So okay, true confessions... I've never seen Duck Dynasty. Never watched an episode in my life. We don't have cable or satellite, just Netflix & Hulu, neither of which offer Duck Dynasty! However, I see tons of references to them on Facebook & have watched a lot of youtube videos of Phil or Willie or Jase preaching or giving a testimony.
And.. I have this t-shirt that is MORE than a few years old.. probably .. I dunno, 10 years, maybe? And it has this big lowercase "h" on it with the word "happy" underneath. So when I wear it, people wanna ask me why I messed the quote up because I've learned that someone on the show is in the habit of saying, "Happy, happy, happy!" *sigh* I'm sorry, I just can't be fashionable AND a tightwad, okay? LOL!
All that to say this:: I am really happy lately.
Why? Well, maybe I've just realized that God's way beyond good to me. As of right now, I have a double-ear infection (AGAIN!) and am waiting to be sent to a specialist to see what's up with that, and I've just agreed to go back on some antidepressants to see if that doesn't help with the fatigue & the just plain don't-want-to's I seem to have all the time.
And still, I have to say, I'm happy.
For one, God's been answering prayers around here. For me, for my husband, for my children... He's just been all over us lately and I'm SO grateful for all He's done and continues to do!!
This past Sunday, I got to hear my first baby boy preach his first sermon. How humbling!! How hard it was to listen & see him up there behind the pulpit, proclaiming the word of God & realize that THAT is my little blonde-haired snuggly bug!! But it is, and God's SO good. MmmMM!
And it is looking like God's answered my prayer for a Godly girl to come into my baby son's life. And the way He's done it is nothing short of amazing. He's showing Himself to me at every turn. I'll say something about it to a friend and then either my baby boy or my potential new daughter-in-love will say almost the exact thing back to me. LOL! It's just been a joy to be alive lately, watching God do His thang in and anround us.
I have to laugh at the "potential new DIL" comment... do any of you remember Dolly Partin's song, Potential New Boyfriend?? LOL! Go listen to it & laugh with me!! ROFL!!
But seriously, I met this girl through Emmaus and actually worked sorta with her on the last Young Adult Chrysalis and when she gave her talk, I heard her say something my sweet son had said... she was waiting for God to bring the right guy into her life.
My heart kinda jumped as I thought, "Oh my goodness?? Could this be a nudge from You, God?" It took about a month, but through another Emmaus friend, the bug was put in their ears about each other & their first time ever meeting each other was a canoe trip down the Rockcastle River.. in the rain.. with our whole family. LOL!
This little gal has the sweetest personality & she's so loving & generous with that love. She feels like my own daughter already. Matter of fact, she is very close to both my husband and me, and we told Baby Boy after the first week, "Son, if it doesn't work out for you two, we think you should know, we're keeping her anyway." LOL!
And so now, almost a month later, they are praying about whether this is the relationship He wanted for each of them, if they are to move forward with the goal of marriage sometime in the future. And all I can do is stand back and be amazed at how much pains God takes with the desires of our hearts, and how much He has to love us to take the time to deal so closely and so personally in such matters. Woo!! He is just SO GOOD!!
I am trying to be patient, trying to just wait, just hold on & see His work and His plan fulfill itself. I don't wanna mess any of it up by trying to hurry things along. I'm just so glad to see my boy happy and feeling complete for the first time & so happy to have such a dear friend filling that role.
Woo!!! Praise Jesus!! \0/
Showing posts with label new things. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new things. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
community...
I think I shared here how my hubby and I became the "leaders" of our church's community group. A community group is what most people refer to as "small group" or "accountability group". If not, well, we joined the group right after we finished a 6-week course that was basically a church-info thing. The church we attend is huge & definitely qualifies as a "mega church" in this area. But it's so radically different from any other traditional church in our area, they used to have this short "class" of sorts to let people understand the what's & why-fore's about the church. However, it was entitled "Next Steps" and some folks thought it was for new Christians. We're hoping they will start it back up all new & improved because it was a big help to us and let us ask questions we had about the doctrine and practices of the church before we joined.
So after the Next Steps group, we joined a group that, at the time, the pastor was a part of. That's before our church expanded to a second campus in the next town and his wife started her internship at the hospital in a town 80 miles away and they began a life of residing in two different places, travelling many miles every week! The group grew so large that it split at one point, then they broke for summer vacation. After that, when it was announced that groups would start meeting again, we and two other couples showed up at the usual room but no leader was to be found. Someone said they were still on vacation. We didn't know for sure, hadn't had any word from them, but we had one new couple there, so we just carried on as usual, discussing the sermon notes. The next week, the same thing happened... the man who had previously led our group wasn't there and a different new couple had come to join us.
After that second week, I emailed the guy who oversaw Community Groups to let him know what we'd been doing, to ask where the leader was & to find out if the group had moved or something. The reply I got was an apology for letting that happen, and a congratulations for "stepping up" and notice that we would now be listed as the group's "leaders".
Egads!! I wasn't expecting that! It made Tommy a bit uneasy because he didn't see himself as any sort of church leader, but after praying about it and talking it over with a couple of his friends, we took it as something the Lord wanted us to do, and plunged ahead.
At that time, the church staff started working on plans to "do" community groups in a more methodical, organized way. And so here we are, almost a year later with Tommy's supervisor at work (& a dear friend now) being appointed the new community groups' coordinator and getting ready for an event called "Group Link" next Sunday evening.
As I understand it, it'll be like a sort of job fair for Community Groups. People will be scattered around the large "foyer" area, representing their group and folks can wander around asking questions and getting info about any particular group they think will fit their schedules and interests.
We've been given a book and a DVD about leading and "running" community groups to be the most efficient and most helpful to folks. Of course, this would have to have happened the same time we started taking a 10-week Christian financial course, too. *sigh*
We have GOT to get busy reading the information. I'm praying it will be helpful. It seems that in the past the biggest problem, or one of the biggest, was having info about the various groups since most meet outside the church and on various days and various times. Hopefully, setting up one person to be in charge of groups info this way will help eliminate that. And they plan to have these Group Link events at least four times per year.
The suggestion is to have around 6-8 people per group, then to close that group. That way you promote community and build trust. And we have found that to be so since our group has been meeting at the church on Sunday evenings, we tend to "catch" people who have been looking for a group or who don't know that our church doesn't have a traditional service on Sunday nights. It's been good to be able to let these people join in, but in about 99% of the cases, our group is not what they want or need. Either the age range is off, the interest or life stage is incompatible or something. And they leave. Of course, with our core group of folks, we're not as forthcoming or spend the time explaining things to the new person and don't get to delve as deeply into things as we normally would.
