Liebster Award - Woo Hoo! :)

 

As a newbie blogger, I get super excited with every new follower, comment, and views on my blog.  You can only imagine my excitement when I saw that my friends Ashley AND Shannon nominated me for the Liebster Award.  This award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers (hello!) and means a lot to me because at least I know someone is reading! :)  Thank you, Ashley & Shannon, and congratulations of your own Liebster Awards!

 

The criteria, should you accept this award, is as follows:

• Thank your nominator by linking back to their post.
• Answer 11 questions posed by your nominator.
• Make a list of 11 facts about yourself.
• Nominate 3-5 up and coming bloggers with 200 followers or less.
• Provide a list of 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
• Publish your post and contact your nominees with the awesome news!

11 Questions to Answer (from Ashley):

1. What is your favorite TV show currently on TV? Big Brother

2.  How many children do you want? We always said we wanted three but man, I am tired! We are trusting the Lord to lead us in this decision.

3.  What is something you need everyday? A coke.

4.  Go-to exercise? huh? ;)  Random dance parties in my living room with my guys always gives us a fun work out especially when both boys want to be held while dancing.

5.  Where would you go on vacation if you could go anywhere? Italy or Greece.

6.  Favorite Recipe to make? White Chicken Enchiladas - made last night and they are delish!

7.  If you could pick anyone, who would you want to spend a day with? My mom.  It's been a long time since we have had a day together just the two of us.

8.  Favorite kind of pizza? Spinach & cheese

9.  Favorite all-time movie? Footloose

10.  What is your least favorite household chore? Dishes.  I am super thankful my husband actually enjoys doing them.

11.  What was your favorite pet? Dogs

 

11 Questions to Answer (from Shannon):

1. Cake or cupcakes? Cake

2. Favorite Quote? I love quotes! The one I quote the most is probably "Those who gossip to you will gossip about you."

3. Glass half empty or half full: I have to work really hard to see the glass half full but I try to do so.

4. Favorite recipe: White Chicken Enchiladas

5. If you could buy one thing and not feel guilty about it what would it be and why? I always browse through the purse section at TJ Maxx and it never fails that every purse I like has a price tag of at least $149.99.  If I wouldn't feel absolutely ridiculously guilty I would walk in, pick out a purse, and not even check out the price tag.

6. What's your biggest blog pet peeve? Currently it is that my scheduled posts are not posting but I think I have that figured out now.

7. What makes you most happy? Seeing my children happy and joyful.

8. Favorite place to shop? TJ Maxx

9. Kettle popcorn or movie theater popcorn? Movie theater popcorn, for sure. Delish.

10. Favorite organization or business? Why my own, of course. 

11. Favorite family tradition? At dinner each night we do "High/Low" and each person tells the high of their day and the low of their day.  Of course for the littles we have to change it and just ask them "What was your favorite part of the day?"

 

11 Random facts about me:

1. I am left-handed.

2. My favorite store is TJ Maxx.

3. I love pretty wrapping paper and stationary.

4. I am extremely sensitive.

5. When I eat Hershey's kisses I unwrap two at a time, stick the ends together and put them on the bottom/side of my mouth.  I know it's strange but if I only put one in my mouth I will bite instead of letting it melt.  Hey, you asked for random!

6. I am stressing over Halloween costumes.  Major.

7. I am stressing over Christmas.  Major. ;)

8. I love to yard sale.

9. I get car sick if I am not driving.  I am a control freak to the point of getting sick.  It's ridic.

10. I am a crafter.

11. I  have way too many books that I have been waiting years to read.

 

My nominees are:

1. Heather @ The Patridge Family

2. Elyse @ The BUMP-y Road

3. Bethany @ Hanging with the Huttons

 

Questions for my nominees:

1. What is your favorite song?

2. You have three hours to yourself - what do you do?

3. What is the last book you read?

4. What is your favorite candy?

5. What is the last movie you saw in theaters?

6. What do you love most about yourself?

7. What is your favorite season?

8. When is the last time you had a date night?

9. Are you an early bird or night owl?

10. What is your favorite Bible verse?

11. What is one of your family traditions?

It's cool to be kind.

I have always loved reading quotes.  There's something special about hearing or reading words that explain just the way you feel when you don't have the words to explain it yourself.  When I was younger I had a notebook and I would write down inspirational quotes in it that I found online or got out of books (mostly Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul - I loved those!).  Now that I am older and the quote book was thrown away during my "too cool" phase, I still love to read quotes.  Thank goodness for Pinterest because I have now traded my spiral notebook for a Words to Live by board on Pinterest.  I have a hard time falling asleep at night and I usually end up spending about an hour on Pinterest while I am trying to fall asleep and most of the time I am either looking at pretty fashion that I will never wear or reading quotes.  I reference my Words to Live by board quite often when I need a pick me up or a reminder for a particular situation.  I can actually read through my pinterest board and remember the situations I was going through based on the quotes I pinned. 

