When it rains it pours!

 

You know when things start to look a bit brighter something always happens?  Well, that is so true for the start of this year.  I decided things were going to get way better and that 2013 would be AWESOME!  Then come January 31, 2013.  My oldest had a basketball game and was doing really well, UNTIL....  He went up to block a layup (which he did beautifully I might add) and the other kids tucked his head under my sons arm and back which launched him even higher and he came crashing down on his elbow and forearm.  Which pushed his shoulder up and out.  Breaking the ball off of the Humerus bone.  And NO it was not funny.

 

Lucky for us the other coach is a Physical Therapist and he looked at my sons shoulder and said to get him to the hospital.  He made a make shift sling out my youngest boys coat and helped us to the car and filled a plastic bag with snow and put it on his shoulder and off we went.

 

 

 

 

The other 3 kids did pretty well for being in the ER for 2 1/2 hours.  My most wonderful friend Marilee came and got them for me and let them stay at her house for the night.  Did I mention how wonderful she is?  Well, she is the very BEST person in the world.  She blesses my life everyday!!

 

 

 

He had surgery first thing Friday (February 1, 2013) morning.  Placing 3 pins in his shoulder.  We also found out he has a buckle fracture to his wrist so he will be getting a cast put on his forearm as soon as the swelling goes down.  He will be in both the cast and have the pins in his shoulder for the next 4 weeks then on to physical therapy.

 

 

 

 

I stayed with him during his hospital stay.  The Staff there was wonderful.  It made it so much easier on the both of us.  I was able to bring him home last night (February 2, 2103) around 7 pm.  So this is his NEW bed for awhile.  Here's to a happy and quick recovery bud!!

Blogging Conferences! Always a good thing....

Reading my favorite blogs was one of my greatest parts of my day.  It slowed down quite a bit this past year.  I took the time today to sit down and try and catch up on some of those most wonderful blogs that I adore!

Back in April 2012 you might remember my recap post of the Blogging Conference I went to called SNAP!2012.  It was a huge part of my joy for the year 2012.  I met so many wonderful ladies that I had been blog stocking for a year or more.  LOL  I think we all do that.  :O)  I was reading one blog today that made me remember how much fun i had at the conference and why I went to it in the first place.  I so wanted to get a ticket for SNAP! 2013 but they sold out so quickly (keeping my fingers crossed I can buy one as it gets closer).






Anyways, Michelle Lunt is one of those people that just make you feel good.  She is the creative mind behind Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust. And I had the pleasure of meeting her at SNAP!2012.  She was so sweet to talk to.  She recently wrote a post giving the "Tips for attending a Blogging Conference".  I loved every part of it.  So, I thought I would share it with you all. Just click the highlighted  texted above and enjoy!  Just make sure you do come back and visit me again. :O)

Having gone to a couple Blogging Conferences this past year has made me aware at the power we as Blogging community have.  And we are always there to help and support each other.  We are creative minds, inspirational people, instructors, and most importantly.... FRIENDS!  We have our first interaction with each other online then when we meet in person it is, well, like having magic friendships.

I encourage all of you, if given the opportunity to attend a Blogging Conference.  You will not be sorry.

Enjoy!  :O)

2013 = New Perspective

With a New Year comes new perspective, right?  I sure hope so.  This past year has brought me and my family some laughs, fun times, pain, disappointment, and realization.  Which is why I have not posted on the blog for several months.  I am sorry for that.  I needed time to try and mend, heal, and gain a new perspective.  I am not quite there yet but everyday I am getting better.  I know that with the help of my Lord and Savior I will be able to pull through this time in my life a better, stronger, and more Spiritual person.

I do hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season and that this New Year brings to you all the greatest blessings you need.

May the Lord be with you all though out this year.  Let us all keep our chins up and hearts open to the Lord to help guide us.

Love to all my readers. You are Awesome!  :O)

Harvest Decorating

* Any highlighted words will take you to that post.  So enjoy!

 

 

So here we are in the month of November and I realized I NEVER even tried to write a post in October.  Shame on me.  I did happen to take a few photos of my Halloween/Harvest decor so I thought today would be a good day to show all of you.  I went pretty simple this year.  Isn't it funny how our decorating tastes change over the years or in my case it has changes almost every year.  These first two pictures show  the only real Halloween  decor I displayed this year.  I just was not in the Halloween spirit this year.  My poor kids!  They love the month of October.  So on with the tour....

 This side table/pie safe is sitting in my living room in front of my very large window.  I love having a table there but this one is a bit too high.  I hope to have that rectified in the future.  The skull I got last year after Halloween at Walmart.  I absolutely love it.  There is a button you push that plays the theme music from the movie "Halloween".  It is awesome.  I made the "Autumn, Harvest, Give Thanks blocks a few years ago.  Everything else was from around the house.

 Here is my side table I got from Goodwill while living in Michigan.  I still need to paint it but have not decided what color or if I should just re-stain it.  The cloche was the one I made  back in the day.  It is the one that made Allison of House of Hepworths go viral with hers.

 This is my coffee table in my living room.  I got that tray/cupboard door from the Habitat Restore. The ceramic squash was from Hobby Lobby in their clearance section, and the faux plant and sign are from Tai Pan Trading.  Absolutely Love them. 

