Window Mistreatments 101

These curtains are now hanging in my breakfast room!! I was so inspired by Nesters Window Mistreatments, that I decided to do my own. My sister Julie and I went to Hancocks Fabric. I got the large and small floral prints for 40% off. Good thing, too, because they were expensive. To make all four panels, the valance, with ribbons and curtain hooks, I paid $23!! Can't beat that!! And it took me no longer than an hour to get them up. No sewing. Hallelujah! Woooo-hoooo! I'm excited. It really brightens up my kitchen! :-) Happy, happy face.
The floral valance is only 3/4 yard. I just folded it along the top and pinned, then nailed it up. I tucked the bottom under, tied it with ribbon and VOILA, instant valance! The top of my window actually starts at the bottom on the valance. I took Nester's advice and did this to create an illusion of larger windows. I like it a lot!


The panels are 5 1/2 yards of fabric...cut into four long strips. I folded the top under slightly (like a hem) and then looped it forward to create a U. Then I just put four ring clips at the top of each one and nailed them on the wall! How easy!!


It goes down almost to the floor, and I think I may still get some coordinating fabric and fringe to add to the bottom (using a glue gun, so I won't even have to take them down.) I LOVE this simple method. Who says things have to be done "the right way?" Heh heh. And, anyway, this way I can just pull it off at anytime and drape it differently for a change of style! Oh, yeah!

For more pictures, and also a tutorial on recovering dining room chairs, just visit Wendy*s Art House. :-)

Homeschoolers Under Attack

Okay, There is something on my mind and heart. I need to share and ask for prayer.

On Feb. 28 California appeals court ruled parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children and that those parents who do must be credentialed teachers. This was not picked up by national media until March 6. The shock waves are rolling now.

It arose in juvenile court and the parties had court-appointed attorneys, so even Home School Legal Defense Association didn't know about it until the ruling was issued. It flew under radar, so to speak.

Judge Croskey declared that "parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children." Furthermore, the judge wrote, if parents teach without credentials they will be subject to criminal action.

This could have broad implications on CA's nearly 200,000 homeschoolers -- and set a dangerous precedent for other students nationwide, my children included.

Keep in mind that California schools are the most liberal. We're talking about schools that push the homosexual, abortion, liberal agenda to the hilt.

This is scary stuff. Do children belong to the state? Does the government know better than the parents? If you are a homeschooler, imagine your children being FORCED away from you every day. And if you are not a homeschooler, imagine being FORCED to put your child into a liberal school (or any place that you object to.) This is about freedom.

Please stop now-- right now, just for a second-- and pray. Lift a heartfelt prayer up to God, and ask Him to intervene. Pray for our freedoms and the safety of our children.

You can listen to Dr. Dobson discuss the case, learn more about the court ruling, see what California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says about this, and sign petition to depublish this ruling by using these links.

Click here to read about Hitler's ruling on homeschooling and how it still haunts Germans today, and threatens the rest of the world.
Be informed. Research, get the facts, follow the story.
Be a voice. Christians need to speak up. Defend yourself. Stand up for your rights and those of your family.

And PRAY. God can do anything. There IS power in prayer.

A New Addiction

So sue me. I'm addicted to another blog. Can you blame me? I love to read, I love creativity, making things, staying connected to other moms. Not to mention neglecting laundry...yeah, I love that, too.
This site, The Nesting Place, is just soooooo awesome. Why? Because I am also a "lazy perfectionist." I'm willing to work hard, but not necessarily long. I do so much better with short-term goals. Walk every day for a week. aCheck. Eat healthy today. aCheck. Run a 5K in a year. x RRRR- Thumbs down. Can't do the long-term thing. I tend to sabotage myself at the first hint of inadequacy because I fear failure.

Yeah. I know this, yet it's soooo hard to overcome it and have enough faith in myself (really, faith in God, that He will be there when I do fail, and it doesn't matter how inadequate I am...
umm....soooo, on with the post.)

All that to say, this site has awesome crafting/ decorating ideas and they are quick and fairly easy! YEA! You won't have to sew! You won't have to go buy oodles of expensive anything. Just grab something on hand and make something awesome. Voila!

She even has a tutorial on Window Mistreatments. Oh, yeah, that's my kind of decorating.

No, I don't need an intervention yet. I'm still eating..still sleeping (well, as much as can be expected)...yes, still spending most of my time homeschooling and frog-caring. But I'm using these free night hours to read, design, plan, and CRAFT! Because I have several projects going at once and I don't want to discombobulate you, I'm going to post progress pictures on an added link, Wendy*s Art House. A great idea from Sara*s Art House, which I also LOVE. Visit and support these ladies.