I'm just praying that, as it looks like we may be losing the two couples who have been the core of our group (due to changing job situations, etc) we may be starting from scratch and that makes me a little uneasy. You don't realize how much you've come to depend on a close relationship with others in your group til you're about to lose them. But I guess God's got something else in store for us and I'm confident that He will place the right people in our group.
The last thing I'll mention is the fear I have, well, more of a concern, but still something I need to overcome, of having people in our group that we have trouble connecting with. Sometimes you get folks that you just can't "click" with and you stay unsure of for one reason or another. Sometimes they seem oblivious to this situation or sometimes they seem to feel the total opposite that you do and want to cling tightly to you... all the while, you're trying your darnedest to meet their needs while still feeling "out of sync" with them.
*sigh* I'm praying God settles this for us too. And I'm sure He will... I just hope it's not by bringing us a whole posse of people we feel non-comfortable with. LOL! Wouldn't that just be the way to teach us, though?
Ha. Thanks for reading... I'll keep you posted on how this goes!
Blessings!
So after the Next Steps group, we joined a group that, at the time, the pastor was a part of. That's before our church expanded to a second campus in the next town and his wife started her internship at the hospital in a town 80 miles away and they began a life of residing in two different places, travelling many miles every week! The group grew so large that it split at one point, then they broke for summer vacation. After that, when it was announced that groups would start meeting again, we and two other couples showed up at the usual room but no leader was to be found. Someone said they were still on vacation. We didn't know for sure, hadn't had any word from them, but we had one new couple there, so we just carried on as usual, discussing the sermon notes. The next week, the same thing happened... the man who had previously led our group wasn't there and a different new couple had come to join us.
After that second week, I emailed the guy who oversaw Community Groups to let him know what we'd been doing, to ask where the leader was & to find out if the group had moved or something. The reply I got was an apology for letting that happen, and a congratulations for "stepping up" and notice that we would now be listed as the group's "leaders".
Egads!! I wasn't expecting that! It made Tommy a bit uneasy because he didn't see himself as any sort of church leader, but after praying about it and talking it over with a couple of his friends, we took it as something the Lord wanted us to do, and plunged ahead.
At that time, the church staff started working on plans to "do" community groups in a more methodical, organized way. And so here we are, almost a year later with Tommy's supervisor at work (& a dear friend now) being appointed the new community groups' coordinator and getting ready for an event called "Group Link" next Sunday evening.
As I understand it, it'll be like a sort of job fair for Community Groups. People will be scattered around the large "foyer" area, representing their group and folks can wander around asking questions and getting info about any particular group they think will fit their schedules and interests.
We've been given a book and a DVD about leading and "running" community groups to be the most efficient and most helpful to folks. Of course, this would have to have happened the same time we started taking a 10-week Christian financial course, too. *sigh*
We have GOT to get busy reading the information. I'm praying it will be helpful. It seems that in the past the biggest problem, or one of the biggest, was having info about the various groups since most meet outside the church and on various days and various times. Hopefully, setting up one person to be in charge of groups info this way will help eliminate that. And they plan to have these Group Link events at least four times per year.
The suggestion is to have around 6-8 people per group, then to close that group. That way you promote community and build trust. And we have found that to be so since our group has been meeting at the church on Sunday evenings, we tend to "catch" people who have been looking for a group or who don't know that our church doesn't have a traditional service on Sunday nights. It's been good to be able to let these people join in, but in about 99% of the cases, our group is not what they want or need. Either the age range is off, the interest or life stage is incompatible or something. And they leave. Of course, with our core group of folks, we're not as forthcoming or spend the time explaining things to the new person and don't get to delve as deeply into things as we normally would.
I'm just praying that, as it looks like we may be losing the two couples who have been the core of our group (due to changing job situations, etc) we may be starting from scratch and that makes me a little uneasy. You don't realize how much you've come to depend on a close relationship with others in your group til you're about to lose them. But I guess God's got something else in store for us and I'm confident that He will place the right people in our group.
The last thing I'll mention is the fear I have, well, more of a concern, but still something I need to overcome, of having people in our group that we have trouble connecting with. Sometimes you get folks that you just can't "click" with and you stay unsure of for one reason or another. Sometimes they seem oblivious to this situation or sometimes they seem to feel the total opposite that you do and want to cling tightly to you... all the while, you're trying your darnedest to meet their needs while still feeling "out of sync" with them.
*sigh* I'm praying God settles this for us too. And I'm sure He will... I just hope it's not by bringing us a whole posse of people we feel non-comfortable with. LOL! Wouldn't that just be the way to teach us, though?
Ha. Thanks for reading... I'll keep you posted on how this goes!
Blessings!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
hover...
I just read a post by a dear friend of mine. She was talking about how God seemed to be wanting her to "be still" while back here on Earth, her three young boys were running around, the laundry needing doing, dishes needed washing and meals needed cooking. Oh, how I remember those days.
It's so funny now that my children are young adults to look at moms with young children. I always say something like, "Don't blink. They will be grown before you know it." Part of the time, they will look at me like I'm a loon as they are tired and ragged and worn out from trying to keep up and keep it all together.
But seriously, young moms, DON'T BLINK!!! Their childhood will be over all too soon. Mark my words.
So back to Brandi's post, she obeyed the Holy Spirit and did spend some quiet time praying and she shared about all the different people she prayed for.
The list was impressive. Not because it was long or contained 'the' most tragically needy persons, but because it was MASSIVE in its scope.
She mentioned the soldiers who are willingly defending our freedoms, the persecuted who are being targeted or imprisoned for their faith, the orphans, the homeless, the starving...
I don't know about you, but when I start to think about all these people who NEED, some in DESPERATE need, our prayers it makes me feel...
What?
Overwhelmed. I feel like I can't pray for all those people. And if I do, since I don't "know" them personally, that it's not doing much good. Sometimes a particular group comes to mind, for instance abused children... and in my mind, it seems so useless to say, "God, watch over and protect these children." But is it? I KNOW I serve a God Who is well able to do what I just asked, but somehow, to my fleshly mind, it seems so inadequate.
As I'm mulling this over with a new perspective, I wonder if perhaps when I pray such a prayer, maybe there is one certain child out there who needs an intercessor. What do you think? Do you think such 'vague' prayers are "assigned" to people like that?
I dunno where this train of thought is coming from and whether it upsets me more or eases my mind. *hmph!*
I mean, if I sincerely pray for "children" but in actuality there's one child who "gets" the benefit of that prayer... well, is that fair??
*chuckle* I'm disturbing myself now. Good grief!! I have honestly never thought about it that way before.
Guess I need to do some study.
And speaking of study, since I can't seem to write one post on one topic...
