Crazy thinking

Remember this?

And then my friend, Jeff, made me this....

And now it looks like this...

(I still have to accessorize it, but I love it!)

I absolutely love it.  My coffee tastes more amazing in the morning, coming from it's own bar.  :)

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Do you ever feel like this....

or this......

or this....

at 2:00 in the afternoon?  I do.   

Life can be exhausting. 

Physically... there are very practical reasons I am currently exhausted.
(a)  I am not going to bed on time.
(b)  I am not eating as healthfully as I normally do.
(c)  I am not drinking enough water.
(d)  I'm exercising sporadically at best.

Simply....I'm just plain old doing all the stuff I know not to do...and am obviously expecting different results.  That's just crazy thinking. 

Spiritually....it's exhausting trying to carry all the stuff God could carry for me...if I'd let him. 


Sometimes I take things back from Him.  I take my eyes off of Him. I place them on other things.  And then there is unrest, not as much peace, and defintely not the joy. 


Again, I'm just plain old doing the stuff I know not to do...yet again...
crazy thinking! 


God can.  He has.  He will.
I should continue to trust.  And seek Him.


And take care of myself.  God is doing His part.  I need to do mine.

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This post was sweet today.  Hop over and read it, if you get the chance. 
Aunt Ruthie is adorable, sweet...and inspiring.


Have a great day...with no crazy thinking!


And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.
Colossians 3:2 (Amplified Bible)

Ramblings....

This will probably be a longer post than anyone would possibly want to read today, but that’s okay. I’m overwhelmed by God’s presence in our family and in my life right now…I can’t even begin to express it. So, in this feeble attempt, I’ll try.

There is nothing like need to draw you to the feet of Christ…which is so where we should be always, even, in our excess. But when we feel NEED, and are at the end of ourselves, that is when God shows up.

When your fear of God is bigger than your fear of your circumstance, then God says, “WATCH THIS!”

Tony Evans

In this trial, we have not panicked. But before you pat me on the back, know this…it is God. It is GOD who has placed us in the family, in the church and in the community of friends he placed us in for such a time as this. It is GOD who has revealed His Truth to us in His Word. It is God who hears our prayers…and answers. It is GOD who draws us closer to Him so we feel His presence in our lives. It is GOD.

So we have been faithful to take Him at His word. And He is showing up. He never ceases to amaze me. He delights in faithful kids, looking upward to the Hand of the Father. He is faithful. He said He would provide. He has. He said He would give us peace that passes all understanding. He has. He said He would guide our steps. He has. He said He will never leave us. He hasn’t. He is a God that doesn’t deceive and doesn’t lie.

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On a lighter, less “preachy” note…..


What have we been doing around here?

Well, this is who joined me for breakfast this morning….

Meet Darth Vader and the Storm Trooper

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Then a few days ago as we were outside playing...and the mosquitos were just awful, this is what Braden did.

I wish I had gotten a "final"picture...he was coated in mud!!  I found out later that he was protecting his skin from mosquitos, like Bear Grylls, on Man Vs. Wild.

Makes sense, right?

And truth be told, he's the only one that didn't get bites that night....

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In my quest to simplify life right now, I've been trying to FINISH some old projects that have been hanging over me, before I start any new ones. 

Last weekend, my strong man started on my (almost completely cost free!) compost bin I've been wanting him to build.  We planned this building adventure weeks ago and then Bill broke his knee cap and has been out of commission.  As you can see, he is back in "Honey Do" mode!  Can I hear an Amen?! 

He even had a little bit of help...

...until it was time to rest and dream about being a villian in outer space....

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Remember this project? 

I finished. 

(I think I hear the Hallelujah chorus playing in the background...)

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And remember this?

It turns out beautifully. 

I wouldn't recommend spending a whole lot of time taste testing....

not that I speak from experience....

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And now, I've finally started on this.

Stay tuned....

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Friends...

They are powerful in my life.  I am truly blessed.

I was able to spend many luxurious hours with my sweet girlfriends, Connie and Meleah, on Sunday, perusing the Canton flea market.  Under the circumstances, I didn't really have any money to spend, but enjoyed many rain-soaked hours, walking around (ankle-deep in water) with these amazing women.  They, along with so many other women friends, are treasures in my life.  But Sunday with these ladies was filled with encouraging words, sweet moments and precious conversation. 

