Little Blessings

So here we are in the dining area once again. As I'd mentioned before, we'd moved one of the dressers out from our bedroom to use as a sideboard. I'd like to replace the chunky circle legs and paint the whole thing, but hubby isn't on board with that plan (wants to be able to move it back into the bedroom and still match). This house was full of ugly white knobs that I've replaced a little at a time (4 in the small bathroom, 4 off the closet doors, etc.) - which theoretically meant that I had plenty to use to swap out the wood knobs... Problem was that I didn't have 12 matching ones, and everything I liked was $3-4 per knob. Ouch. I still liked the mismatched white varieties better than the wood knobs (again, couldn't paint them - see above :) so went ahead and used 3 different sets, so each "drawer layer" matched.

I had to return some items to Target yesterday, and had an extra 30 minutes, so wandered the store a bit. I spotted some clearance stickers in the aisle with all hooks, knobs, etc. and had to check it out. I found two 4 packs of these great milk bottle style knobs, and was thinking how fabulous they'd be, but of course I needed a dozen. I searched through everything in the area and couldn't find another set. Oh, well. Continued to stroll, and there, on an endcap over in stationery, was another set of the knobs. Wahoo! I snatched it up, and practically ran back to the tools/hardware section to grab the other 2 boxes. I "installed" them this morning, and am loving the difference. I know it's a little thing, but am so incredibly thankful that God provided a small desire of my heart!

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In other news, it's been a crazy weeks/months around our house. Lots of company - which is wonderful, but does add a layer of craziness - plus hubby traveling for work. Things are finally settling back to "normal" but there's still a fair amount of catch-up I need to do, and also just need to re-establish good routines. I 'd been doing really well with the whole weight loss thing, and while I haven't gained it all back or anything, the progress is has been reeeeeaaaaallllllllly slow ever since Christmas, and I'd gotten away from daily food journaling. I am definitely an emotional eater, and I've been stuffing things into my face all too often lately. I've been struggling with disciplining the kids (let's just say attitudes are definitely contagious, and mine wasn't worth catching. Just bein' real.) Our house still feels very disorganized, and I I tend to focus on just how much I still want to change which is overwhelming and discouraging. I heard Geneveieve Gorder from HGTV say something along the lines of, "Living in a junk drawer is exhausting!" and I couldn't agree more - our house need not be immaculate, but each room needs to have its own purpose and flow. I'm trying to just focus on the little steps I can accomplish in a day or so; doing something is better than doing nothing!

I've been spending more time in the Word, which has been incredibly awesome. I'm reading Hebrews, and I'm really enjoying just soaking up the scriptures; I'd realized that while I'd been reading a lot religious books, I wasn't reading THE BOOK nearly enough. I've also been having some really good discussions with a friend; she considers herself a Christian, but many of her ideas about God have been shaped by life experiences and New Age attitudes, rather than Biblical truth. It's been a great experience for me to substantiate my beliefs about Jesus and the character of God!

Speaking of friends, that's another area where I've been struggling. We've lived here 20 months now, and while I've made a few good connections, I still don't have that ring of support that I long for. I've been sensing God's leading in some unexpected places. I've struck up conversations with people who, based on outward appearances, have nothing in common with me. This may seem like a small thing, but I struggle with putting myself out there like that (I guess I've never outgrown that teenage fear of rejection). I've also volunteered for some things - and said no to other things that are more in my comfort zone. I don't know exactly what God has in store for me, but I do know that I'm being shaped and that HE is in control of it all, even when it appears to be a random mish-mash from my end.

Recommended Reading

Thought I'd share a few things from the online world that have caught my attention for one reason or another... I know some of these aren't exactly "fresh" but I don't think they've reached their expiration dates yet :)

God's Work of Art - A great perspective. Do I live out this truth?

Conformed or Transformed - Am I changing my world or is it changing me?

Whose Wife am I anyway? - What expectations am I trying to fulfill?

When you don't live up - And speaking of expectations...

Time Management without a schedule - Wish I'd had this revelation when my kids were younger

You Don't Need an Extra Hour - Does my schedule actually reflect my priorities?!

Creating a Time Budget - More about scheduling and time management; lots of good stuff in the bottom links, too

Tackle your home with purpose - Why am I doing this?!

Thoughts on Thrifting-Itis - I've often mentioned my struggles with packrattiness, so it was interesting to read others thoughts on a parallel issue

And now for some crafty fun!

Pom Pom Flowers - I really want to make a necklace, plus I think they'd be absolutely adorable on barrettes for our daughter (Not to mention it would be a great way to use up some of those fabric scraps in my stash)

Doily Jar candleholders - These are a bit more countryish than projects I'm normally drawn to, but for some crazy reazon I find them absolutely charming!

Day in Pictures

I took my parents to the airport early this morning, and the fields still had their heavy fog layer - quite stunning when combined with the colors of sunrise. Not the best pic, but what do you expect from me shooting out the window when stopped at a light?! :)

And then there are my 2 resident crazies. They each got a Fun-Dip as part of snack time today, and our daughter was quite delighted with her ridiculously green teeth. Our son was munching on the stick when he suddenly darted upstairs... and when he came down, announced that he was Han Solo. My favorite part of this outfit is most definitely the unbuttoned shirt. And know what? I'll take this little dude over Harrison Ford any day.

