Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Respect & Love In Marriage



Okay, so am I the only one who doesn't have a perfect marriage? It sure seems that way sometimes! Don't get me wrong.... I'm not complaining about him but hey, we sure could both improve on how we conduct ourselves in our marriage. A few months ago I decided our marriage was seriously lacking. Majorly lacking. For my needs at least and I couldn't put my finger on what I wasn't getting exactly. Definitely no romance but around Valentines Day I was able to hear the word "Cherish" and I said "That's it, I want to be cherished!". It was a pretty funny post I did back after Valentines Day on how I was going to get my husband to cherish me. Mostly I had decided to cherish him first. So I began to cherish him & do you know what he did? He acted like a garish rude bull! Here I was cherishing him and he didn't appreciate it one bit or

cherish me back. Instead of him reciprocating this new kindness and love he just became down right cranky and selfish. So I prayed about that. Lord I said, please help me understand what is going on here. I know better than to pray and ask you to change my husband so I have decided to change myself first and pray and ask you to change us both. Well, he's not changing for the better and he seems to not even like me anymore. What is happening here? Well, I didn't get any answers from the Lord except to keep on praying about it. So I did. It took awhile of praying and sometimes I would just get so angry with him that I would say, that's it! I give up!!!! Oddly on the days that I said that he would come around and apologize for being a doo doo head. So I went back to cherishing him again and then he would be a doo doo again.... day after day of that for about a month or so. A couple of weeks ago he started doing random acts of kindness. He began talking to me more and smiling and now he makes it a point to kiss me every single time he leaves the house. Me likey. Hmmm... what is happening here? Now he has begun to be more lovey dovey. So I think God is showing me something about marriage because now a great deal of what I am reading in my Bible and seeing on TV sermons is about marriage. Okay, I'm listening.
Well, during this process one of my sweet followers sent me an email and part of it said this: You see God has a plan and it's our job to RESPECT our husbands and it's his job to LOVE us. Well, when I read that I remembered Mike telling me a about a year ago or more about a Christian TV show he had been watching and it was about marriage. He said the woman had written a book and she was saying that she polled lots of men and women about love and respect in the marriage. Overwhelmingly the men said they wanted respect. All of the women said they wanted love. I remember thinking that was outrageous someone would want respect over love and I asked him what he preferred. Do you know what he said? He said respect. In retrospect he was clearly sharing this with me so I could "respect" him more. Hitting myself on the head with big stick. I mostly just remember thinking how odd that it was that men wanted respect more than love. I was too dumbstruck to realize he was trying to tell me something. I've never forgotten it though and occassionally I would try to tell him how proud I was of him for providing for our family and making his business a success. I have tried to let him know I respect him. It's hard though just to be honest 'cause we are complete opposites, especially with $$$$. So we aggrivate the poo out of each other sometimes. So when I read the statement from my friend I had an "aha!" moment. I'm loving on him but he'd rather have my respect! I am giving him what I want and not what he needs. Clearly I am doing this wrong. If I want him to cherish him then maybe I should be honoring him and respecting him and in turn he will do what he is supposed to do and cherish/love me. Respect my husband..... What does that even mean anyway, I mean really.... should I salute when he comes in?

Dictionary definition:
esteem: the condition of being honored (esteemed or respected or well regarded); "it is held in esteem"; "a man who has earned high regard"
an attitude of admiration or esteem; "she lost all respect for him"
deference: a courteous expression (by word or deed) of esteem or regard; "his deference to her wishes was very flattering"; "be sure to give my respects to the dean"
obedience: behavior intended to please your parents; "their children were never very strong on obedience"; "he went to law school out of respect for his father's wishes"
regard highly; think much of


Okay, maybe saluting is going too far. I will be working on this "how to respect my husband" thing without turning myself into ........ well, something I don't like.

