Weekend Warriors

I love this time of year, the grass is turning green again, birds are singing and the weather is warm enough to get out. However, there is something about the Spring light that leads you to all sorts of DIY projects. This weekend was no different,the weather was AMAZING so we took advantage as got out and did some DIY projects. OK...I lied....I took pictures and held a rope and ran errands while my husband did the DIY projects.

As usual before we go to bed Friday night my husband and I have a conversation that goes something like this:

Me: So....what are your plans for tomorrow?

Hubs: Busy

Me: With what?

Hubs: Work

Me: Like work work or house work?

Hubs: (silence)

Me: Like work work or house work?

Hubs: House work

Me: Ohhhh...what?

Hubs: (quickly runs though a list of house work/projects)

So once I have established what our Saturday looks like I am good and I go to bed. I am really just wanting to know what he needs my help with or if can I lounge because even though I am a stay at home mom, lounging is few and far between. He never tells me he needs my help so I sleep in, (8:30am people, not like I'm sleeping till noon) and by the time I wake up he is already tinkering around. So once I get up and going the real fun begins. Do you remember the night before conversation?...the one where I got the run down of work he was doing....this now becomes work we are doing. But this weekend was pretty easy, most of it was honestly guy stuff.

After mixing some concrete...

We had some chips on the edges of our foundation so he patched those....

Then because our fireplace was all cracked and broken on the top causing it to leak every time it rained he got up and fixed that.

( I would have climbed up there and taken a picture but it is really high up and I am not so sure he would hold the rope just so I could climb up to take a picture.)

Then out of sheer excitement he cut the pipes off his loud truck making it EVEN LOUDER! And putting a big smile on his face. (and mine too I will admit) I don't have a picture of this. I had no idea he was going to do it, I kept hearing a loud noise that sounded like sawing...I know as soon as I heard it I should have grabbed my camera but I just wento to look and by then he was done.

He also fixed the light in the kitchen.

You know the funny thing about working is what ever your profession is you don't want to do it anymore when you come home. Your tired of looking at a computer or answering the phone or dealing with sick people or in my husbands case as an electrician...fixing lights.

So our kitchen light has been out for a week and he fixed it this weekend! Now I can see!!!

He also sent me to get seed so that we can over seed our yard again. We are striving for the best yard in our neighborhood and this year WE WILL WIN! I didn't actually put the seed down though because I still need to mow again before I seed.

(Please ignore all the other junk in my van. 2 boys in baseball need I say more... )

And no your eyes did not deceive you, I mow. I do all the yard work actually. After I started staying home a few years ago I thought it wasn't really fair that hubs was working and coming home to do the yard work so I started doing it. I have to admit sometimes I really love it and sometimes I really hate it. In the end though when our yard looks great I take great pride in the fact that I did that, it just show like God always teaches us we reap what we sew. If we sew good we reap good. Plus it keeps me in shape 6 months out of the year.

At one point I looked inside to see what Robert and his friend were doing at 11am...

LUCKY!!!

What did you do this weekend? Any house projects your waiting to work on???

Jen

What is wrong with the world today???

Please be prepared for me to go on a total mom rant right now....

Why do we feel like as parents that we must give our kids everything? Is it really necessary for an 11 year old to have not just 1 but 2 cell phones and on top of that one of them has full unblocked unrestricted Internet access? Is it necessary that they have every technology in their bedroom? Is it necessary for our boys to own every gaming system known to man and every rated M game sold even though they are only 7? Is it really necessary that we tell our daughters that they are independent women and go after what they want thus causing them to think "pursuing that cute boy at school and asking him out over and over" is really the way to "get what they want"? Is is necessary that we allow them to dress at the age of 10 as though they are 20 with shorts too short and barely there shirts leading our boys into temptation at the ripe age of 10? Why are we not standing up to them when they smart off to us and allow them take control of our house?? Why are we allowing our kids to compare themselves to the famous people on the front of GQ or Cosmo, thinking that their bodies need to look that way (I would look that perfect is I was airbrushed too).

