The BIG 4-0!!!

It's finally arrived. The BIG one. I can't believe that I am 4 decades old. This b-day is a time for celebration. Not a big celebration. Tonight my family is going to go out and eat, my brother-in-law is going to take care of my children for the weekend so Doug can go hunting and my sister has planned a scrap booking getaway for me, my mom, herself and some of my friends. Just what I wanted to do for my birthday. I can't think of a better way to spend it.

Turning 40 is also a time for reflection for me. It has brought me to a point in my life that I feel good about things.  In my 20's I thought I knew everything and I found out I knew nothing. I wanted to party and be FREE. In my 30's I still thought I knew everything and I had a mid-life crisis. Now at 40 I KNOW that I still don't know everything and I am o-kay with that.

Here is who I am:  I am a mother of 4 a miscarriage of 1.I am 40 and still changing diapers. I am addicted to Mt. Dew and cigarettes. I am a wife to an amazing person, a sister with one other sibling, a daughter of two fine parents, a friend of many, an auntie to 3 amazing kids. I have been divorced twice. I live for chaos, I don't like lazy, I despise people that are fake, I have gained 50 lbs., I am always trying to chase a dream, I am not better that anyone else, I crave peace and quiet, I believe everything happens for a reason, I know that when you surround yourself with positive people and positive things, good will come to you. I am a helper, a giver, a follower and a leader. I am a do-er and so much more. I have been down and out in my life, I have sucked up my pride and used a food shelf, and been on food stamps.

I believe in true love. I know this because he came back to me.

I have been peed on, pooped on, puked on and sometimes just plain shit on. I have loved a lot and have been loved. I have had some completely awful relationships. I have been loved by hands that have turned around and hurt me.

I have wonderful memories from high school and just like everyone else I was picked on. I still have friends from high school. I use to try and hang on to all of them but I now know that sometimes that is not possible. People grow and people change and sometimes it is impossible to do. They all shaped me, have given me wonderful memories, have been there for me when I least expect it, have made me cry and made me laugh. I know that because we don't talk everyday or I don't believe in their ideas or agree with what they have decided to become does not mean that I do not appreciate them or think of them often.

I have had a parent with cancer and have watched 3 of my close friends lose their mothers and father to the horrible disease. Which makes me appreciate life and my parents even more.

I believe that forgiveness is a powerful thing. I know this because I have been forgiven by many and I have learned to forgive myself.

I believe in spirits, and life after you pass. I know this because when I am having rough times and can't seem to wrap myself around them I will see my grandma. A cardinal always shows up when I least expect it.

I believe you need to try new things, not be afraid, take a chance and just go for it. You might fail but that is o-kay. Who cares what others think of you. This has been the hardest lesson for me to learn.

I know that besides my children there is one person I could not live without and that is my sister. She is truly my best friend. She will tell me when I am stupid, when she is proud, when I need to shut up everything a sister should be.

I believe that every single person on this earth needs to have at least one person to believe in them.

I believe you should continue to give--give anyway you can. You never know when you will need help.

I believe in karma. You know what they say--it's a bitch-baby

After writing this I realized that 40 is not going to be bad at all. I am not so much that tough girl I use to be. I can still hold my own, I won't agree with people "just because". I will stand up for what I believe in and I don't care what others think. It doesn't matter that I don't wear a size 9 jean anymore!!

Learning life lessons is a great reason to celebrate!!

Donations of time

Wowee!! I can't believe that I last posted back in September. I NEED to and WANT to get MUCH better at that.

Well here is some of the reasons why it has taken me so long. I have always had a real desire to be a helper. To help those that need it, to help people see that others need our help. I have always wanted to be part of something bigger. To get to that person that I want to become I have started donating. Not just donating things but donating my time.

First I joined our local PTA at our schools. This has consumed (in a good way) a huge amount of my time. But you know what? It is totally worth it. The reponse we have received is tremendous. What better gratification-knowing you are helping out to make things better. When we started the PTA we did a back to school clothing drive. We had a TON of clothes that we collected and set up FREE of charge for anyone in our community to come and take whatever they needed.

We then put on a huge Halloween bash for the local kids and their families. With great success we partied with over 350 children. Donating time here consisted of baking, setting up, shopping, decorating and greeting people at the party.

