Thursday, October 27, 2011

Grace


Yesterday was "early release day" at Lilli's school.  Basically that means that Lilli returns home two hours early that day.  Abbi is afternoon kindergarten, so she is to go to school normal time and is released at 2:10 (confused yet!?).  Yesterday, I was distracted with my upcoming trip, packing, getting things in order for Josh, etc.  Yesterday, I was at Costco at 12:10 while my daughter Lilli was dropped off by her bus at our house.  Yesterday, I received a call from her school at 1:45 pm informing me that my 7 year old daughter had walked 2 miles back to school from our house.  Yesterday, I felt like I earned the "worst mom of the year award".  Yesterday, I felt ashamed by my self-focus.  Yesterday, I thanked God for keeping her safe on her walk.  Yesterday, I loved my daughter even more for her courage. Yesterday, I felt God's grace and mercy despite my inadequacies.  

Monday, October 24, 2011

Girls Room Makeover Part 2

   
The girls room was SO much fun to create!  The first thing I did to the room was paint it.  I used some leftover paint I had lying in the garage.  I can't tell you the name of the color because I mixed a few different colors to achieve this shade.  I usually start projects on a whim, so that day I painted this entire room with only a medium size paint brush--no roller on hand, and the thought of driving to Home Depot with three children always kills me.  But, by the end of painting my arm felt like it was going to fall off! 

 
The second project was creating the upholstered headboards.  I found the fabric on clearance at a local fabric store.  I had my husband cut the particle board to size and assembled the headboards in one evening.  The hardest part was getting the printed fabric to line up evenly. 
All in all the project cost under $70 dollars to do.



I found the duvet covers at Ikea.  I used bias tape on the duvet covers.  The fabric for the pillows was bought here.  


I have always admired the work of Hadley Hutton.  The frames are from Target. 


I bought the book shelf at Ikea.  The lamp was from Goodwill, which I spray painted.  The shade was purchased at Ikea as well.  




The original dresser was a gift from my husband's grandmother.  It was brown with brass knobs.  I used the same color spray paint on the knobs that I used on the lamp.  The dresser was painted a shade of white.

Above the bed, the mirrors are Target.  I screwed in these  knobs for the mirrors to hang on.  


I found this frame at Goodwill for around $10.  It was originally gold, with a picture of the Virgin Mary on the inside.  :)  I used some fabric and ric-rac to make a poster board.  
I am pleased with how well it turned out.
 

Hope you've enjoy.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Girls Room Makeover Part 1


This was a random picture I found of the girls' room before redecorating it.  As you can see, the walls were a collage of my little artist "prints".  The bed sat awkwardly against the wall, which interrupted the larger window.  I had wanted to come up with a more sophisticated girls room, and the girls wanted something with lots of pink.  Pictures to be revealed tomorrow...

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Love



"One cannot always tell what it is that keeps us shut in, confines us, seems to bury us, but still one feels certain barriers, certain gates, certain walls.  Is all this imagination, fantasy?  I do not think so.  And then one asks:  My God!  Is it for long, is it for ever, is it for eternity?  Do you know what frees one from this captivity?  It is very deep serious affection.  Being friends, being brothers, love, that is what opens the prison by supreme power, by some magic force." 

Vincent Van Gogh, letter to his brother, July 1880

Friday, October 21, 2011

Muffin Recipe



Here is a great muffin recipe from a dear friend of mine, Ingrid.  While it has a lot of ingredients, which is annoying, they also pack lots of healthy stuff in them! 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup oat bran
3/4 cup brown sugar (you can use 2 mashed bananas and only half of the brown sugar)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger (ground)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ground)
1/4 teaspoon allspice
Mix dry ingredients.


3/4 cup skim milk or soy milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons applesauce
Mix wet ingredients.

Combine wet and dry ingredients.  Fold in 2 cups finely shredded carrots,
1 zucchini, peeled, shredded, and squeezed (to get some of the water out), and 1/2 cup of raisins, cranberries, or nuts.