But then...... I was reading in Ephesians Chapter 5. I have read this a boogoodle of times and it always stopped and made me wonder. Frankly I had forgotten all about this part of the passage that I am going to share and only remembered the above verses. In Chapter 5 beginning in verse 22 we see instruction on Wives & Husbands. Verse 33 was a real stumper for me in the past but this time "By George, I think I've got it!". Verse 33: However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

When I read that I just about fell over. Holy cow, there is that respect thing again. I could never figure out in times past why they were to love us and we were to respect them. I always just assumed it was that ole ugly repress the women thing. I was brought up in deep southern Baptist country where the men were pretty much like, you work for me and you will respect me and I am your boss type behavior. I never ever could understand why wives were not told to love their husbands but to instead to respect them. (Yes I know there are verses saying we should both love each other but the final instruction is to respect them.) I always felt like they misinterreptered the scripture and now I think I see something new (to me at least! If anybody else has figured this out and you are laughing at me you can feel free to tell me what a dummy I am). Maybe, just maybe..... you know with God being all omnipresent & our Creator and all He would know that men simply prefer and want and need respect from their wives. And that women would simply prefer and want and need love from their husbands.This wasn't just a harsh command to respect our husbands. This was God showing Paul what each person needs and instructing us that to have a happy marriage this is how we needed to treat each other. Have you ever heard this preached? I never have..... I don't think I attended good churches. I was always instructed in this passage that my husband would basically be the man in charge and he got to make all the decisions and hopefully consult with me but he was the man and he was in charge and I should respect him. I see God showing me personally maybe that my respect is my love for him. It is a fulfillment of my love for him and has nothing to do with him be ing in charge or being entitled to run our family. The respect is a love language and the respect is how I show him my love.
Paul sure had a clear line on what God wanted us to know so I surely do believe he wrote what God had showed him. Maybe just maybe those were guidelines on how each other needed to be treated to fulfill both needs. Men want respect first, love second. Maybe this was a way of saying if you want a happy marriage then treat each other this way. Not just a direct command for women to respect their husbands, period. I think both things need to be going on at the same time for this to work and although in my Southern Baptist upbringing only the women submit and respect thing was taught. Somehow all that hard work the husbands have to do was skimmed over. Hmmmm...... But I think I see the light now. It's not just a harsh "respect your husband" command. It is a loving do this to show your love for him thing. It's what he needs so give it to him thing. Light bulb. Wow, I'm so glad I got that finally. Wouldn't you know that Ed guy was preaching on marriage this weekend and so was Jentzen Franklin. Pastor Franklin did a real neat sermon on the salt covenant which I never knew about. Great stuff. So I am going to be sharing this Chapter with the man...... We'll hopefully have a frank discussion about him lovin me and me respectin him and all. I am still seeing things come up about marriage so I feel certain God is talkin to me.....
Pop Quiz Time: So I am learning these things about respect and love and what happens? The perfect situation arises involving money and his decision making and I most aggressively in my mind do not agree. Not one single bit. In fact I am really quite upset about it. It also involves his business and his ability to work. I haven't been able to bit down my objections completely but in all of "this" I have felt God strongly urging me to stay respectful to him in my objections & voicing my concerns. I have learned when I question his business decisions or talk about them too much if a mistake is made he feels like I question his ability to make any good decisions or his ability to provide for the family. He feels I am questioning his "manness", so to speak. I don't understand all this man stuff to be honest. But I am learning so I guess that counts. We also have a situation with my teens car that has the most outrageous stink coming from it (we think it's a mold issue from a leaky sunroof & Carmax has it again trying to fix it. But it's been a long issue and whenever the stink is brought up hubby gets so angry. I mean run fast angry. I finally figured why.... he picked out the car, he bought the car and when we are making fun of the stinky car and she is refusing to drive it due to the funk stink he considers that a direct insult to his gift and the fact that he bought that car. I told him that is ridiculous, who knew the roof would leak and then we'd get mold? He couldn't know that? But to him, our jokes and her refusal to drive the car was a direct insult. We weren't respecting him. This respect thing goes deep I think. So being me I shall dive into my Bible and research and pray for guidance on this whole how to respect my hubby properly thing and I can't wait to see what God shows me. Fun fun.

Prom Night 2009

Here is the beautiful couple!! Prom Night 2009 at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Don't they look great?

Mamouth fireplace huh? First Baptist Church of Canton was kind enough to open their doors for anyone who wanted to come and take pictures. I had never been there before, man that place was beautiful. This fireplace is 3 stories high of stack stone. Beautifully decorated with couches and chairs all around. It looked like a hotel lobby and it was very comfortable and inviting. I have never been in a Church like this one before. It looked like a hunting lodge which is really appropriate for this area. Very warm and masculine all over but the decor touches were everywhere and it was decorated so that both men and women could feel comfortable. Very nice. Want to see?



