honesty.

This is my husband.

I love him. I really do. He has so many wonderful qualities. One of the things that I really love about him is his honesty. He's one of the most honest people I know. Like, really, reallllllly, really honest........

In part of my effort to start saving more funditos, I'm trying to 'reinvent the wheel' with my wardrobe. I am a clothes packrat. I still have clothes I wore in the 8th grade. I keep them, and I don't know why. It's not like they fit anymore. I'll go to throw them out, and I'll tell myself there may still be a .000001% chance that I may wear them again (Sooooooo you're telling me there's a chance??!?!?!? Name that movie!). So then I decide that I must keep them, in the event that the .000001% chance presents itself.

Needless to say, I have a bunch of old clothes hanging out in my closet. Instead of going out and buying new clothes, I'm trying to work with what I've got, whether its 28 years old or not. This isn't really a problem for me, as I'm really not a stylish person. I'm a Target kinda gal.

Anyway, yesterday I trekked into the deepest pits of my closet and pulled out a pretty old shirt. It was actually wayyy old. I'm thinking circa 2003ish. Which would have been my junior year of high school. Is this embarrassing? Should I be telling people this?

I decided to throw caution to the wind, and go for it. This was the .000001% chance this old gem was waiting for. So I put the shirt on and went about my business.

Later, Ben came home from work. I was standing in the kitchen, and he came up and kissed my cheek and said "Wow, I really like that shirt!"

Ahh, good choice, Britt! I guess this ole' shirt can stick around for another 10 years or so!

"Do you really like it? It's really old, I was probably just going throw it away."

"No! Don't throw it away! I really like it! It's really pretty. It makes you look like a pilgrim."

Hmmmm. Pilgrim. Not exactly the look I was going for......

'that' kid.

Oh Brittany....young, innocent, naive, woman-child, Brittany. The lessons you will learn as a (rookie) mom.

Once upon a time, I was a child-less newlywed. Ben and I would often watch young parents with their young kids and offer criticisms to one another on what we thought the parents were doing wrong and how the kids were behaving like maniacs...because we had a litany of experience, obviously. Following these discussions, we'd always say something along the lines of "our kid will NEVER act like THAT". I shall eat my words now.

I'm helping to teach a Vacation Bible School (VBS) class for infants-3 years at our church. PB goes with me, as we've got toys and stuff for babies. The first night, he was pretty cranky, so I blamed it on a lack of naps. So yesterday, he took a couple of good naps, and I woke him just before we left. Ben had him during fellowship time and he was smiling and laughing. Great start! I took him to snack time, and he started to get a little cranky, so I fed him. Then we rounded up the little ones and headed off to class, where PB proceeded to have a colossal MEEELLLLTDAAAOWN. I'm talking a major, arm-flailing, leg-kicking, hide under the pew, pretend he's not your kid, meltdown. At first, I just pretended that I didn't see or hear it. Because that always works. If you don't see or hear the problem, its not there. Right? Hello? I was helping with crafts, so some of the other moms tried to calm him down. It didn't help. I went over and tried to console him. I walked him around and we walked outside, and nothing seemed to be doing the trick. Finally, I graciously bowed and accepted defeat. I took him home, and stripped his clothes off and stuck him in the bath. As soon as his skinny little butt hit the water, he grinned from ear to ear and started playing in the water. Are you serious?!?#*#(&@&*

Last night, I was the parent of 'THAT' kid. Last night, I wanted to tell everyone at VBS that I really do try to be a good mom, despite the fact that my child was acting like a wild ninja. Last night, I wanted to hide under the pews. But, last night, I learned an incredibly valuable lesson. Last night, the old 'don't judge others until you walk a mile in their shoes' saying rang true to me. All of these years I've passed judgement on parents for something I had NO clue about. And last night, it came back and bit me in the butt. I'm reminded of Matthew 7:3: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

