The Generosity of Friends

Throughout the last six months as we’ve been moving forward with our foster/adoptive plans we have received some very generous gifts from friends to help build our ‘playroom.’ We’ve gotten an exisaucer, play kitchen, kids table & chairs, wagon, legos, stroller, and more! My mom even gave me the lincoln logs we had growing up along with our Cabbage Patch dolls.

Josh and I have been focusing on the essentials as we prepare for a potential foster child – crib, dresser, bed,seats – and have kind of put the fun stuff, like toys and games, on the back buner. These generous gifts are a huge help! Can’t wait to dig into that kitchen!

We are blessed with such amazing people in our lives. Thank You, THANK YOU Schafer’s, Ms Mayhem, Dave & Dayna, the Bunten’s, and Mom for your generosity, it means so much to us.

Bathroom Makeover

One of the last rooms in the house to be painted was our master bathroom. After looking at the hot mess for 18 months, it finally received its face lift this weekend! I painted it Garret Gray (Sherwin Williams), two shades darker than the gray in the main part of our house, Versatile Gray.

Before:

After:

I am slightly disappointed in the length (or lack of) of the shower curtain…I may have to enlist the help of my bestest sewing buddy to help fix it. Feels so good to get this project done!

Funny

I had a hankering for Doritos today, so I headed up to the vending machines. I think I’ve only used the vending machines at work once or twice in almost two years. The silly thing wouldn’t take my money…ugh!!

In a desperate attempt at satisfying my craving I begged a co-worker (who happened to be going to the store over lunch) to please get me a bag of Doritos. And not only did she get me a bag of Doritos, but a full size bag! Yum!!!

I wish…

…my fridge looked like this:

Month 16: Locks of Love

Nothing much to report, things are going well and I’m having fun with my long locks once I figured out how to use the curling iron again.

After comparing todays picture with the one from October, it doesn’t seem like much has changed. Oh well, I guess the longer it gets the harder it is to see a difference. I’m still struggling to get my shorter layers grown out, but it looks less mulletish.

It is MUCH more fun to look at the comparison between now and when I started:

I’m getting close, just a few more inches. Oh how I miss my ‘bob!’

Inexpensive Art

The blank spot above the fireplace has been staring me down for quite a while now. It’s large enough that I can’t figure out exactly what I want to do and to get a large art piece is rather expensive, so I’ve just left it blank. I knew if I waited long enough and looked at enough inspiration photos that an idea would eventually come my way…and it did!

I was browsing on Pinterest and stumbled on a canvas do-it-yourself project someone had posted. She had found an image of deer silhouettes on istock, printed and cut them out, then spray painted them on a canvas. Josh is always joking that he wanted to put a deer mount above the fireplace, so it was perfect! Still trying to decide if I’ll hang it or keep it resting on the mantle…I’m leaning more and more toward hanging it a bit higher.

The project was very simple and inexpensive. I picked up a 30″ x 40″ canvas at Hobby Lobby for $19 (40% off coupon!), purchased the graphic for $18, and used a sample quart of paint I had on hand.

I printed each silhouette out on a separate sheet of cardstock so that I could arrange them how I wanted. After cutting them out, I used painters tape on the back side to secure to the canvas, then just rolled on 2 coats of paint. I peeled off the cutouts before the paint dried. Easy enough! It’s not perfect, and some of the paint did bleed through a little, but I’m okay with a little imperfection.

My next read

Last night at a meeting I heard a great presentation (by Ms Mayhem) about volunteering and mentoring….stepping outside of our comfort zones to expand our skills and experiences and sharing what we know with others. During her presentation she referenced the book Tuesdays with Morrie and shared a few quotes from. I vaguely remember reading this book several years ago so this morning I reserved my copy at our local Barnes & Noble for pick up this weekend.

One of my takeaways from the presentation was just reaffirming that we should never stop learning and growing ourselves. And learning doesn’t just come from schools and work. It comes from life experiences, friends, colleagues, the community, etc.

Another little tidbit is that we are all be mentors, no matter how old! It’s kinda crazy to think of myself as a mentor, but I’m definitely interested in maybe finding my own mentor. I think it’s great opportunity to learn new things and from someone elses experiences. Maybe I’ve already had mentors and just didn’t realize it..hmmm, food for thought.

I feel like I’m on the right path in life, trying new things, continuing to  learn more, and hopefully sharing my strengths with others.

Just curious…have you had/do you have a mentor? Were you seeking out a mentor or did the connection just happen?

Plants Ordered

In an effort to encourage spring to arrive a bit sooner, I placed my spring plant order today.

In the spring we will be creating a new planting bed in the front corner of our yard where  it’s a little empty and we just can’t seem to beat the weeds. Michigan Bulbs makes it super easy with their pre-made beds (plans/dimensions included!) depending on what type of garden you are looking for. I love it, it just takes the guesswork out of everything. I wanted something that would look good throughout the year and would do okay in full sun, so we chose the grass garden. Because it will be visible from all sides and not in the corner of our house or up against a fence (as shown in the picture), I did order a few extra plants to round things out.

Bonus: we received $40 promotional discount for spending over $80!

What I love most about ordering plants out of a catalog (my favorites are Michigan Bulb and Spring Hill) is that you can order anytime and they ship them when it’s planting time in your zone (Iowa is Zone 5). And the plants are always in great shape and super healthy.

The Best

I received the nicest thank you note from one of my Sunday School kids…so sweet! I’m sure you can guess what my favorite part is!

Approved!

We received notice this week that our adoption paperwork has been approved by the State of Iowa. Yea!! Now we are just waiting for them to approve our foster care paperwork and we’ll be all set.

This just means that now we are licensed with the state to take steps to adopt a child if the opportunity presents itself. We aren’t really adopting…yet.

Wow, it’s becoming more and more real…