OK, so I’ve had a few small changes around the house.  Nothing outstanding but they make me happy and I’m all about sharing the happy.

The mirror

First up, my mom found this mirror from Celebrating Home. 

The mirror is a perfect fit with our new curtains and I love that it brings some green into the room.  The plan is to find a dresser of some sort to go under it but clearly this decorating the bedroom thing is going to be a drawn-out process.

The Rug

I peeked in HomeGoods the other day after I hit up Old Navy and no lie, I saw this rug for my bathroom and was taking off to the check-out counter in no less than 25 seconds.  If you know me and my indecisive nature, you know that’s a flat out miracle.

The Debunking

And finally, the other weekend Scott and I were bored and I said, “I feel like rearranging some furniture.” Well, that started 24 hours of drama with the girls’ room.  Lexi wanted to keep it and Emma wanted them separate.  I actually like the look of the bunk beds but they were serving absolutely no purpose.  Neither girl wanted to sleep on top and it was clearly being used as storage.

After a trial night, both girls decided they really like having separate beds.  Can you believe they happily spent 9 months sharing a twin bed?

Popularity: 21% [?]

OK, to really get this tip, you have to know I’m located in the South.  As I type this in late January, it’s 61 degrees outside.  All the rumors about us being unable to handle cold weather is pretty much truth.  Unlike my northern extended family, we don’t own a snow shovel.  We don’t own a snow blower.  I don’t even have an ice scraper in my van.  And most of all, we don’t have a place in our house set aside for all the jackets, shoes and other paraphernalia you need during the cold months.

Most of my northern family have basements.  In those basements, many of them have cabinets that hold all the shoes.  Shoes don’t go to the main level of the house.  There are also lots of hooks and cabinets for coats. 

And we?  Don’t. 

We don’t have room in our garage for this type of thing.  Our hall closet is small and packed.  So what happens during the winter months when we do need coats when we walk in the house (with our shoes) is lay them on the closest surface.  Some of my friends here have a coat closet and actually use it.  My mom has a coat rack near her garage they use.  But us?  Mine is usually hanging on a chair somewhere and the girls are usually on the floor in the playroom.

Well.

Here’s what we did to fix it.

We decided to use the outside of the hall closet.  When we were visiting an organizational store recently, I had the idea to get an over-the-door set of hooks, that I normally would have thought to use behind a door for towels or robes in a bathroom or closet, and put it on the outside of our hall closet door.  Now, it’s not that pretty but now we don’t have to try to squeeze our coats in and out of the closet, the kids can use it and it’s near the front door.  Best of all, we can take it down easily during our warmest months and stuff all the coats back in the closet for storage.

Here it is with the front door closed.

However, our front door is usually open and they’re mostly hidden.

Depending on your weather and house floor plan this may or may not work for you, but it works for me!

This post is linked to WeAreThatFamily.com

Popularity: 32% [?]

I love tax season.  I know, you don’t hear that very often.  But let me explain.

