My Couch Baby

Ever since the screened-in porch on the back of our house was just an idea, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled for a great wood or bamboo couch to settle in back there.  The tough thing though, is having the idea and then actually finding something that would be perfect, only to realize that you have zero room in your house to store a couch to put in a space that may or may not happen.  Sometimes I feel like that’s the story of my decor life, I find something that would be perfect in some space in my mind but a space that I don’t have or don’t have yet in my house.  Womp.  Two years ago when we were searching for the perfect entertainment center to turn into the girls’ play kitchen, we stumbled upon the coolest wood frame couch in a thrift store in town and man, I wanted it for the porch we had just started saving up to build.  Like, I wanted it bad.  It was marked at $60 and it had clean lines and a concentric, cut-out circle pattern in wood on each side and in white, it’d would’ve been amazing!  I left a piece of my heart with it when I walked out those thrift store doors that day.

But it all turned out okay and I have no regrets because right after the screened-in porch was built, I was at another of my favorite thrift stores here and out on their front stoop they had a wood frame couch with a piece of computer paper taped to it that said “Please take.  I’m free!” 
I guess they had tried and tried to sell it but nobody wanted it.  I can’t imagine why…

It wasn’t my style at all – too many big curves – and the springs holding the bottom on were broken.  The fabric was awful (but I planned on reupholstering whatever I bought anyway) and the wood faded and in need of a good sanding and paint job.  But, it was FREE.  I was so torn.  Either way, at the moment I saw it, I had all the kids with me and no way to get it home so I snapped the picture above and home I went to later bring it up to Anthony.

Then, as fate would have it, we drove by a few days later on our way to church and the couch was still there.  We decided that, since we really wanted to get our porch put together, that’d we’d go grab it and see what we could do about making it look more ‘our style’.  Better than in a landfill, right? 

Here she was, home and in all her vintage glory:

And this is the story of how we made her a little, or a lot, happier…

First, Anthony removed all of the springs/metal rails that held the bottom in.  Like I said above, many of them were broken which made sitting in this thing impossible or dangerous at very best.  Then, I unscrewed all of the metal loops that held the springs in place along the inside of the couch. 

Now since there weren’t any springs, there wasn’t anything besides the two support bars left to hold seating.  This is where holding onto pieces of construction material for long periods of time comes in handy.  We have had a sheet of plywood stored away from our previous home (yes, we moved down the country with it) just in case we ever needed it.  Well, that day came.  Anthony cut it to fit down into the recess of the couch seat where it sat snugly atop those two wood support bars.

It’s so much more firm and sturdy than springs; nobody’s falling through now.  Stay away Dumbo.

To reign in slivers and to keep up appearances though, I grabbed some thin cotton fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and upholstered the side of the plywood that would be facing up.  It was as simple as laying my fabric out on the floor, cutting it so that I had a few inches of extra fabric all around, wrapping it around the plywood, and stapling it down.Since no one was going to see the underside of the couch lest they were a feline or pup, I wasn’t too particular about making straight cuts.

Lazy?  Maybe.  Efficient?  I vote yes.  ;)

Next up was prepping for paint.  After I had all of the looped screws out, I had to pry the fabric-covered piece off the front of the couch.  I didn’t know what it looked like underneath but there was no way on God’s green Earth I was keeping it there so find out, I would.

A flathead screwdriver did the trick nicely followed by a needle-nose pliers to get any remaining nails pulled out.  Luckily, all that remained was the flat piece of curved wood at the front of the couch and some nail holes.  After filling all the holes left behind by those nails and giving the entire couch a good sanding (a workout, let me tell you) to roughen it down to a matte finish, I was ready for paint.

Because it was wood and wood can bleed through latex paint, I opted to prime the couch with two cans of RustOleum spray primer in white.  Spray paint is typically oil-based (or maybe it’s all oil-based?) and better at inhibiting wood-bleed.  (Don’t ask me where I read this little rule but I’ve found it to be true in both following and not following that direction.  I’ve seen wood bleed through latex paint and primer and so I’ll stray from that combo as long as I live.)