What is going on out there??? I am the proud mother of 2 boys who have been raised in church, we have rules and restrictions for our kids, we only own 1 gaming system (WII) and support the family who owns none, my kids are not allowed at 7 and 10 to have girl friends and have been warned about the girls who pursue them in stalkerish fashion and dress as if they belong somewhere other than elementary school. My kids have always talked with respect to adults and know that in this house they have expectations that will be met or there will be consequences. Up until now I suppose I have been pretty naive to how drastically things have changed, sure I have seen it over and over...the little girls who get out of the car looking like a whodathunkit in what must be their pj's complete with hair everywhere while their mothers (driving the new Accord or BMW) are beautifully kept, and the boys who haven't brushed their teeth in weeks, wear their pants to low and talk...well what they are doing I would not classify as talking it's more text slang put coming out of their mouths. Until now I have been fortunate enough that my kids have been solid in our family and who they are that the effects on them have been relatively small. Sure they have the random selfish silly request of an IPhone when they are in kindergarten or get upset when we wont buy them candy but all in all the effects have remained small. Now that I have a 4th grader and we are new to a community he is trying to impress the guys, but these guys he is trying to impress have no rules or guidelines so I am finding my very sweet son stuck in limbo, he knows where he is from but he is desperately seeking acceptance from his peers in a dangerous manner using disrespect and laughter as his tool. I am embarrassed for him and sad that the families like us seem to be so few and far between. I am sad that he feels pressured by his "friends" to have a girlfriend, to play spin the bottle and kiss them on the playground. I am sad for him that he has to be someone he is not just to impress these kids who really aren't his friends at all.

I am not saying we are perfect parents or that our way is the only way. And I know that we have messed up in so many ways as parents (we all do) but I am shocked at kids and parents. I am shocked at the lack of parenting parents do and feel it is OK. And most of all I am shocked at how greatly it is affecting my son. Do we see anything wrong with a 10 year old having boyfriends and girlfriends, do we not see the impact that this makes on the spiritual welfare of our children. They are children! If they are kissing in 4th grade what will they be doing in 6th grade? And how do we stand back and wonder with utter curiosity why there are so many teens pregnant and how can we be amazed that shows like Teen Mom are as popular as they are??? We are entertaining it and encouraging it. What happened to barbies and army men? And why do we justify it with "the world is changing?" The world isn't changing....society is. When shows like Teen Mom and Modern Family get the top ratings that is society changing not the world. I am sad that today I have to talk to my 10 year old son about sex and pregnancy and God's desire for his life and heart. I am sad that today the innocence of my son will be gone and the pressures of the world will be on his shoulders.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!! Get a grip on your kids, let them be kids, give them boundaries and say no. If they hate you I promise it is OK. Did any of us like our parents when we were kids?

In closing I must say, we by no means claim to be perfect. We are not perfect, I was a teen mother myself, but I have been married to the same man and father of both of my kids since I was 19, I am now 30. We have stuck it out through the good, the bad, and the down right nasty. But we enlisted God and gave our lives and our kids to him several years ago. We work in the youth department and see the results that this worldly parenting has on children at age 14 and even 17. We make mistakes daily, yell and spank but the foundation of our home is God. We have high hopes and dreams for our kids with high expectations. I just know that as a whole where we are leading our kids, our children, our precious children who look to us for guidance, is down the crapper. We need to stand up and take charge of our lives and our kids lives and put the order back in our family, starting with God on top not our kids.

I am open and appreciate any feedback you would like to leave, positive or negative. I am prepared for the good and bad with this post.

Jen

The beauty in photography

I am not lacking for any hobbies at this stage in my life and I am fortunate enough to be able to take time to do them. Aside from decorating and crafting I also love photography. I enjoy capturing the moments in life that make it worth living. And to me these moments are not just when my kids are doing something amazing or rare or looking handsome as can be, these are also the things that I find in my backyard or in my town that say "beauty", when God gives me a glimps of what heaven might be like. So here are some things that I had the opportunity to photograph this week, some are from my own backyard and some are from the park down the street, and there are even a few showing you the crazy but awsome moments I get to have as a mom. I hope you enjoy!

I am not sure what this is, but I love it! It blooms every February until May.

This is the first sign for us Spring is right around the corner.

This tempature gage was here when we moved in and we never took it down.

I always thought it was ugly, then my son shot off the plastic cover with his bb gun

and I noticed how pretty it really is.

