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Showing posts from 2013

My Stress-Free Christmas List

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After attempting to take Christmas photos with a dead camera battery, we tried again the next night and got this sweet one, among others! Every Christmas I have to remind myself not to fall into the "Perfect Christmas" trap.  I have to focus on what is truly important and weed out the rest.  Here is my list to remind myself what's important: My Christmas List 1. It's okay to say no.  2. My kids aren't going to suffer if I don't make Christmas candy. 3. My house doesn't need to look like Martha Stewart or Pottery Barn. 4. I don't need to stress out so much about picking out the perfect gift.  It's the thought that counts. (right?) 5. No one is going to hate me if they don't get a Christmas card from me. 6. My super-mom status won't change if I don't make cut-out Christmas cookies. 7. I don't need to attend every Christmas show and activity in town. 8. It's okay to stay home and enjoy quiet evenings with my family.

My Amazing Blessings

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Brace Yourself for a Whirlwind Tour Through My Summer Projects!

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 One of my first projects this summer was transforming a whole bunch of boring black magazine files into something pretty to look at.  I just happened to have this fabric in my cupboards, so I went for it.  A little hot glue and voila!  Here they are in on the kitchen bookshelf (where we do some of our schooling)... Also, you can see the chalkboard that I make out of an old frame from elsewhere in the house.  Another project was to organize the drawers of the kitchen chest of drawers (seen above).  This tends to be a catch-all for all kinds of things.  I went to the Dollar Tree and got some organizing trays and cups...What a great feeling to organize those drawers!  This drawer is the "tool drawer."  The biggest project of the summer (besides VBS) was painting the kitchen.  I really wanted this done before school started.  I happened to find some clearance paint at Home Depot called "Crisp Khaki!"  It was the perfect color for the perfec

Loving my new DIY!

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 Deodorant and I have always had a Love-Hate relationship.  After trying every product known to man, I still get sweaty pits.  That's just how it is, and I have embraced that.  =) But then there is the problem that I can't seem to find one that doesn't react with my skin and cause a funky smell.  I had found one by Dove that I liked reasonably well, but I had been wanting to try one without Aluminum.  So I tried Tom's Aluminum Free.  And I hated it.  No one should ever wear Apricot anything under their arms.  Nasty.   I had to stop wearing that immediately and I had no deodorant in the house so I took a container of body butter and added some peppermint oil to it and rubbed in on.  I loved it!  So then I did some research and decided to try to make my own deodorant.  It's really not as hard as I thought it would be.  Actually it's easy!  And I love it!!!  I dumped out that Tom's stuff and replaced it with my own recipe: listed below. DIY Natural

Spray-Painted Beauties

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  This desk has been sitting in our carport for MONTHS awaiting a fresh coat of paint.  Let's just say it had collected a LOT of grime in that amount of time.  Well, somehow we found the motivation to start sanding it and my husband did a fabulous job with the SPRAY PAINT!  Yes, I said spray paint!  I love it!   Here is another spray painted project that my husband undertook for the boys' room.  I desperately needed more storage since the boys clothes are taking up more room as they get older!  Three boys have a lot of clothes!  This was a hand-me-down from my brother and fits perfectly in the boys' closet! And here is a photo of the boys' new color scheme.  These comforters and curtains were made from $4 sheets from walmart!  I've been meaning to get a photo of their room, but it is rarely clean enough!  This was a rare occasion and is still not perfect!  The boys love to display their artwork as you can see!  The bunk bed is positioned on the wall

Free Gift for YOU

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To celebrate the FREE GIFT Jesus gave us when he died for our sins and rose again to give us his resurrection power, I am giving away a FREE GIFT as well!  Click here to download a free printable in pink , gray/coral , blue , or gray/yellow   

Beautiful Things

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  I don't know why God made us this way...but we love to be surrounded by beautiful things.  In the midst of the mundane of "everyday life", with all it's ...mundane-ness... it is refreshing for me to walk by something beautiful  in my house.  It's as if I breathe in a breath of fresh air or a new perspective.  Can't quite explain it but it makes me happy.  I think God designed it this way.  Here are some of the things at my house that make me happy...