And my sweet friend Connie blessed me with this t-shirt, that is so fitting right now...

Thank you, friend.

A blessing....a challenge....and the blessing of a challenge

Remember this?

It'll have to wait for now. I have much bigger fish to fry.

As I posted here, my sweet grandmother went to be with the Lord on Thursday, September 3rd. We are still sad at our loss, but so excited for her. She is no longer in pain...and is with my "Daddy K", for the first time in 20 years.

So here is where I get my title for this post:

A blessing:
My grandmother was kind enough to leave some furniture for us grandchildren. I received a dresser, with mirror....2 nightstands...and a queen sized bed, with head and footboards. This is heavy, hard wood furniture, built solid....you know, the way they used to make furniture.

A challenge:
It's so not our personal style. But never fear....sandpaper and a paint brush are near!

The blessing of a challenge:
I just think it's so like God to not only bless our family with new (to us) good quality furniture...that's FREE to us...and has sentimental value. The same God who gave me this strong desire to create, repurpose and make old things new again, gave me a new project (a big one!) to sustain my creative urges in this difficult time for our family. I think that's sweet! And I'm excited. I look forward to sharing the end result with you...hopefully soon.

Here are some pictures of what I'm up against.

Here is one of the nightstands.


It's a little banged up. But hey, that's okay...we like distressed furniture around here. Most likely I'll beat it up some more.


It has some cool detailing.


The hardware isn't bad....kinda cool actually. But I may change it, who knows.



Here is the dresser.


And the mirror. I'm trying not to show the mess on my bed in the mirror. The mess is everything I pulled out of the old dresser and nightstands and threw onto the bed.


I'll probably remove the detailing on the mirror...but you never know.


What suggestions do you have as far as color? My head is just a spinnin' with ideas!

A little table in need of love

I was driving with my husband yesterday...and suddenly saw this in front of someone's house:




My husband, who had already started turning the car around, looked at me and said, "We're going back to look at that, aren't we?" He knows me so well.

I can see the swan in this ragged little ugly duckling, which by the way has about 82 layers of previous paint on it.


Cob webs....
Somebody has been hiding this little gem away.

It EVEN previously had some sort of cow on it, right smack in the middle of the front panel. I can't imagine why they took the cow off.


But the top of it has a really cool pattern in the wood.

Stay tuned for the big reveal.....

TA-DA!

You'll notice it is now dark outside in the video. I'm finally done. You'll also notice I have no words left. I'm exhausted. A third thing you will probably notice is that I need to decorate this room...or do a mistreatment or something. That is for another very long day.

But I want to end my day showing you this:

Here is my little farmboy in the making.

Makes this Mama's heart so proud!

FULL disclosure..be afraid, be very afraid!

Let me start this post by asking...have you ever seen what pancakes look like after they have been on the hot griddle for for 1 1/2 hours?

I have. Don't ask me how I know this.

They look like frisbees. But they actually didn't burn! Can you believe it? I can still consume them. They are like crispy, sweet things. Not preferable, I know...but that's making lemonade outta lemons, don't you think? And very frugal.

Today, the boys are at an all-day play date (YIPPEE!), so I am still trying to unpack us, wash clothes and get back to being organized after our trip last week.

Also, I am in the middle of making a chalkboard for my 4-year-old out of a huge, OLD picture frame I found at a yard sale for $1. Again, I would've taken a "before" picture, if I had a camera.
But guess what...I will have a camera.....it's coming on Thursday!!! I'm so excited. I feel like I'll be able to keep up with blogging much better. So, I'll show you the finished chalkboard then, as well as some more projects we have in the works over here.

But here's the full disclosure part (please see what I'm about to show you with eyes of grace)... and if my friend, Mary the Organizer is watching, TURN AWAY NOW.

I'd better get busy. Kid-free time is a tickin' away!

Somebody pinch me!

My man…

There are so many reasons he won my heart. I could go on and on. But I won’t right now. I will tell you that one of the reasons I love him so….is that he GETS me. He understands how I am wired. Even when I don’t always get me.

