Quick Homemaking Post

My first day as a full time mom/homemaker yesterday was awesome. It literally was one of my most fun days ever. I was so calm and relaxed and joyful to not have the stress of having to go to work, work around schedules, have other things on my mind (us women can't compartmentalize information like our men - all areas of our lives flow into all areas ya know).....therefore Raymond who always feeds off of my attitude/mood was so so joyful too. And today is the same.

Life is going to be so much different now. I mean, I'm an extremely positive and happy and joyful person --- but it's just increased so much more now!! I LOVE the flow of the day now. I do my chores in the afternoon after nap and before dada gets home - and raymond is the BEST helper. HE LOVES helping me with laundry, vacuuming, everything.

The day also had it's share of tantrums and struggles --- but mommy is the boss and I just didn't put up with any foolishness and then it was over and we were off to play! :)

Monday was dusting and I tried to get him to help - I couldn't find my dusting glove, so I just used Brandon's old shirt but raymond wasn' interested - but he was sooo cute. He picked out 2 books and just carried them and stayed at my feet while I cleaned. In the midst of cleaning spilled food off my nice dining room chair - that looked stuck on there for weeks - I had an emotional breakdown. A wave of thankfulness and just complete and utter gratitude for my life, for Raymond, for everything came over me and I just felt God's presence so much. What a sweet moment --- my dream come true - to be home when my husband got home to a clean, peaceful, joyful house!!!!! Today was vacuuming and cleaning out fridge and he helped with those too. I am so blessed.

Yesterday was also brandon's birthday. We had already celebrated this weekend - but for an extra bonus, raymond and i walked to CVS and bought him his favorite - Reese's cups and let him blow out candles again. Yes we are extremely frugal right now and low maintenance :)

God is awesome, life is good.

First Day Of My New Venture

Although there's been many days I have been home all day long and I was even a stay at home mom when Raymond was first born.......

today is my first day in my role as full time mom and wifey!!!! All I feel right now is thankfulness. Thankfulness for God providing, for a great husband that wants me to be home and understands the importance of this 'job', for my dad's health - I could go on and on. I am just so in love with God and thank Him so much for His grace.

He cares so much about me - every tear, every pain, every hurt, every time I bite my tongue, every time I continue to love others that reject or hurt me, every small decision I make that nobody else sees - He does. He pays attention to ALL of my day! I know He will give me purpose and meaning in every day. I can't wait to see what comes out of this new stage of my life.

As far as homemaking --- Mondays I decided is dusting day. So that's my goal for around the house today! I mostly use a glove like this - I like that glove!

God bless you all and thanks for inspiring me and encouraging me in this role! I'm free to be me!!!

Raymond and I Friday night getting ice cream downtown celebrating my last day at work. Couldn't get him to look at dada - there was a trolley!! Should have taken a picture in front of the river - but we forgot to take a picture until we were here - at the parking lot.

TV

Brandon & I decided to cut out our cable, so we'll only have the regular 12 channels. 5 years ago that wouldn't have been an option in our minds. We lived way better in college than we do now. in Brandon's bachelor pad, he had surround sound, huge screen, tons of music, tons of movies, all the channels, lots of couches. I also had a great set up at my house but not as good as his. Our parents were so extremely generous to pay for all our college tuition and board if we would just do well in school. So we both worked, just to have fun money. But those times are long gone :)

We have a ton of reasons for doing this - but one of them is that our providers TV package when up in price AGAIN. So we cut out everything except those 12 channels and we joined NetFlix for $5 a month. We are just going to get movies through there and watch them instead of whatever junk we flipped past on TV.

My idea is that we watch EVERY Movie of the Year Academy Award Winner from the 1920's and on.... which will take us forever since we really only sit and watch TV/movies together 2 nights a week. But, I haven't totally convinced Brandon of that yet.