Big daddy of a Church!

Here they are in my basement showing saying goodbye to my mom.


The girl on the far rights dad rented a 15 passanger van and he drove everyone to a Japanese steakhouse after pictures and then down to the hotel for prom and then brought them back. That was very nice of him. Downtown Atlanta really isn't the place for teens to be driving late at night. So I was relieved they weren't driving. This is the group of girls she rode with. We had a hard time wrangling the guys in for pics. Lexi said they all had a wonderful time and it was great. Everyone got home safe so that makes it a perfect night. I was really glad, it took me 2 hours to do her hair and we rented High School Musical 3 (the prom edition) and watched it right before I did her hair so we just made the whole day about "PROM". Boy, I am glad she had a wonderful time but I sure was exhausted getting her off and done.


Here's mama bear all pooped out and getting ready to drive home from the Church. Geez, I look rough!
I wish I could have done a better post but frankly..... I just this morning found out I have my husband's cousin coming this afternoon to stay for a week and his dad and grandma also coming tomorrow for dinner. Hmmmmm.... let's see that will be dinner for 9!! Oh, poop! What will I cook? I hate cooking y'all!!!!!!!!! On top of my picky kids now I have to plan for diabetics and cancer patients too. I had planned on Chicken and dumplins for Wedensday, does everyone like chicken and dumplins? I have no clue what to cook...... we had spaghetti last night, so I can't do that again. So I'm off to kick a kid out of a bedroom and do "guests are coming cleaning". No time today to play. I have so much to share too! Rats. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe I'll stay up late to do a post on marriage I have been wanting to do. Braxton usually puts me to bed lately. Well, I'll try my best.




Friday, March 27, 2009

Mr. Destructo

Oh that Braxton...... he is Mr. Destructo. He loves to push over his tool bench and anything else he can knock over. If I put his blocks in a bin he dumps them out. Do you know what he did last night while Amber was painting my toe nails? He tee peed my bedroom. That's right, he rolled us. In other words he got a roll of toilet paper and strung the paper everywhere. Sigh. Then he sauntered into the bathroom and poured out my $20 bottle of "Rock Star" stuff for my hair and emptied a $4 bottle of eye makeup remover all over my toothbrush. The only reason I knew about the toothbrush was because when I went to brush my teeth I got a taste of the most foul stuff you can imagine and spat and rinsed as quickly as possible. Saw the empty bottle in the trash. Oh, that Braxton. My hubby was with his mistress "the computer" whilst this was happening..... men. He also had some fun emptying a box of tampons and sticking feminine napkins all over the bathroom floor in my son's bathroom. He was like.... what are these? Y'all know how expensive those tampons and feminine stuff are...... boy that made me mad.
Right now he is watching Blue's Clues and talking to the TV. Mom has a therapist downstairs and Brandon keeps trying to get me to answer all of his Bible classwork questions. Busy day.
Tomorrow is Lexi's prom day. That should be a really busy day getting her all done up. I am doing her hair.... I can do a killer blow dry and killer up do's or anything doing spiral curls with the curling iron. I am so glad I have at least one mad skill. I can't do my own hair but sit down and let me blow you dry and unleash my curling iron on you and you'll look like a star! I can't wait to take some photos. She is back together with her boyfriend..... not to happy about that but it's her life. She has to start making her own decisions as she will be going off to college in a year.

