The Longest Project of All Time

I have decided that my desk/vanity project may be the longest. project. ever. I have also decided that it's just part of being a mom. Every single thing seems to take a little longer when you know that you have very limited periods of time to work on something and you are almost guaranteed to be interrupted.

So...I had this idea and somewhere in my mind I knew that it wouldn't work out, but I think I really hoped that it would in my heart. I finally had a few minutes free yesterday (after I had folded three loads of laundry and cleaned the ENTIRE house) while Ellie napped and tried it. Epic fail. I fixed the part I had messed up and decided to distress the desk a little and then I'll apply a coat of something that I'm supposed to use now that it's all painted. I have never been afraid of messing it up or having to start all over. I am afraid of wasting the precious time and then trying to find the time to fix it.

With the way things are going, I'm not setting a completion date.

Big Daddy was away on a business trip and as soon as he parked in the garage I started distressing (and de-stressing) with my sandpaper. I'm going to try and finish that today.

In other news, I am feeling much better, but did wake up with ear/neck/head pain this morning. I took my beloved migraine medicine and feel much better. Ellie and I both have a cough and runny nose. She'll be staying with Daddy tonight while Maggie & I go to Awana.

Today is my mom's birthday. Maggie is determined that there is a surprise party planned at Nana's house today. She really doesn't believe me when I tell her that we're celebrating it on another day. Should be fun when reality comes crashing down on her.

Sick Day

I'm officially taking today off. Whatever that means.

I had a horrible headache on Saturday and by the end of the day it was a mild migraine. I say mild, because I was still able to function. On Sunday, I still had a headache, both of my ears were hurting and my throat was so sore. I felt bad when I first woke up, but we were taking Cousin Callie to church with us for "Friend Day" so I made myself feel better. It was during church when my throat started hurting and then when we arrived home I realized how bad I really felt. I decided to go to the local urgent care and was diagnosed with a bad sinus infection. The doctor also said that I had so much "stuff" in my head that it had caused a vacuum and was making my ear drums do something funny.

I felt really horrible again this morning, but Big Daddy had an early meeting so I had to take Maggie to school. I took a little extra Ex.cedrin Migraine to give myself a few good hours. I'm really hoping for a nap today.

Even though I have felt really bad all weekend Big Daddy and I did take the girls to get Easter portraits taken. Ellie was NOT happy about it, but we got a few that were decent of her and Maggie together. Ellie wanted to sit on anything that didn't coordinate or hold a giant rubber ducky or a basketball...or her Daddy. This was her favorite chair until she saw a black and white letter block. I HATE this chair. We didn't buy any of this pose, but she was tickled to sit in the chair.

Today, I have decided that I'm doing laundry and taking care of the kids, but not much else. The hardwood floors need some lovin' but I'm not up to it today. I haven't done anything except fold laundry since Friday night. I'm really hoping that I'll feel well enough to get my work done tomorrow. I need to feel better so that I can put the finishing touches on my second little project.

The Projects

So, I have finished the first project. The chest started out oak (no picture) and then I moved it to the bathroom, put a coat of Kilz on it and two coats of V@alspar paint in Chocolate Turtle.

Big Daddy and I agree that it's an improvement, but we both would like it to be a darker brown. More dark chocolate and less milk chocolate. Of course, it looks nothing like it does in this picture and the walls are a completely different shade of green. (Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage)

Project #2 is the desk/vanity thing. I'm not sure why I love it so much, but I do!

I removed the knobs and washed it two times with Murphy's Oil Soap.

After that, I sanded down nearly the whole thing, but put lots of focus on the top which was pretty rough.

After it was sanded, I washed it again and I have the first coat of paint on. If all goes as planned, I'll do another coat after Maggie and Ellie are in bed tonight. We have sort of a busy day tomorrow, so I'm not sure when it will find a home in the master bedroom. Luckily, there's plenty of room for it and two cars in the garage!

Taking Another Risk

I'm taking another risk!!

There's this little shop (the old Jitterburger) in town that sells used furniture and appliances that often catch my eye. I usually call my mom and tell her what I want and she goes by to check it out to see if it's in good condition. So far, I've scored an old dining room chair (that has arms and everything!) that we use in the kitchen. It needed to be cleaned (really bad) and painted, but it was only $15. My mom bought it for me, so it was technically free.

For quite a while I have wanted a small desk/vanity for our bedroom. We have plenty of floor space and I thought it would be a nice place to keep bills that need to be paid (tucked neatly into drawers) and mailing supplies and a nice place for me to sit and use the laptop (or maybe a sewing machine if I ever get one). I saw THE perfect desk at the shop a few weeks ago, but when I stopped to check it out, found that it was in horrible condition and not even solid wood.

