Assignment

Lukas had a little assignment on his blog.  This is my friend Shelsy.  I'm in a time crunch so no more time to explain.  ;)

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Just for fun

Decorating Fun

So to give credit where credit is due, I totally stole this blog post idea from one of my favorite design sites, Little Green Notebook.  And I used fabrics from the same textile company that Jenny did, L&S Fabrics.  But I thought it would be a fun little challenge to try and dream up some rooms.  Also, we recently got wood flooring in our living room and we are trying to decide on a new color scheme in there, so I thought this might be helpful for my mom to look through. 

So here are my "dream" rooms:

I think these would be pretty in a bedroom.  I would use the floral print as big pillows on the bed with a white duvet.  The funky yellow pattern I would use for curtains, and then the blue ticking I would use to cover a chair or a bench at the foot of the bed with the ikat as a pillow.

The next one I would call, "College Prep."  Not too original there.  ;)  Obviously, I think these would work well in a dorm room, or a young graduate's room.  The solid blue would cover a fancy chair and the deer head print would cover a little bolster pillow to go with it.  The latttice I would use for curtains and the floral print would cover pillows for the bed.

Would it be crazy to use the following prints in a nursery?  I hope not, because I would!  I'd use the blue bird print for curtains, the brown check print on a cozy rocker with the crazy stripe print as a pillow.  And I'd use the red and brown damask as bumpers..?...whatever those things are called inside the crib.  ;)   

These I could see in our living room.  My mom and I both really like red.  I would love the solid red on a couch with the small blue print as pillows.  The top floral I would use for curtains, and the bottom floral...maybe as more pillows?  I'm not sure on that one, but I like the combo.

Next set up: "Jungle Fever."  I'm killing you with the creativity, right?!  Heh heh.  Again, I would see these in a living room.  I can be a little bit chicken with crazy prints so I would keep the jungle print on some pillows.  I would cover an ottoman or pouf with the brown lattice print.  I'd use the damask print on curtains, and the stripe I would use to cover a chair...I think.

I haven't done a dining room or kitchet yet, so I'll imagine this last set in a combined kitchen/dining room.  I'd either cover some chairs or upholster some with the lattic fabric, then I would use the stripe to cover a cushion on a built in bench and then add some pillows with the fun bird print.  And I would make some pretty Roman shades with the floral.

So there you have it.  What would you do??

DIY: Refrigerator Word Magnets

Almost a year ago now, I'm guessing, I pondered over the idea of joining the Etsy world.  I came up with a few things I might sell, some better than others.  One of the not so good ideas was making and selling refrigerator word magnets.  I actually followed through on making these.  I made a TON.  And then I decided not to sell them, so they are still covering our fridge.

I just think these are so fun!  People come up with random, funny sentences or phrases.  So I thought I would give a simple DIY on the ol' blog today.

First I bought magnet sheets at Office Max.

Avery Ink Jet magnet paper to be exact.

Then I got out some Mod Podge...

and some sponge on a stick thingy's...

and then I cut out a ton of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs from magazines that had fun fonts or crazy words and I mod podged them onto the magnet paper with the sponge on a stick.

The most tedious part comes after the mod podge dries...cutting out each individual word!

As I cut out the words I separated them into little baggies by type of word such as, adjectives, nouns, verbs, conjunctions...etc.  You don't need to do this if you're just going to keep them yourself.  Unless you want to know how many you have of each type of word.

Don't forget to cut out lots of a's, and's, the's, in's, for's, to's, you know...those kinds of words that you use a lot.

That's it!  Pretty simple.  It just takes a long time.

Have fun making crazy sentences!

Happiness is...

Rejoicing in God's creation!

I love poppies!  I am so glad they are the California state flower.  (They are, right?)  There are poppies planted in front of Grace to You right now and I have wanted to take pictures of them for weeks now.  I finally did on Wednesday.  ;)



Project!

So I am very excited to announce that very soon, in a couple of weeks to be exact, we will have a new resident at the Taylor household!  Jennifer.  We really like Jennifer.  She serves on High School staff with Em and me and she is godly, kind and funny.  :)

There is a funny story...well, incident with Jenn. 