You know yesterday I realized I have been so busy running around lately that I haven't been reading my Bible or doing my Bible in a Year pages on Christianity.com. Shame on me. Then much to my horror I realized I haven't hardly been praying either. Just little shout outs here and there. Sheesh, why do we do that? We know better, I say we because all of us fall into that trap. We're rolling great with God and then the next thing you know it's been a week or two since you even acknowledged Him. Boy, I just don't know how it is so easy to lose focus. So I read 6 or 7 Chapters last night and then fell asleep so I still didn't pray. I need to pray more. I used to pray the whole way to work but I had to close my store so now I work at home. I think I just need to find a new rhythm. I am just dying to move forward, definitely can't do that without Him. It's like planning a wedding and not even having a fiance. Dumb. It's been a real crazy week. Very hectic. Do you ever feel like you have 10,000 things to do every single day and you just can't keep up? I am very overwhelmed, I think that is because I am operating relying on myself right now as I have not had God first lately. I am not resting in Him. I need to get back to resting in Him. I need my peace back. I think my kids would like that too, mommy has been testy the last two days. I'm only human.
So the man forgot prom was tomorrow and planned to do some major work in the garage finishing it off so he can move his office in there. 2 fo his guys are coming over and it's going to take all day to finish it off. Okay so I have to do Lexi's hair for about an hour or a little more and her makeup so I hope he plans on watching Braxy while I get her ready. Would it be unlady like of me to threaten to stick my curling iron somewhere if he doesn't watch him? Hmmmm..... let's hope not. I have a feeling he will pull through. Lately my tool belt cowboy has been making unusual strides to be sweet and kind and thoughtful. I'm not gonna complain one bit. It's a nice change and I'll gladly take it. Well, I should go now. I hear Braxton throwing things again.... oh, I forgot to mention that he dumped his cereal all over the floor again, just for fun and flung his gold fish crackers across the living room too. Oh, that Braxton. Two year olds are just the best.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Laundry Room Re Do.

Before





The pictures were just thrown up on existing nails with the plan to paint the room a neutral color and put new holes in the wall when I was done. But guess what? I never had the $100 to do to this room what I wanted so it just sat here like this. Do you like the hole in the wall? That is for the intercom system my hubby never put in but wired the house for. Drove me crazy.




After years of dragging book bags and grocery bags across this wall it had scuff marks and scrapings that we dirty looking and it made me sad because I love my pretty wall color. Very soothing, but with scuff marks? I made a post about decorating on a shoe string budget on my Southern Charm Home Decor blog. I know all kinds of things about doing decor D.I.Y. So I decided to put my money where my keyboard was. I did a room on the cheap that really bothered me.

Braxton took a pencil to the whole middle part of this wall in January or early Feb. He is always in here with me doing laundry and he gets bored. He used to pull the clothes off the hangers or throw them out of the baskets but now he has taken to coloring on my walls.


This wall has some decorative stuff on the top of my cabinets. Otherwise it's just the cabinets, 2 machines and a folding table. All white. Nothing on the walls. I have two white wire bins on the washer that holds our socks waiting to be folded. I'm in here a lot and I really like this room to be a nice place to be. I was happy with it before for the most part but now.......I'm in love.

After
Chalkboard paint on the bottom part of the wall. Braxton can color all he wants now. No more scuff marks, book bags and grocery bags can't hurt this black beauty. With the new black wall I had to think of ways to tie in the black wall or it would look dumb. But I still had the no money problem. I had two frames I didn't love anymore in my dining room so I took out the prints and painted the frames black. Thank you Ocean Mommy from http://www.notesfromthesoul.blogspot.com/ for introducing me to Hobby Lobby. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought 2 scrapbook papers for 59 cents each and cut them down one half inch on each side and placed them in the frames I painted. The barn star was $10 from Hobby Lobby. I got it half price, yipee! The Nester gave me my love of barn stars.

Steak knives are perfectly legitimate Home Decor project tools!


Be careful cutting the paper backing.... in my case the existing mat was the wrong color for my room and after discovering I had no mat for my new artwork I remembered my carefully cut gold paper backing. I placed the paper backing against my scrapbook paper and the match was perfect. New mats for FREE. Now my two new art pieces cost only $1.18. Me like free. Total cost of this wall: $19.15.


This wall was free. I just wrapped the chalkboard paint around to continue the black and because it covered Braxy's pencil drawings. I forgot.... I spent $7.97 on the chalkboard paint from Wal Mart.


Remember how plain this wall was before?


