in the Congo

I know that all of you have those few things that your spouse's do that drive you crazy. I also have those things that if I really focus on them will drive me crazy and Satan, being so dependable in this avenue, keeps feeding that fire to talk me right into hating my husband's guts and livers,

if you know what I mean.

For example, he doesn't do the lawn exactly the way I want it but he does it... well, not near as often as I think it should be done... but you know what I mean.

I've never attempted to do the lawn myself, I've figured that if I did I would be stepping on his toes and it would just cause more heart ache than help. Plus, I'm sure I wouldn't "handle" the lawnmower/weedwacker

Am I the only one who calls them a weedwacker? uhem...

...anyways, handle them correctly, I probably wouldn't mix the gas and oil well... whatever it is... correctly - I would just get myself in a heap of trouble, I'm sure.

I don't know those details and my guess is if I asked him to explain, he would tell me he takes care of it and I don't need to know those things...

So I don't ask him to explain it and no way am I going to Google "how to properly tend to a lawnmower and weedwacker".

Most importantly, I think he would plotz if he came home and I had messed with his stuff...

and there our yard sits growing like a rain forest in the deepest of the Congo.


And he is happy with it.

He obviously thinks it looks fine or he'd fix it... right?


It really doesn't hurt anything - I mean we don't have a cranky home owner's association president telling us that our yard looks trashy and there are

only a few people stopping by weekly to see if this place is abandoned or not! *wink*wink*

Nope, it really doesn't hurt much and he likes to do it -

so, instead of fighting him...

I'd rather have a peaceful home ...

and Lord knows, my chores are NOT perfectly executed and completed - I haven't seen the bottom of the laundry hamper in who knows how long, my kitchen is grease fest 2010 and my windows... well, let's not even talk about the windows.

So, I think before I start critiquing the Congo I better go scrub that crumb infested/ oil splattered kitchen...

and keep my bad attitude to myself from now on.

James 3:6-12
"6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue-a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh."

this morning's dialogue...

Daddy - Good Morning, Pauly

Pauly - Hey guys!

Daddy - Don't call us guys, we are Mama and Daddy. I'm daddy and that's mama (he points at me). Isn't she pretty?

Pauly - She's a good girl and I good boy.

Daddy - She is a good girl... NAP TIME!

Mama - (rolls her eyes)

Mama - Pauly, here is your pancakes and milk. Get in your chair, please.

Pauly - Kids at park - guys.

Mama - Yes, you may call the kids at the park "guys".

Pauly - Baby Billy - guys?

Mama - Sure.

I'm off sneezing my head off...

(this pictures makes me want to sneeze)

I'm off juggling kids, fighting allergies and threatening to throw a stupid computer out the window -

Oh! and playing hostess...

Hope to be back soon.

I have an idea

or Houzz does rather.

We have a only one small bathroom in our 4 bedroom house.

I know! Insane!

AND there is No plug-in in there and it makes me crazy!

We really need a bathroom face lift

as well as

an extra similar small bathroom downstairs.

I went to Houzz.com just to get some fun ideas.

Obviously, we can't afford a fabulous tub like the one below

but

I do love getting ideas...

and dreaming.

eclectic bathroom design

eclectic bathroom design by new york architect Richard Bubnowski Design LLC

eclectic bathroom design

come sit beside me

source

source
source



source


source

"For June, who loved this garden, from Joseph who always sat beside her."

Notting Hill

Knock! Knock!

Pauly - Knock! Knock!

The Lady of the House - Who's there?

P - pick one!

TLotH - pick one who?

P - Ha! Ha! pick one - Knock! Knock! Ha! Ha!

TLotH - Ha! Ha! Ha!

------------------------

P - Knock! Knock!

TLotH - Who's there?

P - Nanna!

TLotH - Nanna who?

P - Ha! Ha! Nanna - Knock! Knock! Ha! Ha!

TLotH - Ha! Ha! Ha!

------------------------

P - Knock! Knock!

TLotH - Who's there?

P - red one!

TLotH - red one who?

P - Ha! Ha! red one - Knock! Knock! Ha! Ha!

TLotH - Ha! Ha! Ha!

TLotH - Okay, It's my turn - Knock! Knock!

P - Knock! Knock!

TLotH - No! I'm saying Knock! Knock....... you say, who's there? - Knock! Knock!

P - Knock! Knock!

TLotH - {sigh} Who's there?

Me and the Beast

Really? Really?

Even the Beasts?

He's got his eye on even the Beasts!

the Sparrow.

the smallest teeniest minuscule ant.

and me.

THE SINNER.

me.

The one who doesn't even deserve an ounce of his immaculate attention

but.

without question.

or a second thought.

he's wants to get

up-close and personal

with.

Sami Jo.

{sigh}

Isn't that Comforting?

5Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.

O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

Psalms 36:5-6

Pretty dresses, A messy kitchen and Very lazy hair ...

I'm dreaming of these

source

I'm listening to William play in his doorway jumper ...



squeak



squeak




and Ingrid Michaelson




♥♥♥♥



I'm thinking about this....



a lot.






