NOT a book review

Goodness... I just looked at my blog and realized like every post for the past almost six months has been a book review...  I really DO more than just read, but who has the time for blogging nowadays? Some do, I know! Just not me, evidently... But I shall try. If there's anyone out there that still reads this. :)

What have I been up to? my #1 job is this little (but growing fast) girl!

She's sooo much fun and learning so much! She loves her books, music, play phones and Baby Signing time. She loves people! So much fun to go to the store because she loves to say "HI!" to everyone we meet... several times! ;) How is it even possible that 17 months has passed already? She is an amazing girl! But yes.... she does keep me quite busy. If she is awake, she is moving. ;)

My second (naptime) job is my business! I love my work as a Lilla Rose Independent Consultant! Mostly I do what I can during naptimes (or occasionally after kiddo is in bed.) I don't have huge requirements to keep my consultant status and if I have a very busy time, my job will be right where I left it. And it's such an amazing product that it sells itself! I did my first vendor event last week with my mom and a young friend (she was our hair model!). We had a lot of fun and got to introduce Lilla Rose to our community. :)

A third thing that is happening is, quite frankly, something that ISN'T. We are still. in. our. apartment. sigh... We ARE very blessed! We live in an older, but VERY well maintained complex with an excellent staff! (Our little one loves going to the office to say hi! And they have known her since she was born!) ;) But apartment living is just that. Apartment living. We have neighbors above us with pets - very sweet neighbors - but it is still close quarters. We're not so much "looking" for a house as we are "waiting" for a house. We are ready in every way to buy our long term home, but our home has yet to open up. I know God is working things out in His perfect timing, but sometimes it's hard to wait - especially when you don't see anything happening... But we keep trusting and praying for His will for our little family.

Ah... what else? VBS planning, helping mom with her recital last week, gearing up to plan my sister's wedding... EEEK!!! my baby sister is engaged!!! So happy for her! ;) And many, other things that just keep happening. I reckon you'd just call it life! :) So yes... I do something besides read books...

Finished Object Friday: Celebrating Spring!

Thankfully, spring has started to "spring" around here!! We are starting to see blooms!! So happy! I know we don't have a whole lot to complain about down here in Texas, but the trees are about a month late budding out! Such a strange year! But my little project made it feel a bit more like spring whether the weather cooperated or not!

I haven't made many wreaths, but I'm thinking this could quickly become a favorite craft!! It wasn't that expensive to make and came together quickly as well! It sure has been fun to have something cheery on our front door (it had been empty since I took our Christmas decorations down!)  I got a lot of inspiration from Pintrest, no surprise there! And the supplies came from Hobby Lobby. Oh, and my mom actually did the bow. She's the expert bow maker! :)

 

So, yes, I have had a couple of minutes here and there to squeeze in some crafting! Little "Joy" is sleeping for looong stretches at night - usually at least 8 hours!! YAY!!! She is such a sweetie and we are so very blessed! :) Not sure when I'll get the next bit of craftiness in, other than hair bows for my little one. I've had fun with that! Maybe I'll do a post of bows sometime... :) 

Until then, feel free to link up here with a project!! Maybe you've had a minute to put together something springy?! 

31 Days of Settling: A place to live

Our main living area is getting quite the work out! In this one small space, we have had to combine three spaces from our other home: the living room, family room and office! So far it seems to be working rather well! Cozy, but it works!

Here's the overview:

Yes! The bar area looks a lot better! (And the vintage baskets and suitcase serve an important function: storage!) 

You've already seen the mantle, but here is another picture of my "cozy spot!" 

(That tall lamp is just temporary... A little redundant. It will probably just go to storage.) 

Oh, and since you already caught a glimpse of it, here is the little bookshelf in the mini hallway: 

And that's it for today! Just a couple more rooms to share tomorrow!!! 

31 Days of Settling: An (almost) finished bedroom

Tonight was our home study update!! Whew! We tried our best to have our place looking spiffy, buuuut.... I was actually vacuuming when she arrived (hey, she was a few minutes early!!) ;) so we did our home study update with the vacuum cleaner on center stage in the living room! We have a super sweet social worker, and she didn't mind a bit, fortunately! :)

With all the work getting ready for the update, I figured this room was the best it's ever looked, so I grabbed some quick pictures! 

We live this room! As I think I've said before, this is the biggest master bedroom we've ever had! We are really enjoying the space! (And glad there is room for a baby in there too!) here's the overall view:

(Somehow in bedroom pics, the bed always looks huge!! It's really just a queen!) 

How do you like my new (well, new to me) rocker in the corner? I love it!!

I actually bought it at a thrift store the Friday just before we found out that we had been selected by a birth mother! The arms are worn super smooth with use. :)

This is Mark's corner:

(And yes, I DO have a "thing" for unique chairs...) ;) 

And here's the "almost" part of this room: 

The armoir is decorated, but the bookshelf ends up being a catch all... Gotta work on that! I also have a few more things that I may hang in my corner, but I'm not set on it. I might just wait and see. 

