A VERY Random List of Thoughts

I love random lists about people and I decided to jot down a few random thoughts I've had today.... 


1. I love Christ, but recently I have been struck by my need to be "in love with" Christ more. Oh, that my relationship with him will grow to become fuller and wider and deeper!


2. I am VERY tired of being stuck in my house! Lord heal me quickly! PLEASE!! But in the mean-time cause me to love you more during this time.


3. I am loving the beginning of the fall weather and the rain we've had the past couple of days. Makes me want to light a fall scented candle, decorate the house, bake something pumpkin.... Too bad that isn't a "wise choice" right now, as my husband gently reminds me!


4. I love it when my husband randomly sings a chorus to I Never Had a Dream Come True....Although, when we listened to the actual song today, I found out his version is MUCH different than the original. I can't help but smile when he tells me he loves me with this song!


5. I love to clean and organize my house. Really I do!! After almost 2 months of being down I'm very ready to be at it again. Thankfully my husband loves a clean, organized house too, so the house isn't too bad despite my illness!


6. I can't explain why I am crying making this list...maybe its the rain!

7. I LOVE to paint. I'm finding inspiration in everything these days...Scripture, Magazines, Online....


8. It's my dream to one day fly first class... I don't know why I just think that would be fun.


9. Speaking of dreams.... I'd also like to go on a cruise someday with my husband. I don't care where....Hopefully I wouldn't get sick!


10. I love reading comments from my readers. After posting I anxiously check my e-mail hoping for a comment.


11. I am so thankful for friends and family that have provided us with a few meals lately. You guys are the best!


12. Speaking of friends, my dear sweet friend Melody has gone above and beyond the call of duty lately. Stopping by to check on me and folding clothes while we talk, emptying the dishwasher without the slightest request from me, shopping for me, requesting meals for us since she knows we could use them, dusting and washing my bathroom mirror.... The list could go on and on....She's the best! So thankful the Lord has given me SO many friends like her here in Virginia.


13. I'm so thankful for the ability to see my little buddy yesterday after such a long time! A rare cuddle while we read a book yesterday, pure smiles and giggles.....there's nothing else quite like it!


14.I love my little garden on my back porch. 14!!! tomatoes growing on my tomato plant!


15. I love that the Lord gave us such a beautiful upstairs apartment with a wonderful view out the living room window!


16. I've felt very compelled lately to be a better hostess. I can't count the number of times I've neglected to offer a guest something to drink...how easy is that?!?! I'm reading a book called " A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others." Felling very convicted and finding I have a lot of work in this area.


17. I'm Very ready to be done with mono...Oh, I guess I already mentioned that!


18. I'm so thankful for my husband and his great sacrifice lately. I'd be in a very sorry state if it wasn't for him!


19. I love reading blogs...especially right now because it feels like I'm socializing with others. Just gotta be careful of the discontentment that can start creeping in from doing so!!


21. I love couponing and saving money. It has truly become my passion and I find such joy in a good buy!

22. My husband and I have talked a lot lately about someday adopting...even if we have a little one(s) of our own. I can't help but get teary eyed when I think of the little ones out there without a loving home! I just wish that option was a little more inexpensive.

23. I'm sitting here looking at my sunshine flowers and wishing they were still sunshiny. Too bad they couldn't have been longer lasting. A least they were beautiful for a week!

24. I LOVE polka dots, flourishes, damask patterns... BUT especially polka dots. I don't think you can have too much of them in your house!

25. I'm starting to run out of random thoughts and am wondering if I should stop now.


26. I love a good yard sale...both selling and buying. I can't wait till the Women of CBTS yard sale on the 16th of October... I'm praying that I'm able to participate.

27. Speaking of yard sales, I don't think there is ever a time that I don't have a box of stuff for a yard sale. If I find something we no longer need or want it automatically goes in my box.

28. I'm always amazed at how much stuff makes it in that box before a yard sale. The Lord has blessed us so abundantly more than we ever deserve!

