Craft Room Almost Complete

Happy Sunday!  Hope you've had a wonderful weekend.  They sure fly by, don't they?  We had a great one.  Friday night evening dinner with friends, church, an afternoon hike, pizza and ice-cream with buddies, Sunday morning brunch with a bestie and so much more.  I even did a little shopping, if you can call walking around Marshall's for an hour with all kinds of stuff and talking yourself out of all of it; shopping:).  We even cleaned out the garage.  I can park the van in there again, so that's a relief with all the cold weather we're experiencing.  

Mark put the knobs on my vanity and I finished making a light out of an old globe tonight, so I'm feeling like the room is almost complete.  Here are a few pictures.  I haven't gotten the light hung yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to show you.  From all of the things I sold, the room redo cost me next to nothing, so that's extra exciting!  You can't beat that!  

I tried to use decor I already had in the house.  I had these embroidery hoops on a different wall before, filled with vintage fabric, but decided to change it out with some old lace fabric and doilies I had.  

This is the bookcase that I painted white.  It's not super organized yet. 

I had two lamps that I had spray painted turquoise in this room before, but sold them and got this lamp.  I like it a lot better.   

The gray walls really lighten the place up.  I feel like it's so much more peaceful now.  

I sold the dark wood basket shelf unit I had used before, and got this hutch-like thing instead.  I'm really enjoying the open shelving.  

These are the new knobs I ordered for the vanity.  The person I bought it from had 14 plastic pulls on it before. These really changed the look! 

The vanity/sewing desk.  

This is the footstool that I recovered with fabric I had left over from a different project. 

It's freezing out there!

I was just sitting here this morning, thinking on my friends and how much they mean to me.  I have some of the best.  I know everyone thinks that, but really.  The girls in my life are amazing.  This year was a tough year and they were all so supportive, each in their own way.  Anyway, I feel exponentially blessed.  I wish more of those said friends lived closer or at least in the same time zone.  I've been wanting to text Andrea all morning about where to get Baby's Breath, but I didn't figure she'd appreciate getting that text at six in the morning.  

This morning, after taking Rosie to school, Kiki and I have done some cleaning, some "school" and some crafts.  It's been a slow day around here, which is just the way I like it.  I'm starting a book on tape (is that what they are still called!?) right now, titled, Cross Roads by W.M. Paul Young.  He wrote The Shack, which much to the chagrin of many others, I really enjoyed.  I found it stretched my thinking and I always appreciate a book that does that.  I'm excited to see how this book is.  I'll let you know.

I've wanted to tell you about something I got with my birthday money that has completely changed my world.  Well, my coffee/hot drink world.  I got a milk frother.  My friend Heather had one, and I much enjoy every coffee experience I have at her house.  I found an incredible deal on one ($30 instead of $130) and decided to take the plunge.  It has not disappointed.  I add frothed milk and creamer not only to my coffee, but to my chai tea and it makes it taste just like a coffee shop.  It also makes hot chocolate and the girls thinks it's a magical machine.  The hot chocolate is so much better all frothed up.  Anyway, I thought I'd share in case you were in the market for such a thing.  Stop by for a cup, if you're in the neighborhood:)

The weather has taken a turn for the cold and my body is really struggling to adjust.  I had complained about the heat, but I'm starting to realize just how good I had it.  When we took Rosie to school this morning, my van said it was 15 degrees.  I'm not sure I can handle much more of these frigid temps!  I hardly want to get out of bed, let alone get out of the house.  I accidentally sent Rosie to school on Monday with a sweater and no coat.  Mark took her to school that morning, so I didn't realize just how cold it was.  I guess I wasn't the only oblivious parent, because the class got a note home reminding us to send warm coats and hats.  Unless that note was just for me, and in that case, I'm completely mortified.

I've decided since I hardly posted last year, that I might start throwing a few pics in that I missed from things I want to remember.  Here's a pic from October and Rosie's pumpkin decorating contest at school.  She won first place in her division!

Our New Year

New Years is always interesting with kiddos.  Staying up until midnight just sounds like torture now! Sleep is so much more important to me since having kids, and I'd rather not miss out on any.  This year, however, we decided to stay up and actually see the ball drop.  Some friends of ours invited a few families over for dinner and fireworks.  We made our own pizzas and had a wonderful time.  When it was time to put the girls to bed we headed home, along with another family, who came over to play some games.  We put all the kids to bed in one room, which sounds like a TERRIBLE idea, but it actually went great.  They all went to sleep relatively quickly and we didn't hear a peep from them.  The kids thought all sleeping in the same room was a dream come true, so it was a win/win.  

