God's calling....easy or hard?

God's Calling

I have been struggling with God's calling and knowing whether or not it's God speaking.  It had me thinking about God and his plans for me.  This also led me to think, "well I can't do that, it would be so hard, God's plan certainly wouldn't make my life harder."  As I thought longer and marinated on that I had to laugh.  Why do I and get so caught up on the wanting only the easy and thinking God will never give me more than I can handle?  If God only gave me an easy lives and easy path, when would I ever turn to him? When I get in over my head, when life gets difficult is when I look up. Of course there are always times of praise, but it's when I am on my knees and completely humbled that I surrender.  When I fully and totally have to rely on God to get me through.  It's in those times that I have grown more in my faith than I ever have in my life and found God like never before.  Without those times I certainly would not have the faith that I have today.  The polishing and shining so God can see his image in me and his light only shines brighter for it. 

Noah building the ark would certainly not agree that God wants us to travel the easy path.  Nor would Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  How about Jonah going back to a horrible land of sin and pain to warn them if they didn't change their ways they would surely face the wrath of God's judgement (which is what he wanted for them). Mary carrying the baby Jesus and facing the ridicule of being pregnant outside of marriage. David facing Goliath the giant as a teenager.  None of these examples or the many, many others show of an easy way of life.  Sometimes the great things that God will call me to do are going to require hard work, sacrifice, loss and anything but an easy life. There is a bright side to all of this though.  All of these people in the Bible also had great victories when they trusted God and brought glory to him.  The first step though was listening to God's calling and trusting him. To take the first steps. Of course we could be like Jonah and take the hard road and get stuck in a fish belly first.  Thankfully God gave Jonah grace by saving his life and letting him do what he was called to in the first place.

So, when God nudges you to something that seems impossible, hard or it's going to turn your life upside down, remember that you are in good company! Pray, trust and take the next best steps!

God's Strength

It was a beautiful cool fall morning so I went for a run and as I was rounding the corner into the subdivision, I could hear jingling next to me through my headphones blaring praise and worship music.  I turned to see my dog following me on my run.  Historically she can’t do much more than 3 miles; most of the time, even that is a struggle and I was set out for 4. She is slightly out of shape.  As we ran, she struggled a bit and would roll around in a ditch to cool off.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much moisture for her other than the morning dew.  At about 3 ½ miles I could tell she couldn’t take much more without a break and some water. So I veered off to head toward the pond.  As we headed down the small path, she kept stopping along the way to lay in the muddy ditch.  There in the weeds and muck she seemed happy.  I kept calling to her though as the huge, beautiful pond was only 10 steps away.  She got out and almost made it to the pond before veering off for comfort and missing the bigger picture.  She laid down again in the muck and tall grass with big weeds blocking her view from the paradise just beyond.  I just couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t take the next 3 steps to the clean, beautiful refreshment of the big pond.  It is there I felt God.  I took my phone out to take a picture of this.

How often do we lose sight of the forest for the trees when we are in a struggle (whether financially, spiritually, health, loved ones, work)?  We are weighted down by the troubles of this world and our burden becomes too much to bear; we cannot take another step on our own we give up.  We can barely call out, “This is good God, that’s all the strength I have, I can’t keep going.  This mud and muck is enough.” We are happy with what we can see with our very human sight, not knowing that if we fully trusted God, there is so much more that lays ahead.  How often in life when obstacles get in our way do we lay down in our weakness and try to be content in staying there without seeking  God’s will or God’s strength to get us to that next place He has called.  Like Bella and like the Israelites I think we know of God’s promises, but we easily forget his faithfulness when we cannot see beyond our current circumstances. The weeds to Bella were like the giants in the Promised Land to the Israelites.  It was hard for her to see beyond them to the greatness that was just beyond.  She was too tired to care, too tired to move one step further; she was out of her own strength.   Thankfully, God promises over and over, verse after verse in the bible that not in our Strength but in His.  He has so much more for us.  Isaiah 40:31 states, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary.”  God never asks us to keep going in our strength. That old saying, “The Lord will never give your more than you can handle,” bothers me.  Where is that found in the Bible? God will give us more than we can handle or we may never seek him. Sometimes it’s exactly what He has to use to change and shift our stubborn hearts.  He promises His strength, we need only ask and believe.   Realize that we are totally and completely dependent on his strength.  The revelations were straight from God this morning, just what I needed to hear.  Maybe what some of you need to hear as well?  When he leads us on a journey, even when it gets hard, he will renew our strength to see it through.  His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  God never promises that we will not have trouble in this life.  In fact Jesus states in John 26:33 “In the world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

