Raising Children...

I have a sixth grader. He is not athletic. He is super smart, loves to draw and read. We are active with our local boy scout troop, where he learns important life lessons (that he may or may not "get" right now, but they'll make sense one day).

While I know that he has been picked on before, I don't get a lot of information from him.  I have to ask questions (shouldn't we all ask our kids questions about their lives?).  Crossing my fingers that we make it through the middle school years peacefully (well, as peacefully as a middle school student can be), and we sail into high school. I will, however, keep these words close so they can be used at any time.

From the blog "The Scoop on Balance":
What to do when Someone is Mean to Your Child

One Thousand Gifts

I came across this beautifully written blog.  If you haven't read Ann Voskamp, you should.  Ann Voskamp?  Have you seen the book "One Thousand Gifts?"  That Ann Voskamp.

To Celebrate Joy

The very first sentence sticks to me.  It states:

"When you are a musician and you stop counting, it's like running

 around in the forest in the dark without a flashlight."

I'm a musician.  I've played some sort of instrument since second grade. My husband is a musician.  Our son is continuing what we started, joining his school band.   You can't perform music without counting.  Without counting, the notes don't make sense, the melody disjointed, the sounds coming forth perplexing. 

You learn quickly that by counting, the melody isn't as confusing, the sound becomes more beautiful.  And you count more, sometimes simply, other times more complex.  And each time you count, the melody is more becoming, more attractive.

 So count.  Count your blessings, as big or as small as they are.  Because blessings come in all sizes.  Just count. 

" Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done."

I will take the dare, the Joy Dare (fitting, as my first name is Joy).   I will dare myself to count MY blessings, however big or small they be.

Take the dare.  Head over to Mrs. Voskamp's blog to see more.  I have some catching up to do.

In the Beginning...

There was one messy spare room.  It used to be the boy's room-painted a light blue, the first room I painted when we moved into the house 11 years ago, 8 months pregnant (moved in the first of June, he was born in August).  I was nesting by unpacking boxes and painting.

As he got older, he needed a bigger room.  So I moved him into what was the spare bedroom, and created an office space for my pampered chef business/craft space/spare bedroom.  Repainted the walls a gorgeous, soft shade of green.  And it was great...until we started piling stuff in in, on the bed, in the closet...

So it begins.  The purging, the throwing away, donating...stripping down to only what I need to make the room work, both as an office/creative space and as a spare bedroom. 

A Tale of Two Makeovers

I'm a crafter.   I'm so right-brained it's crazy.  The Lumberjack is left-brained: he's great at math, logic puzzles, reasoning.  Me? I find things, pick them up, find ways to make them new.  I jump from one idea to the next, seeing potential in things others leave behind (because one man's trash is another one's treasure, right?) I often joke that between the Lumberjack and I, the boy got the best of both worlds: he loves science, and loves to draw, dinosaurs and dragons being his favorites. 

 

From memory, y'all.  Memory!

 I've had this bookcase for years.  Right outside my bedroom door, looked at its brownness for years.  Finally, I decided to do something with it...

Brownness.  Not pretty.

         

      Getting a little better. 

                      

                  Much nicer view from the bedroom!

Left on the side of the road, these frames needed of love, so they came home with me (that trash to treasure thing).  Black-frame, painted mirror. (And polka dotted socks!)

 

 With one coat of white paint, they started looking really good. 

Another coat of paint...happy, happy, happy frames (and pink-toed socks).  

 

New chalkboard paint on the mirrors, scrapbook paper on the backs to keep them cute and pretty.

 

Happy little chalkboards now, just big enough for a hello and hi ya'll! 

On to something else! 

I'm linking up to: Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

A New Year, A New Blog

If you'd ever had asked me if I would start a blog, I would have looked at you like you were crazy.  Me?  A blog?  What would I write, what would my focus be?  Honestly, I'm still not sure what I will write about. I guess a little of this, a little of that.  
  
So who am I?  I'm a stay at home mom, teacher by trade.  I live in a small town in Georgia, married 14 years to my husband (The Lumberjack).  We have a son who is incredibly talented drawing (if only he'd keep his room clean!) and has desires to dig up dinosaurs when he is older.  

I'm a Senior Consultant with The Pampered Chef, having celebrated my third year with this wonderful company on the 28th.  I'm sure I will share more about TPC as my blog continues.  I enjoy cooking, crafting, and photography;  learning my camera and creating a portfolio are among my goals for the year.   I am a confessed Pinterest addict (who isn't?).  

So that's me.   And here's to the new year, and a new blog.