In November we put on a 12 hour scrapbooking day. We had almost 40 ladies attend and requesting that we do it again in January.

In December we are holding our 1st annual Expo/Vendor Fair. There will be over 40 vendors.

Has it all been easy? NO. There has been frustrations along the way, things have been forgotten, people have made mistakes. But in the end-so far-it has all been worth every minute of my time. I have come to meet some extremely great women, have bumped up my business skills and just plain feel good about myself.

Secondly I have been donating goods. Anything we no longer need or is functional for my family is going to go and help others that need it. Our town is sponsoring a Secret Osceola Santa (S.O.S). This is benefiting any families in need in our community. I have been dropping stuff off for them to hold a garage sale to raise money for their cause. Anyway to help out!

One of my biggest pet peeves are people who say they don't have time. Really? You don't have time for what? What is interfering? I know we are all busy--but if you stop for a second and look around-really look around you just might notice someone that could use your help.

So this Holiday Season get out and donate some of your time. What are you waiting for?

This year I might even stand out and ring a bell!!

The Girl's Bedroom

So here is what I have been working on. I love to decorate and now that I have become an official, stay at home mom (sahm), it has given me the opportunity to actually get some stuff done and to get my house to look like I want it to! Yeah!! It still has a long way to go...baby steps. Being a SAHM means that you have no paying job-Yeah!--not really--which means everything  I decorate with has to be done on the cheap. If there is something that I find that I REALLY need want, then I need to either figure out how to make it or I need to save up for it. And quiet frankly saving these days takes a long darn time.

 So let's get started. I had mentioned before that the girl's (the twins) wanted a little bit more grown up room. Their room use to be pink on all 3 walls and 1 wall was a light yellow and light green stripe. Very cute but tooooo babyISH for them now. You know when you are 8 you need to be grown up. We started by painting the walls a very nice purple/lilac color. I laid down a tan rug that I already had--no need to purchase anything new.

Next I added curtains. They are a fab sheer lilac with some great girly swirls. I got these darlings at a garage sale for the great price of $2.00!! Can't beat that!  Art work for the walls....

The upper picture is framed scrapbook paper. I got the frame at a garage sale for .10--yep one dime--it was brown and a tad beat up. Out comes the trusty white spray paint. The 3 picture frames were also purchased at a garage sale about 2 years ago. I think I paid $2.00 for them. The "paper" inside them are actually gift bags that I had saved from past birthdays. I just cut them up and framed them.

Above are my before and after frames. I bought these babies at the local Family Pathways Thrift Store. All 3 of them cost me $3.00. Two of them were a peachy color and then other had some great detail to it. Once again I got out the spray paint. I painted them all white. The girls are getting into the whole peace and love thing. Instead of adding a head board like originaly planned on doing I decided to frame some "art" for above their bed. The "art" is actually 3 school folders that I purchased at Wal-Mart for $1.50 on clearance. I just cut them in half, used some 3M poster stick on tabs and stuck them to the wall. I then framed them with my new fun picture frames.  The chandelier above the bed was also purchased at Wal-Mart 3 years ago for $7.00 on clearance. It was origianlly hanging in the hallway outside the girl's bedroom. The bed sheets are a fantastic purple and pink polka dots--bought at Target-once again on clearance for $12.00. I LOVE polka dots!!

Stay with me--I am almost done.

The girls made these ceramic plates at a birthday party a couple years ago. What a great way to preserve them and a super cool way to add something personal to their bedroom. I bought 2 shadow boxes at Wal-Mart. They were each $10.00--a little spendy--but not to bad--I couldn't wait to get them done and I didn't want to wait for them to go an clearance. You might be able to get them a little cheaper at Michaels but I wanted them NOW!! The frames were originally black--painted them white. I backed them with a brown scrapbook paper. I used a super strong scrapbook adhesive tape. It is the kind that you have to cut and then pull the red strip of paper off of. You can purchase at any place that sells scrapbook supplies. This will give the paper and the plate great hold. I then used Gorilla Glue and I glued the plates right onto the paper. Super strong hold!!

Next the rest of the bed...



I should have picked up the penny before I took the picture--oops!!

