Queen chair makeover

Jerome pretty much told me to mow the yard this morning and I'm glad he did. Gettin movin early in the morning always leads to a productive day. I finally got the zap I needed to tackle this tacky/awesome chair. It was in pretty disgusting shape when I picked it up.

It literally had boogers under one side!!!! Gag me with a roach!! Remember sayin that? ;)

A quick sanding and settling on this blue paint that's pretty much taken over the interior of my house and it was easy breezy from there. I sat out on the porch to work, listening to my husband talk with the neighbors. Our friend Gillard down the street passed away this week and I listened to each of them expressing their love for him.......

I don't belabor the "design" process and try to make quick decisions. I know if a project goes back into the garage it may never return. That helps me in choosing fabrics and such. It also helps that my house is a pretty haphazard explosion of colors. I can't really make it any more tacky than it already is up in this place.........

 

So here's what we turned out.

 A tacky southwestern themed queen chair turned into a tacky southwestern themed chair of another color.

Like turning squash into zucchini......

Summer feels good

Summer's almost two weeks in and I'm not willing it to pass us quickly. I enjoy my children home.

This is after all, where they belong most in the whole world.

I hope to never be one who says "I can't wait for school to start..."

That's kind of equal to saying "I can't wait to empty my life of my children so I can do me."

But now that I've said that all hoity toity you can bet it'll come rollin out of my mouth by the weekend! That's usually how it goes, folks ;)

 The grass is thick and cool.......

 The kids pile in the bed one by one as they awaken, no deadlines loomin over us......

 Spiderman's still keepin the place safe and secure......

 Momma cleared out a space to make room for something special......

  A wise man plants seed in good soil.......

 And a foolish woman teases a friend with selfies in her bed while she's out workin her fanny off.....

 

 It's been a hard few months without my stronger half around. Two jobs keep him as a pop in guest it seems most of the time. I'm a natural introvert and am not prone to loneliness or boredom but I guess I've just grown pretty fond of this guy over the last decade because boy have I been missin his goofy laugh around! But this season will pass one day.............
I'll be here a lot more this summer. Maybe one day this silly blog will be special to my babies.
In that case, I better put our memories down....



Like I have time for this?......

As I'm working fast and hard on some pretty extensive Easter projects for my church, my thoughts are begging to be layed out. Because you know, that's the rational thing to do when you have three weeks worth of work to accomplish in 4 days. Just take a break to blog somethin all rambly....

 Anyhow, I'm just thinkin about how much we can accomplish from heart alone. What I mean is like how you can have so little material to work with, no extra money at your disposal and a small window of time to do it but if it's something you're passionate about you can create some really great stuff. 

Our classrooms are badly in need of a color injection. Framed prints are not cheap so I've bought some dollar store foam boards and recreated some images I liked online.
$2 knockoffs rather than $100 for framed art? 

You betcha!

This is what I was I was working on when I was inspired to take this detour.

Because we don't have a printer, I have to look up fonts online and hand draw them, paint them and then tediously cut them out..... I never enjoy doing this part.

But what a small sacrifice.......

I think about what I could be doing in this exact moment had I said "No" when God called me out. What would I be doing?

 Where would I find myself at this moment?......

Surely not anything like this. Nothing as pure in intent, nothing peaceful and constructive as this.....

Anyone in my life at this moment would have trouble imagining anything harsh for me.

But I know. I was there, you see.....

I feel like everything I do is always down to the wire and by the skin of my teeth. I never have everything I need as far as materials. Never seem to have enough time..... but it just happens.
It's kinda like how the baby doesn't care if the doctor's there or not, it's gonna be born when it needs to. And the momma? 

She's gonna push whether conditions are favorable or not ;)

Geez, what an overly dramatic analogy...

I've once again overcommitted but you know what? 

Just as it's played out dozens of times, I know.

We're gonna make it to the church on time.......