There is just something about it, maybe because it's naturally aged and weathered.

It has grown on me.

Less than a mile away this is what we get to enjoy!

And of coarse the most beautiful thing is the world!

My oldest son!!!

(Yes we live in Texas and yes he is a Colts fan)

Right now select baseball consumes our life, both boys play

so this is where we spend most evenings and weekends.

Nothing eye catching a beautiful about this, just my youngest

being the monkey that he is!

I really love that we chose to push down his socks as a throw back to the 80's...

I hope that for a few minutes you got a chance to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

Jen

I finally have a button!

Thanks to the super smart and very sweet Amy over at menmythriftyideas I have a button!!!

 She saw that my blog was so sad without a button and made my blog super chic and very happy by designing me one! So... if you so desire a OCD button feel free to grab it from the left sidebar and slap that puppy right on your blog!

THANKS so much AMY!

Jen

How often do you clean it #2

Last weeks post "How often do you"...clean your toaster tray was a hit with several comments on just how often these little fire starters really get cleaned. I don't know that they actually start fires, but after discovering how dirty mine was last week I would think it could.

This week is "How often do you"...clean behind your washer and dryer?

Once a month, sometimes twice when I get really energetic or bored, I scoot my washer and dryer away from the wall and vaccum under and all around the washer and dryer.

I like to vaccum the back of them both to get any dust that comes from the dryer,
and wipe the walls and baseboards down with a damp rag.

And sometimes I find a long lost friend back there.

It's not alot of dirt but this is after only ! month. Can you imagine waiting longer???

While I have the vaccum out I also take out the dryer filter and empty that and then vaccum it to to make sure I get all the nooks and crannies. I did not always do this, infact it wasn't until a few years ago that I really ever thought about it. When we/I (lets face it I'm the only one doing laundry here) got a new set a few years back I was horrified when the Sears men came to remove the old ones and put in the new ones. The mess was undescribable, on first glance it looked as though we had a cat that died under the dryer, but we never had a cat....just 7 years of nasty. So ever since then I vowed I would never again get caught with that in my house and I clean it every month.  It is amazing at how much more efficent your dryer will run when you do this. I like to use the auto dry on my dryer and it usually dries faster when it's all clean.
 Also, if you have the benefit of your dryer vent on the outside of your house, it is helpful to reach in and grab all the dryer dust and clean that out too. Our dryer links right outside so I can get all the funk out pretty easily.

Our old house was not this way, overall it was a very inefficent dryer setup.

So now that you know how often I clean the back of my washer and dryer, tell me what do you do?? Any tips or special tricks to keep this space cleaner longer?

Jen

What's in the box???

I have a box in my upstair closet that holds all my decorating stuff.
Nothing fancy, no super organization up there.

While I could go for something a bit better than an old Angel Soft toilet paper box it works because really theres not alot. I firmly believe in using what you own, but I do on occasion have some things in there that I like to do the ol' swaparoo with.

So I got into my magic box and here is what I'm excited to display right now.

I got the old game and barn door pully from an antique store back in December. My thought is to display the game set in seperate pieces. I'm thinking of putting the game pieces in a vase to display and maybe distressing the game board and putting it up on my mantle or even hanging them on a wall....I have seen these really cool wood game boards at Hobby Lobby and when I found this I thought of them.
As for the barn door pully, I have a basket in my kitchen that I like to fill with fun finds and I think that this would pair perfect with my old metal rooster and some other nicknacky stuff. The barn door pully is such a cool piece I really want to display it on a shelf somewhere, but no shelves do I have. For now it has made its home in the basket looking all barn door pully cool.

I made the wreath 4 years ago, it was the very first thing I ever made!!! I remember being sooo excited about it, now not so much, but it is bright and very springy so until I get another one made this is hanging in my kitchen. I love wreaths on interior doors. I love them on exterior doors too but we have a really cool glass front door that I would hate to cover up with a wreath so for now, here she stays. I have been inspired by several blogs with new wreath ideas its just a matter of getting the supplies I need and doing it.

Here is how I have actually decorated with these items for now.

I am not completely sold on distressing such a neat piece, it's actually in great shape for being as old as it is, so until I am for sure what I want to do with it I have it displayed on a shelf on my enterainment center.