He knows that I need time alone. From time-to-time, I need time to focus on a project…kid-free; sleep without one ear open for a “Mommy cry out”; read or just sit in silence and think; or even go potty by myself. That’s just the way I’m wired.

So guess what my hunk a burnin' love did for me?! This very weekend he is giving me about 28 hours….ALONE. Let me say it again…it’s almost too hard to believe….

I am spending 28 glorious hours alone this weekend.

Yep, I think I even heard myself correctly. Now I will pinch myself.

But actually, it’s not alone per se….but it’s doing whatever my heart desires. I will set out on Saturday AM (8:00, to be exact) and hit the garage sales, with a Venti coffee in hand. Then I’ll have lunch with my friends, Amy and Pam. Then I’ll do a little bit of necessary family deal-shopping and such, since it’s Saturday, my usual shopping day, and I can’t shirk ALL responsibility. Then I meet another friend for coffee at 4:00.

But THEN, I will land here for the night:

Ahhhhh......

This is what my night will look like:

I will watch the tv shows of my choice…or none at all.

I will read my books…or not.

I will catch up on magazines...or go ahead and throw them in a recycle bin somewhere because free time to just look and read is so rare...and I know they won't ever get read.

I will sleep or maybe listen to music.

But my main objective is to work on this:

I will come home with a fully functional and organized set of recipe books. Alas, I have time to do this project that has hung over my head for almost 5 years now! Let me pinch myself again.

I also hope to come home well-rested, and ready to take on the second half of summer with two toddler boys! Amen.

Tomato Talk

OK...so that's not a picture of MY tomatoes, but it hopefully will be soon. Don't they look yummy and perfect?

I am obviously such a novice gardner. Clueless actually. But I so want to be a great one. I am experimenting with tomatoes right now. And having a ball (no pun intended).

I bought these two little tiny 5-inch cherry tomato plants at Home Depot about 5 weeks ago and put them into these huge pots. They grew and grew and grew very quickly. It was so fun to watch. (Again, proof that I am either a total novice...or a nerd)

Then here's what happened soon:

Then a couple of short weeks later, this:

I know, I know...I'm excited beyond belief about the smallest things. It's ridiculous.

If you have any helpful hints for me, like "how do I properly prune them?" or "do I even need to prune them?" or "when do I pick the tomatoes?", that would be great.

Please pardon the overusage of video. I now have a blog...and no camera. It broke. And since I'm paying off debt and not spending money, I have to make due. I suppose if I don't add something other than my rambling words, even my own mom will get bored.

Fun-loving FRUGALITY!

What a week this has been! We’ve been super busy. But what FUN it’s been to be at home!!! (Thank you, sweet husband of mine, for letting me be at home and take care of you guys. I love you for taking care of us so well.)

Making the decision to be back home full time, we decided that my job would no longer be to MAKE us money…but now it would be to SAVE us money. I was excited and up for the challenge! I am so not THERE yet....I haven't arrived. There are amazing women out there who inspire me, encourage me, and get me energized for the task. I don't even know these women personally, but love receiving their giftedness through other blogs and sites. In my "novice-ness" (is that even a word?!?), I would love to share some of the things we did as a family this week to be as frugal as possible.

One way is through couponing. I have to first put the disclaimer out there....I AM SO GREEN AT THIS! I'm not the best at the couponing game. My sweet friend, Nickie, introduced me to the power of couponing a couple of years ago. I've partially participated (when I've felt like it), but now I'm serious about it, and it's actually pretty fun competing against myself each week.

Here are the results of a couple of my outings this past week:

Kroger...

2 4-packs of Angel Soft toilet paper

6 packages of Birds-Eye frozen vegs

2 grill spices

2 Pillsbury Family Sized Brownie desserts

Total spent = $1.96

The picture is blurry, I know...and you can't even see it.

But you have to trust me....$1.96!

CVS this morning....

1 gallon of milk

1 shaving cream

1 hairspray

1 Crest Pro-Health toothpaste

and 1 double pack of newspapers (for next week's coupons)

Total spent = $1.06 out of pocket, with $6.89 in Extra Bucks to spend next time I shop.