1. I love numbers.  For a few years there, I would do my taxes by hand but then still get them done so I could see how close I was to the right answer.  Why yes, I did give myself a test on taxes.  *sigh*  I know.  The geekness knows no bounds.
2. I love getting extra mail.  I know!  My life is boring.  But knowing I’m getting important! mail! and often! makes me happy during January.  I normally lo-uh-ove the mail but January has a special place in my heart.  I’ve been known to call companies on February 1st asking where in the world my 1099 was.
3. I love office supplies.  So organizing all the papers into categorized stacks and then putting one of those huge alligator clips on them makes me happy.  My kids love office supplies too but they get like 2 pieces of paper and try to use these huge clips when a paper clip would do.  But tax papers?  I NEED the big clip.
4. I get to make lists.  I love lists.  I make lists just so I can check things off.  I’m not even joking.  They say you get a little shot of adrenaline when you check something off.  Clearly I need as much excitement as I can in my day.
5. I get to print and highlight lists.  The geek in me loves running reports in mint.com, paypal.com and our bank so I can find deductions.  I like downloading the exports and formatting them in Excel and printing them and highlighting them.  How often do you really get to use a highlighter for a legit reason these days?
6. Finding deductions is like a scavenger hunt.  Once I have all these lists printed and highlighted I always go back to previous years and see what I’m missing. I search my email for other deductions I might have missed.  When I cull something up, it’s like I hit the jackpot.  YES!  Another deduction.  It’s like a game!  Try it!
7. I enjoy seeing if we met our giving challenge.  Our goal is always to give a higher percentage from the year before so I love that challenge to gather all the numbers and see if we met our goal.
8. Call my silly, but there’s a satisfaction I receive going to see our tax office.  It’s run by a local family in town that knows everyone else in town.  It’s in an office in a house.  The linoleum has to be from 1976.  The dad and daughter do the taxes and the wife answers the phone.  It’s just so homey and small town and I like the tradition of it.
9. But if I’m honest, the biggest reason I love tax season is since having kids, we usually get a hunk of change back.  Except for that one year I actually made money on the Internets and it physically hurt to write that tax check.  That year wasn’t fun.
10. And just to drive home the point, the very best part is having those returns randomly show up in my bank account.  It’s always so depressing to go into mint.com and see my bank account drain every single day but during tax season?  Surprise!  Random huge deposit in your account!

OK, now I promise I’m not just a money-hungry dork.  I’ll claim the dork part but that’s it.

Tell me, do you love tax season or hate it?

This post is linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday.

Popularity: 30% [?]

I normally feel guilty about buying so many clothes and sharing it on top of that, but I can count on my hands the clothes I bought for myself in the last 18 months. Plus, you’ll see these were such great deals there is no guilt here!

Popularity: 37% [?]

How’s that for an SEO-friendly title?  I just know someone is googling for people’s weekend recaps.

So hi. 

I’m still here.  I still love blogging.  I love writing.  I love you.  If you’re still out there.  I guess you are if you’re reading this.  And if no one does, I suppose this is like me talking to myself in the middle of the woods.  It wouldn’t be the first time I talked to myself, so I may as well keep going.

The last two weeks have been hard emotionally for me.  Lexi has come unraveled a few times and it’s led to some glaring issues and things that need to change, a lot on my part.  I’m trying my best to spend as much quality time with them as I can.  I’m having to say no when I don’t really want to say no. I’m having to bite my tongue.  I’m having to pay attention.  Really pay attention.  In other words, it’s been taking a lot of my time and exhausting me a little.  But in the most wonderful ways.  This parenting gig is something I happily signed on for and while hard, the good is so good it’s worth it. 

In super duper good news, I’ve been working from home a lot more lately.  I’m SO thankful.  It’s such a huge answer to prayer and could not have had better timing.

We stayed in Friday and ate pizza and watched TV together.  Saturday I took the girls to the Nature Museum, Moe’s and the library.  For whatever reason they really latched on to the rocks and minerals at the museum and most of their books were on those.  Kids surprise you sometimes.  Lexi was scared to death of the big bears and elephant.  I embarrassed her when I started praying over her right in front of the monkey display.  We were all alone in the whole hall but she still said, “Stop, Mom, you’re embarrassing me.”  I think it was the first, but certainly not the last.  The library we went to after that has this wonderful spiral staircase.  My parents used to take me and my sister and I loved that thing.  We were climbing to the second floor and Emma was complaining about so many stairs but it was one of those moments of passing down a tradition that is part of what makes parenting so fun.  After that, we went grocery shopping and came home to wash laundry and have dinner.  Exciting times, I tell you!  I heard someone once say that the more bored the parent was, the happier the kids were.  I really think that’s true for my girls, at least.

Today we went to church, had lunch with Scott’s family, went shopping just the 3 of us, spent some time at my parents’ and then came home to an evening of leftovers and wrestling.  Church, shopping, family.  You know it’s a good day.  In fact, I might have to do a haul video on all the stuff I got at Old Navy.  I honestly don’t think I’ve bought myself anything outside of a few shirts for Christmas since the end of summer.  Today I didn’t spend more that $5 for a shirt and most of them were $3.50 so it was GOOD.

