Thankfulness

My favorite holiday of all is Thanksgiving.  November has always been my favorite month... well, as an adult anyway.  As a child it was December and Christmas.  I love the fact that most of us get time off from work and school to get together with our family & friends and just spend time with each other.  No presents, no big parties, no stress... just time to enjoy each other, time to slow down and get re-acquainted with one another.  The added bonus is all the great food we get to eat.  =]  We allow our busy lives to take over, consume us, and take away precious time and would-be memories.  So November is my month to slow down, be thankful, and enjoy what God has blessed me with.  (I'm still working on letting the rest of the months be more about life and less about stuff).

I am grateful for so many things in my life that God has blessed me with that I don't even deserve:

• A wonderful and loving husband that supports, provides, loves, and takes care of his family.
• A funny teenage son with an awesome, creative imagination that reminds me to laugh, that life can be funny.  Also, that life can be fleeting as he is 3.5 short years away from leaving our home and getting out in the big, wide, world.
• A beautiful, loving pre-teen daughter that doesn't conform to the world but allows herself to be her own person.
• A little guy that has so much energy and charm, that still loves to cuddle and has so much innocence in him.
• A beautiful home where I can surround myself with loving things given to us or created by family.
• Parents that will do anything for me, that instill values in their family, that are still together after 57 years.
• Brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews that number 50+ when we all get together for holidays and birthdays.  There is nothing quite like the roar of the Goins' when we all get together.
• The unity and family fun that is there at any family function we go too, whether it be with the Smith's, the Roger's, or the Goins'.
• Our church home and church family that we are blessed to be a part of for almost 13 years now.  The friendships we have formed in our brothers and sisters are lifetime, loving.
• The many friends, both old and new, close and distant, that make up the bounty of people in our lives.
• So many things I am grateful for, but the thing I am most grateful for is the love of my Savior.  I am glad He chose to send His only Son as a sacrifice to save me from the burning pits of hell even though there is nothing in me that deserves it.

I have so enjoyed seeing the lists of gratitude and thankfulness this month.  My prayer is that we could all see how much we truly have every single day, especially on those days when we feel empty, when we feel like we have nothing.

Hoping you had a blessed Thanksgiving, a time of reflection, surrounded by loved ones.  Wishing you a wonderful Christmas, remembering the greatest present any of us could receive... our dear Savior's birth.

Heading home... where I belong

I headed back home Friday.  I was looking forward to this time alone to get back to my roots.

I can't even explain how much joy there was in my heart as I traveled through my state.  I saw those rolling hills and the familiar roads, towns, creeks, and churches.  I couldn't help but be happy to be home again.

But even in the small towns where you expect things to remain constant, there is change.  I stopped off at a local shop that I loved to visit.  I hadn't been in there in over 10 years.  The older gentleman and I had a brief conversation.  He says "That's the way the world is anymore."  I won't remember what it was like in there now... I will always remember it the way it used to be.

I forget how much my heart longs to be back until I travel that way and I'm confronted with my emotions.  Is it because I'm reminded of simpler times?

No matter how much I have tried, I just can't seem to call Oklahoma "home".  I've made a living there, made a house there, and even raised my kids there.  But my home will always be in Southwest Missouri.

I'm grateful for the closeness I have to my roots.  I'm grateful that I will never forget where me and my family came from.  I'm grateful for the strong family bond that has a legacy of love, unity, and kindness.


I found this Bible verse and I thought it was fitting to this post:


Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
~ Colossians 2:7

A couple of last weekends junking finds

I went out junking last weekend with two of my kids in tow.  I prefer not taking them so I can take my time and look for me.  They always have something to show me or something they want.  But it was either take them or not go.  I only have a couple of pictures for right now.

I picked up these rolling pins.  The big one was $1, the other one was only 25 cents!  I love it because it's different than any I have.  Can anyone tell me why it is made that way?  The guy I bought it off didn't know.  This is when I really miss my grandmas!  I would call them up and ask them about anything on this earth and they would give me an answer, especially about old pieces and home remedies.  Anyway, I was excited to add a couple of rolling pins to my small collection.

The old Cain's spice tin was only 75 cents and it is going on top of one of my spice cabinets in the kitchen.  I love this old broom!  There was a $6 price on it so I picked it up.  As I was looking at the stuff on the table, the lady said that everything on the table was a quarter.  I showed her the $6 price tag and she said it's still a quarter.  Woo Hoo!  =]

The broom is in great shape except for at the top.  I didn't want to cover any of the pretty bristles, so I just cut off the scraggly strands and glued a little homespun at the top.  It's going in my laundry room but right now, it's all decorated for fall so I will have to wait till I change out with the seasons.

I have a few more awesome deals that I picked up but I will show them with the makeovers I do on them.  I so love before & after pics, they are fun!

I know so many have already decorated for Christmas.  I love all the holidays and enjoy decorating for all of them.  But my first love is fall so I will join in at the end of November.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit, I appreciate hearing from you all!  I let my blog reading get three weeks behind... YIKES!  But I'm glad to say that now I'm only one week behind.  =]

Amariah's hot pink & lime green bedroom, part 2

Now on to pictures of Amariah's room.  Curtain and bed before...

