Because I'm crazy. and because I love a bloggy party. AND because Sarah called me a wus. Me. I'm sooo not a wus. and just to prove it, I faced my fears head on and went back to the scariest place on earth. The place where you can actually purchase things like this oh-so-modish piece of art: or this faaaancy shoe doo dad: this creepy head thingy: or the ever present Goodwill staple: You can get your very own foot-fungus-making machine: or perhaps something a little more practical... ugh. I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Just when I thought all hope was gone, like a beacon of light, a lovely little gem entered the room via squeaky rolly cart. No. Not that. That is the picture that you would see if Avery were writing this post. She was so pumped about that crazy cash register. Especially when she found DORA play money inside. Jackpot.
No - this is what I'm talking about... Helloooo Little Lady! $9.99 seemed a little steep for Goodwill to me, but it was too cute to pass up.
The best part? Since it was already painted, all it needed was a little cleaning, a little sanding... and a little more sanding. So - I put my little munchkin to work. Kathy Lee style. What a busy little worker bee! Keep working! More sanding! More! So easy even a two-year-old can do it. I found myself covered in white dust after the sanding was over, but felt some serious satisfaction with the end result. I really enjoy painting and sanding furniture. It's kind of fun. Every piece of furniture I "antique" brings me one step closer to getting the nerve up to distress my armoire...
As you can tell by my lack of blogging, I've been totally uninspired this week. Nester's bloggy carnival was just the push I needed to get me movin' again.
This is Avery's room. I found her tiny chandelier a few years ago on clearance at Lowe's. It was a banged up, dusty, floor model. And silver. Eww.
I had to have it. It needed me.
I took off the crystals, cleaned it up a bit, and spray painted it a flat cream color. All for $30. Yup. $30. One of my proudest shopping moments. Ever. I have a little nightlight for Avery's room that I made from one of those night light kits from Hobby Lobby.
It was seriously easy peasy to do: I just cut a square of fabric to fit the shade, stuck it on the self adhesive lamp shade, and embellished with a little bit of fringe. It's been loved on a bit by Avery, but it still works like a charm. Total cost: $6.00
Lastly, I found an idea somewhere on the internet to create a lampshade cover for that sweet little milk glass lamp I just bought. Since I can't sew yet, I enlisted the help of my super-sewer friend Kris.
As luck would have it, when I was ready to make it, I couldn't find the tutorial again. So - my friend Kris helped made it for me.
Didn't she do a great job? Cutie, cute, cute. She told me that you make it the same way you make a drawstring skirt. Whatever that means. I just nodded like I knew what she was talking about...
Anywhoo...I hot-glued the edges of the slipcover to the lampshade for a cleaner look, but you could just leave it hanging there too. Either would be too cute.
There are some grrreat ideas out there in bloggy land. Check out Nester's blog for more inspiration!
Kelli from Outside My Kitchen Window tagged me. She lives in the same city that I moved from a couple of years ago. We never met while I was living there, but I wish that we had! We'd get together for Craft Club...
Anyway - here goes: _________________________
8 Things I'm Looking Forward to...
1. Going to the beach with our friends in a few weeks!
2. Going back to work in the Fall at the preschool. 'Cause man I need some spending money...
3. Seeing my little sister graduate from High School next month.
4. Hearing Charlie say, "Mama" for the first time.
5. Getting the yard looking all pretty and stuff. Do you think we could make this work in the budget? (photo from southernliving.com)
I'm thinking that the envelope will have to be a little stretchier to hold the cash for something like that.
6. Going to ITALY next year for our 10th anniversary. We're already saving...and saving...and saving.
7. Taking some sewing classes
8. Calling Dave Ramsey and telling him what I think about his stupid envelopes that we're DEBT FREE in a few months. _________________________
8 Things I did Yesterday...
1. Went to our little friend Miller's 3rd birthday party where I helped his mommy hot-glue ribbon reins on hobby horses.
2. Brainstormed various excuses for avoiding doing the laundry.
3. Drank waaay too much Diet Coke. Because I need it now to continue living. All of my major organs are totally dependent on Diet Coke to function properly. It's super healthy.
4. Heard that my sister made the cheerleading squad at Ole Miss!!! I'm soooo proud of her and can't wait to go to football games to watch her cheer next fall. I guess that means I have to be a Rebels fan now.
5. Ate a Sonic Butterfinger Blast. I figured I needed to do it now, cause after I stop nursing, I have to go on Butterfinger Blast Lock Down.
6. Watched The Gilmore Girls - oh how i love it...
7. Got reaquainted with my Google Reader. Would you believe that it said 341? What?!? Someone needs to go on Google Reader Lock Down.