Beyond that I’ve been reading some good stuff on adoption (and getting scared to death) and eating better (and doing absolutely nothing about it) and watching Elevation’s revival services (and getting some wonderful words).

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Popularity: 32% [?]

OK, so here are a few small updates that we’ve made around the house that I haven’t taken the time to tell you about. The first is another Christmas present from Mom.  I picked out the fabric and she recovered it for me.

Isn’t that fabric fun?  It is totally me and makes me so happy!

When we were in Maryland, I scored a new shower curtain and rugs for SIX dollars each at Ollie’s.  Not a bad transformation for less than $20!  You can see older pictures here and here.

Amazing how a little color and pattern changes things, huh?

Popularity: 61% [?]

I love, love, loved this video from Beth Moore today on prayer.  I know, like you, there are so many people around me hurting and sick.  They need us on our knees interceding for them.  I have been so lax at this and I admit it.  This video really inspired me today to do a better job and I hope it does the same for you.

She has a post that goes along with this where folks are leaving their ideas that work. The only thing I can contribute is that writing my prayers out has helped tremendously.  It’s been awesome to look back and see where God answered.  Not being boastful, though, I have not written them down on more days than I have.

If you feel inclined, I’d love for you to leave any prayer requests, or even just something unspoken, in the comments so I can pray for you specifically.

Popularity: 52% [?]

(image courtesy of http://www.stopthecandyshop.com/)

When I went to Catalyst in 2010, I was blown away by Christine Caine who heads up The A21 Campaign, a non-profit which aims to abolish human trafficking.  As a follow-up, they also showed a promo for a short film/parable bringing awareness to child sex trafficking called The Candy Shop.  I had the pleasure, or should I say discomfort, of finally watching it today for Trafficking Awareness Day. 

Did you know Atlanta is the LARGEST city in America for trafficking and comes in at tenth in the whole world? That’s 375 little girls just a few years older than my Emma and Lexi that are taken advantage of every single month.  Just last month, the FBI said a pediatrician was arrested for child pornography.  The thought sickens me.  But we simply cannot ignore the nausea.  We feel helpless but there are organizations making a difference.  The A21 Campaign works all over the world to restore victims, prevent new ones and bring perpetrators to justice.  Street Grace is the organization that partnered with the film company to produce The Candy Shop film.  Here are ways to partner with them and make an impact:

• Check A21’s site for 21 things you can do, learn signs of sex trafficking and donate while you’re there.  A21Campaign works all over the world to
• Visit http://www.streetgrace.org/ or http://www.stopthecandyshop.com/ for ways to make an impact specifically in the Atlanta area.
• Pray.  I don’t say it flippantly.  We need to pray for the men in our country that their hearts are turned toward God and not the evil of their flesh.
• Get others involved.  This is the kind of thing that should be going viral on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s so disheartening to think about these things but we can’t be like the people in the film that just say it’s none of our business or believe the lie we can’t make a difference.  We CAN.  Let’s do it.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Have you seen that quote on Facebook from parents about how you will question, stalk, annoy, etc. your kids just to make sure they’re safe because you love them?  Well, I would look it up for you if not but I’m on my lunch break writing this at work and something about looking up stalking in Google feels like it might raise some red flags with HR.  Plus, all I really want to say is I completely agree with quote and did my first bout of stalking this weekend.

Emma had a friend invite her to sleepover on Friday night and her mom said she could just walk home with this little girl since they only live two blocks from the school.  At first, I was like, oh no, this is different and Emma is going to freak out.  See, every day since she was 3, I have taken her and picked her up from whatever school she was in.  And she cried the first 3 weeks of Kindergarten even when I walked her in.  So, when the mom asked me this on the phone,  I had to put her on hold and ask Emma if that’s what she wanted.  See, Emma has said that she really, really wanted to be a walker on multiple occassions but we just don’t live close enough.  But here we were with a chance for her to actually walk home and well, I just didn’t know how that was going to go over.  She gave me a sheepish grin and agreed that yes, she wanted to walk.  Then, of course, Lexi started to freak out because she didn’t want to walk to the van alone.  Change!  My girls are not good at it! 

