RED Dining Room Wall and Vintage RED Chairs

Ever since I was a teenager and started day-dreaming about my own home (yes, that is what I thought about when I was a teenager, being a homemaker!), I wanted a RED dining room. When we moved into our home late last summer, my dream finally came true. The dining room wall was a mustard orange/yellow color sponged on the wall. It looked neat but not my color or style, it was one of the first walls I painted.

Before

After

I also wanted to share the three pictures on our dining room wall, by Warren Kimble, one of my favorite artists. I love his vintage charm, sometimes I think I was born at the wrong time! His pictures remind me of simpler times and often have lots of RED in them.

One of my favorites, an old school house


Now that we actually have a dining room when needed a table. We were blessed by our neighbors giving us a table that seats ten. The only catch, it didn't come with chairs. At some point I've seen in Country Living Magazine (my favorite magazine, SO inspiring!) a table with mixed/matched chairs and I really liked it. I was delighted when I found four very old chairs at a yard sale last summer for only $5 each. Two are black and two are RED. The RED chairs do need some love! I've decided to leave the old chipping paint but am going to spray a clear coat over the top to prevent further cracking. This summer I'll be on the look out for more old chairs to add to the set.



Today I'm linking up to Rednesday over at It's A Very Cherry World and Vintage Thingies Thursday at The Colorado Lady. Be sure to hop on over and visit the other participants!

Build Your Own Pizza Night

Every Friday at our house is Kid Friendly Dinner Night. A couple months ago I realized that we rarely have "kid" at our house and since Friday night is family night I started planning some of the girls' favorites for dinner on Fridays. One meal the whole family really enjoys "build your own pizza" night. It has become a family tradition, we do it about once a month. I get a variety of pizza toppings, daddy and the girls love pepperoni, I go for artichokes, pesto and tomotoes. I make crust (Pillsbury has a great dough mix for crust), we top our pizzas, bake and typically enjoy them while watching a movie.

Big Vintage Jar

It is Vintage Thingies Thursday over at The Colorado Lady and today I am sharing about a really big Vintage jar I got at an estate sale last Friday. It was only $5! I've been wanting a big jar to use for ice tea or lemonade this summer. I was so excited when I saw it and even more excited that I could afford to buy it! :-) Now I just need a big ladle, maybe I'll find one this Friday.



I'm not sure what it's original use was or where it was made. There are no markings. My mom suggested it might be an old pickle jar? Perhaps...

Happy Vintage Thingies Thursday and be sure to hop on over to The Colorado Lady to see more Vintage Treasures.

Get me daddy!

A game of chase with Daddy and his girls




Be sure to visit The Miller Racing Family for other Wordless Wednesday participants.

Happy Wednesday!

A Tussie Mussie Swap

In April I participated in a Tussie Mussie Swap at A Swap For All Season. My packaged arrived just before May and it was a BIG SURPRISE! My swap partner Mimi over @ Dandelion Wishes is SO talented AND SO generous!! I was amazed at what she created for me AND my girls. The girls were also happy to receive a treasure in the mail. Mimi did a wonderful job of figuring out my likes, I LOVE everything! THANK YOU again! :-)

The Tussie Mussie, beautifully created from fabric, ribbon, lace and buttons.

A sweet birdie to add to my budding collection...

The girls' gifts came with these beautiful hand-stamped tags...


A birdie book mark that Mimi soldered!

Grace with her "G" necklace, the "G" is a Scrabble piece. Also soldered by Mimi. Grace loves it!

Jilian with a birdie banner for her room. When I showed it to her, she said "Ahh, pretty." The banner now hangs in her room. I've been working on re-doing Jilian's room but am not done yet. When I am, I'll be sure to post a complete picture of the banner, it is beautiful. Until then here are some sneak peeks.


Vintage cards and postcards...

A RED vintage children's book, LOVE it! It now sits with my other RED vintage books.

Menu planning has changed my life!

A few months I got this calendar at Michael's for a $1. It has magnets on the back so I can keep it safe on the refrigerator. I write out the meals for the week and at the end of each week I tear off the old sheet (which I turn over and write my new grocery list) to reveal a new calendar. The little "To do" spot comes in handy to remind myself to pray throughout the week or to spend time with God.


