2011 in Review

This post has been running through my head for MONTHS. I have gone back and forth on whether to play catch up and continue blogging, or delete it and move on.

To begin explaining my bloggy hiatus (well, sadly I've never been entirely consistent with it) I will tell you that there were several blogs of women that I used to read just about every single day. You can learn a lot about someone by reading about their lives for two years...so much so that you feel like you know them! I went to a women's conference this past December and most of the women who wrote the blogs were there. Honestly, I wanted to meet them. It wasn't the reason I was going to the conference but it was going to be the icing on the cake. It sounds so trivial to confess, but the Proverb is so true "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (13:12). When these women weren't reciprocating my efforts to meet them, it kind of stung.

Hindsight is 20/20. They don't know me, why would them want to meet a stranger? Stranger danger...duly noted. But the whole thing put a bad taste in my mouth for blogging. It's almost a one-sided celebrity thing. Clearly my little humble blog isn't bringing in loads of internet traffic, nor is there any compensation, nor is there really anything pertinent on here except for those people in our lives who we don't see often. It's just weird to feel all stalker-ish and like I've lost friends who never were in the beginning.

Does that make any sense?


Which brings us to the next reason in the bloggy hiatus. January 10, 2011. The college football national championship. Our beloved Auburn U versus the U of Oregon. Oh, and a record snowfall that seemingly never melted. We began the day by playing at our house in the snow, driving to W's parent's house to play in their snow, getting stuck in the snow in our little family vehicle that is not equipped for snow. All that to say we went to a huge hill in a cow pasture that was covered with huge snow. I went down once and loved it. The second time, well, crash. Hard. And that's how you shift the ulna and radius to one side and shatter your wrist on the other side. The orthopedic surgeon (after traveling in the snow for what seemed like hours) came and yanked the ulna and radius back into place, then announced the distal end of the radius was in so many pieces that he'd have to operate.

So, the next week was surgery. They pieced me back together and made it all stick by a volar plate and 8 screws. A few weeks of healing time were followed by 2 months of physical therapy 3x a week, plus an hour at home each day. By the time I could type, I didn't even want to think about it.

The winter passed and springtime came. T-Pup and I finished up homeschool kindergarten. W went on a school trip to England, the children and I spent a fun-filled seven days in St. Louis. W and I celebrated our seventh anniversary, and then August was here and the lazy hazy days of summer were gone.

Now, we are gearing up for little man's 6th birthday... my oh my! We are having an Angry Bird's party, so this next week will be filled with Angry Bird pinata making and painting green pigs on boxes so we can have a real live angry birds game. Excitement is in the air!

Sam is doing "school" while T-Pup and I do first grade each day. She has a preschool workbook and is learning to write all of her letters and numbers. I cannot bring myself to think she will be 4 in a few months. People always tell you they grow so fast....and, well, they grow so fast.

That is a small version of catch up on our lives. I would love to hear about you guys!

Sugar, teeth and Jesus

I am over the top excited right now. Let me preempt it with this... it doesn't take much to get me excited. But this, this is HUGE! As of December 1, all of our dental work is now covered by our insurance. We have paid for 2 (TWO!) root canals (on the same tooth, nonetheless) out of our pocket. Those were some drawn out payment plans. Then, paid for a crown out of our pocket. If you're wondering, that's about 3K total. We realized with our children getting bigger we needed dental insurance. So, alas the one year waiting period is over. T-Pup is getting a cavity filled on Thursday and we have to pay a grand total of $25. And all of God's people said AMEN.

Speaking of God's people, this is who I hung out with this past weekend.

I was so privileged to go to Deeper Still with Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore. And 14,000 women. I am still processing all that was spoken, but wow... the Lord knows what we need, when we need it. The hardest part of being in ministry to me is that you constantly pour into others, but it's not always reciprocated. I am grateful for a chance this past weekend that I could sit and be poured into.It was neat, in my prayer time last week I told the Lord I felt like my cup (Psalm 23:5) was empty. I long for it to be running over, but often times it seems like there is a small hole or 20 in the sides. At one point during the worship Saturday morning there was a picture of a glass on the jumbo tron with raining pouring into it until it overflowed. That was a precious moment. I feel like I've been challenged now to stay in His presence more to keep that cup full.