I think I've told you about how the hubby and I became community group leaders at church a few months ago, right? Well, after several months, the church offered a "Covenant Marriage" course that we thought would be helpful and since our group is all married couples, we just decided to 'take' the whole group to this 6 week course.
That was a disaster. First of all, the course wasn't quite what we'd thought it was going to be. It was geared more towards couples who didn't have a decades-old marriage. Some people hated it and let us know.. and consequently, never came back to the group!
Others merely didn't like it and didn't attend the class. But they did come back once we went back to our regular meetings.
Now the church is offering a financial study, Navigating Your Finances God's Way from Compass. We were not planning to attend at all. After the last disaster, we just didn't even consider it, even though the two other couples who are core members (they're almost always at group) were planning to attend.
It started this past Sunday night, and we were there in case anyone else showed up expecting to join out group. But no one did, so at the insistence of the other couples, we went into the room where the finance class was being held.
We didn't realize there would be curriculum to purchase, but we paid for the two books and put our names on the list. It seemed as if maybe God had other plans for us in this.
So, we are now doing the homework for this course. We're reading the book Your Money Counts by Howard Dayton. It's a great book. Just reading it without the other book would be a good idea for anyone who's not as good with their money as they ought to be AND who wants to handle their money according to scripture.
Hubby and I are both feeling like it was God's plan for us to be in this class, even though it's planned to be 10 weeks long!! God will work it all out.
I gotta hit the sack now. It's almost 2 am!! Guess this is what I get for going to bed at 8 pm! *shrugs*
Blessings!
It's so funny now that my children are young adults to look at moms with young children. I always say something like, "Don't blink. They will be grown before you know it." Part of the time, they will look at me like I'm a loon as they are tired and ragged and worn out from trying to keep up and keep it all together.
But seriously, young moms, DON'T BLINK!!! Their childhood will be over all too soon. Mark my words.
So back to Brandi's post, she obeyed the Holy Spirit and did spend some quiet time praying and she shared about all the different people she prayed for.
The list was impressive. Not because it was long or contained 'the' most tragically needy persons, but because it was MASSIVE in its scope.
She mentioned the soldiers who are willingly defending our freedoms, the persecuted who are being targeted or imprisoned for their faith, the orphans, the homeless, the starving...
I don't know about you, but when I start to think about all these people who NEED, some in DESPERATE need, our prayers it makes me feel...
What?
Overwhelmed. I feel like I can't pray for all those people. And if I do, since I don't "know" them personally, that it's not doing much good. Sometimes a particular group comes to mind, for instance abused children... and in my mind, it seems so useless to say, "God, watch over and protect these children." But is it? I KNOW I serve a God Who is well able to do what I just asked, but somehow, to my fleshly mind, it seems so inadequate.
As I'm mulling this over with a new perspective, I wonder if perhaps when I pray such a prayer, maybe there is one certain child out there who needs an intercessor. What do you think? Do you think such 'vague' prayers are "assigned" to people like that?
I dunno where this train of thought is coming from and whether it upsets me more or eases my mind. *hmph!*
I mean, if I sincerely pray for "children" but in actuality there's one child who "gets" the benefit of that prayer... well, is that fair??
*chuckle* I'm disturbing myself now. Good grief!! I have honestly never thought about it that way before.
Guess I need to do some study.
And speaking of study, since I can't seem to write one post on one topic...
I think I've told you about how the hubby and I became community group leaders at church a few months ago, right? Well, after several months, the church offered a "Covenant Marriage" course that we thought would be helpful and since our group is all married couples, we just decided to 'take' the whole group to this 6 week course.
That was a disaster. First of all, the course wasn't quite what we'd thought it was going to be. It was geared more towards couples who didn't have a decades-old marriage. Some people hated it and let us know.. and consequently, never came back to the group!
Others merely didn't like it and didn't attend the class. But they did come back once we went back to our regular meetings.
Now the church is offering a financial study, Navigating Your Finances God's Way from Compass. We were not planning to attend at all. After the last disaster, we just didn't even consider it, even though the two other couples who are core members (they're almost always at group) were planning to attend.
It started this past Sunday night, and we were there in case anyone else showed up expecting to join out group. But no one did, so at the insistence of the other couples, we went into the room where the finance class was being held.
We didn't realize there would be curriculum to purchase, but we paid for the two books and put our names on the list. It seemed as if maybe God had other plans for us in this.
So, we are now doing the homework for this course. We're reading the book Your Money Counts by Howard Dayton. It's a great book. Just reading it without the other book would be a good idea for anyone who's not as good with their money as they ought to be AND who wants to handle their money according to scripture.
Hubby and I are both feeling like it was God's plan for us to be in this class, even though it's planned to be 10 weeks long!! God will work it all out.
I gotta hit the sack now. It's almost 2 am!! Guess this is what I get for going to bed at 8 pm! *shrugs*
Blessings!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
the rest of the remodel...
Here's a shot of the center wall that runs from the kitchen into the family room... we have to keep it the same color in both rooms because we inadvertently pushed the door to our bedroom underneath the doorway from the kitchen to family room... there's nowhere to divide this wall.
See?
And here he is, my sweet painting man. I wouldn't have such an awesomely colored home without him to run this huge roller for me.
Finally!!
Can't wait to see how it looks once all the rest is green!!
One wall down...two more & the family room is done::
Woo! I love it!
This isn't exactly the shade of green I had hoped, but I do like it a lot...
Check it: we needed somewhere to put the boxes/electronics for the tv, so...
I really love the wall vinyls, too...
Here's the other end of the room after paint & replacing the furniture:
See?
And here he is, my sweet painting man. I wouldn't have such an awesomely colored home without him to run this huge roller for me.
Finally!!
Can't wait to see how it looks once all the rest is green!!
One wall down...two more & the family room is done::
Woo! I love it!
This isn't exactly the shade of green I had hoped, but I do like it a lot...
Check it: we needed somewhere to put the boxes/electronics for the tv, so...
I really love the wall vinyls, too...
Here's the other end of the room after paint & replacing the furniture:
long time, no post...
Ah, yes. I'm back. My life got a little hectic during the holidays. I'm sure yours wasn't though, right? Mmhmm.. I didn't think so.
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Sunday, September 9, 2012
more craftiness...
Okay, so the blue room... it needs some help. Mom gave me a lamp that is very pretty. It's a brown metal, slender-ish with a couple of thin leaves, sort of like a flower. She has a octagon shaped shade on it in a damask type of fabric. It's too yellowy for the room, though.
I found a cool idea on, where else, Pinterest, taking fabric ruffle & wrapping it around the shade. Of course, having NO crafty store around town though, I have not been able to find any such ruffle. There is Sexton's that I didn't try, but it's a tad late now. *sheesh* My idea was to use blue and brown with maybe some green ribbon wound through it. But like I said, absolutely no luck finding ruffle.
