Blessing #88 - The Birthday Fanatic

I don't know if I mentioned this enough around my birthday, but I am a birthday fanatic not jut for my birthday, but the birthdays of Shad and my boys. Eight years ago, shortly after we were married, Shad celebrated a birthday. While he was at work, I decorated our living room up with every party supply the Dollar Tree had to offer including a banner that said "Feliz Cumpleanos" which, for some reason, I thought was hilarious. (Wow, that was a long sentence.)

When Shad got home, he opened the door, stood stunned in the doorway, and I believe said, "It just my birthday." I then went on to lecture him about how wonderful birthdays are, and how birthday are days set aside to let someone know you love them. I think I kept repeating, "JUST YOUR BIRTHDAY?" over and over again.



Eighty years later, Shad no longer believes it's "just a birthday." Shad loves his birthday almost as much as I love mine...almost.

It started last month when Shad reminded me several times during B's birthday week, "My birthday's next!" Over the past few weeks, he has been dropping hints like crazy...

Do you remember those bottle sodas at Bill and Kelly's wedding. I would love to have those during my birthday week. You know Cracker Barrel sells those.

Stephanie, I'm so glad you won a $25 Goodwill gift card...my birthday's coming up!

I liked your blog post about the Crumpton Auction. I would love to go their for my birthday.

Is this the same man that thought I was crazy eight years ago for hanging a few streamers? Now, this same man reminds me daily of his upcoming birthday. Have I created this birthday fanatic...birthday monster?

Next week, we will celebrate Shad's birthday week, and I'm sure he will milk that for all it's worth. It wouldn't be so bad, but I'm know someone else will start reminding me...



My birthday's next!

Blessing #87 - Crumpton Auction

About a week ago, I got to go to Dixon's Furniture Auction, better known as the Crumpton Auction. (To see there website click here) I've tried to write this blog post a few times, but I just can't quite put into words how AwEsOmE Crumpton Auctions is. It's like Disneyworld for junkers.

After my friend Tori went to the auction, she told me how much I would love it, and we planned a trip to go. What does going to the Crumpton Auction look like for two moms.



Here's me with my two kids. Note: a pin looks good on a scarf when it's turned to the side, but when it slides to the front it looks too much like a bolo tie.



Here's Tori with two of her kids, and our other friend's little boy that Tori watches during the day. Did that confuse you? It's okay. All you need to know is we had five kids total.

When I first showed up, I went to the auctions inside, but then Tori called me, and told me to come outside, "It's more in our price range." When I walked outside, I saw this...



Cue angelic music, "Ahhhhhh!" My heart could hardly take it, a whole field of junk!

At the ouside auction, the auctioneer rides in a golf cart and goes down the rows of stuff and auctions it off.

Here are some of the awesome things we saw outside...


Wouldn't this make an awesome kitchen island?


What would Shad say if I came home with a ginormous fish?


I love this crate!


This would look awesome in B's room!


These jars were gorgeous! I would have bid on them, but I had my eye on something else.

Did I get anything? I'm glad you asked. I've been looking for some chairs to redo, and I found these great chairs and the matching bench.



When the bidding started, it was crazy! In fact, at one point, I bid against myself. This guy faked me out. He looked like he was going to bid, but I guess he was scratching his ear. As soon as I saw his hand move, I shot my hand up and bid. When I did it I looked at the guy beside me, an obvious auction veteran, and I asked him, "Did I just bid against myself?" He nodded and laughed. I ended up getting the four chairs for $32, which is more than I normally pay for things, but I had some extra money. I've been looking for chairs for about four months now at yard sales, and didn't find any good ones.

I love the cafe look and the details. What? The seat is gone in all the chairs? I can fix that. I'm thinking right now about painting them a distressed french white and doing the seat in a grain sack look. If you are on pinterest and see a good way to redo these just @stephanielankford for me!

Here's my tips for buying at an auction:

1. Know what you want and what you like before you go. I knew I wanted chairs, but I could have easily gotten swept up and buy something I didn't need.

2. Set a budget. I knew the most I would pay for anything was $40 because that was all the cash I had.

3. Bring a friend. Tori had been there before and she really helped me navigate through all the craziness.

4. If you bring kids, bring them plenty of snacks.

"Ummm...could you put that camera down, and get me a refill?"

