Finding Balance

I took this on Mackinac Island

I find myself doing a balancing act lately.  I really feel like this summer was a bummer for our family and that really upsets me.  I am trying to see the bright side of things, like getting to spend tons of quality time together under one roof while taking care of Dayton and his needs.  Just last week he had his last appt. with the surgeon and she lifted all of his restrictions, he was thrilled and wanted to go immediately to tennis practice.  This poor kid is going stir crazy!  Unfortunately, over the past few days he has developed quite a bump at the bottom of his 7 inch scar, we asked his physical therapist about it  and he told Dayton it was time to take a rest, grab a megaphone and pom poms and cheer from the sidelines, he was not happy about this at ALL!!  And as his momma my heart was broken too. The surgeon wanted to see him and she determined that he either has a stress fracture or that he has an infection due to irritation by the hardware (screws and plate).  She wants him to not do anything physical for 2 weeks, then we go back in and see what she says.  It has been 3 months since he broke it and had surgery.  To say he is frustrated is an understatement but he does not complain, EVER!  Bless his heart!  So please pray that after this next 2 weeks he will be able to resume to normal activity without any complications.  If we do then it looks like the plate will have to come out, something we had not planned on for about another year or so (if ever). 

So inspite of all of the medical issues we have dealt with this summer we are trying to squeeze in a few small activities before school starts next week.  I feel the need to clean and organize, a summer with all of us living here around the clock has taken its toll on the house but oh well, it can wait till the kiddos go to school!  I am going to have to adjust to not having any children at home, Myah will be going to all day kindergarten, except for Fridays, that is her day off.  I am really looking forward to some peace around here even though I will miss them terribly!  It has been a LOOOONG summer! 

Mom and I this past weekend

We have another situation in our family right now that has our family on our knees.  My mom has been working for 32 years and is retiring at the end of September!  We are so happy for her!  She has worked full time since I was 8 years old, I can't wait to make some memories with her finally!!!   As she puts it "her timing is impecable, unfortunately,  she went in for a colonoscopy and cancer was found.  She has had a few procedures in the past 2 months and we are awaiting a cat scan and an appt. with the surgeon to learn about everything going on and when the surgery will be.  Of course this all happens to be at a time when she should be celebrating, Why are things always so bittersweet?  I hate to see her retire under these circumstances but we are trying to see the bright side, she will be able to not use any sick time at work, or feel obligated to rush back, she can take all the time she needs to recover.    It does scare us but we have faith that they caught everything early but we will know more in a few weeks.  I ask that you please keep her in your prayers.   I really did not think that this is something we would have to deal with so soon after losing my Dad but we know that  our faith and trust will get us through.  These are the times when I wish I did not live 2 hours away.

So as my first month in my 40's has passed I realize how patient I have become over the summer.  I have discovered that I am much stronger than I ever imagined.  I have learned to just "let things go" and to "go with the flow" so much easier than I used to.  I can be content at home and just "be" without finding a million reasons as to why I need to be on the go.  I have learned that I have such a beautiful little family, my husband and children make me so happy ( so frustrated too at times), but I have been able to enjoy sweet time with them that I will never get back again, I loved staying up late at night watching tv with Dayton while we had to sleep downstairs.  I learned so much about him!  I think it gave him a new perspective on us too, he wrote me just the sweetest thank you note that made me cry. 

The last day in their house, the movers were there packing.  Taylor, Lora and Rachel were left to clean up!

We also are bummed because Mark's older brother Scott and his family just moved to Iowa, he received a great promotion and decided to leave.  We are missing them so much already!!  I will miss Lora's sweet advice, she is an amazing Christian mother and wife, she has been a great role model for me!  We are learning how to Skype so that should help close the gap between us.  We can hardly wait to visit them! They just moved out there last week, Scott has been gone since May, Lora and Rachel were finally able to join them.  Myah told me last night that she misses Rachel, and that Rachel told her that whenever she misses her Myah can call her, she is so sweet!  Nate and Taylor are both at college now in two different states, I don't know how she balances everything the way she does. 

 I realize this post has become lengthy but I finally had time to put a few thoughts down.  I ask that you cover our family in your prayers, we have so many areas that need it right now.  Now I am off to enjoy the last week that is left of summer!!!

For some reason this picture cannot be removed!  Maybe it is a sign that I need to really find some balance,ha ha!

