Wow peeps!  How I have missed blogging!  Believe me, it has not been because I had a lack of something to say.  Ooooohhhh noooo, never mistake me for the speechless type.  My problem has been lack of a computer.  See, my laptop went kaput a loooooooong time ago.  Then I was using my son's, which is also on the verge of calling it quits.  Seriously, the screen is hanging on by a thread, uh, well, a wire of some sort.  It looks dangerous, for reals.  And the thing has gotten so darn slow that I don't know how he can stand to use it.  Waiting for one of my pics to upload on that monster is worse than watching glue dry.  I'm not even exaggerating. 

So today, my sweet, wonderful, amazing, fabulous, hubby broke out my Christmas present and said I could have it early.  (Ok, sheesh, that's a lie.  I saw a debit on our checking account, tried to play dumb like I didn't know what it was, he knew I was on to him, so he let me have it early.  But all the nice adjectives describing him are the God-honest truth!)  Squeals!  I love my new laptop!  I'm blogging again!!!

So do you wanna see what I've been up to?  I don't have too many pics to show you, since I thought it was going to be for.    ev.    uh. before I could blog again.  I did a few projects without taking any.  Gasp!  But there have been a few things going on that I can show you.  I can only take credit for one, though.

First, my daughter's bedroom closet drives me insane, like, everyday!  We organize and re-organize and do the fling boogie thing that Fly Lady recommends, but she just has TOO much!  I honestly do not know where it all comes from!  I should have taken the before picture with all her junk in there so you could get the full effect.  But here's a shot after about 95% had been removed.

She had one clothing rod and one shelf and the rest was just a bunch of wasted space.  It's not a bad size closet, but we needed it to work!  So I went to Lowe's and bought a nice little closet system and enlisted the help of my incredibly amazing son to install it.  Below is not the finished product because I took the picture before we put all her stuff in.  But I am loving it!  It was so easy to do.

Next, we went to work on the master closet.  Only, that was a project I knew I couldn't handle, so we called in the professionals.  Our closet is probably the tiniest closet ever built for two people.   (Disclaimer: I don't mean to sound like a complainer.  I realize that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who don't even need closets because they don't even own rags to wear.  Their children are starving and they need clean water.  I pray for those people daily and my husband and I support charities that are working to effect change!  I am so thankful for the many blessings that we, as Americans, almost always take for granted.)

That being said, we "stole" our son's closet from him to make ours bigger.  His bedroom is actually the formal living room, which didn't have any storage space, so he was using this hall closet.  (Can you say old house?)  We are buying him a wardrobe for his room instead.  So here is the pic of his I-only-use-this-when-mom-makes-me-hang-my-clothes-up-closet:

Seriously, 14 year old boys do not value space whatsoever.  He could care less that we took it from him.

Here is my "roomy" side of the master closet before:

And here is hubby's side:

No, that nice white tank top isn't his, my stuff began to migrate, ok?

Once the contractors busted through my sweet son's closet, we had one long space that looked like this:

They put a wall in place of the door like this:

Then I got to add some new decor to our hallway:

Ignore the brown paper and painter's tape people, construction is still in progress!  And by the way, you will never, ever in a million years guess how much I paid for that 7 foot mirror (which the contractors need to mount for me).  Did you guess?  $59!!  That's no typo.  Got it at the Home Depot for exactly that much.  It wasn't broken or scratched or beat up or missing anything anywhere.  That was just the awesome stinkin price.  Can you believe that??  How could I leave it at the store when I had a bare wall begging for something to be hung on it?

Ok, back to the closet.  So in our bedroom they took out the 30 in. door and created a 4 ft. opening like this:

And once all the paint was dry and the shelves were hung and the doors were up, hubby and I got to put our clothes in this!

Sing with me "Laaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" 

That, my friends, is a picture of my side of the new closet.  Hubby has a side that looks identical.  I can't even believe how great it turned out.  I'm so excited to have so much room to store all our extra sheets, pillows, or whatever else.  Plus, looks like I have room for some new clothes!  And I do realize that by today's standards, this is still a tiny master closet.  But for a home built in 1969, this is some pretty sweet space!

