So Long, 2010!

Though it has been a good - no a great year - I am bidding adieu to 2010 with smiles and anticipation for 2011. I saw this on a blog I follow and thought it was neat: My Twenty Ten in 10 words.

Mommy-hood
Unemployed
Growing
Struggle
God-seeking
Challenging
Laughter
Family
Snuggles
Love

My, how God has blessed us in this year. I have so many hopes and dreams for 2011. That's something fun and great about a new year - new possibilities, though we do have those every day, huh? As I struggled to write the words for my year (I've been thinking about this for 3 or 4 days, people!), I realized how tough and equally great this year has been!

Thank you, Abba Father, for this year. Thank you for the struggles and pains. Thank you for the rejoicing and love. Thank you for Dillon, who will always be my favorite little brown-eyed smiler. Thank you for little (and BIG) reminders that you are here, in the midst of sorrow, strength, death, and new tomorrows. I love you so...and long to honor you with my life.

I leave you with this shot...my greatest blessing and struggle (all at the same time). The sky so blue, our dreams so high and big, our smile so big, and our God so great. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

A Few Things You Should Know...

I'm linking this up to a blog I follow (and am inspired by weekly +) here. She's fabulous. She encouraged us to do this and link up, so here I am.

These are a few things you should know about me (but probably don't unless you're REALLY close):

• I hated high school, don't remember junior high (for some reason?), and LOVED college. Would re-do college any day of the week.
• Christian fiction is my downfall...I'd rather read than do just about anything else (besides blog) if I have a few free moments to myself.
• I don't like being a SAHM as much as I thought I would...it's a struggle daily (sad, I know...)
• If I ask, I will learn something new every time I open my Bible...that's amazing...and I'm excited to know that it will be that way my whole life.
• I'm a born and bred Nazarene....don't think I will ever change (and that's okay with me). I realize it's not about the denomination....some of you understand.
• I can never get enough sleep, and sometimes I cry when I have to wake up early (I know, right?)

• I think Aaron has the prettiest blue eyeballs of anyone I've ever seen! (Sadly, you can't see them in the above photo.)
• I am a home-body, but when I'm stuck here (as in don't have a car or can't leave the house for whatever reason, I HATE IT.)
• I love to go to the Dollar Tree with a few dollars in my hand...I like to buy myself a little treat.
• I used to go to the bathroom with the door open....but now that we have a 4 year old, I lock the door, turn on the fan, and grab a book...seriously. It's my only alone time.
• I'm undeniably and certifiably addicted to Diet Mt. Dew.

• There are days that I actually can't believe I'm a Momma...(and I love the feeling that accompanies that)
• I HATE cats (I'm very sorry for those of you cat people...I'm a dog person, I get it-I think.)
• I can read a book in any situation. I have the ability (due to being a PreK teacher) to block out unnecessary noise. My favorite place to read these days: Play Place @ McDs.
• If my husband is off or works the night shift when I'm home, I always ask for a McD's Large Diet Coke (what's UP with that? We have some in our pantry, but it's NOT the same.)
• I am constantly adding to my list of "cute things to make," though I rarely ever get to that list. (Thus, massive piles of "junk" in my closets). It'll be cute one day...
• I love my nieces and nephews (and best friend's kids) with a fierce intensity that scares me sometimes...
• I hate filling up ice trays...I know, right? What's the big deal? I do not know.
• In my opinion, there is nothing cool about feet. Seriously. All of them are gross...I often question why the Creator thought they were a good idea...(I have to admit that itty bitty baby feet (2 months or younger) don't gross me out yet.)
• I overuse the () keys....sorry (I probably over use the ....... key, too, huh?)
• I'd rather not get out of my pajamas unless I have to.
• If I were hiring (which I'm not), I would literally not hire someone unless they correctly used your, you're, and other contractions and grammar correctly).
• Doritos and Double Stuff E.L. Fudge cookies are my junk food of choice (and I never buy them for this reason.)
• I let my dog lick my feet (and kinda like it) - don't judge.
• Also - I secretly feel jipped that we never had an indoor dog my whole life. There will probably not be many days of that left in my life...

• I talk to my best friend every day. Either by phone, text, email...but I usually know what's going on at her house daily. I live too far away from her and miss her terribly most days... :-( And I thank God for her every day. She is my sunshine.
• There's a little piece of me that adores my husband even when I'm angry with him (angriest of angries, too!). I am so blessed!
• One of my biggest pet peeves is when people smack their food! CLOSE YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU EAT! Good grief.
• I love being married. And I love going on dates. And I love laughing together and making fun of each other. Most of all, I love holding hands...