Fill prepared muffin tins 2/3 full with batter.

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!:)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Seeing Red


I've always loved a pop of red in any room.









 {Images via Decor pad}

 
I fell in love with this simple book shelf from Ikea.  While my husband is not a huge fan of their furniture, I promised him that it was real wood before purchasing it:).  I also added these glass doors.  Thanks to hubby and dad for putting it together for me!


Once put together, I decided on these knobs, which made the shelf more complete.  I always appreciate the fact that hardware from Anthropologie can make a piece of furniture pop...


Lastly, that area of the room needed some light.  I headed back to Ikea for a couple of these.  Once I got home I quickly realized that the lights did not come with plugs, and those you have to purchase separately.  Ugh!  Back to Ikea...  Bummer. 



I really am happy with the final outcome.  



Would I do it over again?  
I think so.  :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A Surprise Visit...

 

Last weekend my dad surprised the girls with a visit from Indiana.  We always cherish the time we spend with family from out of town.  My dad is an amazing person.  We are fortunate enough to have his endless love and support...

Here's a bit of what we did:

Dined at this restaurant

Painted my kitchen/dining room this "silver drop" color

Ate this cake---and still eating...

Put together this book shelf with these doors

{Added these knobs to the book shelf}

Read the girls this book---they were so happy!

Hung this art 

Drank a lot of this out of one of these

Bought Evi these shoes 

Took the girls here

Went to church

Fun weekend.

*check out my dad's blog

Friday, October 7, 2011

Dining Room Chairs







I'm in the process of painting our dining room chairs.  I will be sure to show you the results next week.  In the meantime, here are a few chair inspirations.  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Malma Mirror



 I recently gave two of these "Malma" mirrors a little makeover.   You can pick them up at ikea for around $3 bucks.  Clearly they are plain, as are most things from ikea. But, thanks to paper-source and some modge podge, I am pleased with the results! 



Wednesday, October 5, 2011

1st Grade and Literacy


A few weeks ago I attended my eldest daughters' "back to school" night.  Parents listened to all the details about the upcoming school year.  Obviously literacy is a major part of the school curriculum.  We've been working with Lilli and she has been doing great!  I was excited to hear about the "100 most frequently used words". These most commonly used words are ranked by frequency. The first 25 make up about one-third of all printed material in English. The first 100 make up about one-half of all written material.



I decided to make Lilli some flash cards which I've thrown into my purse.  These are great to quiz in the car, at the doc office, grocery store, etc.  It's a quick way to tackle the memorization of these words.  Below are the materials I used.  




Sunday, October 2, 2011

Divine Humility


 

from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

We are perplexed to see misfortune falling upon decent, inoffensive, worthy people—–on capable, hard-working mothers of families or diligent, thrifty, little trades people, on those who have worked so hard, and so honestly, for their modest stock of happiness and now seem to be entering on the enjoyment of it with the fullest right.  How can I say with sufficient tenderness what here needs to be said?  It does not matter that I know I must become, in the eyes of every hostile reader, as if  I were personally responsible for all the sufferings I try to explain……But it matters enormously if I alienate anyone from the truth.
 
Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for a moment, that God, who made these deserving people, may really be right when He thinks that their modest prosperity and the happiness of their children are not enough to make them blessed:  that all this must fall from them in the end, and that if they have not learned to know Him they will be wretched.  And therefore He troubles them, warning them in advance of an insufficiency that one day they will have to discover.  The life to themselves and their families stands between them and the recognition of their need;  He makes that life less sweet to them.   I call this a Divine Humility because it is a poor thing to strike our colors to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to Him as a last resort, to offer up “our own” when it is no longer worth keeping.  If God were proud He would hardly have us on such terms:  but He is not proud,  He stoops to conquer,  He will have us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him, and come to Him because there is “nothing better”  now to be had.