When he calls us, we need to act obediently, trusting that what he has in store for us in better than what we could have ever imagined.  “For my plans are not your plans declare the Lord, neither are your ways my ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) Life will throw us curve balls, beautiful endings can start with horrible beginnings, things God calls us to, can seem nearly if not completely impossible.  But that is the absolutely amazing thing about God and his promises.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).  I just hated to see Bella struggling and overheating when relief was steps away, much like I would believe God would hate to see his children suffering and settling for much less than he had planned for them.  For most of the time His plans are not only to bring us closer to Him, but also those around us can learn much from our journey and those we will meet in the future.  God is glorified in our journey when we let him strengthen us.  Our stories of His strength overcoming our obstacles are treasures to be shared with others, not only to remind ourselves of the times God was faithful in the past but to help others through their journeys as well.

Seashells: A journey on the beach but a lesson in God's grace!

We drove down to Florida last week with the kiddos.  We had had enough winter in Michigan and were ready for some fun in the sun.  One day we went to the beach.  It was glorious to see the ocean, waves, sand and sun.  AHHHHHHhh!! As my husband fished and my son was working on a big sand castle with some friends of ours, my daughter and I decided to grab a bucket and walk down the beach.  It was nice to have some girl time, just us.   We talked, walked and looked for treasures.  As we were walking I was kicking over shells to see if they were interesting enough to make it into our bucket.  Did they have blemishes?  Imperfection?  Were they broken?  Then they stayed on the beach. Were they pretty? Whole? Perfect? Unique? Then they were coming with us. As I did this I looked over and noticed my daughter passing over all of these "perfect" shells and picking up pieces of shells, shells with holes in them, shells with blemishes.  I was confused.  I inquired as to why she was picking up all of those shells, when we had plenty to choose from.  She exclaimed, "I love the broken ones!" 
  

It was at this moment I swear I could feel the Lord's presence.  Just like my daughter sifting through to find the broken shells that were so beautiful to her, so does God.  God calls the broken, the lonely, the poor, the imperfect, the blemished to Himself.  I could feel this lesson going on in my heart and I was mesmerized.  He uses our worst of times to rescue us and show us His love.  We all have things going on in this life that leave scars on us forever, inside and out.  But God doesn't judge us by this, He loves us anyway.  He can use our messes and our scars to bring others to him.  He sent the ultimate sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ to save us from all of our sins.   He doesn't see us as broken, shamed, bitter, angry, He sees us for the people He created us to be. He has a plan for all of us and sometimes that might include what we have gone through.  I know some of the roughest times I have been through have sometimes been blessed by others coming along and saying, "I have been there, keep going, you will get through this!"


Thank you Lord for this lesson that you love and call the broken to Yourself.  That you love us in spite of our broken spirits and bodies.  No matter how many times we screw up, You are there to forgive and love us anyway! 

God speaks to me at Walmart!

I was sent off on a mission today by my husband to finally buy a printer.  We have been without one for 7 or 8 years.  I also needed a new cord for my laptop.  The bill was going to be somewhat pricey.  As I was checking out a lady pulled her cart behind me with cat food.  As I am just getting over a fast of media, I noticed her.  I smiled at her and something was pulling me toward looking toward her. Before I would probably have been emailing or facebooking and too busy to notice her.  She placed her 2 things of cat food up on the belt behind my items.  It was then that I felt this amazing feeling saying, "Pay for her cat food," in my head.  I thought to myself why would I pay for her cat food?   Then I felt it again, "I am serious, pay for her cat food."  This is when I thought maybe God is trying to communicate with me. I thought back to God, "Look God I can't just offer to pay for someone's cat food, she is going to think I am a nut case, or slap my hand away if I try to grab it." I am normally too distracted to be reached I am realizing. I thought God doesn't talk to me like this, He doesn't talk to ordinary people like me.  I must be reading too many bible studies and christian books, my mind is finally completely off it's rocker.   That's when I noticed her start to dig through her purse.  She had that look I have sometimes when I can't find my debit card (my purse is usually too messy) she started looking through pockets and looked panicked. I heard her whisper over to her husband, my wallet is not in here, I can't find it.  That's when I heard it again, "see, pay for the cat food."  So I reached over as the cashier had just finished ringing me up and grabbed the cat food and said ,"this to." 