And what a privilege to be called to serve within my passion. The alternative for my life keeps me ever grateful. Even my hands, I do not consider my own........

 or my feet ;)

 

Broken walls and facetime

Hello again.

Today just felt like a good day to put somethin out there.

Just got off the phone with my mom. We haven't spoken in quite some time.

When I saw her number on the screen I felt a deep relief.  We spoke about Mr. Herb Hennekee, who you can read about here and here.  We talked about a bag of vintage brass animals I found in my garage and that was about it. The thing that has stood between us like a bouncer?

We didn't talk about that. And we may never.

But I want my mom back so it's ok for now.

And just like that, I feel like blogging again......

A few things have changed since the New Year. One huge change is the introduction of technology into my hands. My sister and buddy got me an Iphone and it has been a blessing and a curse!

I have not even picked up my camera in months! All my photos are on my phone, which is so convenient but really just missing that real camera quality and attention. It is pretty awesome to have this particular new super power, though......

 

Facetime.

It is guaranteed to up the entertainment on any phone conversation.

If you facetime me, chances are I'll answer in costume.

It's totally bettered my life ;)

And just like that I'm ready to close. Baby steps, people.....baby steps.

But now I feel it comin back :)

Hope you guys are well, I think of you so often.

Truly.



Happy Valentines..........

Happy Valentines, guys :)

I have a whole bunch to get done today and I've kinda thrown in the blogging towel

but I just keep thinkin about something.

And when I can't shake something, I find this is the place where it usually stays put. 

This picture was taken around 2001. I gave it to my guy for Valentine's that year.

This picture and even the frame was a lie.

There was no love between us. Just a real sour soul tie. A whole lotta bitterness, strife, jealousy, control, abuse, disrespect. Everything that Webster's would define as "anti-love".

But we were livin like most folks. We shared a place, shared a bed, shared meals and did life together. It was miserable, but we were together.

We were two people incapable of love. The harder we tried to emulate the world's version of love the more frustrated and heartbroken we became. I know that for me, staying was a way to cling to the one shining ray of love I had ever experienced or given from my selfish and hardened heart....the little girl who I gave life so that she could be life for someone else.

Emily's life was saved by Love. The love of strangers who worked in a pro-life ministry.

Love was in the eyes and voice of the woman whose face I do not remember, who told me things I had never heard. I do not even remember her words.

 But Love spoke something so deep to me that everything I knew when I callously entered that place was now upside down.

I went home and quit my first job. I didn't need that money anymore.

This baby would live and not die.

So much Love was shone on my heart that day that I put everything damaging down. The baby would have a safe place inside me, beyond that I didn't know.

Love opened my eyes to the harsh reality of our lives and gave me resolve to understand she was not ours entirely. I coasted by on the residue of the love that I felt in that place of ministry and hid myself away from the influence of my former life. When there were merely weeks left until her birth, we were contacted by a woman who "knew somebody".

And with Love, I handed her off......

And Jerome and I had nothing between us but that one act of love.

We stayed together and eventually married. But that one act of love couldn't sustain two hardened hearts and we dissolved. More like exploded. Over everything and everybody.

We were both shattered people, wandering and hurting from so much loss. Utterly disappointed with how empty our lives were and faced with the truth that we destroyed and abandoned every thing eventually. And in our separation and estrangement over two years we both experienced a touch from Love again.

But this time it was not just the residue of someone else's real love. We came face to face with God, whose very nature is love and even calls himself Love. We trusted him, this God who was nothing but a mockery, a rule maker, a taskmaster and at most times a non-issue in our circle.

And how did he ever come through!

 

 We now have a real marriage. We still have moments of bitterness, strife, jealousy, disrespect and all that ugly stuff. We're all selfish by nature. But now we have a revelation of true love.

It doesn't quit. It doesn't stay offended. It doesn't force it's way.

It yields it's rights. It forgives. It perseveres!

Love never fails.

 

Oh yeah.

And Love redeems.

Happy Valentines Day.
:)

Free pizza is sometimes awkward.

