Instagram Love

I've been absent without explanation.

Oh wait, what's new about that?

I thought I would share some Instagram snippets of my life for the last few months.

Did I mention I love Instagram?

 

My sister and I went to New York a few months back to celebrate her aging birthday, so I threw in a few pictures of that for your enjoyment.

 

In the meantime, if you're hunting for the perfect Valentine Gift then check out my Etsy Store!
I added a few hearts for just this occasion:-)

 

 

Hurry though to get them in time!
 

I've been painting signs like crazy, so I'll be back to share...

sometime:-)

Catching Up

I've had a few emails, comments and such made about the fact that I haven't posted since September.

Yeah...

About that...

I will now give my normal speech about how busy I've been.

I know you'll sigh and think "here we go again..."

For real though.

I've been crazy busy.

 

Let's roll it now in no particular order....

I had the pleasure of doing the flowers for two weddings in the last few months.
You can see those
Here (I was also a bridesmaid in this wedding:-)
and Here

Hunting season is here and as a wife of an avid hunter and the mother of 3 boys, it's either beat 'em or join 'em.

I actually do enjoy hunting now too.
 

School days are in full swing now.

Picking up and dropping off, homework, lunches, sickness...

Most of all the unspeakable joy I feel each time he comes home and with such pride shows me something he's learned that day.

 

I would say that in the past we have been an averagely healthy family.

We are smashing new records and building our own wing at the doctors office this season.

Lots of firsts with a broken arm, and a visit to the ER.

Strep throat, lower and upper respiratory infections, pneumonia, colds, hand foot and mouth...

I'm earning my keep and putting stock in vitamin companies:-)

I went to Virginia for two weeks to celebrate my younger sisters 30th birthday.

It was originally only going to be 1 week but Hurricane Sandy changed our plans.

We managed to sneak up to NYC for a few days for some sightseeing.

It even snowed for us the first evening.
 

 

We had an amazing time!!

 



 

I have squeezed projects in here but still have loads of stuff to do as well as loads of stuff that needs to be put in my Etsy store.

 

 

 

Next on the agenda though?

A belated giveaway to celebrate 1000 Followers!!

It will even include an absolutly gorgous bracelet from The Silver Craftsman.

 



 

 

Until then...

You May Wonder Where I've Been...

I'm still around...

Still doing things....

But mostly enjoying the summer:-)

One more month of having all three of my boys home.

Then I have to send our oldest off to kindergarten:-(

I'd better go enjoy some more....

The Greatest Puzzle of All Times

Who folds these things anyway?

I can just picture them in the pattern folding factory...

200+ women sit with wide intent eyes, pens posed to start scribbling out notes.

A heavy set man with beady eyes and stained armpits enters the room with a stack of thin, brown paper.

It's clean and flat. No wrinkles. No folds.

He holds it up to the crowed. Waving it to and fro. Letting the wind gently grab the edges and make a fluttering noise.

The excitement builds. The tension grows thick.

Mr. Beady eyes passes out stacks to his minions.

His moist breathing and heavy footfalls echoing in the room.

He takes his place at the front again and from the lectern he pulls out an envelope.

It measures smaller than a Kodak moment.

His voice rumbles like thunder through the room.

The woman jump, the paper crackles.

"EACH PIECE OF PAPER MUST BE FOLDED 3,297 AND A HALF TIMES!!!

NO MORE!

NO LESS!"

All eyes widen as they look at the thin, brown papers in front of them.

The door closes. The man is gone.

No worries, no patterns were harmed in the making of this mess.

Okay I lied.

I'm elbow deep in pattern pieces.

Just trying to unfold them now.

I'll let you know if anything comes of it.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday our little Lee celebrated his 1st birthday.

It's amazing how fast a year goes by.

It's amazing how busy adding a third child can make you.

I had fun keeping it simple for his birthday.

I did try out some new cupcakes for the event.

Angel food cake, strawberry cream filled withe cream cheese icing.

Yum.

The cake "flags" were simply designed, printed, cut and glued to some scrapbook paper.

Now one might assume that the above photo is me with icing on my hands.

One would be wrong.

It's caulk.

I'm taking a wee break from sign painting to indulge myself with a little house sprucing.

I Instagramed My Vacation

First of all a huge thank you to Sheldon from The Silver Craftsman for partnering up with me.

Look for another item from his shop when I do my 1000 followers giveaway soon!

Congratulations to the Thriving Thrifter for winning the giveaway~

***

So this last week we took our first "vacation" since we've been married.

(more than 2 days and not to visit family)

Our boys had never really seen the ocean so it was great to introduce them!

We stayed in a condo just a few miles from Seaside Florida.

Lee ate half the beach.

It didn't seem to bother him too much.

They other two loved every minute of it!

I know they probably irritated everyone within two miles by yelling "SHARK" every five seconds.

