Too much coffee?

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Last night, I swung by Dairy Queen to pick up some dessert for my husband and I. Unexpectedly, it revealed something about my high maintenance coffee preferences.

DQ Worker: "Hi, welcome to Dairy Queen. What can I get for you tonight?"

Me: "I'll have two small cookie dough blizzards."

DQ Worker: That'll be $$$. Please pull forward to the next window.

Me (Thinking, feeling uncomfortable): Did I forget something? I feel like I should have gotten it skim and decaffeinated. With a shot of something. Did I forget to give her some information? I only gave two qualifiers, small and cookie dough. That doesn't seem like enough.

Obviously the blizzards turned out fine: fatty, caffeinated (hey, there's chocolate in there) without any shots of hazelnut, small, and cookie doughish. But I think I drink too much Starbucks.

Sick as a Dog

I now understand the literal meaning of "sick as a dog." I've got a sick dog on my hands and it's anything but pleasant. White dog + sick dog = icky. Blah. Poor Leo.

Basement Bedroom: Progress

Here's a sneak peak at what's been going on in the basement bedroom, more affectionately known as The Armpit of the House. It really was that bad: blue and yellow sponge painting with daisy stenciling. It was also the "junk room" (be honest, I know you have one too) where all the odds and ends end up.

No more! The sponging has been painted over with white and gray. We're also in the process of installing more board and batten. The goal is that the entire room will be finished tomorrow, but with 18 vertical slats needing 3 coats of paint a piece, this might be a tad unrealistic.

On another note, our Arkansas trip to visit Charlie's grandpa for his 90th birthday celebration went well. Happy Birthday, Grandpa Charlie!

Mini Open Shelving Project

I'm embarrassed to say that I started this project one month ago and just finished this week. It would have taken a total of 45 minutes (tops) to complete, but involved patching holes with dry wall repair (or spackle-anyone else call it this?), which is the bane of my existence when it comes to house projects. I'm impatient- I just want to slap on the paint and call it a day. I hate having to spackle, wait FOREVER (a few hours, tops) for it to dry, sand, re-spackle, wait FOREVER (maybe another hour) for it to dry (again), and re-sand. Again. In this season on life, God is teaching me patience, contentment, and thoroughness- who knew that a 45 minute project would help the process along. I don't mean to spiritualize my open shelving ( :)  ) but I think God can use anything He chooses to humble and teach His children.

Anyway. We've got too many doors in our kitchen, and it was time some of them went. So off came the doors and on went the spackle. A few white coats of paint always rounds things off nicely.

He is Risen!

Oh, to see my name written in the wounds, for through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death; life is mine to live, won through Your selfless love!

This, the power of the cross: Son of God—slain for us!
What a love! What a cost! We stand forgiven at the cross.

The Lord is Risen indeed! Happy Easter!

DIY: Cloche Pedestal

I'm in a self-imposed "don't buy it unless you need (not want) it" season right now. Which is turning out to be more fun than I thought- it's kind of like forced creativity. It's exciting to rediscover things that I have, and to move around the decor that I've already got out to achieve a new, fresh look.

I've been wanting to find a pedestal for this cloche that I found for a dollar last fall. Most of them have been too big, too small, or too expensive. Rummaging through my decor cabinet (yes, I have one...), I found a small, perfectly sized wooden platform that came with a glass dome I've since decided is weird. The platform, paired with an old ceramic candle stick from Goodwill, made the perfect cloche pedestal! I hot glued the two together, gave the whole thing a few coats of heirloom white spray paint, and set it on my dining room shelf. Isn't it cute? The whole thing, cloche (and pear!) included was $3.00. Woohoo!

This is such an easy project to mimic. Find a candle stick and plate (or any other flat, circular surface), hot glue them together, and then paint them. Cloches can be found for cheap at thrift stores or garage sales. Etsy also has some reasonably priced cute ones, too.

Happy DIYing!

Inspiration: Pops of Color

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... do it! Notice how the walls are white, the woodwork is white, and the couch is white. If you start with a neutral base, it's so easy to add in color (and to switch up the color if you suddenly decide you're sick of red and want a blue room instead).

A Word of Encouragement

I received this devotional, Daily Light, from a good friend this past Christmas- I love it because it is straight scripture. I was so blessed and encouraged by this morning's reading that I just had to share it with you.

Morning

"I am very dark, but lovely." -Song of Solomon 1:5

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." —"And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God."

"I am a sinful man, O Lord." —"Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful!"

"I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."— "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you."

"When I want to do right, evil lies close at hand."— "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven."

"For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh." —"And you have been filled in him."—"Mature in Christ."

"You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." —"That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Song 1:5; Ps. 51:5; Ezek. 16:14; Luke 5:8; Song 4:1; Job 42:6; Song 4:7; Rom. 7:21; Matt. 9:2; Rom. 7:18; Col. 2:10; Col. 1:28; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Pet. 2:9

I love the call and response of this devotional- how the sinner (me!) cries out to God, lamenting his sinfulness, but God only sees a perfect and forgiven woman who is covered in His Son's righteousness.

What undeserved and unfathomable grace!

Inspiration: Open Shelving

We've got 30 cabinet doors in our kitchen (I know because I painted them all with multiple coats in 2009- ugg!). That's a lot! I love the idea of taking a couple of them off to mix things up a bit. Here's what others have done:

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The work load is minimal: pop off the door, fill in the hinge holes with dry wall repair, sand, and touch up with paint. If you've got wooden cabinets, just leave the holes or find a matching wood filler.

Thrifty Finds for Spring (and some craftiness!)

Before meeting a friend for coffee last Friday, I ran into our local Goodwill. The parking lot was completely swamped (ie. I stalked someone to their car, waited for them to drive away, and then RACED into their spot before someone else could grab it). Weird. People were wheeling things to their cars by the cartload. Even weirder. Apparently the majority of the store was half off- score! I found a few cute spring decor items that need only minimal sprucing.

That galvanized metal watering can was a dollar! As was the cute tray pictured below:

I spray painted it white. While we're at it, decorate with books: they're free and visually interesting.

And no... those branches in aforementioned picture aren't real. Duh. My husband says they're "crafty looking"- not sure if that's a compliment or not... :)

Basically I hacked some branches off one of our snaggle bushes in the back yard (we don't know what kind of bushes they are, other than they're uuuu-gly) and cut them down to size. I then cut the green leaves out of card stock and the white flower petals out of tissue paper, and hot glued the them all over the branches.

Not to use a pun, but they're growing on me. I wasn't sure if I liked them at first, but now I think I do. Free spring decor- woohoo!