Kitchen Remodel

Today was fun. I went to Home Depot to get the Minwax to seal the cabinets as I paint them (which is coming soon!). Whilst I was there, I found the backsplash and the cabinet hardware to complete our look. I put together a little collage. Hope you like it!

Sources:
Cabinets: whimsicalperspective.com
Backsplash: home depot
Flooring: Lowe's

"You are loved more than you will ever know, by someone who died to know you." -Romans 5:8
Sara

God's Grand Design

The tragedy that hit today in Connecticut hit home with me also. My daughter is 18 months and we had decided to homeschool her probably before her first birthday. Today joust solidified my choice to keep her home. In fact it even made me more solid in homeschooling her full time instead of the university style.

Today's tragedy reminded me that time with my daughter is so fleeting. It reminded me that I am borrowing her from God, she is not my possession. I have been charged with her well being and safety but if He decides to call her home there is not a thing I can do about it.

However, my heart has been in knots since noon when I found out about the school. I cried a little bit all day. I was mad at God and blamed Him for letting this happen. They weren't even my kids but I love all kids as though they were mine as I always have. I just imagine my child being there and my heart literally aches. I discussed with my husband my concerns about the devil being allowed to do this and at the time it didn't feel like he was really listening. Later that night he told me "we are too small to understand the reasoning behind why things happen. We cannot begin to understand the good that will come out of this. We don't know how many people will find Jesus because of this. The tragedy always hurts right away as with any hardship but the long run, even the eternity long run, is what you have to keep in mind."

Does that help a mother who's five year old was taken much too early right before Christmas? Not right away and she will never be the same woman. But I pray that somewhere down the line when the mourning is done, she feels comfort that the best person in the universe is looking over her child. Jesus loves the children and today He wanted some of them back with him.

I will continue to pray for the families of those children. Please do so also.

"You are loved more than you will ever know, by someone who died to know you." -Romans 5:8
Sara

Finances in 2013: The Independence Initiative

Good evening everyone. I stumbled upon an interesting experiment a bloggy friend is doing over at biblicalhomemaking.blogspot.com where she uses Matthew 25 (the parable of the talents) as her basis for using $10.00 and investing it into a business. The rule is you can't use anything other than that $10.00. If she goes bust the experiment is over and she has to keep a detailed record of every cash transaction she does. Genius if I do say so myself.

So when I mentioned it to my husband he goes "you have 10.00 worth of stuff all over the place." Meaning why use a new 10.00 when we have profit literally collecting dust in our shed and waiting in my craft area to be turned into something lovely.

However, my hands are incapacitated at the moment due to severe carpal tunnel and de quarvains tendinitis. Tomorrow I have tests and then next week (the 21st) I'll have the surgery on both hands. Which still sounds really intense but I'll have both my hands fully functioning by the new year.

Which brings me to my conclusion...I will be on a major overhaul of my house due cluttering and turning everything I can make into something else and investing it into a business that I will be able to maintain even with chickens and rabbits and perhaps from anywhere we move in the future (even Montana or Nova Scotia) which will also be my bargaining tool to keep our wifi!

So she's calling it the $10 business or something like that. I think I'll call it Independence Initiative. I am fond of alliteration.

So please pray for my surgery next week and I'll keep you updated and informed.

"You are loved more than you will ever know, by someone who died to know you." -Romans 5:8
Sara

Day 4: Fit Challenge

Hey friends, I hope you're all doing well. I hope you're doing better than I am! I got a tummy bug and have been out of commission for the last couple of days. It started yesterday morning and so far has not improved much.

However, I do have some body updates! (The only good thing about tummy bugs is the weight you lose)

Weight: 165.8lbs from 172.0lbs:

 -7lbs

Measurements! (YIKES)

 

Breasts: 43" from 45":

 -2"

Waist:39" from 41":

 -2"

Hips: 44" from 46":

 -2"

Arms: 11" from 12": -1"

 

Thighs: 24" from  25": -1"

 

Neck: 14" from 14": No change

So, unfortunately I'll be very behind on my workouts but my body is making changes! 

xoxo,

Sara

Day 1 Week 1: Fit Test

Okay. 

Day 1 down- i'm severely out of shape! But I did it and I will not apologize for my numbers but I will be working to improve them. I used this Timer for the first day FIT TEST. I used this vid

eo: Day 1 of 30 Day Challenge. Good luck! 

My numbers for this test were: 

Squat Jumps: 19 

Push ups: 15 

Burpees: 10 

High Knees: 0 

Switch Lunges: 0 

Tuck Jumps: 0 

Straight Abs: 30.

Weight: 172lbs

Measurements! (YIKES)

Breasts: 45"

Waist:41"

Hips: 46"

Arms: 12"

Thighs: 25"

Neck: 14"

Here is my horrid before picture. Yikes I have lots to lose!

My goal weight is 140. Here's to 5 lbs gone by months end! CHEERS!

xoxo,

Sara

Fall is here!! Crayon art!