Before the event started Friday night, my sweet friends that I went with and myself ate at a restaurant called Brio. I had their Fettuccine Napoli which was divine. Then, heaven kissed earth. All of their desserts come in these little shot-glass type things. And they are all $2.50. I love me some dessert, but usually don't want to spike up the bill. $2.50 though, I could spring for. I had caramel creme brulee. LORD HAVE MERCY I about died in that moment. It was absolutely divine, perfect, lovely all at the same time. The flavor was strongly reminiscent of the dulce de leche ice cream I constantly ate in Costa Rica. Here is a picture that doesn't do it justice.

Phenomenal. Absolute perfection.

So, I'm feeling good this week. Spent some much needed time with the Lord, ate a divine dessert, and have 100% dental insurance. How's your week shaping up?

Happy Place

Do you have a "happy place" that you retreat to in the midst of chaos? I think mine has been different places at different points in my life. Once it may have been a family vacation, another time it may have been remembering W and I white water rafting on our honeymoon. It's just a place you can close your eyes, and see in your mind. Since we got back from Costa Rica, mine has been the beach there. We went to Manuel Antonio, which is an area on the Pacific Ocean protected by the government. Monkeys, macaws and iguanas abound. The photo below is the hotel where we stayed, Hotel Karahe. After spending the week in dormitory style housing, this was a breath of fresh air. Each balcony has its own hammock. You walk through the garden, past the pool to the open air restaurant, directly to the beach. BLISS.


The past few months have been chaotic and overwhelming. This is where I keep going back to. It's actually strange to me because I'm not a beach person. 9 times out of 10 I'd take the mountains over the ocean. Until I found my happy place. The Lord keeps drawing me back there. And I'm okay with that.

Lipstick!

What's the difference between a bulldog and hockey mom?



This girl is a mess. Oh, speaking of "mess," this summer when my brother returned from his deployment I was talking with two women and Sam came running up to me. I picked her up and introduced her, and at that moment she was quite the entertainer. I looked at Sam and said "you're a mess!" One of the women said "she's a mess? she doesn't look like a mess!" I was reminded we often speak a slightly different version of English here in the south.

I hope at least one person laughed at the Sarah Palin reference about the lipstick. I watched (and incessantly tweeted) about "Sarah Palin's Alaska" last night. I loved the show. How amazing would it be to take your children salmon fishing amongst bears? Or randomly say "Hey, kid! Let's go climb Mt. McKinley today!" It's the part of me that wants to be completely outfitted in Gore Tex boots, North Face clothes with a Marmot jacket and drink water from a Nalgene bottle all day. And apparently work at REI.

Then I got to thinking last night... "oh no, I don't want my whole 34 Twitter followers to think I'm a SP devotee" so I tried to clear myself of any political admiration of her (in less than 140 characters!). But truly, I do admire her. Agree with all of the political stuff? Nah. But as I claimed last night, there is life outside of politics.

And here was our weekend:



And we did it all without Gore Tex, North Face, or Marmot!

Recap

The last month in pictures.

T-Pup played his best season of soccer ever. Of course, playing with dirt and rocks before the game helped his mind get in the game.

Sam turned 3. The week before her birthday party, her big brother went to spend the night with his grandparents. He quickly said "I'll pack my backpack!" and little Sam declared the injustice of the world that she didn't have a backpack. I reminded myself Christmas would be an opportune time to help a backpack needing sister out. But alas, her dear aunt surprised us at the birthday party.

"I can now unleash gangster moves out of my backpack. Come closer and I'll show you."

Iron Man (or for those of you who are blessed to see behind the armor, Tony Stark) came to see us for some trick or treating. He had his helmet and a smaller mask that came with the costume. He said "I'm scared to wear my real helmet because people will think I'm here to save the world, and I don't have time this weekend." Yes Iron Man, we know you are a busy man.

And also spotted trick or treating was a sweet little butterfly. And by sweet I certainly do not mean screaming until your butterfly parents agree that butterflies can take their wings off.

It's so hard to believe that it's November now and thus the beginning of our holiday season. It also means that W's semester is coming to a close, and can we all shout "THANK YOU JESUS" because my word, it has been a behemoth.

I challenge you to decide which of these photos were taken with my iPhone and various apps, and which were taken with W's fancy pants camera.

What's going on with you?