The very first time she came over I was having a little party while my mom and sister were on vacation.  We all wound up talking about how creepy it can be at night when you are home alone.  Well, Jenn was sweet and offered to spend the night.  As we were getting ready for bed, Jenn was in the bathroom when I heard a LOUD crash downstairs.  In my mind, it HAD to be a burglar breaking in. 

(I knew it wasn't the dogs, because when I went to the hallway they were both running to the sound, barking.) 

So, Jenn and I made a stealthy trek downstairs to find that the middle shelf in the cabinet had decided to give way all of the sudden!

It was the shelf that holds all our canned food. 

Some of those cans have been there for years no doubt.

For 23 years that shelf has been holding cans and has never given out.  But it decided that the best time would be when my mom and sister were away.

I'm so glad Jenn was there, otherwise, I would have probably spent the night upstairs in my room, awake, rocking back and forth in the fetal position.

Jenn and I spent probably half an hour putting the fallen cans on the table and rearranging what was left in the cupboard.  She suggested that I start...eating the canned food.  ;)

Well, last night Jenn came over and was shocked to see that pretty much none of the canned food had been consumed.  In fact, there may be even more.  So, we decided to start a little project called: Eat Canned Food!  Maybe we'll start when she moves in.  We are going to make a list of the many kinds of canned food we have and then we are going to make our way through the cans, finding recipes that require a can of "creamed asparagus" for instance.  Then we'll check it off the list.

So, keep your eyes open for "Canned Dinner Tuesdays" or something like that.  :)  It should be interesting.

I'm a Cartoon!

So, I don't have an iphone, but I do have an ipad.  It's camera is not nearly as good, but I can download fun camera apps and tweak my photos.  So fun! 

DIY: Olive Green Drawers

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I love interior design.  And if you know me persoanlly you probably know that I love to fix up old furniture! 

Well, the other day at work, my wonderful boss, Rita, brought in an old little thing of drawers.  It almost looked like it belonged on top of a desk.  She was going to put it on the volunteer table which is basically a giveaway table, but first she asked me if I wanted it.  I almost passed it up but then I gave it a closer look.  I loved the rounded edges on the drawers and the old handles and it had a retro 50's feel.  So I took a chance..."on an unknown kid."  (Excuse me, random movie quote.)

Of course I had to blog about the process.  ;)

Not all the pics are great...so bare with me.

For some reason not all my before pictures downloaded, but here is a close up of what it looked like before:

Of course, I sanded it down first.

These drawers used to hold silver, so they had this weird fake felt inside.  I tore out the silver holders...

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...and scraped out the fake felt.  This was the longest part of the whole process.  And I should have been wearing a face mask.  It came off like fine powder.

The mix of the powder with the wood chips was not the nicest thing to inhale.

I bought some nice already mixed olive green paint from Lowe's.

I taped up the handles because they were super hard to remove.

And I lined the drawers with some laminate paper also found at Lowe's.

Not a perfect paint job, but I don't think anyone will notice.

I stuck the drawers back in...

and Voila!  All done!

Here it is in my room.  ;)  A new pedestal for Woody!

The Cabin

What does a radio, a blue bin full of coffee supplies, some hot chocolate and excited eyes make for?

A wonderful weekend away in the mountains!  That's what! (In truth, we didn't use the radio at all, but doesn't it look cool??

Complete with snowboarding and long, deep conversations.  ;)

Not pictured: Shelsy and me.

The two of us actually planned on staying just one night but when we drove back to the cabin from Snow Summit in a cloud, we decided it would be best to drive down the mountain the next morning.

So we lived to tell about it.

Memory

Monday night I saw the movie, The Vow, with my mom and my Aunt Donna.  I know I know, cheesy sounding, right?  I was even more concerned when I saw that the critics gave it pretty bad reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised.  In fact, I really liked it.  Just a warning, I can't completely recommend it...watch with discretion. 

The movie is inspired by a true story about a relatively newlywed couple who get in a car accident and the wife loses the previous 5 years of her memory.  In the real story she lost a year, but she met, started dating and married her husband within that year and so she didn't remember him. 