I used to sort of do meal planning, think of a few meals, buy the ingredients, then forget what I wanted to make or which cookbook the recipe was in! Many of times I found myself standing in the kitchen looking in the refrigerator or pantry, wondering "what in the world do I want to make for dinner?! It is 5:30 and the family is hungry!"

I also used to grocery shop on Thursdays (when I was in graduate school it was the best day to do it) but I'm not in school anymore and it was kind of an awkward day as far as planning a menu for the week. I moved menu planning and grocery shopping to Mondays and it works great! I use my handy calendar to plan out meals for the week, search the pantry and refrigerator for what I already have, write a list and clip my coupons. It has saved me a lot of time AND stress!

My friend Heidi gave me the greatest idea. Each day of the week is a different type of food. For example, Mexican food is on Mondays, Asian food is on Tuesdays, Wednesday is Italian, Thursdays is crock-pot day (we don't get home from Grace's ballet until 6:30pm). I added the idea of Friday being "Kid Friendly" dinner night. So, every Friday night we eat what kids love to eat, build your own pizza, hot dog roll ups, grilled cheese etc. It gives me a break at the end of the week to make a simple meal and the kids get to have something they love, all week long they they have to eat "grown-up" food. Creating food categories is a great way to narrow down the long list of possibilities of what to make for dinner.

If you don't already plan your meals for the week, I highly recommend you start. It seriously has changed my life and lowered my stress level, at least in this area of keeping the home. Now if I can figure out the laundry!!

Be sure to visit We Are That Family for some tips and tricks!

Scrapbook Layouts

Two weekends ago already (where does time go?!?!) I got to spend the weekend with friends, chatting, eating and CREATING! Over the weekend I got about 10 scrapbook pages made, most for Jilian's scrapbook. I wanted to share a few and participate in some *new* (to me) linky parties. Enjoy!

In Honor of Mother's Day!

I just finished this brief article for our last MOPS newsletter until September and actually my last contribution as MOPS Coordinator. I have been led to step down as coordinator. I am sad about it but know it is the right move at this point. I'm kind of excited to see what God has for me next! Anyways, back to the article, I wanted to share it with you, the Mothers out there! Happy Mother's Day!

A Higher Calling
Titus 2 beginning in verse 4 "....so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home…."

Would you believe it if I told you that you have been appointed a Mother? That the role of Mom is a High Calling appointed by God alone? That He, the Creator of all things, has you right where He wants you to be, with your precious child(ren)? He has created them just as He would like them to be and He has chosen you to be there Mom. Sounds kind of crazy, doesn’t it? When we are up to our eyebrows in dirty diapers (kind of a gross thought!), tantrums, mealtime, sleepless nights, grocery shopping, the day to day of raising children. It is hard to believe that what we are doing is, in fact, a High Calling.

Each on of us has been created to be “Mom”. How do I know this, because we all have at least one child, therefore Motherhood is part of God’s plan for our lives. Being a mom looks different for each one of us. We may work outside of the home or strictly inside the home, we may hate to cook or love to create, no two moms are alike and there is no perfect description of “Mom”. Regardless of what Motherhood looks like for you. God has entrusted each one of us with our children. You have a special calling to prepare your children for the future, to rear them in God’s ways and to prepare them for His purpose in their lives.

I challenge you to look beyond the daily living to the future, to the adults your children will become. Recognize and marvel at the influence you have in their lives. Do not pressure yourself to do it “right” or to just get through it. Instead delight in them. Take joy in them. Be intentional with your children.

Now by this point you are probably thinking, “well, this is all fine and dandy but being a mom is not always fun, sometimes I just don’t like it at all!” You are right; Motherhood is not for the weak! There are times (lots of times!) I want to run fast in the other direction with my suitcase! However, do not allow the enemy to creep in with lies about who you are as a Mother or that what you are doing is insignificant. Instead try to remind yourself in the hard moments that you are significant and that what you are doing has value and in fact influences the world for generations to come.