29. I am amazed if you have stuck through to the end of this randomness! I guess I'll stop here since I'm currently this old. How did that happen???! = )

Cabin {Colorado Adventure Part 1}

While in Colorado we were able to spend a couple of day relaxing at Roderick's parents cabin. There isn't much that is more relaxing than a cabin in the mountains!

Roderick had fun fishing. He wanted to make it clear that he didn't actually catch the fish....just reeled him in. Bruce had been fishing with power bate while Roderick was fishing with lures. The fish seemed to be liking the power bate, so Roderick decided to switch. When it was almost time to leave and Roderick still hadn't caught anything, Bruce handed him his pole with two power bate hooks on it. No sooner had Bruce cast than he had a bite on Roderick's old pole. SO....he had Roderick reel it in. Roderick said he wasn't concerned, "No fish has the ability to take away my joy!" I'm glad my husband has his priorities straight!

This is what I spent time doing... painting!

Sunshine Flowers, Painting, and Health Update

Still laying low. Would have thought that after a month and half I would be over the tired achy feeling if I do too much. (Which is still surprisingly little!) Learned on Friday night that the lab results do indeed indicate mono. I am certainly improving and am now able to do a bit more around the house. For some reason leaving the house for long periods seems to be too much still. Almost everywhere you go you have to walk for awhile and I'm still only able to do short stints of that. We solved this problem on Saturday at the grocery store with me sitting in the child double seat cart extension. (It did say it was for one adult or two children...up to 300lbs.) Even if it was a bit unconventional, it worked great! I decided since I was spending so much time cooped up inside I needed to have some sunshine flowers. Loving something new to look at.

With choices of activities limited I've continued to do a lot of painting. Yesterday I painted outside on the porch so I can at least get some fresh air and sunshine. Here's the paintings I've finished over the past couple of week:

Inspiration from House Beautiful

I've mentioned that I've been painting a lot lately. It seems like inspiration is everywhere I look. While in Colorado I happened upon this wonderful article about a beach house. 

Don't you just love that adorable bike from Target...I think I need one! The picket fence, the roses... I'd easily take this cottage any day! But the best part is the inside. When I saw this bedroom I was seriously inspired.  It's adorable!! Might even be inspiration for a future son's room or maybe a playroom whenever that happens!

My mother-in-law told me to rip out the pages and take them home.  Based on the inspiration I created this...

It was so fun to create. I hope someone else thinks so too! I'm having too much fun creating new things for the show.

Friday Favorite: Frugal Rosette Shirts

I am in love with the current trend of putting cute rosettes on shirts, sweaters, etc. I love everything except the price tag that is usually attached to these beauties. So I found a solution...remember my idea post with an idea on how to make this cute shirt by Hope Studios?

Well while we were in Colorado my Mom and I had a day together and we tried our hand at creating them! It was definitely an quick, easy, and fun project that even someone who doesn't really know much about sewing {like me!} can perform. The best part about the project is that my mom was able to find cute shirts in several colors on the clearance rack of Target for $4! So I made 3 cute shirts for about $8 a piece! {Sure beats the $50 + price tag I've been seeing!}

Here's how we made them based on these instructions: - Unfortunately I didn't take step-by step pictures, but hopefully you'll still get the idea.

*Buy 2 shirts of the same color or mix and match colors {Look on clearance racks - the second size doesn't matter since you will just be cutting it up}

*Take a piece of scrap paper and cut out templates for your circles. {I folded the piece several times and then traced the bottom of a pop can [or soda can for my east coast friends] to get my large circle. Once you cut out that circle(s) you will have several templates the same size. You will need at least three. I then decreased one of the large circles to be a medium circle and another to be a small circle. These don't have to be exact, but I found it nice to have at least a template for cutting}

*Take the second shirt {cut up shirt} and begin to cut out your circles. {I found it best to cut out squares of the fabric and pin the template on the square before cutting. My fabric was rather stretchy and when I cut directly from the shirt the result looked nothing like a circle! Again the circle doesn't have to be exact to look good on the final product, but you probably want something in a general shape of a circle. = ) }