I'm not bragging, because I'm definitely not the only one out there who does this. There are many, many, many talented women who do this far more and far better.

But isn't that FUN to know that it CAN be done?!

Another way we were frugal this week was with pure will-power and determination!

We undertook 'THE GARAGE' project today. It was a MESS....a ROYAL MESS!

So we took EVERYTHING out, so we could see what we had to work with.

All clear! Now we can move things around and start over.

We spent the afternoon clearing out, dividing items into "garage sale", "get items back to rightful owner" and "trash" piles. The rest we put back neatly. Hopefully we can keep it that way for awhile! (I'd give you an "after" photo, except that our other 3 piles are currently neatly piled in the middle of the newly clean garage...so it would still look like a wreck to you)

As you know, on any home project day, the last thing you want to do is cook. Or clean. At lunch, all we really wanted to do was go get a hamburger. Easy! (Also, I'm behind on menu planning and regular grocery shopping, so food items to choose from are slim pickins around here!)

We decided to scrape the barrel and eat what we could find. We ended up having a salad with leftover chicken, carrot sticks and fruit. How much cheaper...and healthier...than a burger!

At dinner, we were totally tempted, yet again, to eat out. We were exhausted! And we STILL hadn't been to the store. We scraped the very BOTTOM of the barrel this time and had leftover ham (a tiny bit between all of us), leftover spinach/rice casserole, frozen peas and we all split a sweet potato. We all got filled up...it was cheaper than eating out....we cleaned out our frig...and it was healthier than fast food. We won all around!

I'm encouraged that we chose well in an exhausted moment.

Lastly, I wanted to direct you to a great blog I found today. The writer over at Simple Mom wrote a really encouraging piece entitled The Emotional Benefits of Becoming Debt Free. I found it encouraging and helpful as we plug ahead in our serious quest to "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another..." (Romans 13:8)

Thanks for traveling along with me on this frugal road...and letting me share our journey with you!

Home Project #1: The Wall

I'm not sure why I'm wired this way...but for some reason, I love to START many projects....all at the same time...and then drive myself crazy trying to finish them. Sounds crazy, I know...but for some reason, it makes me happy. Someone please tell me why a girl who really DOES want a simple life, makes life harder on a daily basis. Somebody please STOP ME!

All of the home projects I'll be mentioning are happening simultaneously, mind you. But I'll share the project taking place on the outside of our home, first.

When we moved into this "fixer-upper" about 4 years ago, we decided at the same time, we needed to begin Dave Ramsey's plan for getting us out of debt. So for four years, my husband has been FOCUSED, FOCUSED, FOCUSED on getting us out of debt. I've been FOCUSED, FOCUSED, FOCUSED on clipping pictures out of magazines, using small amounts of money here and there to paint or fix up anything in this house I could get away with fixing at little to no cost. Actually, I think we've done a pretty great job at making it our own for pennies. (Well...not really PENNIES, per se, but you get the point)

Since 2004, I have wanted to chop down the little wall outside our front door. As you can see from the picture, this home had a little "courtyard" and small brick wall around our front door, with old weathered lantern lights (one of which hasn't worked for some time...nice.)

We first had an electrician come out and disconnect the current lantern lighting and install new lighting above the door.

Then, we had a crew of 3 strong and able-bodied men, who were willing and able to destroy something, come together and BRING DOWN THE WALL!!!!

Now that the wall is down....what do we do with all these bricks???

We decided to haul them to the side of the road...THEN we would figure it out. We planned this all the way down to the fine details, obviously.

Even the boys helped....some. :)

Yay!!! THE WALL IS DOWN!!!!!! For the first time in 4 years, the house isn't "hiding" behind those walls.

Now what do we do with all these??

Here is what our house looks like now.

It's just a blank "landscaping slate". Now the fun part can begin!

FAST FORWARD TWO WEEKS....

Still, these remain.

The neighbors...and the city...are thrilled.

The day finally came to load the bricks into an available trailer to be hauled off (thanks to my brother, Kenny). Some of us load bricks.

Some of us don't.

But that's okay....we get the job done anyway.

And when the work was done.....this is where the rest of us could be found, too.

So what do you think about the end result?

Me likey.