To paint, I used a latex paint (Swan White by Glidden in an eggshell/satin finish) sprayed on using this paint spray gun*.  My friend Jesse let me borrow her Critter paint gun I had read great reviews about and then, at Christmas, I used some gift cards to buy my very own on Amazon.  It’s really as awesome as I had heard!  My favorite part is that it uses mason jars to hold the paint so, if you’re doing a big job, all you have to do is have a few mason jars lined up to be screwed on and you’re good to go until you’re done.  There’s no stopping because you have to refill the paint canister.  My other fave part is that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg…it’s under $50 (I paid $41.97).  (However, it does need an air compressor to run so if you can’t borrow one from someone, you’ll have to tack that onto the cost.)

A few days after painting, I ruined the paint job.  Okay, not really.  I just upped the ante by distressing it a tad.  This part was the most fun of all.  I grabbed a hand-sander and some light-grit sandpaper and went around sanding down some of the edges of the couch.  Nothing to crazy.  Just a slight distressing for a slightly old piece.

So, the couch was painted and distressed and looking quite jolly but the cushions?  Even though the white couch made them look like they might convert to a cute outfit (distressed white jeans below with a plaid button-down up top), they did absolutely nothing to help aesthetics on the couch.  Plus, they were so old and worn that if you rubbed them, they’d start crumbling into tiny pieces.  Ewww…

I’d never reupholstered couch cushions before so the task ahead of me was very (very, very, very, very…) daunting but then I found this tutorial on how to sew box cushions by Christy from Confessions of a Serial DIYer.  I ordered 5.5 yards of this Robert Allen outdoor fabric (it’s says chocolate but after seeing it in person in JoAnn Fabrics, I’d say it’s more of a charcoal gray) from fabric.com and I followed Christy’s directions almost to the T; the only difference is that I wanted to make mine zipperered so I removed the zippers from the old cushion covers using a seam ripper and re-inserted them into my new covers.  I inserted the zippers first and then sewed the side seams and corners.  The foam cushions were in good shape, albeit a tad smelly and minus a large stain one had that looked like a big glass of wine was spilled (or at least I hoped it was just wine or coke or something not gross).  Oh the foam; cleaning it all was an ordeal.  I scrubbed and swelled with soapy water and squished and repeated that process with each individual cushion in our bath tub and then, when I was done scrubbing, I threw each one into the washing machine with some clorox.  My guess is that they had never been washed (because who washes couch cushions?  I know.  Not me.) and, even though they still held their shape, I didn’t want to recover them with brand new covers much less sit in them without knowing they were oh-so-fresh-and-so-so-clean.  Washing those was a labor of love, let me tell ya.

After washing, I cut the top cushions so that they were a tad shorter and only just hit above the back of the couch by sawing a few inches off the bottoms with a serated knife.  The bottom cushions, even though in good condition, had seen fluffier days so I wrapped some one-inch thick batting (from JoAnn Fabrics) around them to fluff them up.
Butttt also, I made the mistake of sewing the covers for the bottom cushions a little too big so the fabric was really loose and wrinkled once on.  I tried to figure out a way to resew and take them in so that they fit more snugly but, with the zippers, I couldn’t, so batting was the answer for that too.  Win, win.

Anyway, in case I lost you on all the details ten paragraphs ago, here’s the 1000% better after:




It’s not pictured outside in the screened-in porch because, in the time that’s passed since I finished this piece, we found a bamboo set for $40 on a resale sight and that couch and loveseat are currently waiting to be snazzed up.  I love you old, vintage, wood couch, but the bamboo really has my heart and so my heart I must follow.  We don’t really need the loveseat from the set so my plan is to fix that up and sell it but the couch will be my resting place all summer so you can be sure I’ll have all the details on that makeover.  I’ll be sure to write some better tutorials on how I sew the new cushions and wash the foam (if need be) on that since my first try was successful and now I kinda know what I’m doing...kinda.  Stay tuned.

As for this wood couch, we staged it for a blog and sale picture and sold it within four hours of listing it.  It’s a little bittersweet but the sweet lady who bought it is putting it in an old building in her backyard that she’s fixing up to be a little retreat; pinterest-style.  It sounds so delightful and this mom’s happy my couch baby went to a good home.  Okay, couch baby Sheena?  I know, forgive me of my unhealthy attachments to furniture…

But, it’s yet another furniture project in the books; quite possibly the most demanding furniture project to date.  I’ll be taking a short break from those to recover and working on some simpler stuff.  If you’re sitting back wondering how I got this thing done with three four kids under my belt, know that this took me weeks to finish.  I know it all looks like I did this in a day or a weekend but let’s be realistic, shall we?  Things around here happen slowly.  Just ask Dwija.

