Story Time

Story Time: What inevitably happens when Zach Clark is around.
We I was making dinner and Dakota started barking (which is rare) at the door. Turns out Zach was out on the front porch. He was out for a walk and stopped by so we talked him into staying for dinner (yes it was hard to convince him.... or not).
Anyway, Zach is my longtime enemy friend from home. We have known each other forever and were even roommates in college and now we live in the same town again. We love him. And he loves me. Even though he signed our wedding quilt like this:

He treats me about as well as he treats his sister. Which is about right, because he loves us both so much.

Anyway, whenever Zach is around it turns into story time. Tonight was no exception. We'll miss him when he moves. He better come visit lots the next couple of months.

Oh... and that is the Asian Honey Mustard dressing from Tastefully Simple. Let me know if you'd like to buy some!
Yes, that was a shameless plug.
http://www.tastefullysimple.com/Cultures/en-US/Products/AsianHoneyMustardDressing721209.htm?CatalogNavigationBreadCrumbs=ClientCatalog%3bSpringSummerProducts&ShowTop=true

Thanksday

Thanksday [thangkz dey] -noun

:day following 40+ hours in bed AND 8+ hours of couch time. During most of which time my head hurt too bad to open my eyes (read: sinus pressure, also read: no computer, tv, blackberry, book, or Bible). Leaving lots of time to worry pray. And reflect. And be Thankful.

Thanksday: My version of the Thankful Thursday.

I have much for which to be Thankful for. My amazing husband (whom I found out this week, takes the dog out in the event that everyone in the household is sick), my niece and nephews (I LOVE being an aunt), my family (yup, all of them), my dog, my amazing friends, our health (in general, not this week specifically), our home, and so much more.

I've been wanting to start a blessings jar for awhile now and just haven't.... yes, I want it to match my kitchen decor if it is going to be sitting on my kitchen counter.

So instead of waiting for the jar search to come to an end... I'll start recording my specific blessings instead.

Today, I am thankful for Ang's facebook updates (Yup, she definitely needs to tweet them!).
They are juplifting. mmm... Perhaps a new word for the Hickstionary... Just Uplifting.. Juplifting.

(Yes, I know the red squiggles don't like the Hickstionary)

Friday

Good Friday, actually.
This is going to sound really odd.... mostly because I have been a Christian for as long as I can remember and I was baptized when I was 12. And of course have always celebrated Easter.

But this is the first year I really get it.
I mean really. truly. GET it.

I always "understood" Good Friday (but never really got what was so good about it).
The church we've been attending (yes, we are still looking for a home but like this one in the meantime....) celebrated Good Friday with a passover. (I was skeptical about it as well... but I looked to my Bible (and google) and am okay with it..http://www.gotquestions.org/Christians-celebrate-Passover.html).

And after the passover, he talked about the cross. Really talked about the cross. I, as usual, was carefully listening for any discrepancies between his version and the Bible's version.... the only one I feel is worth pointing out for anyone that was there... is that Jesus KNEW Peter would deny him (of course He knew) and told him he would do so three times before the rooster crows. So this was not a shock to Jesus. But I think his point was that it still stings. And that, I'm sure, is true.

I digress.

Anyway, he really talked about the cross. And I finally GOT it. The pain, the hurt, the sting, the beautiful, the wonderful, the saving cross.

Work has hurt really bad lately. It hurts to walk in the door. It stings to look at certain people in the building. It pains me to look at children and know I am powerless in keeping them safe.

But Jesus understands (of course He does).

He knows the pain. The hurt. The sting.

And that is beautiful. Wonderful.

That is the saving cross.

And my cross is easier to bear.

Because of Him.

I pray that you will have a beautiful, wonderful, blessed Easter with your family this weekend. I plan to have one with mine. Thanks to Him.

Ambunxious

My students today were awesome. Yesterday was a crummy day at work.... to say the least. I had tons of students come up to me today to see if I was okay. During class, one group told me they were going to be extra ambunxious for me today. Not sure if that is more rambunctious than ambitious but they were definitely awesome today (and every other day for that matter). I love those guys! All 337 raging hormone filled one of them.

Shinola

Tonight was the 2nd annual Leon Trivia Contest. Once again, we did not win. We are sick of being the 1st place losers. Turns out we don't know our shinola after all. However, lots of money was raised for breast cancer. But we still lost. And we are sore losers.