I'm not going to lie, staying up was hard.  We started out watching tv on the couches and soon realized we weren't going to make it until midnight lying on those.  After moving things to the kitchen table, it got much easier and more fun.  We played games and laughed until well after midnight and it was totally worth the loss of a few hours of shut eye. 

The next day, we went on an early morning walk (our girls don't care how late we stay up) and later,  met some friends at Biscuit Head for brunch.  It was amazingly good.  I'm a biscuits and gravy kind of girl, but these take it to the next level.  We then went to the Biltmore.  It was a wonderful start to 2016! 

Rosie and her sparkler 

Kiki was a FAN!

So cute:)

Mark enjoyed his sparkler, too!

Early morning pajama walk in our neighborhood. 

We were all dancing to our favorite song that morning, and I decided to snap a picture:)

Sweet friends and food

I had brought my camera to take a few pictures of Scarlett for Sarah.  She offered to take some of us and I'm so glad.  I just love them!  

We are ready for 2016!  2015 was one of our hardest years, but through God's AMAZING grace and a lot of hard work, we are ready for the future.  

Can I let you in on a little secret?  I never sent my Christmas cards out.  I have them and stamps, yet I didn't send them!  Would it be terrible to go ahead and send them now?  Be honest.  Would you guys think I was nuts?  Let me know.  Anyway, have a wonderful evening.  

  

 

Let's just skip lunch

Well, hello there!  How's everyone's New Year treating them?  We've had a good few weeks.  I just loved having us all home together.  I was in mourning yesterday when I had to send my sweet Rosie back to school.  I just really loved not having anywhere to go or be and spending extra snuggle time with my girlies.  It was so refreshing.  But we are back to the grind and back to the bane of my existence...making school lunches.  The first one I made at the beginning of the school year was super!  I loved every second of it.  I enjoyed making sure it was delicious and nutritious and experimenting with different kinds of foods for varieties in color and textures.  It all felt very crafty and fun.  I would cut shapes out of cheeses and fruits.  I purchased all kinds of tiny little containers to hold the different items.  Now?  Let's just say there is no cheese shaping going on.  It only took about a week for me to realize that making school lunches is for the birds.

It just hit me that I never posted pictures of Rosie's first day of school!  Here are a few back from August.

Haha!  As I was uploading these pics I realized how terrible of a school mom I am.  For like the first two weeks, I curled Rosie's hair everyday.  EVERY DAY!  Then, I started braiding it.  Now, I feel pretty good if I get a brush through it before she's out the door.  I'm deteriorating fast, people!  Poor Kiki doesn't have much to look forward to:)

I've been busy over the last few days redoing my craft room.  It was one of the areas of the house that got whatever piece of furniture was left over, if you know what I mean.  I really didn't love going in there and it didn't seem well utilized.  After Mark finished up his "man space" in the basement, I noticed that I liked his space so much better than mine and I needed to do something about it.  I didn't want to spend hardly any money so I allowed myself just a bit and decided to try and sell the furniture that was in there to finance the rest.  The first thing I did was paint the room.  I found some leftover gray paint from another project and I really love it.  It made a big impact on changing the feel of the room.  I painted one piece (my bookcase) white and got rid of pretty much everything else.  I found a chair at Goodwill for $5 and decided to take my chances on a Pinterest idea of painting upholstery.  I also found a cheap vanity/desk on Craigslist.  I've ALWAYS wanted a vanity and the priced on this one was so good, I wondered if it was too good to be true.  When I got to the house to pick it up, I realized it was exactly that.  It had been living in an outdoor open shed, was covered in dirt and grime, needed repairs and, upon further investigation I found so much mouse /unknown larger animal poop when I took the drawers out, I almost put it to the curb.  I couldn't bring myself to not buy it, because the lady selling it seemed to really need the money.  I'm glad I got it.  It's amazing what a vacuum, a bottle of clorox water, a few tools and some paint can do.  I ordered some new drawer pulls but they haven't arrived yet.  It's my favorite piece and will now house my sewing machine.  