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

My niece Annabelle turns 6 years old today!  We had a rootin'skootin' great time at her party over the weekend!  I will post more photos later! 

The Queen Bee Suite

Welcome to the Queen Bee Suite, otherwise known as Myah's room.  She acts like the queen around here! (Little does she know she is the princess, mommy is the queen!) She rules this nest (or so  she  thinks she does!!).  Her room really earned this title a few weeks ago when I noticed a strange noise coming from her room,  I thought she was playing with books or papers when she was supposed to be sleeping and after yelling up to her room to quiet down and go to sleep, I went to check on her and noticed she was sleeping after all.  Uh-oh, then where was the noise coming from?  Apparently from the yellow jackets making a nest in our drywall, they were eating away at the drywall paper, thankfully I had talked to a few neighbors who had this problem a few years  ago and I knew right away what the problem was.  They were entering from the peak outside Myah's window.  So a nice bee exterminator came and put some sort of mixture in our ceiling to kill the bees.  Whew, that was a close one!!   Even more reason that this room is considered the Queen Bee Suite!!! 

Where our little queen sleeps, in her pale yellow bedroom. Her bedding is from Target's Shabby Chic collection.  I found the large bolster pillow at Sal. Army, it was PB!! And her crown pillow was from SaSea Boutique!

I had purchased this old desk before Myah was here and recently I decided to put it in her room as a vanity and hung a mirror that I have had (after I gave it a white paint job!), she loves having her little lip glosses, hair clippies, undies and socks in here where she can reach them.  I found the cute little vanity box at Salv. Army a few months ago for $7, it says Shabby Chic on the bottom (from Target). I had the stool from the same collection and luckily it fit perfectly under the vanity.  I hung the mirror somewhat lower than normal so that she could see herself in it.  She spends alot of time in this pretty little spot!

On top of her dresser I placed a few of my favorite photos of her. 

I don't know if you know this about me yet but I have always loved Royalty.  I have been collecting royal memorabilia since I was 11 years old, Princess Di and Prince Charles were married the day before my 11th birthday and I really thought it was their gift to me.  I spent my birthday money on a pictoral book from their wedding, I still have it.   So when I came across a man at an antique fair a few years ago selling these pages from English books on Royalty, I had to have two pages,  they give just the perfect royal treatment to Myah's room.

You have probably seen this little chandy before but I had to give it another shout out, I paid $5 at a garage sale for it before Myah came to us.  It is not perfect but I love it!  It was really bright brass before I got my hands on it!   And the little hat stand holds a very special piece to us, this baby hat was from China, actually handmade by the locals, we had Myah's first photos taken in it (see below).

I found this cute little rack at a sale this summer for $6, perfect for my little book lover!

I love this photo of her wearing the hat, I found the pretty sparkly pin at a sale this year and attached it to the bow on this frame. 

Pierre here was a $7 find at an antique sale!  So cute!!

I love the crystal touches in her room!

To corral her toys I had these baskets from PB outlet , I found them for $7 a piece, the prices have gone up greatly since then, they fit perfectly under her bed.

Of course our little girl's room would not be complete without a bit of vintage lace!!!

Hope you enjoyed a peak into the little nest we have created for our Queen Bee!!!

Sailing,sailing ..........

I have been wanting to make a driftwood sailboat for months now and the other day Myah and I were trying to think of something crafty to do together and this idea popped into my head. It was such a simple project and actually went together very easily and quickly.  It was the perfect little addition to our decor, I can see this as something I will be doing more of!! We had collected the driftwood from our vacation and the twig came from Myah's favorite park. 

The sails were made out of an old linen pillow case that had ripped and I had held onto for this very purpose.

The blue ticking  flag we made by just cutting a tiny triangle from this old laundry bag that I picked up at a sale for $1.   My hubby drilled a small hole in the bottom piece of wood so that the stick would sit in there firmly, I actually had a little wiggle room so I ended up heating up the hot glue gun and using that to attach the stick and the sails. 

I attached a little bit of some tiny rope that I had, I frayed it before I used it, to give it the not so perfect look that I was going for. 

The finished product!!! Myah was so proud and I love that it was something we made together. 

It looks so sweet up on our shelf in the kitchen with our family photos from Seaside.  Now I am going to have to hunt down some more driftwood, this was just too much fun!!!