Parents aren't perfect. Kids aren't perfect. God didn't intend for us to be perfect. Parents will make mistakes and kids will have meltdowns. You do the best that you can do and pray that God will give you guidance to raise your kids according to His will. It won't be perfect, and your kids won't be angels. Last night, as I was trying to decide if I should crawl under the pew or just go hide in the bathroom, I was reminded of all of those times I'd judged a parent or a kid for the way they acted. See, I thought babies smiled and laughed and sneezed butterflies and rainbows. Nobody told me they have massive arm-flailing, leg-kicking, hide under the pew, pretend he's not your kid, meltdowns! You don't see that on the Gerber commercials!

who? me? have a meltdown? ahhh c'mon, mom, i'd never do that....

random foto friday.

Ben and I are going to a wedding this weekend, and its got me reminiscing about our wedding two years ago. In honor of that happy day (and the fact that I will get to eat wedding cake this weekend), here are some of our long lost wedding pictures:

(All photos by Bert and Becky Vanderveen. Incredible photographers, by the way)




waiting for our 'first look' moment.

 



loooovvebirds.





my padre walking me down the 'aisle'.



a beautiful day!





when your thighs are too big :(

 


our venue.

 


our 'rock the reception' dance.



I love that boy.

little things.

Last night, I was a tad flustered. I put in a long day at work, went to class, stopped at the grocery store, and got home late to find a teething PB, a dead cow, an orphaned calf, and a hungry husband.

Yep, that's right, we will be bottle feeding another calf. One of my cows croaked, and left her 8-day old calf behind for us to raise. I was just hi-fiving myself about saving $40 at the grocery store using my newfound couponing hobby only to walk in the door to find out I just lost about $900. Ouch. And she died because she laid her head down the hill. Isn't that crazy? That's happened to us so many times. A cow will lay down, and her head will be facing down a hill. She's got so much weight behind her, that she can't get up (hmm, reminds me of myself at 8 1/2 months pregnant). So she just lays there and and bloats (no way! too much like pregnancy) until she eventually dies (or in my case, delivers a big-headed baby). So, the point here is if you see a cow laying with her head pointed down the hill, WAKE HER UP for pete's sake! This pointless information will come in extremely handy if you ever find yourself on a hill surrounded by sleeping cows....

Anyway, I was really starting to feel sorry for myself. I was tired, stressed, and starving and Ben was gone to get the calf. PB was crying and fussing non-stop (I feel sorry for the little guy, he's cutting more teeth right now; we're already up to 2 teefers!). Nothing was soothing him, so I decided to go ahead and give him a bath. I stripped him down naked, and he was still screaming. I was about two seconds away from going in my closet, turning off the lights, sitting in the corner, and sucking my thumb, when all of the sudden PB let out the loudest, longest, big boy 'stinker' I have ever heard. It even seemed to startle him! And then he smiled and laughed, and so did I. And then all my frustration melted away and the world was a happy place again.

If you have made it through this seemingly purposeless story of dead cows and flatulence, I commend you!But, hold fast, there is a point! How many times do we let silly little things steal our joy in life? Too often, it seems we get wrapped up in silly little things beyond our control that we miss out on all of the little blessings that God bestows upon us. I've heard the saying a million times: too blessed to be stressed. And how true that is! When I stress about finding time to care for a new calf, or when I worry about the loss of some money, I know that God made me for more than stress or worry. He does always take care of us, and He will always take care of us. Instead of focusing on silly little things, I want to redirect my focus onto the many little blessings He gives us each day, like a healthy little baby boy, with a healthy dose of gas.............



Ben, PB, and Ann, our other bottle-fed baby

                                    

get serious.

It's time I got down to serious bidness about saving $$$.

