Embarrassed much?

I really thought I was beyond being embarrassed by my children.  The more kids we had and the experience with their actions gives moms a thick skin...hopefully.
3 year olds are unpredictable.  They say inappropriate things at inappropriate times, do things that are obnoxious and act completely random most of the time. 
Right? 
That's what 3 year olds do, right? 
Or is that just my 3 year old? 
Don't tell me if your 3 year old doesn't do those things.  I prefer living in denial.
So our 3 year old is precocious, gregarious, obnoxious, (how many more -ious words can I come up with?).
He often says things that would drop a first time mom to her knees in embarrassment.
Not me, though. 
I've been toughened by the years. 
I'm hardcore. 
I know they won't be 3 forever and will eventually learn what to say and do in the correct manner.
I'm also a liar.  Well, at least about the whole tough and hardcore thing.
Scenerio--Sunday morning during Sunday School.  Caleb is going into a preschool class for the first time.  He has promised he will not talk the whole time and listen to the teacher.  First 20 minutes seemed to go fine.  Then, I hear his little feet stomping towards the fellowship hall where adult Bible class is going on.  At the doorway, he YELLS, "Mom, MOM, I need to go potty!!" At which point, he just turns and runs back out of the hall, yelling.
I, of course, just smile at everyone as we walk to the bathroom.
You think that's it?  Oh, no.  We're not done yet.
Fast forward to church...Caleb is sitting by Chad in his usual squirrely, loud manner. 
He talks the whole service.  Every week.  People are just used to it. 
This week, though, somehow Chad lets him out of the pew on the side aisle. 
Caleb takes off around the back pews and is RUNNING down the middle aisle ALL THE WAY to the front and around the FRONT PEWS. 
At this point Chad has gone down the side aisle to cut him off so Caleb turns and RUNS back up the MIDDLE AISLE!  I wait til he passes my pew and then cut him off from going back down the middle aisle.  Chad grabs him and heads outside. 
It did not go well for Caleb, at that point.
I was calm as could be.  I don't think I made any horrific facial expressions.  Just shook my head a little. 
Inside, I was DYING.  Seriously, so embarrassed.  Everyone in our church is so nice, but I was out of there before the service was over so I didn't have to talk to anyone.
Guess he won this round.  I was sure I was beyond embarrassment.
Nope.

Boots and skinnys

I am by no means a fashionista.  I'm usually at least 3-5 years behind any fashion trend.  I refused to wear capri pants for years.  I think I wait awhile to see if a trend will stick around long enough to warrant a purchase.  I'm cheap.
I'm not sure when skinny jeans first came back in style, but I have had a pair for only about a year and that was very reluctantly.  I wear them occasionally and think they are quite comfortable.  I have to be in the right mood to wear them though. 
And then we have boots.  I SUPER love the current style of boots, leggings, skinnys, big sweaters, cardigans...it's all so comfy looking.  Again, I'm sure I'm behind the curve on this too. 
I finally bought boots today.  I've been looking for a long time cause I knew I was going to buy only one pair and they had to work for anything and they couldn't be $200. 
Where did I find them?  Target, of course.
And I found a pair of skinny jeans that are not low rise.  Jackpot!
I'm feeling rather fashionable now.  Don't worry it won't last long cause I heard wide leg jeans are coming back and I'm not a big fan of those cause my legs are wide enough all on their own. hehe. :)

Sleep

It's the key.  I'm sure of it.
The key to happiness, the key to productivity, the key to peace, the key to sanity.
Sadly, when we need these things the most is when we seem to sleep the least. 
Or at least that seems to be the case for me.
Some need more, some need less, but we all need enough.  Find your enough.
I crawled into bed about 6:30 on Saturday night and didn't get out of bed til 9:30 the next morning.  Then I slept on and off most of the day Sunday.  I needed sleep badly. 
I'm terrible about going to bed, especially during football season.  I love the hours after the kids are in bed.  I seem to be my most productive with chores and it gives me uninterrupted time to read or take a bath or get on the internet.  When Chad is home at normal hours in the off-season, it's the only time we get to talk uninterrupted.  I enjoy that time of day.
I find when I get 8 hours uninterrupted, I feel better.  Have you noticed a theme here?  I like things UNINTERRUPTED. :)  HAHA!!
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I know I'm going to miss these years of interruptions, sleep deprivation, little people, and messes.  It gets me choked up just thinking about it. 
It's such a process, this growing of children.  They make you appreciate things, like sleep, so much more!

9

She can't be 9.  I remember being 9 so I can't HAVE a 9 year old.
It's true though.  She's been reminding us for days now. 
Why does 9 seem so much older then 8? 
This girl makes my life better every day.