8. Fell asleep in Avery's bed with her. While having my hair twirled. tightly. That's how tired I was. ___________________________
8 Things I Wish I Could Do...
1. Sing well. With David. Preferably like her 2. Sew things like this or maybe this (photos from hannah kate online)
3. Take a shower without worrying that my house will be destroyed or that Charlie will lose an eye.
4. Finally get the guts to paint and distress my armoire.
5. Get paid to do things like: read blogs, craft, watch TV, and shop. I would be a very rich woman. and happy. I would be oh, so happy.
6. Go to Archiver's by.myself. And spend an unlimited amount of money. But not MY money. Someone else's. Someone who lets me keep everything I buy.
7. Go to a New Kid's On The Block concert. Yep. I'm admitting it. I'd sing "hangin' tough" with all those mini-van mommas and not think twice.
8. Blink and make things magically happen. Especially when it comes to cleaning the tub. or painting ceilings. or changing diapers. _________________________
8 Shows I Enjoy...
1. The Gilmore Girls (why did you leave me???) 2. Lost (even though it confuses the heck out of me) 3. The Office 4. How I Met Your (wait for it) Mother 5. The Young and the Restless. (I know, I know...) 6. Burn Notice and The Mentalist (It's a tie) 7. One Tree Hill (why won't they leave Lucas and Peyton alone already?) 8. The Celebrity Apprentice __________________________
Put the logo on your blog or post. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE! Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.
Kerry from Colored with Memories gave me this LOVELY award. I like it. If there's one thing I'd like to believe that I am, it's honest. Sometimes, (wait - make that MANY times) too honest. And as long as I'm being totally honest, what I call "honesty" is nothing but plain 'ol foot-in-mouth disease.
Is it bad when more than one of your friends compares you to this girl?
Hmmm....
So as recipient of this award, I'm supposed to list 10 honest things about myself. After that, I'll pass the award on to 5 bloggers I deem deserving of the coveted Honest Scrap award.
Here goes: 1. I hate mornings. Must kill mornings.
2. My first Cabbage Patch doll was named Aretha. I don't remember her middle name... It was probably something completely strange and random like Valencia. Anyway - I renamed her Cynthia. I thought "Cynthia" was the most perfect name in the world. Cynthia Valencia...It has a nice ring to it, don't 'cha think?
3. Doing laundry makes me physically ill.
4. My husband and i have been on staff at 3 church plants. Our current Church Home is NOT a church plant. We've been there 2 years now and just LOVE it. It's the first non-church plant that we've ever been a part of. It's kind of nice to not have to fold up chairs at the end of every service, raise financial support, or go door-to-door with flyers. Church planting is a LOT of work. We'd do it again if God wanted us to, but we are enjoying the break!
5. I hate English Peas. Yuck. Barf. Gross. Nasty.
6. I have a serious aversion to listening to voice mail. If you leave me a voice mail, you can pretty much count on not getting a phone call back. It really stresses me out to see that little envelope pop up on my phone. There's probably some emotionally gut-wrenching, deep-seated psychological reason for it. I can't afford a Psychoanalyist visit because DAVE RAMSEY IS THE DEVIL, so I guess we'll never know why I do it. I'll respond to a text all day long, but only listen to my voicemail like 2ce a month.
7. I'm the oldest of 5 kids and am 14 years older than my youngest sister. She's graduating from High School this year. It makes me feel really old. When I'm around her, I trick myself into thinking that I'm 18 again. A really dorky 18-year-old. With 2 kids. And a mortgage.
8. I have never balanced my checkbook. Ever. Dave Ramsey would come over to my house just to slap me if he heard that. Because he's mean. Did I mention that he is THE DEVIL?
9. I buy trunk show clothing for my kids and Target clothes for myself. I kill myself scraping money together to do it, but it's kind of my hobby... a very expensive hobby.
10. I drink wayyy too much Diet Coke. Especially Diet Cokes from Sonic. _________________________
I read lots of different kinds of blogs. There are my real-life friend's blogs, randomly discovered mommy blogs, craft blogs, home decorating blogs, preschool craft blogs, and shopping blogs on my google reader.
Aside from my real-life friend's blogs, my favorite blogs to read are blogs of people I've never met in real life, yet feel connected to because of the similarities that our lives have. Especially those whose husbands are in ministry like mine.
They make me laugh, they inspire me, they encourage me, and they help me keep on truckin' through life in church ministry. Thank you, ladies, for keeping it real: for not being afraid to be who God created you to be. For not conforming to unrealistic standards. For being HONEST.
So - here's an award for my special sisters who are living honestly in the middle of "battlefield church": rachel @ in his hands: our adoption journey cassandra@ tripping around the sun sarah@ life in the parsonage misty@all because i fell in love
Today I'm linking up with Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick. She's having an organizing party and I thought I'd post a couple of my organizing ideas. We live in an itty bitty house, so closet space is at a premium. Since the weather here doesn't require a million different kinds of coats, we decided to put our coat closet to better use.
