Our Baby, our first born, our son that we would stare at for hours after he was born and marveled how perfect he was….turned 19. Where has the time flown??
19 pictures for my son that is 19 years old today…We love you DJ and can’t believe how you have grown up so fast on us!! Happy Birthday!
You see this awesome lamp?? A friend gave me two of these antique robin egg blue lamps!! I. Am. In. Love! The only thing they needed was lampshades! I scored some cutie patootie ones from Hobby Lobby at 50% off!! Yay me!
BUT….where I wanted to put them was in my bedroom….my green bedroom…..yeah. My husband was devastated!
Did I also mention that my comforter did not match them either?? Yep, again total devastation on my husbands part!
So the lamps led to this new bed set…(ignore the offset pillows…HA!)
See the green walls behind the bed……well that led to a new paint color….or two…
And a new project that I am going to be doing for the walls…
I will be getting up bright and early tomorrow to finish the paint and get started on my special project!! Can’t wait to show you the finished project!! :o)
Lately I have been doing so many different little things that seem to be totally consuming massive amounts of my time.
Here are a few things that tickle my fancy as of late:
Do you play Words with Friends?? If so look me up because I would LOVE to play with you!! I have anywhere from one to six games going at one time. I think I may be a little bit addicted, just a little bit. I beg my husband and sons to play with me all the time, but I think they are tired of losing!! HA! My main opponents are my SIL & BIL, a few Facebook friends along with a couple of total strangers.
When I am not playing Words with Friends, I am tearing up anything I can get my hands on to make rugs. Since I have been back from the Dominican, I have found a passion for making these. I have made square ones, round rugs, semi circle rugs, rectangle ones and a few potholders!! The trouble is I get bored with working on just one. So I have some material ripped up, a few rugs that are in the process of being made and of course a few completed ones. I am starting to think I has ADD or something. Last night I was working on the red one and got tired of it, so I has my sons girlfriend helping me tie the material together to work on the black/white one and when I was half way through that one, I started ripping more material for another one. Geeze, if I could stay on task, just think of the progress I would have in finishing one in a decent amount of time!!
I have been planning vacations!!!! Me and the hubby have been wanting to go somewhere tropical and “wow” for quite a long time now. We just never seem to find the time or the $$. I am super excited to say we have made plans for a WOW vacation!! WOOT! Yesterday was the first step to making that dream come to reality. I made a trip to our local AAA place in town and started the process of finding the best bang for our buck! in March, looks like we will be heading to the Turks and Caicos Islands. Can I say that I am SuPeR pumped about it??? 5 nights and 6 glorious days of white sandy beaches. Every time I think about it, I want to sing a country song…I got my toes in the water, butt in the sand…not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand…Life is good today, life is good today...
But until the WOW vacation comes along we will be taking a mini vacay to Gatlinburg next month with beautiful views of the mountains. We are so looking forward to unplugging from life for little bit! Check out the views from the cabin we booked, with these views I think we will have no trouble relaxing!
So that is what has been keeping me busy lately. Only if laundry and mopping my floor could equally capture my attention…just sayin’.
I am a cat person, really! I have always loved cats, decorated my house with all things cats and never really got close to dogs, cause you know the rule….cats rule, dogs drool! Yeah that was me!! As the years have inched by and a mantastic chihuahua came into my life, I am slowly liking dogs more and more! We have three indoor dogs, and two get on my nerves, and they are all wonderful. I tell you this because I really only speak of Higgins, so I needed to state the facts that there are other dogs besides the Higgins!
The first, furry beast in the above pictures, that is in need of a hair cut, is Bandit. Underneath all the hair is a poodle that is well behaved and knows several tricks! He hangs out mostly with our middle son and believe it or not is totally attached to that crazy, gun shooting, loud redneck!! Bandit is scared of all things loud and is most terrified of thunder! BUT, recently we brought him a Thundershirt!! Have you heard of this most wonderful invention??