Enough about me...what about you?

PS - This is where I did my link up. :-)

Show 'N Tell: Mini Shelf Makeover

Crafting is my favorite! It's a release for me; it is productive. It turns out making adorable things out of what may be called "shabby" before.

I plan on submitting this simple project to some of my favorite crafting blogs, but for now, for my friends and readers (all 2 of you), I am here to show off my work in a non-tutorial kind of way. :-)

Here are the cute mini shelves my Momma gave me a good year (plus) ago. They're alright the way they are, but I kept envisioning them over my sink (on my ugly white kitchen cabinets. They can hold knick knacks or (GASP!) flowers and such...just something to draw the eye away from my overly painted uglified atrocious cabinets.

Okay - so I forgot to take a FULL "before" shot. Bear with me. The right one is before sanding. It's cute enough, right? You just wait...The left one is after sanding #1 (there were 3 sets of sanding. Didn't take much other than the shine off. Below is the Sanded x 3 version.

Next, I wiped them clean with a warm washcloth, let it dry, and then did it one more time for good measure. Then I spray painted...or should I say "WE" spray painted. Dillon thought this process was SO cool (the first 2 coats)...after that, he was pretty much annoyed that we weren't playing out there anymore. We would take "breaks" and go put another coat on when the timer went off. As you can tell, this has been months in the making b/c we all know we haven't seen the sun here in IL for a good 2-2.5 weeks.



That there was my last coat. First time ever experiencing spray paint, so as you can tell by the running (which I then had to sand AGAIN), I need to work on even distribution...and not spraying too much!

Then, the easiest and most time consuming part came in: painting. I found a cheap paint at a large box store (which will remain unnamed) with "navy" as the title. It didn't look terribly navy, but hey...it was cheap. 7 coats later, it wasn't navy. Imagine that. Went to my favorite craft store and purchased an acrylic brand I trust that called theirs navy, and 2 coats later - BAM...the cutest little shelves ever!

My sweet hubs got them up this week, and I already have some cute stuff on one of them! It won't take me long to fill the other one!

And yes, those are real flowers. And yes, they're from my favorite brown-eyed 4 year old. And no, they are not for "no reason." Those are birthday flowers! :-) In my opinion, they look fantastic on my mini shelf.

Easy peasy. PS - this project cost me $4.5o (would have been $3 if I wouldn't have bought that cheap paint to start off with!).

I linked up with

Show 'N Tell: DIY Stocking Holders

So I'm the girl who gets most (if not all) her Christmas decorations after Christmas. What can I say? There are some things that my mom just knew what she was doing. She would squirrel away whatever $$ she could (even if it was just $20) and go hit those after-Christmas sales!

As expensive as all those beautiful Christmas decos are, I just almost have to do it this way to have cute stuff around the house. (Some of you know what I mean...)

Enter After Christmas 2008. I only had about $13, and I wanted to make it last. (Also, enter the fact that I had just discovered the art of decoupage and wanted to decoupage EVERYTHING!) Went to Hobby Lobby about 3 weeks into January, and couldn't BELIEVE the stuff they had at the entrance for 90% off! They literally just wanted to get rid of stuff! I was able to buy stocking holders for $0.90! Yup! Here is the ridiculously gaudy looking thing here:


Yes, yes...that is silver, bulky, and weighs about 5 lbs. And since I'm hoping (praying) and expecting to have a larger family, I bought 6 of them. (:-) I kid you not. All along, I had this dream of decoupauging them and making them super cute.

Christmas 2009 came and went. I do think we used them for our stockings, but we used them as is.

Well, this is my son's first Christmas with us, and this was one thing I wanted to have done. So I have been diligently repainting these suckers this week and then used some fun paper and made these:

I know, right? They're totally fabulous! We each picked our paper out (except Gil, of course...we haven't figured out how to get the mut to talk yet!) :-) And yes, that is sugar cookies on mine...if I can't eat them maybe I can look at a cute pic of them! And yes, that's Dillon's all covered in presents! He insisted that I get that paper for his!

This was my first experiment with the Matte Modge Podge, and let me just say - I {love} it!

So I must put the overall effect pics up, and then I promise I'm done for the day.

Hopefully Santa can find them since we don't have a mantel...(And yes, that's the reason I put them right in front of the front door!)

Merry Christmas, everyone!