Friday afternoon came along and Lexi was saved because I had to pick up a friend’s son too.  As for Emma, I hadn’t seen her all day and was on pins and needles to see how she was going to do.  I seriously wouldn’t put it past her to be in near tears walking the two blocks.  There are two ways she could have walked home so I parked my van on one of the streets so I could see the alternate way too.   We waited.  And waited.  I just had to see how she was doing.  Lexi finally started suggesting we just head home even though she was pretty interested in seeing her big sister too.  I started seeing other parents and their kids and still no sign of Emma.  Then all those horrible things started going through my head of kids just being picked off the street in white vans (because it’s always a white van in my head).  So, I told the kids, ok, now I’m getting worried it’s been so long, we’re going to have to go look for them.  So I started to take off, looking back in my rearview just to make sure I hadn’t missed her.  I turned left at the corner and was then one street away from the alternate route.  And there was Emma and her friend on the other street. 

She was crossing the road and drinking from her reusable soda can we bought a few weeks ago.  You could tell she was having fun and talking a mile a minute.  And then she spotted the van.  I rolled the windows down at the stop sign where we met and she was all, “Hey, Mommy!  Hey, Tucker!  Hey, Lexi!”  And then I was all, “I gotta go, there’s a line behind me!”  And we were off, headed home and I watched in the rearview mirror as she finished her walk. 

She had no idea I had waited a good 10 minutes for her.  It just happened that we met at the stop sign. She just figured I had just picked Lexi up and was on my way home.  I guess it shouldn’t be a big deal.  Kids walk home all the time.  But for us, it was a first.  One of those Mom Moments where you look at your kid and go, You’re growing up, stop doing that.  

And it won’t be the last first-time she’ll have with her mommy stalking her through it.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Belated Merry Christmas to me!  My mom had my curtains made for my Christmas presents but we had so many issues with the fabric they didn’t get done quite in time.  They were well worth the wait though!  My bedroom is really feeling like a bedroom!

Lots more to do in the room to make it all come together…pillows, bedding, pictures, furniture but I’m loving it so far!

Popularity: 71% [?]

Some days in the office are exhausting.  By the time I get home almost 11 hours after I leave the house, I feel much like a ragdoll ready to be set on a shelf and left alone.  Thank goodness I had spaghetti leftovers for us to eat tonight.  One less thing to think about.  I had promised the girls this morning I’d take them to the Dollar Store tonight.  Emma had a dollar from her chore chart and Lexi had one for trying her baked beans the other night.  What?  Don’t pretend like you don’t bribe your kids.  And of course they couldn’t save their money.  It’s been a whole 10 days since hitting the motherload at Christmas.  So I took them and they bought fairy wings and a play cash register, which I admit was quite fun.  I don’t get to throw around $100 bills often. 

On the way home, Emma asked what forbidden love was.  Seeing that our conversation to The Dollar Store was sparked with the question, “Is there really a medicine you can take so you don’t have babies?”, this new question didn’t startle me in the least.  Immediately, Romeo and Juliet popped in my mind.  I explained they were from two families that were sworn enemies and they weren’t supposed to love each other.  Lexi piped in that she had seen a movie where Juliet was a dog and Romeo was a cat and that was forbidden love because cats and dogs aren’t supposed to love each other.  All I have to say about that is whoever cast that movie got it all wrong because we all know cats are girls and dogs are boys.  The girls seem to catch on to the idea and finally Lexi said, “Who started this anyway?” Which is what they always say when we’ve found ourselves knee deep down rabbit holes.