Okay, and one more "just about me" thing. ;-)
I'm visual. I need sunshine. Bright colors are a must. That includes lipstick. And, since I'm a girl-y girl, I enjoy wearing vibrant colors & fancy things & having bright hair. :-) Really, color is important to me.

Red is awesome. Flame, passion, excitement, love, vibrance, life, explosion. I love RED. I also love black and white. What would COLOR be without the black and white to contrast? Do you understand why I decorate constantly, paint all the time, scrapbook insatiably, and yard-sale shop for anything interestinge. I'm visual. I feel better when I see pretty things. I feel better physically when I look better. Which is why I never-- and I mean, NEVER wear sweats. I do not own sweats. I. hate. sweats. Not on other people, but definitely on me. And, by gosh, if I'm gonna put on socks, they'd better be cute ones. Striped and polka dot knee-high socks are the best.

Okay, sorry, now I'm just rambling. Strange post, tired mommy at the end of the day. I'm full of ideas, excited to do things...the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak tonight. Thank You, God, for a new day tomorrow, with renewed energy! And tomorrow is Mothering Matters day--YEA! That means my cup will be filled to overflowing, and I can "flow out on" and encourage others. Where else can I be with, pray with so many other godly women? Thanking God for this wonderful ministry.

Signs of Spring

Shelley's "signs of spring" cracked me up. We have been having some unusually cold weather. But today turned into such a lovely day!! We finished our work in record time (going outside was a good incentive to get it done fast!) and then drew with sidewalk chalk, went walking, and just enjoyed hearing the birds sing.

Fred bought a new birdhouse (half price at Hobby Lobby over the weekend, so this beauty was only $6), and the cardinals have been enjoying it.

Then we adopted a new pet! Well, it's our ONLY pet. His name is Herbert, and he is a lucky dude...one of the last few frogs to escape dissection at a college biology lab. ;-)

Herbert is my grandpa's middle name. Herbert...ribbit...I don't know, we just thought it fit. Hehee.

Anyway, this guy has looong legs, so I'm glad our tank has a lid. He seems to like his new home so far. We may end up doing some more "landscaping" in there tomorrow. He might need a bigger pool.

When we should have been sitting down to eat dinner, we were all outside, with our coats on and shovels in hand, looking for tasty treats for our new "brother." The kids caught about 15 worms (under the basketball goal), rolly pollies, and Fred caught a few crickets. Then we ALL watched with fascination as Herbert watched his prey, stuck out his tongue, and snatched one of those crickets. Mmmm.... okay, dinner anyone?

You'd better believe that we'll be doing an extra science lesson tomorrow on this new grass frog, and Ethan will be doing extra research at the library because Herbert has been deemed worthy of the education fair this year.

May you all find frogs and joy. Japanese proverb, maybe?

playing hooky from church

Yesterday we went to a nearby National Park for some hiking and a picnic. Yeah, we just skipped church to go. Sometimes I feel so much closer to God while we rejoice in His creation, rather than sitting in a building. It's great to fellowship with other believers, and also necessary...but there's just something missing sometimes. I need the joy back. I need to look up at the sky, face to the sun, and smile, "thank you, Lord, for this indescribable, amazing beauty!!"

Besides, we had to take advantage of the awesome weather yesterday. It's dropped 30 degrees since then. Argh! I reeeeaaaallly need sunshine. Really. Days like today just start to wear on me pretty fast.

So, anyway, I got to talking to a young mother at the playground area, after our picnic and hike. She was nursing a baby girl, while she watched her 2-year old son play. This woman was very sweet...very talkative, and I soon discovered that she is a cross country runner for NSU, and an early education major. She is about to gradate, but wants to stay home with her kids. Only problem is that hubby wants her to go right to work. Hmmm...

I promised to pray for her, for God's leading and guidance. I really feel for her. I'm so thankful that I have my husband's support to stay home and educate our children.

I mentioned to her that we homeschool and really enjoy that. This opened a whole new can of worms. Apparently she had been "homeschooled" for two years, 8th and 9th grade...except that she "did nothing." She said she literally did NOTHING. It was boring and she got terribly behind her public school peers. They had NO curriculum or assignments, field trips, etc. This is was a total shock to me. WHY would someone keep their kids home, with no intention of teaching them? Wouldn't it be so much easier to send them to school?