We're almost done.  Next are two pics of our shower, which, SIX years ago had a leak.  Again, not a typo.  First hubby said he was going to fix it himself, so he busted up about 10 tiles before he decided that was enough.  Then we had my sister-in-law come and take a look because she's done some tile at her house, but we found there was a floor pan issue.  Then we had a hurricane (and even if you don't live in Texas, I'm sure you saw the mass exodus from Houston on TV.)  The aftermath wasn't so bad for us, but there was still damage and the shower got put on the back burner.  Then we had illness, then - sheesh - I'm getting bored just typing it.  So I'm skipping over the rest of my excuses.  We procrastinated, ok?


The contractor guys are too fast, so I didn't get a before picture with all the tile we still had in there that needed to come out.  But here is one with our new can light that they installed and the ceiling that they raised two feet so my giant, er, tall husband could actually fit comfortably in there.

And here is what they did today.  I just love the subway tile and the octagon pattern on the floor.  I can't wait for it to be finished!  By the way, do you think the ladder and painter's tape mean I shouldn't go in there?  I wonder if the contractors were trying to hint since I kept coming in to check on them and see if I could snap more pics.  Ha ha! 

Ok well that's all for now.  More to come soon.  Especially now that I actually have a way to access, post, and edit my blog!

Thanks for visiting, and Happy Homemaking!

Well hello my friends!!  It has been a long, peaceful summer.  Before writing this post, I read my last one, so I could see exactly what it was I left you all with.  My last post ( in case you didn't read it, or like me, don't remember!) was all about getting my "spiritual house" in order.  While I have missed writing and decorating and doing all those "homey" things, I truly have been working on my spiritual house for the last several months.

We spent the summer visiting family, going camping, traveling with the hubs when he was out of town on business, and a multitude of other things.  While all that was happening, however, I did a lot (I'm not kidding, A LOT!) of reading.  I educated myself on the lives of many of the saints.  I learned about church history.  I did research on the current state of our economy and prayed about what God might be trying to do in our country.  I started attending daily mass (as often as possible), saying the rosary more frequently, and I learned more about chaplets, novenas, and other special forms of prayer that Our Lady so graciously shared with us. 

I'm not saying any of this to brag or say 'look at me, I'm so good, I did all these wonderful things'.  No, I'm telling you all of this because I am FAR from perfect.  I fall down, I make mistakes, I hurt the people I love most in my life with my sinfulness.  And I HATE that!  What does all this have to do with homemaking you may ask?  I will tell you.

If we are to make a home that invites others in, that welcomes them, makes them feel at peace when they enter, we must first look at the home we have prepared for Jesus - our hearts.  What does Jesus find when He approaches us?  What resides in our hearts?  Do we hold on to anger, fear, hurt, mistrust?  Or do we spend time in prayer seeking out His forgiveness, wisdom and grace?

I think the greatest thing I learned this summer was this: while many of us think we are waiting on Jesus to do something in our lives, He is actually waiting on us!  He's waiting for us to get His house (our hearts) ready for Him to enter.  But our hearts are messy; full of things we ignore or put aside and don't want to deal with. 

Think about it this way: if you invited a visitor over for Sunday brunch, you wouldn't leave your laundry lying around on the sofa, would you?  Would you have stinky toilets, dirty floors and messy bedrooms?   Or would you have your bathrooms shiny, the bedrooms tidied, the table ready, and candles lit?  Of course you would!  I think the mundane tasks of homemaking (laundry that NEVER ends, dishes that always need washing, siblings who sometimes need mediating) are present to remind us that the task of being a true Christian is not a one-time chore.  You don't get baptized and then you're done, or do one work of service and then that's good enough.  Jesus asks us over and over to live out our Christian faith in a constant and active way.  It's not an easy task.  He calls us to be bold and faithful.  We sometimes have to remind ourselves over and over again, that He will give us the strength to do the difficult things He asks of us.

