No, I'm not having a baby. But we ARE moving! We have found a house that we LOVE, but, nothing is official yet. No papers signed as of now. Once things are set in stone (hopefully in the next week or two) I will have an awesome story about how God, once again, provided in His perfect timing. So that's all I'm going to say about it for now. We know for sure that whatever happens with the house, we won't be staying where we are currently. And the amature interior decorator inside me is screaming with joy. I can barely contain it. When I'm presented with a situation to redecorate, especially a blank canvas of a house, my desire is to go mad. I could take a whole week and shop until I can't see straight. Then paint, DIY, and style until I can't move. I could seriously have a decorate till I drop party. I know I have a few friends who'd willingly join me. BUT. Our budget sits back and laughs at that idea with an arrogant "let me know how that goes" type laugh. So, this will be a slow, progressive, on an extreme budget type deal. But I'm excited. My goal is to use as much of what we already have and redo things. I have big plans for our living room end tables, our bedroom furniture, and the girls iron beds. And that's just the short list. Last week, one of the blogs I follow, View Along The Way, had a post that was perfectly timed about decorating. So, I've been gleaning from her wisdom and starting with a "lead" piece instead of with a paint color like I usually do. Our couches are relatively neutral so my plan was to find a fabric I could use as throw pillows, or maybe an accent piece like an ottoman, and then bounce the rest of the room off that. And so after a few minutes searching, I found a Waverly print that I LOVE!!! and it comes in a few tones. It's called Santa Maria. This is a picture of what our couch and loveseat look like. You get the idea of the color we're working with. Our furniture is new so we won't be replacing because it's still in great shape. This was the first sample I saw. It's obviously in a deeper jewel tone. It's called Santa Maria Gem. Next to it are the Sherwin-Williams paint chip suggestions. This is my safe zone. These colors are ones that I understand. I can easy put a room together based on these. I love the bold punch of red and blue, but it's fairly sedated. This was the second one I came across. THE GAME CHANGER! It's Santa Maria Desert Flower. I am head over heels for this print. And it's way over the top for me. Like, this will take some serious brain power on my part to put a room together around this. Especially a living room! But, I just love it so much I think I might do it. I'm thinking the Curio Gray color for the walls, maybe a little red or gold chevron, and some black and white Ikat thrown in. And I've been really wanting some teal furniture in my house somewhere, so we'll see. Sounds like a hot mess right now, but it looks awesome in my head! (if that's any comfort to those reading like my husband and my mom) Which do you like better? The more sedate jewel tones or the bold, bright one? Does the idea of a new house/room/space excite your inner decorator like it does me?
Happy Thursday!
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So, perhaps I slacked off a little this summer, and my summer mantle stayed up until last week. It was patriotic themed and I figured... why not? I started thinking about my fall mantle a month or so ago and it took lots of thought, scouring other blogs and magazines for ideas, and eventually, LOTS AND LOTS of editing and styling. In fact, I took 3 sets of pictures for this post. I'd style the mantle the way I wanted, take pictures and edit them. Then later that day or night I'd be sitting there and think... no, I don't really like that there. Then I'd spend another day or two moving things around. Repeat that process 3 times. THEN, I came across the perfect pumpkin this last weekend and I just knew this was the finishing touch. Finally, I'm content with the outcome. So much work for it only being up there for a little bit. This mantle will stay until December, but I will take the jack-o-lantern tin down and find something more "Thanksgiving" to put up. Also, let me apologize in advance for these pictures. I couldn't get a clear picture to save my life. A nice camera is at the top of my Christmas list! Anyways, let's get to it... I wanted to try my hand at mixing textures. I love the way the Indian corn pops with a little color. The bundle of twigs wasn't originally an idea I had, but when I saw them I liked the look of them and worked it in. I got them at Joann's. The silver bark candle holder is from target, and the glass pumpkin is from Big Lots. I searched high and low for the indian corn and finally found it at a local grocery store. I knew I wanted to keep the frame on the mantle, but honestly I couldn't find any subway art I liked. And I didn't have time to make one. So, I decided to use a traditional Thanksgiving hymn. This is "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come". I made the print then added the leaves and "Give Thanks" and then had it printed at Sam's Club. The lantern I snagged at Ikea last month. That little owl started my whole vision for this mantle. I just thought he was so cute! I knew I wanted to include some fall leaves on the mantle, and originally I wasn't picturing this kind, but as soon as I saw these I was struck by the beautiful deep red color. It worked out well as it accents the color of one of the indian corn cobs. The little jack-o-lantern tin is from ages ago. I got it from my mom years ago and I love the old look of it. Plus, it adds a touch of halloween to and otherwise traditional harvest mantle. After Halloween I'll have to find something to replace it.