Stimulus

Rusty & I just got back from doing our part to stimulate the economy.... We are pretty confident that GAP and a few other stores will be safe for awhile longer after our purchases. While we I spent way too much money on clothes/shoes/accessories.... I did manage to find a few house finds as well! Here are a couple updates we made..... yes, I managed to pull Rusty away from basketball for a few minutes to help!I have been looking for an area rug since before we finished building the house. It was not a successful hunt. We found this rug for super cheap at IKEA and decided it was better than nothing and IF I do happen to find one I like in the near future, I've already gotten my monies worth. The table is a similar purchase ($12.. and I painted it the same color as our dining room wall) for the same reason. It is more difficult to find a 30 x 30 coffee table than one might think. (Sarah- I looked for a trunk and couldn't find one the right size!) I did make a trip to Home Goods. Found a clock and some napkins..both on clearance! The new napkins motivated me to finally sew together the table runner.. I had the cloth sitting on the table for several weeks now... And while I was crafting I decided to finish my chalk board and picture board and got them hung up as well! And one more purchase I'm excited about... We finally have plastic plates (and other stuff) for when the kidlins come visit! Another IKEA find for super cheap. I never thought I'd say this... but I'm finally an IKEA fan....
We had a great time on our trip up north but decided that in the end it probably would have been cheaper to buy a plane ticket to someplace warm and lay at a beach all week! Next year is looking bright! ;)

Winner....

....Winner, Popcorn Dinner!

Congratulations to the Little Cyclones for winning the state basketball championship game tonight. Rusty's school won the girls (last week) and my school won the boys. We are proud of them!
I didn't take any pictures.... but HB had several dunks... I lost track after 5...
Since I didn't get any pictures of HB dunking..... here is another amazing dunk... ha.

Windows of Opportunity

Updated: Kelly's Show Us Your Life this week is Show Us What You Make. Everyone is showing their at home business. Fun!
I don't (yet) have an at home business, but I love to attempt crafts. I do a lot, but this is one people always tell me I should sell (especially the est. in ones). I don't plan on selling them, but you might want to! So for everyone looking for one more idea... Here's something easy to do with windows!



Original Post:
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Newly married and short on cash flow (we're both school teachers), I wanted to decorate but didn't have much to decorate with. My father-in-law is a window man and turns out, had a lot of old windows laying around. Those could be used for something..... The wheels started to turn.

Fast forward a couple years and the windows were used, and used, and used. Here are a few ways to use them:
I started out making Family Names est in... windows for friends getting married. I didn't take any pictures of any of them but did steal this photo off of the Brown's facebook page. You can see the window above their fireplace and doesn't she look adorable??

I never made an Est. window for our own home, instead we have our last initial above our fireplace.
We also have this window hanging in our home (above a guest bed). It is the scripture used at our wedding and hung in the front of the church.


Want a window that you can change the message on? Just paint it with chalkboard paint instead!

The magnet board may be my favorite way to use the old windows. I first made one because I had a beautifully painted "Merry Christmas" window leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. My every so jolly goldendoodle bounced right into and shattered the glass. Not wanting to waste the red crackled frame, I put in a tin sheet and presto, instant Christmas card holder. Or year round photo holder. Or Birthday display board. Or... 'you decide what to put on it' holder (Note the ever changing chalkboard window).



The windows of opportunity are vast. Oooh and it's so "green." ;)

Matthew 6:26

MyDecoratingStyle.....

...is 50% Modern Elegance, 50% Traditional Country according to Sproost.com... of course that would be assuming we actually spent money on decorating! I LOVED our house at Christmas time once we finally got all of our decorations up (read: the day after Christmas when we hit up the Target sales. Yes I put them up for a week..don't you judge me)... and once we took them down it looked bare again. Now Rusty is really bugging encouraging me to put the snowmen away... of course that will leave our house even more bare.
As of 11:30 am today my "spring break" officially started. Last year at this time, we were packing our bags for Hawaii... this year, we are getting ready to head up to MN to visit friends/family....brr.... (But not bad considering our spring break fund$ is going towards house projects)
Anyhow.... my post was not planned to complain about spring break.... or lack of.... but to point out that we are I am spending some of my MN time to do some shopping.... hopefully for the house!
On my wish list: area rug, coffee table, wall clock, bench, book case, wall art, pillows (yes really), etc. etc.
This is what we are working with...

Any inspiration for me???

And because instead of sulking about going somewhere cold for spring break.. I'm going to praise God for the memories of a warm spring break... here is a memory: