Elbow grease

With a little elbow grease this solid wood table

(that I bought at a yard sale for THREE BUCKS)

was stripped of it's chipped and sticky black paint

back to it's birthday suit.

Well, he kept his pants on!

(yes, that is my shoe in the top left corner. I despise shoes, even when working with power tools!)

I loved the table and the price tag but I didn't love the finish. So I went to town sanding away (barefoot and without a mask!) and stopped when it looked like this!

Sprayed some black spray paint on, let it dry, wiped on some poly and it's like a whole new table.

I do realize I don't have an after photo but just imagine the top matching the legs!

Next project, painting a new (to us) bedroom set crisp white!

Boys

Boys

Will

Be

Boys

Stream of Consciousness

I've got a lot to say these days but I just haven't been able to sit down and sort it all out. Some day soon I plan to do a post dedicated to our trip to Michigan to see Ryan! We had a great time and I can't wait to share the details with you! Right now I'm eating pancakes with Nutella (you should really go get yourself some!) and syrup. Was going to avoid the syrup so as not to eat such an unhealthy dinner but oh well! It's all good. I did spare the dreaded sticky stuff on the children's dinner. We all know what a mess that would be with two toddlers! Not to mention the dog with awfully fuzzy and crazy hair!

School started Monday and so far it's been a breeze. I have classes on Monday and Wednesday starting with General Psychology and ending with Math. The math is pretty basic because, well, I stink at math. Stink isn't really the word to use...it's really more like, I suck at math! Yea, that's better. Doesn't sound better but it's more accurate! Both my teachers are pretty awesome. My Psyc teacher is in our Sunday school class and his wife was my geometry teacher in high school! At least I know where I can go for help! On Monday my math teacher taught class without shoes on! Now that's my kind of teacher. Shoes are overrated. Seriously. Well, they are!

While we were out on the water in Michigan I snapped this great picture of Chad. I happen to think it's one of the better pictures I've taken of him. He's just not a good picture taker. Something happens when that flash goes off. His face just goes sour, or he's got the goofiest grin or his eyes are closed. Now that I think about it, Riley pretty much does the same thing. Unless he doesn't know I'm about to click!

(And yes, those are picnic tables in the water!)

Looking at that water makes me just want to lay on the beach and relax. But none of that nonsense is going to happen these days. Partly because we don't live that close to the lake and partly because I have a lot of walking to do just between two classes. I mean, could the buildings be any further apart?! Oh well. It's all good. At least till it's pouring down rain or the snow is three feet deep. Oh who am I kidding, we live in Kentucky. Not sure the last time there was three feet of snow on the ground. At one time anyhoodle!

Overdue

I've waited just under six and a half years for this very moment. Words cannot even begin to describe just how awesome this picture is and what it means to me; so I'm not even going to try.

Check out this awesome GIVEAWAY

I'm not usually a fan of blogging about giveaways but I couldn't pass this one up. I mean, who wouldn't want to win a new Silhouette Machine! This thing ROCKS! Endless fun and ideas right here in this little machine. I had my little heart set on getting a Cricut Expressions and then bam, this thing came out! Hey, maybe I could win one and buy the other?! I gal can dream, right?!

Check out the giveaway over at The Idea Room!

Of white picket fences and tree forts

In the perfect world I would have a little pink house (it's cute trust me!) with a white picket fence trimming the front yard. A huge tree in the backyard with a daddy-made tree fort way up high. A chocolate lab laying in the grass under the tree just waiting for the kids to come back down to play. Two boys and two girls of course.

In the perfect world I would have a spotless house with white slip covered couches and a recliner for Mr. Wonderful, dinner on the table when he came home and a nice, relaxing dinner as a family at the table. A farmhouse table. Just to the left of the kitchen. They boys would share a room painted a grey-ish blue all decorated in a nautical theme and then the girls would have the most whimsical room you could imagine.

In the perfect world Mr. Wonderful and I would walk hand-in-hand everywhere we went. We would write mushy love notes and leave them around the house for the other one to find. We would sit in the hot tub together and have a glass of wine after the kids were all nestled in bed. We would talk about the day we had, about the future, the children, about growing old together and about our next date. A date where we didn't ague over dinner, where we completely and totally enjoyed the company of one another even if no words were spoken. Where we laughed so hard I cried. Where Mr. Wonderful really and truly felt like Mr. Wonderful.

You know, in a perfect world.

But you see, we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world full of stress, work, school, crying children and a toddler right smack dab in the middle of OUR bed. A world where instead of that peaceful dinner on the dining room table there lies a stack of bills that may or may not get paid this week. The clean white slip covers are piles of unfolded laundry waiting for someone to pay attention to them. And that tree house, it's just a pile of lumber behind the garage that's never been built.

And somewhere under the piles and the mess I have become hidden. Hidden from Mr. Wonderful. Hidden from myself. Hidden from my children and most importantly, hidden from God. I have let the cares of the days burry me. Just as the laundry buries the couch and the bills cover the table. Where have I gone? Who have I become? This is far from my perfect world. Am I even in the right house? Will I ever be able to find MY perfect world again? Does it exist?

Across the room I hear the laughter coming from my children as they play. Without a care in the world. They are having so much fun with what they have and here I am. Lonely, crying, depressed. Sitting at the computer typing away, felling sorry for myself. Sorry for my family and my own marriage. Sammy knocks the tower down with a thud. It jolts me. The kids cheer as they see the damage that has been done. Just as the Devil is sitting behind me cheering himself on.

Helping the children pick up the blocks to build it back up again it hits me. I hear that once familiar voice in my ear again. He whispers to me, "I miss you. Come back to me. Sit on my lap and stay for a while. You can cry if you need to. Come and let me wash it all away. Let me wrap my arms around you. I created you and I love you as no one else can. And when you let me love you again the chaos of your world fades and you will see the perfect would that I have created just for you. I never promised it would be easy or exactly the way you dreamt it would be but you have all you need. You just need the right tools to make it right again."

And now I leave you with one of my favorite songs.

Lay Em Down by NEEDTOBREATHE

testing

Riley's birthday is this Sunday and his party will be on Saturday! He is so excited. All he cantalk about are his gifts, what he wants and who's getting what for him. He told us all that his Aunt Cheryle was getting him a basketball goal. I'm pretty sure she got it for him...this boy isn't loved at all!

He requested a race car cake this year. With the cost of his birthday gift from us and with the mindset of keeping things simple I decided to try my hand at making his cake. I've baked before and frosted a few cakes but nothing pretty or fancy by any means. What was I thinking getting myself into this baking disaster.

Like always, I did my research and set out to find the perfect cake to make for the coolest three year old I know. I found pictures and directions on how to make a crazy-8 race track cake. Spent some time reading the directions, going back and forth on just ordering a cake vs making it and then my hubby told me, 'just do it already!'

So I rushed out to Wal Mart and bought my supplies. Stood there quite confused as to what I really needed but in the end I, surprisingly, got exactly what I needed. Sunday afternoon I baked the cakes and mixed the frosting to get just the right color green. Crushed the Oreos, with a jar of spaghetti sauce. It worked quite well till the husband decided to help me crush them up a little more and when he hit the bag the sauce decided it was time to come out of the jar. Good thing just a little escaped because we needed that for dinner. And I was NOT going to the grocery again.

I must say that I'm pretty proud of my cake and the way it turned out. Not only did it look cute but it was super yummy. And three days later, it's STILL yummy. I should know. I'm eating a piece right now!

Can't wait till the big day and to make this cake again f

or the real party!