I'm wondering, will I ever get this house cleaned and organized before my company is here on Wednesday? Oh my...

We really aren't pigs. This was just a bad day.... or was it?

hmmmm....

I've been reading her.

I love her words.

My husband and I have been watching the series Rescue Me on Netflix. Intense!

I got a lump in my throat when we sang this in church today...

Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life

Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life

Words of life and beauty teach me faith and duty.

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life

Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.

{This song reminds me of listening to my mother's sweet voice when I was younger -we would sing this very song in my home-town church and I always thought she sang it so beautifully.}

I love her so.

For dinner they are having leftovers. BBQ pork, Potato Salad. I think I hear a green salad calling my name ... or is that a BBQ pork sandwich screaming?

It's so hard to change eating habits.

On the t.v. right now is Nascar.

Ick!

I hope I didn't offend anyone but, ick.

I'm so thankful right now for friends. It was about 2 years ago when I got down on my knees and prayed that the Lord would bring friends into my life. You just can't under estimate how sacred a good friend is.

And he did.

They make me happy

:)

I can smell the neighbor mowing her lawn...

peonies on my dining table...

rain is coming tonight.

My toes are painted hot pink -

I lof them.

I lof saying lof.

I'm working on the menu and grocery list for the next couple of weeks.

Carne Asada.

Corn Tortillas.

Lime.

Cilantro.

Pico De Gallo.

delish.

I'm pondering painting my front door

white

grey

or

green.

What do you think?

And yes, right now it is pink. ...



ish.




I'm hoping when my sister comes this next weekend she can work her magic and help me with this...

shame!


I'm in a rut of very lazy hair days.

Truly Thankful

Thank you, Veterans. Thank you.

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"

~Eve Merriam

Friday Flashback: Do girl.

Some of you might remember a couple weeks ago when I was talking about how my family ropes.

Some of you might have even seen this before. Some of you might not have.

Some of you might even hate it.

Sorry.

As I said before, it's what we do.

It's what I did any way.

Sorry for the poor quality, I don't have a scanner so I just took a picture of a pic I had.

I do not rope any more.

I do not do much of anything other than change diapers, make meals and go to church, any more.



and I'm okay with that... I love my life...



most days.


I miss roping some times.


I miss doing sports in general, some times.



When I see sports on tv my palms get sweaty and my heart races.



I really loved sports.




When my mom and dad talk about how they went roping... well just as I'm typing this my body gets a little surge of energy!


I played basketball, volleyball, ran track and rodeoed -

not all at the same time and not in that order.

I was always doing something.



My junior year I gave it all up to double up my studies and graduate early and concentrate on rodeo.

Rodeo took priority.

It's what I did for 2 years straight. Go to school, come home, ride my horses,

practice. practice. practice.



I loved it.



I was good at it.



It was fun.


I don't necessarily want to get back to the point where I can rope again...


BUT



I do want to get to the point where I feel like I'm living my life...

instead of

barely surviving.




I would like to be able to do something "sporty like".


but mostly


I want to live long enough to watch my boys grow up.


**This is where this post gets sad. I know what your thinking -

Your thinking ... This post started out so cheery and fun...


Sorry Charlie! (or Sandra, Misty, Diva, Mom, Taylor, Shelley - don't be sad if your name isn't mentioned here - you know I love you)


- Reality has just set in for this ole girl and something has got to change!

I never thought it could happen to me, I never thought it would get this bad.

It did and it has.


I feel so foolish.

I regret being so overweight that I can't hardly enjoy my life.


I feel terrible for putting my husband through this.

My husband who loves me any way I am... he just wants me to be happy and healthy.


I'm worried.

I'm worried that I'm going to regret not doing this now! I'm going to regret not living my life to the fullest. Already I'm missing out on things I once loved...


already I can tell my body is disintegrating before my very eyes.



Like this lady said... I don't want to regret! When all is said and done - I want to know that I lived every. single. day. to it's fullest.

Farmgirl paints gave herself a word... a word that would be "her word" for the year...

it is Be.

Around my birthday I started thinking about this.

I think it is a great idea to have a word... something I can cling to and remind myself to keep going and strive on.

A word that would remind me that my strength comes from only one place and I can only keep going if I include him in my life.

Do.

I've chosen do.

I'm doing this for me.

my family.

my God.

He tells us that he has chosen us to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

But am I?

Am I doing what he wants me to do. I've been listening and this is what he wants me to do - so he's talked me into it.

I'm going to take you along with me on this journey - logging my food journal on here and then after I'm done nursing - (5 months or so) I'm going to do a few other things including taking pics of my progress and posting them and this way - I'm holding myself accountable... which is something I struggle with.

I ask that you pray for me.

I'm excited about this change - I know I can do it.

I know it is going to be tough and I have a long ways to go. I just want to do more, do what is best for my family, do what I've been called to do.

only with him,

and glorifying him each step of the way.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Friday Flashback started with this gal. Thanks for the idea hon!

I'll give you one guess...

Hey Shorty!

My wonderful husband made us strawberry shortcake dessert.

He insists we have real whip cream - how unfortunate that he insists! (rolling my eyes).