So, I hope you'll continue to join me as I strive not only to make my house a home, but also to cleanse my heart and make it a proper home for Jesus.  As I do this, my prayer is that He will give to all of us (me, you and every other daughter of Eve) the wisdom, strength and grace to be the wives', mothers and homemakers that He is calling us to be.  After all, our real home waits for us in a place much more beautiful than anything we could ever create!

Have a blessed day my friends!
Happy Homemaking!

Ahhhh, Sunday, a day of rest.  We spent our restful day:

• Preparing breakfast tacos with the youth at church for a fundraiser
• Attending a Vacation Bible School meeting
• Coming home for a quick lunch
• Going back to the church for choir rehearsal
• Singing in the choir during the afternoon service
• Coming home and cooking dinner as quickly as possible because we were all famished!

After spending most of the day "resting" in the Lord and soaking up all His goodness, we sat down and had a peaceful, restful dinner under the canopy in the yard.  We felt the breeze blow, we watched the squirrels gather their dinner, we played with the dogs, we just enjoyed each other.

As part of the 31 days to Clean, which I mentioned last week, I am working on my "spiritual house".  I'm continuing to ask God to reveal himself and His will to me more clearly.  I'm fervently attempting to keep our home in complete order.  I'm doing my best to spend time in the Word each day.  I'm working on being the best mom I can be by trying to set aside time with each child individually every day, no matter how little time that may be.  I am feeling an increased sense of peace.

I sincerely hope your Sunday was a day of rest and peace, and that our loving Father will show each one of us how to live life (in this crazy world) where every day feels like a Sunday.

Stay tuned for upcoming projects!  I have plans for my master bedroom, as well as some changes in Grace and Reece's rooms.  Grace has new furniture waiting to go in, and Reece won some very special wall art at his end-of-season baseball party.   I can't wait to share pics!

Happy Homemaking my friends!

Family Feature

So I don't know if I've been rubbing off on Baby Sis, or if having her own home just inspires her the way it inspires me!  She is becoming quite the little homemaker - managing her budget, planning meals for the hubs, and decorating has really become a recent passion of hers!  Her home is looking just beautiful!  I just have to share with you a project she completed yesterday.

I stopped by her house the other day and she was putting together a new bookshelf.  There was a sad piece of furniture in the corner of the room she was working on.  We got into a discussion over it.  "Are you going to keep that?"  I asked.  She shrugged, "Not if you want it."  

Now this particular piece of furniture belonged to my mom.  Baby Sis and I have all sorts of different pieces of mom's furniture because she left them with us when she and dad moved.  Baby Sis and I are always swapping these pieces of furniture back and forth.  Anyway, I tell Baby Sis, " I think I'm going to ask Mom if I can paint it".  To which she responds, "Oh if we can paint it, then I want it!"

And so, she transformed that piece of furniture into a thing of beauty!

Here it is before:

And here it is after:

Wow, I mean, just wow.  Wouldn't you have walked right by that thing without even a second glance if you had been at Goodwill?  I will never cease to be amazed at what a few cans of spray paint and some new hardware can do. It just goes to show that with a couple of bucks and a few hours out of your day, you can turn what some people would put out on the curb, into something your guests will admire.

Way to go Baby Sis, I'm proud of you!  Now, I wonder how long it will be before she's tired of it?  Hmmm . . .

Happy Homemaking my friends!

I'm exhausted today friends.  I'm going to copy another blogger friend of mine by posting that "I'm too tired to post".  Oh gosh, ok, maybe a little short something to let you know what I've been up to . . .

Hubby and I spent the entire day cleaning out and organizing the garage, spraying the yard, washing the cars, and then I did some laundry and made a quick dinner. 

Now that I've had my shower all I can think about is z z z. . . .

No, I wasn't snoring yet, but I might be in a few minutes!

I hope you had a great day today, whatever you chose to do, and I hope you spent part of it making your house that haven your family loves to come home to.

Happy Homemaking my friends!