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So, let’s talk Labor of Love’s:  Home Edition?  What’s been yours recently?  Maybe painting a room?  Sewing?  Remodeling?  Give me all the details!  It’s my love language.  This week I’m deep-cleaning the kids’ bathroom and you know what that means…project in the bathroom time!  Here’s a sneak peek if you’re interested.  :)

Have a fantastic week eeerbody!

*affiliate link to paint sprayer gun I purchased

The Kids’ Room–Before & After

Done in my best game show host voice…

IIIIt’s time for another rouundd of BEFORE ANNNND AFTER! 

We’re zooming in on the room that was our home office prior to kids and became the very first room of each kid once they came along.

Back when it was our home office, it was made up entirely of hand-me-downs except for the duvet (a $7 TJ Maxx clearance find) and maybe some of the diy-ed pillows.  I put in under $100 to get it to girly status for the girls and then maybe another $50 to de-girlify it for Sebastian.  Those numbers would be a lot higher if it weren’t for the numerous hand-me-downs and thrift store finds that fill the room.
 

So basically, over the past three years and from left to right, there’s a $150 difference.  I used a lot of stuff I had on hand, like the paint for the wall stripes, to get it from start to currently, but even if I had to buy the on-hand stuff initially, it would still be under $200.  I know it’s not something that you’d see in a home magazine but I love that it’s cute and I didn’t have to spend an arm and leg to get it that way.  :)

Twin Frames

Last year at our church’s yard sale, I snatched up these two big, brown and tan frames…
…really I didn’t snatch them because they were left when the whole thing was over, lonely, and wanted by nobody.  Crazy since they’re so awesome, right?  I know, they’re so ugly and because of that, I paid only $3 a piece for them.  But, wait for it, wait for it…

Look who’s crying now!  All the people who passed them up, that’s who!

And I’ll tell you who else is crying…me.  I’m crying because I was in such a hurry to get them painted one day last week while Diego and baby Jaguar entertained the kids that I didn’t take progress pictures of that part of the makeover.  Sorry!  One of my biggest pet peaves is when a DIY blogger doesn’t post enough pictures of the process and here I am, making my peave real.  Way to go, Sheena.

I will tell you though that, after I gave them a good wash-down with a damp cloth, I took the glass and mat out, took them outside, and gave them a coat of my favorite spray primer* in white:

Then, since I didn’t have any white spray paint on hand, I brushed two coats of  latex paint from a sample jar I had on hand onto them.  I’ve been struggling with finding a white spray paint that is more of a creamy white lately so this was just perfect anyway.  I love their chunky edges all covered in white.

After painting the frames, it was onto the mats.  They were layered with three different pieces – the two bottom pieces were brown and tan and the top had an ivory, woven fabric laid over the top.  I loved the woven texture of the top mat but the color…not so much.  So, I tried to paint it gray.

First, I carefully peeled the top and middle layers apart from each other. 

Then, I took the two fabric-laden mats outside and gave them each a couple of light coats of this spray primer:I found it for $1.99 at Dirt Cheap and didn’t recognize the brand or know what exactly it should be used for (turns out it’s mainly used for metal), but it was gray and gray was what I wanted.  Paint is paint, right?  Maybe…

Well, it went on fine but it left the fabric looking a little, ummm, furry?  However, I think it was the fabric more than the paint that caused the furriness.
Brushing the mats with a small cleaning brush post-paint seemed to help a little though and I really wasn’t bothered by it not looking exactly like it did before, so I continued on after bedtime one night…

Originally, I had wanted to just cover up the old fabric with new fabric.  I had fabric leftover from this desk project:But sadly,  I didn’t have enough leftover to cover the mats seamlessly and thanks to a spending freeze last month, I couldn’t just go grab some.  But I loved the gray and white, hence my desire to turn the fabric to gray.

Anyway, I digress…

For the white, I grabbed the same sample jar of paint I had used to paint the frames and a painting sponge, laid the frames on an old sheet in the living room so I could watch Flea Market Flip while painting…
…and very imperfectly sponged on a cross-hatch design.