When Mark and I were dating, he made me a foot stool that I had in the girls' playroom.  I decided to recover it with some leftover fabric I had from another project and that is what I'm using as the vanity seat.  I was able to sell an old basket shelf unit and found a piece at my favorite store Southern Chicks Market today for almost the same price as I got for the one I sold.  I was so excited.  I changed a few of the art pieces out and with things I had around the house and I would say, it's almost done!  I LOVE it!  It's very me and I find it very calming.  In fact, I'm sitting here in my newly painted chair, as I blog this.  There's something about redoing a space that really gets my blood flowing.  It was this time last year that I redid my bedroom furniture.  I am still really happy with that room.  

So, please stay tuned for pictures of my finished craft room, hopefully in the next day or two.  I kind of want to wait until it's all done before I show you a final reveal.  Here's a picture of the chair before and after.  

Merry Christmas 2015

It's been a bit since I last signed on to my blog.  I actually forgot how to log on!  That probably could be blamed more on my forgetful brain than on time, but nonetheless, I forgot.  I guess I just needed a good long break.  Life had gotten rather complicated and time wasn't as free, so I put it on hold.  I have to say, I missed this.  I really missed it.  I hate not being able to go back and see all of the things we did over the last year!  I have to admit that I haven't done any writing and I feel like that skill, if that's what you want to call it, has completely left me.  It may take me awhile to get back in the grove.  If I have any readers remaining on this little blog of mine, I hope you can bear with me.

We had a really nice Christmas!  It was our first Christmas, just the four of us.  This was exciting and fun and a little sad, all at the same time.  We loved just being us and not having to go anywhere, but not seeing our close family at this time is always a bummer.  Luckily, we had seen both of our families at Thanksgiving time, so we are still riding high from a nice extended visit then.

The weather here has been rather dreary.  Cloudy and rainy, but on the warmer side.  Not quite a white Christmas!  On Christmas Eve, we all headed to the gym for some pool and workout time.    That night we were all involved in the Christmas Eve program at our church.  I had to sing, Mark had to do a reading and the girls were in the children's choir.  It was a lovely way to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit.  It was pretty late when we got home, but we made sure that we had time for opening our one Christmas Eve gift, which was and always will be...PAJAMAS!  The girls were super excited when they opened up jammies, which was rather surprising.  Rosie actually yelled and jumped up and down.

On Christmas morning, the girls were up with the sun.  We got around, read the Christmas story, opened gifts and then had a late lazy breakfast.  Can I just say, the girls ages are so much fun at Christmas.  Everything is EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANTED!  I just loved every minute of the magic of present opening, they seemed to feel the same way.  After breakfast, we headed out on a family bike ride and finished the day with take out Chinese food, like all good Americans;).

The bike "she ALWAYS wanted"

The teepee "she ALWAYS wanted"

All the kids love the Shopkins these days.  I totally don't get it.  

Christmas Breakfast

I would really love to pack this post full of pictures, but I'm having some issues with the ole' cloud.  I know people joke about not understanding the cloud, but friends, it's no joke over here.  I do NOT understand where my pictures are.  I see them on my phone and on my computer, but when I go to upload them to my blogger, no such luck.  I'll get it all figured out soon, hopefully.  I'm gonna get off of here.  We are knee deep in the fifth season of Parenthood.  Guys, WATCH THIS SHOW, if you haven't already!  It's SO GOOD.  

Anyway, it's good to be back. :)  

Family of Five!

Last week was a full week, but true to form, I can't really remember everything we did!  Monday happened.  Well, I think I did Monday, but I can't tell you what it involved.  Tuesday, the girls went to Mother's Morning Out and then in the afternoon I met with one of my pastors to go over VBS stuff.  For some reason, it seemed like a hard day, so I went to the gym and then went to Strawberry Hill to have dinner with the girls.  Our friends, Tach & Jessica K and their kiddos joined us. SIDE NOTE: Have I mentioned that Strawberry Hill is closing?  Can I just say it feels like a piece of me is closing up along with it.  I'm sincerely distraught about it.  Where will I get my amazing grilled veggie chicken salad sandwich on sourdough?!  It's closing June 1, and every day Kiki says, "I hope it's not June."  I'm with you, sister! 

My pastor brought this card she wrote by to me.  Things have been hard lately, and I thought this was super sweet.  