And actually, it's about impossible to find fabric with my colors. See, my problem is that I've incorporated green into the room. Matter of fact, the bedspread is entirely green with a white floral outline on it. !! Remember I said I was trying to keep the room gender neutral to suit whatever purpose the Lord might have for the room... but that's about impossible too!! One of my sweet cousins had bought a comforter for in there... it was a bit darker blue than the walls with a large white flower outline and a bit of green leaves. It would have been great color-wise, but it looked entirely too feminine. And besides that, Tommy didn't like it at all. *sigh*
So, I took it back and found the green one. Originally we got the green comforter hoping to use the opposite side, which was a white background with little blue and green stripes. But once I got it on the bed, it just looked like pajamas!! Egads!!
The dust ruffle is dark brown & my thoughts were to find some fabric with blue, green & brown to make a couple extra throw pillows. But man, it's about impossible to find those colors together and of course, there are only fify bazillion shades of green and blue.
I was able to find a few pieces of fabric with these colors at Walmart in an entirely overpriced bundle. Seven bucks for 6 small sheets of fabric?!/ I'm still kicking myself, but what do you do when you get desperate? (You spend too much money, that's what!)
My materials: gel glue (Elmer's brand is what I used), mix the glue with water til you get something that's not too thin but brushable. A 1/2 inch brush, my lamp shade and fabric cut into approximately 1/2" strips.
Here's what I started with:
My original thought was to make a paper pattern of the panel, cut the fabric to fit & glue it to the shade, but I finally gave up on EVER being able to get an accurate pattern. Between the flare of the panel and the outward curve, it was impossible. So I thought I'd just cut my fabric into strips & glue it on vertically.
However after getting a few strips on, I realized that wasn't going to work. *sigh* That daggone flare was going to make it impossible!!
So, I took all that back off, and started winding it around the same way the ruffle deal was supposed to be.
That seemed to work lots better til I got to that curve where the shade starts flaring out at the bottom. Then I ended up with little poochy puckery sticky-ups... see?
Everywhere the fabric crossed the wire frame, I had one of those poochies sticking out.
At this point, I was brushing the glue over the fabric as well as underneath. I took the tip of my scissors & cut the fold down to where the fabric laid down correctly. Then I brushed the two flaps created down one over the other. That seemed to work fine.
Here's what I ended up with:
I tucked the edges of the fabric underneath the ...whatever you call it.. the binding at the top and bottom of the shade. I didn't cover those, but if it still doesn't suit me, I will probably use flat grossgrain ribbon to cover that.
Here's the lamp on the nightstand... still wet, so it's darker than it will be when dry, but I'm pretty pleased with it!
same room, different project
I have these two gorgeous pictures Mom gave me, but the frames are too glitzy to suit me. I wanted to tone them down a bit. So I did a little paint job on them.
Before:
After:
I used a "dry brush" brush... I dunno the technical name for it, but that's what it's used for. This brush is probably at least 30 years old. It came from Mom's ceramic shop eons ago. Tip of the day: take care of your brushes!! :) You'll need one with short, fairly stiff bristles. And you'll want to get some scrap paper or cardboard to "rub" most of the paint out of your brush.
I will probably regret not taking the glass out of these and doing them "right" but I was being lazy & trying to fill time in between studying on what to do with my lamp shade. To properly do this to your frames, you should definitely at least spray them with some satin sealer so you have a better finish for underneath your paint. Seriously, there's a sheen to these frames to begin with & the paint basically just pushed around on the surface. I'm just hoping it doesn't rub off while I'm trying to hang them. I originally was going to base coat them a cream color, but I didn't totally hate the gold... but if I'd used the spray. I'd have had something to hold the paint on. This is call do as I say, not as I do... and yes, if the paint all rubs off while I'm hanging the pictures, I'll tell you. *sigh*
Have fun & let me know if you try any of my ideas. :D
I found a cool idea on, where else, Pinterest, taking fabric ruffle & wrapping it around the shade. Of course, having NO crafty store around town though, I have not been able to find any such ruffle. There is Sexton's that I didn't try, but it's a tad late now. *sheesh* My idea was to use blue and brown with maybe some green ribbon wound through it. But like I said, absolutely no luck finding ruffle.
And actually, it's about impossible to find fabric with my colors. See, my problem is that I've incorporated green into the room. Matter of fact, the bedspread is entirely green with a white floral outline on it. !! Remember I said I was trying to keep the room gender neutral to suit whatever purpose the Lord might have for the room... but that's about impossible too!! One of my sweet cousins had bought a comforter for in there... it was a bit darker blue than the walls with a large white flower outline and a bit of green leaves. It would have been great color-wise, but it looked entirely too feminine. And besides that, Tommy didn't like it at all. *sigh*
So, I took it back and found the green one. Originally we got the green comforter hoping to use the opposite side, which was a white background with little blue and green stripes. But once I got it on the bed, it just looked like pajamas!! Egads!!
The dust ruffle is dark brown & my thoughts were to find some fabric with blue, green & brown to make a couple extra throw pillows. But man, it's about impossible to find those colors together and of course, there are only fify bazillion shades of green and blue.
I was able to find a few pieces of fabric with these colors at Walmart in an entirely overpriced bundle. Seven bucks for 6 small sheets of fabric?!/ I'm still kicking myself, but what do you do when you get desperate? (You spend too much money, that's what!)
My materials: gel glue (Elmer's brand is what I used), mix the glue with water til you get something that's not too thin but brushable. A 1/2 inch brush, my lamp shade and fabric cut into approximately 1/2" strips.
Here's what I started with:
My original thought was to make a paper pattern of the panel, cut the fabric to fit & glue it to the shade, but I finally gave up on EVER being able to get an accurate pattern. Between the flare of the panel and the outward curve, it was impossible. So I thought I'd just cut my fabric into strips & glue it on vertically.
However after getting a few strips on, I realized that wasn't going to work. *sigh* That daggone flare was going to make it impossible!!
So, I took all that back off, and started winding it around the same way the ruffle deal was supposed to be.
That seemed to work lots better til I got to that curve where the shade starts flaring out at the bottom. Then I ended up with little poochy puckery sticky-ups... see?
Everywhere the fabric crossed the wire frame, I had one of those poochies sticking out.
At this point, I was brushing the glue over the fabric as well as underneath. I took the tip of my scissors & cut the fold down to where the fabric laid down correctly. Then I brushed the two flaps created down one over the other. That seemed to work fine.
Here's what I ended up with:
I tucked the edges of the fabric underneath the ...whatever you call it.. the binding at the top and bottom of the shade. I didn't cover those, but if it still doesn't suit me, I will probably use flat grossgrain ribbon to cover that.
