Larry just got even sexier!

...and all he had to do was clean the garage!

I'm sure if he knew I would have reacted the way I did he would have tackled it even sooner. (GRIN) He took an entire truckload to the dump to throw away and still has a little bit of organizing to do and a few things to sell in a yard sale, but 95% of the work out there is done.

We have been working on a myriad of projects around the house. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this cycle of house stuff will NEVER end, and really in all reality, it won't! But at times, you feel more in control of it than others. At least I do. Now is one of those times. Although the majority of my house is very together right now, I am sitting here looking at my room which is a mess but I'm too tired to do anything about it until after church tomorrow.

We have been painting, doing deep cleaning, yard work and more. Plus Savanna has a school project we've got to help her with that was due this past week however she had been sick and home from school for 3 days so it's got to be done this weekend.

Aside from visiting with our friends who just moved here, I have spent this weekend wrapping up church preparations, returning phone calls, doing pruning and weeding in my yard. (Keeping up on my yard is an endless job I've blogged about often here in my frustration. I'm trying to find new ways to like it more. Since I got my Zune I do enjoy it more as I listen to lots of preaching podcasts now while I am out there weeding.)

Aside from all that I cooked and cleaned up the kitchen several times today and washed three loads of clothes. I'm absolutely EXHAUSTED however very excited because tomorrow is going to be an amazing day in the house at our church.

I've waited for this day for a long time, that's all I'll say. For now.

Amazing speech by 12 year old girl

This girl TOTALLY rocks.

Finally...they're here!!!

I am still pinching myself that our dear friends are FINALLY here! I have been talking for a long time about this...I mean, YEARS. The word says DO NOT BE WEARY IN WELL DOING FOR AT THE PROPER TIME YOU WILL REAP A HARVEST IF YOU FAINT NOT! Well, I'm harvesting right now, PRAISE GOD! I have mentioned it here on my blog before that some friends of ours have been trying to move here to be with us. Well, the time has arrived. Our friends and parishoners from a former church we pastored, Jim and Janice Shehan, finally rolled in with their moving truck last night and they are officially Florida residents! Yay! They have bought a place here, and it's official...signed, sealed, delivered...they are here and will be in church Sunday at Northside. This is their new home. They sold their businesses back in Maryland, gave it all up to come here. We are reunited and it feels so good!

It is going to be glorious to have them close to us once more...to have Janice's brilliant mind to bounce things off of all the time and get her wisdom up close (never met another business woman like her -- EVER), and to have Jim's amazing tenor voice and so many other wonderful things about them. Most of all, I am just glad to have "them" as just dear people...to say they are loyal and supportive of us would be the understatement of the century. Anyway, for all of you friends who have prayed that this would finally come to pass..............THANK YOU! We have so many precious memories together from years gone by but now we will have more "in person" ones to add to our storehouse.

Yesterday was a busy day at the office. We have been getting projects done as we always are, sometimes more so than others. They guys were painting along with help from Dennis and Rick. Those men are amazing. Pastor T and my husband also steamed cleaned the carpets in the nursery and the fellowship hall. I had a rehearsal with Eddy for Sunday morning...we are doing a duet that's been on my heart to do for a while and we're going to go for it this week. He and I also took a little field trip yesterday morning to see another project at a local church that we were interested in for Northside. Can't spill the beans here on what it is, as it's still not public. Anyway, we are real excited. I have a few special projects going on right now (like 4 or 5) that are "surprises" for church that I have to keep under my hat and it's hard! There are some things going on in our church that I just want to burst about right now, and holding it in is just about driving me insane...........as well as a few other leaders who are having a hard time being quiet too, but it's all part of "the plan"!!!! Other than all that, I had a ton of work to wrap up yesterday afternoon in prep to be in Orlando a few days next week for Inspire conference which I'm preaching at. When I'm gone a few days one week it makes the workload heavier for me the week before and after.