The lady looked at me with shock on her face and said, "no that's mine." 

I said "I know it is, it's ok!!" 

She replied "no, this can't happen, there aren't nice people in the world, why would you do this for me?"

Without trying to sound totally crazy I tried explaining, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I felt even before you started digging through your purse that God was telling me to pay for your cat food and I didn't get it."

She said back, "I must have your name so I can pay you back, you should be on the news!"

I told her, "My name is Ginnie, but you don't have to pay me back, just thank God because He told me to!"  With that she had tears in her eyes and we hugged and her husband came over and hugged me as well.  I turned to leave.  I got to my car, unloaded my purchases and sat there in tears myself just praying and crying and thanking God for using me to help someone else.  I am so humbled by the way he works!  

The Seven Experiment: Staging your own mutiny against excess FOOD

So I meant to journal, but like all projects I jump in and forget to take before pictures, this is similar.  I thought I have been working on food choices for 2 years how hard can this be?

We have been working on The Seven Study at church in ladies Bible study.  It's been a journey, we went through it the first time studying it and then the next 8 weeks are all about living it out.  I think the living it out part is key as I have done so many bible studies and found good points or ideas but they easily wane over time. 


Week 1 is Food.  Getting back to a more farm to table food style that God intended, as well as picking only 7 foods to eat for the 7 days.  My food items were the same as the author, Jen Hatmaker:

Chicken breast
Spinach
Eggs
Avocado
Apples
Sweet Potatoes
and Bread (with as little ingredients as possible)

How many times have we stood in our kitchen with pantry's full, fridge, freezer and sometimes an extra freezer and claimed, "We have nothing to eat?"  Do we realize how many people in the world would be overjoyed at having such a luxury of choosing what to eat or that they get to eat something at all?

With farm to table being hard this time of year, seeing as we don't have many (ANY) farmer's markets in Michigan in the dead of winter, we did what we could.  Thankfully my husband joined me on this journey.  I will say I spent a TON more time in the kitchen this week, preparing.  Days 1-4 weren't so difficult it was new to me still and while I had NO COFFEE or sweetener or spices except the salt, pepper and oil in moderation it wasn't difficult yet. 

Days 4-7 were excruciating for some reason.  I believe that women tend to eat their emotions, or when making my kids lunches I would eat a handful of (Insert whatever here: goldfish, cereal, lick the peanut butter knife).  I had to really be even more conscious about what I stuck in my mouth.  I caught myself a few times and literally went over to the garbage can to spit it out. Only for God could I do such an extreme diet/fast.  My husband said as long as he had food, he was fine.  He even had to go out to lunch a few times with wholesalers and just ordered according to what he could eat. 

I tried to be thankful over the course of this week to have 7 healthy choices to feed myself and my husband and sometimes the kids. God has certainly blessed us abundantly.  My kids chose to give up dessert for my daughter and candy for my son but they had chicken with us each night.  They also found it difficult to not partake in eating sweets at events, church and birthdays.  

There are so many people in this world that are lucky to have any food or any kind of variety.  With a large amount of the world's population eating rice and beans I found myself sometimes feeling sorry for myself I couldn't have more.  I didn't think my heart would be tied up much in food, but I was wrong.  I am not sure what this is going to mean about our future with food.  We do plan on a garden and lots of canning this summer/fall.  We also are looking into more opportunities to give. Jesus calls us to bless the poor and hungry and we need to figure out what that means for our family! 

Next week: CLOTHES!!!

"Change is a present action not a future event!" A weight loss journey.

"Change is a present action, not a future event!" ---Jillian Michaels
You want to see a difference in something, then start now. Stop thinking about it, stop dreaming about it and JUST DO IT (thanks NIKE). My journey with weight loss and I call it a journey because to stay in shape will be a consistent non stop journey. It never ends. 