I wanted to add a bed skirt but I didn't want anything plain. I bought a simple brown bed skirt from Wal-Mart. It was $14.00--once again my impatientness ( I don't think that is a word but it works) took over. No waiting or searching for anything on clearance. I had some purple ribbon from my scrapbooking stash. I used some fusible web and ironed it on--let me just say EASY and I think my new best friend (besides spray paint)!! I stitched on some cute buttons that I had. I think the whole thing cost me $17.00. 

The last thing I have done in the room....

Bench for the end of their bed (before)



Notice the markings?--yuck! there were dark spots and marker on the top





Here it is all painted up. I primed it first and then painted it a glossy white. It was a chest I picked up at a garage sale years ago. And I mean years-like maybe 5 or 6. I don't even remember how much I  paid for it. Maybe $10.00. Over the years it had gotten a little rough. The paint didn't cover exactly how I wanted it to. I think I should have maybe actually rolled some paint on for this project but it wasn't so bad that I feel the need to re-do it. The front panels are once again scrapbooking paper. One 12x12 sheet cut in half. I spray adehsived the back and stuck it on. 

If you noticed-I do alot of shopping at Wal-Mart (only because there really isn't any other options around here) and garage sales (because I LOVE IT) he-he and I hold onto alot of stuff. Maybe someday I will post pictures of our pole sheds--they are full of stuff!! I am getting better and getting rid of things though :0)

The only thing I think I have left to do for their room is paint their doors-both the entry to their bedroom and the closet door--of course it will be white and I need to paint a chalk board to hang on the front of the door so they can write KEEP OUT on it.  One kid's room down 2 more to go!! I can't wait to get started.

Cute little helper

In my quest to get organized my next BIG project is to tackle my scrapbooking room. It seems to get completely out of control so I need to try and get a handle on things in there. I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a complete downfall for magazines. Not only with the magz themselves but what's inside. As I look through them I tear out the pages. The pages that inspire me, projects I want to accomplish, scrapbook layouts that I need to try, scrapbook tools that I need to buy, pictures of my dream kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, porch...you get the idea. I think this all comes from having a creative mind. There are times that I NEED to create. I crave it.

To get things under control I am taking baby steps and those steps are starting with a cute little helper box I made. This is where I will be putting all of my crafting ideas.  I have 2 magazine holders that I will be putting all my scrapbook page layout ideas in and I will be making a 3-ring binder for all my house inspirations. So lets get to the cute little box. I don't have a big budget to craft with-really I have no crafting budget so anything I can find really really cheap is awesome. Which I think that is what crafting is all about.

Doug was finishing up a project on his dad's house and came across this nifty box. He said, "Will you take this to the trash for me?" "Ummm NO-I will take it right to my scrap room!" Here is what it started out as....

It is just a basic metal file box that was used for taxes. There was a very old label on the front that I tried to get off. I think I used some nail polish remover-which is NOT recommended on paint because after all it is paint and that is what nail polish remover-removes-DUH on my part. No worries though. I new I was going to cover it with paper so it will hide that blemish.  I then got out my trusty spray paint and painted away.

 Once the paint was dry I picked out some scrapbook paper that would coordinate with my room. I cut pieces to fit the front of the box. It was a little too white so I took some brown ink and "dirtied" up the paper. I then took a foam brush and painted on some Mod Podge. Next I took my first piece of paper and laid it on the wet Mod Podge and covered it with another layer of the glue. Be sure to use your fingers and smooth out all the air bubbles. Keep repeating with the remaining paper. I applied 3 coats of Mod Podge--letting each coat dry before applying the next.





I finished it off by tying a bunch of different cute ribbon to the handle! I love the way it turned out. File folders fit perfectly inside there. My next project for it will be to maybe coordinate the file folders with the box.



I am learning that organizing doesn't really have to be that hard and it definitely can be cute!!

Here's What's Workin

So, I have been talkin' in this blog mostly about the chaos I feel and the things that aren't working. But today I think I will mention something that is working. At least I hope it will be working. I posted a comment on FB the other day about how to feed my family. Most of the time there are 6 of us. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other weekend there are 8. Every day after school there are 6 girls and on the days mentioned above there are 7 kids. I was struggling with what to feed everybody. I can't believe how much kids eat when they are growing. Holy Moly Rocky!! Slow Down!!

I have come up with a solution at least for now. I have tried it for the past week and a half to 2 weeks. I have made a menu--duh!! What a simple idea.