And that is our room tour! I'll try to share the rest of our little place in the next couple of days. It is, after all, almost the end of the 31 days! :) 

Days of Settling: Day 24

I'm not sure that putting the date in the title is still the best idea... Cause I don't always get the pictures up here the day that I work on an area... Oh well... :)

Soo... Tuesday, I got some things hung up in our bedroom! It's feeling a bit more homey in there!

I also did some work in our other bedroom! (I eventually need to get a dresser in there for the baby! Right now all the clean clothes are hanging out in a laundry basket.) I made a path!!! Want to see???

Before: 

After:

Hooray for paths!!!! ;) 

Actually what helped the most is putting our shelves in the closet: 

Now all those random things laying everywhere in that room have a home!! It helps to be able to organize a bit! We should be getting a lot more done this weekend... We have a home study update next week!!! 

Days of Settling: Update

Thank you all so much for your kind comments!! I'm so excited to be able to share our news with you!! It is wonderful to have the support of so many friends!

While we have been busy with getting ready for baby, part of that getting ready has been to continue to get settled into our little place here. And yes, I have made some progress in that department! 

One of my main areas of focus has been our bedroom. My parents came over for a bit last week and helped hang a few things!

Thanks to them, my curtains are hung as well as my mirror! 

The reality is, I still have a bit of a box issue going on in there, but hopefully we can get those moved to storage soon! (And make room for baby!!) :)

I'm enjoying the curtains! This is the first curtains I've hung in our bedroom since we've been married!! Crazy, huh?? I guess curtains seemed so hard because I wasn't sure what worked. 

I also got my pantry better organized! And I love having this hook for my aprons and my shopping bag storage. 

My dad also helped me hang this picture in our living room: 

And to get the full perspective, allow me to take a few steps back: 

Yipes!!! Ok, maybe that wasn't such a great idea... But, that picture was taken a few days ago and the top of the bar is a little clearer now, thankfully!! 

I've also done some more organizing as well as decorating, but I think I'll save that for next time! ;) A big thank you to my parents for their help!!! 

31 Days of Settling: Day 17

Ok... So I'm a night owl. Aaand sometimes I have to change the publishing time to get my posts to show the right date! Whew!! It feels really good to get that confession out of the way!

Here is a picture of me reading to some cute kids:

I love that picture!!!

Why the cute picture?? Well, because today we (once again) moved some stuff around! And since a pictures of my parents garage that is now devoid of our clutter OR of our stuffed storage unit are not very pleasing to the eye, I am sharing the above picture. So yes, we made some settling progress today, but I'm sparing you having to look at it! You're welcome! ;) 

31 Days of Settling: Day 16

Well, I didn't get before pictures today, and I didn't feel like reconstructing a before picture this time. I guess you all will just have to use your imagination. :) 

I finally cleared off the whole dining room table (instead of just an end for eating)! And I put on a pretty fall arrangement (which was mostly already arranged, so that part was easy!)

I also put the finishing touches on the top of the piano. I hung the mirror Monday and put on a few things. Today I added just a bit more to make it more welcoming and pretty. :) 

I love having this hymn picture here. So perfect for the season!! 

31 Days of Settling: Day 15

Or maybe I should call this day 14 1/2, since I did this Monday... :)

Here's our fireplace before:

And after:

I'm glad to have a few of my fall decorations out! Yes, the curtain rods are still out, but hopefully soon they'll actually have curtains on them!! :) I love the cozy glow of my lights. It was interesting decorating this mantel because it is much longer than the one at our house (although not any deeper). It's not perfect, but it's fun and inviting! 

31 Days of Settling: Day 14

Whew!! A very busy day today! I got quite a bit accomplished, but don't have all the pictures taken yet, so I'll show more tomorrow!

For now though, I found something fun to go in our kitchen! I knew I wanted to hang this, but I was really starting to wonder where it was hiding! Glad I found it though, and it will be fun to change around.

This board was actually in our family room in the old house, but I know it will get a lot more use in the kitchen, and I will have a lot more fun with it here! 

31 Days of settling: Day 12

Well, I guess this should technically be day 11, since we did it yesterday... But anyway... :)

My next main goal has been to get our bedroom looking more livable. Big thanks to my mom for coming over and helping me with this corner yesterday!! Here's a before (well... Restaged before actually... We had started organizing before I remembered to take a picture! Oops!)

That sure doesn't look very cozy!! 

Much better!!!! :) a little bare, maybe, but still a nice reprieve from all the clutter there was before! :) 

31 days of Settling: Day 9

Hmmm.... Maybe I should change the name of this little series of posts, since I'm obviously not going to get 31 posts done. I've been a little under the weather the past couple if days, but I'm feeling better now. So I'll try to get back on track.