5 Be aware of how much your car can hold. I saw a beautiful farm table and almost bid on it, but then I remembered, "I don't have a truck. I have a van that already has two car seats in it.

6 Don't bid against yourself.

Blessing #86 - The Big Brother

Collin here. I decided to try my hand at blogging again. Today's topic is,

Sometimes having a big brother really stinks...

Sometimes, it really stinks when he tries to act like my third parent and says, "No,no Collin!" when all I want to do is see if the cat food tastes as good as it looks.

Sometimes, it really stinks when he tells on me because I have mom's cell phone. It's not like I was making a call. I just wanted to see if it tasted good.



Sometimes, it really stinks when I'm already embarassed that I have a dirty diaper and he yells and broadcasts to the world, "Mom, Collin smells bad!"

Sometimes, it really stinks when I find and unidentified object on the floor and he swats it out of my hand. If he would just have given me another minute I could have told him what it was.



Sometimes, it really stinks when he's stingy and takes one of his toy cars away from me right before I get to find out if the red truck tastes like cherries.



Sometimes though, my big brother gets his flu shot first to show me that it's not so bad.

Sometimes, when it's my turn to get the flu shot, he shakes a toy maraca, dances, and says, "da doo da doo," so I'll be distracted and won't cry.

Sometimes, when mom tells him how nice he was to help me, he says, "I'm the big brother. That's my job."

During those times, having a big brother is pretty awesome (just don't tell him I said that).

Random Acts of Craftiness #5 - Fall Entry Table

Yesterday, Colli Bear had pink eye so he and I stayed home while Shad and B went to church. I had a pretty close to quiet house, almost all to myself for several hours. After an hour of quiet, I decided to change up the look of my entry table. The table has looked like this for four months, and while I like the look, I was getting a little bored.



I started searching around my house for anything to put on the table. I went to the basement and got an old window.

What?

So I have 10 old windows sitting in my basement just waiting for a project. That doesn't mean I need to be on the Hoarders show. It doesn't! The man had 30 in his yard when we found them. I only took 10. See! I have restraint (and small hauling space in my van).



When I placed the window, it looked a little boring so I decided to add some color.

After quick trip to my paint stash, I found a bright blue and a brown paint. I used the "make it up as we go" paint technique. I put a little bit of blue on the window with a foam brush and then I would wipe it in with a paper towel. I did the same with some brown paint, and I repeated that process until I was happy with the look.





I made a simple bunting to go across the window with some ribbon left over from my wreath and a scrap of fabric. I didn't really measure or anything with this bunting. I just made it fast, and I like how it turned out. (Collin had to get in on this picture.)



Next, I got out the pumpkins I got at the Goodwill outlet. I placed them, and the color just wasn't working for me.



I love the colors I used on my wreath, and I was also inspired by these blissful colors. I still had some orange spray paint left over from my wreath, and I was just itchin' to spray paint something else orange. So, I attacked the pumpkins like a spray paint ninja, and I got these...



but I wasn't done. I cut some shelf paper stencils with my cutting machine and painted my pumpkins. When Shad came home and saw the new table look, we had this conversation...

Shad: Why do the pumpkins have numbers on them?

me: Because there are three pumpkins.

Shad: But what does it mean?

me: It means there are three pumpkins, and it's really cool!

He obviously doesn't have my decorating vision. Here is the final look...





In the end, I love how it turned out, and I love that it cost me NOTHING out of my pocket! I just shopped my own house.

I'm linking this post up to the Inspired Room's Fall Nesting Party and these sites.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: Cinnamon Rolls

This week I made cinnamon rolls. Southern Plate cookbook had two recipes for cinnamon rolls. One recipe was completely from scratch, and one recipe use frozen bread dough. You probably already guessed it, but I chose the frozen bread dough way! If you want to use that recipe you can click here and find it over at Southern Plate. (Trust me you are going to want this recipe so click here.)

I normally don't take pictures of the recipes as I cook them, but there's something you need to know about this recipe...it's messy.

What's that green cup doing in this picture. That's my "rolling pin," a pretty sorry rolling pin, but I made do.

Another thing you need to know about this recipe is when the instructions say "roll it up" they need to say "roll it up (tighter than you think)." Because my cinnamon rolls were kind of saggy.




These cinnamon rolls taste really good! They are a little to sweet for my taste, but I don't even like Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. On the other hand, Shad ate two, and had two little boys begging him for bites the entire time he ate.