Today I am thankful for quiet beauty as well as belly laughs.

Monday, Monday

Last post, I announced that my son had the flu and I had company arriving in 2 days. To bring you up to date: parents arrived, daughter also contracted flu, brother's family arrived, took their son to clinic due to high fever (ear infection), my brother & my husband both worked long hours due to conference, off to yet another clinic and discovered SIL had sinus infection, hubby's car died 30 miles from home (and AAA basically laughed at him when he called for assistance) - approx 5 hours later car arrived in our driveway via a not-really-road-legal trailer that had only 75% of its tires, I plopped our camera down into a pile of peanut butter, drove to 4 different auto parts stores before finding one that could get the necessary parts for us in less than a week, daughter now has pink eye.

I know that things could be *SO* much worse, but I'm just worn out and frankly rather whiny. My parents pulled out this morning to go visit my dad's aunt in San Antonio, and will be back tomorrow night, then fly out on Thursday morning. My hubby will be flying out on Sunday, and then back on Friday. Our niece and several of her friends will be arriving on Friday night to spend their spring break here... I'm just praying that we can all get and stay healthy!

I'm feeling really discouraged. I had been making great strides in my journey toward betterment - both personally with getting toward a healthier weight and home-wise with the purge and organize campaign. These past two weeks I've stalled completely and even regressed a bit. I know I'm in a better place than I was a few months ago, but it's still frustrating. At this point, I'm just focusing on making it through the week: meals, laundry, and basic cleaning. I will move forward, but I must be content with creeping for now, rather than running or even walking. Other changes: more time in the Word (not a book or study, but just reading God's letter to us) and journaling 5 things I'm thankful for each day in my gratitude journal.

Hello again...

Whew! So much going on (as always!) Hubby was gone for two weeks, and came home sick, which seriously stinks. We've all been fighting off slights colds, etc. and this morning I had to take our son to the doctor, where we discovered that he had the flu. You should have seen his eyes light up when the dr. told him that he couldn't go back to school until Monday!

We have family arriving tomorrow, and have already started the pool-heating process so we can all have some fun this weekend. The freezing days are already a distant memory, and our highs are back in the 80s. Ahhhhh... I admit, I'm getting spoiled by the South TX winters!

In other happy news, we went to Alegria on Saturday afternoon. Wow. I've always been amazed by Cirque du Soleil - the costumes, choreography, and music are all absolutely amazing, and when I found out they were actually coming here, buying tickets was a no-brainer. We really enjoyed it, and now I'm more determined than ever to see more of their shows.

Here are just a few more snapshots from the past couple days. For Valentine's Day, rather than going for candy and stuffed animals, we got our kiddos Legos and a (cheapo verison of American Girl) doll. Result: two happy kids! And me? Well, I did manage to get half of my kitchen cabinets painted. I went with a slightly lighter turquoise color, so I now have "cloudless" cupboards :) Love the result, and am looking forward to finishing the job up in March (once all of our company leaves)

Off to finish readying the house for the invasion!

Frozen Friday

It's been a crazy couple days in South Texas! I think we all know that virtually the entire US has been affected with the massive storm system and bone-chilling cold... and considering that normally it's in the high 60s here, it's major news when we get this kind of weather. We got some snow flurries yesterday (you can see a few flakes that accumulated on the palm tree in the first shot) as well as icing. They shut down the highway and almost all the bridges into Mexico. We just aren't prepared to handle this stuff down here! Schools were closed yesterday and today. Many homes don't have heat, most people don't have heavy winter clothing (I just see people wearing lots of layers), and obviously there's not much experience driving on ice, either. It never got above freezing yesterday, but thankfully we are supposed to reach the mid 30s today. Another hard freeze is forecast tonight, but then we start climbing back to "normal" tomorrow. You can see our poor frozen palms in the 2nd photo, and the next one just shows the icing. When I opened the door up this morning, the first thing I noticed was how strange it sounded - the wind whipping through the frozen palm fronds makes a very odd noise indeed. The last picture is of all the ice bits that have been blown out of the trees... kind of pretty, actually.

I will say that I love having a snow day that doesn't require shoveling anything ;)

February Check-In

Time for a new page on the calendar! You may recall that in January I set 2 goals for myself regarding health & home. Well, I didn't completely reach either goal. Am I a bit disappointed? Well, yes. The amazing thing is that I'm not discouraged - in fact, I'm pretty excited about the strides I've made. This next month is going to be pretty crazy due to hubby's business trips and an influx of company, so I'm not setting any new goals, but will finish up what I started in January. My kitchen already feels tons better, and one side was organized according to plan, so I just need to finish up the other half of the room... and I may even tackle the pantry area. My weight loss continues to be slow but steady (but hey, that's healthy, right?! ;) but I still need to get more active. My Jan goal was 30 minutes with Wii Plus 3x week - I'm still aiming for the same timing, but with whatever activity I choose.

Here's to moving forward!