We actually went to celebrate our 10th anniversary.

We just celebrated our 9th last month.

Confused?

We didn't think next year would work out to go so we went this year instead.

Love that I got to spend the last 9 years being married to this guy.

I also love palm trees.

Ahhh....

Florida was wonderful.

Some People Put It In The Trash For A Good Reason

I'm a trash stealer.

It's an honest occupation.

I only ever do it for very good reasons too.

Like today when I saw a perfectly good basket in our neighbors trash...

I stepped out the door and looked both ways.

Cars were coming from both directions so I stepped quickly back inside.

(Because standing on your front porch looking longingly at your neighbors trash would for sure be noticed by someone passing by at 35mph.)

When the coast was clear I stepped out again.

I had to make a dash across the street to snatch it but in my thrifty mind I had struck gold.

I didn't even bother to see what was in it.

Just grabbed and ran.

I would like to say I wasn't out of breath when I got back inside but I am that out of shape.

Only then did I set my stolen goods down and take a gander at its contents.

It was a real bird.

It was a dead bird.

It stank really bad.

Right now I am rethinking my occupation as a trash stealer.

You just can't trust people to keep their trash clean these days.

No dead birds people!!

No dead birds.

Spring - Must Enjoy Before it Passes!

I'm a native Virginian.

Born and bred.

It's a wonderful state.

Rolling hills, history, the ocean.

Trees.

Yuck.

I don't like trees very much.

They tend to block my view and cramp my mind into a small tree lined box.

No thanks.

I moved to Texas when I was 19.

There is no place like Texas in the spring.

Does that sound proud?

Wow, they must be rubbing off on me.

Let me see if I can issue another bold statement...

There is no one on earth prouder than a Texan.

True fact right there.

I took these photos at the deer lease a few weeks back.

There were so many wild flowers blooming and the weather was amazing.

God did a pretty awesome job.

So I'm enjoying spring.

That's not the only reason I haven't been posting though.

I can't find the battery charger for my camera.

Maybe it's under that pile of laundry in front of me.

I'll go look...

The unexpected happens...

You must wonder where I am.

I wonder that as well sometimes.

Here is the short version.

I dropped my laptop on the tile floor causing the hard drive to hate me.

The laptop was put on full life support but has yet to breathe on its own.

I have not allowed myself to think of life without all the pictures and documents it held.

No. I did not back anything up.

I always intended to, but hey my laptop worked great!

No plan of dropping it was in my mind.

The grief will set in later.

The 6000 or so photos I had will be missed.

Back up your stuff people.
And don't try to blog from a tablet.
After this I won't either.
I'll be back when I can steal a new computer.

Yours truly,

Finally Home

But just think of stepping on shore
And finding it heaven
Of touching a hand
And finding it God's
Of breathing new air
And finding it celestial
Of waking up in glory
And finding it home!

(Don Wyrtzen ~ Finally Home)

Dear Grandma,

Today we feel a little bit of sadness and a little bit of joy.

Today you are in heaven with our Lord & Saviour!

Thank you for raising my mom to be the amazing woman she is today.

Thank you for having me and Brooke come stay with you almost every summer for a week.

For the trip you and Grandaddy took me on.

For the ceramic ducks you had that we would put raisins and chocolate chips behind and wait for you to find them and get all indignant. 

Thank you for everything you were to us here on earth.

I will remember you every time I see a pansy:-)
We love you and will miss you.

Goodbye for now.

We'll see you in heaven one day.

25 Things All About Me?!

1. It's almost 2am and I should be either cleaning or sleeping, but here I am holding my sleeping baby and typing.

2.Lots of people say their first impression of me is that I'm stuck up and intimidating. So not cool.

3. I once got a lawn mower "stuck" in reverse and I went round and round under a volleyball net, in front of my (then) boyfriend. I still wince when I think of it.

4. I'm a night owl.

5. My biggest fear in life is something happening to one of my kids.

6. I have a freckle on the very end of my big toe. Check for it if you ever need to I.D. me.

Just trying to help out.

7. My nose randomly surprises me by dripping.
Super fast drippings.

8. I still like playing Lego's.

9. I am a born again Christian and hope that my boys will see the Love Of God through my life every day.

10. I am super embarrassed for ANYONE to see our garage right now.
It looks like someone thought it was a salt shaker. Our backyard is pretty face flaming as well.
 I promise we only have 3 kids! (they each happen to have 17 ride-on toys though)

11. I collected slugs in a large bucket as a young girl. All.The.Time.

12. I could never say no to a dare when I was younger if it involved me making money. (getting slug slime off your tongue is almost impossible BTW)

13. I'm a WWII history lover.

14. I love to write fiction but don't have the time anymore.

15. I love to hunt and fish!

16. Listening to my boys converse is one of my favorite pastimes.

17. I used to wear ugly clothes just to try and annoy my older sisters. It worked some of the time:-)

18. Speaking of clothes... Not much of a fashion queen here. Wish I had a personal shopper because I dislike shopping for clothing.