I’m talking very imperfectly.  No measuring here folks.  And really, to be honest, I was going for a herringbone pattern at first but messed up on the first dab of paint so cross-hatch was born.  First rule of DIY:  Always be open to improvising…or something like that. 

The next day, when all the paint was nice and dry, I used some plain ‘ole Elmer’s glue to reattach the top mat to the bottom two.
Oh but I shouldn’t forget to tell you that, when I spray primed the frames white, I also used the same primer to paint what could be seen of the two bottom mats.  No more tan and brown.  Just white.

Reattaching the frames with the glue was super easy except I did need to be careful to make sure the top one went on straight and that there was equal spacing all around the inside of the mat.
Last, I put everything back together and the frames back up where they were days before.

I think these might’ve just bumped themselves up to Favorite-Frames-in-the-Whole-House status.
And lucky Sebastian gets to have them in his room.


I also had plans to fill them with a few blown up pictures of Sebastian but, yep, there’s that spending freeze again.  Dang it.  Plan B was to whip up some watercolor art with stuff I already had but then the week ended and this week began and they’re still just hanging empty.  But it’s okay because the corner they’re in just got a little happier and time will fill them with something I’m sure.

On a side note, I pulled out that old, black and white poncho/blanket of Anthony’s from the window where it’s been hiding (he got it in Mexico while on a mission trip there in high school) and laid it over the chair and either it looks great or the brown slipcover just looked so blah that anything helps, but I kinda love it.

My favorite part is the fringe along the bottom.

The string lights hanging across the corner are another project that I can’t wait to finish (think unconventional lamp) but probably won’t finish for a bit (how I roll around here, if you’ve noticed) and here are the posts for some of the other things you can see when you peep into his room:
ceiling fan shade // greek key design on the window seat // stenciled curtains

It’s a happy little boy’s room that I’ve probably poured all of $50 into (if that) since he evicted the girls and it’s also the room that stays the cleanest in this house so I kind of love it.  All that and the fact that every afternoon the sun comes pouring into the window making it light and bright might make it my favorite room in the house.  :)

Bean Refashioning: Military Jacket

Hand-me-downs.  Love them.  Half of my closet was my mom’s and sisters’…and then there’s one piece from my Grandma.  Yep, you read that right.  This jacket…
…was my Grandma’s.  She asked if anyone wanted it over Christmas and it took me a minute, but I knew it had potential, so I grabbed it. 

But, obviously, something had to give if I was ever going to wear it in public.  First, I took out the sleeves to make them a tad longer.  I took out this seam…
…and that’s it because there was another seam underneath that kept everything nice and finished.
 
I’ve never taken in a jacket before so I was a little intimidated by this refashion, I’ll be honest.  But, since it was free, I didn’t have much to lose if I messed up.  A bunch of seam ripping and another try was Plan B and donating it was the worst case scenario.

First, I zipped it up and turned it inside-out.  Then I laid it out so that the side seams were right at the sides and the jacket was flat along the edges.
There was a litte more fabric in the front of the jacket than the back so that’s why the above picture shows a little buckling on top.  It was more important for the sides seams to line up since that’s where I’d be sewing than for the jacket to be laying perfectly flat…if that makes any sense.

For sizing, normally I might just try it on and figure it out from there but with a belly and no waist, there’s no figuring out anything that way.  So, I grabbed my favorite white blazer that I know has a great fit and used it for sizing.

First I marked out how much I wanted to take the sleeves in.
I lined the two sleeves up along the top and used a white sewing pencil (technical term?) to draw a line onto the military jacket that followed the bottom of the white blazer’s sleeve.

Then I lined the armpits up, starting at the point where my line for thinning out the sleeve ended at the armpit seam, and used the same pencil to draw a line down the military jacket that went right along the edge of my white blazer.

I made sure to press down the white blazer with my hand along the place I was penciling so that it was totally flat while I traced its edges.

Next, I pinned everything into place, making sure my edges and armpit seams were lined up, and sewed a straight stitch right along my white line.

A repeat on the other side of the jacket, a pinking shears to cut off the excess fabric (eventually I’ll serge the edges), and that was that.

military jacket:  hand-me-down – $0
sequin-embellished top:  hand-me-down (mom’s) – $0
maternity jeans:  hand-me-down (friend – thanks Grace!) – Old Navy
boots:  Target (purchased on sale 2-3 years ago but here’s a similar pair* on clearance!) – $22
grand total:  $22

I can’t exactly zip it up at the moment but that’s totally fine by me – spring and summer don’t necessite zippers unless it’s the fly really, so looks like this chick is in the clear. 