I just love my 8 & 6 votive holders.  1986 was the year Mark and I started dating, he graduated and if you flip them around, he was born in '68.  And I love the #8 anyhow because that has always been Dayton's jersey number and it turned out to be Myah's this year too!  And the #6 is just as sweet, the day we received our little Myah in China was 6-6-06.  I know, I really go overboard with things having meaning in our home but I can't help it! 

Sheet Music and Ironstone....together at last!

Do you ever have a little project that takes just minutes to accomplish but you just put it off for like oh, let's say a year because you just don't want to do it???  Well, this little 5 minute project was just that.  I have had my  white cupboard for years and it came with  green paint on the inside,  I enjoyed the green and really did not want to paint over it, ( just yet!) but I was ready for a change.  I have seen people take vintage sheet music and line cupboards with them, I have had a ton of sheet music  that was my grandmothers, I had the notion to line the backs of my shelves  in this cupboard for years.  It wasn't until I moved this cupboard back out into my breakfast nook a few weeks ago that the green really stood out against all of my white decor.  Then I went to the coolest barn sale and acquired all of this ironstone for pennies, as soon as I saw it I knew it would go into that cupboard.  After living with it for a few days I realized that I wanted to try displaying the collection against a lighter background, but lazy me did not want to paint.  So I finally decided to get out a roll of packaging tape, my sheet music and go to town.  Five minutes later I had the look I was going for!  Why did I wait so long???  And it is only a temporary fix, if I don't like it I can just pull it down. Easy as that! It definately fits into my all white/creamyish scheme and reminds me of my family's love for music at the same time.  I am a sentimental person if you have not already figured that out about me, I love to surround my  family with mementos from our past by displaying them in our home, I believe it keeps sweet memories alive. 

My Dreamy Master Bedroom Reveal! And Giveaway Winner!

My long awaited all white dreamy bedroom! 

I made the mirror from and old mirror that I found in a thrift shop for $7, I will post about that later! The shells came from our vacation to Seaside over spring break!  I found a great inspiration piece while on vacation and decided to try to make my own version.  It is very heavy!!  I moved the table up from the family room and put this $3 garage sale chair with it. 

Love this tag my sister gave to me, she knows where my heart is.....

I leaned  this old shutter  against the wall on top of my lingerie dresser with my garage sale candle sticks.We have cathedral ceilings in here and I try to use that space in a creative way.  My sister made the nest sign, I just had to have it in our "love nest"!! Hee heee!

His and Hers nightstands were repurposed from old tables that I repainted, and the lamps I have had forever, just waiting to feel like they belong in a dreamy space!  I think they finally feel like they are part of our clique!

Everything in our home has a story,  this pillow was made by my sister, she actually tossed it to me at her house one day saying "take it, I was just practicing on that one!" I had to ask her what Reve meant, apparently I have never dreamt in French! 

This table was in my grandparents house for years, I have photos of me as a baby with it in the background, I gave it a coat of white paint this past winter.  Reminds me of my grandmother and her great curvy legs!

Ahhh....this is where we lay our precious little heads........and where my hubby tells me to turn over because I am snoring!!! Oh no!!!!! Does that come with age too?????

These gorgeous draperies were a gift from my little  nieces for my 40th!  Their other fabulous aunt could not use them so they bartered  with her and gave them to me!!!!   I am so lucky!!!

An upclose view of my oyster shell mirror

These prints hang on the wall between our windows.  I found the upper frame/photo at Iron Grate's sidewalk sale!  And the lower frame I have had for a  few years, I printed off a botanical shell print from vintage printable.com and put it in here.

Love my Shabby Chic ruffled sheets with my matelesse comforter, just right for summer!

At the same sale that I purchased this $3 chair,  I also bought a gorgeous vintage chandy for $5, now I am just trying to find a place for it!

Thought you might like to see the gorgeous  pleats on my new draperies

So as you can see, I really only purchased a few gallons of paint in order to make this transformation. I already had the bedding, furniture and accessories.  All I needed was 2 gallons of Dove White by Benjamin Moore and my I got the look I have been trying to achieve for so long!   Remember my room had very dark brown walls, my hubby has to sleep here during the daytime so I had to make it kind of cave-like! I have to  thank to my sweet man for helping me create our dreamy getaway!  He actually likes it too!!!  That is very important in creating a space that you BOTH can relax in!