Love In Pink

Written by Mr. Independent for his little sister, Miss Precious.

My kids loving each other...now that makes me smile!

"I love you because I love you forever"

(Incidentally, all I helped him with was the spelling of 'forever'....he has caught onto reading and writing quite quickly!)

Going Green

No, we aren't becoming more environmentally conscious...unless you count decorating as becoming more conscious of your home environment!
Here is the before picture of a long wall that proceeds from our fireplace all the way to the kitchen. At first we had it painted a chocolate milk color (sorry can't remember the color name) and I just had three frames of our beautiful kiddos running the length of it.
Then I got bored with it....

Then I decided that we needed to paint it...

We repainted our kitchen Grape Leaves (by Behr) and I LOVE it!

The chocolate milk color looked a little drab, so I set off to add some vibrancy to my plain sad wall.

BUT, I started to run out of paint....

What to do?

Mix Grasscloth (by Behr) and Grape Leaves (by Behr) and you get a beautiful light celery color that compliments the darker green perfectly!

I created a visual divider with the paint and then I started putting up my frames...

Here is my end result!

(Please don't pay any mind to the popcorn ceiling!)

We love our new wall!

The little piece of paper (that doesn't have a frame yet) reads: "Find joy in the little things!"
I am certainly finding joy in this little thing! :)

All total the redo cost me $23.47 (the cost of a gallon of paint!). I shopped my house and came up with the HOPE sign and candle sconce. We had the leaf wall sconce in our bedroom and it goes much better in the dining room now :)

Oh and the photography is just me using a point and shoot camera, my computer printer and some $4.99 frames from Michael's Craft Store! I love those frames because they make any photo look like it was done in a photo studio!

The new colors are soothing and inviting. I love my new livingroom wall!

The Temperature's Rising...

So, normally in the Pacific Northwest, the summer temperatures even out at about 90 degrees. For the past four days we have hovered at 103 degrees! I cannot imagine living somewhere where those were normal numbers. I do not do well in the heat and I am SO GRATEFUL we have air conditioning units to use!

The kiddos are doing surprisingly well in the heat...although they are a bit bored because they can't play outside. Other than that, I seem to be the only one struck by sluggishness because of the elevated temperatures.

Hope it's cooler where you are at! Today we are supposed to top out at 107 degrees....

$2 in Under Ten Minutes!

Now, I know that I am not as crafty as some out there in the blogosphere, but I was pretty impressed with the outcome of my dollar project!

I took:
-One medium sized rectangular basket $1
-One piece of construction paper (FREE from Grandma!)
-One notepad of the foam alphabet in bright colors $1
- Contact paper
-Tape

First measure out (or if you are a busy mom of three like me, eyeball it!) the construction paper to fit the front of the basket. Then, affix the foam letters to the construction paper with the wording you desire. For us, we needed a set place for library books, especially because now one of my little guys is reading! Then put contact paper on top of the sign ( I did both sides for durability...which as you know is the main thing when you have industrious little boys!) And then to make the sign stick to the basket, I just taped it really well on the inside! And voila! A stylish home for our library books and videos! :)




(Sorry about the poor photo quality, using flash washed out the vibrant colors and so I opted for no flash which can be a bit blurry)

I AM IN LOVE WITH DOLLAR TREE!

May you be inspired by this as I was....

'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
By WILLIAM J. KIRKPATRICK

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take Him at His Word,
Just to rest upon His promise,
Just to know "Thus saith the Lord"
O, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood,
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing cleansing flood!
Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just from sin and self to cease,
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace.
I'm so glad I learned to trust Thee,
Precious Jesus, Savior, friend;
And I know that Thou art with me,
Wilt be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!


"How I've proved Him over and over..."

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23

What Is Left

My paternal grandfather died July 14th, 2009 just five days short of his 90th birthday. I didn't shed any tears. How can you mourn the passing of someone you barely knew?

The whole world got to know the persona he put on display, but his own family were strangers.
The stage was his life. Everything revolved around his career.

My grandpa was someone famous. You have probably heard his voice and not even known it. Growing up, I only knew a sliver of his celebrity.

I found out more about him after he died than when he was living. How sad. I was cheated out of my grandfather by his own narcissism.

He had time to tell everyone else his stories, everyone that is but his own children and grandchildren.

And sadder still is the fact that he worked so hard to create a legacy with his voice, he ignored the creation of a legacy with his love. He left a legacy of neglect, which was passed down to my father, who in turn leaves it for me. But I refuse to embrace that legacy left to me.

When I leave this earth, I want my life to have meant something. I want it to have eternal value and leave a legacy of righteousness for my children and their children. I want my heart of compassion to be what others think of when they think of me after I am gone. No, I will not have an illustrious career such as my grandfather. I will not have a famous name and no glowing articles will be written upon my death. But I will leave something that cannot be forgotten with the passage of time.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,"

I Peter 1:3-4

The look on her face says it all :) Priceless moments are so fleeting.