For those of you that paint walls.....

I have been a busy bee in our hallway painting. The walls were white and the ceiling was green. I got eggshell base and have put 3 coats and when you look at it you see streaks!!! What in the world am I doing wrong? This is not the first time I have painted. I bought a really good roller for this job and it's driving me crazy. Any thoughts?? Of course you only see these spots in the glare of the light so it is really only noticeable when you are walking from my bedroom.... anyway, here is a peak of the color.

Projects Projects

Back in June, we had the dining room painted from burgundy to Lake Country by Valspar. Well, it turned out pretty bright and I'm starting to have a "what have i done" moment about the whole thing. Esp. since we hired professionals to paint it. I usually do all the painting in the house but this room needed primer and paint on ceilings and walls. I can't dare tell my hubby that I'm thinking about another color for it so I will wait and see if it looks ok after we finally furnish the room to be another living area/dining room as I would like. Hopefully by this June, the room will be somewhat furnished.

when we moved in this house the lady before us had allllllll this expensive wallpaper and borders put up in most of the rooms. I wish I had a picture of our bedroom and bathroom... salmon walls and LOUD magnolia border in the bathroom. That came down immediately after we moved in along with all of the other border in the bedrooms...Does anyone even use border anymore? That brings us to the foyer (which is directly off of my "tiffany blue" living/dining) wallpaper. I think it's beautiful even though it's not something I would pick out. And the molding detail is pretty neat. Before, below the wallpaper and molding, was the burgundy color and we didn't have it painted along with the dining room.... so i decided to take the leftover paint and tackle it myself...

This is the result..... which has me second guessing the whole color again

This morning I took a leap of faith and pulled put the Blonde shade we have in our living room and I'm so much happier with the turn out. And since I won't be taking that wallpaper down anytime soon, this will def work! All it needs now is a pretty rug.

Sew what?

Before I share my project with you I want to take a moment to talk about Lent. Growing up in the Catholic school system, we were taught that you give up something for Lent. I never truly understood the why but I would go along with it because, well, that's what you did. Then there was the "lull" in my life before I became a Christian and this Lent thing came up again. Since we are not Catholic, I brushed it off as a Catholic ritual. Then I was told it's a man-made act anyway... meaning it's not Biblical. But you know what? I think it is Biblical. Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and represents the 40 days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan(Matthew 4:1-11). If you consider what God gave up for us ( his son) the least I can do is give up something that we really love for 40 days out of the year. This is how I feel about it anyway. So with that said, I have decided to give up facebook (cringing) because it really does take up much of my time. Time I could be focusing on my relationship with God, my husband, my children. This will truly be a sacrifice because I literally check it a dozen times a day. Crazy I know. I'm not announcing this to get credit...just to share.

Now, doesn't this look like the tools of a professional?

When i bought Wade's crib bedding ( Retro Cowboy by Michael Miller) I purchased some extra fabrics in the event I would make something. Now is my time! I have been so anxious to have the boys bed skirts made and fretting over finding a seamstress that would not charge me out the wahzoo to do it... a light bulb went off! (or should that be on?) Anyway...

The boys' beds ( which were my Nana's antique twin beds) are up against the walls so I knew I didn't need a full bed skirt. And the way the bed frame is made, you can't just let the skirt hang off the mattress... sooo I had the idea to velcro panels to the inside of the frame. Then for the "hem" I found some bonding tape and .....

Voila!
(and cost me about $5..plus the price of fabric of course)

Love and Happiness

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's weekend. We saw "The Tooth Fairy" Friday night. It was very cute. Definitely a good family movie. The kids enjoyed it too. Saturday and Sunday I fought a sinus headache but my wonderful hubby cleaned and took care of the kids. He also had a dozen long stemmed roses delivered to the house with a gift.... one of my most favorite candles. I'm a candle snob of sorts and this by far is THE best smelling. Red Currant is my second fav from this line.

Today after we got KE from school, the snow started falling! The kids were so excited. I let them go out and play and catch snowflakes on their tongues. The boys love their "sissy"

This Old House

no, this one is not mine.....