 

The other day I got a message from an old friend.  It read in part:

"I noticed your posts on Pinterest and have really been blessed by the confirmations you've been sharing about love and respect....I just wanted to confirm in you today that even the little things you do like pinning a message, are making an impact in one's daily life... at least it does for me."

 

When I pin a quote it is because I can relate to it or it affected me in a very personal way.  I know Pinterest is public but I really never thought about people reading my pins.  I guess it's like this blog - I put it out there but I wonder how many people actually read the posts.  I thought about the message from my friend throughout the day and I realized a couple of things.  One of the things I realized is that it is not weird or strange to let someone know that they are making a difference in your life, even if it is something small like their pins on pinterest.  So many times we wait until it is too late to tell people how we feel about them and I know I rarely thank people for the good things they do.  I have friends who I admire for many different reasons - friends who have inspired me in my motherhood journey, friends who have inspired me in my spiritual journey, and friends who have inspired me simply by the fact that they always seem to be positive and uplifting, a trait that takes work for me.  These friends have no idea that they have inspired me. 

 

I have a friend who posted a picture of her little boys playing in a creek and I thought to myself that she must be such a fun mom.  You better believe the next time we were near some dirty water I let my boys kick their shoes off, stomp in that water, and get dirty.  That is inspiration and that is something that changed the way I parent.  A simple facebook picture changed me.  That's the power that we have in this social media world that we live in and it is amazing, isn't it?

 

I challenge you to reach out to someone today who has inspired you in their everyday life and let them know that the little things do not go unnoticed.  It's cool to be kind. :) 

Midweek Randoms

I am linking up with Megan from In This Wonderful Life again this week for Midweek Randoms. 

• Last night I had to make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and the sky looked so beautiful that I became overwhelmed with emotions.  These crappy iPhone pictures do not even come close to giving it justice.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  Nights like last night make me wonder if this is our view from the earth, can you even begin to imagine what the view from Heaven must be? It is going to be a sight to see, that's for sure.

                  

                  

• My birthday was last week and I had big plans to write a post to my 16 year old self but every time I sit down to write it I get very overwhelmed.  There is certainly a lot I'd like to tell 16 year old Brittany but I can only come up with the first four words.  I pray the rest of the words will come.
• Remember my post about Walker's backpack? It turns out that his new school does not allow them to bring their own backpacks and they use color coded bags instead.  I haven't broken the news to Walker yet.
• My DVR is way backed up and I am currently exhausted and should be snoozing while my boys are doing the same but instead I am catching up on terrible television - first KUWTK and now Sister Wives.
• I think we have found a home church.  We have been attending for about four weeks now and we look forward to going every Sunday and Wednesday. We are thankful that the Lord has led us to this church and we pray that he finds a way to use us and allow us to get involved.

Sunday Social Link Up

 

I am linking up with Ashley for today's Sunday Social.  I so wish I had more pictures on hand and ready to scan in for this post because I honestly love looking at old pictures and I was a pretty cute wee one.  But our house is still in boxes weeks after moving back.  I should really unpack after I blog.  I'll get right on that! :) 

 

1. What do you miss most about being a kid?

The innocence that comes from being young. 

 

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it?

My family called me Brit Brat.  I still have no idea why. ;)

 

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?

People watch.  I loved it then and I love it now.

 

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A journalist.

 

5. Did you participate in any school activities?

In Elementary School I was a patrol (aka Hall Monitor).  At the time I thought it was super cool and got to wear a really awesome orange vest type of thing and tell people to stop running.  Amazing.

 

I cheered in middle school (Sorry, friends!) 

I was pretty active in High School and was a part of the Chelsea High School Marching Band as a member and Captain of the Colorguard.  It was a lot of fun, even when we looked ridiculous (see bottom pic).

 

Sidenote: I was convinced I was fat here.  I want to go back in time and slap some sense into myself.  And also wear more two piece bathing suits.

 

In addition to Color Guard I was a member of lots of clubs and a class officer.

 

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?

When I was 16 I invited a few friends over and in typical high school fashion the "gathering" quickly grew into a party.  Some friends started a fire in my driveway and in an effort to put it out they threw a bale of hay into it which only made it get larger.  Right about that time my mom called and told me that they were on their way home and everyone quickly scattered and left.  My friend Tyler and I were left to put out this huge fire. The outside hose would not reach the fire so we had to run in and out of the house with cooking pots filled with water and throw them on the fire.  My parents didn't notice the charred driveway or ashes everywhere.  Instead my mom's first question was, "Where is my bale of hay?" The next day Tyler and I had to find a bale of hay, stuff it in the backseat of my Pontiac Firebird, and deliver it to my parents.  I don't think I will ever live that down with my family.