Once I finally got home I made spanish chicken and risotto for dinner. Savanna was feverish again, unfortunately. We sent her to school today thinking she was better. She was well enough to go to church Wednesday night. We thought she had come through whatever this is she has, but when I got home from work yesterday, her face was red as a beet and she was laying down very lethargic and said her science teacher said she should have never come to school. (Wow, that really makes me feel like Mom of the Year!) Seriously, I thought she was alright and didn't want her to miss. She is on the honor roll and works so hard to keep her grades up and I dont' want her to get behind and she'd already missed 2 days. We are having to keep her home again today and I'm confident that after the weekend she'll be better. Not sure what's wrong, we think it's just the flu. This has happened to her twice before in the last year or two and when I take her to the doctors, they charge me a lot of money to tell us to give her tylenol and have her drink a lot of liquids. *sigh* So we've just been trying that, along with lots of sleep.

Today is "Fun Friday" and I'm sure we'll be with Jim and Janice as they get settled and spend some time together and get a little quiet time to ourselves in between taking care of Savanna. How she feels will really determine what I do today, so we'll see. Thanks for your prayers for her.

What would you do?

I have often said that pastors are presented with unique and very challenging decisions that few could ever understand or imagine. I saw this on another pastor's blog today and just had to re-post it here. This is just an example of one such difficult decision. If you were these people's pastor, would you have agreed to perform this wedding?

Watch out Maddie, it's the Pup-arrazi!

Just a few photos from this week so you can see how our Madeline is growing...

Fling the poo

"If you have any poo, fling it now!"

~ from Madagascar

I'm not afraid of you.

I can safely say that because it doesn't matter who's reading this, I'm not afraid of you. Seriously.

I have a fear of the Lord, but He is the Great I AM -- the Almighty, so He's not in the people category.

I fear deep water.
I fear snakes.
I fear change at times especially when I'm not the one making it.

But people? No. I do not fear them.

One of my greatest desires is to live in a completely transparent way with others, and it's the hardest thing when I feel something or someone pressuring me not do do that. It is difficult for me in relationships if I'm expected to play games in the way we converse. I want to love people deeply. Sometimes that means loving a person enough to speak the truth.

I have issue with cowards. I have never and will never back down from anything verbally. The only time I ever have refrained from saying something I feel strongly about is out of respect for my husband if he asks me not to. And those times half kill me, quite honestly. I'm not talking about talking just to talk, or non-essentials, but things that are core values that I really feel passionately about. There are times I've questioned why I am alive on the planet if I can't simply be real in expressing myself. My husband says that's ridiculous -- that there are a lot of greater reasons to live than expressing oneself . But I think if you can't be yourself in doing whatever it is God's called you to do here on earth, what's the point? One time a district official who must have thought I needed some "counseling" told me that "successful pastor's wives suppress themselves." Hmmm...a lot of successful pastor's wives are also fake or sick. I'd really rather not live that way, thanks.

I am very much a "if you have something to say, say it now and say it to my face" person. And if somebody doesn't have the nerve to do that, I have a really hard time respecting them. I know that sounds a little harsh. But I just have a real distain for fraidy cats and head games. I hate confrontation but I am not afraid of it. I think only a rather mentally sick person loves confrontation however when the occasion calls for it, a healthy person will respond and not back down from the truth or suppress it.

One time a guy in a church we pastored threatened to kill me. He hated me. He threatened to shoot me and kill me right in the middle of praise and worship. My answer to him right to his face was, "Go ahead. Make my day." My husband was mortified that I said that to him. Maybe he thought I should respond with, "I'm praying for you, brother..." Sorry, that's just not me. When he told me he was going to kill me I didn't flinch or back down from him. By the way, that man is dead now. He was younger than me. But he's gone. Buried six feet under. I didn't kill him, by the way, nor did I ask someone to. He died of his own doing. If you want to know the whole story, I'd be glad to take you out for a coffee if you visit Tampa and I'll tell you the whole unbelievable story of the man who said he was going to gun me down as I stood on the platform the next Sunday leading worship at the keyboard, and how God took care of him.