I'm obsessed with searching exterior home renovations...... We have a ranch style home ( you know.. the kind that has a one plane roof line and no architectural detail) and I have wanted to do something about it ever since we moved in about 5 yrs ago. We even got a quote on landscaping but we haven't done that because if we ever do anything, I didn't want that money spent on the yard to go to waste and be destroyed by any redos.

I think I spent an hour online searching before and after pics yesterday. Here are two pictures of things that I like... Picture number one has the porch floor I love and the posts are nice too. Of course a rustic brick floored porch would be great too.

picture number two here shows the gable over the front door that I'm drawn to. Only thing is our front door is not centered on our house. Not that it really matters right? I have no clue about home renovations except for what I see on HGTV and DIY.

The whole concept of remodeling/adding on scares me for a lot of reasons. Getting the right contractor, the cost and I have to be happy with the finished product. But I don't want it to be 5 more years until we do anything.



Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. We are looking at painting our brick as well. If you were going to put the shutters shown at the top of the page on your home, what color brick and trim do would you go with? I think I know I want a cream trim. Dark painted brick or light painted brick?
And while you are thinking about what I should do, check out this beautiful transformation!

As for me, I like to share

If you visit my blog, and your speakers are on then you have heard some of my favorite tunes. The other night I was blog stalking as we call it here in blog-world and found a post on blog etiquette. It said that music on one's blog is disruptive to the reader as they may have a sleeping baby at their side and not expect the music.

Well.

Personally, if I had a sleeping baby at my side asleep while I was surfing the net, I would make sure the volume was low or off. But that's just me.

This blog started off as something to not only keep up with family and friends, but an alternative way for me to document happenings with my children and my life. One day I hope to turn my blog into a book. Most of all, this blog is a place I can hopefully encourage others. No matter the topic. As I never intend to offend, I'm not worried about offending. Does that even make sense?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is my personal spot in cyberspace and while not always, it will get personal. I think you can tell from being here , I love the Lord. I am not perfect. I am a sinner that needs forgiving on a daily basis. Yes, daily. As much as I would love to say that being a Christian means life is flawless, it's not. I was one that used to think that way until I started growing. Even though I'm 33, I have a long way to go in my walk. I don't think we ever "arrive." God always has something to teach us. We just have to be willing to learn.

I'm still learning how to be a Christian with all of my tendencies to control the situation and worry about everyone else thinks. It's soooo much easier to try and take care of everything myself or at least I think it is. This is when I will hit a wall so to speak and keep hitting that wall until I say.. ok Lord, it's yours. Oh my how hard this is for me. I am definitely one of strong opinions (if you can't tell already) so when I believe in something, it's very hard for me to not speak up about it (or defend) and I'm even guilty of closing my heart to others that have a totally different opinion than me. Esp. when I get frustrated with a situation. Ouch. This is not how my heavenly Father wants me to behave on His behalf. We always need to love each other and while I'm asking God for help in this area, I will stand firm in how I think he wants me personally to live.

I hope you will listen to what I love to listen to and really hear the words of the songs. I'm in awe of what the Lord has done for me and my most favorite way to worship Him is through song. Oh and I also love rap music. I always have and always will. Just now, I choose the clean versions (ha). So don't be surprised if I get in an old school mood and you come by to visit me and hear some Outkast, Tone Loc or Salt N Pepa.....make sure the volume is down..... I wouldn't want to wake the baby!!

Don't Be Tardy For The Party

Tuesday and Thursday mornings are to myself and while I should be cleaning the house, this morning I traveled to the small town of Merigold to McCartys Pottery. For those of you who have never heard of McCartys, you are in for a real treat! They have been in business for over 50 years now and if you go in most homes of the Delta and beyond, you can spot a piece or two ( or 200 ) . I was so excited to go today because I hardly ever do. My sweet mother in law treats me to pieces each Christmas and Birthday. Each year in March they have a huge sale...first come, first served kind of deal where people actually camp out for it. Well, I knew or thought I knew people camped out a day or two ahead at the most but to my surprise today I found out there are people camped out NOW.... and have been since the end of January. The sale is the first weekend in March! So to share with you a little about how this works I took pictures....

here is the camper of the folks that have been here for 2 weeks already... they even have electricity hooked up. see?