DIY Headboard: Reveal

My goal was to have Walker's room completely finished by Monday.  It's Wednesday and I can tell you that it did not happen but it is so close to being done and I can't wait to share the whole room with you once it is complete. This past weekend we worked on his dresser  (you can see that post here) and his bed.  I had planned to build him a pallet bed but after doing some research on the chemicals in pallets I decided not to go that way.  You can do your own research on that topic and decide what's best for you and your family.  I wanted something that was going to last a while so we made a trip to Home Depot and picked up some wood and supplies.  I had planned to do a whole tutorial and annoy my husband by taking step by step pictures to post here but I got a migraine Sunday after church and by the time I woke up my sweet husband had finished the headboard.  Here are the pictures I gave him for my inspiration:

     

(Note: These are NOT my pictures and are pictures I pinned from Pinterest.  If these are your photos, please let me know and I will be glad to give you credit.)

After looking at A LOT of pictures of these types of headboards I found that the ones I liked had two things in common.  The first was the height of the headboard.  I wanted it to be tall enough to really see it even when the bed is made and the pillows are against it.  The second thing is that I wanted it to be framed.  The frame of the headboard gives it a bit of dimension and gives it a neat and completed look.

 

Here is what the headboard looked like before it was finished and stained.  If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw this sneak peek! We did end up cutting the legs about two inches after this picture to get it to the perfect height.

These pictures above are after the sanding, staining, and protective coating.  Can anyone guess what I said to that handyman hottie to make him look at me that way?! :)  I told him I was taking his picture to put on the blog and that is the look I got. And, finally, the big reveal.  I could not be happier with the finished product.  It looks so perfect with his new fire truck bedding.  I think he likes it! His room is really coming together and I hope to be able to show the completed room very soon.

 

Letting Walker Be.

I really thought I had several more years of making every single decision for my three (almost four) year old.  I don't know what gave me that idea especially since Walker has been the most independent strong-willed child since he was born.  I have been trying to find Walker and Wyatt the perfect backpacks for a couple of weeks now and finally decided on Pottery Barn backpacks for them in the same style but in different colors because I like them to coordinate but not match. We were out the other day and stopped by Pottery Barn Kids to look at the backpacks in person.  We walked in and Walker went right up to the backpacks and said, "SNAKES! I want the one with snakes!" I literally cringed.  "Don't you like the one with baseballs?" I asked.  "No! Snakes!" I spent a good 15 minutes pointing out all the other super awesome (and by super awesome I mean momma approved) backpacks in an effort to get him to choose any of them other than the snakes.  I tried and tried to get him to choose the baseball backpack by pointing out the "cool colors" and telling him how much he loves baseballs.  And suddenly my stomach dropped and I became disappointed in my efforts.  What was I doing? He walked right in that store and went right up to the one he liked the best.  His eyes had gotten so wide and his smile was even wider when he saw the backpack with snakes crawling all over it and here I was trying to convince my son that he did not want it when he so obviously did.  We decided to look around at some other stores before buying a backpack and we did not find anything that compared to the quality of the ones we saw at PBK.  We went back to Pottery Barn Kids a few days later and I had planned to run right in and grab the ugly snakes backpack but Walker walked in and went straight to the baseball backpack - "This one. I love baseballs!" My heart sank.  What had I done? He had been so excited about those snakes.  I felt intense guilt that I had made him feel like he was wrong for what he liked. I made him really believe that he wanted the baseball backpack.  I knelt down to him and I told him that he could pick ANY backpack he wanted and I would love it but he had to pick what HE wanted. 

We came home with a snakes backpack and a snakes lunchbox. 

It's hard for me to accept that Walker is growing up and making decisions for himself.  I pray that I do a better job of encouraging him and embracing his choices.  Would I have picked the snakes backpack? Nope, but that doesn't mean that it was the wrong choice.  My children are going to make a lot of choices as they grow that I may not agree with but I want to be the type of parent who supports my children in their decisions even if I do not agree with all of them.  And I want to be the type of parent who lets my children express themselves - even if it's through "scary snakes" as Walker said in the middle of Pottery Barn with his nose squished up and his hands by his face with his fingers wiggling like little snakes and a huge smile on his face.  Because after all, those smiles are what life is really about and whatever makes him smile like that is beautiful to me.

