Kinda like... doing laundry

Finding one's faith is an experience that I would hope everyone would get to enjoy at least once... and hopefully only once, but to each their own. People choose to embrace their faith in different ways.

Have you ever met someone who decided to accept faith after an emotional event (such as a death) but then you never saw them on Sunday morning again? Or someone just going through a rough patch & decided to turn to faith to help them get through it... then once they were through it, absent Sunday mornings... until the next rough patch in their life.

I think of this as those who throw in a load of clothes into the washing machine because they need a particular shirt cleaned, then forget to transfer the clothes into the dryer so when they think about the shirt they needed cleaned a few days later, the whole load has to be washed again.

I personally wash the clothes, dry them but do not usually find the time to put them away. I recently learned that I need to make a schedule as to when I am going to wash the laundry so I plan it around a time I know I will be able to fold the clothes & put them away when I am done.

The hardest part is folding the laundry. But what's the point of doing the wash if you are not going to fold the laundry & put it away.

It's similar to my faith... Sunday mornings are a no brainer... be there {washing the clothes}. Wednesday evenings, every 1st Monday of the month (and every Thursday during August), are times I set aside to help continue my spiritual growth {drying the clothes}. Then comes serving & living a positive faith-filled life, such as: helping my neighbor, donating my time, finances or skill with others, sharing my faith story with others, etc. {putting the clean laundry away... folded & ironed}.

That is usually the most time consuming, and most avoided task when it comes to doing the laundry, yet one of the most important... as all three steps are important just like when it comes to our faith.

Accepting, growing & serving {washing, drying & putting it away}.

Welcome to My Home... On a Budget

Lately I have been posting home projects on my other blog, Ten23 Designs, which is my vinyl decal business blog because they involve decal decor. Today I am back with another budget makeover.

I love "sprucing up" & "thrifty makeover" projects. Yesterday, Tip Junkie posted steps on creating a welcoming front entry. I thought of this as great inspiration to get my front entry a step closer to being "inviting."

One of her step was to have plants on the porch. This one I decided to skip, even though I love potted plants. I live out in the country & bunnies nibbling on your plants is all too common around here.

So here is the budget breakdown on my front entry project:

"Welcome" vinyl decal for the front door - $5 from http://www.ten23designs.etsy.com/ (Yes, my shop, I made it).

Next my mother & I ventured into Hobby Lobby for the wreath. I picked out the floral pieces for it & she put it together. I love the look.

I bought these 2 wicker chairs from a yard sale for $25 for the pair. They are from Pier 1 Imports so it was a pretty good deal. I spray painted them black ($4 spray paint).

My mother & I went to Garden Ridge during the end of summer sale & found these beautiful damask chair cushions for on $7 each. The table ($5) in the center of the 2 chairs and the awesome la fleur de lis staph ($3) was also from Garden Ridge. Both were originally brown & I also spray painted them black.

So what do you think? Do you fell welcomed?

You can find more great budget makeovers @ Reinvented.

My $30 Bathroom Makeover

Just before Baby Mya arrived, my 11-year old came to me & said he wanted a "more mature" bathroom, to match his "more mature bedroom" he had redone a few weeks earlier.

Our budget has been strapped & wrapped pretty tight so I didn't have much to work with yet I really wanted to give him something nice & "mature" since he had been doing so well in school.

I started with the paint. We picked a shade that coordinated with the countertops. I bought a small can & already had a brush & painter's tape ready at the house. The can of paint was only $7.

I had a nice framed picture from my mother that she got on clearance for only $9.99. I am not including that in my makeover total since she gave it to me for free... since she had it sitting in her garage for a little over 2 years. :)

I did however open the frame up & paint the matte with the paint I bought for the walls so it looks great.

We hit up Bealls Outlet (possibly a Florida store) for some accessories. Not only did we find all of the pieces on clearence, we went there on a Friday so we got an extra 15% off of the clearance prices.

Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale of all floral pieces so we were even able to give him a nice masculine & mature floral arrangement. We put a few of those pieces that smell good & I am happy to report that even now... weeks later, his bathroom still has that fresh, crisp smell.

So here is the breakdown:

Paint $7

Picture $0 - Donated by mom

Vase $0.45 - 75% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Throw Rug $0.83 - 75% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Shower Curtain $1.83 - 50% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Another Vase $0.45 - 75% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Hand Towel Holder $5 - 25% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Shower Curtain Holder $3 - 75% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Floral Arrangement $7 - 50% Hobby Lobby Week Long Sale

Towels (2 Large & 2 Hand) $5 - 75% off + 15% off (Friday under 50 club)

Decal Behind the potty $0 - I made it

Total - $30.56

Dream a Little Dream

Okay... first off this morning, I really need someone to help me figure out my dream from last night & horoscope this morning. It means someone... but I can't quite grip it. Perhaps it's too early for me.

So last night I dreamt I came up with this great design line for my wall decals. I had all these ideas & at some point I realized I was sleeping & knew I needed to wake up & draw them out. Of course from that moment on, I couldn't remember what the designs were... go figure!