Why am I blogging about this today? Well, it's just on my mind that I am really tired of verbal dances in relationships. Can't we just talk plain? One time someone told me they talk behind my back and don't readily share with me when something bothers them because I am too intimidating so they don't want to face me in a conversation. The same person told me they know they could never win a debate with me so that's why they have talk about me to others rather than saying what they have to say to me personally. All I thought was, "well I guess this is God's way from protecting me from you." The truth is, those who lack confidence are intimated by people who have courage. Sorry, I won't throw my confidence away to be your friend.

If there's one thing I loathe it's when someone wants to turn me into someone who walks in fear of speaking what I feel passionately about. I'm not afraid of people who fling poo. Let them fling. I can take it. Usually I have a habit of taking the poo and using it as fertilizer for my next success.

Whittling away

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best,
night and day, to make you everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight -- and never stop fighting. "
~ E. E. Cummings

***

I wish it weren't so hard.

I wish the battle didn't exist.

I wish I wouldn't have to fight.

But it is, it does, and I have to.

Or I die.

I've heard it said if you keep trimming yourself down to what someone else expects you will soon whittle away to nothing.

I believe it. So I keep fighting.

Busy Bee

I have been so busy today and my work is STILL not all done but it's time to hit the sack.

I started out with life coaching this morning and it was a great time as usual. I love my ladies! And what a great group of them I have this year. I taught on time management this morning. (ha! and my work still isn't all done today. I'm a work in progress, what can I say?)

Savanna and Britney were playing together at the church during life coaching, and wanted to do a sleepover at our house so I said yes, as I do say yes whenever I can. We came home and worked all day on much cooking and cleaning and also getting ready for our leadership meeting tomorrow night, which is going to be our most important one EVER. Can't share any of the details yet but trust me on this, it's BIG! I can't wait.

I was very busy all afternoon and evening doing more cleaning, weeding, clothes for church tomorrow. Somehow in between all that made Sunday's dinner and got the table set. (Tom and Cathy are coming over for lunch and to help us with some more stuff on the house Sunday afternoon including our new dimmer switches...among other stuff. It's always somethin'!) Amidst that I also made tonight's dinner of butter baked chicken and other stuff alongside it. Savanna requested it and has been craving it this past week so that's what we had. I try my best to get it to taste like Cracker Barrel's special. Mmmmm...so good.

I'm exhausted...time to give Teeby some love and then shut my eyes and go to sleep. Finally...

Ten of my best blog posts

I've been told that I've written a ton of compelling stuff in the almost five years that I've been publicly blogging now. (Dang, has it been THAT long?!) If you've been a reader any length of time you know I write about everyday experiences ~ from what I ate when I got up this morning to leadership issues, current events, stuff that really frosts me and things I'm passionate about.

Some of my best posts are from years past and if people are new readers, they may not even know these gems are lurking. (Can a post lurk?)

So... I thought in honor of this fine Fun Friday that I'd just list ten of my favorite posts that I can think of off the top of my head. I know my sister is going to get to work this morning, open this up and say, "what?! nothing fresh?" Kim...don't get your panties in a bunch...just click these ten and read 'em (it will take you more time than anybody should ever spend at work) but when you're done you'll be reminded all over again why you think your sister is the most brilliant writer in the world. (GRIN)

Some of my favs, in no particular order:

1) Praise and Worship All the Time?

2) The Principles That Shape My Methods

3) Why You Should Have Sex As Much as Possible

4) Why I Have Several Christmas Trees

5) Why I Won't Sign Up For a Beating, parts one, two, and three.

6) Opportunity for Giving Through My Virtuous Woman Offering

7) Why We Don't Have "The Talk" at our House

8) Why You Shouldn't Compare Your Husband to an Appliance, a Food or a Planet

9) The Call of God...Changing?

10) I'm Deanna Shrodes, and I'm a Homeschooling Mom

and one more for good measure...

BONUS POST: Wrecks

Guest blogger: Pastor Michael Gibson

The following is something my close friend, Pastor Mike Gibson, had on his blog today and I asked him if I could re-print it here on my blog as a guest blog. I have never introduced Mike here on the blog before, at least I can't remember doing so and now that I think about it, I can't believe that! Larry and I have been very good friends with Mike and his wife, Pastor Donna Gibson for some 18 years now. They are lead pastors of Victory Assembly of God in Tipp City, Ohio. Enjoy this excellent writing from Mike about, "Triangulation."

