Painted Furniture

I've been painting furniture!  I've been invited to attend the Dallas Swap and Flea to try and sell some of my pieces.  I hope it goes well.  I really love doing this!  Here is what I've done so far.

Wish me luck!

It's Just A Friday

Paul was rear-ended in our NEW CAR this week.  It was a 4 car pile-up.

What a pain.

The woman driving the Mercedes, who didn't even hit the breaks before ramming into him, was accusing everyone but herself.  She was the sole reason for the pile-up.  She hit Paul, pushing him into the car in front of him, and so on... and so on....

While is doesn't look all that bad in these photos, the reality was worse.  

About $7600 worse.

I have some fun pictures of the boys too.  Christopher has embraced roll playing.  Sean loves his toy animals.  Sometimes these two activities go together like peas and carrots... 

but most of the time it doesn't.

And now, in no particular order... THE BOYS:

Dr. Phlegm is accepting new patients.

(yes, he chose that name himself)

An Officer and a Pirate

The Sully's are hugging!  I promise it didn't last.

Chris in the bunker with his helmet.

Christopher's first selfie

Sean hugging a creepy height-limit character

My knight in shining armor with eye protection

Sean fell asleep watching Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

Christopher watching TV in his fort.

The flags really bring the whole thing together.

Christopher fishing in the Goldfish pond.

Jazz Hands

Sean is showing Pop how his fingernail is growing back.

I promise.

Also, he's showing him the wrong fingernail.

Of all the toys in Guitarget (Target), this was his choice.

A tired Fireman Christopher is being beamed up.

Paul and I were watching Castle before going to bed, Sean woke up and came into the living room. He landed here and fell back asleep.  Just like this.

Christopher either ate a blue sucker or he's turning into a Smurf.

Sean asleep at Red Pepper (Chili's) AGAIN.

Sean sitting on Grandpa Jay and Nunu's tombstone at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery

Sean throwing the ball and letting Christopher play catch.  

I'm having a margarita.

Christopher being a "Cooker" at Alice's house.  

He's modeling a LOVELY apron which he wouldn't take off.

I have no idea how this happened.

It's a (DIY) Wrap

Has anyone tried any Detox/Slimming Body Wraps?  I had seriously been considering trying it since I have a little saggy skin where my C-section was. (sorry guys - TMI alert a little late ) The main goal of a detox wrap is to aid your body in detoxifying your skin and fat cells to help you trim a few inches from your stomach, thighs, arms, buttocks, neck and face. You can also reduce the appearance of cellulite and firm up loose skin. Who doesn't want that?  

I came across THIS blog, by Mandy Gladden, on Facebook.  She did some research and found Plexus's Fast Relief Cream and the Body Cream have many of the same ingredients found in various other wraps on the market. In fact, our creams have even more natural detoxifying ingredients than most wraps out there! You mean, I can make my own wrap?? Yes... Yes you can!

It was time for an experiment.

My tools

I worked late last night so by the time I'd gotten home, got the boys fed, and fixed something for myself, it was 9:00pm before I could try this out.  We didn't have a tape measure, or at least one the wasn't metal and stiff, so I improvised. I got some ribbon and wrapped it around my belly which was the area I wanted to test.  I cut a length of it that fit snugly, but not tightly, around me.  Now, when I finish the hour long experiment, I will use that ribbon and see if it's loose and measure the difference.  That was the plan anyways.

I undressed, took one pump of each cream, and slathered them on my belly and around my back.  I intended on wrapping myself with Saran Wrap since it's what I had handy, but thought I'd ask Paul to help me.  He said, "Wait, let me get this straight.  You're going to wrap yourself up in Saran Wrap."  I said yes.  He said "You know, you're supposed to surprise me at the door when I come home from a long day at work like that.  You're doing it wrong."  I just rolled my eyes and told him to roll me up. He did, but giggled the whole time.

I thought we had it tight enough, but almost immediately it started to slip and slide.  So, I improvised again.  I had a full body girdle because, well, you never know when you might need one.  Like now.  I pulled it on over the Saran Wrap.  This actually worked great.  Paul lost interest around this point. :-)

It was now 9:05pm.  I went upstairs to do a little work while I waited for the hour to pass.  At about 9:10pm I felt an intense tingling.  Was it working??  Maybe!  Then at 9:28pm the tingling actually got a little stronger. It was almost, but not quite, uncomfortable.  I actually like the way it felt.  No pain no gain, right?

At 10:05pm I went downstairs to unwrap myself and see if I had any success.  With my crude measuring method, it looked like I was down at least a 1/4"!  That may not seem like much, but I call it a success!  This morning when I woke up I thought I'd see if I'd ballooned back out, but now it showed a loss of closer to 1/2"! They say the benefits of the wrap will keep working for up to 48 hours. 

I will repeat the process on my thighs next.  Maybe I'll have pictures for that one.  Maybe.

Our Song

A Memory of Pasta e Fagioli

Last night, after I got home from work, Paul said he really wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  I was hungry so I said, sure.  Lots of carbs, but maybe I can find something less terrible for my blood sugar.  He said, “I just really want the Pasta e Fagioli soup.  If that came in a can, I'd eat it every day.”

Dinner was nice, but they got my order wrong and they weren’t going to get my food out to me before the boys finished eating and started screaming. So, since Paul was finished too, he took the kids to my parents house while I ate (assuming I ever got my food) and he’d come back to get me.

I ate alone.

We picked the kids up from my parents and went home.  It was nearly 9:00 pm so we put the boys in their sleepy clothes and we all went to sleep.  However, I woke up at 4:30 am with 2 kids in the bed with us, tightly sandwiched between Sean and Paul.  I seriously couldn’t move an inch.  I considered trying to extract myself and put the kids back in their beds, but I was tired.  So, being lazy, I started to drift back to sleep. 