Fall is here!! Cooler weather!! Rainy days!! Beautiful sunshine with slight breezes! This is my favorite time of year in Texas. The few months when it's not just simply blistering heat. It makes the summers worth it!

But, since we've been having a lot of rain (and we don't really get that cold) everything is now a lovely shade of GREEN!!! WHAT?? It's October...it's Fall now! And everything is GREEN!!! I just can't take it.

So I made this!!!

Here's how I did it!

What you'll need:
Canvas (whatever size)
Adhesive Backed Vinyl (any color or scraps if you have it)
crayons in fall colors
fall embellishments
heat tool or hair dryer

 <---start here

Here are my crayon colors but I only ended up using four and I added goldenrod in the mix as well

<---heat tool! Taa-daa!

 Cut out your letters in whatever font you like (I used Baskerville) with the cutter of your choice. I used my Silhouette Cameo but you can use any cutter. You can also use an exacto knife if you dont have a digital cutter its just going to take you a bit longer.

 Take a crayon and peel off the paper. Place it just  on the canvas and hold your heat tool over it. It will start to melt immediately. You can pull your crayon over and watch how it melts in the way you pull it. You can also swish the melted crayon around with the heat tool or your hair dryer once its on the canvas.

Add more colors and watch how the wax starts to look like a water color. Do this all over the canvas. It's okay to go over the vinyl. When you pull it up, it will remain white underneath.

Don't forget to do the edges of the canvas so you don't have the white lines all around. Use a hook tool or tweezers to remove the vinyl from under the wax after it's dried.  

 Stand back and admire your beautiful fall art work. Hang it somewhere lovely. 

Have fun! Happy fall!!

xoxo,

Sara

Learning by Osmosis

Guess we'll find out if it works!

xoxo,

Sara

Adventures with Davy

I feel like I have a puppy!! I left Davy home alone in the house since she didn't seem to like it...I came home to this!!

Thats my carpet next to the glass door. I guess she thought she could tunnel out under the door. 

So, I had to leave again to go to my Stepmom book study and put her in the mudroom thinking, there's no carpet she can destroy in here...came home to this...

My husband is fabulous and says "at least putting in a doggy door will be easier now". He's so glass-half-full. I love it!

We rigged up some rope outside for when we leave. She seems to do okay outside alone. We'll just have to see what happens. I'm off to Petsmart to get her a name tag and a doggie bed! 

xoxo,

Sara

A Gift from God: The story of how we got Davy

We had to put our little 18 year old chihuahua down about 2 months ago because he was just so old it hurt everyone to look at him. When he started having seizures, we knew it was time. We missed him a lot and who he represented: my husband's father who passed in November of 2010.

We had been looking at other dogs and couldn't really find one that fit our family. Some where too big and too boisterous which is not a bad thing but with little Mae it was not a good fit. 

Joe randomly sent me a picture of this sweet lab mix that a coworker of his had rescued and he asked if we could keep her.

We decided to take the baby over there and meet her to see how they got along. The couple that had her only had other dogs, not babies. Before we went, I prayed for a sign that this was the dog that needed to be in our family. We always decided that we wanted to rescue instead of buying because too many animals need saving. I prayed exactly for the dog to walk right up to Madeleine when we got there.

So when we arrived, I went in and set Madeleine on the floor so the dog could come up to her and you know what....she did just that. I was sold. She is so sweet and mild mannered and just the right size for our family to have an indoor dog that wont squash our baby.

When we got home however, the first thing she did was climb the fence and run away. We looked for about two hours before having to give up. Joe prayed that she would come back to us even though we thought it was a long shot since she'd only been at our house for about 10 minutes before running away. We were sad. 

Then about two hours later, a knock on our door comes from our neighbor who points to our beautiful dog who found her way back to our house and was waiting in our driveway. Truly led back to us by Jesus who know has told us this is our dog and we are to love her and take care of her. 

We brought her inside and gave her some water and a much needed bath and now she's happily sleeping on our floor. We're so happy that we have our pretty dog back! We've decided to name her Davy meaning "beloved". 

xoxo,

Sara

Deciding to Homeschool

We have decided to homeschool!

I'm just scared about the influence other children will have on my daughter. So, we've decided to homeschool so we can keep our family values the most prevalent in her life. I also want her to LOVE learning. I want her to have hands on, customized learning. So, even though she's only 16 months, I'm going to start my research and preparing now that way in a few short years, I'm not blindsided by it's arrival.

I found a website called Mr. Printables that lists "oodles of free printables". I got that super cute printable to frame and put in our reading nook (which yes, we already have and she uses ALL the time).

So, thank you to Mr. Printables and Lakeshore Learning for putting some much needed motivation into our decision to homeschool.

How many of you homeschool? Why and how's it going?

xoxo,
Sara

Mud room make over

So Lookie what my husband did for me!!! He took the doors off of the mudroom closet. Because really, it's just become a giant junk drawer. I'm pretty sure that's an old DVD player that doesn't work anymore yet we still have it stashed away in there.