TRIANGULATION

by Rev. Michael Gibson, Lead Pastor, Victory AG, Tipp City, OH

Some of you are saying, "What in the world is 'triangulation'?" Well, here goes.

Triangulation is basically pulling somebody into something that is none of their business. Here is a simple example. After church, a member comes up to my wife and says, "Will you tell pastor....?" Or, "Pastor, I was out somewhere and I saw one of your members doing ...." Do you see the triangle? It is something between two people where a third party is pulled in.

In the first example, it should not be my wife's responsibility to relay a message to me. In the second example, if a member has a problem with something another member is doing it is their job to first go to the other member and not to the pastor.

My wife went through three units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) a few years back. I was blessed to be able to absorb some of the benefits of her training vicariously. Triangulation was a huge topic. Very simply put, avoid it whenever possible! This is extremely tough for leaders within an organization. As watch-persons, we sometimes believe we should know everything about everyone so we can keep guard over the organization. However, this mentality is skewed and I believe it is counter-Scriptural.

I once served on staff with a very recognizable pastor. Every once in a while situations would cross his desk involving his staff. One day, he brought a situation to my attention and automatically assumed I was in error because he had heard the other side of the story, first. I politely asked him to not assume that just because somebody presented something to him first that they were correct. He paused, thought for a moment and thanked me for that observation. He admitted that is exactly what he was doing and did not realize it.

Whether you are in the business community or in the ministry, the same rules apply. The Bible is very clear on certain topics. First, condemnation should not originate from a Christian. The fruit of the Spirit is to originate from a Christian. Judgment is to come from God, alone. Satan, not God's people, is the accuser of the brethren. And, the Word makes it very clear that whenever there is a problem between two people that the proper protocol is for the people to work it out on their own without involvement from a third party (hence, triangulation). Of course, others are to be brought in if assistance is needed after the first attempt. And, it is our job as Brethren to bring loving correction when warranted.

Why am I writing this? I believe triangulation is an easy trap for us to fall in. Most of us live life operating in triangles and do not even realize it. And, triangulation can result in gossip and skewed impressions of people which can ruin influence, reputation and even lives. Free yourself! Handle things the way Scripture tells us to handle things. It is very liberating.

In-love's are leaving acai juice is staying

(sniff...sniff)

They leave today.

I can't believe it. It's gone by so fast, it's been unreal. We still have so much yet to do. So many things we had plans for. We never made it to Tarpon Springs. They'll just have to come back, soon, soon, soon...and that's all there is to it.

Last night we utilized our movie pass privilege as we do so often (our son works at Cobb Theatres) and the guys went to see Pink Panther and the girls went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was great!

We are having lunch with Dustin and them, and then we will head to the airport and back to the church for "life as usual"...well, as usual as it can be in our household.

While here my mother in law has gotten me hooked on acai, pomegranate, and blueberry juices. She drinks 8 oz of the "Fusion V-8 stuff everyday and swears she has lost over 30 pounds because of it. Geez, if that was all there was to it, why didn't somebody tell me?! Anyway, I have started drinking it but actually not for the weight loss. Seriously. Really, stop laughing...I mean it. I noticed on the bottle it talked about antioxidants and the fact that there are 5 vegetables and 5 juices in every serving. That's pretty amazing.

Honestly on WW it is difficult to get in all five of each every single day. Doing it this way would actually accomplish that, health wise. I have gotten a lot more serious about my health these days...even more than my weight. Actually I'm sort of hoping the more serious I get about my health that the weight thing will fall more into line. Another thing about these juices is that they taste GREAT. I would not be drinking them if they didn't. I don't eat or drink ANYTHING I don't like. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you want to look at it -- I don't meet many things I don't like to eat or drink. But honestly these juices are really amazing tasting and the other day at the Brandon Mall I even had some frozen yogurt that was acai flavored and it was great.

Just a note to try them...you might like them.

Oasis Youth Fine Arts Fundraiser Snapshots

Some highlights from Sunday's youth fundraiser for fine arts...they raised a few hundred dollars and had a blast doing it!

