Tired

Can I just be honest here?

I'm freaking tired of this winter.

And I say that in the nicest way possible. I LOVE WINTER! I love the chance to slow down, to rest, to stay indoors.  I love snow. I love bundling the kiddos up to send them on their merry way to romp in the snow. I love wiping up the melted snow.

But now, I've had enough. I'm sick to death of that pile of winter clothes at my back door that is creeping into the living room. I'm tired of the puzzle pieces. I'm tired of Trouble. I'm sick of the endless papers and crayons and markers all over the place. I'm tired of stepping on blocks. I'm tired of nagging the kids to put their stuff away when they are done with it. I'm tired of teaching school. I'm tired of preparing meals. I'm tired of the dishes. I'm fed up with being inside.

I have found myself snapping at the kids; having a short fuse and getting irritated at every turn. I've found myself having curse words at the tip of my tongue because I'm just sick of it!

And you know what? I'm not the only one. The kids can feel it, too. They feel the monotony of this day-in and day-out life. My dear, sweet, girls who typically get along so well, have hit, squeezed, yelled, shouted nasty words, and cried all so far this morning. So right now, they are outside. I have to make lunch. I have to clean up the table from school. I have to pick up the puzzle pieces all over the place. I have to finish throwing away markers that don't work and crayons that are too small to use *on the sly, of course, because those little hoarder kids of mine WILL pull them out of the trash*.  And what am I doing? Ranting here on my blog.

Despite these weary days I have been experiencing, I know there are brighter days ahead. And I know that I have much to be grateful for.  Since I am an optimist by nature I don't often know what to do with negative feelings. So, here is my go at what I can do.

Choose joy.

Choose to be grateful.

Give thanks.

And now that I've vented my anger, I will do the above three things.

Choose joy: during school today Baby Carrie laughed. She smiled her sweet baby smile and had a nice little laugh at the /p/ sound.

Choose to be grateful: Baby Carrie sleeps ALL NIGHT, every night. She is pretty much the perfect baby. She is sweet and happy and a good sleeper. She hardly ever cries. I have done absolutely NOTHING to deserve this - I'm not a better mom than anyone else that I have such a lovely baby, so I can be grateful to God for her. I am grateful for our big house and yard. We have this amazing unfinished basement that I have sent the kids down in to ride tricycle when they just have too much energy and I can't take it anymore. I sent them down yesterday to blow bubbles. We have a great yard for the kids to run around in and dig holes and find worms and burn off energy. I have an amazing husband who supports our family Spiritually and financially. He is wonderful. I'm grateful for him.

Give thanks: I give thanks to my amazing God, author and perfecter of life. I would not be here but for His amazing grace, so I give Him thanks.

And just like that, my spirit is lifted. I think sometimes I focus too inwardly and begin to think selfishly. When I begin to do this, I get the "woe is me", "my life sucks" mentality. When I focus my eyes on Jesus, I too am lifted.

Now, I think I'll make lunch.

How to Create your Picture Wall

Let me just start this post by saying that I thoroughly enjoy Pinterest. Idea sharing it much easier these days. However, I think it probably has some drawbacks as well, in that some people don't necessarily WANT to share their ideas. I admit to feeling that way on occasion when I spend a lot of time creating a new design and someone wants to use my exact design to make their own signs. However, I'm sure I have done the same thing to other people, whether I tried it or not. So that being said, let the idea sharing begin!

Many of you were interested to know how to create an interesting picture wall in your home. I don't claim to be anything like an interior decorator, but I am happy to share with you what I came up with for a picture wall.

This is a long wall in our master bedroom, but a similar idea would work well in a living room, hallway, or really anywhere that you have a fair amount of wall space. The colors I am working with in our bedroom are gray, white, black, and yellow.

My sister-in-law gave me three beautifully matted and framed photographs of Trent and me from their wedding. There were an addition two pictures that she wasn't sure that we wanted framed, but gave us the prints. These photographs were so lovely and symbolized the great love that Trent and I have for each other. It was a neat series of photos taken at their "photo booth". In the photos I am grabbing Trent's jacket and pulling him in for a kiss. And then there is a nice shot of the two of us smiling.

So, I had three frames given to me. After looking on Pinterest I knew I wanted to add some color with a yellow & white chevron pattern with an "H" in the middle. I went with a black "H", but debated for quite awhile if I should do gray or black. (I made this myself - but I charge $25 for this size/design)

I wanted to add interest with a different shaped mirror. I really thought a scroll-pattern antique looking mirror would be neat, but I couldn't find one. I found the round mirror at TJ Maxx for just $15.

I needed more frames to go with what I had. I really didn't want to mat them all myself, so was looking for some already matted frames. Originally I had planned to use a mixture of frames. However, I was able to find a pack of seven frames of different sizes and shapes already matted at TJ Maxx for $30.

The "Hess Family" established sign is another work that I created. These are available as custom orders for $30.

The yellow table was a great find! I purchased it off the Lancaster County Furniture & Vintage site from the sweetest of women. It was $75.

 
"Grow old with me" was a design I created that I absolutely love! I wanted a more unique love-saying to go in our room. I absolutely love old poetry, and came across this line from one of Robert Browning's poems. This is especially fitting for Trent since he always claims he can't wait until he is old. This sign is available as a custom order for $35.

To the left of this table I would like to add a comfy reading chair.

There is still a lot I would like to do with our bedroom. I'd like to add a comfy reading chair beside my yellow table. We only have one hand-me-down dresser that we squeeze both of our clothes into. We have random books and photo albums and my scrapbooking stuff just piled in one corner of the room. A bookshelf or two would be lovely. But, one thing at a time. For now I am enjoying this extra pretty spot in our room!

Our bed!!

Keeping it real - that is the corner of the room where I put all our boxes and stuff I don't know where else to put for the time being. 

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of my bedroom. It was a joy to share it with you all!