Here's the lamp on the nightstand... still wet, so it's darker than it will be when dry, but I'm pretty pleased with it!
same room, different project
I have these two gorgeous pictures Mom gave me, but the frames are too glitzy to suit me. I wanted to tone them down a bit. So I did a little paint job on them.
Before:
After:
I used a "dry brush" brush... I dunno the technical name for it, but that's what it's used for. This brush is probably at least 30 years old. It came from Mom's ceramic shop eons ago. Tip of the day: take care of your brushes!! :) You'll need one with short, fairly stiff bristles. And you'll want to get some scrap paper or cardboard to "rub" most of the paint out of your brush.
I will probably regret not taking the glass out of these and doing them "right" but I was being lazy & trying to fill time in between studying on what to do with my lamp shade. To properly do this to your frames, you should definitely at least spray them with some satin sealer so you have a better finish for underneath your paint. Seriously, there's a sheen to these frames to begin with & the paint basically just pushed around on the surface. I'm just hoping it doesn't rub off while I'm trying to hang them. I originally was going to base coat them a cream color, but I didn't totally hate the gold... but if I'd used the spray. I'd have had something to hold the paint on. This is call do as I say, not as I do... and yes, if the paint all rubs off while I'm hanging the pictures, I'll tell you. *sigh*
Have fun & let me know if you try any of my ideas. :D
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
fishy...
Okay, so this post is not one I was expecting to write. It's not something I was pondering til it hit me in the face. It will be a rambling, thinking-it-over, pondering post. So don't say I didn't warn you. *heh*
We were recently asked to become "leaders" of the community group (small group, similar to a Sunday school class) at the church we've been at for about a year now. The reason is because the guy who had been leading it simply didn't show up when groups resumed after summer break. Two other couples and us showed up for the first, along with another TWO couples who joined us to discuss the questions that are provided. No definite "leader" was necessary, it was a great group-participant discussion.
The next week, a different new couple showed up and we had another great group discussion. Another lady & I questioned each other as to what was up with this couple not showing. No emails, no contact with the guy who oversees all the groups & keeps a list of them. Nothing.
So, I decided we needed to get to the bottom of it, mostly notably because the second night, there was a different group listed as meeting in the room we've used for the past year. I emailed the care pastor, who forwarded it to the fella who "manages" groups. I told them we were having some great meetings, but were concerned since everyone except us thought that we no longer have a group. I told him we had taken care of the no-leader problem by instituting a last-one-in-leads policy. (which we sort-of had, albeit jokingly) And that this had resulted in a race between two of our men while the third was in the facilities. (lol!) All of it was in good humor and such, I just let them know we wanted to continue having our group & asked what we should do.
The reply I got from Group Manager Man was Congratulations! We, my husband and I, were now listed as the group's leaders. WHAT!?!?! I was surprised & my husband was terrified! I insisted that our group was full of great communicators & basically everyone participates in discussion, so we didn't need to necessarily have a leader. But he insisted that the group must have someone "on record" as leaders, more for contact than anything else. And so, that's how it happened.
The first night after this happened, we had yet another new couple and that was all. Thankfully, we'd spoken to the other two core couples & knew why they weren't there. Otherwise, we'd both have been terribly upset that none of them came!! We had a really wonderful time & my husband handled the whole thing well & started to feel better about the situation.
Thank God.
Then... I just by chance found out that there had been an email sent around by the man who had been the group leader. We had not got a copy of it, however. A friend forwarded it to me, and I have to say I was pretty taken aback by it.
It said he had thought & prayed long & hard about it, and decided to not lead a group this year. This is almost a month since groups had started back up. We all know that another guy, who had been in the group last year with his wife, had been trying to contact this former leader, so I assume that's why this email was sent all of a sudden. He'd sent it to the whole list of people who'd participated in group last year... except us.
There was no mention of the group still being active or anything. He encouraged people to find other groups to attend, if they hadn't already.
Hmm... so now it gets awkward. Why, if he was so torn up about stepping down as leader did he wait til now to send such an email, at least to part of the group?? I know this is because the one man had just started trying to reach him with the news.
Also, why did another couple who were in the group last year tell someone that this former leader had told them group wouldn't start til after Labor Day??
What on earth is going on??
I honestly don't know, but it makes me feel weary. This man is a rather well-off individual whose family owns a large business. Is it all just about politics?? I know that there was a fire at one of their homes earlier (yep, I said "one of"), so I know that what he said about having a rough time of it lately is true... but why wait? Why tell part of the people that group would start later than the designated time? Why not say that the group is still active? I don't mean that he should have said we are the new "leaders", but why not at least say that the "old group" is still running? Still meeting in the same place, at the same time?
Why???? That seems to be the million-dollar question. I just pray that I can not dwell on this or concoct scenarios about what is going on, about who said what to whom & when... I want to focus on Jesus since He, after all, is the reason there's any group at all.
Lord, please help me focus on You!!!
We were recently asked to become "leaders" of the community group (small group, similar to a Sunday school class) at the church we've been at for about a year now. The reason is because the guy who had been leading it simply didn't show up when groups resumed after summer break. Two other couples and us showed up for the first, along with another TWO couples who joined us to discuss the questions that are provided. No definite "leader" was necessary, it was a great group-participant discussion.
The next week, a different new couple showed up and we had another great group discussion. Another lady & I questioned each other as to what was up with this couple not showing. No emails, no contact with the guy who oversees all the groups & keeps a list of them. Nothing.
So, I decided we needed to get to the bottom of it, mostly notably because the second night, there was a different group listed as meeting in the room we've used for the past year. I emailed the care pastor, who forwarded it to the fella who "manages" groups. I told them we were having some great meetings, but were concerned since everyone except us thought that we no longer have a group. I told him we had taken care of the no-leader problem by instituting a last-one-in-leads policy. (which we sort-of had, albeit jokingly) And that this had resulted in a race between two of our men while the third was in the facilities. (lol!) All of it was in good humor and such, I just let them know we wanted to continue having our group & asked what we should do.
The reply I got from Group Manager Man was Congratulations! We, my husband and I, were now listed as the group's leaders. WHAT!?!?! I was surprised & my husband was terrified! I insisted that our group was full of great communicators & basically everyone participates in discussion, so we didn't need to necessarily have a leader. But he insisted that the group must have someone "on record" as leaders, more for contact than anything else. And so, that's how it happened.
The first night after this happened, we had yet another new couple and that was all. Thankfully, we'd spoken to the other two core couples & knew why they weren't there. Otherwise, we'd both have been terribly upset that none of them came!! We had a really wonderful time & my husband handled the whole thing well & started to feel better about the situation.
