I Am So Thankful For My Blessings

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving...I sure did. It was so nice to be with family and enjoy making memories together, that is what life is about as far as I am concerned. Next year, we will be celebrating the Holiday's in our new house with our precious family.....what a blessing that will be!!!! The above pictures is a pic of a Santa I bought at the craft show yesterday. My sister and I usually do this show but because I could not make anything this year because of going to school we couldn't, I had to buy something prim this year though....I LOVE IT!!!!

It has been a busy 4 days here in Spooner for Brent and I. Brent has pretty much worked on the house the whole time...he starts at 5am and does not quit until around 9pm. I have not seen much of him, his is such a trooper. I show up and sweep and clean where it is needed, but I am pretty much his gofer and his meals-on-wheels. It will be nice when our kitchen appliances are in and working, then I can cook meals there instead of hauling out food for us....can't wait.

Kara and Trav's adorable livingroom all decked out for Christmas

My daughter Kara and son-in law Travis hosted Thanksgiving for us all this year again....it was so nice!!! They really went all-out for us. Kara cooked her little heart out and her house was decorated so cute and she even made us a breakfast spinach bake.....Thank you Kara for all your work, I love you so much and am SOOOOO proud of you!!!!!

Kara stirring up and wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.

She looked so cute in her little apron...I had to get this pic.....so precious!!!!!

Our Kitchen
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Here are a few pictures of our kitchen....we set the cook top in the island just to see how it would look and I was shocked at how big it was. When we picked it out this spring....I didn't realize it was this big....gotta love my husband....his motto is "GO BIG OR GO HOME":)

The counter tops will be installed in about 2 weeks from now....that will really bring this look together. The cherry cabinets along with the granite will be awesome!!!!! I know, what is a prim girl doing with cherry and granite...I like the prims sprinkled in with the granite:)...can't help myself:)

A better view of our big cook top, look at the size of those knobs!!! I LOVE my shelves which will be above the sink, these are the second try at them....the ones they had up there before just were not my vision, I explained to them what I wanted but they just didn't quit get it. But, they did a good job on the second try....Thanks guys!!!!

My husband got all our doors hung this week also.....this a view from our bedroom looking into our bathroom. They got the surround cherry around our tub and I absolutely LOVE our french doors!!!!!

Haircuts
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I did a few haircuts while I was home. Above is my daughter Alyssa's boyfriend, Shannon. He is such a cute kid and soooo funny. Alyssa said that he had to do a glamor shot after I was finished.....we had so much fun!!!!! I think I could have taken a little bit more off the top or maybe textured it....but I was not sure how short he wanted to really go. I was glad to get the practice and enjoyed cutting his hair so much....I think I am really going to love this job!!!!

Alyssa made him pose.....too funny!!! What a good sport you are Shannon!!!!

And last but not least....I gave my son, Kasey, a haircut. I went pretty short with him....I think he looks very handsome!!!! Sitting on his lap, is my precious grandson Carson. He played with his hotwheel cars the whole time I was cutting Kasey's hair...it was a challenge trying to keep him out of the hair on the floor..... Granny loves you so much Carson!!!!!!

Well, now I am off to work at the Antique Mall until 3pm....then it's out to the house to pick up my sweetie and then we will be heading back to Rapids to get back to reality....can't wait til my reality is back here in Spooner with my family!!!!!

God Bless you all, Rhonda

A Quick Look At The Beginings Of Our Kitchen

Our cabinets were installed last Thursday and we are so happy with everything so far...tomorrow, I am planning on taking more pictures of the rest of our cabinets and hopefully get them posted ASAP. The bathrooms and laundry room cabinets are installed also and they are ALL beautiful!!! They all match our floor color really well which is a relieve because Brent and I are were very concerned about that.

Brent has been working this whole week while he has been off work for deer season...he has been hanging our doors and trim....he has done a beautiful job, he is a trooper that's for sure. I skipped out on 4 hours of school (which I hated to do) and came home early last night because of a bad storm that was brewing. I am glad I did, we are getting this storm right now as I type this and it's nasty....I sure would not want to be driving 3 hours in this mess so I am so glad I came home early!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...we all have so much to be thankful for that's for sure!!!! Blessings, Rhonda

Perm And A Happy Mom And Daughter

Good Morning everyone....the perm I gave my daughter Thursday at school was a complete success. My daughter Kara, asked me to give her a perm about a month ago...so I put her in the appointment book and was excited for her to come to my school. Because we live 3 hours away from our family right now, it is always SOOOOOO nice when they come and stay with me here in Rapids. My mom came with her which also which was an added bonus.....love you mom!!!!! Anyway, Kara didn't want a spiral/real curly perm...she wanted more of a beachy wave....I crossed my fingers that I could give her that result and started asking the senior students and the teachers how I would get this beachy wave effect. We decided to use rods that they were all very new at using called Italian rods. It took a few tries to figure out how to use them but we did it and the result was everything Kara was hoping for.

Here Kara is before the perm....I should have taken a picture of the back of her hair also...things were crazy there before we started, was not thinking I guess.

Right now until January, we have a partner during our appointments. Stevie Jean was my assistant for Kara's perm.....she did a great job and it was a pleasure to work with her.