Mondays~ I serve a hot dish
Tuesdays~ It is breakfast for dinner
Wednesdays~ Soup and sandwiches--which includes chili-stews-boiled dinner
Thursdays~ It is Italian Night
Fridays~ Fun dinners--pizza, hot dogs, burgers, tacos--you get the idea.
Saturdays~ Grab from the fridge (if there are any leftovers)
Sundays~ The day to cook the nice homemade meat and potato meals.

This has helped tremendously. It has helped me grocery shop, stick to a budget, and just to not feel so overwhelmed.  This is the main reason for trying this ~ the overwhelmed part. I have been trying to get things in order at our house for awhile now. So this is a step in the right direction!!

I try to stick to $50 to a week--which is actually possible!! I have been looking at the ads in the papers and planning meals around what is on sale. I have been looking and saving recipes off of different fast and easy websites-like Pillsbury and Kraft. It is also going to help me get to all those cookbooks that I have collected :0)--which that is a whole other subject!!

What works for you at meal time madness? I would love to have some other ideas to try out.

Birthdays are special-the story of Morgan

2 years ago today my last baby was born. Morgan Denay Wright came and entered our family. She is my last child. Which for some reason to me makes her extra special. Don't get me wrong, ALL my children are loved the same but she is different. I will never have another baby to hold, never have another little one to watch grow. So with her I pay extra attention to the things she does. I am much more observant as the way she grows and learns. She is the only child that I have gotten the opportunity to stay home with. I never thought I would like to be a stay at home mom and now I wish I could have done it with my 3 other girls too. Watching her discover is simply amazing.

She was born September 2nd surrounded by the people that love her. Mom, Dad, Auntie Tania (my sister) and Grandma Vicki (my Mom). Now that was an experience in itself. Normally I wouldn't have ANYONE in the delivery room accept for Daddy. Tania asked if she could come and be there because this was going to be the last baby born into our family for me and for Tania. Same with my Mom-her last grandchild. So why not!!

It was the day before school was to start, 2008. Hailey was complaining of an earache. So off the the ER we went. It was about 8pm. At that time I worked at the hospital that we were "visiting". The nurses and I were joking about when I was due. I said " I still have 2 wks left, but knowing me I will probably go into labor tonight, being tomorrow is the 1st day of school!" Low and behold my water broke!! Right there in the dang ER.  The ER doc came in to check out Hailey's ear and the nurses mentioned that my water had broke-he told me to get to OB right away--no way was I leaving my oldest daughter in the ER by herself. Besides this time was different--you see with all my other babies once my water broke contractions came on like wild fire. This time NOTHING!!

I called Doug and told him to pack a bag and that my freakin water broke--yes while we at the hospital--are you freakin kiddin me was the response I got--NOPE not kiddin! Called my sister, told her that she needed to come to the ER and sit with Hailey because they were making me go to OB. They called the rest.

And there we sat-nothing. No contractions, just dripping water. After hours of waiting around they made me get up and start walking. As I was out for my walk there was a HUGE gush of water. There was a second bag it broke all over the carpeting in the hospital. As I waddled my way back to my room and found my nurse I explained to her that my water broke again. Hmmmm....interesting. In the beginning of my pregnancy they thought that I was having another set of twins. Holy freakin jesus--2 sets of twins. There really is only so much a person can take. Well there were some complications in the beginning-there was still a baby but also an empty sac. Maybe this is the water that broke in the beginning.

After what seemed like and actually was hours of waiting, and a TON of potocin to get things going, 2 epidurals because the 1st one didn't take, our little Morgan was here!! Don't forget while she was trying to be born it was the 1st day of school. So in the mix of everything I had to have my sister get the girl's 1st day of school outfits on them, make sure there hair was done and get them off to school. I missed out--but to give myself a guilt break-I was kind of busy.

On to the after~she definitely did a number on her poor mommy. I started to hemorrhage. OB STAT-OB STAT is being called over the intercom. I remember laying in that bed and with the doctor over me and a nurse putting a cold rag on my head as I was trying to rip off my gown because I was so dang hot. The doctor was pulling things and sticking thing in and out of my body--for crying out loud I just had a baby--things are not feeling so well the way it is!!  2 bags of blood, and a bunch of other drugs later-things finally settled down. A couple extra days stay in the hospital and we were ready to go home. 

