This -n- That

1. I've had my Easter mantle up for a couple of weeks. This year I decided to make light blue my accent color. All of the candlesticks are goodwill, yardsale, or clearance items that were UGLY. Another reason to love spray paint!

2. It has been triple coupon week in NC and I've already been twice. My 1st visit brought my bill from $70 to $20; and $78 to $36 for my second visit. Holla!

3. We have neighborhood dogs that just about turned this quiet homemaker into Annie Oakley a few nights ago. This momma needs her sleep.

4. When said dogs barked from 3:00am until I couldn't stand it any more, I gave up and got up at 5:20, headed to the local bar (ista) for a drink (peppermint mocha), and took my frustration out on the grocery cart. 6a.m. is a great time to shop. The only other people in the store were 2 other crazy couponers and the stockboys. And from their over-friendly smiles, they don't get much business that hour of the day.

5. Springtime in NC is gorgeous, but we only have about a two week window between when the temperatures are perfect and the bane of every allergy-prone person shows up: pine pollen. We have enjoyed weather utopia here this week. 73 degrees in the day and 53 temps at night. Perfect for sleeping with the windows open. Except for obnoxious canines ruining the euphoria.

6. Last week the teacher (moi) hit a wall when it came to enthusiasm for lessons. I think spring fever might have been the culprit. This week we've taken the classroom outdoors several days and I overcame the wall.

7. The Lord must have known I needed a little boost, because He blessed me twice this week as a teacher/mom. 1.)My youngest picked up a book and read it to me on his own. I think I heard angels singing. 2.) My middle child chose to read her chapter book rather than play with her siblings. No assignment. No request from mom. She just read! Some of you might have children that constantly have their nose in a book, and I'm trying not to be jealous. I LOVE to read, so it has been a slight irritation that my children haven't followed suit. This week was a little light in the dark, a glimpse of what might be. I'm hoping...

8. I killed 2 animals yesterday. Notice how I just kinda slipped that in like it is a normal everyday activity? We have kamikaze squirrels around here, and one decided that my car looked like the perfect target. I won.

The other was a ginormous black snake. I know they are supposed to be harmless, but it was scaly and I was skeerd. My car was bigger, so I won. again.

Did I mention we killed a copperhead in our backyard last week? Umm... it's only March. I'm already afraid of what summer will bring to the NEM plantation.

9. I hate basketball. I might have mentioned this before, but since we're in the middle of March Madness, I'll reiterate.

10. I made a hair appointment (cue the choir sining). For most of you this is a normal activity, but this was a BIG deal for me for a couple of reasons. One, I may have had a bad breakup with my former stylist. I was being very generous in our relationship. I mean, I got over his infatuation with Elvis, dealt with his alternative lifestyle, and showed grace when he botched my do. By the third botch, I decided I could no longer give him money to wash my hair and cut it in a way that I would go home and immediately re-cut it. I do have standards.

The second reason a haircut appointment is such a big deal is that I haven't had a haircut since last March. I've been growing my hair out (the victim of the breakup) for a year. I've given myself some trims, but I am beyond excited about getting some hairapy.

Enjoy the weekend, friends!!!

We Met HER

Last fall we heard that the new Broadway musical "Little House on the Prairie" was coming to our state. I knew my girls would be thrilled about it. Then I heard who was going to be in it:
Melissa Gilbert, as in the cute little freckle-faced girl who played alongside the late Michael Landon in my FAVORITE tv series of all time.

"Mimi" was so generous to order us tickets, knowing how her grands play L.H.P. constantly.

What she didn't tell us was that the tickets were on the 3rd row, front and center!!!

I'll go ahead and confess that when "Ma" walked across the stage, I shed a tear or two. This was someone I've watched/admired since I was a little girl and there she was in person! The show was fabulous. A few of the songs were a little I-have-lines-but-we'll-put-them-to-music, but overall, it was superb: clean, funny, historical.

As we were standing to leave, a little boy approached my mother and asked her if my children were homeschoolers. I was a little paranoid at first, wondering if we were starting to "look" like homeschoolers. :) But this was a time I would have donned a jumper and birthed a few more offspring right there in the auditorium when he said "they are having a Q&A time with the cast for homeschoolers." Expecting it to be supporting cast, I was blown away when SHE stepped on stage:
Hello Melissa (we're on a 1st name basis, ya know), how's Bruce? She's married to Bruce Boxlitner from the 80's Friday evening hit Scarcrow and Mrs. King, fyi. Her 4th/youngest son plays the role of "Willie" and they were adorable sitting together. All touchy-feely and laughing. I expected her to be a little Hollywood-aloof, but she totally proved me wrong. She was very warm, kind, and approachable.

I just couldn't get past her hair. It was GORGEOUS. Now I know why the makers of Wen hair products asked her to be their infomercial spokesperson. Beautiful tresses!

One thing that did surprise me was the combination of Uggs and capris. I thought that was a fashion no-no. But what do I know? I've got stars in my eyes.

The Perfect Cookie

Snickerdoodles

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 Tbs. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, and stir in remaining flour.

*Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour. Or place in freezer (in metal bowl) for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375.

Combine the 4 tablespoons sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.

Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are beautifully golden.

They come out in perfect, beautiful circles!

Master Bedroom:: Before/After

When we built our home 8 years ago I made a paint mistake. Unfortunately, it was in our master bedroom. I should have known it might be the wrong color when my husband called me and said, "You do realize that our bedroom is the color of Mt. Dew, right?" Oops. By the time I could drive out to check on the painters, it was too late. For several years I tried to work with it, using various bedding/curtains. There was no getting around the fact that the paint GLOWED.
We tried to tame it down with browns, lighten it up with blues, but nothing worked.
I snapped these "before" pictures right before we moved everything to the center of the room to paint. I know it looks more minty green, but trust me it was green on caffeine.

I wanted something serene, light, airy, and CALM.

We chose Urban Mist by Behr (Home Depot):
It looked really light on the card, but as you can see, it definitely has a soft blue/gray undertone. Read about the headboard here. As for the bedding, I was always afraid of white with kids-n-such, but I've come to LOVE white because bleach is my new best friend. It always looks crisp and clean. When I was in Europe, I fell in love with their bedding ideas. On a king size bed, we use 2 twin down-alternative comforters.
Even though we have a slight obsession with moving furniture, we had never moved the furniture in our room. Change is good. I feel like we have a whole new room ... a haven. Which is why there isn't much on the walls. After so much (color) chaos, I wanted to keep it simple.
You know I love to be frugal, here are some ways we saved $$.

Used the same furniture.

Built our own headboard.

Used the same lamps. (Spray painted and added fringe on the one above)
Used items from around the house. (above)

Printed the picture (below) from the internet and put it in a frame.

Some of you asked in this post about pictures. Yes, we do have pictures of our kids in our room. While I like the idea of only having photos of you and your spouse ... I mean me and my spouse... in the master bedroom, I just haven't taken the time to find that many photos of just us.

Spontaneous

I have a dear friend who owns the word SPONTANEOUS. I love her for that. She called me on Monday and asked if I wanted to take a day trip on Tuesday. I loved her even more because she told me we could make it educational and my kids have been asking for a field trip.

Doncha think the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola is educational???

I've been off caffeine for almost a whole year (except for the peppermint mocha that was an oops I forgot to say decaf that rendered me hyper until 2 a.m. the night before our road trip), and I rarely drink carbonated drinks, but when in Rome... er, New Bern,NC...

It was the best Pepsi I've ever put to my lips.
We almost got thrown out when someone, who shall remain nameless, ordered a Diet Coke.
The kids thought it was pretty cool to sit at the counter and order Pepsi.

CPQ is the queen of finding good cuisine, so I knew the trip would be filled with local gems.

Although, I had my doubts when she suggested lunch at the Cow Cafe. I was happy to see that the theme of the restaurant was all things bovine, and not a suggestion of the size of the patrons. ;)
We toured the palace of the first governor of NC, which was rich with history (and lots of breakables and antiques.)

When the cute little ladies dressed in time period clothing looked out the veranda and spotted this on the front lawn, I believe they locked up the silver:
Not only is she good at being spontaneous and choosing good food, CPQ can whip up a game called Can You Beat Your Momma to get the wiggles out before entering a 300 year old home.

Marriage: Celebrating the Differences

photo credit

He's tall, I'm short.

He loves Mt. Dew, I hate it.

I love coffee, he can't stand the smell.

He loves all things rugged.

I love all things domestic.

It's humorous. Most days.

I haven't always found the humor in our differences. I used to harbor it against him. I used to want him to change. Then I realized that my desire for him to change assumed that I was right and he was wrong. Oh, that stubborn pride.

Has anything changed to make it better?

Yes. My attitude.

I still don't understand the glory of camouflage, but I'm learning to appreciate his taste... because it is HIS taste.

Why would I make a battle over something that could be celebrated?

Make a game of it.

Not too long ago I kept finding Mt. Dew bottle caps in my glass jar. My glass jar. Doesn't he know that glass jars for for pretty things like eggs, shells, and fall foliage? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Rather than making it an issue, we chose to make a game of it. We started hiding the bottle caps in various places for the other to discover: in my toothbrush drawer, in his shoe (that might have been a little painful), on my dashboard, in his sock bin, on the bathroom ceiling (I told him that wasn't fair because I can't reach that high.) It was a silly game, but it was better than getting annoyed.

My husband recently got a new phone and I lovingly set his wallpaper for him: a picture of my Starbucks cup. Needless to say, it didn't stay on his phone for very long, but we both got a chuckle over it.

I've learned to lighten up, and enjoy him for who he is (and all of his cute little quirks).

I'm choosing to celebrate our differences, rather than allow them to become lines drawn in the sand of a battle field.

What are some differences between you and your spouse that are humorous?

Do you have a fun "I love you" game that you share?

Do tell!

Sunday Rest

He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress,

And for his children it will be a refuge.

Proverbs 14:26