The strawberries right now, are awesome!

I think I'll have to pick up more today! And Shortcake is so much better than Angel Food Cake in my opinion.

I like Angel Food Cake, I mean, it tastes good - I really like it on it's own. I kind of think of it as cotton candy in cake form...

BUT Strawberry Shortcake is soooooooooooo good!

It has that whole sweet, salty thing going for it.

and of course....

you've gotta having a cup of coffee with your dessert makes it really good!

I'm in love with my Long Flowy White Curtains

Ta du! Here are the new curtains that are in our living room. Our living room is utilized as a dining area/play area/living room - things are pretty crowded and at times feel kind of claustrophobic. These bright and cheery curtains not only will block out heat but they add lots of light to the room.

I'm so tempted to paint every wall, baseboard, window seal - EVERYTHING White! I know what your thinking - WHITE? Is she crazy? White curtains? White walls - 2 boys and who knows if we'll have more? eeeeek! Kind of scary! Well the idea is that long flowy white curtains add light to a room - this room nEEEEEds light! and the white walls would do the same thing, especially if I carry it through the kitchen - the idea is that it would make it look like one large space, as it really is teeensy tiny!! Then I would use coastal lt. green, blue and yellows for decor and furniture.

My inspiration is from Jane Coslick and her design for wonderful beachy, charming cottages. If you go look at her designs, you'll understand more where I am coming from.

I love Jane and I also adore

Sarah's style at A Beach Cottage - who loves ALL WHITE Everything!

and

Layla's at The Lettered Cottage - who is the queen of neutrals and muted tones.

So somewhere in the middle is where I am. I don't have a lot of resources to decorate my home and that is probably why I am so excited about these new curtains as I rarely buy anything new for the house.

My furniture came from Craigslist, family and thrift stores. We did buy our dining table new but that was back when we were young and dumb and if I had that money now, well you know what I am thinking...

Ben and I decided it was a good idea to invest in some curtains for our living room. #1 because they should help with the heat this summer and #2 because they should help with the cold this winter - That's right! Our little house, built in the 40's doesn't have a/c and terrible windows. So until we can get those replaced and installed we are trying to work with what we have. As I'm sure you all do. Thankfully, this house did come with a really good set of blinds on the windows (although I did hate them at first, they are my bffs now).

Usually we would live our summers down in the basement - usually I'm pregnant - but not this year! This year we are NOT going to live in the basement, we are not buying an a/c either - we are just going to do a few things differently with our house to see if it makes things better. Because Man! It can get miserable here in Idaho during the summer sometimes!

Our temperatures sometimes get up to 110 degrees and sometimes maybe a little higher. So we cover the skylight that is in our room, we open up the attic and we are going to put a fan to help suck the heat up there so it can go out the attic fan, we bought the curtains for the living room, and I think we are going to buy a new window a/c and maybe a couple other fans.

Summertime is a perfect time for cold salads, gazpacho and otter pops.

NO COOKING OR BAKING!

Unless it is outside on the grill or the Dutch Oven.

So there is just a glimpse of our little home & our lovely, sunny new curtains!

I'll let you know what color I decide to paint later on...

my guess it will be in the fall......

hopefully.

If I can make up my mind by then!

Any suggestions?

Happy Monday!

I try my best to think of different activities for Pauly to do other than let him watch a million movies a day. Painting is one of those activities. Friday, after nap time, we painted. I love to paint and Pauly shared his paint with me.
I'm trying to switch him over to a regular cup instead of having a sippy cup.

He is doing pretty good but definitely has his moments when he likes to play with his cup and put his food in it.

Granny and Grandad came over on Saturday. Granny helped me put up my new curtains and Grandad entertained William.

Pauly entertained himself.

Then he entertained us.

Then Daddy made a delicious breakfast, mushroom omelet and he used tarragon out of his garden - I hadn't really had tarragon before and it was really strong! So we decided he won't use as much next time :) (Don't you just love the garnish)

Ben totally did a ton of the cooking and gave me a beautiful break. It was super nice.

On Saturday, as we were trying to get the curtains ironed up and hung (I'll share pics tomorrow) it started snowing! It was amazing! Ben ran outside and had to cover his garden - I sure hope everything is okay.

Sunday was nice, we got up - went to church. William slept through the service and I got to listen to a message! Our message was celebrating the different cultures that we have and the possible different language that people heard might of heard about salvation in - In our little church we have so many different languages that people speak and it is a pretty small church - Latvian, Russian, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, ChucK (Micro nation language), Chinese, Samoan, Arabic - I think that was most of them... So everyone that spoke those languages came up to the front and read the same passage to give us an idea of what it might of been like when people heard the wonders of God in their own tongues. (Acts 2: 17-21) It was awesome!

We had a little finger food tasting after church (everyone was supposed to bring a finger food from a different culture) Since I am Basque (Spain) I cooked up Basque Chorizo and served it with Bread. Yeah... they didn't last long. If you haven't tried Basque Chorizo you should... just know you'll be tasting it all day after you eat it (very garlicky but oh. so. good!)

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday and I'll be back tomorrow with curtain pics! Toodles!