the 'oh so beautiful' mudroom

How can a mudroom be beautiful you ask??? Well, instead of me telling you, just take a look at these beauties:





Have a nice weekend!


photos courtesy of BH&G and KBBdesigns

a change of plans

Well, tonight I was going to write about eggs, yes, eggs. But I've had a change of plans. For some reason my entire file of egg facts(weird, but, true, I have an egg file:)would not open,and now I know why. It's because I'm supposed to talk about something a little uncomfortable for me. And God has confirmed that I need to put myself out there, not in hopes of looking good, but, rather so HE will be glorified. So, get ready, here I go. I've had quite a few e mails asking that I be sure to post parenting advice on my blog, and at first I laughed, because if you really know me, you know how very proud of my kiddos I am, and how terrible I am at parenting. It's true. I'm great at the loving my kids, and spending time with my kids part, but, not so much with everything else. I can honestly say that the wonderful qualities that our kids have are the result of God's hand, the not so positive things are due to our lack of listening to God. Mr. Homemaker and I laugh often, because we KNOW the mistakes we have made, and our kids have endured. So, I will share some stories of our parenting successes and failures in the future, because I know that God can use those things in your lives, if for no other reason than to show you how much you must rely on God's wisdom when raising your children. At 17 years old, my husband and I graduated from high school and immediately walked down the aisle in an 80's style shotgun wedding, for I was with child. I myself was a child, who had grown up looking forward to the day when I could be a mama. This, however, was not the June Cleaver picture that I had planned for myself. But, we were determined to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. I was going to make sure this sweet innocent baby was well nourished, and extremely loved, and taken care of. My sweet hubby immediately took on two jobs so that we could pay rent, and doctor bills. I worked on nesting. When I look back now, I can't believe it. Have you MET a 17 year old? They can barely take care of their bedroom, much less a baby. This is where I can see God's hand in the life of this little one. This childs life was one of my main concerns. I'd never cared for someone else like this before, and he wasn't even born yet. Through the remainder of this pregnancy, we thought we had prepared for the adventure before us, however, the next 26 years has shown us that you can only prepare so much. Alot of parenting is winging it, going with your gut, sticking to your guns, and hopefully alot of begging, crying, and praying to God for that childs life. I look forward to sharing some of our lessons with you. My hope is that you will learn to let go, and allow God to mold & guide your child through your hands. Although this situation looked hopeless in the beginning. It wasn't, and I wouldn't change a thing. I can honestly say 26 years later that this journey has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. My 3 babies are such a work of art, created by a master who knows them even better than I ever could. They are not perfect, but they were mine for a few short wonderful years, and they have taught me more about God's love than I ever learned anywhere else. Thank God for children, they truly are a blessing straight from Heaven above. More to come.....

pics courtesy of woodleywonderworks/lou & magoo/reintjedevos

outdoor living

Did you realize that you may have additional square footage with your home? Unless you're living in Anarctica or near the equator, the space outside your door is an extension of your home and can be used as dining space, a sitting area, and even an outdoor bedroom, yes, I said bedroom. Here's a picture of a porch bed, for that porch bedroom, and I really think I need to build one when we move out to our lil place in the country. I really love this one. Isn't she a beaut.
Try decorating a patio for a dinner party- go ahead, drag your dining table outside, or throw a piece of plywood over a couple of sawhorses, toss a simple linen tablecloth over the top, decorate your table with plants candles etc, put out your best china, or paper plates, whatever you like. Turn on some music, light the candles, fix a nice meal/or pic up some bbq. No matter how you do it, a little change like this can make your guests feel welcomed, and relaxed. If you are able to decorate your porch seasonally, you might consider something like Susan's porch- you can check our her blog HERE She's one of my favorite blogs, and has one of the most amazing porches I've ever seen, it truly is an outdoor living space. The important thing is to learn to enjoy every square inch of your home, make it feel like you care. Then when you're done, fix yourself a tall glass of iced tea, grab your favorite book, and a throw, in case it turns chilly. Take some time for yourself, now isn't that nice:)

