Back Porch Redo

Awhile back we finally finished the little extra space on the side of the back porch for our grill! It was so easy to do, and only took us about an hour and a half! Since our patio is small to begin with and our table and chairs take up most of the room, we really needed a space for the grill! Yes, those are shutters leaning on the wall. We had to take them down when we had our hurricane shutters installed, and they are waiting to be painted before they get put back up. :) We'll get around to that one day. ;)

At first we left a little border around the edge with the rocks, but afterwards decided to go ahead and make it a little bigger by adding another row of pavers. I think this cost us about $20 to do which included the pavers and sand. Oh yeah, we bought a few pieces of sod too, to go around the edges, so that was probably $5 more, so total $25 for this project! :)

First we raked up all the weeds, grass, etc. and flooded sprayed the area with weed killer. Then, we brought in some extra dirt from the front yard, and leveled it out. Once it was leveled out we added plastic and landscape fabric on top to help keep the weeds out. On top of that we added some rocks to make it even more level. Once we pounded it flat with the tamper, it was time to add the pavers. We copied the pattern that Home Depot had laid out, and it helped so much that we took a picture of it to use as an example. I ended up changing it just a little, but in the end it worked out great! :)

Here is the finished product with the sand in between the pavers and the grill in it's new home. I probably need to add some more sand now that it's had time to settle, and water that poor grass. We had a HOT summer here, and my poor grass took a beating. But it's raining today, so FREE water! :)

I wish I had a before of how UGLY this little area was before we leveled it out and put the pavers down. Grass would never grow there for some reason, so it was also muddy, mossy and weedy. ICK!! Plus, the previous owners had this NASTY pile of wood that had been dry-rotting for forever that they left for us when we moved in. I was so glad to get rid of that mess! It's super pretty now! YAY! :)

Just a quick note..

Happy Birthday to my Grandpa! He would have been 87 today! He passed away 7 years ago after a stroke, and I still miss him every day. Being an only child with a single mom until I was 9 years old, my grandparents were a HUGE part of my everyday life. We lived right across the street from them, and my grandfather was basically my Dad for many years until Mom met Terry and Grandpa got a lil break. haha :) My Grandpa was a driving force in making me who I am today --after endless nights of spelling practice, I can probably spell any crazy word you throw at me ;)--, and I am forever grateful for the 20 years I got to spend with him. We all love and miss you Grandpa!

He was at every football game, even when it was WAY too cold to be there!

Aww, I always got a pic with them for every dance! :)

Today is also special for another reason! Mom and Terry brought sweet Molly home from the shelter 6 years ago! :) The shelter workers found her on the side of the interstate in Alabama after Hurricane Ivan. We were expecting a bigger dog (since the pictures they took of her made her look about triple the size that she actually was), and ended up with a sweet little puppy. She is the sweetest dog, and we love her so much! We're so glad you're a part of our family Miss Molly!

Baby Molly :)

Dirty Molly (hehe) She loves dirt :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

September...

Just a few things that happened last month since I never got around to blogging about them before September was over! :)

Adam turned 28 on September 21!! :) We celebrated his birthday with his family the night before by going to dinner at Bonefish (YUM!) and then headed back to their house for some presents and cake! Adam asked me to make his cake, and his request was for chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. :) So he got a 2 layer chocolate fudge cake, with chocolate fudge icing in between and on top of course, then I crumbled up chocolate chip cookies and pressed them around the edges so it wasn't so plain. It was a hit! Here are a few pictures from his birthday!

On his actual birthday we didn't really do a whole lot since he had to work late. But I did wait until that night to give him his presents from me. I made his card myself, and my mom and I found some really cool Gil Hibben knives that he doesn't have at an antique store to give to him. They both match so it was pretty cool. I also revealed his BIG birthday surprise as well. In the card I made, I made up a little "Birthday Present" poem, that basically told him our upcoming vacation to Universal Studios was his actual present from me. He was really excited, and I don't think he had any idea that I was going to do that. haha He doesn't get surprised easily, so it's nice when I'm finally able to get him!

Adam was actually off the day after his birthay so we went to my parent's house for dinner and for him to open his presents from them! :) I think he ended up having a nice, low key birthday, which is exactly what he needed I think.