"To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing." -I Peter 3:8-9

Homemade Chalk Paint: Dresser Makeover

I have seen some pretty amazing furniture makeovers using chalk paint and I have pinned them and awed over them hoping they would give me some inspiration to do my own makeover whenever I found the right piece of furniture.  Luckily my mom is always on the lookout and spotted a dresser that someone was throwing out and brought it home.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the dresser.  It is in great shape and I still wonder why someone decided to just toss it but I am thankful they did.  It was the perfect piece for my very first experience with chalk paint.  I looked into purchasing chalk paint but it was pretty expensive and there are lots of homemade recipes out there so I decided to try one (or two) of them out.  Here are the pictures I took before I started:

I found a lot of different recipes online.  Some used Plaster of Paris and others used Unsanded Grout.  I started out using the Unsanded Grout recipe because that is what I found first at Lowe's. 

 

1 Tablespoon Unsanded Grout

1 Tablespoon Water

Mix the above together and then add

1 Cup Flat Latex Paint

Blend well

                                    

                                          

 I followed the instructions I found online but I was sure I was doing it wrong because all of the recipes I found talked about how thick the paint was and how quickly it dried up.  Some of the comments even mentioned the paint hardening into clumps of paint.  My paint looked completely normal and had me thinking I was not doing something right.  So after a few coats I decided that I must have gotten the wrong kind of grout so I headed back to the store to find Plaster of Paris.  I came home and mixed up a new batch using this recipe:

1/2 Cup Plaster of Paris

1/2 Cup Water 

Mix the above together and then add

1 Cup Flat Latex Paint

Blend well

 

This mixture looked just the same - smooth and not thick at all.  I still don't know if I did it correctly or not but I went with it anyway.  A lot of the recipes mentioned how fast it will dry up but I left it in this open container for hours without it drying up at all.  It did not harden in the slightest.  I did have to do A LOT of coats to get it completely covered.  One of the great things about chalk paint is that it does not require sanding or priming.  However, I WOULD recommend sanding if the piece has been previously painted.  If it is solid wood without any paint skip the sanding and priming and get straight to painting!

I had planned to use polyurethane to seal and protect the dresser but after reading about it yellowing in time I decided to go with Minwax Paste Finishing Wax in Natural.  This was easy to find in the paint section right beside the stains.  I followed the directions and used cheesecloth to wipe the wax on the dresser.  By the time I was finished putting the wax on I had used up all my cheesecloth so I used an old cotton burp cloth to rub the wax in and the burp cloth worked much better than the cheesecloth. 

As I was waxing my fingernail snagged a piece of the raised design on the top drawer.  At first I was SUPER bummed because at that point I had been working on the dresser for ten hours and I was ready to be done but when I saw the white peeking through it was like it was just begging to be distressed.  I got the finest sand paper I could find and went along the edges and eventually all over.  The dresser is going in my three year old's new firetruck room (more on that later!) and distressing it will definitely keep this Momma from stressing out every time it gets a knick or scratch because let's face it, three year olds are tough on just about everything!

 

I love the lines and the shape of this dresser.  It has a retro feel that I really like and the curves at the bottom are perfect. After some new hardware and lots of work, someone else's trash definitely became a treasure - thanks Mom! This was my first experience with DIY chalk paint but it definitely will not be my last.  I already have a couple of ideas for my next chalk paint project. Have YOU ever tried chalk paint? What is your favorite recipe? I'd love to see some of your treasures! 

Mid-Week Randoms

I'm linking up with Megan from In This Wonderful Life for some Mid-Week Randoms.

1. This is my very first Link-Up and I am way excited about it.  I saw my friend Bethany linked up and decided to join in on the fun although I am not 100% sure I am doing it correctly.

2. The pest control company is coming today around noon and I should really be getting all these boxes off the floor that are still not unpacked.  I really, really hate unpacking.  I just wish I could snap my fingers and have it all put away nice and neat.  I should also mention that I had this appointment last week and canceled because the house was not ready.  It's still not ready.  Sorry Mr. Bug Man.

3. I'm going to Zumba tonight.  I have only tried Zumba one time and that was a video game in which I failed miserably.  Luckily it was in my own living room and I had no one watching.  I will not be so lucky tonight but remember my effort to be more social? Yeah, that.  Here we go.

4. Yesterday was one of those days where I walked into a store and found a lot of goodies.  I have been looking for the perfect curtains for the bedrooms for a while now.  We are painting and going with lighter colors and all of our curtains were dark brown so I was looking for linen curtains and I finally found them.