All that to say the whole conversation got me thinking about God’s love for me and how it’s a forbidden love.  He has no right to love me.  Him, being perfectly perfect and patience and joyful and loving.  And not just having those qualities but BEING those qualities.  He has no right to love me in my pride and stubbornness and impatience and jealousy and all those things I wish I could rid myself of.  It ought to be forbidden for Him to love me as much as He does. 

When Romeo found Juliet sleeping, assuming she was dead, he drinks poison, killing himself so he could have eternity with his star-crossed lover.  Much like Romeo, God found me in my death, before the earth had its foundation and because He loved me so much, He chose to come and die so I could join Him in eternity one day.  The best part about our love is it’s not a tragedy.  It’s a beautiful story that’s been written long before Romeo and Juliet and has an ending that all forbidden love’s only wish they had.

I put together a listing of all the ways He loves us for my eBook Entangled.  Maybe you need a reminder of His forbidden love today.  I know I did.

Popularity: 70% [?]

I’m going to show my age here a little but I’m old enough that when I was little, rotary phones were still pretty popular.  In particular, the only phone my great-grandmother had was a black rotary phone that was mounted on the wall surrounded by a cabinet such that I remember it being like a pay phone. 

Her phone was in a central area of the house where a door to the kitchen, living room, 2 bedrooms, bathroom and cellar all met.  Rarely did anyone stand in this area to talk.  The cord was at least 20 feet and was more often than not stretched into one of the bedrooms while someone had a conversation.  When I was little and was visiting at her house for summer or Christmas, I would always call my cousin and the town was so small you’d only have to dial 4 numbers.  For whatever reason, that phone feels like a link to my childhood.  I wish it was still around and I’d mount it in my house.

I was at my aunt’s house over the holidays and noticed she had a rotary phone in her granddaughter’s play area.  It was donut shaped, brown and reeked of the 70s.  It reminded me of my great-grandmother’s rotary phone simply because it was a rotary phone and the brown matches my very brown house.  Also, I had a hunch that vintage phone would be worth something. 

When I got home I immediately did some searches on eBay and etsy and found they were going anywhere from $25-75 so I emailed my aunt to tell her.  She replied that my uncle, who had been at her house when I noticed the phone, mentioned to her that I had commented on it.  She said if I wanted it, she’d save it for me.  It turns out she was given the phone back ‘85 when she didn’t have a phone at home and a coworker at McDonald’s gave it to her.

Lo and behold, the phone showed up in my mail today.

The great fun in all this is when I plugged it up, it worked!  And then Lexi decided she wanted to call their Daddy. But she had no idea what to do.  I was quick enough to grab my current phone, which by the way, records video too. And has apps, And….well, you know. Nothing that phone did.

That’s going to be my new line when I can’t figure something out.  “This is boring!”

Also? I’m very tempted to make this my first listing on etsy to fulfill a wish from yesterday but we all know how I handle letting go of things with a story.

Popularity: 71% [?]

I’m not a new year resolver.  But there is an ongoing list of skills that I wish I could learn to do.  Some skills need to come naturally and they just don’t.  Others I don’t have time to tackle and still others I have absolutely no reason not to tackle but I just haven’t yet.  And here they are:

