Friday, April 30, 2010

It Ain't No Joke

 "Housekeeping ain't no joke." - Louisa May Alcott

I don't like housework--I guess that's pretty universal, huh?  Listening to a book on my MP3 player while I work makes it better--especially An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (she wrote Little Women, too).  I just discovered LibriVox, a website with public domain audiobooks.  You just download them and hope for the best.  The reader of AOFG is really good...sounds as good as an audiobook you would buy!

I'm also listening to The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein in my car, so far so good.  And I'm reading Anita Diamant's Day After Night--I don't feel like I've quite made it to the "I really love this book now" point in it, but I've just read the first few chapters so far (see her book The Red Tent peaking out above the Alcott quote in the picture?).

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Shop Online @ Hobby Lobby

Today when I went to print my 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon I realized they'd added online shopping!  Nice!  Some of you who don't have a Hob Lob close by will love this!

P.S. I print Hobby Lobby coupons almost every week just in case I'm in the store and find something I like need.  I don't usually use them because I like shopping the clearance 80% off section.  But I feel so good knowing that I can get 40% off something if I want.  It makes me feel special.  It gives me security.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Pairing Socks Makes Me Thankful...

...that we have two pairs of feet in this house--I am not alone.

...that I can throw away the socks with holes in them because we have other pairs.


...that we have a washing machine and dyer that work!

...that wearing striped socks can make me smile all day.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Enjoying the good of our labors

I love how sometimes when I read a familiar passage seemingly new parts "speak" to me.

1 To everything there is a season,

      A time for every purpose under heaven:
       2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
      A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
       3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
      A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
       4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
      A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
       5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
      A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
       6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
      A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
       7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
      A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
       8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
      A time of war,
And a time of peace.
The God-Given Task
 9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. 12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
     

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Skipping Church?

If you ever wonder whether you should skip church or not, read this for clarification.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

New Blue

 I PAINTED IT BLUE!

Here it is in my kitchen before:


And after:
It doesn't match a thing!  I LOVE IT!!!  I was originally thinking about distressing it or doing some kind of glaze or finish, but I like the pure blue-ness of it for now.  Not sure that I like my copper things on it anymore, so I may shop my house and switch some things around.

It Rustoleum Wildflower blue (part of my arm is, too!)
Eventually I may get some knobs and replace the little pawn-looking knobs on it...but nothing urgent.  I do like these from anthropologie...it has the right shade of blue and green that would tie into the rest of my kitchen and copper...perfect!:

I suppose painting a small piece of corner furniture blue isn't everyone's idea of exciting, but it was for me.  It was my grandmother's and I didn't want to ruin in.  I also knew it would be strange to have a blue piece of furniture in my kitchen when everything else is in the green family, but I'm glad I did it.  It's a bit empowering to give something new life.

Linked to A Soft Place to Land in hopes that someone else will be inspired to try something new!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

I got brave enough to take Kimba's advice (on A Soft Place to Land) to paint an outdated treasure.  Here's the before:



This was my grandma's and I'll show you after pictures tomorrow.  The end.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Currently Reading

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time.  Set in the 1930s, I Capture the Castle is a girl's diary of the going-ons in the castle in which she lives.  It's a bit of an awkward title, but it makes perfect sense.  I'm about 2/3 through it and am trying to slow my reading down to make it last.  I just love books that make me want to do that.  There was a movie of it made a few years back, I'll see how that compares.

I'm also listening to the audio of this.  I haven't gotten very far into it, but it's one of those books I've always wanted to read but never got around to it.  So far so good.  The nice thing is that there are a lot of books in the series so if I fall in love I have quite a bit to look forward to.


This week when I've picked up my Bible to read I keep getting drawn to 2 Corinthians 5:
1 For we know that if our earthly house, tent,is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 And, in fact, we groan in this one, longing to put on our house from heaven, 3 since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 Indeed, we who are in this tent groan, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 And the One who prepared us for this very thing is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
    6 Therefore, though we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight — 8 yet we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Goodbye Jeep, Hello Murano!

We just traded my Jeep Liberty in for this beautiful Nissan Murano!  After driving it for 1/2 a day now, I can say that I LOVE it!  So comfy...plus the a/c works!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Weekend at the beach!

Shane and I got away for a couple days to St. Simon's--and had a great time!

We enjoyed walking down the super windy beach!


We enjoyed the beautiful view from our room!

We enjoyed finding sea creatures!
And eating them!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Something in Common

It makes me so happy to have something in common with The Nester.  Even if it's just a few white plates on a wall.

Nester's--

Mine--

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

In a few days we will be here...

The King and Prince Resort on St. Simons Island.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Chandelier Love

Will someone please buy this chandelier from overstock.com and let me come visit and see it?  Although it doesn't really look like "me" or the things I'm usually drawn to, I love it!  Maybe it keeps showing up with the black and white rugs I've been looking at...

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Jewelry Holder!


One of the easiest things I've ever made.  Pretty much just followed what Centsational Girl did when she made hers.  The hardest part was waiting for everything to dry so I could start using it!  I bought a $5.00 frame at Hobby Lobby (50% off)...they have these way in the back of the frame section that don't have backs on them.  I was going to use it for something else so I Heirloom Whited it and used a glaze.


Didn't turn out like I thought it would so I decided to use it for my long-awaited jewelry holder!  My mother-in-law has a great stash of craft stuff, so she let me have a couple of plastic canvases--even if you had to buy them, I think they're super cheap.  So I basically just hot glued the plastic canvas to the back of the frame and added the hooks ($0.97 for a pack of 8).  Painted it all pink.  The end.

linked: Make if for Monday, Metamorphosis Monday

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Happy April Fool's Day!

I've been trying to come up with something funny for today because it's April Fool's and I forgot to take a picture of my jewelry holder and I don't have anything else to share or talk about but I can't think of anything to say.

Sorry.

Happy April Fool's Day.