My daily blog fix

It's pretty sad when you sit around hoping your favorite thrifty decorating blogs will update twice in the same day just so you can get a fix. It's a disease and apparently I have a serious case.

Just this morning I stole borrowed an idea using small bookcases on either side of the bed for nightstands. It's not perfect, but it works...at least until I have the money for a proper bedroom redo. Hubby needs to find a job first...small details.

Problem with borrowing the bookcases is finding homes for all the books that had been living on those shelves. They ended up on the recently relocated larger IKEA shelf in the kids "hang out" room. Worked out better since that's where they spend most of their reading time anyway.

Back to my illness...In the event any of YOU have a similar problem and need a fix, here are a few of my favs. These ladies are masters at the "use what you have and make it what you love" sort of decorating...or at least "use what you have until you can afford what you love"...whatever the case may be.

A Soft Place to Land

Better After - Very cool before and after pics. Might just make you want to start painting something...anything. "Look out kids! Mommy's got the paintbrush again!"

Infarrantly Creative - I've mentioned her before, but it bears repeating.

Living with Lindsay

Nesting Place - this lady is the quintessential creative, frugal decorator. Guess I could blame all my recent "nesting" urges on her...yeah, that's the ticket!

Thrifty Decor Chick - the name says it all.

Check them out and let me know your favs.

Your new best friend

THIS is my new best friend. Yep. We've always had a good working relationship, but today it was taken to a new level.

THIS is my painting best friend.

Please don't let the blue color fool you. Not all blue tape is created equal. In order to fall under the "best friend" designation", it must be at least 2" wide. That is the width needed to cover my, uh, various mistakes. In my zeal to complete painting projects, I am not always careful. Creativity is messy people! The wide tape allows me to be messy with no lasting consequences...I love that. Apparently I inadvertently purchased the thinner tape and used it for the latest bathroom painting project.

Which is where my Magic Eraser comes in. Yes, it took the somewhat khaki dark brown paint off the white ceiling. I'm sure you're shaking your head in disbelief, but I'm tellin' ya, it's the truth! No joke.

I think it should be your new best friend too...you can thank me later.

A REAL Sunday dinner

There's something about Sunday's around noon. Ravenous, we tear in from church looking for any food we can find. Usually, it's every man, woman and gerbil for themselves, but today Momma Gerbil was dare I say it - organized.

I took a few minutes this morning to plan what we would have for lunch and did a bit of prep work so that when we got home I just had to put it together. Within a few minutes, we were sitting down to a REAL Sunday dinner around the REAL dining room table, eaten on REAL plates, where our children exhibited their REAL table manners...but that's another post entirely.

Most in our fast paced society have forgone the traditional Sunday noon meal. I think that's a shame. The Sunday dinner use to be a time for family and friends to come together, share a meal and build memories while observing the Sabbath. Most of us now settle for a quick dinner out on our way home from church, or like us grab a quick sandwich while darting up the stairs to the waiting football game. We're missing out. I want my kids to look back and say, "Remember how Mom use to make the most amazing Sunday dinners?" (Hey, it's my memory!) Beyond the memories, I pray that it will become such a part of our family tradition that someday our kids will bring their families back for some of Grandma's amazing Sunday dinners.

I'm going to have to plan things out if I want to make it happen. Prep work can be done on Saturday so things will be ready. More work for me? Yep. Worth it in the long run? You bet.

What my kids took away from today's meal? Why is it called Sunday "dinner" when it's really lunch? Hey, we try.

Stress and creativity...it's a good thing

One good thing about stress is that it tends to bring out my creative side. Actually, truth be told, I just need to DO SOMETHING while dear hubby looks for a job, otherwise I just.might.go.crazy. So far this week we've cleaned the garage and painted a bathroom.

Bathroom looks great...my somewhat humble opinion. Had a half gallon of khaki and a half gallon of dark brown. Not enough to do the whole room by themselves, but mix them together and you have a full gallon of - somewhat khaki dark brown. Don't you just love my creative naming abilities? I can now say I have a color no one else in the world has...I like that. God forbid we should ever need to do any touch up.

Yes, I did take before and after pics...something I am notoriously bad about NOT doing. Here's the deal. Someone (who will remain nameless), dropped our camera for the very.last.time...it's dead. No worries, I'll just use the camera on my nifty new phone so I can download/upload (whatever!) wonderful before and after pics of my sweet new bathroom to my bloggity blog. Problem is...I have no idea how to get the pictures off my phone and onto my computer. So, if you're in the area and want to stop by, I'll be happy to show you the finished product in person...or maybe you can show me how to get the pics off my phone!

Someone who IS great with before and after pics is this lady at Infarrantly Creative. Don't ask me what "infarrantly" means...don't have a clue, unless it means "this woman is a creative genius". Check out her latest gameroom redo. You will be amazed...no really, you will. She made reams of curtains out of painters drop cloths for around $12 and used her kids games to decorate the walls. Genius I tell ya.

So, this morning I'm headed to the gym and then home to put the bathroom back together. After that, I might just redecorate the whole house...or figure out how to finally up/download pics off my phone. I know which one sounds like more fun don't you?

Stop praying already!

I love prayer. It's a direct link to our Heavenly Father. Remember the old movies with the big, red emergency phone sitting on the President's desk? I can pick up that phone and call Him any hour, day or night and He will answer. It's my direct link. God wants us to tell Him our hearts' desire; to tell Him what we want and think we need; to pray "Thy will be done". But there's a time to stop praying. There's a time to stop petitioning Him for what we want or need, to stop pleading our case. He's heard us. He heard us the first time. Once we've presented our requests to Him, it's time to start thanking Him for what He's already set into motion.