Doing their special cheer, "We got a donation..." They were having so much fun and getting such a reaction from the crowd, I had to take some photos. (I keep my camera in my purse all the time for such occasions.)

Jordan led this cute little cheer each time someone donated. Some people were donating just to hear the cheer again. It was funny.

 
They made a mountain of food -- hotdogs, baked goods, etc. and sold it after church and during the Fireproof movie night. On Sunday night they even had empanadas homemade by Julie! They were yum. I ate two of them myself.

"Hey everbody...we got a dough-nation!"Supportive parent and church member Becky Faux steps up to give a dough-nation and get something to eat.

The girls ready to cheer

In between customers and cheers...

Dustin Shrodes...leader of this fine bunch  

To thine own self...

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than You.”
~ Dr. Suess

Why I've gained weight lately

(One of my dear mentors, The Rev. June Coker sent me this in an e-mail this week and I loved it and thought I'd post it here. Seriously folks, I've gained 15 pounds, it is not due to intelligence but my stupidity of eating instead of dealing with my issues. It does need to come off. I asked my accountability partner this week to start getting on my case about it. This cartoon is funny, however, and gave at least a moment's justification before coming back to reality.)

Whoa!

I am so tired but it's a good tired! I have never slept through my alarm on Sunday, but I did today. No worries, even if I got up late I wouldn't be late to church. I'd get up and go in my jammies if that's what it took to be there in my place and on time. It's just the kinda girl I am. Anyhoo, THANK GOD FOR MADDIE! She woke me up barking, 45 minutes after I had slept through my alarm. I was running 45 minutes behind my normal schedule but I sprang up, sprinted to the shower, got out and simplified my getting ready routine and walked out the door in half the time it normally takes and got there right on time.

We had an extremely full day today. Larry and I did a tag team message entitled, "Reconcilable Differences." Larry's parents couldn't wait to tell me how much they loved it. There were the usual elements of the day ~ rehearsal, Christian Ed., morning worship, then the youth fine arts had a fundraiser -- and we supported that and then headed off to lunch at Pipo's with my in-love's, Garlands, Sue, and John and their kids. It was a great lunch just enjoying one another's company. We were so late after lunch that we decided to just go back to the church and stay and get ready for the Fireproof movie that we showed tonight. Some days are so busy it's just best not to go back home if we have an evening service or activity.

The youth were rehearsing all afternoon and prepping for their next fine arts fundraiser tonight which is a movie snack bar for Fireproof and child care. They are working hard and Dustin and Casey are doing a fantastic job of leading it. I'm not just saying that cause they're my kids. This afternoon at lunch Sue said, "you know, I just want you to know...Dustin is doing SUCH a great job with this ministry..." Yep, that's our boy. I told him the other day I am going to give him a new nickname: "P.J." which stands for pride & joy but he said, "Ah...Mom, please don't do that..." (with an attitude like, "I really don't need you to embarrass me any more.") Sometimes a Momma just can't help it. I am so proud of that boy sometimes I just feel like I'm going to burst.

We had a fantastic turnout for the Fireproof showing tonight. I was delighted by the response!

We got home and my in-love's crashed and went to bed immediately, hours before they have been the whole week. I think our Sunday schedule was a bit shocking for them and completely did them in. Tomorrow's new day! The time with them has gone by so fast...TOO FAST! I can't believe it. It feels like they just walked in the door and Wednesday they will be leaving...I don't want to think about it. So for now...I won't.

Gaither Homecoming!!!

Sharon J. and Michele guessed correctly where it was that my Mother-in-love (Hereafter referred to as MIL) and I were headed for our outing! It's after 1 am but right now I'm blogging about it because I'm too keyed up to go to sleep.

We are getting back from the Gaither Homecoming in Orlando. This year they didn't come to Tampa. The closest concert to us this year is Orlando and somebody blessed me with two tickets! This year instead of Jordan and I going it was my MIL and he's a little peeved at me for that, but he'll get over it and we'll go again next year. (GRIN) I am NOT going to tell him that the Gaither Vocal Band sang, "Let Freedom Ring" or the boy just might go postal on me. He just may be the only 17 year old boy in America who would do that... (lol) By the way, Bill Gaither announced tonight that the new GBV DVD's have topped the billboard charts for two consecutive weeks in a row now. I am not surprised!