I'm on a mission to turn it into a room that's actually functional. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to add a bench seat in that closet after I remove all the shelves and try to find some way to hide that hideous pipe. :-/ any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I am also going to repaint the whole room and perhaps extend the coca cola thing. Not sure because husband is not exactly excited for something like that.

My mom is a wine manager for heb so she gave us all those bottles for a project...honest!!!

Xoxo,
Sara

Sicky Baby = longer naptimes

So, I've been at home with a sicky baby. I'm not sure what's wrong with her other than she's just got a bug. However, because she's been ill, I've managed to squeeze some crafting time out of her longer than normal naps! I was asked to make some invitations by a lady for her 5 year old daughters costume party. I was only told that she was five, loved girly stuff, and glitter. So I made these!

Please excuse the random A on the outer portion of the invite, it was a failed attempt at calligraphy!

While she liked them, she's thinking now it's going to be a science party where the kids get to do science projects so, I'm off to make her daughter into a cartooned paper science kid! Here it goes! 

xoxo,

Sara

Alcohol Ink Coasters

I had been seeing Alcohol Ink Coasters spinning around the internet and since I do love me some Ranger Alcohol Inks I decided to try it.


The main tool you'll need is the Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and either a piece of white felt cut to size or there are packs of white felts that are made specifically for this tool and the alcohol inks. I went ahead and got the pack because it's easier.

You'll need alcohol inks of course! I got the Farmers Market kit because I thought it was Christmassy...is that a word?

Stick on a white felt to the velcro on your blending tool and add drops of inks in whatever color/arrangement you want to. 

Here's how I decided to do mine. Mine is the maroon on top and the purple on the bottom. 

Choose your base. I have these glossy white tiles that I wanted to play with (as you can see in my background I tried it before I took pictures to post)

Start pressing the felt down onto the tile in various positions turning the tool this way or that. Or leave it one direction and have a pattern. 

Like this. 

At the end you'll have this. Beautiful "tie-dye" "Stained-Glass" art!

Experiment with different techniques till you find the one you like best. Try painting on rubbing alcohol (just the normal drug store kind) and dropping the ink directly onto the tile. It will pool and puddle and mix together to make some really interesting designs. 

Seal your tiles with a polyurethane before you use them so nothing runs or chips. 

Have fun!!!

 xoxo,

Sara

Thinking About Halloween

I have been asked to have a Halloween Party by my oldest bonus daughter... I'm thinking these may be the invitations!

We are considering having a murder mystery party where people receive their roles in the mail with their invites and they learn their character and through out the night, the play "plays" out and at the end of the party, the murderer is revealed in a Clue type fashion to see if the guests could figure out whodunnit before the night is over. 

I'll be the host so I may end up being the Victim so the guests can play it out without anyone having to die early...that's not so much fun.n

Have any of you tried it?

xoxo,

Sara

This post is brought to you by the letter A

My daughter is very bright. I'm talking HUGE vocabulary bright. I do not want to hold her back so I'm teaching her things they are way beyond a 15 month olds typical learning.

So, while watching Sesame Street my husband asked me if I started teaching her letters. Well, I haven't because she is only 15 months. But...I don't know why I haven't. She already can recognize the word HOT and the word PEPPER by things around the house so why not start her on her letters if she's ready to learn them.

So, I'm inviting you to join us to learn a letter a week. Now, this is not "standardized test" learning where she'll be tested on it and required to remember verbatim. That's not fun and she's only 15 months hahaha

So, this week we'll start with---go on guess which one we'll start with----okay I'll tell you---

A

In honor of the letter A, my handy dandy Silhouette Cameo and the lovely design of Snapdragon Snippets, I made a 3D letter A Box!

and now, for pictures

Cut all your pieces out and lay them out so you can work on it easily. 

 We're doing the base of the box first. fold it all in and arrange to be glued down. (it took me a second to realize how it was going to bend to fit onto the letter. 

I placed my double sided tape down first and then laid the tabbies down on top of it making sure to align the edge of the bent parts with the edge of the A. 

Do the other side the same way. Tape first, adhere second.  

the middle of the A was confusing. Especially because I had two letters and I couldn't tell which was which. Once they're folded and glued, they will fit the appropriate A perfectly so just pay attention to size. 

Here it is in the middle of the A.  

 Here is the top and the bottom.

 taa-daa!

Then, upon closer inspection, learn that the skinny straight strips are, in fact, accent pieces.

 Recut in fun matching print. :-) **HINT: DO THIS FIRST- don't waste paper like me**

The fatter strips go on the base and the thin ones to the top. I placed them together so I didn't further mess it up.  The long bits go on the sides and the squares are actually different sizes so here's another area where you need to pay attention. On the base: there is a larger square that goes on the top of the A. The others are all the same size and go on the outside at the bottom of the in the "curvy" part.  

 Like this...

Here's the base of the A.  

Here is the top of the box. This one also has different size little squares. The largest square goes on the tippy top like the base but there are even different size squares for the bottom of it. 

The two next largest go on the legs of the A and the smaller ones go on the inside.

...I guess it would be the thighs of the A?

Enjoy your new 3D A Box designed by Snapdragon Snippets

xoxo,

Sara