I was excited to see that the "junk man" (I say this with a heart full of love for this man) had lots of "new" stuff out. We were on our way to my mom's for lunch after our Storytime and I could barely get a glimpse of a desk/vanity that he had. After lunch, I told my mom about it and she said she wanted to talk to him about a certain kind of old chair that she was looking for so I suggested that we take a little drive over to look around. The desk-thingy I wanted was only $35 and solid wood and in good working condition. It needs to be cleaned and painted, but I had planned to paint it anyway. And he had a gorgeous antique rocker that I REALLY want for $35, but I'm not sure Big Daddy will go for that. We did a major de-clutter when we moved and he really likes to know where anything new will go or what it's going to be used for. I'm not sure that saying "it just makes my heart happy" will work for me since it doesn't work for him when he wants to buy a new gun.

I called to ask Big Daddy about it as they were loading it into the back of the minivan (YAY! for minivans). I also had to borrow money from my mom because I didn't have enough cash.

So, I have one project finished and another one ready to start. The new piece is still in the minivan, so I might post pictures of both pieces tomorrow.

Taking A Risk

When I saw The Nester talking about "Take A Risk Day" I didn't think about anything that I had (really, really) wanted to do, but worried about the risk. Then this morning, I read the post for the "holiday" and still didn't think of anything.

I spent a few hours outside this morning, cleaning windows and playing with Maggie and Ellie. We came in tired, hungry and ready for a little inside play time. I put both girls down for a nap and was surprised to find that Maggie went to sleep too. Before I knew it, I was in the bathroom painting the "hope chest" that I'd had for years.

Suddenly, I was participating in the holiday and had never thought I would.

Our master bathroom is my sanctuary. It is the only place that I have alone time. Of course, there's also lots of little girls playing in there time, too. I lock the door on Sunday mornings so that I can get ready for church without interruption. I take a shower after Maggie and Ellie are asleep and enjoy the peace and quiet. And, the chest was really heavy and the bathroom seemed like the perfect place to start painting it. I can shut the door, turn on the exhaust fan and not have to worry that someone will play in wet paint.

I have a coat of Kilz on it and I'll try to paint it tomorrow, but it may not happen until Thursday.

I already had the Kilz and the paint was a free sample from V@lspar- in Chocolate Turtle. Right now my biggest is risk is having an angry husband. If he gets a little upset that the chest is in our bathroom I'm going to remind of the time that the gun safe was in our foyer. For days.

School At Home

As kindergarten registration gets closer and closer more people are finding out that we are going to be homeschooling Maggie. I haven't really explained our reasons to many people at all. I have found that many moms start defending their reasons for sending their kids to public or private school.

I have been pretty vague to most people and just said that we had decided to homeschool Maggie and that she's eager to learn and we're up for the challenge. I don't defend our decision to homeschool her, but I do stay up late at night reading and researching and shopping for curriculum. I don't want to mess this up and I take it very seriously. Sometimes I wake up during the night and think about all of the stuff that I need to do to get us registered.

So far, I feel pretty good. I'm the one who has taught Maggie to write and now she's reading too. I didn't wait on preschool to teach her how to write or recognize letters. I haven't had to force Maggie to do anything and I have followed her lead and tried to teach her things as she became curious about them.

Maggie is also completely on board with going to school at home. She knows that she will have assignments to do every single day and she loves the idea. She will also be taking dance classes, attending choir at church, going to Awana and at sometime getting involved in a homeschool group. She'll get plenty of socialization, which I think may be the top (and worst) excuse that I've heard for not homeschooling. I think moms need to be more supportive of each other. This job isn't easy and hopefully, we all do what we think is best for us and our kids. Moms are critical about so many aspects of parenting from how you birth your baby to what/when you feed them.

I decided to go out on a limb last night and look at the private schools that I would like to send Maggie to. One of them was over $11,000 a year for kindergarten. So in a few years her tuition would go up and then Ellie would be in kindergarten and I would be missing a kidney!



"...most of them thought we

were strange long before we announced we'd decided to homeschool the
kids".
~Mary McCarthy, homeschool mom

A Happy Birthday

Maggie's birthday is one month and nine days away. She has started counting down.

I have not.

I have really struggled with her birthday in the past for different reasons. This year I have struggled with her party.

We have been invited to all different kinds of parties. The first birthday party that we attended was for a three year old. There was a bounce/jump thing, sandbox and her parents cooked hot dogs and hamburgers.

Here's little Maggie at her friend Maddie's third birthday party! She wasn't even two years old.

