Weekend Run and a New Blog

Today is a busy day for me! I've got crazy errands to run in preparation for my weekend trip down to Virginia Beach to spend some time with family and to RUN MY FIRST 5K. Well, okay technically it's not my first 5K, but it's the first one I've really taken seriously! Come Saturday afternoon, I will be one step closer towards my goal of running a half marathon by the end of the year.

I'll be back Monday to report in full all the goings on of this weekend (should be pretty nuts considering that part of the festivities is my niece's 21st birthday!). Until then, go check out my dear friend's new blog. She's an interior decorator gone stay-at-home mom and has developed some truly nifty little tricks for decorating on a budget.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'm off to put in a few more miles before the race!

Cracked-Pot Mom

I am a cracked pot. Deeply cracked. We all are...some of us just hide it better than others. I don't hide it well at all. My emotions are always on display right smack dab in between my ears and my imperfections are not the kind that can be hidden easily. Sometimes, this makes me mad. But sometimes, it's a relief. People tend to know exactly what they're getting into when they start hanging out with me. Just ask Paul. I laid out my 5 year plan for him on our first date (which included marriage and having 5 babies)! And he still called for a second one...crazy man.

Anyway, I hate my deficiencies as a human. I mean, they make me frustrated and crazy and then all those deficiencies just show all the more. It's a viscous cycle, really. In fact, I can really get lost in them. They can weigh me down in a big, bad way. Do you ever feel like that?

Sometimes, I look at my poor girls and wonder how the heck, I'm supposed to raise healthy kids!?! Me?!? And yet, they are so forgiving of all of my imperfections. Even when those imperfections affect them to the point where they are hurt by them.

For example, I like schedules and routine and I always have a to do list rattling in the back of my brain. It's a control freak, Type A thing and I don't like it one bit! Why? Because I find that being able to cross something off of my "to do" list often takes priority over teaching my children. Because I too often allow my own agenda get in the way of nurturing their hearts. Because I find myself reacting to them as I go about my business instead of being proactive and making them my business.

I'm really putting myself out there today. Does anyone relate, even a smidgen?

But here's what it boils down to. I fix my gaze on the wrong thing!!! If I'm not focused on all of my deficiencies and down about that, then I'm focused on fixing them with more schedule and routine and rules. My gaze is on ME!

No wonder I can feel so un-centered, so off-kilter, so...nuts! I'm not centering myself on the TRUTH. I'm not fixing my gaze where it's supposed to be!

JESUS.

"We all have deficiencies. God created us that way. Why? So that we would learn to depend on Him." - Susanne Scheppman

"...'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Lord, my imperfections are great in number and in strength when my eyes are not fixed on You. Like the potter centers his clay on the wheel, center me, Lord. Like he pushes and shapes it as the wheel turns, mold me Father. Make your strength perfect in my weakness, just as you've promised you would.

Reveal

Okay, this is it. The moment you've all been waiting for. Okay, so maybe you haven't really been waiting...perhaps I'm the only one that has been chewing my cuticles off in anticipation of this moment. Even so, I'm glad to finally present to you...

Izzy's Big Girl Room!

Let's start with the details, shall we? The bedding, banner, throw pillow and curtains are all Rachel Ashwell's Simply Shabby Chic line for Target. I love this stuff. It makes me feel all girly and feminine and calm, which feminine and calm may be a total oxymoron, but humor me...

The butterfly/birds/branches art work is courtesy of moi! Although, I really have Susie Harris to thank as she is the inspiration for most of this kind of art work in my house.

The fabric pom poms are also made by yours truly and you can get the super easy, super cheap (yet super time consuming...just to warn you) tutorial here.

And, because if Izzy could formulate the words, she'd want me to show her small (but ever growing) stuffed animal collection, here it is. The. Kid. Loves. Dogs. Don't know where she got that from?!?!

And now, let's pick it apart. Because let's be honest, that's what us girly, feminine, calm women do. We pick ourselves apart. Let's proceed...

Firstly, I need something to go over the head of the bed. Her name, a picture, some of my mom's calligraphy...something. Any suggestions?