This is definitely, DEFINITELY a great recipe for taking somewhere or just making your family feel special. I liked the recipe much better when I read on the website that you could let the rolls rise in the fridge all night. I am much more likely to make these if I could do the prep work at night and just stick them in the oven in the morning!



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Blessing #85- Gitz

A year ago, I started Project Life, and soon after starting Project Life on The Mom Creative, I noticed the odd name of one of the other participants "Gitz Bitz." Wanting to find out the meaning behind that odd name, I clicked on the link to check out her Project Life. This was the post I found.

Many of the pictures were of her adorably cute dog, Riley, but the picture of the empty tissue box made me pause. The caption said...

I took this on Monday because this photo pretty much summed up my Sunday. Grief hits hard, people. And it sucks. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Gitz (a.k.a. Sara) had just lost her dad, and I loved the honesty that she spoke about it. After searching through more of her Project Life posts I realized most of the pictures were taken inside, and after more blog stalking...I mean searching, I learned that Gitz had a chronic illness that kept her in her condo.

Since that time I have read Sara's blog regularly and have been challenged by her purpose to Choose Joy. Yesterday, I read on her blog that Sara is not expected to live much longer.

Although, I have never met her in person, through her blog, I feel like I know her well. Gitz said in this (in)courage post, "That online friendships, born out of a common thread of Jesus, are as true in real life as they are on the screen because they start with the heart."

For her birthday this past May, Gitz posted this on (in)courage...

For my birthday, I want you to do something for you.

I want you to STOP. I want you to FEEL and SMELL and ACKNOWLEDGE the gifts that God puts out for you every single day when He makes the sun rise from it’s slumber and beat down on your skin. I want you to look up in the dark of night and see and feel the magnitude of the heavens and the stars and the full moon that I can’t see out my windows.

I want you to be fully awake to the blessings in your life and not miss a moment. Take them in and savor them in your senses as if you might lose them tomorrow.

Savor your life and blessings. And thank our God for the gift of it all.

That’s the best gift I could receive this year. To know that my life taught you something about your own.

For a year, every time I read her blog I sit in Sara's classroom where her life teaches me volumes about contentment, joy, and living life, whatever the circumstances, to the fullest. Tomorrow, I'm giving Gitz another birthday present and I'm taking a special moment to savor everything God has given me, especially the gift of Gitz.

Blessing #84- Alligator

Hey Mom, Mom! I need to talk to you. See, I've been reading the blog.

I didn't know you could read, and how did you figure out how to use a computer.

Never mind the details, Mom. I just wanted you to know that I've been reading the blog and I've noticed lots of Brandon posts. Brandon goes to the ChooChoo Barn. Brandon goes to Dutch Wonderland. Brandon turns five. Brandon has imaginary jobs. Brandon looses a tooth. Brandon gets baptized. That's a whole lot of Brandon!

Well, Colli Bear a lot happened during B's birthday week.

Mom, I thought I told you not to call me Colli Bear. Do you know what the blog has been missing? Collin! And do you know what this blog is without me...


L-Lame! The last time you blogged about me was when I started crawling...CRAWLING! When was that?


I think that was May, but I also blogged about how you look like your Uncle Chad.

Mom! That doesn't count! You called that a curse! oooh...25% off your total purchase!



Anyway, do you know how much I've accomplished since then? I got 7 teeth...SEVEN PAINFUL TEETH in one month. See!



I also started pulling up on everything. How's the view from down there.

I've been really busy...hey..What's that noise?


Are you kidding me? Buzz off kid! This is my blog post!


Here Mom, let me help you focus that camera right. That's better.


I know. I'll blog about you and Alligator and how you love him. Alligator's your security blanket...reptile.

Really Mom, love is a strong word. He's okay, but I mainly like how he tastes.

Remember Collin, you used to only make it in the church nursery about 15 minutes and then you would have a meltdown, but then...



Woah! Woah! I wasn't having a meltdown. I was showing the other kids the cool trick my mom could do. I would cry and about five minutes later you would show up every time. It was like magic.

Either way. Before Alligator you wouldn't make it long in the nursery, but after the Alligator you can make it the entire service.

Mom, I don't NEED this Alligator I can quit him at any time I want. Any time I want.

Really Collin?


Yep, because I always have the spare you bought me.