On the edge of consciousness I thought I heard distant thunder, a faint rumble that lasted about 4 or 5 seconds.  I just had time to think, “Great. I’ll have to drive to work in the rain again”, when my eyes immediately watered up and the sulfuric gassy wave of Shai'tan himself hit me.  That rumble wasn’t thunder.  It was the malodorous stream of undiluted evil rushing out from between my loving husbands butt cheeks.  And he was trying to kill me.

My arms were pinned to my sides and most of my face was under the covers.  Holding my breath, I started to wiggle around in an attempt to save myself from a slow death by suffocation of a fetid fart.  I was finally able to turn my face and bury it in Sean’s neck to ride out the abominable bender.  Sean was breathing with his mouth open and that was STILL less stinky than the award-winning performance coming from my dear Paul, who was STILL ASLEEP!  How could anyone sleep through this life threatening event? 

In spite of his attempt on my life, I survived. I thought, "what on EARTH did that boy eat for dinner?"  Oh, yeah. 

Pasta e Fagioli.  

I thank GOD it doesn’t come in a can.

Time for a new hairstyle

It's time for a new haircut.  I started taking a mega vitamin and my hair is growing like crazy.  I think I need something that doesn't require me to visit the salon every 2 months, but I might be dreaming.  

Don't believe me?  For fun, I did this side-by-side comparison.

The first picture is a professional picture for work.  Note:  The photographer thought he'd do me a favor and remove my iconic, Grand-Canyon-between-the-eyes crevice completely.  I've never looked so smooth.  The second picture - well, it looks more like me :-)

This was a mere 4-1/2 months apart.  I do like the darker color, but the white roots are killing me. Here are some pictures I've been ogling.  And I'm pretty sure I'm going back to bangs.

Paul doesn't really like any of them.  It must be hard for a man with no hair to pick out hairstyles for his thickly-maned wife.  :-D

I have my appointment on Friday.  Stay tuned for the miraculous result.  Something has to be done about this!!!  

Ok, it's at night and I"m not wearing any makeup, but... DUDE!

Memorial Day 2014

For Memorial Day weekend - we didn't do much.  We took the boys to play at the Galleria but it rained most of the weekend.  I did, however, immortalize them in pictures.  I made one for my sweet niece, Alice, too!

A Reluctant Confession

I heard a very good sermon at church today.  The title was "When God is at home in your heart".  The basic massage is that God, the Holy Spirit, lives within us, in our hearts.  We will never have to ask or pray for God not to remove the Holy Spirit from us.  Once we are saved and have asked Him to come into our hearts, he will be there forever.

I was saved sometime during my late elementary years.  Possibly 5th or 6th grade.  I'm embarrassed that I don't remember the exact time or place.  I do remember that I was at church camp when I felt The Lord stir in me.  I do believe I was saved that day and a few weeks later I was baptized. However, I have never been comfortable talking about it or sharing it with anyone.

My college years were not ones I can say were... easy.  I was too caught up in college life.  I fell away from church and started feeling like I didn't need it anymore.  My friends were unbelievers and so were my boyfriends.

College came and went.  I went to church with my parents on the "important" dates.  You know, Easter and Christmas.  I moved to San Francisco.  I started to question everything about religion. Organized religion was just a way to control the people.  Man.

Then one night I was hanging with my homies (yeah, I said that) and the topic turned to religion.  One guy said that he thought he was a Christian.  No one was more shocked than me when I asked him, "do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God?"  What had just popped out of my mouth?  His answer was no.  But he thought he lived a "Christian Lifestyle".  Whatever that meant.

Fast forward.

I am married to a wonderful man that I can't believe found me.  You can read about our courtship HERE. :-)  We have two beautiful children who are miracles, and the reason I breath.  After their birth, twins remember, I started having panic attacks.  I'd had them before, but they started coming more often.  I won't bore you with details but they were "oblivion" related.  I started questioning my salvation.  For decades I didn't care, and now suddenly I was desperate to know God.  I couldn't envision life without my family.... I certainly didn't want to envision eternity without them.

One night, I was confiding to my cousin, Jill, about my fears.  I had started going to Church and was hanging on every word the pastor spoke, looking for something that would make me go "AH" yes, THAT'S THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.  (And no, the answer is NOT 42).

I told her that when I was saved I asked Jesus into my heart.  I'd envisioned my heart as a castle where he had the key to every room. He'd had full rein, with nothing denied Him.  Then, sometime during or after college, I'd thrown him in the dungeon, chained him up, turned out the light, closed the door and locked it.  I cried when I told this to Jill.  What had I done?  Her response to me was beautiful. Without a beat she leaned forward, looked into my eyes and said, "But isn't it WONDERFUL that he is STILL THERE??

Why WAS he still there.  In my mind, He could have been gone.  But I never considered that He was.  He was just waiting for me to let him out again.

The sermon today reminded me that I will "never be abandoned, ignored, forgotten or cast out".  Isa. 49:14-16.  Also, Heb. 13:5 states, "He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you."

I am imperfect.  I am flawed.  I make mistakes.  But I love.  I care. I CHOOSE to have faith.

Thank you, Jesus, for living in me, even when I was not living for You.  And thank you Jill, dear cousin, for helping me to see it.

100 Acre Farm

The boys went out to Renu Foundation's "100 Acre Farm" this weekend and had a great time.  Dad had to go out to feed the dogs, the goat, and the horses, so the boys, me and Aunt Debbie went with him.  Sean LOVES animals and can't keep his hands off of them.  Chris can't keep his hands off the tools.

 

Thank you Aunt Debbie for taking the pictures!