Thank God.
Then... I just by chance found out that there had been an email sent around by the man who had been the group leader. We had not got a copy of it, however. A friend forwarded it to me, and I have to say I was pretty taken aback by it.
It said he had thought & prayed long & hard about it, and decided to not lead a group this year. This is almost a month since groups had started back up. We all know that another guy, who had been in the group last year with his wife, had been trying to contact this former leader, so I assume that's why this email was sent all of a sudden. He'd sent it to the whole list of people who'd participated in group last year... except us.
There was no mention of the group still being active or anything. He encouraged people to find other groups to attend, if they hadn't already.
Hmm... so now it gets awkward. Why, if he was so torn up about stepping down as leader did he wait til now to send such an email, at least to part of the group?? I know this is because the one man had just started trying to reach him with the news.
Also, why did another couple who were in the group last year tell someone that this former leader had told them group wouldn't start til after Labor Day??
What on earth is going on??
I honestly don't know, but it makes me feel weary. This man is a rather well-off individual whose family owns a large business. Is it all just about politics?? I know that there was a fire at one of their homes earlier (yep, I said "one of"), so I know that what he said about having a rough time of it lately is true... but why wait? Why tell part of the people that group would start later than the designated time? Why not say that the group is still active? I don't mean that he should have said we are the new "leaders", but why not at least say that the "old group" is still running? Still meeting in the same place, at the same time?
Why???? That seems to be the million-dollar question. I just pray that I can not dwell on this or concoct scenarios about what is going on, about who said what to whom & when... I want to focus on Jesus since He, after all, is the reason there's any group at all.
Lord, please help me focus on You!!!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
.ch-ch-ch-changes...
Well, here we go again. I love autumn. It's my favorite season of all, I think. Although I also love the spring, autumn just seems to put some sort of electricity in the air. A sort of excitement somehow. Maybe it's because my birthday is in the fall? I dunno, but the colors, the smells, the change of temperatures.. they all work together to make me feel a little bit energized.
And maybe it's because of it that seems like every time we make big changes around the house, it'll be in the fall. Tommy says that's because it's hunting season and I want to keep him busy (so he can't go!) But I swear, that's not it! ;) It just somehow always happens that way.
I haven't posted much at all about the mega changes we're making in the house, but we are doing TONS of work around here. First, we're FINALLY putting a porch on the end of the house. It faces due east and is the door we use most often as it comes into the kitchen and is where the drive ends. We have a metal half-glass door there with one of those plastic grids and then a storm door. The heat from the direct sunlight cause all the paint on the door to peel and that plastic grid to warp, crack and finally break. We've replaced it about three times in the 17 or so years it's been there. I've put dark sheets over the storm door (a real lovely look -- not) to try and keep the heat off the door and we contemplated buying special tint but the heat is relentless. So, we're finally putting on the porch, or rather the roof on the porch. I'll try to post some pictures because the change it makes in the look of the place is awesome. We're thrilled with it so far.
Keep in mind when I say "we're putting on the porch" or painting or remodeling, I mean WE, as in my super-handy husband and myself!! Actually, a good friend of his has been helping him with the porch, but the majority of the work is done by Tommy. I'm SO thankful he's so knowledgeable & able to do all this stuff!
Since the porch deal meant extending the roof on one side, they had to get to the actual beams of the house, which means there's a couple of places in my kitchen and utility room walls that have been cracked. Which yes, means we have to repair those... and paint.
Painting. I hate it. But there's NOTHING that can change the look of a room more... and therefore, we've done TONS of it in this house. The inside of our windows are wood. And that means I have to paint them too if I change the trim color... which I almost always do. *sigh* I detest those daggone windows! But paint them I will if it means getting a fresh new kitchen. ;)
You see, we aren't the only ones making major changes in our living space. My mom & dad are building a new house on the hill behind us. Yeah, I know... lovely, so they can watch our every move even closer, but ... ANYway... when they move out, my boys + daughter-in-law, are buying their old house, plus dad's business, so they'll be moving too!
Mom is giving me some furniture, which is another reason we have to paint. She's giving me a really nice cherry living room set that is lots "fancier" than the rest of my furniture, so the super-pile o' stuff that has been my living room, containing my piano, the now-since-a-laptop unused computer desk, a couple of packed bookshelves, and stuff that had no other place to live, will become a nice "formal" living room!! Yep, that means getting all that crap out of here!
She's also giving me a set of bedroom furniture that I'll put in Corey's old room, which has been piled even worse than the living room; a jam-packed bookshelf, his old dresser piled with tons of stuff from his wedding (3 yrs ago!), a cabinet full of old school stuff, a microwave cart full of craft stuff, a couple of plastic bin/drawers full of more craft stuff... and the floor piled high with just STUFF!
We've decided we have too much stuff. And we've moved almost ALL of it out to the shop where Tommy put the two ramps of his lift together and raised them to table-height so I can go out there and sort. We moved the shelves & cabinets out there, too and I plan to toss & give away or sell SO much stuff!!!
Casey's room, when he moves into his basement "apartment" with Corey and Mel in the upstairs of the house, will become my craft room, where I plan to scrapbook to my heart's content!! :) I've collected scrapping stuff for YEARS and never once put a page together... because every time I tried, I was just overwhelmed and so unsure of exactly how to do it.
My dear cousin Lorna was in from Texas a couple weeks ago, and she is an avid scrapper, so she walked me through putting together a couple of pages and so I feel like I can actually DO this now... and once I have the space, I want to FINALLY do the boys' books and a wedding book for Corey and Melissa. I cannot WAIT!! :)
I'm now in the process of painting that future "formal" living room a deep chocolate brown color. Over a very light beige? It looks so crappy with the first coat, but the second covers very well. We're using an off white trim color and it makes the doors & windows really pop against the brown. I'm having a horrid time trying to cut in the walls against the ceiling though. Gah! It's cathedral in there, so it's all at an angle, which makes it hard to see where the wall stops & ceiling starts, plus it's all popcorn finish.. I'm gonna have to spend A LOT of time touching up the white. Lord willing, it won't take three coats to cover. *sigh* I'm gonna get me some THICK white paint! :)
Okay, so I'm going now. I keep running in here to finish this up between painting-on-the-ladder sessions. I get so fed up with how it's going, I have to have a break! *sigh* Oh well... the sooner I get that done, the sooner Tommy can use that huge 18" roller & get the rest of the paint done. With four doors & two windows, there's a ton of trimming, so I really have to get my butt in gear!!
Til next time....
Blessings,
G~
And maybe it's because of it that seems like every time we make big changes around the house, it'll be in the fall. Tommy says that's because it's hunting season and I want to keep him busy (so he can't go!) But I swear, that's not it! ;) It just somehow always happens that way.