She fits into our family quiet nicely. She is the absolute joy of my life. She is a feisty little red head girl that loves to giggle and smile. She has a temper that can't be matched. She has the most pretty blue eyes and pale skin. She loves to play with her babies, gives the best hugs, and when she says, " I lub you momma" it melts my heart. She is my last child and I lub her to!!

TIME!!!!

Wow~it's been along time since I posted last. Sorry for the interruption. It's not that I haven't wanted to sit down and write or for the fact that I haven't had anything to write about because honestly I think I could fill a book on things. It's really is to the fact that there just isn't enough time. Take for example right now. I have been interrupted needed 4 times in the last 2 minutes. Someone needs some milk, someone needs another sandwich, someone needs something!! Which isn't a bad thing, there just needs to be TIME. So I wait, I wait for it to come. Soon the kids will be in school and there will be time (I hope) in the day to get my never ending list of things done. It will soon just be me and Morgan at home so I should be able to accomplish some things. I will be starting on my to do list today-starting it means I will be writing my list today. If time permits!!

My Love of Things!!

Happy Monday everyone-I hope everybody had a fantastic weekend. Today I need to post about my love of things. I have a LOVE for magazines, really a fascination with them. I love to thumb through them and look at all the pictures, recipes, decorating, clothing, make up tips you name it. It started when I was a teenager and I would get all those Teen Bop and Tiger Beat magazines. I then moved on to Seventeen, I would love to look through all the latest fashion tips for girls and only dream of owning all those kinds of clothes. I would especially love the back-to school issues. Just remembering it brings a smile to my face. Since those days I have moved on to a different spectrum of magz. I am not so much into any of the celebrity dish magazines but anything that is home decorating or do it yourself, I am in love with. Scrapbooking magazines are another down fall for me. At one time I think I had a subscription to 5 different scrapbooking magz. Which maybe isn't a ton, but when they all come at the same time it was hard to get through them all. So now they are piled in baskets, and on my dresser, and in my scrapbooking room, and I think there are some in my van. I am down to one scrap magazine now--kind of because the hubby politely asked me and partly because I really don't have time to get through them all. I stll have old issues that I am trying to get through. And when I mean trying to get through - I now look through them pull out any pages that inspire me and either throw the magazine away or give it to a friend.

Some other things I love:

• Fabric
• Paint
• Scrapbooking paper (love it)
• Garage sales
• Habitat for Humanity Stores/thrift stores (they just opened a HFH in our area--YEAH!!!)
• Baskets/pots
• Bowls
• Old chairs
• Picture frames
• Black and White photos
• Leaves (prints or pictures)

These are things that I just gravitate towards. What are your lists of loves?

A gardener I am not!

Thursday Thoughts

So I have come to the conclusion that I am NOT a gardener. I have big dreams of having a thriving garden with lush veggies and then canning all of our goodies but in reality this is not happening AGAIN. I have tried to grow a garden for 2 years now maybe even 3. My sister came over last night and was in my garden harvesting some of the veggies (if you could find them). Honestly I was a tad embarrassed because it is so OVERGROWN. I think that might not even be the right words for it. It looks like a jungle in there. I had mentioned to her my frustration about it and had said that it is just something else that I feel like I am failing at. I just can't get to everything. She basically told me to "lighten up" and quit being so hard on myself. I said to my husband I AM NOT SUPER WOMEN. He's so sweet-he said it doesn't matter if you can't get everything done you are still a super women to me (smile)!!

So I have decided to just poke fun at myself from now on. I think it is going to be the best way to approach this life. After all  this is Life 4 Real.

~Gwen

I am blessed

I have been struggling for the last couple of weeks, maybe even a month now with the way my life is going. It just seems like I have no control over anything. Maybe it is because this is the first time in my life that I do not have a job and I have been thrown into this stay at home mom role. Maybe it is because there are too many people living at our house. A friend of our lost is home and had no where to go so he is living here along with his son. His son is here every Tues, Thurs, and every other weekend. My father in law lives on our property, in a seperate dwelling, my mother in law and her husband live here right now in their RV for the summer. Maybe it is because our 'income property' that we bought (when I had a job) is taking a toll on all of us. It is draining our bank account and Doug's time away from us to get it finished and on the market to sell. Maybe it is because I feel this desire, and need to have everything be a little more simpler. Kind of like a Little House on the Prairie life.