I’ve had a military jacket on my wish list for awhile now so I’m happy I came across one for free, even if it did cost me a little bit of time.  :)

Thanks again Grandma B!

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*affiliate link similar to combat boots I purchased from Target

Bean Refashioning: Ruched Tunic

I’m back with another $1 thrift find! (Read the backstory in Monday’s post.)

I was really excited about this tunic:
I thought it’d be perfect for spring with this growing belly and since it’s a size larger than I normally wear and a loose fit to boot, it will hopefully fit up until b-day (and then post-post-post-pregnancy maybe I can take it in a tad).  Also, I’m a sucker for pieces that have a little bit of unexpected or added detail and so this one was right up my detail-loving alley with the side and front ruching/gathering…only after I put it on, that front gather didn’t sit well with me.  It was kinda awkward.  If the tunic were a little longer on me, it probably would’ve been fun but it just hit me weird.

So, away it went.  No sewing necessary with this one, just like Monday’s sweater dress.  All I had to do was rip out the threads holding that ruching together in front using my handy-dandy seam ripper.
It probably took me ten minutes to get all the thread out and that was going pretty slow, making sure I only grabbed the thread and not the tunic so as not to make any holes.

When I had all the thread out, this is what I had going on:
A quick spray with some water and an ironing had it looking like the ruching had never been there.

Tad-da!

(Kinda random but I keep trying to figure out what that raised line to the right of my popped belly button is and my only guess is that it’s part of little lady’s leg or (rather large) foot?  She’s head down so that’s the only thing that makes sense since I didn’t swallow a whole hot dog for lunch that day.  So weird.  Guess she wanted to make an appearance…)

In the South, you go bold with colors if you want to look like you’ve been here your whole life so these bright purple leggings/tights were the obvious choice.  ;)

tunic:  Goodwill – $1
jean vest:  Target – $7 (clearance find)
tights:  Dirt Cheap – $.75
necklace:  no clue/had it forever
purple pointies:  Gabriel Bros. – $1
grand total:  $9.75 (not including the necklace)

See the side detail? 

I lawv it.

Without those side gathers, I could probably get away with wearing Electric Blue here as a dress but I love them too much to take them out so tunic it shall be forever and ever.

I also tried a belt ‘round the waist upper belly but I wasn’t sure if it made it look like I had one big, blue oval going on in the middle of my person so sans belt might be a better choice for a second colorful outfit:
scarf:  Dirt Cheap – $1 (originally from Target)
belt/whip?:  JCPenney (came with another top) – we’ll just say $.75 since the top cost me $4 on clearance
tights:  Dirt Cheap – $.75
booties:  eBay* (I got the Tan (FV) and psst, they’re having a BOGO 50% off sale right now!) – $25
grand total:  $27.50

It works really well with my favorite pleather leggings too which is great since these tights probably won’t work for much longer (they’re non-maternity and I tried rolling them under the belly but they’re pretty restricting even so). 

I’m not huge on or good at capsule wardrobes but, if I was, this would be in mine. 

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*affiliate link to products I purchased – purchasing through my link won’t raise your price one penny but it will give me a few pennies in commission to probably buy some spray paint with…  :)

Quick heads up – I updated the virtual Target clearance rack in the sidebar under ‘affiliates’!  All of those items are under $10 on clearance right now and they were all hand-picked by yours truly.  Target didn’t ask me to post them but I will get a small commission if you click and/or purchase from those links.  Really though, I love rifling through Target’s clearance racks and a ton of the clothes I own are from those racks so I enjoy being able to bring the racks to you too!

Bean Refashioning: Sweater Dress

Once a month our local Goodwills have a 10 for $10 day where you can get 10 articles of clothing for $10 (the catch is that you have to buy 10 items or no tamale but luckily, it’s all clothing so you can get something for the whole family to get your entire 10).  I never usually go just because they always happen to be on days that Anthony isn’t home to watch the kids and bringing kids to hunt through racks of clothing to find 10 items is the equivalent of pulling out 10 teeth to me…you can’t even fool me once on that one.  But, this past 10-for-10 day, he was home and so I went to a store close to our house shortly after it opened.  Aaaaand I’ll never do that again.  Why?  It was crazy!  People were all over the place grabbing stacks of clothes and then sorting through what they wanted over in the furniture section.  There were mountains of clothes piled atop every flat surface over there with their potential owners just sifting through (and then leaving what they didn’t want in piles for the employees to put away…don’t even get me started on that).  Not worth the crazy to me.  I’ll just go on my usual Sunday’s when a certain color of tag is $1. 