BUT there are some cute movies that we watched recently I wanted to promote

Enchanted - I loved it! I love Disney so much. Literally I have been talking to Brandon about how they need to make a cartoon into a real life for years and they finally did it! I actually wanted them to do the exact same scenes and everything as Cinderella but just do real life characters - but Enchanted was awesome too! I can so relate to this character :)

Bee Movie - another cute one

Cars - Raymond's favorite movie EVER. He calls it, "trucks". and I LOVE it too. One of my top 10 movies ever actually! I don't think I would have loved it so much except that I have experienced the south now - so I totally "get" the different characters. Mater cracks me up --- I meet real life Maters all the time hehe :) we are always doing impersonations and lines from this movie around the house haha

So anyway, there's an idea for anybody wanting to have an extra $100 a month!

Homemaking Post

Well Candy - to answer your question from like months ago hehe - I have no idea what my style is. I like everything ...that's my problem. I was thinking I would like a shabby chic house/ romantic like you..... BUT without even realizing it, my house is formal and traditional ?? Not at all shabby chic!!!

I have no idea what my style is called. The only furniture I actually have bought in my home is my dining room and matching china cabinet....everything else has been given or passed down to us and they are all beautifully traditional pieces. We have a LOT of southern gorgeous pieces. Lots of cherry dark wood. So YES I LOVE beachy/romantic style and my one bathroom is definitely like that - but the rest of the house is not beachy/shabby chic AT ALL.

I wish I knew my style better. I love woods, antiques, southern well crafted pieces. Everything we have is cherry like I said. I like big chunky pieces with beautiful wood detail.... and I LOVE color!!! I like stripes & flowers together. Polka dots and flowers! I love fabrics...

Soooo I have no idea what my style is but maybe by my first actual house we buy, I will have an idea of what it's called. haha

anyway - just wanted to do a homemaking post to show you our new bedroom stuff.... MomMom when she was year last month bought us new bedding and curtains and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. It's just what I wanted. Blue/Green with gold, yellow, brown flowers. It's the first window treatments we have in this house! :)

sorry it's so wrinkly - this pic was taken the first day I had JUST put the covering on the pillow - it's not so wrinkly anymore :)
here's my side of the family on our vacation 2006 - the colors in this photo match the tones of the bedding. I love the colors in this photo in person - sunsets are my fave! So gorgeous! :)

I look forward to working on my homemaking more after I come home full time in july - and then especially when we buy our next home! I want to work on my cooking, cleaning, decorating, everything!! and I'll need a lot of help so I hope you all will be ready to give it! :) This picture was taken a while ago of my fridge but I thought you all would enjoy it. Sorry for such random silly magnets! hehehehe :) Today the countdown is actually down to 18 more days!!!! :)

and here's how I recently decorated my master bath....those figurines were in Raymond's room but I moved them in here. Those were given to us for mother's and father's day when we were pregnant, they are so precious. and I love having those flowers in that gorgeous little vase in here. The vase is so so pretty - I should have taken an up close of the vase. Another wedding gift.

so there you go!!! A Homemaking post!!! :)

I confess....

...this year I convinced MomMom to get me fake flowers to put in my pots!!!!!!! I am so sorry --- but no matter how hard I try - I haven't yet acquired her ability to care for plants and flowers. She has some magical touch given to her by my grandparents to just be so good with plants -- her presence alone perks them up --- whereas, if my plants had legs - they would run away from me as fast as possible, my presence seems to bring them closer to their fatal destiny. I try so hard but I can't keep them alive and healthy like she can..... SOOooo until she is down here more often and can teach me her magic -- I went fake!!!!!!! I absolutely have NOT given up on having my own garden - I am determined to have a green thumb some day - but it won't be this year.

BUT I am proud to say that I mixed and matched these flowers together and arranged them all myself! We bought bunches of the same colors and then I used wire cutters and cut them all apart and arranged them in my pots with real dirt! :)

Say what you will -- I LOVE the way they look!! I am so so so excited about them! :)

one on each side of the front door -- oops I guess I should have sweeped the rug :) I really want a new front door rug -- a plain black one - eventually.

back porch:

Back to the shallow end - recap of weekend

I like the way the blog is flowing now --- deep posts and then a shallow post or two. So I'm back to posting a shallow keepsake post...