Secondly, this book case is temporary. My neighbor, Alex who is super handy with a saw is making me a cute little corner book case to go in that corner. Something small and white and dainty. I think it will really brighten up that corner, don't you? Oh, and a new lampshade. Something softer.

And thirdly, I really would love a white dresser. This is my mother-in-laws dresser, which I LOVE. It's gorgeous and solid and it's perfect...but I really love white furniture in a little girl's room, so unless she's willing to let me paint this one, I see a new one in our future at some point, as well as a white headboard, but we don't want Paul to blow a gasket while reading this post so we'll just keep that in our back pocket for now.

And just for fun, let's do some before and afters, okay?!? Those are always fun.

Before...

After...

Oh, and for you safety conscience Mommy's out there, don't you worry your pretty little heads. This bed has a hideaway, extra long safety rail that pops up and locks into place whenever Izzy Bee is tucked in. She's safe and sound in that big girl bed so you can all rest easy. I sure have.

All in all, I really love how this room turned out. It doesn't completely match the picture in my head, but hey, it's not to Shabby (pun intended) considering the minuscule budget I had to work with.

Now if I could just get Izzy to stay in her new big girl bed instead of sneaking off to her sisters at night...

A New Hiding Place

Last week, I was at Target. This is nothing new as I practically LIVE at Target. Target and the Dollar Store. I do love the Dollar Store.

Anyway...

As I meandered through the isles, mentally redecorating my entire house, a burst of aqua flashed across my peripheral view. I turned my head to behold a couple of turquoise vases that were ON SALE. I immediately hugged three of them into my grasp and set them in my cart with childlike excitement to get them home.

I love them.

Meanwhile, Izzy lost a shoe. I'd been searching high and low for that dern shoe and I couldn't find it anywhere.

My girls are obsessed with shoes and will literally don 4 or 5 different pair in one day. We have dress up shoes, church shoes, flip flops, yard shoes and tennis shoes. Lots of shoes for them to change their minds lots of times in the course of a day. I tell you this because Izzy is equally obsessed with hiding things lately.

So, she hid her shoe. And I couldn't find it for days.

And then I dusted.

And I found her shoe.

I am Giddy

I love getting mail. Love it like I love getting a present on my birthday. Even if it's only the latest Bed, Bath and Beyond coupon, if it has my name on it, I'm happy. I love to get mail. It means that I must hold some importance of some kind to someone.

Even better, a package IN the mail! My friends can attest to the complete and utter glee that spreads across my disposition when the Fed Ex or UPS guy shows up at my door. It is so fun for me.

Simple minds...

Moving on, last week, I got a package in the mail from someone I love. Best kind of package EVER!

My dear sister-in-law, Lina sent me a box full of goodies. Really good goodies.

There were 6 different flavors of gourmet tea,

3 different kinds of biscotti and Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies (be still my heart),

Organic Agave Nectar sticks,

cute little tea bags,

and even a Chai flavored Luna bar and some tea for "on the go."

I was one happy girl.

Thank you so much, Lina! This was such an unexpected treat and I am going to savor it slowly!

Busy Season

Life has gotten busy. Like, really busy. Like, so busy that I barely have time to read my favorite blogs much less actually write for my own!

But I'm grateful for the quickened pace. It keeps me from dwelling on the stuff I can't control. It's also taught me to prioritize. And you wanna hear something CRAZY?!? Vacuuming is NOT a priority. Whereas I used to be, at very least, an every other day kind of gal now, it's more of a once or twice a week kind of thing. It has to be, or I won't be sane...not that I'm the definition of sane anyway, but moving on...

The other reason that I haven't been all bloggy is because it's just so dern perty outside! I mean, really pretty. Like I just want to sit and do sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles. And we've been doing that...a lot. I have no regrets.

In fact, it's been so nice that the other day, my next door neighbor kidnapped me while our girls were napping. She came and knocked politely on my storm door and said, "You wanna play camera?!?" as she shares in my love of photography.

So we did. We each grabbed our Digital SLR's and walked all around our little circle taking pictures of anything that caught our fancy. And it was fun!

About 45 minutes into our afternoon escapade, babies started to wake up, beginning with her little Victoria.

Our photographic escape was over but man did I ever love walking around in the grass barefoot and capturing all the things I love about our neighborhood in springtime on camera.