Sign from Hobby Lobby $10. Half price from $20. The decor wall box on the left was clearance priced 80% off for $2. I already had the flowers. I saw some beautiful black baskets at Wal Mart that I thought were perfect for bringing all the black over from the other side to balance the room. I can use these for our socks instead of the two white wire bins I had. Perfect. But they were $10 for both and I didn't have or want to spend the money. Then I rememberd as I stood there contemplating the pretty black baskets that I already had two of these baskets at home. But they were not black, they were the natural wicker color. I had already had a gallon of black paint in the garage that I had used on the picture frames I painted on the other wall. That gallon of black painted I saved from another project awhile back.... glad I did. I always save my paint. So I painted my wicker baskets and now I have two pretty black baskets for FREE. I think they are beautiful and pull all the black together and give the room an elegant look.


This is the view as you come in through the outside door. It is so bright in here so it can handle the black. I just love the sign. It's one of my favorite cutsey sayings.
This wall total cost: $12.

I didn't wait for my circumstances to get better before I made my life beautiful. The same could be said for us inside as well, hmmmm.... I'm getting deep on you now. I used what I had and was creative about any purchases I had to make. Total cost for the laundry room was $32. That is wonderful. I think I practiced what I preached don't you think? Like I said in my work blog, if you are waiting for your circumstances to change before you make your home the place you want it to be then stop waiting. Because what you are waiting on may never happen and you deserve better than that. So does your family. Use what you have, I did. Ask friends and neighbors about leftover paint if you don't have any. Ask them about furniture or prints they don't want anymore either.... maybe you can do something with them. Of course you can.

If you want to see more step by step on what I did you can go to http://www.southerncharmhomedecor.blogspot.com/ and see all of what I did. Hope you like it! Tell me what you think or if you have any ideas.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Toile Party!! & A Laundry Room Re Do


I want to make this post today.... but I can't. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow. But the post I want to make I already made over on my work blog. I did a laundry room re do and I love love love it!! I made a post about decorating on a shoe string budget over at www.southerncharmhomedecor.blogspot.com and I decided if I'm gonna preach it I need to live it and my laundry room makes me crazy. I was dying to re do it but had no $$. So I re did it for less than $40 and I think it looks wonderful. Want to check it out? Okay, I want you to check it out too. I'm kinda proud of it. I'm gonna do the full post over here later but if you want to see it now just click on the link www.southerncharmhomedecor.blogspot.com pretty please. Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas. I am thinking of painting a monogram too. I alread have the paint so that's free too. Me likey free stuff.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Blessings Indeed

I am just so excited this morning. I can't begin to say how excited I am. I have so much to do today and I really shouldn't be sitting here typing this..... but since this is my diary too and I reference back in my archives a lot I wanted to make sure I had this down.

Yesterday was tough, around 8pm I was certain the devil had taken residence in my home or one of his close relatives. Man was it hard and of course you know it all started with getting ready for Church. But later on in the day some things happened and it was just so out of character and so rotten that I could recognize it for what it was. It was not the person and I refused to be upset with the person. I recognized the spirit of something behind what the person was doing and basically did not give it the time of day. And I am so glad. It was bad, beyond bad. But earlier in the day I had taken my book Conflict Free Living by Joyce Meyer in the tub with me to read the last two chapters and do some refreshing and I did. One of the things she had mentioned was not being upset with the offenses people commit against us. We are not at war with the flesh but with the spiritual and sometimes those evil spirits influence our flesh and we offend people. So it was great because normally I am not a doormat and I don't let people walk all over me. I am pretty good at standing up for myself. But yesterday for the first time ever I recognized it and I am so glad I had good ole Joyce in the tub with me earlier so to speak to teach me a lesson I would need only a few hours later. So I refused to engage and turned the other cheek so to speak, which let me tell you was hard. I prayed about it and that was it. This morning I have received great blessings from that. I have already heard from the person and received an apology and some great joyful blessings. I am so happy this morning and so grateful. I could have been filled with anger and strife yesterday but I resisted and insisted that I keep my peace. My children were present and engaged in the battle yesterday but I encouraged them to not participate and told them. We will keep out peace today. Whoo hoo, it worked! Not only an apology but a gift as well, one that I have longed for and it will be such a blessing to my family. Thank you Lord.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Karate Testing Day

Look what I did!! The Nester has inspired me to do more with what I have. I was afraid to put anything on the table fearing the curiosity of Braxton but so far so good.

