Pretty, pretty, pretty (yours not mine) .....

Like most women I LOVE all things pretty. If it's sparkly that's a bonus. I can look at pictures of beautiful interiors all day long and I can decorate with the best of 'em pretty much not at all. *Sighs*

So in an effort to LEARN something I set out on a scavenger hunt of great decorating and design ideas on the web. What I found is there are TONS of great ideas on the web from people I now can't stand oops, ahem, I mean I am inspired by... hehehe

If you are like me and you LOVE to be inspired by beautiful pictures, great ideas, and some seriously talented people be sure to check out the following blogs:

I found a super cute back-to-school clipboard project here Some people are so crafty!

Find absolute party inspiration and some beautiful table tops here

Want a freebie?(I always do!)I fell in love with this gal at her blogspot. She has an online store and some of the prettiest fabrics I have ever seen! Plus, she gets bonus points for an INCREDIBLE list of FREE patterns!

I'll be back with more great tips soon but for now I am grabbing those fantastically FREE patterns! Seriously, it's almost too exciting for me.

If you have a great home decorating or design blog that you love be sure to share it in the comments section below!

Happy decorating, friends!


 

Homeschoolers, sixth graders, and fabulous second grade girls

And so the school year begins.... Because my family clearly refuses to do anything that "regular people" (read: SANE people) do we have decided to start this school year off with a potpourri of schooling options.

My oldest two kiddos are going the homeschooling route. Not too big a deal since I have been homeschooling my oldest for the past couple of years now so I know I won't warp them forever. (More on not warping your kids by homeschooling them later.) My next-in-line is starting what very well could be the fun-filled journey of angst through middle school. Junior high should be illegal. Seriously.

Moving on, before I break out into a cold sweat of remembrance of junior high mean girls and bad hair days let's talk a little bit about the baby in our family. She's going into second grade which is the seven year old socialite equivalent of: Heaven on Earth. "My teacher's going to be awesome! My class is going to be awesome! I am going to say yes ma'am and no ma'am and it's going to be awesome!" Admittedly, her positive attitude and beaming smile are infectious.

My matching smile immediately begins to fade as I am quickly sobered by the reality of having to shuttle and guide all of these growing people in four hundred different directions to meet all of their nine hundred different needs in an effort to shape strong, independent, Godly people, who contribute to society. YIKES! Did I sign up for this? How on earth did we arrive here? Just yesterday I was holding babies whose most immediate needs were food and a diaper change. Now we are traversing life, love, adolescence AND barbies. What's a girl to do when Ken fancies the brunette this week? Better yet, what's a teenager to do? What do you mean you need me to help you with algebra? I don't even remember how to DO algebra! I'm starting to feel faint.

These are the moments when I know that being a mother is a bigger job than I initially thought it was. These are also the moments when I realize there are no perfect mothers. Only people doing the best they can with the best they have to offer. As I stand at the base of parenting Mount Everest feeling a bit overwhelmed I know that with a lot of hard work, lots of sweat, lots of tears, (mainly when I am trying to remember how to do algebra), and a passionate labor of love we will eventually reach the top. Battered and bruised probably but stronger and better for it too.

I am also beginning to realize that once we arrive at the top no matter how much time we have put in as a team the view (as well as the journey) will be quite different for each of the individuals who arrive there and for now I am totally okay with that. Praise God.

Now tell me friends, what was YOUR favorite year in school?

 

Eight year old me, a marathon, and an endlessly hot summer....

So, here's the deal. Where I live it's hot. Not like normal human being hot but surface-of-the-sun hot. Like cook an egg on concrete hot. As in there's no reason to check your mailbox until after dark hot. Did I mention it's hot? What better time to train for a marathon, right? Did I mention I have never ran a marathon? Or that it's hot?

The journey to the marathon began like this: the eight year old version of me saw the Boston marathon on TV. My mom (who was younger than I am now) said she would like to run a marathon. My eight year old self apparently agreed that this was a good idea. Chalk it up to lack of life experience or the inability to gauge exactly how far 26.2 miles is as to why eight year old me would agree that a marathon was a good idea but I digress. So the eight year old me decided: MARATHON IT IS! With that goal securely tucked away in the recesses of my mind life continued.

Flash forward thirty years and introduce one very enthusiastic running coach who just happens to have her kiddo enrolled in the same dance class as mine. In comes the topic of the marathon again. Immediately eight year old me says "Hey, I want to run a marathon!" I could have choked that kid.

Instead, I decided that training for a marathon would be just what I needed to make eight year old me shut up. So, I went to an information meeting, signed up to train, and paid my money. Now you need to know that in order to properly train for a marathon you need a great nutrition plan, lots of rest, and you need to run A LOT. What I had was a diet endorsed by Hersheys and the sleep habits of a certifiable insomniac. (I think it is from all the years of getting up and down to feed and change babies, but who knows). The good news is eight year old me doesn't realize how to train properly for a marathon and so she's very enthusiastic! So, the training begins.

I begin my training by watching inspirational videos of people running. You know, Eye of the Tiger type stuff. I see scores of videos on youtube of people running to upbeat motivational type music, etc. Now that I am sufficiently motivated by a straight hour of watching inspirational running videos I decide to "trot out" my first mile. Let me just say that I don't care how many inspirational videos you have watched if you haven't "trotted out" a mile in the past ten to fifteen years it might not go as well as you thought or at least that's how it happened for me.

About thirty yards into my Mile of Glory I thought I would die. Literally. In fact, I might have for a minute. I'm almost positive I flatlined. Had the ice cream man (or any stranger with candy) approached at that point I would have gotten a ride home. I gave serious consideration to jogging the remainder of the mile with my thumb affixed in hitchhiker position just in case a benevolent, trustworthy soul came along to take pity on me. Ultimately, I decided that holding my arm out like that would take away vital energy my legs needed to propel me forward. Besides, eight year old me was still determined we could do this.

So off I went to finish my Mile of Shame previously known as the Mile of Glory. I finished it and lived to tell about it with only 25.2 more to go. :) 

About Me:

I am a big dreamer, mother of four, wife of one.  Follower of Christ.  I don't know my limits which is often supported by the fact that I will (and have for the most part) tried everything.  I usually don't know how to say no when it comes to "volunteer" activities, kids lessons, and sometimes even my kids in general.  It makes life "fun" (or at least that's what I keep telling myself when I am in a heap of tears on the floor). I'm kidding (sort of).

I don't profess to having it all figured out but I am learning along the way.  I started blogging at the advice of people who were either overly amused by my daily doings or just tired of hearing about it and wishing I would find a new audience.  Either way I felt it was time to start blogging! :) 

So, come on, join me in these series of circles around the sun we call life.  I'll do my best to entertain you as long as you promise to mostly laugh WITH me. Fair warning though, this is a life in progress, so we may (or at least I might) shed some tears along the way. :)