Well, there ya have it! I really like it. Finally. This was definitely a labor of love for me, but my persistence paid off! Happy Fall! Check back in tomorrow as I'm resurrecting Weigh In Wednesday! I'll be adding a link to a Health and Wellness support group I started on Facebook as well as listing some of my October goals! Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I know we did. We celebrated with Aaron's family and then I shopped till I dropped! I planned to blog on Friday but never found the chance! Well, Thanksgiving is over and that means Christmas! And at our house, that means family visiting from out of town! Because of schedules, we're celebrating Christmas with my parents and sister and her family this weekend. I'm also excited because my parents have been storing our Christmas decorations and I've really been wanting to decorate. On Thursday, we will finally! Because of family coming in, I only planned 3 meals for this week. It was a very easy plan. Emmy asked for one, Aaron asked for one and suggested the other. Thursday and through the weekend we'll plan with my mom when she gets here. Monday- Spaghetti. Emmy's been asking and asking for it and I've been out of spaghetti noodles. So, tonight I finally got some. So finally Emmy will get her spaghetti. Tuesday- Green Beans, Sausage, and Potatoes. This is one of Aaron's favorite meals. And I love it for 2 reasons (beside the fact that it tastes good!) #1- it's easy. It's cooked in the crock pot. And #2- it's quite possibly the easiest recipe I fix. Wednesday- Sausage and cheese omlettes. We love breakfast for dinner and it's been a while since we've had it. Plus, for some reason I've got 3 dozen eggs in the fridge. So, omlettes it is. Ok, so a little bit of a Holiday and Weekend Recap in pictures.... #1- Getting back into a bit of a routine. I'm working on a bible study with a friend and seriously folks, this is one of the best studies I've done so far. It's called No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. #2- I've been able to be in my happy place some this weekend. I've been working on some crafts and projects for the living room redo, and a few small things for the kitchen. #3- Yesterday was the Hubs birthday. The girls insisted on having a tea party with him yesterday morning to celebrate! Well folks, we're getting closer on the living room. The truth is that right now, our furniture is in layaway, and it probably will be for quite a while. So a big living room reveal will be a long way off, because our ugly furniture just won't do this room justice. So, I'll give sneak peaks here and there as we get things put together. I'll post a few more sneak peak pics as we get stuff done. Have a happy Monday!
We're in the process of redoing our living room. It's going to be a very S-L-O-W process. We just painted it from a cream color to a nice new color called Swanky Grey. I love the color. I just don't like that my furniture doesn't match the color and I don't have the perfect stuff to hang on my walls. We're planning on putting some new furniture in layaway and paying on it as we can with hopes that sometime in 2013 we'll be able to enjoy new furniture! As for the perfect stuff to hang on the walls, well, that'll take some time too. I'm having a hard time coming up with a "vision" for this room.
For those who know me well, you know that I don't exercise the virtue of patience well or often. I'd say it's honestly probably one of my biggest struggles. And it's funny how it affects every area of my life. Ususally people think of patience having to do with a traffic back up or waiting for a birthday or holiday to come. But for me, it directly affects my level of contentment. I've struggled with feeling that what I want and what I think my family should have hasn't come fast enough or at all; therefore, destroying my contentedness. Which in turn, has allowed me to justify my anger and resentment. My living room as become and outward picture of my life. Or at least it will be. I will choose to be content with slow progress or no progress at all. I'll be content with change as it happens, not as I make it happen. And I will choose to be content with my circumstances and surrroundings even if they don't match as I think they should. A few weeks ago I posted about the snowman candleholders we made for my mom for her birthday. We needed to make something super cheap, and I realized I had everything I needed for this project so it would be free. My mom loves snowmen and anything Emmy or Macie make for her, so this worked out great! I started with an empty jar, white tissue paper, my homemade decoupage medium, orange felt,red felt, black felt, and black construction paper. Emmy helped me rip the tissue paper into big pieces so we could glue them to the jar. Coat the jar with the decoupage medium, then place your tissue paper on the jar. Then give the tissue paper a good coat of decoupage. Repeat the process with the rest of the tissue paper, overlapping each piece until the jar is covered. I had to add an extra layer of tissue paper so it wasn't ultra see through. Make sure you cover the mouth of the jar as well. Once all the tissue paper is on, take the black construction paper and cut 2 circles for eyes and small circles for the mouth. I used a whole punch to make the small circles for the mouth. Decoupage the eyes and mouth onto the jar. Mine eyes didn't end up sticking so I had to glue them at the end. The rest I don't have pictures for, but I took the red felt and cut a strip about an inch thick for the scarf to go around the bottom. I cut a strip of back felt for the top, to look like part of a top hat. I used the orange felt and cut 2 equal size triangles for the nose. Once the tissue paper was completely dry, I used my hot glue gun and attached all the felt. Emmy and I made the first one, then I decided I wanted to do a tutorial so I did a 2nd jar, that's why there is 2. Emmy was so excited about them, she spilled the beans to my mom about what they were before she even opened the gift.
I remember vividly the night Emerson was born. I can remember how the room smelled, I remember the noises I was hearing, I remember every sweet curve of Emmy's face. I remember all of this because I didn't sleep. I laid in that hospital bed staring at her couting each breath. I was too afraid to close my eyes. I was afraid that she would stop breathing and I wouldn't be awake to save her. Over the next few months I had many nights like this. I'd lay her down to sleep and panic because I was consumed with fear of losing her in the night. On those nights I would pray these exact words.... "God, Emmy is yours. I give her to you." Almost instantly when I prayed that prayer, God's peace would rush over me and I was able to sleep. Now that Emmy is older, I don't often have a fear of her not waking from sleeping. My fears have changed. Am I doing it right? Am I holding her back? Am I pushing her too hard? Am I being an example of God so that she is pointed to the cross? Am I expressing love, courage, strength, modesty, and dignity to her? About 5 months ago, Aaron and I decided that instead of just doing a generic prayer at bed time and praying for a few specific family members, we wanted to teach Emmy how to pray for others. I'd seen this idea online and decided to replicate it (another idea pinned here.) We also decided that as Emmy grows and her understanding deepens we'll add more sticks with specific prayer requests and deeper concepts. It was easy to make. I took an empty pickle jar, spray painted the lid pink. I used jumbo popsicle sticks and a pink sharpie to write the names, then tied some silver ribbon around the mouth of the jar. I used a silver craft pen to write Emerson's Prayer Jar on top. Every time she gets in bed, she instantly reminds us to pull a name out of the jar. She loves praying for everyone in the jar and gets excited about each name. She's recently started asking to pull 2 names out of the jar. She'll pray, we'll kiss her and tuck her in and close the door. And then every night I pray... not out of fear for the coming night but for hope in the future God has planned for her... "God, Emmy is yours. I give her to you." |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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