Saturday was a busy busy busy day. We were up early so all three kids could do this:


Brandon doing his defensive part of his mid term testing. This was his last test as a recommended black belt. In 2 months Brandon will be testing for his BLACK BELT.
Yay Brandon!!!

Brandon waits for permission to begin. The lady in front of him is such a sweet lady who I go to Church with.


There he goes..... doing his form. I knew he would do great but I was so nervous for him.



There is my little Amber cat. She was testing to go from recommended brown belt to decided brown belt. You have to be a brown belt for four months. The first promotion is recommended and then in two months you are promoted to decided. Amber cat did not do very well but she did well enough to be promoted. Our head instructor told me that unless she shows more motivation and desire to learn and do a good job she would not be invited to test for her red belt. Brown belts are considered the first step as high ranks and it gets much harder. Amber is my lazy free spirit and she is extremely difficult to parent. Amber would have been a great hippie. I think she was born in the wrong time ha ha. She is just a relaxed and free spirit who takes everything with a grain of salt. Starts a 100 things and finishes nothing. Sigh.




She kind of forgot her form half way through but finished nicely.





This is the part where she got stuck. My poor little kitty..... she wants to do so well and she does do well. She just doesn't take it seriously enough to put the full effort into it.
I am ashamed to say I was outside when Lexi did her testing and I didn't get any pics of her. I know.... bad mommy. If you look in the picture above you can see a lady in the mirror with a pink shirt on..... that's me. Lexi did very well in her testing too and she is now a brown belt so I now have a family of high ranks. They are all happy about that. It was a great testing and a happy day for all.

Friday, March 20, 2009

She Speaks Conference 2009

Can I just say how badly I want to attend this conference? Y'all know how I occasionally post those daily devotionals from Christianity.com that I always encourage you to sign up for.... Well, those devotionals are from these ladies!!! How many times have I looked in my Inbox to see an "Encouragement for Today" waiting for me and it was just what I needed to see? How many times were the words like a healing balm to my soul? The message music to my lowly spirit? I can't begin to count them..... I save almost every one of them, because they have saved me. I have sat many times in front of my computer screen shaking my head at how God uses these ladies and I wonder if they even know the countless ways they have blessed me and so many others. My husband enjoys their devotionals too and they have made an impact on his life too. Would you like to go spend some time with some fantastic people who love God? Of course you do! All of the information about She Speaks is here http://www.shespeaksconference.com/ . If attending this wonderful conference wasn't enough motivation to get you to sign up how about this, THE NESTER IS SPEAKING!!!! Isn't she just the coolest person ever? If I ever met her in person I would probably gush uncontrollably 'cause I like to stalk her blog.
If you are like me and you are dying to go but have no money fear not. They are offering a scholarship you can enter here http://lysaterkeurst.blogspot.com/2009/03/she-speaks-scholarship-contest-for.html so that you can go for FREE. How wonderful is that? It is going to be in Concord, North Carolina by the way.... since I am a North Georgia girl it's not too far of a drive for me. She Speaks is going to be full of wonderful information for bloggers, writers, speakers and ladies who want to begin to lead Bible studies & ministries or improve what they are already doing. These women bless my socks off via Internet so I can't imagine what would happen with the power of God flowing person to person.

