Another desk????

Hi my bloggy friends!  It's been awhile.  I planned to take some time over Christmas to reflect and that rolled into January and re-evaluating my priorities.  Here I am today with a new perspective on my mission as a wife and mother and how I can use my time to turn our home into a haven...that's why I started blogging right?  To keep me on task with projects and such.  That's still true I just need to make sure I always have it in the right order:

1) Quiet time developing a relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ.

2) Being a wife to my amazing hubby.

3) Always being intentional with the awesome kids God has entrusted to me.

4) Everything else.

Okay, there is a ton of "everything else" and I could probably write about that a lot more but you get the idea. 

I did do a little something besides reflecting in January.....

That's right another desk.  My mom hauled this to me from a garage sale in Salina.  It's a laminate student desk but the really cool part was the bookcase/cork board hutch that attached above it.  There's even a light above the cork board.

It had been well used and abused.  The previous owner really didn't like somebody named Sasha and used a marker to declare that all over the cork board.

Because it's laminate I put two coats of primer on it to make sure the paint would stick.

Then two coats of paint that were meant to be a soft gray.  The problem was it ended up being the same blue color of the primer!  I went round & round with the paint.  Adding black to make it more gray, paint a drawer, add more black, paint another drawer.  The desk and I played this game together for multiple coats of paint until I finally made a compromise.  Not as gray as I intended but no longer more blue than gray.  Lastly, two coats of poly because I really intend for my kids to use this for homework and play.  I also reused the hardware just spray painted them with a hammered nickel I had on hand.  Really updated their look.

I added some material to the back of the bookcase and a cut out above the hutch for character. 

 Then finally recorked the cork board.....we don't hate Sasha at our house!!  Abby likes to do homework here and even Aidan has claimed a drawer for his flash cards.

I'm blessed to have a mom who likes to "junk" as much as I do so she bought the desk for next to nothing.  I put in about $5.00 in material, $10.00 in cork board & $10.00 in paint supplies for a total of about $25.00 for this amazing desk!!

Ahhh the weekend!

It was one of those wonderful weekends when we didn’t have any big plans but somehow we had a blast, got some stuff done AND was relaxing at the same time.  Friday night we had free tickets to PBR (Professional Bull Riding)  It isn’t often when Bob and I go out without kiddos and bull riding didn’t seem like my first pick but we had the BEST time.  The event was exciting, our tickets included drinks and dinner at the arena, kids were being taken care of by great neighbors and I was with the best looking city cowboy there J

                   (Abby took this picture because we were getting ready to go out on a "date")

Remember that desk I’m suppose to have done by October 1^st????  Well, it got sanded and primed on Saturday!

We all went to an amazing church service Saturday night then dinner out at TJ’s Burger House (a family favorite all the way around)

On Sunday the desk got a coat of paint.  That’s all you’re getting out of me about it until the big reveal!  Bob meanwhile power washed the back deck in preparation for staining in the next couple of weeks.

Does anyone believe I was working as hard as him this weekend…… it’s just I had to stop to take some pictures……yeah no one who knows us believes that :)

I also made some Monster Cookies to take down to those great neighbors’ house for dinner Sunday night.  That’s right they watched our kids Friday night AND had us down for smoked pork and all the fixings on Sunday (for anyone keeping track I didn’t cook a meal once this weekend)

Monster Cookies

6 eggs

½ lb. butter

1 lb. brown sugar

2 c. white sugar

1/8 c. vanilla

½ t. salt

1 ½ lb. crunchy peanut butter

4 t. baking soda

9 c. rolled oats

½ lb. chocolate chips

½ lb. M&Ms

Blend sugar and butter. Add eggs and beat.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop by ice cream scoop onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

I couldn’t think of a better way to end a great weekend than this.....good friends, good food and a good drink on their deck.

Monday brings laundry, cooking, grocery shopping and some painting but that's okay because the weekend is only 5 days away!

New Chapter

I'm starting a new chapter in my life....you see my baby started kindergarten.  I'll be the first to admit I wasn't an emotional mess the morning he got on that yellow school bus and drove down the street.  That doesn't mean I didn't feel a little tug on my heartstrings but I knew he was ready.  Good news is he had a great morning that day and every morning since.

I've also had some great mornings... precious quiet time with my Heavenly Father,  running with friends, drinking lots of coffee and home DIY projects.  All the home projects lead me into another obsession THE HOME DECORATING BLOG.  I read about 25 of them (slight exaggeration but not much) almost everyday.  When I let myself I could spend hours pouring over the blogger's gorgeous homes, projects and visions for how to turn something pretty hideous into something AMAZING. 

A while ago after another session of blogger stalking I decided to get off the couch and finish up some of the home beautification projects I have around here.  Then I started thinking I could blog about it too...if I like to read about them so much while not take a stab at blogging about them as I go.  I'm not a designer or even close.  I'm not a journalist or graphic designer but I am a full time stay at home mom who loves making our home a place where my husband, kids, neighbors, family and friends can feel welcome.  That's exactly what this blog will be about, my attempts, hits & misses and adventures along the way of making our home a haven.  Much like Aidan that first day of kindergarten I'm going to charge ahead one project at a time and no looking back....