The next week we left for vacation in Orlando! It was so much fun, but I think that deserves a whole post to itself so I'll be back later with that one!

LOTS of Great Giveaways at A Shopper's Quest

Katie at A Shopper's Quest is having 7, yes you read that right, 7 giveways right now for some pretty awesome things!! Plus there are tons of ways to get entries!! Check out her site!! I've listed the giveaways below, with links to each of them too!! :) Good Luck!!!

KT Tunstall Tiger Suit Deluxe Edition

Hasbro Scribblish Game

Millie the Pinkest Kitten

Dreamers Charm Bracelet

Libman Freedom Mop

Nab It! Game from Hasbro

Clinere Ear Cleaners

Finally got some Halloween in our house!

I finally quit being lazy got around to decorating for Halloween/Fall! Seeing everyone else's great ideas for mantles, outdoor decorations, etc. I decided I just couldn't put it off any longer!! :)

Here is a picture of our mantel... I used a lot of stuff that I already have, but a few items were great finds from this year!! And no I did not take down the 3 large prints and replace them with anything yet. I haven't found anything I like. :)

I decided I needed a candelabra after seeing Laura's table decorations at Finding Home.

I LOVE what she did with her table, and I knew that the candelabra was exactly what I needed to finish mine!! My mom and I stopped by a local antique shop right by my house (Franklin's on Mobile Hwy. for all you locals), and after looking through the ENTIRE place (which is HUGE), I had given up on finding one there. Just when I told my mom "Gosh, I can't believe we didn't find even one," she says "Beth, I found one!" I was so excited! LOL It wasn't black, but it was heavy and silver, and ended up only being $10. YES!

I also scored a smaller candelabra for only $1 at the same antique store. I love a deal! :) And I think it works just fine! It's in the 2nd picture below.

Here are a few more shots of our mantel with closeups.

I also found inspiration for cute Halloween letters from Beth's mantel at The Stories of A to Z

and her friend Chris's at Just a Girl.

Plus, after Shelley at House of Smith's posted this awesome printable, I knew I had to incorporate it somehow too!!

The only frame I had to use for the spider printable was a silver one, but I think it compliments my silver candelabra quite nicely, and since our walls are such a dark chocolate brown, the silver stands out better than black would have. So I'm happy with my decision not to paint either of them black! :)

The lime green letters I found, that Adam so nicely got for me at 9:30pm at Target, were only $2.50! And they are glittery, which I LOVE! I think it gives just the right pop of color in the center and they were CHEAP too! :) Hope y'all enjoy our little touch of Halloween in the house! Hopefully my crazy fools sweet cats will leave my decorations alone, and I won't find a pile of chewed items when I get home today!

Etsy Store Reveal! ratty daddy dinkdum is OPEN!

I am so excited because my mom and I officially launched our etsy store yesterday!!! :) It's called ratty daddy dinkdum (it's named after a song we used to sing when we were both little that my grandparents taught us). It's a funny story where that name came from, so I'll have to post about it soon!! :)

Anyways, we have 7 scarves listed so far and are in the process of creating more!! We handmake each one of them using tons of different yarns, fabrics and threads. We have also found some CUTE vintage fabrics to use in some of them as well!! :) Hope y'all like them!! Please help us promote the shop!! We greatly appreciate the help getting our name out!!

Here are a couple of the scarves for sale in our shop right now!

Ga Ga for Green

Pink Lemonade

Razzle Dazzle
Fall Festival

Want something custom? Email us at rattydaddydinkdum [at] gmail.com! Also, we're starting a blog for the site too, so keep checking back at rattydaddydinkdum.blogspot.com for more info!

So excited!!!!

So my mom and I have been shopping, shopping, shopping lately for yarn and fabric to make a scarf and we finally sat down Monday and made one!! It turned out super cute!!!! :) Totally Fall-inspired, because I can't wait until Fall finally gets here! Here are a few different pictures of it!

We'll be making more, so check back in to see our new creations!! Also, stay tuned for the Grand Opening of our etsy shop!! I can't wait to see what else we create!

Hope everyone has a great day!

I'm linking up at