To begin, I need a coupon accountability partner. Anyone?!?!??! I, as it seems the rest of America has inevitably done, watched an episode of Extreme Couponing on TLC, and decided that I have been wasting millions (okay, a couple hundred) dollars by foregoing coupons. I have decided its high time to jump on the band wagon. So, in my first rookie experience with couponing, I went to CVS and took advantage of their B1G1. I walked away with 4 men's deordorant value packs (with small body wash) and 4 tubes of toothpaste. I spent $15 and saved $15 (duh). 50% savings, and I felt like I was the queen on the world. Ben laughed and said he didn't even use that kind of deodorant. I smiled and thought "CHRISTMAS 2011 PRESENTS!" So then I tried again the next week, and took advantage of the extra care bucks and some coupons I had. I got a (35) pack of diapers, two dish detergents, 18 pack double roll Cottonelle toilet paper, 8 pack of paper towels, and two A&H laudry detergents (for PB) for $25, with $20 in savings. The two dye free detergents for PB and his pack of diapers alone would have been close to $20, so I'm pretty pleased. Not terrible for a rookie, but I know I need to step up my game.

Also, in keeping with my couponing, I need to master my meal planning. I'm going to set myself a goal to make out my menus for Monday-Monday, and hope that I can buy according to the weekly sales. Sounds like a novel idea. We shall see how this turns out, though. Sometimes, a girl just wants to have chocolate ice cream for supper, you know?

We bought a deep freezer over the weekend, and our veggie garden is still alive, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? So, I'm hoping to freeze alot of our peppers and corn. And hopefully we can store extra meat and things of the like when we find them on sale.

Using my infinite green thumb wisdom, I thought I bought only 2 tomato plants (because I don't like them, and Ben eats them occasionally), but when I got home and opened the package, there were 20 tomato plants bundled together. So, needless to say, we will have lots of tomatoes. In the past, I've always canned them for soups and such, but we really didn't eat them all that much. I've decided this year that I will attempt to can salsa and spaghetti sauce, neither of which I've done before. Any recipes/thoughts on canning salsa or spaghetti sauce, imaginary friends?

For our family budget, we have money specifically for food and 'products'. My goal is to cut this bill by $100 in July by couponing, meal planning, and using the good ole' garden food. We'll see how it goes!

random foto friday.

Ben's first time holding PB

The night of induction! My gosh my belly was huge...

Little PB and his juicy lips.

PB, the suave ladies man.

Our honeymoon in Kauai. Most awesome place on earth (besides home!)

My cute mamaw after we told her that we were having a baby.

I find this scenario often.

More house remodel. What a mess.....

Christmas Portrait 2011?



Good men.

Father's Day is right around the corner, and I am so blessed to have such awesome fathers in my life. First, I am thankful for my Heavenly Father; He IS the Man, the ultimate Father. I often think how lost I'd feel if I didn't have Him there. I take it for granted far too often that the Creator of our universe wants to spend time with little ole' me. What a privilege that is!

 Also, a big shout out to my padre Sammy; he'll be celebrating his 24th Father's Day this year. He's pretty awesome. And the older I get, the more I appreciate his quirkiness (and the fact that I'm alot like him). Sure, he may wear the same t-shirt every day (me too, actually have two of the same so I can get maximum 'wearage'), and he may stockpile 47 bottles of ketchup in our basement (I'm stockpiling products, toothpaste, deo, cleaning supplies, etc), and he will clean every dish with a paper towel before they are actually washed in the dishwasher (I clean the floor with papertowels at least 5 times a day), but I do love that man. I'm shouting out to him like I would think he would ever read this. My dad is 48, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how to turn a computer on. Occasionally, he'll ask me to 'connect him to the internet'. I guess that shows how technologically advanced he is.