It's a craft closet now. Shocker.
David and I bought some wire shelving at Home Depot and installed a shelf for my Cricut and our printer. I left some room on the side of the closet for my hanging gift bag holder and my standing gift wrap holder and bought two organizational towers to house all my crafting goodies.
My pretty crafting towers used to roll, but the wheels broke off. SO SAD. I think that I must have maxed out the weight requirement and the poor little wheels just couldn't take it.
Imagine that.
Now, instead of rolling my pretty towers out when my crafting buddies come over, I have to shove and shimmy them out. Not very graceful, but they still work like a champ. ___________________________
A few years ago, I saw this idea in Real Simple magazine. It's the perfect place to store all of those random things that need a home - you know, things that usually end up lost in a junk drawer? It's just a simple, cheap-o little shoe organizer, but I love that I can find my flashlight or USB cord now. It makes life a lot easier. ___________________________
This is Charlie's diaper bag. It's a Kalencom bag. My friend Maribeth introduced me to it. I love it and will never buy a different type of diaper bag ever again. That's how much I love it.
Anyway - It kind of doubles as my purse for now, so I thought I'd show you some of my ideas for organizing my diaper bag. I don't know if you can tell or not, but I have a really great key chain that hooks on the outside of your purse. It has to be one of the best inventions ever (I know I say that a lot, but I mean it this time!). It's so nice to not have to fish around for my keys anymore.
This is my bag of goodies for when we are in waiting rooms or restaurants. Very necessary. playdough books suckers all you need for a quiet meal!
I got tired of never having bendy straws at restaurants for Avery. So - when I saw this idea in a parenting magazine, I was so thrilled. Now I keep bendy straws in a toothbrush holder so they don't get dirty or lost. It's been a lifesaver! This is our mail sorter (I got it at Ballard Designs. Well worth the money). I prettied up some clothespins and labeled them to help organize our random papers better. It's worked really well for us. Because my camera STINKS, you can't read what the clothespins say, so I'll just tell you: to file receipts bills coupons grocery coupons
That's it! Check out Sarah's blog to view more organizational ideas.
It's time for my open house. I even cleaned for the occasion...sort of...just don't look too closely!
Here's the view from my front door:
My Dining Room - Here's another picture of the Dining room - in this one, you can see the where I hung my Christmas cards. They are on twine and put up with clothes pins. my decoupaged picture frames The "stocking holder" I made. Sadly it had to turn into a "tussie mussie holder" - since I can't find my STOCKINGS!!! Speaking of Tussie Mussies - here is the one that I made. I planned on making 4, but I got frustrated and quit.
That's right. I'm a crafty quitter. I'm owning it. Kitchen Pictures - these are the reindeer foot and hand prints that I made with Avery and Charlie the other day. I especially love how little Charlie's handprints look like blobs because I couldn't get his fists to open. So precious. These are the button trees I made a couple of weeks ago. They almost KILLED me.
Ingredients for the perfect Button Tree: 1. a million buttons 2. a million and two pearlized straight pins 3. mod podge 4. every shred of sanity you have left 5. the sickening feeling that you should have just bought a $20 tree and saved yourself the hassle. This. Oh, this... This is the Josh Groban door hanger that I WON last year at our Worship Team's Christmas Party. It was a Dirty Santa gift. Did I mention that I WAS THE LUCKY WINNER of this GEM???
It makes me laugh. I love it. He's decoupaged. He's fancy. He's jingle-belly and wearing a Santa Hat. He's fabulous. More Christmas cards hanging in the window over my sink This is Avery's handmade Christmas Wreath. That girl LOVES to paint. Isn't it sweet? I got the idea from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. This is the totally touchable, stuffed, felt Christmas Tree that is in our playroom. The ornaments are nativity pieces. Next year, I'm going to wrap each one up individually and let Avery put one on the tree during the last few nights before Christmas... Kind of like an advent activity. This is a board I made this year. I love this ornament. It is my favorite. It was Avery's preschool ornament from last year. I love her smile in the picture. It makes me happy. This is the top of a little bookshelf in the playroom. I put the Christmas Card Wreath I made on the wall and have a basket of Christmas stories and a yummy-smelling rosemary topiary on top of the shelf. The fuschia tinsel tree in Avery's room and a Christmas prayer candle that was mine when I was a little girl. This is the shelf in my bathroom. I found the little bottle brush trees at Garden Ridge and did a little work on them. They used to have colored ornaments on them. I took those off and added pearl ornaments instead. Then I glittered little wooden stars and put them on top. I like the white better.
I bought those little houses at Hobby Lobby. I still have to paint and glitter them. I'll post a picture of them later. A snowflake themed wreath on the wall in my bedroom - That's it... It doesn't take long to tour Itty Bitty House. Check out Kimba's blog for more open house tours!
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