19. I ate oatmeal raisin cookies for breakfast and lunch today. That's it. My mum would be so proud.

20. I could count on one hand the times I've gotten to sleep through the night in the last five years.

Bless my dear children:-)

21. I collect old milk bottles but have no idea what to do with them.

22. I can hardly type this...I HATE fingernails on a chalkboard. HATE, in a bone chilling, shivery, earache kinda way.

23. My hair has been to my ankles before.

24. I am four years older than my husband. Would marry him again in a heartbeat.

25. I think I talk too much about myself cause I had no problem thinking these up:-) (did I mention that most people think I'm quiet? Before they get to know me)

I'm linking on up here!

He's A Keeper...

Have I mentioned that I married a pretty sweet guy?

I tend to be a fairly independent, can-do kind of person, but there are some things that I neither have the time to do, nor the talent.

Enter Derek.

This is our front hall/entry/living room.

You know how weight loss adds always show the person 50lbs overweight, no makeup and in their underjams?

Yup, that's how you see my house right here.

Derek is in process of doing some planking on these walls.

I. can. not. wait. to show you the final look!

He also made/painted this sign for a coworker since I didn't have time.

Nice job eh?

He has a few other good merits as well:

He is patient and kind to me.

Wrestles and plays with our boys almost every evening.

Watches them for me when I'm going crazy busy.

Would buy me the moon if I asked for it.

He has a ruptured eardrum right now and has hardly complained.

(I do have to yell for him to hear me though:-)

He takes me to Buffalo Wild Wings the moment I hint about it.

He sacrificed his own hunting for me to get two deer this season.

Listens to all of my crazy decor ideas, and even helps me out with them when I ask.

Listens and sometimes comments to my many, many questions and ramblings about life.

Always puts the toilet seat back down.

Comes home to us every evening and calls if he will be late.

Provides for us, loves us and so much more.

 If I had to choose again....

I would choose him a million times.

So anyway, we've been busy with projects and sick kids.

That's life!

Change...

I'm whipping up some new designs for my blog so be patient with me!

Wordless Wednesday

 

It's so hard to be wordless.

Guesting... (is that a word?)

I'm honored to have a guest post today from Arcadian Lighting.
Take it away Susi...
***

Today’s guest post is from Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting. Founded in 2002, Arcadian Lighting started selling decorative home lighting fixtures and lamps online, and has become one of the top Internet retailers for home lighting products. Visit their website and cool blog for more information.

Rustic vintage décor is a popular trend in design right now. Natural materials like stone and reclaimed woods are mixed with vintage cabin, farmhouse and even modern styles to create the charming rustic vintage décor we're seeing in shelter magazines and on design blogs. We've pulled together some examples of retro vintage style. Have you noticed this trend? What do you think? Love? Hate? Let us know!

Image above (via) I'm So Vintage

Rustic cabin style is having a bit of a renaissance in design right now. Mixed with other styles like vintage, modern and even contemporary, rustic elements are trending hot right now. Even taxidermy.

Image above (via) Country Living

Rustic and vintage elements fill this new kitchen with charm befitting a 19^th century homestead. Recycled wood beams add a rustic feel while accessories like the hanging lantern add vintage charm.

Image above (via) Pinterest

A popular way of adding a rustic feeling to a room is by using antlers as decorative elements.  Hung on walls or displayed in cabinets, antlers add a natural element to a room. This dining room features vintage lighting as well as a vintage bookcase used as a china cabinet.

Image above (via) Pinterest

Reclaimed beams create a dramatic rustic style headboard in this bedroom. Vintage style clip wall sconces add a vintage touch to the rustic chic style room.

Image above (via) Birch and Bird

The white antler chandelier and barn doors add rustic charm to this entry. A vintage Navajo rug adds color as well as a feeling of nostalgia.

Image above (via) Country Living

Vintage and antique flea market finds and heirlooms decorate this stone and wood filled rustic cabin bedroom.  Love the painted chest at the foot of the bed that adds color to the room.

Image above (via) Flickr

Shabby chic vintage style meets rustic in this pretty bedroom.  The masculine wood feeling of the vaulted wood ceiling is offset by the feminine lines of the chandeliers.

Image above (via) Birch and Bird

It may surprise you that vintage modern can also work in a rustic style room.  This large barn style living room has an airiness that works with the clean lines vintage modern furniture and those stunning pendant lights.

Craving more of the retro vintage style? Stop by Arcadian Lighting for more inspirational design ideas.

Wow! Don't you love all those inspiring photos?

Yum.

Thanks Susi, and be sure to check them out!