I had bought a cheap curtain rod (and I mean CHEAP!) at Wal-mart for a dollar or two and that's why it's bowed in the middle.  It didn't even come with a middle bracket but I thought since the sheers were very light it would be okay... not so as you can see by the dip in the middle.  We bought this cute curtain rod with pink glass balls on the ends at Hobby Lobby on clearance.  Not only did it come with a middle bracket but it's pretty sturdy.

Here is a picture of the dresser and junk, er... stuff before...

We moved it to where the bed used to be.  Now it's just organized junk, er... stuff.

Here is a picture of her vanity and a shelf before.  Her birthday party last January was pink and green so she had to put streamers all over her bedroom. I'm glad she realized it was time for them to go.  It's so hard to let them be independent when you so badly want to say No, don't do that! 

So she took off the streamers and decided it was time to put the dolls and teddy bears away, even though they are special.  We bought the colorful glass bottles at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.  They had so many pretty colors, sizes, and shapes that she had such a hard time deciding!  I told her we can go back and pick up a few more since their glassware is on sale every other week.

Little bookshelf area and Dino, the turtle before...

I talked her into grouping her posters in one spot for a bigger impact.  I like how she positioned them.  We bought a plain white clock at Goodwill and painted it pink.  I think it turned out cute.

We bought two bead curtains at Hobby Lobby on clearance.  One was pink and one was green.  I cut them into 2-strand sections and put them on a cafe rod then hid the rod inside the closet.

A little help here... any ideas on what to do with the cords from the hanging lanterns?  I thought about making cord covers in coordinating colors but maybe it would be easier to have my electrician brother change it out to battery operated lights instead.  Any easy ideas?

So there you have it.  My pre-teenage daughter's bedroom.  Not much in the way of major change, just little make-overs that we performed here and there.  It was fun working together to achieve what she desired.  I prefer the yellow & white, daisy & bumblebee stage but I know this is part of growing up.

No matter how much I want to fight her growing up, I choose to embrace her age and enjoy her at this time in her life for I am grateful for each day here on this earth that I have with my precious daughter.

Amariah's hot pink & lime green bedroom, part 1

Excuse the lighting in the pictures.  I wanted to share what my 11 year old daughter Amariah and I did with her room over fall vacation last month.  The two boys spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa in MO so it was perfect timing for us to concentrate on her room.  We had so much fun doing it too!

We talked about painting the walls hot pink and lime green but we decided all her accents would blend in and wouldn't "pop out".  So the decision was made to keep the walls a neutral color.  Honestly, I was a wee bit disappointed because I thought it would be so much fun to paint with those colors since the rest of my home is neutral and dark colors to go with my primitives and antiques.

This post will be the makeovers of some new/existing pieces and then I'll do another post with the finished room.

She had seen this lamp back in the summer at Hobby Lobby.  When we were in there buying ribbon, trims, and fabric; we noticed that it was 66% off so we couldn't pass it up, right?

It's a very cute lamp but white just doesn't work with her room so we took it off and bought a lime green boa that we cut up and hot glued in its place.  Much better!

Under the lamp picture (with the white boa) is a red fabric covered bulletin board that I bought at 90% off one year after Christmas.  I covered it in a cute yellow gingham back when A's room was yellow & white with daises & bumblebees.  Now we are using it for her next stage, the pre-teen stage of her room.  This is the fabric she picked out for it:

She picked up some cute buttons at Joann's that she wanted to use on the board.  The thrifty shopper that I am training her to be... the buttons are the only thing that we paid full price for.  I already had the ribbon in my crafting stash.  The finished piece:

All the furniture in her room belonged to my husband's grandmother so I'm thrilled that she is getting to grow up with it.  This vanity chair was covered in what appears to be a sheet (some of my FIL's handy work, lol).

A picked out this cute fabric to cover it.  We didn't screw the seat back to the frame yet because we are going to paint her furniture white again.  I hope to start that next week!  Realistically, it'll probably be next spring but I'm gonna try for sooner.  We also bought some really cute hot pink trim with little bead dangles to add right under the seat to dress it up a bit.

One last little makeover to show.  She received this neat board for Christmas last year but it's never matched anything so it's been stuck in the closet.

We took out the fabric covered bulletin part

A picked out some pink polka dot fabric to cover it in and some pretty cute ribbon to stripe it.  Then she added a little wooden piece to the upper corner.  I forgot to get a close-up picture of it.  Now she loves it!

One of my favorite things in her room is her name spelled out on chipboard that a very good friend added scrapbook paper and embellishments to.  Marie did a fantastic job on it and even asked me if she could do it because she wanted to play around.  She wouldn't even let me pay her for any of it.  It's so very sweet and most definitely the focal point of A's room!  Amariah saw that poster and wanted to add it to her room.  The poster and poster frame were 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

I'll be back soon with the rest of her room.  I know... you all are so excited you just can't wait, lol.  We really enjoyed our time together... shopping, eating out, talking, laughing, and even working.

I am grateful that God blessed me with a beautiful, loving daughter.  I see so much of me in her.  I pray for her and her future daily and I hope one of these days I'll be helping her with her daughter's room.  =]