This will be Ben's first dad's day, and I'm so pumped for him. He is an incredible dad, and it just does my heart good to watch him with PB. Ya know, I think they should also have a Husband's Day, too. Putting up with me can't be an easy job. I'm probably a bit partial, but I think he IS the best husband. So I think I'll make today "Husband's Day" on my little corner of the web world. In celebration of this major event, some reasons I love my husband:

1. He loves his Savior. It's one of the most attractive things about Ben. Seeing Ben's relationship with Christ inspires me to be more like that. I love that he prays with and for me. I love that he prays for Parker. I love that he spends alone time with God and that he desires to walk closer everyday. Our preacher had to be away two Sundays ago, so he asked Ben to bring the message that morning. He did such an awesome job! I am so proud of him.

2. He lets me eat first. With PB in the picture, there have been some (many) dinners in which he decides its playtime. He always seems to get fussy when we sit down for dinner. So sometimes, we'll take turns eating while the other tends to the bald guy. Ben always lets me eat first. I think he does this for two reasons. 1. I eat fast. I'm not kidding. I could have a full meal in less than 3 minutes. That can't be healthy. And 2, he does it to keep our marriage intact. I am a somewhat unhappy individual if my stomach is empty.

3. He lets me dream. I'm such a dreamer, and my mind runs at full capacity all hours of the day. I have all sorts of crazy ideas, and Ben listens to each and every one (or at least pretends that he does). He gives me so much support.

4. He makes me laugh everyday. His adjustment to life in the country has been so fun to watch, as I'm sure my attempts on his surfboard have been equally funny to him.

5. He's a family man. I guess you never have a way of 'knowing' whether or not your husband will be a family man until you have kids, really. I always knew Ben would be a great dad, but I guess I didn't have that proof until we had PB. I love that he loves spending time with us.

I'm a lucky, lucky girl to have such awesome fathers in my life.

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there.

And Happy Husband's Day to my Ben. We love you :)

Cheap.

After we remodeled the little old house, we were a little short on funditos. We had lots of blank wall space that needed to be filled cheaply.

Enter barn and flea market decor:

The top shot is an old window out of our barn. I glued a clearance Kmart mirror to the back and stuck some berries on top. Perfectly cheap!

The bottom shot is a flea market frame with several unfinished Michael's frames. I stained them, stuck some pictures in, and hung em' up. Perfectly cheap!

I've been hanging with my little bald man all day today. We've had a blast eating books, chewing on wooden spoons, and pulling all of the clothes out of my closet.......

Engagiversary

Three years ago this weekend, Ben and I will celebrate our ‘engagiversary’ (aka, the day we got engaged). I love engagement stories. They are so full of happiness and love and crazy people…



Ben and I had talked about getting married several times in the past. We knew we wanted to get married, but we felt unsure of the timing. The following fall was going to present a new distance challenge to us. We were going to be 5 hours apart from each other, and ((and dangit, I wanted a ring before he left)) I wanted us to solidify our commitment to one another.

I was working an internship that summer, and I was about 5 hours from home. We tried to see each other every weekend and make the most of that time we had together. I was ((expecting)) hoping to get engaged by the summer, but every weekend came and went with no proposal. In my incredibly rational mind, I thought that he probably didn’t love me anymore, and just couldn’t find the right time to tell me.

He called on a Tuesday and told me he wanted us to get away for the weekend, so he would come up on Friday and we would go to the beach for the weekend. “This is it”, I thought. Yep, he’s probably coming up here to tell me he’s found someone else. Or he just wants to be friends. Or he’s moving to Asia to become a monk (mind you, we didn’t have any relationship problems or anything that would give me an indication that the end was near; I just tend to over-think everything and my mind races into the oblivion thinking of every possible scenario). He ended up surprising me and showing up on Thursday instead. We hugged and laughed and talked and all was right in the world again. So maybe, just maybe, he might be planning a proposal this weekend. Ben said he needed to take a shower. I said cool, and I would watch TV while I waited.

And then it happened. I caught a glimpse of the car keys on the counter. Ben was in the shower, with an estimated time of shower departure, 25-30 minutes (he must clean every square inch of his body with a Q-tip). I decided I would do what every classy (insane), red-blooded (crazy), American (nutjob) woman would do: I’d search his car for the engagement ring and if I didn’t find it, life as I knew it would be over.