the one thing

If you haven't figured this out already, I'll let you in on a little secret. I have some major ADD! It's true, you'll see, and you'll say that girl is nuttier than, well nuttier than squirrel poop. This blog is to help give me the free therapy I need:) It's gonna cover every creative and crazy thing that comes into my mind, that's always in overdrive. So, that should explain why I go from recipes one day, to decorating and then on to pondering the meaning of life the next. I'm just that way, so bear with me as I ponder...........................

Right now, I am overwhelmed with 1 thing, it's something that invades my thoughts and my heart & soul every single day, often all day long. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry,it gives me peace, it makes me wanna hug, and it gives me hope. It causes some people to fight for their country, some to travel around the world away from their home, and for some, it has led to death. It can bring peace, it can move mountains, it can change a hardened heart to marshmallow. The "it" I'm talking about is LOVE. I am so amazed at it, and so grateful for this gift. A gift with no limits, a gift you can give away, and still have enough of. There are times when I take it for granted, or don't realize what a gift it is. Just imagine for a moment if there were no love, or if someone never felt loved............ok that's enough, it's the most horrible thing I can imagine, without love, there's no good thing, NONE!! Love motivates , it drives you to give, to share, to reach out, to be available, to be the best you can be, to put others above yourself. Love gives us hope, real hope. Love has a name, and his name is God! I am so thankful that He teaches me what LOVE really is, each and every day of my little life. Thank him for His love, the most wonderful love of all. I love you!

I Corinthians 13

beautiful photo courtesy of Ashley Rose Flikr

Will my house smell like a pickle???

A couple of years ago, I had this natural cleanser obsession. I wanted a very clean house, but, I didn't want to use cleansers that were so stinkin caustic. You've got to think about those things when you have little ones, or pets crawling around on the floor. I was watching Kim and Aggie of "How Clean is your House", and noticed that they would always use cleansers that could be found in your pantry. Seriously, some things that you may already have, right under your nose. Not only will this way of cleaning make the air easier to breathe, it will also be so easy on your pocketbook, which makes sense during this recession.
So, I decided to give it a shot. I got together some "recipes" from the internet: vinegar, baking soda, lemons, salt, washing soda (arm & hammer) borax and a few more items. My first test was to use baking soda and white vinegar in my smelly garbage disposal. I poured about a cup of baking soda in the disposal, followed by a 1 cup vinegar chaser- then BOOM, FIZZ, pickle smells, and such. I left it for about 5 minutes, and then poured a pot of boiling water down the drain to rinse it all away. It worked. My stinky disposal smelled fresh. I started to use vinegar all over, not me, my house:) In the beginning I was afraid that my house would smell all pickley (is that a word?), but when vinegar dries, it's odorless. I washed windows with it, I cleaned toilets, drains, shower doors & countertops with a diluted mix. Vinegar can be used as a fabric softner, disinfectant or deoderizer, and a weed killer, WOW. Same goes for lemons, you can put salt on a lemon half, and use it to scrub away soap scum, You can mix lemon juice with olive oil for a fresh smelling furniture polish, lemon peels through the garbage disposal always freshen things a bit. Baking Soda can be used as an abrasive cleaner. You could go crazy with all of this. Now, I must admit that sometimes, you've got to pull out the nuclear cleanser to get the caked on, icky, yucky stuff clean, and I had to do that initially, but, after that, when I stayed on top of everything- my natural cleansers kept everything nice, fresh and worry free. If you're interested in keeping your home chemical free, you'll find all kinds of helps on the web for everything from laundry detergent to pest controls. Now, I have some skull & crossbones cleansers under my kitchen sink for those lazy cleaning days (what an oxymoron), but when I do use the natural cleansers, I feel like a good steward of my dollars, my lungs and air in my home:)