That's an interesting thought! Doing something we have never done!  Is sitting on the couch at night complaining about our body and eating donuts, chocolate, chips, pizza or ice cream getting us where we want to be? Is thinking about getting up and doing that exercise video or popping it in and watching it going to burn the calories? Are the excuses, "I am too tired," "I will do it tomorrow," "what's the point, I will never reach my goals anyway" getting you results?  They probably are getting results, but probably not in the direction you hoped for.

Here is a popular excuse, "I CAN'T DO IT!" One phrase I strongly discourage my daughter from saying.  There is no can't.  We are capable of so much more than we can imagine.  Not only our bodies but anything, especially if God is involved in your life.  I CAN learn to run.  That is one phrase I keep repeating as I board the treadmill and click on the couch to 5k app.  It would be difficult for me to count the number of times I have said "one day" I will learn to run.  Did I do anything to accomplish that, no!!! Now I am.  I am on week 5 of 8 on the couch to 5k program/app.  I am loving it.  The feeling of overcoming something I thought I could not do is an amazing and powerful feeling. I am GOING to run a 5k in June with my husband.  For fun and because guess what, I CAN DO IT!  I am excited to do it. 

This goal goes along with my goal I started last year.  To get off my butt, stop feeling sorry for myself, stop watching the scale going in the wrong direction and DO SOMETHING.  It started with Jillian Michaels and her 30 day shred.  I did that for a few days a week, then I started logging calories on myfitnesspal app and got some cardio in on off days.  Simple things, like cutting our acre and a half of grass with a walk behind mower, walking with a friend, taking the kids to the bike trail, anything but sitting on the couch or around the house. I refuse to let my husband buy a ride on mower, since I accomplish two things buy mowing, the grass gets cut and I burn an excellent amount of calories (WIN WIN)!  But my goal was only half reached when I lost my 15 lbs.  My goal is to be healthy, to keep it off.  Getting it off is only HALF the battle.  March will mark a year and not only have I kept my 15 lbs off I have lost 7 additional pounds. I feel great, I have more energy and I love my clothes (the ones that aren't too big) everything looks better on, when you are in shape.  I will keep that weight off, I will continue to work out and keep logging my calories to keep myself in check.   It's about making better decisions, setting a better example and getting IT DONE!  

Something extra that keeps me going is using my workout time to praise God.  I pray, something about exhausting exercise lets my emotions over-flow. You have seen the Biggest Loser, right? The emotional breakdowns they have.  It doesn't exactly happen like that for me, but I do find I can clear my mind and speak freely with God when I am running on the treadmill.  I find some of my best praise and worship and prayer happens when I am cleaning the house or exercising. 

Can you do it??? ABSOLUTELY!!! I LOVE when people ask someone who lost weight, "How did you do it?" GUESS WHAT??? There is NO SECRET??  As much as we would all like the EASY way out, there isn't one.  Stop eating poorly, start exercising and get it done!!  ANYONE can do it. One of the many things Jillian says on her videos that makes me laugh, "There is no modification for this particular exercise, I have 400 lb people who do this move and live to tell"  I also saw recently on the biggest loser the contestants ran a 5k!! If 300-400 lb people can run a 5k than you better believe you and I can do it! 

It's almost February, almost a month since you made those weight loss commitments, don't give up now!  Stop saying you can't do it and DO IT! 

Home improvement, not house improvement

The dreaded ironing...or.....