*After cutting out 7 sets of circles,  begin sewing them by hand to first shirt {wearing shirt}. {I found it easiest to create a rosette by bunching it together before beginning the sewing. You'll still need to bunch and try to catch more after that initial stitch, but I found it helped. This was definitely a trial and error for me...i.e. don't look at the undersides of my shirts, but at least the final product looked good!}

*Try different methods with your circle sets - close bunch, single rosettes. My guess is no two will be alike! {With the single rosettes I started with the middle template and just created a smaller template so my rosettes were not quite as big.}

Here's our results:

{All necklace created by Cindy with Feathered Nest Creations [my mom]. We are still working on creating an etsy shop after I attempt to sell some of her beautiful creations at the show in November. I'm having a hard time not keeping them all, but I don't need 60+ necklaces and bracelets! Plus I don't have my ears pierced and can't enjoy all her beautiful earnings that come with the sets} 

Such a fun project and I still have lots of leftover shirt in all three colors to make more! Let me know if you decide to try out the project. I'd love to see your pictures!!!

Hurry up and wait

So some of you may find this boring, but we found it very entertaining.

First off I have to give a little back story.
When we were in Colorado last week we decided since I still wasn't better to go to my old doctor and make sure it was okay for me to go visit Roderick's parents cabin and see if she had any ideas of what was wreaking havoc with my body.

Well here's how the visit went:

1:45 Laura walked slowly into the office
         Roderick starts to fill out paper work and check Laura in.

1:47ish Laura walks slowly past Roderick at the front desk still filling out paper work.

1:48 ish Laura gets vitals taken and goes into the room.

1:49 ish Doctor enters the room WHILE nurse is still taking vitals.

1:51 ish Roderick enters room...while doctor is taking very detailed notes on her laptop.

2:20 Walk out of the doctors office with mouths wide open in amazement.

9:00 pm Still can't stop talking about the visit and the ease of getting blood for testing at the lab down the road. {They almost always have trouble getting blood out of me! More often than not its taken out of my hand!}

Why our mouths were wide open.
The following is nothing against our doctor here, its just comical the difference. "Small town"/ "Big town" difference??? Well you'll see what were talking about.

10: 20ish Walk into office for 10:30 appointment. We were asked to be there 15 minutes early, but we decided that wasn't completely necessary. You'll see why...

10:21ish Laura starts brand new book to keep occupied during wait

11:08ish  Nurse takes us back to do vitals. No rooms available. Back to the waiting room.

11:15ish Laura continues reading her book

11:51ish Brought back to room and Laura continues reading her book

{Laura takes a picture realising this would make a "great" blog}

12:30ish Doctor walks into room

1:00ish Laura goes to the bathroom. {Gotta make sure this isn't the result of pregnancy.}

1:02ish Laura starts reading book again.

1:10ish Rats...no such luck!! Nurse does an EKG.

1:15ish Laura reads a little more of her book.

1:30ish Doctor returns to remove a suspicious mole from Laura's back. (Ya the appointment was scheduled for this months ago. Way before this "thing" ever started, so we did double duty.)

1:40ish Laura goes down the hall to have chest ex-ray.

1:50ish Laura returns to room and starts reading her book again.

2:00ish Roderick answer phone call for car pool quickly, just in case the doctor returns. Warns he may not be able to make it home in time to car pool today.

2:20ish Roderick leaves room to call work and say he'll be late.

2:25ish Doctor returns and says everything's normal. Send her to a lab to take gallons of blood 5 vials of blood.

2:30ish Leave doctors office very hungry and amazed that Laura is 130 pages into her book!

2:31ish Laura rejoices that Roderick's work allows him to take sick days for family illnesses!

3:00 Eat at Chick -Fil- A

4:00 Return home after successfully giving gallons of blood 5 vials of blood. (And only reading 4 more pages of book.

4:01 Laugh at the difference.Took a nap! {And prayed the Lord will miraculously heal Laura so they can avoid the doctor until her next yearly physical!!}