Let me explain something here before I really sound like a fruit loop. I hate surprises. No, actually, I DESPISE surprises. I wish I could change this about myself. I really wish I could go with the flow, but I.must.know.everything.in.advance. It’s an obsession, really. I have gift ‘unwrapping’ down to an art. I have unwrapped and rewrapped my Christmas presents for as long as I can remember (sorry, mom). I know every possible hiding spot for ‘surprises’. I have searched computers, cars, closets, basements, drawers, and barns looking for gifts. I can say, that in my 24 years of being, I have had probably 2 gift ‘surprises’. I WILL find every gift before it becomes a surprise. That’s a promise ;)

Anyway, I grabbed the keys and ran out the door. I cleaned that joint, man. I searched everywhere: cupholders, dash, under seats, under floor mats, in the trunk, EVERY POSSIBLE PLACE I could imagine, and NO RING. Junk was flying out of that car left and right. I had to act quick, and time was running out. “Keep calm, and go search his suitcase” (that’s a famous quote, right?). Nothing in there either. I was crushed. He was really moving to Asia.

On our way down to the beach, I quickly searched the car again a couple of times when we stopped for food or gas. NO RING. We got down to the beach late, right around dusk. I wanted to get to a hotel and bury myself in the pillow and prepare for his ‘moving to Asia’ speech. He asked if anything was wrong, and I said “of course not” (you’ve only crushed my heart, soul, and spirit by deciding to leave me). He, on the other hand, wanted to go out on the beach. I obliged, and we walked out on a beautiful stretch of beach. There wasn’t a person in sight. As we were walking along and I was mentally preparing to live my life alone in a cave, he dropped on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes and we laughed and cried the evening away. It’s one of my favorite memories.

A couple of days later, after I decided he was in it for the long haul, and felt pretty confident he wouldn’t run away, I asked him where in the bleepity bleep he had kept that ring. He told me he had carefully hid it in the trunk, under the carpet, wrapped in a bag, and stuffed in the spare tire……. because he knew I’d search his suitcase…..and the car……….and that would probably be the place I would overlook…..
Dangit.

Right after I said "I DO"!

Gosh, I do love that boy.........

7 months

PB turned 7 months last week and is in to everything right now. He is getting very hard to hold right now because he wants to climb around and explore everything he sees. Seriously, I’ll be carrying him around the house, and I’ll look down at his hands, and he’ll either have toilet paper, pants, a remote control, or paper that he’s swiped from various places in the house. He loves to ‘rough house’ with Ben now. Ben will tickle and ‘wrestle’ with PB and grins and laughs the whole time. (Speaking of, baby laughter=the cure for any and all ailments). Here’s what he’s doing/into now:

-The ‘army’ crawl: Yep, he’s finally semi-mobile. He started scooting along the floor, using his arms to pull the rest of his little body, like its dead weight or something. He’s not quite figured out how to bring his knees into the picture.
-Teeth: He’s got 2 teefers now! They are both on the bottom. One is very visible, and the other is starting to become visible, though it is still a little swollen.
-Sitting: PB sits great now, and has been sitting well now for a couple of weeks.
-Jabbering: He’s ‘talking’ a lot more now. He squeals and laughs now. He’s also still screaming (not fussing), seemingly to see how loud his voice can go.
-Attitude: Ben and I are beginning to see a little attitude. If he’s chewing on something and we take it away, he’ll lock his legs and fuss. He’s also become more vocal when he doesn’t want to do something or doesn’t get his way. Hmm, wonder where he gets that from……….
-Outside: He LOVES to be outside. It’s the cure for everything. If he’s fussing, take him outside. If he’s sleepy, take him outside. If he’s hungry, take him outside. If he thinks he’s ready to start dating, take him outside.
-Animals: PB loves his dogs right now. He laughs and smiles at them. He’s also trying to grab their fur, which is becoming a tiny problem.
-Clapping: Though he’s not started clapping yet, he likes if you clap for him. It’s the cutest thing. We’ll ‘throw’ ball with him, and when he catches it (aka, lands in his lap) we clap. And he gets so excited, like he’s really accomplished something.
-The ‘mama’ whine: When he’s starting to get fussy, he’ll start the ‘mama’ whine. “Mamamamamamamamamamama”, he’ll sound so pitiful!
-Solid food champ: He likes to eat ‘big boy foods’ now. He likes most all foods now, except plain greens (beans or peas). So we get mixed veggies or garden veggies for him.
-Water: We bought him a little plastic pool and he loves it. One day, I caught PB and his daddy in this TINY plastic pool. Water was spilling out everywhere. I’m excited to see how he likes the beach in a few weeks.