Anyway, this is now the view that she has of homeschoolers. Do others share that view, I wonder?
Because I can tell you that the vast majority of homeschoolers work their tails off. It's a never-ending, amazing, complicated, tiring, stressful, but completely joyful and satisfying job. Seems like an oxymoron, but that's the only way I can describe it. I wouldn't give it up, even after stressful days like today. It is fun, rewarding. And I learn as much as the kids do! Most of the homeschool moms that I know share this same feeling. We may get overwhelmed, but we stay the course. I do know of a few out there who just don't make school a priority. To those I will say: put your kids in school or make school at home a priority. Not to say that we don't take days off or get behind sometimes...I'm talking about the people who "do nothing" for two years. That just isn't acceptable.

We talked about a few other things: breastfeeding, church, childcare (which is what she is so concerned about, possibly going into the workforce soon.) Fred laughed about it on the way home. Men get to know each other slowly(talking football for 6 months?) , but women just jump right up on their soap boxes and go to town. :-)

Haven't seen it, can't play Scene It

All of my family came over Friday night: my parents, sisters Julie and Amy and their husbands and the kids. We ate salad, pizza, chocolate eclairs, leftover VDay chocolates, cookies, rootbeers... and coffee. Yep, even after 10pm, we were all chugging down cups of joe. We're a coffee-lovin' family. Of course, after lunchtime I can only have decaf, or I'll be up all night. It was a regular gorge fest, plus games.

We started out just chowing down while we watched He-Man. Yep, you heard right. Hubby just ordered the first 6 (?) DVDs of He-Man and he has already gotten the boys obsessed with it. It's not at all unusual now for me to see Trevor bounding down the hallway in his batman mask, Spiderman pjs, holding his light saber, shouting "by the power of gray skull." Then Ethan declares that he is He-Man and Trevor can be battle cat.

At first I was like, whoooaa now, there are some things in this cartoon that I don't like. The women dress like...well, just not like women should dress. And the skull face bad guy just isn't something I really like. But I decided to back off. Fred is the Daddy. He was a boy and now he's become a great father...and who am I to deprive his boys of He-Man?

Apparently Fred was not the only once-obsessed little boy. My brothers-in-law, Adam and Vu, were glued to the screen as soon as they walked in. I heard lengthy conversations about how He-Man was like Superman, and how Adam always got to be He-Man because of his name (like Clark Kent is Superman, Adam is really He-Man, for those who need a refresher!) It was quite amusing.

After we peeled the men from the cartoons, we started Scene It. Ha! I don't watch TV. I don't watch movies. Is there any doubt that I would totally stink at this game? In my own defense, though, I did get ONE answer right! What little blue fish sings "just keep swimming, just keep swimming?"...

...well, Dory in Finding Nemo, of course! Yea for me! ;-)

After the awful beating I took in that game, we moved on to Nerts (is that right, Julie?) It's a card game, played with four decks of cards. It's fast-paced, and was much more my style.
You know things are getting serious when Fred and Vu turn their hats around!

Adam and I won that game. Julie declared that it was more my kind of game. (yeah, one with no questions, right?? Heh heh)

Anyway, it was so much fun. I love to play games. I'm so grateful to be close to my family, and see them all often.

A Day of Gifts

Today my husband bought me a gorgeous picnic basket set. It has plastic plates, glasses, and silverware for four. It's large enough to pack all of the food and drinks we will need for our family. And, best of all, it was a bargain! :-)
Then I found some absolute steals at a yard sale in a town over. I spent $7 and got an adult Hulk costume, a 3T Spiderman costume, three SpiderMan shirts, Cars pajamas, alligator pj set, Diego 2-piece pajama set, two button up 7/8 shirts, an orange pair of medium boys' shorts, five pairs of socks for me and three for Trevor, two 2T shirts for Oliver, three belts (including an AWESOME V-shaped "Superwoman" one for me!), a wall hanging, angel halo headband, new package of boys' underwear, and a princess tutu outfit!!!-- all for $7!! I was almost hysterical with joy when I made it back to the van. Yes, I'm definitely a financial nerd. And I'm okay with that.
Then I got home, and had a package waiting on my front porch, containing an Easter table cloth and two baby slings that my Mimi made for me! Beautiful, and both of my little boys love them!!

I know I just talked about how gifts are not my love language... but I think that all of the things I received today fall under the "acts" category, too! My husband went out in search of something he knew I wanted. Then he handed me money and waited in the van with four children, playing with them, while I scoured a yard sale for bargains. And, Mimi, I know that your planning, designing, sewing is an act of love! :-) It's these thoughtful and amazing things that people do that just speak volumes to my heart!
Ahhhh, what a nice Saturday!