5. I am trying to makeover one room at a time.  We are currently working on Walker's room and my goal is to have it completely done by Monday.  That includes new closet doors, painting, building a new bed (yes, I did say building), painting a dresser, and unpacking.  That might seem like a breeze to most of my DIY friends but it is a bit overwhelming for my type A personality. 

6. I am currently in the middle of my favorite Summer show - Big Brother.  I am so obsessed that last night I had a dream that I was in the Big Brother house and spent most of the dream convincing Andy that we need to get Helen out.  I should also mention that I really, REALLY want to lose some weight so that I can go on this show.  Obsessed I tell you.

7. I am currently feeling the "pinterest mom pressure" to create the most awesome gift for my sons teachers when they start MDO this Fall.  Chalkboard planter, mason jar tumbler, flowers, there are so many choices.

Thanks for reading.  This link up was just as fun as I thought it would be.  It was random and pretty much exactly how my brain works jumping from one thought to the next.  Now, time to clean for the Bug Man.

It's been a ____ Summer.

I have typed and re-typed this blog for weeks.  I usually end up staring at the screen and eventually putting it off for another day.  I have been struggling to find the right words.  I'll just go with these:

It's been a _________ Summer.

 



It's been a fun Summer.  We spent April through July living near the beach.  Chris took a job down South in October of 2012 and we finally made it down there to join him in April.  It was fun.  The atmosphere, the change of scenery, and the people were all very fun.  We enjoyed being in a new place where we didn't know anyone and getting to live the life we thought we wanted.

It's been a stressful Summer. Shortly after we moved I realized that I had to get a job to help bring in some income.  Our house in Birmingham was still on the market and now we had a whole other set of bills with our rental house - two monthly mortgages, two water bills, two power bills, etc.  It added up and FAST! I took a waitressing job that I thought would only be a couple of nights a week and it turned into a full time job.   I stayed with the boys during the day until Chris got home at 4:30.  We had just enough time to say hi and bye and I was off to work until midnight or later.  I am thankful for my time at this job for lots of reasons.  The main one is that I was able to contribute to my family and keep us from falling behind.  It felt good to be able to pay our bills even if there was not much left over.  I am thankful for this job because of the people I met.  I have been a stay at home mom since I found out I was pregnant with Walker four years ago.  I was in a Moms group but I stopped going once I became pregnant with Wyatt and I do not have many girl friends. Although I would have rather been at home having dinner with my family each night, I did enjoy interactions with other people that I never would have met otherwise. 

It's been a humbling Summer.  It's a hard thing to admit when you are wrong about something, especially such a BIG thing like moving across the state.  We were so excited to move and get away from everyone and everything.  We had some personal reasons for wanting to get away and some things happened leading up to our move that made us want to leave as soon as possible.  It took us about two months before we looked at each other and said, "What are we doing?" Chris and I didn't feel like it was our home.  We didn't want to make an impulsive decision so in June we decided that we would give it a year, until the next April, and then we would see how we felt.

It's been a scary Summer.  Not very long after we made the decision to give it more time my step-father was in a very bad accident.  We knew nothing about his condition except that we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.  That was the longest drive of my entire life.  We were stuck in traffic at the site of the accident and had to pass what was left of his 18-wheeler, which was not very much.  We arrived at the Burn/Trauma ICU and it was obvious that life had changed for our family dramatically and instantly.  It was then that we knew that we had to get home.  Four hours does not seem like very far away but when something like this happens, it is just too far.  We knew that we needed to be close to our family.

It's been a life changing Summer.  Now that we are back and I am able to reflect on our Summer I can honestly say that it was exactly what we needed. It was exactly what I needed.  I wasn't in a good place when we left and the time away from everyone to be on our own and live life for only ourselves helped us heal, taught us a lot about what we want in our lives and what we do not want.

 There are some changes that we have to make now that we are back and we are wasting no time making them.  One of the major changes is that we are trying desperately to find a home church.  We have wanted to find a church for a long time and now our children are old enough for us to begin our search.  We are re-painting most of the rooms in our house in an effort to brighten it up and hope that lighter, brighter colors will have a positive affect on the overall mood in our house.  We are trying to live more simply and enjoy the small things while living in the moment.  I have personal changes to make as well and I am working hard to surround myself with positive people.  I took a teaching job at a local Mother's Day Out program.  The hours are great, it's only a few days a week, and it will give my boys some time away from momma (and one another) to make friends and learn. I am trying to be more social and say YES more.  I am stepping out of my comfort zone in an effort to socialize - hello, ZUMBA! :) 

We are thankful for our time away because it helped us appreciate the life that we have and I feel beyond blessed to be back home living this life. Although it was only a few months, I can honestly say that our lives today are so much better because of our little Summer at the shore.