Anyway, I regress with semi-traumatizing flashbacks.  So, this past time I went, I managed to grab 10 items of clothing all for myself.  Three of those things were super-nice Ann Taylor Loft items I ended up selling so seven are in my wardrobe.

This sweater dress (tunic on spider legs here) was one of them:(Apparently I was in such a hurry to grab a ‘before’ that I forgot to straighten it over the bell…classy.)

It was an ‘eh, what the heck’ purchase that I didn’t know if I’d really wear or just end up selling but either way, it came home with me for one buck.

I don’t have a super-curvy figure (jealous of those of you who do) so sweater dresses aren’t usually my kind of party, but I thought maybe pregnancy would make it work.  The one thing that bothered me about it though, was that little stitch right at the bust.  I didn’t like it.  So, I took it out.  I grabbed my seam ripper* (everyone should have one of these!) and carefully picked out the thread holding that little pucker together.

Easy peasy.

I’m still on the fence as to whether I like it on me or not and, after looking at these after pictures a thousand times, I’m thinking next time I’ll ditch the military jacket for a thin cardigan because, whoa, it’s a little top-heavy.military jacket:  hand-me-down (refashioned) – $0
sweater dress:  Goodwill – $1
tights:  Dirt Cheap – $.75
booties:  Goodwill – $8
scarf:  Dirt Cheap – $1
necklace:  hand-me-down from mi madre – $0
grand total:  $10.75

I’ll be back with a couple more refashions this week, including the military jacket. 

Be on guard.

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*affiliate link to product I purchased

Hit by Lent

Lent.  This one has been awesome.  And when I say awesome, what I really mean is awful…which is technically awesome in this case since Lent is supposed to be a great time to refashion and prepare yourself for remembering the death and rising of Jesus.  Usually my Lenten seasons are just like any other seasons in life except they’re peppered with a few self-imposed restrictions or additions throughout; those with the hopes of molding me into a holier version of me.

But I’m so grateful.  I’m grateful for the past week.  I found out last Friday that I had somehow developed sciatica in my right leg (I know it’s not uncommon to have it during pregnancy but I’ve never had it with prior pregnancies).  If you have never experienced that, I hope you never do.  It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.  Two Sunday nights ago I had to call Anthony home from work because I had literally folded down to the ground in pain (and sobs) and couldn’t get up.  It was a crutch in so many ways.  Not only did I have big plans to potty-train Sebastian Monday but I had, hello, three toddlers that are still very dependent at my beck and call.  Not ideal.  Thankfully, oh so thankfully, the South is real big on Mardi Gras and so Anthony was off Monday and Tuesday.  He potty-trained Sebastian while Sebastian was sick with an awful cold.  He cooked.  He cleaned.  He took over.  He’s pretty amazing.

So my first week of Lent pretty much sucked. 

(PS, though it looks like Anthony purposefully tripped our daughter, he was actually going for the ball at the same time she decided to put another foot foward and accidentally tripped up was the name of the game.  No need to alert CPS.)

But, I’m not here to throw a pity-party for myself or to complain about how hard Lent has been so far.  Nor do I want any “Oh, I’m so sorry”s  Like I said, the trials have been blessings in the form of lots of redemptive suffering (What’s that?  Ok, go deeper.) and so I’m very thankful for that.  There are so many people suffering a thousand times more than me and who need my prayers now.

How has your Lent been?  Maybe you’re still struggling with how or what to do to grow.  It’s always so hard.  Do I give up soda like I do every single year?  Do I pray for an extra 20, 30, 40 minutes every day?  I’ve been so inspired by Jenny’s post on acceptance with joy.  I can go down my list of trials from the past week and just accept them with joy…and a deep breath.  It’s been so, so, so good for me.  I really encourage you to read it to help take the monotony out of choosing what you’re going to give up or add this Lent and just sit back in your state of life and let God decide.  