And like a fine wine that she cannot drink, she has gotten better with age. 
As much as I mourn the growing up of our babies, I am very much looking forward to the coming years with my girl!
Happy Birthday, Autumn Nadine!

Art

I would N.E.V.E.R consider myself a crafty, artsy person.  I have brothers who are truly artistic.  One in particular, Jake, who has made beautiful pottery, paintings, drawings, home renovations and the list goes on.  He is also the one person that will argue that everyone is an artist. 
I imagine that if I were to be a painter, I'd be like Pollock.  I love his stuff.  And although I'm sure his genius far surpasses mine, I think I would like to throw paint on a canvas versus drawing anything.
And so, I am stuck with trying to copy other people's ideas, which I don't mind so much at all cause other people are very creative!
Here's what I copied from various ideas the other day...

Caleb already smudged the E in Grace, but it's chalk so easy fix!  I spray painted this chalkboard that I picked up at a garage sale over the summer for about 5 bucks. It's big and sturdy and I liked it, but hadn't really used it for anything yet.  Saw this quote on pinterest and loved it so there ya go!

The dresser it is sitting on is in desperate need of attention, but for now it sits in my living room holding roller blades, ball gloves and toys.

I kinda went on a project craze this past week.  Don't worried it passed and I'm back to not wanting to do much of anything.  I'll post what else I got done soon!

Project!

I've been wanting to paint our piano for awhile now, but wasn't sure if I wanted to do a color or just black.  After looking at many different ideas, I settled on painting it black, but with a turquoise base so I could distress it and have some of that turquoise come through.  So that was what I set out to do last weekend.

 The piano was given to us by a friend and it's been much loved.  I sanded it down to get rid of the shine and taped along the keys.  I tried to do that pretty carefully, but I still had to scrape paint off the keys when I was done.

This is Max.  I was a little worried for awhile cause he was laying behind the piano and in a deep sleep for quite some time.  Thought maybe he was unconscious from the fumes.  He eventually woke up.

 Primed.  I loved this color.  Weird to like a primer color, I know, but it was such a nice blue/grey.    Much prettier then the picture shows.  I'm considering getting it for a bathroom.

 Coat one.  I used a sponge brush so I didn't have stroke marks.  It worked pretty well.

AND NOW.... The final product!!

It's not black.  I know this, but I loved the turquoise so much I couldn't bring myself to paint over it!  I haven't put any coats of poly on it yet, but will be so it will hopefully last longer!
My house is for the most part devoid of color so this wall is "loud" by all standards.  I like it.  It's good for now...and I can always paint it black later!

I can't win...

I am rather accustomed to being the primary caretaker in our family.  I prefer it this way, for now.  It works for us.  The hubs is good at jumping in when he's home.  These football months, that's less to none, but we manage.
Now, you know I'm laying all that out there because I have a terrible story about how much I dislike being the primary caretaker for months on end, right?
Chad had a faraway away game on Saturday which meant he left early Friday and got back late Sunday.  Nothing too crazy.  Just meant a couple full days.  I intentionally planned a few things to do to keep the peeps occupied.  Friday we did a movie and pizza at home, Saturday we hit a couple garage sales and then were going to go to an Octoberfest at a local church.  First, though I had to stop at our church for a few hours and do the bulletins for Sunday.
Kids played great, kept themselves occupied for 2+hours while I worked. 
As I was finishing up, I took the bulletins out to the sanctuary and walking back, I heard running water...At which point I told Autumn to go check the nursery bathroom to see if someone left the sink on.  As Autumn walked away, Caleb says, "I did it."
Autumn yells, "MMMOOOOOMMMMM!"
I go into the nursery to see water pouring out of the sink onto the floor which already has an inch of standing water in it.  I turned off the faucet and still heard water.
Ran downstairs to find water POURING out of the stove vent, light fixtures and ceiling in the basement kitchen.  The kitchen has several inches of standing water already.  The amount of water was staggering.
Without hyperventilating, I grabbed towels and mops from the cleaning closet.  First, I yelled for everyone to go outside, of course.
An hour later, we had managed to get all the water cleaned up.  I made a few phone calls to inform those who needed to know what had happened and now I wait. 
Wait to see how much damage my 3 year old managed to do.
Those are the moments, I really wish I wasn't the primary caretaker.

Quote

"Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

I saw this quote a few years back and it spoke to me.  Something clicked in my head and ever since I have looked at each thing in my house differently.