Hopscotch

With all the talk of Little Lady's room, I thought I'd share a darling photo of her (courtesy of my iPhone and Hipstamatic). Hopscotch is serious business for a princess ballerina.

The Big Girl Room

When we bought our house nearly 5 years ago, we were a wee family of 3. Instead of having a guest bedroom, I gladly relinquished control of the third bedroom to my husband, who could use it as a home office. Well, a few years later our baby girl came. There was no rush to get her into her own room. She would be in a bassinet for a few months in our room. The next fall W started graduate school, so we both wholeheartedly agreed that he should keep the extra room for studying and um, QUIET.

Fast forward 2 years. Our kiddos have been sharing a bedroom and have done great. Until one night this past spring when someone coughed then someone cried. They started waking each other up every single night. I had a 2 and 4 year old who were like newborns in the night.

Thus, the room reformation was born.

Here is what we started with.


The room, our third bedroom, once all the furniture was removed.

The bed, graciously given to us by W's parents. This was the first bed my husband and his brother had as their "big boy beds." I think it's so neat that it's being used by the next generation of our family. The process of refinishing was time consuming, but not difficult. I aggressively applied three coats of liquid sand paper, then applied two coats of an oil-based stain killer/primer. Next came the paint and I used a specialty High Gloss Acrylic/Enamel. I probably used 3 full coats to achieve the look I wanted. The spindles proved to be the most difficult. I tried 100% to not have any runs, but painting one side of a spindle then switching to the other side (back and forth, back and forth) created a couple small runs. I didn't want to sand them out lest I disturb the other smooth paint, fearing I'd have to do it all over again. (Photo was after liquid sandpaper, with a touch of the primer on.)

The dresser. I used the exact same process with the dresser as I did with the bed, except one thing. I only used one coat of primer/stain killer. And you can tell. After a minimum of three coats of the paint, you could still see distinct grain lines. I (at that point) just kept on painting but feel confident a second coat of primer would have eliminated the grain strokes.

The bed. I was feeling crafty and made the canvas montage on the wall (based off her bedding).

Obviously before they were hung.

The dresser. What I had the hardest time with was the handles. Initially I spray painted them (what I thought to be) a light pink. The contrast between the white and the pink through made them to look like they were dipped in Pepto Bismol. And, they are brass--but I didn't sand them. The pink paint immediately started chipping/peeling off. I then got a textured spray paint that almost looked like sand. I sprayed on top of the pink with a little showing through... and couldn't decide if I loved or hated it. With the help of some friends we thought it made it a bit beachy... which is fine if it were, um, in a condo. It just didn't work for our big girl room. So, I took some of my white acrylic enamel paint and added some light green acrylic craft paint. I sponged it on the sand looking layer and it worked. It is so faint it's almost white, but enough that it's not.

Also, the quilt hanging is so precious to me. I have a tender spot in my heart for handmade quilts and when Sam was christened a sweet woman in our church who works with all the local pastors gave it to us. A friend of hers made the quilt, and the detail and perfection is overwhelming. I hope Sam will cherish it as much as I do.

The reading nook/doll bed. A precious friend of our family gave both Sam and T-Pup these anywhere chairs for their birthdays. They love them, and so do W and I! They are so comfy and it's extra fun to bring them downstairs for a movie night. The doll bed was an unexpected addition, but another precious family to our family (who helped with the kids while we were in Costa Rica with their children) gave this to Sam. This was their daughter's baby bed, and she just started her freshman year of college at Belmont. The bassinet comes up and there is storage underneath which I love!

I love that everything has a story. Even the roller shades! We went with those because they are room darkening (obviously the picture is contradicting me) and more "energy efficient." Our upstairs rooms are hot in the summer and cold in the winter, so we've made a few changes to help with that this summer.

I STILL NEED CURTAINS! I have looked up and down but can't seem to find any that fit what I have in mind. I don't want valances but I don't want long panels. I don't want a solid but don't necessarily want a print. I've thought if I could find a nice light green then I could sew some cute ribbon around it, but haven't found a green that I like. If anyone has any suggestions, by all means, SUGGEST!

The end :)

PS: homegirl cannot part with all of the animals on her bed. She wants every.single.one. in the bed with her. I know the day will come when she will not want any, so I'm not pushing it :)

PPS: I want a vinyl wall decal with a scripture to hang above her bed, but can't decide on a scripture. Any suggestions on that?

The "real" end :)