Hey guys !

I didn't miss blogging for a bit. Until I found out that The Geek had rolled out a brand new blog out of nowhere! Here I was just assuming he was hibernating through this crazy weather seeing as he lives at the tippy top of America but he was totally morphing into a butterfly over there. I bet he was a cute pupa ;)
But seriously, it gave me a fresh buzz for this stuff.

January will pretty much go on undocumented but like they say, "If something happens without being blogged about does it even make a sound?"



 

So today was gorgeous and sunny so we grabbed the free kid meal coupons I'd been saving for a special occasion (I've come to the conclusion that those "occasions" never arrive and we end up throwin those deals in the trash once they expire. So just use it!)

But I didn't really think it through and it was pretty awkward assuring and reassuring the nice young waiter that No, I was fine and I wouldn't be ordering. Jerome warned me that it would be embarrassing to use those vouchers without ordering a meal for myself!  It was so awkward that I colored on Gabe's little menu sheet the whole time they ate, ha ha!

Has anyone else been such a cheapskate??

It was a beautiful day though, ya know? I like getting older. I like the fact that my kids and my friendship with Jerome are all I really need. I like being content with not having everything I want.

I hate lemonade but I like makin it.

Missed you guys and gals!

P.S.

I'm sorry for not responding to comments for a good while. That's pretty lame of me, I know :/

Here's to better communication in 2014 ;)

 



Hero stuff

So I'm set on paring down my internet use for the first month of the new year  and I mentioned it a few times. I was careful to give myself a little leeway with "possible" blog updates and email. And I'm glad I did because I need to say stuff.

Jerome came home from work last night and told me somethin that really hasn't sunk in until just now as I was takin a shower.....

He was headed to his evening job on the freeway. He said that everyone suddenly hit the brakes and almost came to a stop. He went up just a little ways and saw an SUV flipped over against the guardrail with smoke and fire comin from under the hood. He parked far enough away from the car to be out of the clear in case of an explosion and ran back. He passed a lady who had also pulled over and was crying on her phone so he knew that assistance was bein called for and just kept going.

He reached the car as two other men did and as they stooped to look for the driver he saw car seats in the back. He crawled through the broken back window and didn't see any kids. He asked the young man if he had children with him but he was afraid the man was too disoriented to trust his answer. He crawled into the very back of the SUV to see if by any chance a child had been tossed back. 

When he saw no one he scrambled out and helped the other two guys carry the man away from the  burning car. He noticed that the man's leg looked broken and out of place. As they set him down they could hear sirens approaching and he knew that help would be there very soon.

And then he ran back to his blazer.

He was about to be late for work.

 ......................................

I know, right?!

Like, who are you Jerome? Really, who ARE you??

I kept pressing him for every detail last night, I just needed more. I wanted to know everything!

And he answered me but he didn't answer me like Cosmo Kramer. I would have totally been Kramer if that were me. I asked him if he thought about the possibility of the car exploding with him inside. He said "Of course, when I got halfway there. I didn't want to go in either. But I saw car seats"......... I asked him if it was even amazing to him and he told me very matter of fact it was the greatest thing he ever did for someone.

 But he didn't expound. 

And today he realized that he had tiny slivers of glass in his hands. After working an evening shift at one job and then half the day at another.....

I really don't think the people who know us really get this guy. 

I really don't think that I know what I have.
When it was all kinda sinkin in tonight (the shower is the one moment of uninterrupted thought processing for most parents) I started to cry a little. What if that car had exploded?
He had thought of it, as well. Anyone would have thought it.
I can't imagine anything without his presence. He's just what I know, he's part of me. He's been the biggest presence in my life since I was 16. How does anyone carry on after losing a spouse? I cannot even go there and imagine it....... I'm thankful. So thankful. And proud. Very, very proud.

And no, the Huey's haven't jumped the shark.
We have a thousand more outstanding adventures ahead of us yet. ;)