Man o Man..........this was like THE BEST homecoming EV-ER!! And we had such good seats, it was INSANE. I sat between two homecoming virgins. Neither my MIL nor the other lady next to me had ever been to one. To say the night was interesting is putting it mildly. My MIL knows all the artists and is a huge fan of all of them like I am. She had just never gone to the actual concert before, but she has seen all of them on DVD's. She was in pure heaven just actually being there. It was so awesome to see her so blessed by the evening.

The lady next to me on the other side came only to see Michael English who she is a huge fan of. She was a serious groupie and even had a picture of Michael on her cell phone screen saver. Not that he's not great, but she didn't know even one other artist there. Not one. And she drove me a little crazy with her comments. First she talked incessantly when I was desperately trying to pay attention. Then, she asked me how long we were going to be there. She looked at her watch at 7:30 pm and said, "wow, we've already been here an hour and a half...is it almost over?" I said, "what? are you kidding? Buckle up. You are at a Southern Gospel concert and there are at least 3 hours left." She looked at me like I lost my mind. (I was right - concert started on the button at 6 pm and ended right at 10:30 pm which is very typical.) And if you are a true fan, you could stand a few more hours of it beyond that and are sad to see it end.

Midway through the concert she leans over and says, "That kid up there is really good...he's got a great voice and I think he might really go far or really be something someday." I wanted to spit my coffee out it was so laughable. I said, "um, considering he's won several Grammys and is one of the most successful Gospel solo artists EVER in addition to singing in that quartet, um, I would say he's really made something of himself already." She says, "are you serious? What's his name?"

"David Phelps," I said.

"Phipps?" she quizzically says.

(Holding back from rolling my eyes while she talks) "No, PHELPS. P-H-E-L-P-S.

"Wow..." she says.

Who's that old guy up there?"

That's Ben Speer.

"Spears like Britney Spears?"

"No, Speer as in singular Spear as you would kill someone with..." (Why did I use that choice of words at the moment? Hmmmmm...)

And then I proceed to explain that he's from the famous Spear family and has only written some of the greatest hit songs ever, is in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and wrote many songs she undoubtedly knows (or maybe then again not...?) such as "Sheltered in the Arms of God"...yada yada yada. Again she was wide eyed like this was the most shocking revelation ever. Every two seconds I turned around she was making some wacky comment about these icons of gospel music as if anyday somebody was going to finally discover these "amazingly talented people" and finally make something out of them. Finally she says, "So I guess you're saying all of this is sort of historic when it comes to Gospel music..." "Um, yeah lady, I guess you could say that." Some time later my MIL and I decided to run off to grab a Starbucks and let her crawl back under the rock she must have crawled out from under so we could grab our coffee and go over to the Ernie Haase & Signature Sound table to look at their new sweatshirts which are way cool but I decided not to get one since I'd only get about a month's wear out of it living here in Florida.

On the other hand, sitting with my MIL and seeing her reactions to everything tonight was awesome! She had the time of her life! She laughed, she cried, she was in heaven! They are currently having a Gaither Vocal Band Reunion and a bunch of the people were back together again for the first time ever tonight including Mark Lowry, Michael English and...David Phelps! OH MY. Indescribable. My other all time fav was there -- the Hoppers, finally back to the Homecoming again and doing "Shoutin' Time in Heaven" and...let me tell you, I could listen to Kim Hopper for eternity without ever getting tired of her. The lady is nothing short of amazing. There was also a new group there, well...new to the Gaither homecoming...and they are the Collingsworths. I was totally impressed. Can't wait to hear more from them.

Perfect night was topped off by coming home and seeing a dozen roses and a teddy bear on the dining room table from Larry.