We had such a great weekend! The weather was just absolutely breathtaking. I LOVE weather like this. Beautiful blue skies, high 70's, breezy, just gorgeous. The Azalea Festival was this weekend --- this is the biggest festival of the year for Wilmington, but it's the festival we never seem to make it to! We really didn't make it again this year. Raymond and I still are a little under the weather so we only went to watch the parade - and we were so late we never got close enough - so instead we just walked along the streets (and streets and streets) of vendors at the street fair. We had to park so far away and while walking we came along the neatest little street that we had not seen before. I loved the houses on this street so took some pictures to post. I was so upset I didn't have my regular camera, so I had to use my camera phone! I absolutely just love porches - can you tell!? :) and flowers -- and I love history! Most of the houses I took pictures of have those black plaques on the front from the historical foundation stating when they were built and their historical significance - really cool stuff!!! :) Sorry again the pictures aren't great - it's hard to push a stroller, take pictures and try to get good images on a dinky shakey camera phone! :)


Other than that we just hung at the beach cottage with Brandon's side of the family. Then had a great service at church as usual. I love Sundays. I will write another deeper post tomorrow or sometime this week about my thoughts after church today.

and as far as other things that went on this weekend..... a special Raymond thing is that tonight, while daddy and him were reading before bed, they were just doing the usual point and say game. Raymond loves books and just loves to point at the pictures and say bear, truck, red, dog, etc. etc. etc. I have been working on letters in the past week with him --- for right now only M for mama D for dada and R for Raymond....but tonight Brandon said that Raymond out of nowhere pointed to the big A on one of the pages and said "A!" Brandon was so excited. He wanted to make sure he heard him right and had him do it again and again. And then he called me in there and did it for mama and I was just so so excited! It's like he never ceases to amaze me. I really think he knows so so so much more than we realize! I don't even remember teaching him A.

I said well let's do more and I got the D, M and R blocks - and he just looked at me and laughed. I could tell he knew what each was, but he was going to play on his own time. He didn't want to work on demand like that haha. It was just such an awesome thing to see him shout the A though.... because of the ear problems he had, I am always worried that he will be a later talker or have speech problems - I got a lot of info from this speech therapist I met at a party and I just don't want him to have to play catch up and it to cause problems later. but he is so far above and beyond what I guess! He always surprises me with his sense of humor, knowledge, physical ability --- I am just so proud of him in so many ways. What a joy he is in our lives!

also this weekend, I finished doing a lot of the purging of "stuff" in the house. So here's the new closet with a TON of clothes throw away. I had to give so many clothes away that just didn't fit anymore...which is a GREAT feeling -- but now my choices in clothes are so much more limited! haha but I am so thankful to have finally overcome my battle with gluttony ---- yeap you heard it here, I was just plain overweight for too long and praise God He has helped me break away those chains too.... I know my friends and family are chiming in saying "no you weren't....you were just not skinny.... you always looked pretty to me.... you were just athletic...you were always healthy...etc. etc." and I say bla bla bla....hehe :) I don't care what the BMI says - I *felt* overweight! Since about 2001 I have learned to love myself, all parts of me.... and accept myself, weaknesses and all... BUT I have felt so convicted in this area of my life recently....and quite frankly it was just time to stop bending my elbow as my great aunt says HAHHA! :) I was not trying my best or even trying at all to eat healthy or control my portions and it was starting to hinder my love for me therefore my relationship with God, others, etc. Maybe I'll write more on this on the next deep post, maybe not. Depends on what else God lays on my heart. So, I gave away a lot of clothes ---- so here's the newly organized closet. Those hangers were a Christmas present and I LOVE them!! Thank you MomMom! All my photo albums and scrapbooks are at the top. I want a piece of furniture maybe even like a buffett style thing that I can put all those in easily accessible and all........ but that will have to wait until the next house. For now, it's okay...I can still see what's up there and get them when I need to! :)

There's Lennox and Raymond and yellow truck. and that picture from the park was from last week - but wanted to post it anyway.