I had mentioned to Doug the other day that I am drained from doing all the dishes and housework and taking care of the kids and cooking and everything that comes along with it. I said " I am NOT cut out for this home-maker job." He said something to me that honestly kind of surprised me. He told me that I should take pride in my job now, more than I did when I was actually working. I thought fooey on you!! Take pride in this. Be proud that my dishes are done, be proud that I cooked a meal. This is something that I HAVE to do EVERYDAY!!

So anyway, yesterday I talked with a girlfriend of mine for about an hour and she helped me figure somethings out. I need to sit back, take a look at everything around me. Find out what I can change and what I can't. I can't change the fact that the house needs to be cleaned so we just do it, we need to eat, we need clean clothes and so on, I can't change the fact that bills need to be paid so we just keep chugging along. I CAN change the way I look at everything around me. So last night as I was laying in bed I thought about my day yesterday and everything that I have been feeling lately and this is what I came up with.

I realized that I am very lucky and I mean VERY to have a home to take care of. Alot of people in our area are losing their houses. We are very fortunate to actually own 3 houses (1 is a rental, the other is our project house, and the house we live in). I am blessed to have all the in laws here because it gives my children the opportunity to see their grandparents everyday and I have to admit it is VERY nice when my mother in law comes over and helps me out when I need it. I am blessed to be able to be home with my children and to take care of my nieces because I get the opportunity to watch them grow. I am blessed that I have a husband that wants to work and wants to work hard to provide for us. I am blessed to have some great girlfriends that I can call when I need a reality check. I am blessed to have a fantastic sister that takes my children when I need a break. So from this day forward I am going to count my blessings and really really try to look at things with a different attitude and keep an open mind about things and try to find the good in every situation. Maybe this will bring me closer to the calm I am looking for, the peaceful, less stressed, simpler, Little House on the Prairie life that I am craving. Count your blessings!

Finally Friday

It is indeed finally Friday! The weekend is upon us-YEAH!! For my "finally Friday" I wanted to share with you my "finally" purchase. I love the look of these letters. You see them everywhere. I have always been on the look out for one. I have probably been eyeing them up for about a year now.  The W, for our last name, Wright. I didn't want one of those paper mache' kind. This is nice, sturdy, and the perfect size. Just want I wanted it to represent for our last name. The best part is I got it for a steal at Kohl's- $4.00 on clearance. You can't beat that. Now I just need to find the perfect accessories to go along with it. Maybe a nice family photo will do the trick.

THURSDAY THOUGHTS

Today I am going to show you a glimpse into Life 4 Real-this is real life at our house. Right now I have 6 girls here and a boy. You would think that they could all find something to occupy themselves-NOPE. Hailey is crying because she got hit in the face, Morgan is crying because she can't find her ba-ba, Kendra is screaming because someone is in her way, Olivia is mad because no one will play with her, Bryce is hiding out because he doesn't want to be involved and Jordyn is crying because Hailey licked her Chess piece. REALLY can you say chaos. A bucnh of beads just fell down the stairs. The dryer buzzer just went off, I found a bill that was suppose to be paid on the 30th of June (oops) it is now almost the 30th of July. It is raining at our house so no one can go outside and play. The kids want to know what we are having for lunch--lunch? I haven't even thought about that yet. All I can do right now is walk back and forth debating on what I should do first.

Maybe I should start with this MOUNTAIN of dishes that need to be done. That way we can actually eat some lunch!!!

Please girls STOP SCREAMING I am coming!

It's a Whirlwind life

A post a week~that's pretty good for right now I think. I would love to be able to post everyday. Maybe when a thought hits me I will do just that. I am still deciding exactly what I want this to be. Project updates, life updates, maybe all of the above.

Today will be a life update just because I have no projects to show as of yet. There are a TON on my list to get done. Olivia's bedroom needs to be painted along with a desk for her and a new bed to be put in her room, new curtains etc. I still need to add some finishing touches to Hannah and Hailey's room. There is a hutch that I would like to repaint and add some wall paper to the doors, a craft room that needs to be reorganized. I have a ton of things that I need to take pictures of and get them on Craig's list. It seems the list goes on forever and right now I don't have the time or energy quiet honestly to get it all done. I am feeling a tad frustrated lately. Our house seems to be closing in on me. I NEED some re-organizing, prioritizing and some good storage solutions. Time to scourer the magazines and the Internet.