Below you will see chairs lined up with names on them claiming their spot. The chairs traveled around to the right of this building... I think there are already at least 60 chairs.

This is the grand entrance to the famous McCarty's Pottery. I can assure you...it doesn't look like much but it is filled with beautiful pottery. The McCartys also live here and maintain a beautiful garden that is something you just have to experience for yourself. Oh and there is a restaurant that serves lunch in the "back". Of course everything is served on or in McCartys pottery.

And here are my goodies! These are called gin and tonic cups. I can't wait to serve soups, drinks, coffee or even plant a flower in these. Anytime you receive a brown bag with the McCartys signature , be excited!

~ the wavy black mark represents the Mississippi river and adorns every piece ~

Fuzzy but Fun

anytime we go anywhere people that don't know us ask if they are twins. They could pass esp. since I like to dress them alike. Nathan is catching up with Wade. So much for buying bigger clothes to pass down!

Once again......

I found another interesting blog.....

today has consisted of laundry.

period.

oh and nathan talking back to Dora when she asked..what's your name? "nathan" how old are you? "i'm free!" trying to hold his 3 little fingers up but still hasn't mastered the art of holding his pinky with his thumb. then after Dora says, wow! you are big! he says, "Dora, I'm just free!"

Random thoughts

I have spent the last hour reading pasts posts of my own and realized I used to be a really great blogger! I think ever since facebook came along, I have neglected this habit for another. No more neglecting! When I feel the need to share, as I appreciate all of you that share with me, I will post. Can't promise the most interesting but it will be from the heart.

I almost forgot! If you haven't tried these, please do! You simply add 2/3 cup of vanilla yogurt. If you are watching your weight and have a major chocolate crave like myself, this is for you.... just don't eat half the pan like I did the first time.

Something I LOVE

I love working for Blessed Be The Name children's clothing. They have such cute clothes for your kids and you can't beat Who they represent. I'm in the process of doing home shows and I have 2 more left for this season. I will truly be sad when I have to ship the clothes back but I will look forward to my package of spring and summer clothes for my kids! If you have never seen this line, I highly recommend it. We carry Boys sizes 6m-8 and Girls sizes 6m-10. Below is just a mere peek of what we have at the shows.

Did I mention?

I have a new favorite blog. She inspires me in so many ways... inspires me to want a "good" camera, inspires me to be a better blogger, inspires me to renovate my home and last but not least, inspires me to be a better Christian.

Check it out! http://www.flythroughourwindow.com/

a bit of an update

So, I have been super busy selling precious children's clothing, visiting with new friends and meeting great ladies all at the same time. ( oh and holding babies :) I can honestly say that most of all I miss my children and they miss me. I love working for BBTN but I'm so glad that I get to be a stay-at-home-mom. I would not trade that for any money in the world.

Lately, T and I have been talking about the idea of updating our house. I want to paint the brick, change the shutters and get a new front door. I have been stalking other blogs that have done similar and it's so fun! We are also playing with the idea of building a porch onto the front of the house as well. I have to find just the right picture of what I want because we will only do this once! So until then, we won't do any of the other stuff because the paint and roofing would follow the add on. Oh I'm excited!!!

I still can't add pictures to my blog and drag them down below my typing like I used to be able to and it's driving me crazy.

The kids are well. "Spring" soccer season is here and KE and Wade will play again. Nathan is not potty trained yet. I thought we were doing well last week but he WILL NOT tell me when he needs to go and he fusses every time I say let's go potty. ugh. Hopefully I will have him potty trained by this summer. It's amazing the differences of how you handle things between child 1 and child 3.

Happy Tuesday Everyone!