many movies and television series have been filmed there.  Movies include Fried Green Tomatoes and Driving Miss Daisy.  The most recent television series has been the third season of Walking Dead.

Aside from the cool factor of being a film town, Senoia also offers great shopping and wonderful restaurants.  Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.

Most of the stores offer antiques, home decor, and locally handmade crafts.  There are also some women's and children's clothing boutiques.

Here are a few of my takeaways from the fabulous shops.

A wreath hanger.  Difficult to believe but I've been in my house four years and never had a wreath on the front door!

I went to my local garden store and bought a natural wreath.  The good thing about decorating with natural elements is that you don't have to store them somewhere in your house for the rest of the year and they can go straight to the compost pile when you're done with them.  I haven't had a chance to decorate the wreath yet but I'll post a picture of the finished product once I do.

Every year my great-aunt throws a family Christmas party.  At this party we do an ornament exchange. I like to bring one ornament that the men in the family will like and I thought this one would be perfect.

I was excited to find these 100% bees wax candles.  I've been looking for some for a long time but couldn't find any that I liked.  I love the little bees.  I'll put these away for now and pull them back out in the spring.

My version of "Black Friday" shopping

For some people "Black Friday" or "Cyber Monday" shopping has become a ritual.  I don't really participate in either.  I prefer buying from brick and mortar stores because I like to see what I'm really getting before I hand over hard earned cash.  Who wants the trouble of having to ship something back if it wasn't what you were expecting?  And shopping at the malls or big box stores during the holiday season is stressful.  Traffic, parking, crowds, lines... Who needs it?  For those of you who love it, that's wonderful.  It's just not for me.

However, after spending Wednesday and Thursday in the kitchen cooking and cleaning for Thanksgiving, I was ready to get out of the house.

I spent Thanksgiving with my parents in South Carolina.  They live in the vicinity of a fabulous shopping district called "Ram Cat Alley" located in Seneca, SC.  This is not a sponsored post by the way.  But if you ever find yourself in the area, I highly recommend checking this place out.

There are shops which sell antiques, vintage items, and hand made items.  They also have some good restaurants to stop in if you get hungry or just need a break from shopping.

I found some handmade items for myself.  As well as some cool vintage finds.

Soap dish

Yellowware Bowl.  This might be my new thing to collect!

I added a Christmas themed tea towel and some pears and key limes for seasonal decoration.

Salt and Pepper Shakers

These needed a bit of cleaning up when I got them but look great now.

Hope your Thanksgiving was great and if you did the "Black Friday" thing, I hope you've recovered!