I wish I had some wonder women power to magically sweep through my house and get it and keep it clean at all times, the laundry would be done and put it away. The dishes would magically be washed, you get the idea. Actually at times I feel, really something like this...

Stairs I dream about

We live in an old farmhouse. We moved in here about 4-5 years ago. It was Doug's dad house. The house that Doug and his brother's lived in since high school. It still isn't finished. When we moved in it was really not in good shape. With 3 boys and a bachelor living here for all those years-you can imagine. It was dirty and run down. We came in and redid the kithchen-to a livable state at least, moved the bathroom, changed the living room, bedroom and den. The upstairs received 3 new bedrooms and a bathroom. I should say that the upstairs had no electricy. It was all run on old gas pipes through the walls. While everyone was living here the upstairs was NEVER used-only for storage. We totally gutted it and added rooms.

Now, after 4 1/2 years of being here you would think that things would be done already. Nope-there are rooms that still do not have trim on it, doors that do not have handles, a kitchen that desperatley needs a new floor and layout, I would love to have a dining room with an open kitchen concept and on and on.

And then there are the stairs-right now they are covered with carpet remnants, there is no banister, and the landing at the top has a make-shift 2x4 area with a old crib railing attached to it so the kids don't fall over the edge!! It is NOTHING like you would see in House Beautiful or Better Homes and Gardens. But this, this is what they will look like someday....

(Sarah's House/HGTV.CA)

I love that show and everything about it. I love the look of the beadboard down the stairs, the white of the banister, the painted risers, and the numbers are way to charming. Total farmhouse appeal for me!

New Chairs

Happy post 4th of July! So, my intention when I starting blogging was to be able to post everyday. If not everyday than at least every couple days. It has been almost a week-GEEZ! I need to get it together. I guess that is what happens when you have 4 girls you are chasing after everyday!

My oldest daughters (the twins-they are 8) wanted an updated bedroom. Something more "grown-up"--what 8 year old is a grown up? Anyway-we went to the paint store-they picked out a nice lilac. The picture on the paint card showed a bedroom with browns, tans and purple. "I can do this," I said. They wanted it to feel like a 'hotel'. So we are in the process of making their room feel like a hotel. Once I get it all done I will post a final picture. They needed to have a writing desk for each of them. Thanks to my sis she gave me one that they were no longer using and thanks to my FB friends I picked up another one for FREE!! FREE I say!! They are both painted a crisp white--now for some chairs.

This is what I started out with..... My hubby had gotten a bunch of metal folding chairs from his work. They were throwing them out so of course he HAD to take them. I thought, these will be perfect. Originally I wanted to get them some cute wooden, white chairs with some great fabric padding, but I need to work with what we have around the house. I spray painted them a nice lilac color. The paint I had stashed for a different project I was going to do about a year ago and then changed my mind. I covered the seats with a tan striped pillow case. One pillow case covered 2 chairs. I cut down the sides of the case and got out the trusty staple gun. Now, I was in the garage looking for MY staple gun-you know the old fashion kind that you need to put a TON of pressure on to get the staples to go in. It was no where to be found. Hubby had it at our house that we are remodeling. He ran to town and brought me back HIS!! Whoo-hoo an electric staple gun. LOVE IT!!! It made the job so fast. I will always be using that tool. He might have to go and buy a new one for himself.

Once I got the seats covered I reattahced them to the chairs. I thought they needed just a bit more so I used my CriCut and cut out a nice little fancy swirl for the back and a nice monogramed H for the front. I decoupaged them on (two coats) and finished!!

I have a matching flat sheet that will be getting used for their headboard. I will be using an old door from our house in town to be making this!!

All in the family

I have just a couple minutes while all the kids are occupied....All the kids means my 4 plus 4 more!! I wanted to post this awesome window pane that my sister made for my mom a couple of years ago. I would like to make one for each of my girl's bedroom. I think it would be something very special for them.

Saying Hello

So, this is it. I have been officially sucked into the blogging world. I have been following about 20 different blogs so far. Addicting~~you bet!! I am amazed at all the inspiration out there. My mind starts whirling with crafting ideas, remodeling we could do, scrapbook pages I should try. The list goes on and on. Now I just need to find the time and the energy to get it all done.