I've never been a big collector of knick knacks or things, besides kids.  We managed to collect 4 pretty good ones of those.
And with those kids does come stuff. 
It's unavoidable in many ways.  More shoes, more clothes, more papers and books, more furniture.
But that quote made me think less of more and more of enough.
I want enough, not more.  In many ways, I want barely enough or a little less than enough so that I have something to works towards.
I like a few special things that are meaningful to me (look on the right for the things my top 5) and I keep those where I can see them often, sometimes too often.  Except for the guy at the top.  Don't see him nearly enough lately.
My house is never totally clean and never immaculate.  
That's impossible. We live here.
I have boxes in my basement with... I don't even know what.  Probably books. 
There are too many pairs of shoes and jackets piled up in our mudroom..
Or maybe I just have too many kids...?
Toys are thrown all over the basement with no hope of being picked up in the near future.
But I TRY to keep things to a minimum.
A few toys, not a roomful.  A few pots and pans, not 15.  One spatula, not 5.  One change of sheets for each bed, not 4. 
Enough.
I periodically go through my house with that quote specifically in mind.  
"Do we use this?  Do I love this?"
Alot of times the answer to both questions is no.

Sometimes it's something I think could be repurposed or painted, but more often then not I decide it's not worth the time or the $$ to try and do that so off to Goodwill, the recycle shed, or the trash it goes.

And so with the idea of loving what you have or tossing it, I leave you with this little tidbit...I took on a project this weekend while the boy toy is away.  I took something that I DID NOT love, but we use regularly and am (hopefully) making it something I DO love!
To be continued...

Pinterest

I understand I may be WAY behind on the bandwagon on this one, but FOR. THE. LOVE ( my friend Jamie says that all the time and I LOVE it! :) ).
PINTEREST.  Have you been on there? 
It's horrible. 
Just awful. 
Really you should not go look at all.
You should definitely not sign up for an account.
I warned you....
So did you do it?
Did you go look?
I'm sorry.
I did it.  It's my new favorite time suck.  You know that thing when you get on it, it's just going to be for a minute and then 3 hours later you realize you haven't spoken to another human being or blinked much.
It's how I imagine a good solid drug addiction would be.
Don't judge me, please.
I have so many ideas, projects, recipes, etc, etc, ad nauseum!
It's torture!
ENJOY!!

Door/wood pallet coffee table

Imagine this...

 Plus this...

and you get my new coffee table!
We had this old glass panel door downstairs in our basement, which apparently came with the house.  I have no idea where it was originally.  It's beautiful.  I tried to sell it a few weeks back, but no takers so after some encouragement from friends, I started looking into how I could use it.
I thought about using it as a huge picture frame thing for a family heritage wall.  Then, my friend Brooke, introduced me to Pinterest.
That is a whole other post in itself, but it is COOL!  She had the picture of the wood pallet table.  And TaDa!
Put em together and I'll have a sweet coffee table that will also hold my family heritage pictures.
This is all thanks to my friend's husband who has carpentry skills that I'm utilizing!

Distressed

I may be going overboard here in a bit...I'm looking to do some distressing.  NOT to be confused with de-stressing.  I have to do that on a daily basis.
This distressing thing though is new to me.  I've always ignored the whole distressing home decor stuff.  It just hadn't ever appealed to me much. 
I love clean, shiny surfaces.
Flawless paint jobs.
Immaculate finishes.

And then, I opened my eyes and realized my style is distressed whether I want it to be or not. 
Every piece of furniture is beat up, banged up, chipped, dented, etc, etc.
So then I got this swell idea to just go with it. 
Embrace it!
So I started doing some research.  This distressing thing is apparently very "chic".  I have settled on the "look" I want.
Ready for it...

"Old World" 
Sounds nice doesn't it?  If I had a interior decorating bone in my body, I think it would be cool since our house is, in fact, OLD.
But since I don't have an ounce of interior decorating abilities, it will probably just turn out lame, but I'm gonna give it a go.
First 2 things on my list to distress:

Piano-To say it's in rough shape is an understatement.  It's nearly in the old world so might as well push it over the edge.

Kitchen cabinets-This may take some gumption ( I love that word!). I spent HOURS last year heat gunning all the previous paint off and HOURS priming and painting them a deep chocolate.  I love them.  Kinda.  They are beat up, broken.  And dirty.  I'll have to put some thought into the colors, but I think it would work.
My cabinets are basically this color now so it wouldn't take too much to get this look.

This one is a bit more distressed and I like that alot. 

Well, I guess that's not much of a list, huh?
I have home projects on the brain!  More to come later.
DISCLAIMER:  I might possibly be known for talking about doing a project and even starting it, but never actually finishing it. 

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.