That evening I met my other friend Jessica at the Academy and we walked the track while the kiddos played.  The weather has been pretty near perfect, so I hope we will start doing that more often.  Wednesday, we met Susie at the Ugly Mug to get coffee and then headed to an area park for the girls to play while we chatted. SIDE NOTE: I have discovered my all time favorite coffee drink.  It's an Orange Dark Chocolate Mocha.  It is SOOOOO good.  I get it a couple times a week.  I also bought the stuff to recreate it but it's just not as amazing at home.  After our park time, we headed over to Susie's house for the girls to see her doggy, Millie.  We also needed to pick up some outfits for the Gala.  They had some extras.  Wednesday evening was book club.  I hadn't been in sooo long, and even though I hadn't read the book, I decided to go.  It was a lovely evening and only one person had finished the book (obviously we are all very committed), so I didn't feel too bad.

On Wednesday, I did something terrible.  I dropped my phone and it cracked into a trillion pieces.  I was so sad, so Thursday I went to a local place to get it fixed.  Jessica's mom said she'd watch the girls for me so I took her up on it.  Jessica met me for lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant over her lunch break.  It all felt very grown-up and care-free, meeting for lunch without kids.  

That evening was the hospital gala.  The theme this year was Scotland.  We went as Scottish peasants, I think.  I'm not entirely sure.  I just wore what I was given.  The dress was about two sizes too small and took a lot of time and manpower to get me into.  It also really made enjoying all the good food really tough.  In fact, breathing was tough!  It was a fun evening, though!

The Scottish peasants 

Braveheartin' it 

My adorable and pregnant friend, Sarah!  So excited for her and Chris! 

Heather made her skirt!  She's one talented lady!

On Friday, my phone really started acting up.  The screen went plaid on me with lines running through it.  I took it back to the little place that fixed it and it ended up being quite an ordeal, but it's fixed.  The girls and I decided to make the best of the situation and we went to Rita's Italian Ice and Custard.  It was good and reminded me very much of Jeremiah's in Orlando that pretty much got me through my first pregnancy.  Oh, the memories!

Yummy gelati!  Its a mix of italian ice and custard.  It's a winner.  

On Friday afternoon/evening, we went to Fletcher Park.  We were supposed to meet a lady to possibly see her dog that she was rehoming, but she never showed up and didn't answer her calls or texts.  Luckily, I hadn't even told the girls it was happening.  I ran/walked while they rode their bikes and we had a nice little evening.  Later that night, the lady called and profusely apologized for completely forgetting! 

On Sabbath, we went to church.  We are trying out a new church lately and are really enjoying it.  After church and lunch, we came home and changed and headed back to Fletcher park to meet some friends to ride bikes and play in the water.  The lady had also agreed to meet us to introduce us to her dog.  She did end up coming, but was very late.  Well, let's just say we fell in love with him.  We told her we would take a day to think about it, but by Sunday morning, we knew.  Remi, already named, needed to join us at our house forever.  We gave him a full name Remington and we are working on a middle name.  There have been many interesting suggestions.  

Anyway, Sunday was a good day.  Besides getting Remi in the afternoon, we went on a hike around Bent Creek, ran by the new outlet mall, ate at Whichwich and washed both cars.  Good, good day.  

Now that we have Remi, reality has set in.  I forgot how hard puppies are.  He's ten months old, so he's still a puppy, but he's also very big and strong.  Patience and understanding for him are much easier for me to have when you see the immense joy he brings to the girls.  I had to keep reminding myself of that when he wiggled out of his collar this morning and had me running through our neighborhood for about twenty minutes.  Or just a few minutes ago when he got terrified of coming down the stairs after I put the girls down for nap.  He barked and growled and then peed on the carpet.  Totally worth it.  Serenity NOW!!!!  He's sleeping by my feet now, so we're cool:) 

Kiki seems to be a big fan of Sabbath School. 

Meeting Remi for the first time.  

Love at first sight.  

Making himself at home!

This morning Kiki said, "I love daddy 2nd, mommy 2nd, & Rosie 2nd.  Remi I LOVE THE FIRST!"

She really couldn't be happier.  This kid LOVES animals and now she has one of her very own. 

My view as I type this.  He's pretty great;)

Remington "Remi" Murrill

(possible middle name ideas from Rosie and Kiki: Sally, Remi, Rami, Toot, Poop)  

I think I probably will be the final vote on the middle name, just to be safe.