Mike headed out this morning for an interview. We've been praying about it for several weeks. We've prayed with elders in our church. We've prayed with friends. There is nothing left for us to say about this situation that has not already been presented to the throne of God. All there is left to do now is to praise God for His perfect plan. He began setting things in motion years ago, before we even thought to ask. Whatever the outcome, our job as His kids is to praise Him.

Not sure if today will bring the answers we're looking for, but we'll praise Him for what He is working behind the scenes, knowing it is all for our good.

Raising the right kind of awareness

SOAPBOX WARNING!

Seems people are always trying to raise awareness about something. Save the whales. Cancer research. A tiny frog living in the Amazon. They come up with some pretty creative ways to get people's attention focused on their cause.

True awareness is something that makes you sit up, take notice and want to make a change, to really DO something about a problem. After the recent raising breast cancer awareness campaign stunt going around facebook, the only thing we are now aware of is what color bra everyone is sporting. Don't get me wrong. I am all about finding a cure for such an awful disease, but can someone please tell me what change will occur from sharing this information?

Scripture tells us we are not to be a stumbling block to anyone's walk. Ladies, you're giving every one of your male facebook friends personal information that should be reserved for your husband alone. Men are visual. I can only imagine what they have been imagining over the last couple of days as they have been inundated with such a rainbow of colors, along with a whole slew of other information they didn't need to know. Trust me, the next time they see you, guess what they are going to remember?

So I guess my answer to the Facebook color question of the week is 'nobody's business!'"

Bring it on!

Trusting that even though I have no clue about the next 12 months, my God is already there. My Facebook status posted January 1, 2010.

Three days later Mike lost his job. Yep, I'm glad my God knew that was coming because we certainly didn't.

James encourages us to count it all joy when we face trials. Why? Because through the trials, through the realities of life lived in a fallen world, our faith is perfected. These times of greatest dependency are also times of greatest growth. I say bring it on! We know the plans He has for our family are for our good and not for evil. We know without a doubt He will be glorified in this situation. Our part is to wait, listen and trust.

If this is what it takes for Him to be glorified, then Jesus Bring the Rain.

FREE decorating

Every year around this time I do what I call "free decorating". Christmas decorations have been returned to their resting place in the attic, making it the perfect opportunity for a new look. Hubby says I do more with less (or was it less with more?) than anyone he knows. There's a certain thrill in getting a whole new look and not spending a cent.

If you want to get a whole new look, it helps to bribe a friend to come over. Promise her chocolate or coffee or both. We tend to get in a rut and look at our things the same way. Having a fresh set of eyes can be a huge help. Plus, it's just a heck of a lot more fun than doing it by yourself.

To get started with your free decorating, gather up all your decorations, knick-knacks, baskets, rugs, throw blankets, pillows, collections of favorite things...anything you have around your house, in any room. Pull things out you haven't used in awhile. That basket or bowl you just weren't sure what to do with will take on a new life when you fill it with your favorite balls of yarn, or your kid's rock collection. You'll be amazed at what inspiration will come to you once you've pulled something out of its usual space.

After you've collected everything into one place, start grouping like things together. Not only like function, but like color. You may notice you have a lot of off-white picture frames, candle holders and vases. Use them to create a unified look with each piece having more impact. If you find you have lots of picture frames in a variety of colors, consider spray painting them all black. This will take odd pieces and give them a similar look.

I wanted to create a focal point on my old/new again coffee table so I pulled together similar bottles, jars and candle holders. One jar holds a collection of wine corks and another sea shells we collected on our honeymoon 18 years ago. For years those shells hid in a box in our closet. What's the point if we're not going to enjoy them? Set it all on an awesome red tray I picked up at a yard sale, raised one of the jars up on some old books to give it height and then added the sweet little bird my son gave me for Christmas and there you have it. This spot makes me smile every time I look at it.

We've had this sofa table for about three years, but this is the first time it's ever done the job it was created to do. For the first couple of years it functioned as a desk, then it worked as a buffet in our dining room. I think it's happiest here...where it's suppose to be. Here's the skinny on the candle arrangement. The base is actually a mirror I got at a friend's yard sale (did you recognize it Tami?). It's been a hundred places in our house over the last five years. Yesterday I gave it a good sanding and then rubbed it down with Old English furniture polish to age it a bit. Set my new 70% off candle from Kohl's in the middle...perfect fit. Those white things (for lack of a better word) are actually little napkin rings I got at Goodwill (20 for $1). I flattened them and put them around the outside of the candle. Love it!

Never have really liked what I had on my mantle, so I was on the hunt for a new arrangement. The star came down off the wall and went nicely behind the candle sticks. The topiary/tree has made it's home in a variety of places...most recently in the powder room. It gives some nice height to balance out the star on the other side, plus brings out the color in the painting. I wanted to drop the painting down onto the mantle and lean it against the wall, but am not in the mood to deal with the gaping hole it will leave. UPDATE: The picture is now resting on the mantle and looks much better. Didn't have the time or patience to putty and paint the holes so I filled it in with sticky tack...you know, the stuff you hang posters with. Hey, it's almost the same color as the wall (what does that tell you about our terrible wall color?) and it'll do in a pinch. Mike just shook his head at me.

The black IKEA buffet by the windows is on of my favorite spots. The red quilt gives it a great color pop and ties in with the window treatments above. The candle holders, small bench under the candle holder and the lamp are all some of my favorite yard sale finds.

Do you see a pattern here? Yard sales and Goodwill are great places to find amazing items for your home. The trick is to look beyond an item's current condition and see its potential. You don't have to spend a boatload of money to have a home you love.

Why not start 2010 off with your own free decorating. Give it a try. I'm willing to bet you'll quickly become addicted...or maybe I'm the only one with such a strange obsession...but I doubt it.