As I started to think I have not been on here in...well let's just say...quite awhile... I was pondering about the title of my blog.  I named it home improvement Mom and Wife.  I am glad I chose "HOME" improvement instead of "HOUSE" improvement.  The word house, to me, means an empty vessel.  It is an object of boards, bricks, shingles, paint, etc.  But the word home means something totally different, "home is where the heart is," "home is where you can let your hair down," "home is where your family is." These cliches come to mind.  We have not been doing much house improving lately.  I am back to school, taking 3 classes.  I am trying to keep my house and home in order and raise 2 kids and try to support my husband however I can.  As I was sweeping the floor it's 60' here in Michigan.  The snow is melting and the dogs are a muddy mess.  I decided to mop to make the floor look nice (at least to give the dogs a blank canvas for their muddy paw art).  Then I cleaned the bathrooms and dusted, wiped the counters in the kitchen and emptied the dishwasher.  Then it was onto the last task I had set aside a few days...ironing.  I do not enjoy ironing, in fact, I do not know many people who do.  It is tedious and something to be put off.  When thinking about it like this, it was putting me in a bad mood.  My mind drifts as I do the most mundane chores, run on the treadmill, let's just say I cannot shut it off.  I started thinking how handsome my husband would look in his freshly ironed shirt.  Then I thought of how hard he works for us.  He wasn't always an ironed-shirt wearing guy.  He used to own a landscaping company.  His idea of dressing up was a sweater and khakis.  He chose to use his degree and start a different career after having a family. If he can learn to (at least tolerate) wearing suits and ties, then the least I can do is learn to enjoy ironing.  I use the word "enjoy" somewhat loosely here.  I can enjoy it through thinking of how much more handsome he looks in a ironed shirt versus a wrinkled shirt.  I can also use the opportunity to pray for my husband.  I am ironing a "work" shirt, so what I perfect opportunity to pray for my husband and his work.  As I was finishing up ironing his shirts, I realized, this is not so bad.  I can take a few moments out of my day to pray for my other half, my team mate in life and the one who works so hard to provide for myself and our children. 

It seems it's all about mindset.  I can go into a task dreading it, or I can find the joy in it.  I can give everything I do my all and honor God, or I can grumble and be miserable.  I choose to pray for my husband in this task from now on and find the joy, YES, the JOY in IRONING! How ironic!

Slate backsplash with white cabinets!

BEFORE BACKSPLASH AND COUNTERS

We have been meaning to do this project for a little while, but sometimes we get project exhausted.  So one day while I was at Lowe's they were calling my name from the shelf! I picked up a few boxes and some premixed thinset for walls and went on my merry way! I had those done within the first 30 minutes of arriving back home and was ready for more.  We designed our area that will be above the sink and did all the pieces I could do without having to use the dreaded saw! I always have visions of cutting off my fingers. Then I had to wait.  OF course November is hunting season and September and December so only after dark and when we weren't completely exhausted could this get done.  It finally was completed last night (in between church and bass pro shop, dinner, working out and hanging with our kids) and ready for grout, which I did this morning!!! :)

We wanted to do a rustic backsplash since the cabinets were white (we scored them off craigslist and it was too good of a deal to pass up!! We had enough to do a basement kitchen, a work bench for hubby in his hunting room and hang a gorgeous glass one in the laundry TALK ABOUT SCORING BIG!!) But with my husband being an outdoorsman we wanted to keep with a more rustic theme for the basement! So slate seemed like a good option!



DURING, poor husband!

                                                                Before grout, but tile is set!

                                                  Ta DA!!!!!!

                                          It looks even better and more colorful in person!!
                                                            

Dresser redo with mosiac tiles :)

It's been awhile.  But here is what I have been working on this week.  My Mom lived with us for a little while after selling her house.  When she moved she left us this bedroom set.  In my head I wanted to redo it for my son.  Then when I started putting away his summer clothes I realized there was an empty drawer in his one dresser and he didn't need this much storage for clothes, afterall he is a boy.  So I thought then I would redo them just for the guest room to look brighter.  As I painted other ideas started popping into my head.  I have to say I think they turned out well!

Here is the before picture, I FINALLY remembered to take one, at least of the one dresser!

I sanded them all down to rough them up and then coated them in primer.  Then I painted them.  I found some nice put cheap knobs at Home Depot, since these pieces required so many knobs!! :-O Then when they were done I thought of these little tiles I paid $1 a sheet for on clearance at lowes about a year ago.  I have been itching to use it on something, I had a sheet and a half which wasn't quite enough for most projects.  Then it hit me as I was painting these dresser.  I was excited to use it and gives the dress a pop that I love.  Plus it feels kind of beachy to me.  I am very happy with the way they turned out!!!

Winter project: redo basement

Our basement was less than exciting when we moved in.  I can't really tell you how to do it, hubby is multi-talented and seems to be able to figure out how to do almost anything.  I am so lucky and blessed that way!  But I did want to share some of our before and after pictures.  Just for fun!