I love that little booger and I thank God for these past 7 months. We are so very blessed :)

the little old house.

When Ben and I got engaged, and were offered to live in our little old house, we were ecstatic. I knew about the history of the house, so I figured it might need a little cosmetic work done, like painting and maybe some new carpet. But who cares, right? We were in love and could care less what we lived in as long as we were together. (Raise your hand if you’ve thought this before). So after the previous occupants moved out, we went in for our first look. It wasn’t the Ritz by any means, but it didn’t look so terrible. We thought we could slap a coat of paint on it and clean it and it would be just fine.

A little back story: we believe my great granddad bought the house, which, at the time, would have been a one room shack. We estimate this first room to be about 100 years old. He eventually built 4 more rooms and a bathroom. I never met my great granddad, but from what I've heard, he was an exceptional Christian man and an all-around great guy. Unfortunately, it seems his building skills were slightly lacking. See, when he built the additions to the house, he built them on the ground. The back bedroom (which is our bedroom) was built flat on the ground. There was no guttering system either. So you can imagine that a house, made of wood, sitting on the wet ground, would have some major wood-rotting issues. The renters who followed in the previous years tried to add some wood paneling and new carpet to hide the sagging floors and buckled walls, but you can only mask a problem for so long.

So the previous renters and occupants shut off the back bedroom (our bedroom) completely. They used it as an outhouse of sorts, where they stored farm and yard equipment. Yes, our bedroom may or may not have had a lawnmower in it. So we hired a handyman to help us whip up the back bedroom. The first day he came to work, we pulled the old sheetrock off our bedroom wall, only to find this:

Yep, termites had destroyed the wood in the house. We kept pulling sheetrock off, and kept finding more damaged wood. Keep in mind, we only planned a minor facelift, which meant no sheetrock destruction. Before we knew it, we had went crazy and gutted the whole house (except the kitchen; it was the last addition, so it was in decent shape). By this point we would have liked to have just burned the house down and started from scratch. In fact, the majority of people told us we were wasting our time. But it was FREE, and I love a good deal. So off to work we went. We were determined to fix it up, and spend as little as possible on it.
After about 6 months, we went from this:

Living room shots= Wood paneling overload! Notice the sloping floor, too.

To this:

Gutting about 90% of the house was not an easy task. We definitely had our hands full. But, it was an awesome learning experience, and we are thrilled with the end result: a roof over our heads and 4 solid walls! Plus, we did it all on a pretty tight budget. Our goal was to get the house in a livable, healthy condition while spending as little money as possible. We wanted our building materials and even our home decorations later on down the road to be as resourceful and budget friendly as possible (more on that later).

We laugh when we talk about the remodeling process. We had a handyman who helped us with a lot of the structural work and the rebuilding process. But we still managed to do quite a bit ourselves. I did, however, bring several years of remodeling experience to the table. I have painted several of my dollhouses with finger nail polish. I also once tried to build a playhouse from tobacco sticks.

Several hundred smashed fingers later, we are pleased with the house. It suits us perfectly right now, and we are thankful that we can add another chapter the history of the little old house.