It's a good conversation starter there.



Do ya'll have any ideas for the game board and barn door pully?? Please feel free to share!! I am open to anything!

Jen

Painted Burlap Runner and Spring

Hello again everyone!!! I have been so busy this weekend I havent had much time to post. I have been reading and keeping updated and holy cow there is some good stuff going on in blog world right now!!! It is getting my creative juices running thats for sure!

So I shared last week that I am getting spring fever really bad, so yesterday I did some switcheroos and painted a new burlap runner for my formal, not so formal but really just comfy, dining room table.

I love my damask curtains so much I never want to take them down I am just matching them, but not tooo matchy matchy, to much of something can go bad.

Over this holidays I was at PB and fell in love with their burlap runners, did not love the price but did love the runner. So when I decided to make them for my tables I want to do something a little different and paint them. I picked red for the paint color to go with the curtains but not a deep red to match exactly, I wanted something brighter so I went with a candy apple red acrylic paint. And I think it turnd out great!!!

It was so easy! Just tape off the areas, paint and voila!

I also ripped some of the string out to give the edges some fray.

This inspired me to get into the spring swing and start lightening and brightening.

I love moving stuff around and opening stuff up after the stuffy winter months, but I don't usually go all out. I like to make simple small changes using brighter colors and silver. Some say silver is for winter I say it looks darn good with bright green so it's spring to me. Any way I am not nearly done but on my budget this week of $0, yes no money to be spent this week... :(

I did with what I had and made myself smile. :)

I am on a peacock feather kick right now. I have always had them in a vase but recently cut them down and started placing them around the house.

I love pinecones, I put most of them in a basket but kept a few out for display on the mantle.

There is no rule that says pinecones are only for winter display is there???

If there is oh well I love my giant pinecones.

I do however have my eye on these boxwood spheres from Hobby Lobby, that I want to top the goblets with,  for only a few bucks when they go half off, and when they do they are MINE!!! Until then I am happy with what I have. It's simple and airy and just what I needed.

Jen

I am linked up to:

Organizing the girly drawer & the junk drawer

So we all have it, or them...the drawer that holds all our make up and hair stuff and girly must have needs. Mine was getting out of control!

AAAAHHHHH!

 I have long hair and love to play around with hairstyles so of coarse I have a million rubberbands and hair ties and clips and these and those and stuff for my hair. I keep them all together usually in one spot in a plastic bin the only problem is they all get mixed up and then I get mad because I need 15 bobbi pins to hold my messy bun in place and I only have 12...and as you may know 12 just will not do!

So I have been on the search for something to fix my problem. My husband says chop the hair, I say

ARE YOU CRAZY!

 Originally, I wanted something fun and colorful that would make easy access for all my different hair things, so I thought paper clip holders! Yes!!! They come in all sorts of colors and have the hole in the middle for easy getting.......did you know that they don't sell them in Texas anymore!!! The ones they do sell are stupid looking. I was devasted and my great plan was foiled.

So today while I was scouring Wal-Mart for something, anything that would work I found this!

It's not the prettiest thing ever, really not pretty at all. But for $2 who really cares! I am the only one who is going to see it anyway. I got it in the make your own jewelry section, it's for beads and string and whatnots.

And it is PERFECT! Look at how nicely everything fits and has a new home. Now when I need 15 bobbi pins I can get 15 bobbi pins right away!

It has places for all my stuff and even leaves room in my drawer!

I think I am going to get another for my makeup!

And with the extra black plastic bin that I was no longer using, I moved it to the "OTHER" drawer we all have...dun dun dun....THE JUNK DRAWER!

Before

I keep all my sons school papers for the 6 weeks so that we can go over them at the end

so I moved them to where they really need to be anyway...no not the trash! 

His file folder in the command center. And I put the straws in the basket with all my other plastic eatin stuff.

After

So pretty...well not really pretty but organized! We'll see how long it actually stays this way!

How do you keep your girly stuff organized? And what does your junk drawer look like, a deep dark hole of nonsense or an organized place to get stuff from? How do you organize your stuff in the junk drawer? Always looking for better ideas than this!

Jen

I am linking up to:
Thrifty Decor Chick Organize It Party