That's all for now...and...finally at 1:31 am...................g'night! I'll try to sleep although a zillion songs are running through my head.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! If it were possible, I'd meet up with all of my blog readers today and share one of these scrumptious looking cupcakes and a coffee and talk in person. I hope you all have a fantastic Valentines Day, celebrating God's love for you ~ whether you are single, engaged, married ...remember that first and foremost it's all about his amazing, everlasting love for you! C.S. Lewis once said, "Though our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not." Remember ~ He loves you...and so do I!

What we've been doing...

My mother and father in law, painting the second color in Savanna's room...hot pink! By the way, the green does not look the way it looks in these photos. It's much brighter in person and more complimentary to the other color.

Savanna was helping them but she fell asleep on her top bunk after a while.

Okay folks, here's the project Larry and I worked on most of the day. In addition to the Benjamin Moore Concord Ivory Color, which is the main color in all the common areas of the house, we have added the color "coffee bean" to one wall in the kitchen. All of the other walls remain Concord Ivory. I've been wanting to do this for over a year now, and today we took the plunge. My kitchen is a coffee/tea theme and has all kinds of stuff along these lines on top of the cabinets and all over the walls. This brown color looks much richer in person but this gives an idea...

And I sponged the same coffee bean color underneath the little bar/counter in the kitchen. I also spent the day re-doing the baseboards. I need to do ALL of them at my house as, believe it or not I've never done them the whole time we've lived here. (Yes, they've been cleaned - no they haven't been painted.) It just takes time to do it all, ya know? (Not to mention money.)

Here's another photo, a little brighter. Some of you who read the blog come to my house all the time, others may never meet me in person and have coffee together til' heaven. Well, I thought I'd share these pics with you even though the colors aren't completely true in the photos. If you're wondering what the little bar is down on the floor it's the little bar that keeps Maddie in the kitchen. We keep her in there most times when we are not directly playing with her or holding her -- that's her area to run and play in the house until she's completely house broken.

Whew!

I'm exhausted! But it's a good exhausted.

We are taking a few days off with my in-love's being here. Yesterday we got the kids off to school and then ate a very late breakfast. Larry cooked it and it was delicious. Actually it was more like a brunch, but I set the kitchen table with another set of my china and a special teapot.

I went to get my hair done later in the afternoon and at the same time Larry, his parents and Savanna went to Home Depot to get everything for her room makeover. She is like her momma -- has a hard time deciding things, and almost drove Larry and his parents to a mental breakdown going back and forth making her final selection of stuff.

When finally getting home from my hair appointment. and some errrands, I started putting the finishing touches on dinner and making my homemade apple crisp. (By the way if you haven't tried that recipe -- you need to. I am not even a huge apple crisp fan but I sooo enjoy this recipe especially this winter it's been good.) A little bit later we all sat down in the dining room to what I think was an amazing meal! The stuffed peppers that I made from the night before plus a salad and bread. So good.

One funny thing happened...you know the "stickers" that are on veggies or fruit? Well, I accidently left two stickers on the peppers and we got a good laugh over that. Somehow in washing and prepping them I missed those two out of the tray that I made. Savanna said, "that's okay Mom, it won't hurt us, it's just more fiber!" After cleaning it up I had to run another errand to pick up some tickets for my mother in law and I to go somewhere special this weekend (can't wait to blog about it!) and then Savvy and her grandparents got started on the primer for her room. She picked some good colors -- a bright green and a hot pink and the walls will be in these two colors with trim. Her room was this purple color prior to this makeover. In addition to the new colors we are going to put down some new flooring. When we moved in, the previous owners left us the tiles to do her floor but in all this time we have never gotten to it. Larry plans to pull up the carpet and put the tiles down. Then some very kind friends from church gave her a big mirror for her wall. I think it will look really great when finished.

Last time Larry's parents came they did the boys rooms and this time they are doing Savanna's. I guess it's sort of tradition -- we do a project when they come. They love doing things like this. And they are good at it, whether it be painting or wallpapering or what have you. While they're working on that, I think I might do a small project in my kitchen this week but we'll just see what I have time for. If I get to it, I'll also post pictures of that. You know, we go for long periods of time without doing anything like this but then when we start working on stuff like this it seems like we get on a roll and do a lot at once.