I haven't posted much at all about the mega changes we're making in the house, but we are doing TONS of work around here. First, we're FINALLY putting a porch on the end of the house. It faces due east and is the door we use most often as it comes into the kitchen and is where the drive ends. We have a metal half-glass door there with one of those plastic grids and then a storm door. The heat from the direct sunlight cause all the paint on the door to peel and that plastic grid to warp, crack and finally break. We've replaced it about three times in the 17 or so years it's been there. I've put dark sheets over the storm door (a real lovely look -- not) to try and keep the heat off the door and we contemplated buying special tint but the heat is relentless. So, we're finally putting on the porch, or rather the roof on the porch. I'll try to post some pictures because the change it makes in the look of the place is awesome. We're thrilled with it so far.
Keep in mind when I say "we're putting on the porch" or painting or remodeling, I mean WE, as in my super-handy husband and myself!! Actually, a good friend of his has been helping him with the porch, but the majority of the work is done by Tommy. I'm SO thankful he's so knowledgeable & able to do all this stuff!
Since the porch deal meant extending the roof on one side, they had to get to the actual beams of the house, which means there's a couple of places in my kitchen and utility room walls that have been cracked. Which yes, means we have to repair those... and paint.
Painting. I hate it. But there's NOTHING that can change the look of a room more... and therefore, we've done TONS of it in this house. The inside of our windows are wood. And that means I have to paint them too if I change the trim color... which I almost always do. *sigh* I detest those daggone windows! But paint them I will if it means getting a fresh new kitchen. ;)
You see, we aren't the only ones making major changes in our living space. My mom & dad are building a new house on the hill behind us. Yeah, I know... lovely, so they can watch our every move even closer, but ... ANYway... when they move out, my boys + daughter-in-law, are buying their old house, plus dad's business, so they'll be moving too!
Mom is giving me some furniture, which is another reason we have to paint. She's giving me a really nice cherry living room set that is lots "fancier" than the rest of my furniture, so the super-pile o' stuff that has been my living room, containing my piano, the now-since-a-laptop unused computer desk, a couple of packed bookshelves, and stuff that had no other place to live, will become a nice "formal" living room!! Yep, that means getting all that crap out of here!
She's also giving me a set of bedroom furniture that I'll put in Corey's old room, which has been piled even worse than the living room; a jam-packed bookshelf, his old dresser piled with tons of stuff from his wedding (3 yrs ago!), a cabinet full of old school stuff, a microwave cart full of craft stuff, a couple of plastic bin/drawers full of more craft stuff... and the floor piled high with just STUFF!
We've decided we have too much stuff. And we've moved almost ALL of it out to the shop where Tommy put the two ramps of his lift together and raised them to table-height so I can go out there and sort. We moved the shelves & cabinets out there, too and I plan to toss & give away or sell SO much stuff!!!
Casey's room, when he moves into his basement "apartment" with Corey and Mel in the upstairs of the house, will become my craft room, where I plan to scrapbook to my heart's content!! :) I've collected scrapping stuff for YEARS and never once put a page together... because every time I tried, I was just overwhelmed and so unsure of exactly how to do it.
My dear cousin Lorna was in from Texas a couple weeks ago, and she is an avid scrapper, so she walked me through putting together a couple of pages and so I feel like I can actually DO this now... and once I have the space, I want to FINALLY do the boys' books and a wedding book for Corey and Melissa. I cannot WAIT!! :)
I'm now in the process of painting that future "formal" living room a deep chocolate brown color. Over a very light beige? It looks so crappy with the first coat, but the second covers very well. We're using an off white trim color and it makes the doors & windows really pop against the brown. I'm having a horrid time trying to cut in the walls against the ceiling though. Gah! It's cathedral in there, so it's all at an angle, which makes it hard to see where the wall stops & ceiling starts, plus it's all popcorn finish.. I'm gonna have to spend A LOT of time touching up the white. Lord willing, it won't take three coats to cover. *sigh* I'm gonna get me some THICK white paint! :)
Okay, so I'm going now. I keep running in here to finish this up between painting-on-the-ladder sessions. I get so fed up with how it's going, I have to have a break! *sigh* Oh well... the sooner I get that done, the sooner Tommy can use that huge 18" roller & get the rest of the paint done. With four doors & two windows, there's a ton of trimming, so I really have to get my butt in gear!!
Til next time....
Blessings,
G~
Thursday, September 1, 2011
living alone... sorta
So this is a first. My hubby's gone into the great "white" north with some buddies on a he-man fishing/canoe trip for a week! Seriously, he's over 1,000 miles away from home & will soon be out of our cell service area. ACK!
We've never taken vacations apart. Well, actually, we've never really taken vacations as in "This is the week we always go *here* for vacation! Can't wait!" No. We don't do that. Our vacations, the few we've actually had, are always kinda spur of the moment & very sporadic & totally dependent on how our finances look at the time.
We have started going to a cabin with the family the first week of December for Christmas instead of buying gifts or putting the gathering on one home to deal with. That's been nice & will be a great tradition, Lord willing, The "tradition" of the past two years has been for us to head out Sunday after church: me, Tommy, all the kids plus my parents (& since they're going, my sister as well). They usually stay til Wednesday & then kinda "switch out" with Tommy's parents with a meal all together in between. Well, not last year. My sister complained so much that she was bored most of the time that Mom & Dad left before Tommy's parents got there. Or maybe they were just sick of us. You never quite know with them.
So anyway, last year, we ended up with an extra night (perks of being a return client who rents a 3-bedroom cabin!) so we got one night "alone" with just the kids, which was nice. It can be pretty stressful sometimes, all that togetherness. *heh*
So yeah, Tommy's gone off on a he-man adventure. I'm glad he got to go, but a bit irritated by it too. He just does stuff that I never would, ya know? For instance, I wouldn't ever pursue spending this much money on something just for me. I never have. He has several times. I'm trying not to let this turn into a bash-fest, but I want to be honest about that rankling me a bit. He knows it, so don't think I'm sneaking off to gripe about him behind his back. I've griped about him to his face already. ;Þ
Anyhows, yep, it's just me here and it's so different. I am sometimes concerned that if *something* happens, what will I do? Obviously, I don't have any clue what *something* is, but am well aware that it could be anything! Whether or not it would warrant my worrying is a whole 'nother thing altogether, though. I mean, I'm surrounded by family who would, after all, help me if the dreaded *something* were to actually occur. I'd much rather have Tommy here with me, though, just ... I dunno, just because. But then on the flip side, what if something happened to him? How would I get to him if needed? I suppose one of the boys would drive with me all the way up there...