I am entering for the scholarship not just because I want to go, cause I really really do. But I have in the last year really felt very compelled to begin a Bible Study group and also to work with teens. It is something God has been stirring in me and preparing me to do. I am scared to death. I am completely at a loss at how to even begin to do this. But, I know with much prayer God will guide me in this avenue. The urge has been stronger and stronger that the time is quickly arriving for me to do this. I can't explain it but I know I'm not supposed to do it just yet, which is really fine with me because I have never lead a Bible Study and I don't know where or who would I ask to do this with me. We have recently changed churches because my husband wanted to start going to Church with us and he wanted to go to one he had friends at. So I am really still just getting to know my way around our new Church home. Our new Church has a great many members suffering from layoffs and are tormented with stress and uncertainty. Ding ding ding.... bells are going off in my head there recently due to that. For almost 2 years now my family has had to deal with the horrors of being laid off and the financial disaster resulting. Those two years were the best two years of my life spiritually and if I could take them back and live my old comfortable way of life again I would not. What God has done in me in the last 12 months particularly is just incredible and I do not think I have words to express all He has taught me and shown me. I think I could sum a good deal of it up in this post http://blogginggodandme.blogspot.com/2009/02/bye-bye-garage.html (the first part of that post is my garage remodel but just skip that part) and the the encore presentation by God in this post http://blogginggodandme.blogspot.com/2009/03/worried-mind-study-this.html . That God, He's a real hoot. So I guess what I am saying is that God has been working great things in me and transforming me all of which has been so painfully blogged about from my very first post. I'm so grateful for what He has been working in me and the peace, oh sweet blessed peace, that He has given me that I simply must be able to share this with others. But how? I saw this conference through the Nesting Place Blog and looked into it and gee, there they are showing us how to lead others or improve our roles. That's what I need because I know I am supposed to be doing this but I have no idea how. I have been though so much and endured so much but I have no idea what to do with it..... I have been a Christian who battled with depression and let me tell you, there are very little resources to help depressed Christians. Surely I can use my experiences to help somebody. Now, I wasn't diagnosed as depressed or anything but ( ha ha) if you just read the first couple of this posts when I started this blog you would say to yourself, "This woman needs help". Layoffs stink and they can mess you up real quick let me tell you. So if I do get to go I am hoping to learn more and become more confident about leading a Bible Study or whatever else God wants to do with me. How exciting! I also want to go because I love reading my devotionals from Proverbs 31 Ministries and their blogs and it would be nice to see these ladies in person and who knows..... maybe even say a thank you in person. They have helped change my life and who knows maybe even transform the future?



Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spring Fluffing Party

Rhoda over at http://southernhospitality-rhoda.blogspot.com/ is having a Spring party and I wanted so much to join in the fun. My 2 year old however has other plans and the last few days have been so busy I haven't hardly been home.... mom in the hospital and all. But I didn't want to miss it and so I went down to the basement where I have tons of things still from closing my physical store and I grabbed a few bunny items.

I love my bunnies! It's so dark and rainy here this morning so I am sorry for the poor lighting. The whole back half of my house is glass so if it's dark outside it's going to be a little dark inside.

I hope you like my sweet bunnies, I was going to do a Spring theme and then I saw all of my wonderful bunny items and decided to do a bunny theme through Easter at least. I have some beautiful green plates and platters that look like Majolica that I sell but Mr. Braxton was demanding some breakfast. I think maybe after I do my mommy and secretary stuff for the tool belt cowboy (my hubby) I will try to come back and spruce it up a little more. I just looked at Rhoda's and I felt thoroughly "schooled". Ha ha, I can do a better job on my mantle than what I did, I know I can. Misti over at Studio M designs blogspot has suggested I change out the picture over my mantle for a large round piece and ever since she suggested that I have been dying to do it and it bugs me. However, finances being what they are... it will have to wait.


A few closeups... everything here is for sale by the way except the moss covered boxes. Those are souvenirs from my sister-in-law's wedding. I need to get these loaded onto my store's website!! Easter's almost here. But if you see something you like please email me, shipping is free for Easter items.


I love the diamond paperweight so much I threw it in there just for me. It is nice to have an entire store of home decor to pull from for special events. Normally I never use anything I sell, well, because I just don't feel right about it but for this Easter I think I will.
I think I need more color..... the green majolica will help. I have to find those boxes. Well, jump on over to Rhoda's for some beautiful Spring inspiration.




Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Pageant

The Queen of Diamonds pageant was Saturday and can you believe I forgot my camera? What a dummy. It was very interesting....... I don't know that I will ever let her do it again. I didn't realize they had to parade around the stage and do little turns several times. I've never been to a pageant before as I am anti beauty pageant. The girls look terrified when they were doing their little catwalks and I just couldn't imagine why people would willingly subject themselves to such scrutiny of their bodies. Yuk. But I said just because it's not for me and I don't like it doesn't mean it's not enriching to somebody else but truly I just can't imagine why women do that to themselves. So when the judges picked the top 10 I noticed they picked the 10 girls who were the most confident and didn't look terrified, they were not the 10 prettiest. So I had to give the judges some major credit there. All in all it was a good show and it raised a lot of money for the baseball program so that was a good thing. I wished I had taken my camera. Lexi got lots of compliments on her dress so she was happy. Lexi was one of the girls who looked scared to death so she didn't make the top 10, I was sad for her. She seemed fine though and she did get a week's worth of fun and rehearsals out of it so that was a good experience for her.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Sleeping Standing UP

