Free Paint

I'm in the middle of lots of fun visitors but I just had to let you know.  FREE PAINT.  I just ordered robins egg for the laundry room.

I happened upon a blog today: Dare to Dream

I glanced through the stories.

Inspiring people, a lot of them mothers, with inspiring stories.

One in particular caught my attention.

I actually recognized her maiden name,

read her introduction and knew who she was.

In my freshman year of college there was a girl on my floor that I really admired.  She was upbeat and fun and I enjoyed spending time with her.  She was one of 10 children, and during our freshman year her mother died of cancer.  It was hard to watch her go through this hard thing.  It truly left a lasting impression on me.

The first ward I was in after being married I heard a girl telling a story about her mom passing away while she was serving a mission.  I made the connection (they looked a lot alike) with my freshman friend...they were sisters.

So today I read Rebecca's (the girl from my ward) story about a certain journal entry her mother had made and how it had influenced her life.  

There were some things I took away from it:

A personal journal.  Our public posts are not usually our hearts.  They don't tell the whole story or let the reader really know the person, but a personal journal provides insights into how we deal with the struggles we are faced with and can provide teaching to those that come after us in a way others couldn't.

How do my children see me?  What will they remember?

It made me think about the kind of mom I always wanted to be and why.  Am I being that kind of mom?  Do my kids see me laugh enough?  Will they remember the fun times we had?  Do we have enough fun time?

Am I living the life I want to be living?

I loved what she said, "I don't exist to fit another person's mold, but to be true to my own self, to grow at my own pace."  I tend to compare my inadequacies with everyone else's best.  What a great reminder to look at my life and live it the way I want to remember it and not try to fit any one mold.  And it also reminded me that I only get to do this once.  I don't want to look back and regret having not done things, having not shown enough love, or not created enough fun memories for my children to look back on with fondness.

Sometimes it is good to realize we won't be here forever (even 99 years isn't forever) and look at our lives with the idea of what do we want our families to remember about us. 

The dresser

I also finally printed some pictures from some slides Reed had from his mission.  They are kind of silhouettes of castles.  I am secretly hoping they will urge us to go to Prague sooner then later.

We finally got a bed (headboard/footboard) a couple of years ago.  It's black.  Our dresser is green.  Not really working.

Paint.

I finally decided just to paint the green part black.

This is really cheap...but I just used black acrylic paint in Gloss (the bed had a gloss to it, and gloss hides fingerprints better).

The Chair

I bought this upholstery fabric at a great deal of $3 a yard.  It was suggested that this type of chair needed 7 yards.  So for $21 it went from a red and creamed checker to a blue paisley with slight hints of red and yellow.

This was my first attempt at a slip cover.  I found a great video tutorial and sort of followed it.  I made basic pattern pieces out of butcher paper and then put the fabric on inside out and pinned and sewed.  It took me a long time.  I didn't use enough fabric to tuck all of the edges in.  So it is in no way perfect, but I like the new look.

Projects

Ahhh!

So it must be about a year since I had Sam.

Because I am finally getting around to a bunch of projects that have been waiting a really long time.

For some reason it takes me about a year to get back into full swing.

I'm not 100%. ( I think that would be pre babies)

But definitely getting much done.

I talked Jadey into painting this old chair red with the idea that we would cut out a hole and put a flower pot in it.  

Only we have been out on the porch nearly every evening, in the new rockers Reed and the kids gave me for mothers day.  

And with all of us on the porch, well, one more chair is nice.

So, one of the projects has been to make pillows for the chairs.  Just for cuteness.  I didn't get a colored rocker so I thought I would add some color to it.

When the lights go out

About 1:30 on Monday the electricity went out.

I called the power company.

They told me to check my circuit breaker and make sure it didn't need to just be switched off and then on again.

I had to ask her where it was.

Switched it.

Nothing.

"Okay we'll send someone out."

A short time later I went outside and the street was full with an ambulance, cop cars and people.

I'm not sure whether or not this truck driver should have been going through our neighborhood.  But he did.  And in the process his top truck hooked a cable line without him noticing and it pulled out the electric lines as well.

He had to stay in his cab for a bit to make sure there wasn't any more electricity going through the line...and most likely his truck...so he wouldn't get electrocuted. 

This lucky fireman got interviewed by the news.

The truck driver finally got to get out.  Whew!

The in came the electric and cable companies to pull the wire off.

The kids watched.  And then they looked for bugs

Here is one of my favorite neighbors explaining with her hands what happened, to the two girls that just rode up.

There was the crowd up the street and crowd at the bottom of the street, separated by THE WIRE.

And then there was the group of fire and ambulance men...just in case.

Once the wire was moved.  The truck driver drove down the road to meet with the Sheriff and see his doom (tickets).

Then my neighbor got interviewed.  But since no one got hurt I don't think it made it to the news.  I guess it could have.  But we didn't get our power back for another 5 hours...so we don't know.

So what do yo do when your power is out for 5 hours and it really isn't too bad outside?

You join your neighbors in the shade of their back yard and watch your kids play.

And chat.

We should do this more often.  It was a great way to welcome in summer!