We did everything ourselves, except enlisted my Dad to put the new french doors to the patio in and the drop ceiling was done by Jeremy's Uncle.

The cabinets were a craigslist special.  We were able to make them work for this space and had a beautiful glass one left over we hung in the laundry room as well as a whole work bench we put in my husband's hunting room!

Before: Future Kitchen Area



After Kitchen Area, eventually we would like to get a small fridge for under that cabinet
We did the tile here ourselves, hubby cut it I laid it and grouted it.  It's holding up good so far! This was our third
experience with tiling I think.  We chose Castle Stone Harvest from Lowes.







The next area was the living room area. We used the vinyl plank flooring in here. I love how easy to clean it is and has seemed to hold up very well so far to kids and pets and even some foster dogs. We had it all installed within about 3-4 hours.

The last area we wanted a table for games or extra eating space when we have company.  Maybe one day a pool table of course this is where Mr. Deerhead goes as well!

So that is what we spent all winter working on in our spare time.  Hubby did an amazing job figuring out the drywalling thing.  We went through a couple paint colors but like what we finally agreed on after me repainting it.











Canvas tutorial, personalizing our home

Make your own "canvas" tutorial

My canvas art going up the stairs

We have previously before this house moved 4 times in a 1 1/2 year period.  During this time every house we lived in had been for sale.  So I was used to the few family pictures set out on a table I could easily take down for showings.  I became accustomed to decorating without personalizing.  So as we had been here for almost 2 years I still had few family photos on the walls.  I also am not a huge fan of mismatched frames.  I went to hobby lobby to look for some frames for the stairway and even on sale at 50% they were going to cost me $11 a piece for the cheap ones.  That wasn't going to work for me.  So I got on pinterest to look up spacing and came accross a cool idea.

I picked up 3 foam boards (the extra thick ones, that's how they are labeled) at hobby lobby on sale 30% off (I have only used about 1 2/3 of them yet though), some spray adhesive (photo safe) and ordered some of my favorite family photos from CVS.  I had some dark brown spray paint lying around so I didn't have to buy any of that.  I laid my pictures on the board and traced with pencil.  Then removed the pictures and cut with a razor blade box cutter type knife.  I got pictures in three sizes 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 to give it a little mix. 



Foam board pictured above

Then I took the boards outside and spray painted the sides and overlapped it to cut in a little on the tops in case it wasn't perfect on top no white would show through on the picture.  When the paint dried which didn't take very long thank goodness, I sprayed a mist of glue spray on the board and added my pictures.  This project only took me about an hour!!! (be careful not to overspray the glue)

Then one of the best parts is they are pretty light, so I used some mirror mounting double sided foamy tape to mount them up.  I hung a few up, stood back and then kept going.  Took a picture, rearranged a few and TA DA.....looks pretty cool!

I also picked up the W from Hobby Lobby for like $1.29 and spray painted it.

My 3 year old isn't used to so many pictures on the wall, we had taken them down when he was little and we were trying to sell our house.  He said there should only be 2 pictures on the wall! LOL he consistently cracks me up.  I love looking at all the fun memories on the wall each time I go up and down.  I saved some space for a hopeful Disney trip next year, one for our Hawaii trip this fall and also family portraits that we hope to get taken this fall by our favorite photographer, Shooting Stars Portraits!!! If you are local to Michigan, check them out!

What I really love even more is no nail holes in the wall and I can take them down and move them whenever!



A kind of side view of the sides of the "canvases" Excuse the hand rail on the carpet we have been working on the wainscoting up the stairs in the upstairs hall.  That project blog to come soon! :)



A close up of my new art! 

Restore Stain

Product Review: Restore Stain
http://www.synta.com/synta_store/index.php?p=catalog&parent=4&pg=1

So onto the deck.  We have appr. 625 square foot deck off the back of our house.  I stained it last summer.  Hubby never liked the color and commented on it often.  Not only the color but the boards were starting to warp slightly and crack. 



BEFORE

On one of our many trips to Home Depot we came accross this product.  There are displays all over here in the Home Depots.  They have the product at Lowe's too, but they don't seem to display it.  We were skeptical but did some research and decided to go for it.  Restore is more than a stain it is a thick covering.  It fills in all the cracks (up to 1/2") and gives it almost a trex decking feel and appearance.