I just walked into the sunroom to see this!!! What a funny thing. I grabbed the camera real quick and I thought I'd post these just cause they're funny. He fell asleep leaning on the cushion watching cartoons. How cute is that?
Okay, I know his clothes don't match but that's his favorite shirt and he didn't want to take it off so I let him eat breakfast in it and mess that one up and the clean matching shirt is waiting to be put on. After he wakes up I guess...... Never seen someone sleep standing up before.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Prom Dress Shopping Day!!!!

This is me and Lexi on Saturday. Here we are at Macy's (our first stop) and we were ready for a glorious day of prom dress shopping. She's a junior, he's a senior. We were excited!! And ready for a long day of dressing rooms.

I didn't like this dress but she liked the color.


She loved the color of this one too and it was a pretty orange. I told her no way of the cleavage!! Her dad would kill us both. That's my black & white damask purse back there by the way. LOVE IT!!

She's so skinny..... makes you sick doesn't it.
Lexi had an orange fettish at Macy's. It does look pretty though. I really liked that one. The catch for the prom dress also is that Saturday March 14 Lexi is going to be in the Queen of Diamonds pagent so she will be using the dress for both events. Before you say it.... I am not a fan of pagents, at all, but it is a fundraiser for the baseball programs and last year they had over 40 girls participate and this year they had less than half so one of her friends who plays ball begged her to do it and a few other girls to help raise money. I'm not gonna lie though, I'd like to see her win.


This is the back!! Oh la la.


This is another great dress. I really liked this one too. I'll explain why she is on the bench in a minute. Do you like it? But then..........


Stop the presses!!!!!!!!!!
We found this dress. Is is just us? Is this not The Dress? It looks like it was made for her. I mean, it's just perfect! It couldn't be more perfect. Fits her like a glove. Plus, it's perfect for the Queen of Diamonds pagent. You know.... it's all diamondy. I just had my jaw hanging when I turned around to see her. This girl doesn't look 16.



Hot tamale!! Here is the back. Oh, her dad is gonna kill me! It's so gorgeous it's worth his wrath. It's totally the dress.



Look at her face.... she knows it's the dress too. No need to try on anything else.... this is the one.

The problem..... the dress is $35 more than our maximum budget allowance. Lexi has worked hard and saved report card money from her dad and worked babysitting and cat sitting to earn prom money. I cannot afford to contribute to this dress as we are really in a bad place financialy so she has worked and saved. But it's over budget. I told her, call your dad (I'm divorced from her dad). We never ever call him for money for anything extra and I have never taken him back for an increase in child support from when she was one year old so I said... hey, I've never bugged him for extra so call your dad and see if he'll send you $40. He's really stingy with money and he hoards it like a prize so there was a good chance he would say no. Plus he is getting married in July so he's saving for a wedding. So she called.


The only place in the dressing room we could get reception was standing on the bench in the corner. I knew this already because my kids had already called me to tell me Braxton had sprayed Pledge in his eye. I'm like.... where is your father? Then it was funny because he caught them calling me to tell me about it and he starts yelling at them that they don't have to tattle on him and they hung up quickly. It was pretty funny and Braxton is fine. So anyway, she is talking to him here.


What a toad.... long conversation for $40. I got bored and took a picture because I thought it was funny her asking for $40 would take so long and also because I was having a pretty good hair day and I thought I would preserve the moment.


She's giving me the thumbs up!! YES, now we can have the dress!! Thank you Lord. Getting money out of that man is like getting blood from a rock. I was grateful and she is really excited. She doesn't want to try on any more dresses, she says it's the one and I totally agree. She put this dress back on while talking to her dad and we were thinking of this one if he said no.

But he said yes and doesn't she look happy?

My sweet baby is growing up!! Do you like the dress? My husband didn't like it. He said too much cleavage... and he didn't like the back either. He said too revealing but I think he just is being a dad and I think she looks incredible and that's why he doesn't like it. But we love it and we had a great time at the mall. Hope you had fun coming with us.