Well then this morning, when I signed onto Yahoo, my horoscope popped up & read:

You could come up with some mighty interesting daydreams. What do they look like?

Not only am I a dreamer at night... I am a big time day dreamer. Heck, life is what we make of it... even while we dream.

But the horoscope says, "What do they look like?"

Is it asking me what do the designs I dream about look like? I feel it's deeper. Again, maybe I'm just tired. My dreams are about succeeding... so maybe "what do they look like" means for me how to make a design that symbolizes success??!!

Hmm... What do you think? Does it mean something... or do I just need to go back to bed?

The Road Trip

Traveling with my son is always an adventure. His first road trip was about eleven years ago, at the age of 4 months. In a nutshell, the boy was an angel in the car. No problems at all. If was a few hour drive & I think he only woke up once to eat.

Not much has changed in theses 11 years when it comes to him & road trips. He is still pretty good in the car & only asks to stop to eat... except now it's a little more frequent... like every hour.

Well this past holiday weekend we decided to go down to Clearwater to visit my family. It's only a 3 1/2 hour drive so we just hoped Baby Mya (2 1/2 months old) would be a road trip baby angel like her big brother use to be & we would get there smoothly.

Now let me tell you something about Baby Mya... she is a day hawk. She does not like to sleep during the day. Apparently some little baby in Babyland told her that if she falls asleep during the day, she may miss something. So with that assumption, she tortures herself (& me), during the day, fighting sleep.

For those of you thinking that I should be happy since she sleeps well at night... I say to you... "HUMF!" A nap here or there would be nice.

Back to the road... there we were, driving down 301, approximately half to our destination when Baby Mya makes her first request. "AHH!" *pause* She waits to see if her request will be answered. "AHH!" There she goes again.

So we pull into a parking lot & check her diaper. Nope... clean dry. Maybe she is hungry... again. Nope... she's not showing any signs of interest.

Just when I was about to put her back in her seat, she gave me a look. Then stood up in my lap and started to do her squats. Her smile started to shine brightly. Then Isaac smiled at me & said, "she just needed to stretch her legs."

And he was right. As soon as she finished her squats, she went back into her carseat with no fussing.

Until...

About 30 minutes later, Isaac was deep into his book & of course, Baby Mya didn't like his attention being put elsewhere. She started off with a low coo-ing towards him... no response. Then she upgrades to the "AHH!" Now she has his attention.

He asked her what she wanted... (remember this is an 11 year old talking to an infant). She responded with some coo-ing & appearantely she asked him to read to her because he replied... "No Mya, I am reading Goosebumps. This is too scary for you."

Being that she has him wrapped around her finger, not even a minute later, Baby Mya is listening to some haunted tale about a rollar coaster (or at least that's what I got out of it).

Well, it's about 9pm & we are all home safe. Isaac is knocked out in his bed & Baby Mya is here on my lap... fighting sleep. I have about another 2 hours of her fighting sleep & then maybe I can get some work done.

My Sanctuary

So there I was in my sanctuary, relaxing... at peace. Since I cannot find my camera picture transfer thingy, let me describe my sanctuary to you. The bathroom itself is about 12 feet long by 10 feet across... maybe a little bit larger. In the far corner sits a garden tub across from a walk in shower... where I was when this story began.
Before getting back to the story, let me first tell you that I made it very clear to my son to not disturb me while I am taking a shower unless it is a dying emergency.
For instance, the time he was banging on the door & when I finally opened it, he asked if he could have a snack... was not a dying emergency.
Or the time he was shouting through the door & I thought something was wrong but he only wanted to ask me if he could watch a movie was not a dying emergency.
So for the last year I have been very pleased that I have not been intrupted at all while in the shower... or should I say, my sanctuary.
Until this morning that is...
"So there I was in my sanctuary, relaxing... at peace." My master bathroom door was open with my master bedroom door shut. Although I could hear any knocks at the bedroom door, I'm sure Isaac must have been knocking, because before I knew it, while I was relaxing & enjoying my shower he busts in the door screaming. Screaming what? I still do not know at this point.
Now this is a walk-in shower so he cannot see me the way it walks in & walks around the corner a bit, so I told him I would be right out. While washing the shampoo out of my hair I'm thinking, there must be an emergency.
Before I could even finish getting the shampoo out, here he is again. So I told him to go out & I'll be right out. I'm thinking to myself, "is the toaster on fire?"
I grabbed a towel, left the water running and stepped out of the shower. As soon as I stepped out I could here Isaac talking... & I heard other voices. Not like the tv... I am talking about real voices. Who the h*ll did this child let in the house at 6:30 in the morning while I'm in the shower?
Luckly I keep scissors in the bathroom for my hair so I grab them on the way out. I walk to the bedroom door & peek my head out to see Isaac looking up... talking... to the voice... a speaker box on the ceiling... It's the alarm company.
I identified myself & gave them the "code." The silent alarm was reset. And I was allowed to finish washing the shampoo out of my hair. All was well once again.