The last 2 things we did this weekend was hang up this picture of Raymond's room finally! hehe A year later, we finally got anchors, this picture was just a lot heavier than any other so couldn't use regular nails. So YAY! It feels good to cross that off the list.
and here's the one that we hung up right away that sort of "goes with it" on the other side of the window:
and we cleaned out his toys/clothes again. I love baskets and have them everywhere in the house. I like these ones we use on his shelf and the big one full of stuffed animals in the closet.
So that's a little bit of what my weekend looked like!!! :)

another not deep post :)

Here's my 2nd shallow post of the day (and of course I mean that in a totally positive way - I want my blog to be both deep and shallow - just whatever I am feeling that day!! I enjoy both blogs that are purely about crafting/homemaking and others that are purely about spiritual/scripture so I want mine to be both!)



Today I am so lightheaded and congested and nauseau - I even called out of work. Raymond and I are hanging around watching movies and reading books. I can't believe how gray it has been this week. We've only had bright sunshine a few times in the past 10 - 14 days!


Here are some pics I took during some of the better days this week.

cutie pie

Raymond looking at mama through the candles --- we were eating on the porch

are these beautiful things what is making me feel the way I do!??!!?

Here's my current journal. I keep a journal with me in my purse at all times - you never know when you'll think of something to write down! I am such a list maker and I used to always have multiple lists everywhere - so this helped me compile my lists! :) Each page has it's own title.....right now the pages I have are:

• who/what I should be praying for
• verses of the week to memorize
• Reminders (different things I'm learning that I want to remind myself of daily so not to allow discouragement)
• Thoughts (things that pop into my mind that I don't have clear answers/thoughts on yet that I want to think on more)
• church website needs/ideas
• spring cleaning list
• To Do
• Long Term To Do
• Dreams / Goals / Wishlists

so there's a peek at one way I keep myself organized and how I get silly things OUT of my mind and on paper - so that I can have room in there for important things!

"Out with the old"

On a less serious note, and to have some 'shallow' things on my blog so not everything is so deep......

I did something yesterday that I know would make SO many of my friends and family proud. I threw them out..... those steve madden fabric sandals that I have worn 3 - 5 times a week for the past 5 (?) years! The ones with holes all over the bottom - I didn't realize they put holes all in the 'cork' or whatever you call it for more comfort - the Steve Madden label had peeled off 2 years ago...they were a disaster.... but these shoes were so so good to me. They were so comfortable and could be worn with business casual things for work - or with totally casual shorts or whatever - man I love these shoes. I just know I won't ever find another pair like them. My coworkers will be happy for me - they are sick of looking at these shoes hehe.

When dropping them off, I barely let the car stop before I jumped out and threw them in the bin --- Brandon was like what in the world - why are you in such a rush? ....but I just HAD to get them out of my hands before I could think twice about it. I knew in October when I wore them last that they had to go....... and I had been preparing myself for this day since then - so there they went! :)

BUT.....then I went online and found out they are starting to make them again next month!!!!!!!! is God good or what!? To get anything new you have to get rid of the old! You have to make room for blessings! :) They are on pre order now - sounds like a great Mother's Day present to me!

I have been on a total purging mode in the past week. I just don't like "stuff". I don't like clutter and my personality type is the kind that if I don't control the "stuff" it will be controlling me - and I just don't want that. I come from a long line of pack rats and I just refuse to have 'stuff' around that I don't use. So.... many times a year we purge out everything (except as you heard, shoes --- because your feet don't change size so I keep them as long as I can!)....... I used to feel I couldn't get rid of ANYTHING that a loved one gave me - but not anymore! We have been just tremendously blessed with so many gifts - but we can't keep everything! If things aren't getting used - we try to use them - but if we still don't - we just have to bless others with them that will appreciate them!