Kara all wrapped up.

Kara and I after the wrap.

It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes to wrap this....not too bad for novice wrappers.

Kara waiting at the shampoo bowl for us to put on the neutralizer.

Kara at the dryer after we took out the perm rods.

After took out the rods.

And here she is as we were walking to the car to go for lunch.....LOVE IT!!!! I gave her a trim at home on Saturday and she colored my hair.

I have some pictures of our cabinets but I don't have time to load them right now. I will get to that hopefully tomorrow. I better get ready for school.....Blessings everyone....Rhonda

Winter Arrived In Spooner, WI

Last weekend when we went home to work on our house, we woke up to this winter wonderland Saturday morning. We had a lot of running around to do the as far as renting the saw to cut the ceramic tile so my husband could lay the tile in our laundry room and entryway. Snow, slippery roads, wind and a 3 hour power outage didn't stop us from meeting our goals. He got the tile laid and we survived the complicated conditions and had a productive weekend in spite of it all. The above picture is beautiful if you don't have to drive around in it all weekend. It was taken just before our driveway. It's very pretty and I can't wait until we move home and on days like these, we can just cuddle up next to the fireplace and enjoy the beautiful view.

Our house in the middle of the winter wonderland.

A view from the front.

We finished putting the final touches on our floors....I LOVE THEM!!!!

Tile all laid in the laundry room, Brent has to grout it next weekend and then it will be finished.

Brent finish laying the tile in our entryway...he will grout it this weekend also.


Our livingroom, kitchen and dining room floor turned out sooo good...LOVE THEM!!!!

Well, time is slippin away, I better get ready for school. My daughter Kara came down here last night...I am giving her a perm today at school, say a prayer it turns out. Have a great day everyone. Sorry this post is so short...just wanted to post a quick update about what we have been up to. Blessings, Rhonda

Christmas Grand Opening At Country Freckles

I am so proud of Joni, owner of Country Freckles!!!!! She bought a building on 8th street, which is THE main street in Wisconsin Rapids, late this past summer. Joni has said since I met her almost 3 years ago....."I want to buy a building on 8th street". A building finally came up for sale that she was interested in and it didn't take long before she had things in motion. I remember when we were in Columbus, Ohio at market late this summer......she was getting phone calls like you would NOT believe from her realitor, the contractors she has lined up for the remolding, the electricians, the furnace guys...you name it, they were calling her. I was thinking to myself and finally said it, "Joni...do you think you really want to buy this building...it seems like a lot of headache and a lot of work waiting ahead for you". She said, "I'm doing it", she had a vision and she was NOT giving up on her dream. Well, to make a long story short...Country Freckles now has a new home......everything is moved into Joni's new building....the HARD work has been done and it is sooooooooooooooooo GORGEOUS!!!!!! Joni has proved to me that if you want your dreams to come true and are willing to WORK hard for it....it will happen. You are an amazing women Joni, you work harder then ANY woman I know....I thank God that he had blessed me with you friendship!!!! I wish you God's blessing as you enjoy your new journey!!!!!!

Joni's open house was tonight, it was absolutely amazing!!!!! She let me snap a few pics to share with all of you.....I am going to stop in tomorrow on my lunch to snap some more. There we TOO many people in the store to really get the whole feel of the store in my pictures, I didn't want to be annoying. I was so glad to see the line up at the check out deck!!!!!!

I really LOVED this display!!!!!

This display looks sooooo peaceful, you just want to set down and have a cup of coffee and take it all in!!!!

I LOVE these coverlets!!!! Like I said, I am going to Country Freckles on my lunch hour to take more pictures....so stay tuned:)

OUR HOUSE IN PROGRESS
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Last weekend, Brent and I went home once again and worked on our hardwood floors. Brent finished up laying it....and I started staining what was laid. Here is a picture of the bathroom before I started staining.

Here is a picture of a good start:)

Done with the bathroom and walk-in closet and heading out into our bedroom.

Brent finishing up the kitchen and working his way into the dining room.

Lookin good

I finished up our bedroom and bath and headed to the other end of the house.

My daughter, Alyssa's room....LOVE IT!!!

A view of the spare bathroom and our office. We are going home to finish up....so stay tuned for more pics. We are hoping to have the kitchen cabinets installed November 18ish...can't wait for that!!!!

School Daze Update
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I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE long hair design......I can tell that is it going to be one of my favorite things to do in the salon. I think because I have long hair and my girls have long hair is the reason I like long hair design. It just feels comfortable to me and I am excited to learn all I can about how to do up-do's for weddings, proms ect..... The picture above is a before.....

And here is an after.....I really liked doing this design. It is done by doing knots though out...LOVED IT!!!!

Here is a view of the back.....I would totally wear this up-do to a fancy event....maybe someday I will.

Today, was a really big day for me....I had my first client, I gave her a perm and a haircut. It went really well, she left happy and my teachers were very pleased also.....it's always good when the teachers are happy too:) I had a really good day and can't wait until next Thursday when I will get a chance to work on the public again. Until then......stay tuned for more pics of Country Freckles new store.....Blessings to you all....Rhonda