While doing reviews we noticed that many people complained about the amount of time and patience it took to put the product on as it is pretty thick.  If you have ever worked with sanded grout, think rolling sanded grout onto your deck with this meshy plastic roller.  I went and purchased a better roller since ours was a cheapo dollar store one that wasn't cutting it.  Then since I am so used to working with paint I wanted to roll it too thin.  Hubby took over most of the rolling and I painted the base of the deck and the posts and cut in around the house.  I am not know for my patience.  It took us a little over a week working mostly at night since the 100 degree days were so hot here the top layer of the product was drying before we could roll it on good enough.

There are 2 looks the backbrushed smoot or the rough.  We tried both and opted for the rough look.  It was sticky for the first week or so as the product takes 21 days to fully cure. Now it is beautiful and we love it. Just make sure not to put it on if it is supposed to rain in the next 24 hours.

AFTER

We Chose the Winchester color as it complimented our tan siding without matching it too much.

Self improvement: my journey with my fitness pal

Self improvement

So as we have been working on our home and raising kids sometimes us Moms get pushed to the back of the list.  So lately I have been working on self improvement (diet and exercise)

I have to thank the makers of my fitness pal for this blog entry.  The other day I hit 100 days logging in. I also took a pole dancing 4 week class with my sister and my hubby and I have been doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred 3-4 times a week.  This paired with eating healthier and getting in more exercise (bike rides and such) I blew my 14 lb weight loss goal away when I stepped on the scale this morning.  I am now down 15 1/2 lbs.  My long term goal now will be to keep it off and stay in shape (this will be the tougher goal!

BEFORE

For some reason I cannot figure out how to flip this picture but this is after and feeling GREAT!

A pink bow: a new hobby!

A Pink Bow

No not that kind!!

This kind!

Yesterday afternoon after church we were sitting around the house.  It was really too hot outside to be enjoyable.  So we decided to trek over to our favorite store (the kids and hubby's favorite store anyway, I like the mandarin ducks there though) Bass Pro Shop.  Jeremy had a gift card from his birthday (in March) he still hadn't spent.  So as we looked at guns, trail cams, food plot seed, the ducks, books, camo recliners, pictures, fishing poles (in pink, well that's what I looked at) clothing, etc. Then we decided to head up and check out the cross bows.  That's when it happened...did you know they make pink bows? I looked at it and said it was cute, the next thing I know hubby is saying, "If you want it I will buy it right now!" (If you know my husband this is shocking in itself, he is not a big spender. He is an amazingly thoughtful gift giver and loving man, but he doesn't just spend money to spend money) Of course as a Mom and wife I am always thinking of what I can buy for the kids or hubby or the house.  I have a hard time spending money on myself, I just feel guilty (unless it's a garage sale love cute cheap clothes from garage sales)  And besides home improvement (if you can call that a hobby, can you?) I have never really had a hobby to call my own.  Hubby has been bugging me to find something (other than home improving) that I would like to do.  He has been pushing golf (never golfed in my life.) He wanted to do something together (that does sound nice, doesn't it?) So before I knew it the bow was off the shelf and they (salesman and hubby) were taking me to try shooting it in the indoor range.  I still am unsure how all of this happened. I was shooting it, I failed miserably with 2 shots but hubby was insistent that I would like it and we should get it.  Before I knew it we were walking out (we did pay for it first) with the PINK bow (pink being the more important word there).  Next step PINK arrows and maybe a PINK release (for now I am trying out hubby's to see what kind I like) :)

Hubby even called me this afternoon to see if I shot it yet (I am waiting for him to get home for this.) When I said no, he said well did you go look at it? I am not sure who is more excited (ok, he is for sure) But it would be nice to have a hobby that we can enjoy together.  Hopefully I will be good at this. (I have never liked anything hobby wise to work at being good at it, nothing hobby wise has ever been that important to me. Even as a kid.) I feel like the Brave princess, Merida with my curly hair and new (pink) bow!

Me trying to figure out how to look through that teeny hole! (peephole I think it's called)

I had to share his note to me on our I LOVE YOU board this morning, just in case his excitement did not come across clearly enough in my story LOL :) LOVE HIM!