 Here is my Dining table center piece.  I was trying for a bit cleaner look this year and used what I had around the house again.  The tray was from Goodwill in Michigan, the pitcher is from Ikea, wooden sticks are from a blind that I cut down, that faux foliage ball is from Tai Pan Trading, canning jar and pumpkins were from my stash from last year, and the rot iron bracket is from Hobby Lobby.  Got it for anther project but had never used it until now.  The table runner is just a scrap piece of fabric (can not remember the name of it) you use for Swedish Weaving.

 Here is a closer look at the vignette.  I really love how simple it is.  Lots of texture there.  LOVE IT!

Here is what my dinning room looks like now.  It is coming along.  I will do another post on my new addition...  The utensil wall art.  It is my FAVORITE!!!!  And so simple.  Well thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a great week.  :O)

Blog Envy....

The other night I was watching an episode of Studio 5 and they were talking about  "Blog Envy".  It was quite interesting.  It got me thinking about the blogs that I love to read.  Did I have bog envy?  I think I just might.

Fast forward to this morning.  My oldest had a football game at 8:30 am and as I was sitting there watching them warm up I pulled out my phone and started reading my favorite blogs.  There is one in particular that I was mesmerized with today.  Now I have been reading her blog for a while now but not as frequent as I normally did.  I found myself looking over every picture and devouring every word.

It came to me....  I have SUPER blog envy for her blog.  So what to do?  Well show you her blog of course.   Her style is what I love and am trying for my house. 

Let me introduce you all to Holly from Down to Earth Style.  I think you too will fall into "blog envy".

                                       *All pictures are courtesy of Down to Earth Style

First is a picture from her previous house in CT.



   Holly made the kitchen island and it is to die for.    Doesn't she have the greatest taste in decor?

            These next picture is from her new house  she is renting in Virginia.  Holly is having so much fun finding new ways to decorate using her old decor and making their new home FABULOUS!

So do you have "blog envy" yet?  Head on over to Down to Earth Style and say hi to Holly and peruse her blog.  You will not be sorry!  Tell her I sent ya!  :O)

Where's my Candy coating? aka The Dirty Dash

Well this weekend was the fall run of The DirtyDash. Talk about fun! I talked my BFF into running it with me.  We went up to Midway, Utah for friday night and had fun chatting the night away. Saturday morning was The Dirty Dash 10k race. So up and at 'em we were.  Okay we are ready... We think.  We were team M&M (Margo and Marilee, get it?) 

 

 

We had our kind of matching outfits on!  Are we not just the cutest?  Then we checked in and off to the race we went. Sorry no pic just before or during.  Go watch the videos' on The Dirty Dash FB page.  They are awesome!  Lots of good clean MUDDY fun! We laughed the entire time.  Over came a few fears along the way too.  We both are a little afraid of heights so say the least.  And hate getting dirty!  But enough of that.  Moving on.....

 

 

This is us after the race.  I think we lost some of our "Candy Coating" along the way.  Oh yes, it is that kind of party!  We donated our shoes at the end to help send shoes to Countries that are in need. Always willing to help when I can.

 

 

Well, we had so much fun running The Dirty Dash that we have decided to make it a tradition.  Come and join us next year.  You will not regret it one bit.  This is the way "mud slinging" aught to be.  So go watch the videos already....

First Day of School....

Well, the new school year is under way.  I have mixed emotions about it.  Yeah the kids are in school, but boo they are growing up so fast. 

 My oldest started 8th grade today.  He is becoming quite the young man.  He has a tough school schedule this year (trying to get him ready to take some AP classes in high school so he has honors math and honors English and is taking Spanish) and is playing football again. They want him to practice being the quarterback and is a wide receiver and safety and something else.  He also just earned his Star rank in the Boy Scouts.  Can you say busy?  And to top it off he is turning 14 in a few weeks.  Like I said, growing up way too fast.  I was not able to get a picture of him this morning before driving him to school so here is one I took over the summer (beginning of July).  He is so handsome...  Love this boy!!!

 Now, my next two kids started school today also.  They do not have to be there til an hour after my oldest so I was able to snap a picture of them.  My 10 yr old is in 5th grade will be starting to learn French this year in the new French Club starting September 6th.  We will be having 3 different languages spoken in our house this year.  HELP me know!!!  It will be crazy but fun.  He too will be playing flag football again this year.  He is such a sweet boy.  Love him too!

Then there is my only daughter!  Which is fine with me cuz she is a whole lotta DRAMA!!!!  She started 1st grade.  A whole day at school.  Yeah!  She was so excited to ride her bike to school AND eat lunch at school to boot.  The things that make her happy!  She cracks me up. She is growing so fast.  I am loving that she is finally into playing with Barbies.  Had to pull out the ones I saved from when I was a little girl and give them to her.  She turns 7 this year.  Hard to believe.  She is our Princess!  Love her bunches!

Our youngest starts kindergarten next week so I will be sure to snap a picture of him and share it with you.

Hope your week is great and that this new school year is a success for ALL of our children. :O)