I'm actually not one to work herself into a frenzy concocting wild scenarios of possible disasters. I've been blessed to have been brought through some pretty nasty times and that has made me realize that no matter what, Jesus is firmly in control and my worrying is all for naught. A total waste of time (& kinda an insult to Him, ya know?) and so I call those horrible times a blessing because without them, I would not know the kind of peace that I do at times when other people would worry.
As you've probably figured out by now, this post really has no point. I just had the time to sit and think without interruption, which doesn't happen often when Tommy's here, so I thought I'd just write a bit. My apologies if you were expecting something profound. ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
G~
We've never taken vacations apart. Well, actually, we've never really taken vacations as in "This is the week we always go *here* for vacation! Can't wait!" No. We don't do that. Our vacations, the few we've actually had, are always kinda spur of the moment & very sporadic & totally dependent on how our finances look at the time.
We have started going to a cabin with the family the first week of December for Christmas instead of buying gifts or putting the gathering on one home to deal with. That's been nice & will be a great tradition, Lord willing, The "tradition" of the past two years has been for us to head out Sunday after church: me, Tommy, all the kids plus my parents (& since they're going, my sister as well). They usually stay til Wednesday & then kinda "switch out" with Tommy's parents with a meal all together in between. Well, not last year. My sister complained so much that she was bored most of the time that Mom & Dad left before Tommy's parents got there. Or maybe they were just sick of us. You never quite know with them.
So anyway, last year, we ended up with an extra night (perks of being a return client who rents a 3-bedroom cabin!) so we got one night "alone" with just the kids, which was nice. It can be pretty stressful sometimes, all that togetherness. *heh*
So yeah, Tommy's gone off on a he-man adventure. I'm glad he got to go, but a bit irritated by it too. He just does stuff that I never would, ya know? For instance, I wouldn't ever pursue spending this much money on something just for me. I never have. He has several times. I'm trying not to let this turn into a bash-fest, but I want to be honest about that rankling me a bit. He knows it, so don't think I'm sneaking off to gripe about him behind his back. I've griped about him to his face already. ;Þ
Anyhows, yep, it's just me here and it's so different. I am sometimes concerned that if *something* happens, what will I do? Obviously, I don't have any clue what *something* is, but am well aware that it could be anything! Whether or not it would warrant my worrying is a whole 'nother thing altogether, though. I mean, I'm surrounded by family who would, after all, help me if the dreaded *something* were to actually occur. I'd much rather have Tommy here with me, though, just ... I dunno, just because. But then on the flip side, what if something happened to him? How would I get to him if needed? I suppose one of the boys would drive with me all the way up there...
I'm actually not one to work herself into a frenzy concocting wild scenarios of possible disasters. I've been blessed to have been brought through some pretty nasty times and that has made me realize that no matter what, Jesus is firmly in control and my worrying is all for naught. A total waste of time (& kinda an insult to Him, ya know?) and so I call those horrible times a blessing because without them, I would not know the kind of peace that I do at times when other people would worry.
As you've probably figured out by now, this post really has no point. I just had the time to sit and think without interruption, which doesn't happen often when Tommy's here, so I thought I'd just write a bit. My apologies if you were expecting something profound. ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
G~
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
here we go again...
here we go again...
So, I can't seem to stay away from a blog in one for or another for too terribly long. I inadvertently trespassed on my WP blog by posting links to businesses that were offering giveaways. *tsk, tsk* How else was I supposed to not win anything?!!?
Ah well, so here I am again... on Blogger again. My goo'niss, how many years has it been since I had a Blogger blog?? Sheesh... too many to remember!
And what is the purpose of this blog you ask? I have no clue at the moment. Just to ramble and sort things out, I suppose. I think maybe I'll use this to keep track of my medical misadventures and my new crazy notion of doing P90X. The hubby is doing it too, which is the only reason I've stuck with it this long. We're at Phase II already and I'm kinda irritated that I've not seen a whole lot of difference other than possibly some toning. I mean, my clothes are starting to feel looser but no weight loss to speak of. But seriously, I'll take it. Anything will be an improvement!
Alas, it's Wednesday and after 4:00 pm, so I have to get myself to church and take an accounting of all the children at youth tonight so this blogging business will have to wait.
Blessings....
G~
So, I can't seem to stay away from a blog in one for or another for too terribly long. I inadvertently trespassed on my WP blog by posting links to businesses that were offering giveaways. *tsk, tsk* How else was I supposed to not win anything?!!?
Ah well, so here I am again... on Blogger again. My goo'niss, how many years has it been since I had a Blogger blog?? Sheesh... too many to remember!
And what is the purpose of this blog you ask? I have no clue at the moment. Just to ramble and sort things out, I suppose. I think maybe I'll use this to keep track of my medical misadventures and my new crazy notion of doing P90X. The hubby is doing it too, which is the only reason I've stuck with it this long. We're at Phase II already and I'm kinda irritated that I've not seen a whole lot of difference other than possibly some toning. I mean, my clothes are starting to feel looser but no weight loss to speak of. But seriously, I'll take it. Anything will be an improvement!
Alas, it's Wednesday and after 4:00 pm, so I have to get myself to church and take an accounting of all the children at youth tonight so this blogging business will have to wait.
Blessings....
G~
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
a whole new thang...
You know that infomercial about the extreme workout, P90X? Well, the hubby has gotten on the band wagon.
He ran into a friend of ours from high school through his work. He's on his second round of P90X now and he just kept singing its praises. Seems he was in as bad a shape (his words, lol!) as Tommy before he started P90X and now? Sheesh! The guy is just ripped! He's probably slimmer than he was in high school and he's got muscles all over the place. It's amazing!
So, he gave us his P90X to look over & we are convinced.
We're gonna give it a whirl. Yes, even me. And no, I'd have NEVER thought about even attempting something like this if not for Tommy and Casey doing it too. (Yep, our son is going to do it too!)
So, in a few days we begin. The 27th will be Day One when we start with the X Stretch routine.
Pray, people. Pray!! :)
He ran into a friend of ours from high school through his work. He's on his second round of P90X now and he just kept singing its praises. Seems he was in as bad a shape (his words, lol!) as Tommy before he started P90X and now? Sheesh! The guy is just ripped! He's probably slimmer than he was in high school and he's got muscles all over the place. It's amazing!
So, he gave us his P90X to look over & we are convinced.
We're gonna give it a whirl. Yes, even me. And no, I'd have NEVER thought about even attempting something like this if not for Tommy and Casey doing it too. (Yep, our son is going to do it too!)
So, in a few days we begin. The 27th will be Day One when we start with the X Stretch routine.
Pray, people. Pray!! :)
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