This time we had 2 huge suv loads of some pretty nice stuff to give away and it feels so good. I almost posted a blog asking if anybody wanted any of these goodies - because so many of them are great things but just unused --- hair curlers, light fixtures, bags, purses, baby toys, etc. etc. etc. but I wasn't willing to pay for shipping - so off it went to the Goodwill. If Brandon would have left me I would have put them on wilmingtonyardsales.com or have a garage sale - but he insisted I just give them away.

Here's our outside storage closet and one of our hall closets. It may not look super organized to YOU --- but WOW if you had seen the before. I didn't take any before pictures because it was just embarassing!! :)

As far as 'spring cleaning' goes, getting rid of all the extra stuff freed up so much space and it made cleaning so much easier. To tell you the truth though about halfway through one of these projects I was getting discouraged - I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, it didn't feel organized still etc. etc. and I started getting grumpy - but I just rested for a second and asked the Spirit to help uplift me - I turned on KLove and I can't BELIEVE how much I got done after that.

Can you even believe that God cares about even the menial tasks!??!! He wants to be a part of EVERYTHING we do - even the silliest things - isn't it just AMAZING!? When I started cleaning for Him and making my house beautiful and organized for Him....it went so quick and I got SO much done!!!

Look at this list of things I've done in the past few days. This is an incredible list for me considering I work part time outside the home and have a very rambunctious 20 month old wanting to get into everything! :)

• deep clean fridge and freezer doors/shelves
• vacuum the fridge coils (and I have noticed a difference - fridge got a lot colder so I could turn the temp down)
• cleaned glass and wood on china cabinet
• organized dishes & place mats that I store under china cabinet
• cleaned under both beds and organized into bins what we store under there
• washed bed skirts and bathroom curtains
• cleaned out and organized 3 of our closets and all the cabinets under each of our 4 sinks

This week is all about "out with the old" ---- in more ways than one!!! :)

First attemps at being frugal & creative

My mother and sister both are extremely creative and artistic. My mom's strengths are drawing & painting watercolors and my sister's seem to be scrapbooking & decorating. I've had to work hard to even be half as good as they are. I have about 10 or 15 scrapbooks that I've done over the years.... and I really really enjoy it as a way to keep my pictures and to keep memories, but I just haven't done one in a long time. BUT I do have TONS of card stock, stickers, vellum quote things, just a ton of pieces my mom and sister and friends have bought for me that sit in 2 huge creative memorie bags in my closet.

SOOOO I decided to have my first attempts at being creative and frugal at the same time. I made a card for my mama. When I think of my mom I think of bright colors, sunflowers and just....happiness! She's so sweet and perky and peaceful and loves nature. My mom and I love love sunflowers which is why our kitchens/dishes are both yellow. Her favorite color is yellow but I really don't have a favorite clor. Her kitchen dishes and decor are sunflower yellow and grass (well not really grass --- more like...I don't know what to call it) green...and my choices are suflower yellow, carolina blue & ocean navy blue.

So when I was given a gift bag when we were married with this sunflower on it I knew I had to keep it. And 3 years later, I am finally using it haha I can't believe I was able to save it all that time and it isn't smooshed at all! I know it's not a clear picture of the card....but there it is! Please don't make fun of it haha I'm not trying to be a professional - just trying to find a way to still be able to give gifts and spread my love but in a cheap way. Brandon and I are really determined to cut back on our spending - and so...sorry family and friends, I know we usually give great gifts - but you're going to have to enjoy my homemade gifts instead. Hopefully the fact that I tried my hardest will mean something haha.... You poor things....

This card looks like outside looks right now - the sun is so bright, grass is finally green and the skies are so pretty blue with white fluffy clouds --- just the way I like my days! :)

P.S. as you can probably see --- the vellum quote kept lifting up on the bottom left corner.... but I found these awesome little "dots" I forget what they're called - so instead of the squares, I'm using these sticky dots now and I love them! And they're much cheaper than the squares. So don't worry - I did fix that!! :)