More glamour shots:the bathroom before.

Finding a balance.

Motherhood is awesome. It really is. There is no greater satisfaction than seeing my little bald guy smile at me or reach for me. I love being PB’s momma and wouldn’t change it for the world. Buuuttttttttt……………

Motherhood is hard. Seriously, not an easy thing. Earlier, I mentioned that parenthood was no place for wussies. If that is true, then motherhood is no place for anyone who’s mental and physical endurance is anything less than that of Chuck Norris.

It seems to me in my relatively short time of joining the leagues of motherhood that b.a.l.a.n.c.e just might be the key. Problem is, I can’t seem to find that balance anywhere. I work full-time, go to school full-time, and somewhere in between that, I try to give PB the attention he needs, spend time with my best husband, cook, clean, and try to have at least 5 minutes of me time. That’s hard to fit in a 24-hour window. Heck, I think that’s hard to fit in any window!
I love spending time with PB. I love spending time with Ben. And I especially love the time we all spend together. But I noticed after PB’s birth, it was so much easier to forget about myself. I would give it all to PB and Ben, and by the end of the day, I would crash. My little hobbies and interests didn’t matter anymore. After all, I had a new hobby and a new interest in PB, right? Not necessarily. While PB is my new (and favorite!) interest, I realize that letting go of the ‘old’ me wasn’t good for any of us. While I was wrapping myself in momma and wife duties, I was forgetting about myself. Don’t get me wrong, my first and most exciting roles are being that of a wife and mom. But, I had 22 years of ‘me’ before I was wife, and 24 years before I was a mom. I think it’s important that I don’t just throw ‘me’ away. So in an effort to achieve some sort of balance with my new life, I want to set aside an hour or so here and there to enjoy ‘me’. I could sand my old dresser or stain my old cupboard. I might organize my closet or clean out the junk drawer. Heck, I might even throw caution to the wind and clean the baseboards! (As weird as that sounds, I actually love to clean and organize. It’s like I get a ‘high’ off of the final product, whether it be a color-coded closet, or a spotless kitchen floor, cleaning and organizing gets me pumped. Should I have posted that on the internet? Does this make me sound like a weirdo? Is this a sickness? Do all dogs go to heaven?)

Regardless, I believe a little ‘me’ time every now and then is essential and necessary for all parents. Which is why, tonight, Ben is going to play basketball and I am going clean out the fridge. Bow-chicka-wow-wow.

My FAVORITE things!

hard work.

For the first time in what seems like several years, Ben and I had a ‘free’ Saturday. At home. With no ‘real’ work that needed to be done. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. For the past two years, our weekends have consisted of fixing up the little old house or doing some kind of farm work. This Saturday we had no obligations. None. Nada. That is when the following conversation ensued:

Ben: “Gosh, I feel like we need to be working on something”.
Me: “Yeah I know, I feel like I need to be productive, this is weird not having any work to do”.
Ben: “If we had a table saw, we could try and make a table or something”.
Me: “DID WE JUST BECOME (EVEN BETTER) BEST FRIENDS!!??!?!?!”

If I could love that man any more, it happened right then and there. I LOVE fixing/building/making anything and everything, though I am such a rookie at it all. My dream would be to outfit my new, and of this moment, imaginary, home with furniture that I had refinished, or even (GULP) made. To have my husband on board with my love of refinished furniture? BLISS!

We were pumped up. Ready to make something. Ready to go to Lowe’s and buy anything. I tend to get overly excited the majority of the time and my mind races, so by this point I had already decided that we would go to Lowe’s and buy a table saw and come back home and go to our little old shed and attempt to build 3 beds, a farmhouse table, 2 console tables, a couple of benches, and a buffet for our imaginary new house (disclaimer: I have used a table saw one time). I would do the beds in an antique white finish, and the farmhouse table would seat at least six.