It got me thinking, what would that be like if it were me?  What has happened in the last 5 years of my life?

I realized a LOT has happened!

I graduated college.

I received my teaching credential.

I was an assistant teacher at two different schools.

I joined high school staff at church.

My dad died.

I got a disease.

I started working at Grace to You.

I have many new, dear friendships.

I just can't imagine waking up one day not remembering any of that!  I think I would freak out over my gray hairs, I would wonder why I'm not teaching.  I wouldn't know half the people I interact with now on a daily basis.  And I can only imagine what it would be like to hear the response to "Where's dad?"

So! Memory.  Not something I thank God for often, in fact, sometimes I do wish I could forget some things.  But thinking about it, I am truly so thankful for my memory!

A Reading Nook

One of my favorite things to do after a long day at work is to come home and read.

I like to sit on my bed, grab a pillow, lean against the window sill and ever so often look out at the pretty view.  Framed by my little plants.

Right now I'm trying to read through the Bible quickly.  I know a couple people, yes more than two, that have read the whole Bible in a month!

I don't know if I'll make it that fast...but I'd love to read it in maybe just 3 months.

It's so cool to see the different things God teaches you as you reread a passage you've read many times before.  His Word is living and active!

Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

What are you reading right now?  I want to know!  :)

Style in a Flash

Okay, if it's not obvious to you just by looking at it, I thought I was WAY cool in the pic above.  I specifically remember that moment, posing for the picture like that.  Isn't it weird the things we remember?  We were at Vasquez Rocks and I absolutely LOVED that dalmation outfit.

You know it sounds all self-esteemy and all that kinda junk to say that if you like what you're wearing you'll feel more confident, but I think there is some truth in that.  Maybe even a lot of truth in that.  And yes, we shouldn't be overly concerned with what we wear.  After all, God looks at the heart.  But as my friend, Mariejtie, used to tell me, "It's just as bad to stand out for being poorly dressed (and in that I mean sloppy and messy) as it is to be dressed to the nine's seeking attention.  It's better to blend in."  Obviously not in a "conformed to the world" way, but in a way that doesn't draw attention to you instead of Jesus!

(Oh and you may want to blend in with this era as well.)

Well what do you on those days where you wake up late or just can't think of what to wear?  And you know you shouldn't be caring that much or spending that much time on getting ready, but you just don't know what to do.  You can't show up to work in a mumu, but you also can't show up 20 minutes late.  And if you want to spend anytime reading your Bible in the morning than sometimes you just need some quick styling ideas.

Well, I've come up with a few in the last couple of months that have really saved my sanity in the mornings.  Here they are:

1. A little teasing never hurt anyone.

When I don't have time for a shower or I took one the night before and my hair is all flat, I fall back on this little trick, taught to me by mi madre.  (Teasing was real big back in the 60's and 70's.)  Just back comb, hairspray a bit, smooth the top and fix with a few bobby pins and you're good to go!  Teasing adds body to flat hair.

And if the front is a bit oily you can just use a bit of dry shampoo.  One of the best inventions ever!

I actually bought this little sign and keep it near my mirror just as a reminder that it's okay if my hair isn't perfect.  ;)

2. Have a file of fave outifts handy.

I don't know about you, but I save a lot of outfit ideas on Pinterest under "Style" and when I can't decide on what to wear, I open up this board and can usually find an idea fairly quickly.  Shopping your own closet can keep you from buying what you don't need.

My sister also gave me a notepad for Sister Day where I can list what I wore and draw or add a picture of a certain outif that I liked.

I haven't really used it yet, but the idea is just wonderful.  ;)

3. Accessorize!

The wonderful thing about accessorizing is that you can wear the exact same outfit two days in a row and make it look completely different.  Add a belt and some jewelry, change up the shoes and I doubt anyone would know you're wearing the same dress on Friday that you wore on Wednesday.  You know unless it's orange leopard print or something.

So those are just a few small things I do in the morning to help speed up the getting ready process.

Any of you readers have any secret tips?