Just to verify for you all how much my Hubby loves shooting (here he is teaching our 3 year old son)

Decorating a little boys room (who loves hunting)

My husband loves hunting so I think it was inevitable that my son would also love hunting! So when we were decorating his room in our new home I wanted to find some mock animal mounts.  They were kind of pricey though---about $50 each or so.  So I tried to think of something else.  That's when I came accross this bear and moose in the stuffed animal bin at salvation army.  I cut off their heads, I know morbid right.  Anyway, then stained these wood plaques I picked up at hobby lobby and stapled the heads to the plaques.  ****TA DA**** cheap animal head mounts.  My 3year old  (2 at the time we decorated, hence the crib)  LOVES them!

Framing in a mirror

Framing in a mirror

Both of the bathrooms in our home when we bought it had those big mirrors glued to the wall.  The powder room had no mirror at all. Anyway, they were boring.  When we decorated our master bathroom we added a frame with molding and it looked good.  It was a huge change for minimal cost especially since this mirror is seriously HUGE! The kids bathroom however kind of got forgotten about.  I had painted it a brown color and although I didn't hate it I wasn't really in love with it either.  So I just left it all the way it was for about 2 years.  I didn't want to repaint just any color.

The brown color I wasn't thrilled with.  It was kind of gloomy and the counters and tiles all just matched. 

This brings me to last week.  I was looking around on pinterest just to look and I came accross this blog: http://www.sandandsisal.com/2011/10/my-boys-beach-themed-bathroom.html
I was inspired by her boys bathroom.  I had started with an Americana theme since I have a boy and girl sharing the bathroom I didn't want to go too masculine or feminine.  Then the Americana theme started to lean towards beach theme.  So the color I decided would fit my bathroom perfectly.  I stopped by Benjamin Moore and bought my paint.  After I got that on the wall I went molding shopping, I had to buy 2 different kinds of moldings and return them to Home Depot before I found the perfect one at Lowes.  I used a casing molding (the kind that goes around windows and doors).  I originally purchased crown molding but that will not work since it does not cover the edges or the mirror. (My hubby pointed this out) Then we came to the problem that the mirror in this bathroom was not HUGE and covering it up like in the other blog I was looking at would make it look teeny! Although that was is much more user friendly for people that do not have lots of tools etc.  Thankfully God blessed me with a very handy husband. I don't have a picture (I told you I was terrible at before pictures) of the before but this is after we added the luan (spelling?) thin, cheap wood.  To build it up enough my husband used 2 layers of this, so he could then overlap the molding a half inch to cover the mirror clips holding the mirror on the wall! This goes around the perimeter of the mirror and we used a nail gun to hold it up on the wall. So you can see the mirror would have been pretty small.  Also, by making it bigger, it actually centers it better over the countertop.

Notice in the picture below the frame is painted about an inch all the way around in black paint.  I used craft paint since it dries fast and I am impatient, especially when excited about a project! This blacks out the mirror, since mirrors reflect.

Then we have our frame.  Cut two exact pieces the same length at a 45 for the sides and then cut two more exact pieces for the top and bottom at a 45.  The lady in the blog used some kind of contact cement adhesive. Hubby used a nail gun.  On one corner the nail went through and we had to do some repair work. The glue may be a better idea in this case because the frame is pretty fragile. I caulked and painted my frame in semi gloss white paint. I then started to piece in the tiles I bought at Home Depot for $4.98 a sheet, we used about a sheet and a half. I put them all on there and made my cuts with scissors on the mesh that holds them together.  Where it overlapped a little on the edge I just readjusted the spaces a little to squeeze them all in and you cannot even tell!  I used Power Grab glue for this that dries clear and it was on there pretty good after only about 5 minutes. After this it was ready to hang up.  We again attached the frame to the wood with a nail gun, I caulked the holes and touched them up with paint and then......

*******TA DA*********..... we have a finished frame that looks totally custom (well, it is) I am so in love with it and have found myself going up there just to look at it! I am that proud! Silly I know, but if I would have remembered to take a true before picture you would truly know the AWE effect!

Looks pretty great if I do say so myself.  I do plan on finding a new valance for the window.... stay tuned! :)