This is a picture of one and they claim that if your dog was wears this shirt, it will make them calm and fearless during a thunderstorm or any other thing that might bring your dog anxiety. Well I had anxiety over the price of $36 for a shirt, but they claim that if you are not satisfied that they will refund your money 100%. So what’s there to lose, I told my husband! I am here to say it was the best $36 I have ever spent! I kid you not! Bandit went from whimpering from a thunderstorm that was miles away that we could not even hear, to cool calm and collective during the loudest bangs of lightening and claps of thunder! Check out their website here! (Sorry didn’t mean for this to turn into a commercial for Thundershirts!)
Anyhoo, the next furball that coexists with us is Maggie. Maggie is a 3lb Pomeranian that with the a quick yip can send a grown man to his knees in agony. Yip, I mean yep, her bark is worse than a dozen fingernails clawing their way down a chalkboard! My husband loves her to pieces, so we put up with her endless yippy tendencies and love her in spite of the noise that comes from this very small package of fur! Plus she is so darn cute!!
Of course, there is the ever Mantastic Chihuahua that finally won my heart over to being a lover of dogs, Higgins! He is the youngest of the three, but quickly became the alpha dog of the family! I really think the other two do not mind at all because when Higgins came into the family the other two got perks that I would of never allowed a dog before! They get pampered beyond the normal limits and because of Higgins distinguished palate they enjoy eating well and have an endless supply of organic ginger bear snacks at their disposal!
So there you have it, a post that is all about the dogs that coexist in our home with us. :o)
It all began here, if you would like to read about how I came up with the idea of this years women's ministry project for our mission trip.
I will have to say before we left for our trip, I was getting a little nervous. I had originally planned on taking 100 rug kits with me to the Dominican. Each kit had enough material in it to make one rug, along with a crochet needle and a pair of scissors. By Wednesday night my husband and I only had enough cut and put together for around 60 kits. Needless to say, I was in pure panic mode! When my in-laws arrived on Thursday, they quickly jumped in the wild mess of helping me get everything together. (Oh how I wished I had a picture to show you!) By the time Friday rolled around, we had assembled 82 kits and that was all I had room for in our suitcases. Four huge suitcases where jammed pack full of rug kits, thanks to the wonderful use of spacebags!!
Our first women’s ministry day was Monday. It was suppose to start at 2pm and at that time, not one woman was anywhere to be seen. Working so hard on something for so long, I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed. I took a group with me to walk through the community, with a rug in hand, to invite them to join us. By three o’clock we were in full swing!!
Here is where the goose bump moment starts. See the two pictures above? The women in the blue shirt, her name is Ramona, the lady next to her in the white shirt is Pam. Pam met Ramona five years ago. Ramona is a prostitute. She is married to a man that forced her into prostitution. She is an outcast among the village and has never participated in the women’s ministry before. She has came, but only to stand on the outside. Each year, Pam has given Ramona a kit of what we have been doing for the that year. This year it was the same. The last picture, Pam called over an interpreter and another lady that was helping her learn to crochet and sat outside and taught her how to learn. While they taught her, Pam talked to her about the gospel. Usually, this is the last that is seen of Ramona….but not this year.
The next day, not only did Ramona show back up, but she came into the church and sat down with us. She was happy to show us a pot holder that she made. Tuesday, not only did she sit among many women that did not like her, but she also helped us teach them how to crochet. I think that was the first time that I really seen her smile and she smiled BIG! How exciting! Here are some more pictures from Tuesday….
Wednesday we had a day off, but when the time arrived on Thursday for the women’s ministry, she was one the of first through the door. What an amazing day, we had working with the women. Many had the material tied together and all the women were working together to help one another. Ramona was right there helping as well!
Friday came so quick, but look at these pictures. I wish I could have taken more, but it was crazy busy. Ramona made a rug and quickly got busy helping others out. The third picture, a lady named Roseita came back and instead of making a rug, she made a purse! HA! I was way impressed!!
Each year we stress to the ladies of the community the importance of sharing time with other women….the importance of relationships. This year we are finally starting to see it come together.
Oh I forgot to mention how awesome God is!! I was so stressed about having 100 kits and was sure that we would have to welcome a few ladies and have no kits available. 82 kits was the perfect number. Each lady that showed up received a kit and we had none to spare. Yep, as of Friday afternoon we handed out the last kit and no one was left without one!!