1. Sell something on etsy.  Anything.  It’s a few-years-long dream of mine.  I wish I was super crafty and my days were spent crafting something up while customers anxiously awaited new items.  If there was an item on this list I’m considering, this is it.  I just have to come up with that brilliant idea of a craft I can actually do.  Ideas accepted in the comments.
2. On that note, I wish I could sew.  It’s really sad I don’t know how to as my mother does it for a living.  Plus, she sent me to sewing classes.  I did learn how to sew a straight line.  Or, wait, I think there was a curve in one of those lessons.  But I don’t own a machine and don’t have the time to sit and practice or learn to sew from a pattern.
3. Can food.  This is ridiculous as I’m sure I CAN can.  I remember my great-grandmother canning all kinds of jellies and veggies and storing them in her cellar.  But every time I look at instructions there are jars and special tong thingies (did you just read that as “thongs”.  because I just did during a read-through). and rules about temperatures and it’s just overwhelming. 
4. Write a song.  But not just a song, a great song.  I’m always in awe when someone can write a smart song, particularly with a play on words.  I just haven’t thought of anything smart yet.
5. Write a novel.  I actually tried that once and am pretty sure it’s not meant for me.  But I wish it were.
6. Own chickens.  Seriously I think those little houses are so cute and the idea of having fresh eggs is pretty amazing.  But the mess.  And the smell.  And the inability to turn the chickens “off” turns ME off.
7. Run.  I completed the Couch to 5K and really WANTED to like running but I don’t.  But hey, I HAVE done the 30 Day Shred for 10 days.
8. Quit work.  I wish I were a Stay at Home Mom and had time to learn and do all these things.  No surprises there.  However, being in debt is NOT on this list.
9. Floss every day.  Please don’t tell me you do this or I’ll have to kick you in the shin.
10. Love to pretend play.  I love to spend time with my kids.  I really do. I can bake, color and play Monopoly with the best of them. But I don’t, and haven’t since I was 8, liked playing with Barbies, babies, American Girl dolls, etc.  With the exception of running the toy cash register, I have to force myself in the playroom.

OK, so that felt a little whiny.  Sorry for the whine.  If you do any of these well, I would love to hear it! And list a few tips on how I might actually add one of these to a real task list!

This post was linked to ohAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday. 

Popularity: 77% [?]

Moments of parenting exist when you realize you’re turning into your parents.  And more than that, your children are growing into little people. 

Last weekend, Scott and I were making our bed and the girls were flipping cartwheels in the wide expanse where we still have yet to decorate.  Mid sheet-changing, Scott decided he needed to flip the mattress.  I agreed as the night before I rolled on his side and suddenly felt like I’d been dropped into a hammock. 

We bought our king size bed a few years ago but we still don’t have a frame.  Our headboard is only held against the wall by the box spring and mattress.  So when he went to flip the mattress, he asked me to hold the headboard against the wall so it wouldn’t fall forward.  I propped my right hand on the headboard and my left one on my hip and waited.  Scott flipped the mattress and started spreading out the sheets.  “You can let go of the headboard now.” Scott said with quite a bit of sarcasm.  “Oh,” I said trying to think of what had distracted me.  Behind me, Emma propped her hand up on the wall and mocked, “I’m still holding the headboard.”  She was making fun of me.  Scott and I both fell on the half-made bed in fits of giggles, repeating her, “I’m still holding the headboard.”  I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe.  Scott and I exchanged glances, with that same look of admiration we got when she learned to walk or wave bye-bye.  All I could think about is the multitude of times we had (in fun) made fun of my own mother.  She was always such a good sport, or always seemed like it.  Maybe I’m wrong but I think I see why.  It’s way too much fun watching your daughter turn into a little woman than be offended by her attempts at humor, even if it is at your expense.

Popularity: 82% [?]

I’ve kept this post open in my browser for days.  Daye posted the top ten things she’s learned about blogging this year.  Something about her first point has stuck with me.

Know why you do what you do- It is okay to not have a well thought out vision for the next 20 years of your life.  But it’s important to have a reason for what you do.  For me this means that I write because when I do, I feel God’s pleasure (One of my favorite quotes is from Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame- "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast.  And when I run, I feel His pleasure.").

I didn’t blog for much of December.  Time and inspiration were not lacking.  But I didn’t feel like it would please Him.  Not because of their content because many of them would have been tucked away in the spiritual category.  I don’t know why it was but I didn’t feel freedom to blog.  The day after Christmas I finally felt His permission to write but He needed to ask me that question: why do I do what I do?

I don’t know how the content will change in 2012, if at all, but my goal is to work on this thing called writing and to do that for as long as I feel His pleasure.  I hope you’ll join me.

Happy New Year!

Popularity: 59% [?]