We have also been invited to big parties with family and friends attending, parties at bounce places, swim parties, museums, McDonald's and of course, the children's spa.

In the past I had always worried that Maggie would be too shy or embarrassed to have a big party with friends. I decided that this year was the year for her to have her first party with friends. She went to a party at a bounce place last Summer and really enjoyed it, so I thought that is what she would want. I asked and she said...
"I'd just like a party with family."

Of course, that's fine with me if that's what she wants. Especially since her birthday falls over the Easter holiday and schools will be out for Spring break. I would be so sad if we planned a big party and then many of her friends couldn't make it.

I didn't want to do anything over the top, but I thought this was the year for a big party.

Two posts in one day

I have had a really good day. The kids have played well and I have been extra productive. When things go this well, especially when Big Daddy's away, I always feel like I'm in for a little bit of bad. I'm not superstitious, but I just feel like something not so good is bound to happen. I just usually expect one of the kids to do something crazy or to make a big mess.

I managed to cook dinner, feed the kids and clean the kitchen when the phone rang. It was my very special mommy-friend A. After having surgery to remove skin cancer from her lip at the end of January, she called to tell me that it seems to have returned. We were only able to talk for a couple of minutes, so I only have limited details. Her doctor thinks that this is a very aggressive form of cancer. She had to have several rushed biopsies today and also had to get six stitches.

I called our other mommy-friend to tell her the news and neither of us could help but cry over the phone. As I've said before, A has kids nearly the exact same age as Maggie and Ellie and she is a great woman of faith. Please join me in praying for her.

Spring Fever

It's cold, cloudy and threatening rain today, but I think I have Spring fever! I just put Ellie down for a nap and Maggie and I are going outside to cut daffodils for a vase. We have spent most of the day cleaning, purging and organizing. I'm trying to finish my work so that I can work on an Easter shirt for Ellie. Maggie and Callie have one like this:

I used the tutorial here (this is now one of my favorite blogs) but stitched around the edges with embroidery thread and stitched on a little button for the tail.

I may fix Maggie a "5" shirt and Ellie a "2" shirt to wear at their birthday celebrations. We'll see!

Now back to working in my kitchen cabinets.

Happy Tuesday!

Back to Normal

I was able to have my alone time on Saturday and these two crazy girls loved spending time with their Daddy.

Maggie was finally back to her old self on Saturday. She had energy and was able to play and back talk and have tantrums again. It was good to have her back!

She was sick from Tuesday evening until she went to bed on Friday night. She felt well enough on Thursday evening to give Ellie tattoos all over her belly.

Ellie loves them. I'm pretty sure that she'll be sad when they wear off.

Alone Time

Alone time is terribly underrated.

There was a time before we had kids that I spent lots of time alone and I took advantage of it, but I was happy to welcome Maggie, my constant companion. Becoming a stay at home mom of two and having a husband that sometimes works long hours doesn't leave a lot of room for me to have alone time...unless you count my nightly shower. Big Daddy and I have made a conscious decision to spend as much time as we can as a family. We didn't have kids so that we could constantly leave them with someone else, but we try to make time for a date every now and then.

This weekend I'm (supposed) to get both alone time and Big Daddy time.

After Monday's trip to T@arget and the grocery store I decided that I needed to go shopping without a companion. (Really just without Ellie. Maggie is a joy to shop with, but Ellie just isn't right now.) Ellie goes to the grocery store with me while Maggie's at preschool and any extra shopping that we do is usually as a family, but sometimes a girl needs to be alone. I'm planning to leave early on Saturday morning to do a little shopping for myself and for Maggie and Ellie's birthday gifts.

Big Daddy and I have a date planned for Sunday afternoon too. There's a movie that he wants to see and then we'll go to dinner. I'm excited about going out to eat and not having to supervise children.

Of course, when you have children all plans are subject to change. Maggie has had a fever since Tuesday evening. After a trip to the pediatrician yesterday, she was diagnosed with an adenoid virus. It has to run it's course and will hopefully be over in another couple of days. My sister said she would keep the kids regardless of their health, but I'll have to decide what to do come Sunday.

Ellie had a low grade fever on Saturday and Sunday, so I stayed home from church with her last Sunday. I decided to go ahead and take her to the doctor too. You know, the two for one special that doesn't really exist. Dr. Brett diagnosed her with "possible teething and a two year old attitude". (That's what he wrote on our paper!) He was so sweet and told me that he gets more parents bringing their 18-24 month olds in because something must be wrong. Ellie woke up on Tuesday morning with a sudden personality change. Big Daddy and I were trying to decide if she could have what Maggie had so I took her to be checked out. Ellie has been stuck in the house a lot and Maggie hasn't played with her very much. Hopefully, she'll be back to normal soon. Right now there's lots of "I want it" and "I have to have it" stuff coming from her. Her latest obsession is drinking from my water bottle. She tries to swipe it out of the fridge every chance she gets. She has a fit when we tell her no.