And while we’re on the subject of inspiring reads…

Being on the down and out last week was perfect timing for me to whittle at the unreads in my reader and read this post from Kathryn.  I’m such a do-er (you’d never have guessed, right?) and so not being able to do anything is so hard for me.  But her post made me sit back, look at all of these undone things that I have around here and ask myself whether or not pushing to get them done today is worth it.  I love making my house a home but with my go-get’em personality, I feel like I can easily get wrapped up in a project, in project-planning, or just trying to get something done as fast as I can.  I know that’s not a bad thing persay, but sometimes I do just need to slow down and sometimes it’s worth it to slow down.  And sometimes, hopefully never again, but sometimes I have to slow down because every time I move I get a shooting pain down my back and leg…  However you can relate, her post is a must read. 

Britt said it best – “Lent is Hard”.  It’s a time for sacrifice and change and, when inflicted upon yourself for your own sake, that is hard.  But it is so, so good.  We as Christians fail somewhat if we are content in who we are; in who we currently are spiritually.  There should always be more striving and more fire being added to our flames.  (Pssst…I’m talking to myself more than you.)  The Prayer of Humility has been on my mind recently (the prayer itself is amazing but when Audrey sings her version, I crumble) and I love that she ended her post with it.

So, lent.  The harder, the better.  Easter is on its way and until then “When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown”  Isaiah 43:2 

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Today is the 18th and I wrote this post yesterday.  Today also happens to be the day of my birth and 15 minutes after we all woke up this morning, our electricity went off and stayed off for about 45 mintues (a very rare occurence at our casa).  It nixed my anticipation and excitement for having my favorite french toast for breakfast and also Anthony being able to stay home a little later since he didn’t have internet to get a little work done.  I just laughed it off and, yep, accepted it with joy because apparently, it’s all par for my Lenten course this year.  Really, it ain’t no big deal.  No pity here.  Worse things have happened and to be cliche “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”, right?  See also Romans 5:  3-5  :)

God is good.

Entry Way–Before & After

Every week I ‘deep clean’ a different room.  It keeps the feeling of being overwhelmed with cleaning at bay if I do one room at a time and one room per week and with kids, that’s about as much as I can do anyway.  All hail to you moms who can scrub your floors and baseboards and clean under couches and beds and dust off ceiling fans every single week.  Truly.  I am somewhat of a clean freak (and Anthony is borderline OCD clean) and I would love if all of those things happened weekly or even bi-weekly around here.  But, like I said, they don’t.  It’s more like bi-monthly and I’m totally okay with that at this stage in life.

This week, that room/space is the entry way.  I’ll scrub the floors, clean the baseboards, vacuum the big return vent, wipe off the chandelier, and then move outside to sweep off the porch.  Usually, the room that I project in is the room I’m also deep cleaning.  So in case you’ve ever wondered why I skip from room to room with projects, that is why folks.  It’s so much easier to get a good after picture when you’ve just super-cleaned the room.  While I’m at it, I also try to make sure that that room is updated on our house tour page.  It’s physical and digital cleaning all in one foul swoop and it all kinda makes me feel real accomplished…especially when the majority of my week is spent translating toddler talk to myself, making approx. 20 bowls of oatmeal and/or pb&j’s, wiping tiny bums, and many, many more things.  Those things make me feel accomplished too, just in a different way.  Mothering is a duty that I love to do because I love my kids more than life but making rooms pretty is therapy (for when mothering becomes, you know, stressful).

But back to the entry way.  There’s a chandelier just sitting up alone in our attic waiting to be spray painted and hung outside on the porch and I was hoping to get to that this week but instead I’m working on some clothing refashions so the pretty light will have to wait until next time around.  We recently snatched up some landscape spotlights on clearance that I can’t wait to put outside so, when Anthony has enough time to do that, it’ll be a good time for me to work on the light anyway.  Then we can just get all the outside lighting up and out of the way. 

So, since the only thing I’m doing in the entry this week is cleaning, it was fun to check to make sure I have updated afters of it all.  I think it’s the before and afters though that really get me. 

 
We’ve come a long way with around $250, no?

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Anyway, I’ve got a long way to go if I want to get anything done while all the kids are sawing twigs today so I’m out.  The vacuum and the kitchen floor are having a quick wedding and I’m the honored guest.

See ya.