Metamorphosis Monday and a birthday party!

I am joining Metamorphosis Monday this week. This is a weekly event sponsored by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. She also sponsors Tablescape Thursdays!

This week, I am showing you the transformation of my empty apartment into a home. Some of you may remember these photos of my place from February. I finally had the place clean enough to show some pictures of how it looks now.

I'll tell you right off the bat that I am no Susie Homemaker, and my home will never be spotless. I am also a clutter queen and have a lot of stuff. It makes me happy. I have also packed a lot of furniture into a little space, but you know what? It feels comfortable and cozy, and I have had several people comment on how homey it now feels.

So with all its warts and blemishes and coziness, here is my place.

It started with this empty living room.


Now its full of personality. Sorry this pic is so dark. I added pics from several angles.










I hated these blinds, but the landlord wouldn't let me take them down. They are still up there and I close them at night, but during the day, you can see my curtains.




I still hate the wallpaper in my kitchen, but have learned to live with it. You probably won't see my counters this clean again for a while. Here it is empty.


And again with all my things.




My big bedroom empty...


...now filled with a LOT of my things! I love this room.


Here is the boys' room, empty.


And here it is as clean as its going to get. It was no easy task getting two rooms full of stuff into one room, but they succeeded.

The chest of drawers is taped off so it can be painted. It won't always be like that.

They created their own media centeer. Have you ever seen so many wires?



So what to do with the clean house? Have a party!

Jared turned 17 on Friday, the 17th. I bought him a cake at the grocery store.




I put some fun plates out.


And I wrapped up his present. Drove him nuts wondering what was inside.


We invited a few friends.


He has more friends that are girls.


There was some hand holding...


...and time spent with good friends.


I had planned to have his party outside, but the sky looked like this. Not to worry though, these were just teaser clouds. No rain. It was chilly however.


We sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy. He was a poop and put out his candles before we sang.


He thought the cake was pretty good.


He was eager to open his present.




I got him a case for his laptop. He bought a laptop with his own money since he is a working man now.


Sean decided to entertain the guests by playing this guitar.


This made Nick hide. I thought he looked funny, like the footrest had decapitated him.


The kids all decided to go outside. My nice next door neighbor loaned us their cornhole game.


This lasted only a short time.


The guests just wanted to hang out. Jakey decided to terrorize the bunch, and the tall blond boy just about had his hand bit off.


They are an affectionate bunch with some hugging too.


You could tell they had fun though, and they left with full bellies, as evidenced by the almost empty bowl of taco salad...


...and the half eaten cake.


It was a fun day!

Be sure you don't miss my next posts. My daughter and I went somewhere amazing, and I got some great pics to share! I'm sure you'll want to join us.