I was so stoked I could hardly stand it. We hurried and got ready, popped PB in the car, and off to the pool we went.................. NEXT Saturday we’ll make the furniture ;)

No pool picture, but I did snap this smiley boy last week :)

free time.

Ahh, aren't those beautiful words? Well, one day when I find a smidge of free time, here are some things I want to do/try:

Turn a headboard/footboard into a bench- via blog.addicted2decorating.com

DIY tufted headboard- via brickcitylove.com


Old door made into a hall bench- via bystephanielynn.com

Tint your own Mason jars- via creativelittledaisy.typepad.com

Ben and PB got me a nice staple gun for Mother's Day (I know, not your typical MD gift). Next on my wish list? A nail gun and table saw. Birthday? Christmas? What????

new obsession and other things.

I have always been a little behind technologically speaking. I still have a flip phone with a busted screen that has an old-school ringtone. And if it was up to me, and I wouldn't look like a complete loser, I'd still carry the old Zack Morris phone.

But I recently ran across a website that I loooove and is pretty easy to operate, which is GREAT for the technologically challenged like myself. It's called pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/) and its basically a big ole' virtual inspiration board. I love it because I can create as many inspiration boards as I want, and then I just 'pin' pictures from websites that I love. How cool is that? I've found some great ideas for PB and have found some great recipes. I've also started a home inspiration board for whenever we decide to build:

http://pinterest.com/bpr/country-home-inspiration/

Some other things:

1. As soon as I can figure out how to load my videos (hear that imaginary friends? I NEED HELP!) I've got some great ones of PB, including his first basketball 'game'. We're starting him early around here.

2. Ben shaved his little beard last night! He looks so cute. It reminds me of when we first started dating. He had no facial hair and big head of hair.

3. Ben and I took our first kayak together last weekend. After being pregnant last summer, I couldn't go, so we went to Dick's and bought a 2nd kayak (on sale, mind you!) and we went together this past weekend. It was so much fun, though I spent most of my time trying to fish.

4. A couple of nights ago, we had a TIME trying to get PB to bed. He just wasn't interested. He wanted to play. Ben snapped a cute picture of him with his phone. We agreed it looked as if he was trying to escape from jail.

'mom...dad.... someone, ANYONE...... PUHLEASE let me outta here!'

5. I am very thankful this week. Sometimes I think we go through life and get so caught up in all 'busyness', we don't take time to appreciate all of God's blessings. I've tried to slow things down this week and take in all of small things. It's amazing what you miss when you're too busy too look......

'snot' funny

PB has snotty nose. I don't really know if it is from a cold or from teething, because we think we are starting to see two teeth coming through. I know, sniff, sniff. Already getting teeth. Next thing I know, he'll be trying to sneak some girls into his crib (literally and figuratively speaking).

PB HATES when we wipe his nose or use those little booger suckers. But honestly, what kid likes that? I'm 24 and hate to blow my own nose. I can't imagine someone else sticking utensils up my nose.

But PB does think this 'mucus' is funny. Mom says, its 'snot' funny. Yesterday, I changed shirts about 5 times during an 8-hour time frame. We had a bit of a routine going. He'd sneeze, blow out some 'mucus', laugh, I'd change shirts, and then we'd repeat the process. Seriously, do kids this young know to be 'mischievous'? He would sneeze in my shirt, and laugh about it! SNOT FUNNY KID!

His little personality is starting to show so much right now. I love it! He's got so much spunk. He's such a busy little kid right now. Everything grabs his attention. He loves anything that isn't a toy. Paper, strings, boxes, you name it, if it's not a toy, he wants it. This has been a tad frustrating for his parents who have got a little old house covered in toys right now.

On a side note, yesterday I took lots of new pictures I was wanting to put on the site, but I can't figure out how to work Flickr. So I'm asking my imaginary readers, if you have a blog, do you store pictures on your computer or through a site like Flickr? If you use Flickr, how the heck does it work?