One of the main rooms I focused on today was our bedroom, but the work I did get done (mainly putting away winter clothes) really has nothing to show for it. 

However, I do have something to share! Due to a dire lack of cabinet space, we needed to improvise! Open shelving is so popular now days, so we came up with our own interpretation:

It is still a work in progress!! I want to put a basket with my table top potholders etc... Whenever I find them... 

Progress feels frustratingly slow, but it seems we are moving in the right direction. Thank you all for your encouragement!! 

31 Days of settling: Day 5

Whew!!! What a busy and tiring day!! I do have a bit of progress to report this weekend!

Our master bath now has a pretty curtain to help finish it off:

So much better!! 

And... We now have our dresser back!! We were rather tired of living out of laundry baskets! 

(After evicting a little house gecko who had made herself quite at home in my drawer! Don't worry, she now happily resides in the ground cover outside our door with lots of new friends!!) ;)

But lest you think I've almost got us settled in here: 

That's our guest bedroom!! (And YES, there is a bed under there!!) oh my... Now you know.... Sigh... Now to sort this mess and decide what I don't need often enough to rate keeping it here... But not tonight!!! :) I hope everyone has a blessed Sunday tomorrow!! 

31 Days of Settling: Day 4

Another kitchen corner... And there just aren't too many of those in this tiny kitchen!! This section really needed some help:

Yipes!! What a mess! I spent a little while this morning straightening and rearranging. (I don't use my blender very often so it will be stored elsewhere - in a closet, most likely... I really don't have much room to store my kitchen gadgets!) 

But you're waiting to see the after, right?? 

A bit better, right? My hubby was happy - it was the first thing he noticed when he came in! :) 

Here's a shot of that side of the kitchen:

Funny thing, I really didn't think that my red accents would go to well in this brownish kitchen, but it seems to work somehow! 

Thank you all for your encouragement! It really does help me to think, "What am I going to show for today?" :) 

31 Days of Settling: Day 3

Not a big difference today. Busy  day! We enjoyed having our first guests over for dinner. My parents came over for a supper of beans and cornbread! (One of my Dad's top favorite meals!)

I did do a little sprucing in my kitchen. One of the most important areas:

Gotta have that cup to start off the day right!! 

I tried putting my tea canister out as well, but it makes it look a little crowded, especially since I don't use it every day. What do you think? 

Lastly, I wanted to show one of my favorite mugs. This one belonged to my grandmother. Not only was it her mug, but she also grew lots of daisies! 

Can you see the 3D effect going on? It is one of my treasures! 

31 Days of Settling: Day 2

Well, this blog series is already starting to motivate me. In between laundry and typing up our kids' church Christmas program (which we will be having in two short months!!)... I did get a few things hung up this afternoon. Here's the sad little before. (It is a pretty bathroom!!)


And some afters: The basket on the toilet holds washcloths - not a whole lot of storage space going on, so I'm having to improvise! Still, it is a bit more storage than our last master bath had. 

The opposite wall:

And a panoramic picture for your viewing pleasure. :) (It is impossible to get a pan picture in this bathroom without catching yourself in the mirror. So, "hi!") :)

So, our last house had an enclosed shower. No need for a curtain in there - a pretty one anyway. Any suggestions on how to pretty this up? (And it has to be cheap! I can't go spending lots of money here!) :) I'm not too good at pretty shower curtains. Even our big bathroom at the last house never got one, although my intentions were good. :)

31 days... Of getting settled.

Well, 31 more or less... We'll see if I  actually post each of the 31 days in October... Wait! Can it really be October already??? What an adventure the past couple of months has been!!

We are moved into an apartment! That in and of itself has been a journey. I won't give you the long version, but the short version is that God provided a very nice apartment in the complex that Mark and I lived our first year of marriage. 

That's the good part... The hard part has been trying to fit from a three bedroom house with two living areas, into a two bedroom apartment. It is a very daunting task. 

However, I thought if I brought you all along with me this month as I make some effort in getting us settled, that it would inspire me to just keep plodding! And it will be fun to look back on what we have accomplished. And, hey, maybe you even have some tips for me! I'll take any help I can get!! 

First off, I wanted to start with a pretty picture:

The welcome mat I bought before we even moved out of our home, and I saved it for our apartment. The burlap wreath is the same one from last year. That has been one of my most used projects, I do believe! 

Not pictured above: the beautiful mum from my parents to really cheer up my front door! But here it is... It's really starting to bloom out! 

That's the fun part... The NOT so fun part is what it still going on inside... 

(And will you believe it when I say, that is an AFTER shot from Saturday??? Yipes! Inspiration needed ASAP!) 

So it may be baby steps at times, but I will try to post a progress photo every day... Except probably Sundays, that IS a day of rest, after all. ;)