Parenting is a humbling experience.

Every Once In A While

I try to make lists of things about me once in a while. Things I like and things I don't like and random stuff that's in my head. I started writing out my lists sometime right after I got married. I don't think I have any of my earlier lists, but I read all of them a couple of years ago when we put our house on the market and were getting ready to move here. It's funny to see the things that were big and on my mind then that I had totally forgotten about.

So...about today.

Maggie is home from preschool because she woke up (several times) during the night with a fever. I'm hoping that it's the same short-lived fever that Ellie had on Sunday that was accompanied by no other symptoms. Unfortunately, Maggie often throws up when she has a fever.

I emailed my Awana director and called my co-teacher to let them know that I wouldn't be at class tonight. Big Daddy offered to stay at home with Maggie, but I told him to go ahead and go to the gym. He's in a fight this weekend and I'd like him to be prepared. BUT, I'm totally bummed that I'm missing class for the first time.

Pete Wilson posted this verse on facebook today and I thought it was special. Ephesians 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." And I adore Pete Wilson.

I took the girls to T@rget on Monday morning and then we met Big Daddy for lunch. Ellie screamed like you wouldn't believe because I put her in the shopping cart. Once I realized that she wasn't going to stop, I carried her...and pushed a heavy buggy.

I want a sewing machine. Sew bad. I confessed this to Big Daddy and of course, he told me to buy one. It makes me feel good that he wants me to have things that I want, but I don't feel like I need another distraction right now. I have crazy ideas of things that I would make, but time is limited and I am often in high demand. And I only average 6 hours of sleep most nights anyway. I would make things that we don't need, like curtains and blankets and things. Maybe I'll get one the next time it hits me! ( I know how to sew because I took one of those classes in high school. I was also a proud member of FHA... Future Homemakers of America. So, I really do have my dream job.)

Ellie is really good at communicating, but she doesn't talk much at all. Sometimes I find it annoying, but Maggie talks enough for all of us.

Maggie was up so much last night that I'm thinking that she may take a nap today. If so, I can't wait to do yoga in peace and quiet.

I hate it when someone likes a certain ____ and they feel like they have to put down all other _____s. I think it's one of my biggest pet peeves.

I took the girls to the grocery store on Monday afternoon. Ellie screamed like you wouldn't believe because I put her in the shopping cart. Once I realized that she wasn't going to stop, I carried her...and pushed a heavy buggy. (sound familiar?)

Big Daddy and I have a date planned for Sunday afternoon. I'm going shopping alone on Saturday morning (alone!!!!!) so that we don't have so much to do on our date. We'll be able to see a movie, have dinner and still pick up the girls from my sister's before bedtime without being rushed.

You Can Tell Me Anything

Sometimes I can't believe she's mine.

I thought this would wear off after nearly five years, but it hasn't.

I spent the first few days after her birth saying that I couldn't believe she was mine. Big Daddy assured me that he had stayed with her the whole time from the moment that they brought her out and that she was definitely mine.

Now she has droopy, brown eyes and bruises up and down both legs just like me.

And she's strong-willed. Apparently I am too because we can really give each other a hard time.

I can't believe how long and skinny her legs are. When she's sitting in the floor I am amazed at how far it is from the bottom of her head to where her bottom meets the floor.


One of her most used phrases is, "Can I tell you something"? If you say no, it makes her mad. I usually answer by saying "you can tell me anything". There's no telling what she'll say. She still asks me to tell her what happened on the day she was born all the time. This morning, she whispered,


"Could you tell me again what happened to Martin Luther King"?


Of course, I had explained what happened to Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement, segregation and even a little bit about slavery when she was out of school for the Martin Luther King holiday.

I Must Be Getting Old

Today is the anniversary of the first time that Big Daddy and I had a date. It has been fifteen years.

I still can't believe that we are old enough to remember fifteen years ago, much less have started dating that long ago.

We had met several months before when I was dating a friend of his. After that ended, we both just happened to go to the same spot on the same day at the same time hoping to run into each other.

And we did.

We went to eat (but I didn't eat) and rode around to different car lots ( he loves cars...still) and decided to go see a movie that we both wanted to see the following weekend. We also planned to eat dinner and then go to my house and watch a movie on video (yes, video).

I guess the rest is history.

And yes, we were babies.