She's Exhausted

I just couldn't resist taking a little time out to show you this.  

Poor thing hasn't gotten to bed before 9:30 the last 3 or 4 nights.  

Last night it was 10:45.

Tonight she feel asleep looking at her book before the lights were turned out.

Bathroom is coming along and looking good.  Grouting tomorrow and putting it all back together Monday night (hopefully!). 

Living thru faith,

Misty

The Happenings this Weekend

I just wanted to let you all know that I may be absent from blogland for a few days.

We have a full weekend...

Demo last night (which took much longer than we anticipated)

Installing the cement board this afternoon

Tiling (with the help of awesome friends) tonight

Working on the boys' closet and bedroom on Saturday (trust me this is a scary venture!)

Dinner with some other awesome friends Saturday night

Church Sunday morning

Grouting Sunday afternoon

And at some point I have to finish the boys' room, finish putting the bathroom back together, AND stock up on groceries before Tuesday because my boys come home on Tuesday!!!  I haven't seen my boys since July 5th and I'm ready to love on 'em again (inserting 16 yr old's eyes rolling).

I am taking pictures and will have lots to share soon!!

Before I go, today is my mother-in-law's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

And tomorrow is my little brother's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!  

(and behave yourself!)

Living thru faith,
Misty

Window Seats

I LOVE window seats! 

modern kids design by san francisco architect Feldman Architecture, Inc.

traditional kids design by minneapolis interior designer RLH Studio- Renee LeJeune Hallberg

They make me want to curl up with a good book, relax, and maybe even take a little nap.

eclectic family room design by richmond interior designer Ben Dial

I keep trying to figure out a way to put one in our current house, 
but, alas, there just isn't a good spot.

traditional kids design

So, I will just have to keep looking at pictures like these and wait for the next place. 
(We haven't lived in one house more than 4 years since we got married - so I'm pretty sure there will be a next place!)

contemporary bedroom design by san francisco interior designer tineke triggs

Maybe the next place...

traditional staircase design by boston architect LDa Architecture & Interiors

Living thru faith,

Misty

Just Ask Grandma

When I saw this shirt, I just had to get it!  It is oh so true!

The grandkids learn early!

Living thru faith,

Misty

Blogging Baby Steps

I am really enjoying this blogging thing (and I hope you are enjoying my blog too!). There is still a lot for me to learn and I'm slowly learning more and more.

My latest baby step is setting up an email just for the blog.  

It wasn't hard.  I just hadn't thought about it!

livingthrufaith@gmail.com

I am still trying to figure out how to put the little envelope icon on the side, but I'll hopefully figure that one out soon.  If anyone knows how, please let me know!

A quick bathroom update - last night I sanded the wall cabinet and added a little something to it (with hubby's help).  Tonight I'm painting as much as I can.  I'll post pictures soon!

Since I'm not going to show you pics of our bathroom yet, here are some of my inspirational finds.  Not necessarily for this bathroom, but still inspirational.

for the love of a house

HGTV Designers' Portfolio

I think this was also HGTV, but I can't find it.

Batchelors Way

Living thru faith,
Misty

Bathroom Makeover Set to Begin!

I am so excited! 

This is the week we begin the kids' bathroom makeover!

Here is what it looked like when we first bought the house.

Before we moved in I painted the walls blue and bought new accessories.

So here are the plans...

Paint both cabinets and rehang the wall cabinet about 4" lower 

(it's hung too high right now)

Tile the floor  

(I found some tile on sale at Lowe's for 50% off and it has been sitting in the garage for a month or two!)

Change out the faucet and light fixture

We are going to start pulling the toilet and vanity out on Thursday and putting down the cement board.  Our wonderfully talented friends are coming over on Friday and bringing all the tools to help us to do the tile.   

I can't wait until it's all done and get to show you how it looks!

Living thru faith,
Misty

Lamp Make-over

I have been wanting to do something to Sarah's lamp to make it more "girly".  It was originally the boys' lamp and it was still in great condition, 

so there was no reason to get rid of it.

We were by Hobby Lobby this evening, so Sarah and I picked out some bling.

Sarah cut her dust ruffle a while back.  (Right after she cut her hair the first time.  She is dangerous with a pair of scissors!)  I am using the good portions to customize her curtains (which I will hopefully finish this weekend).  Since I had enough left over, I thought I could also use it on her lamp.  So, first I had to figure out how to get it wrapped around the shade without it looking like I had just thrown some fabric around it.  Once I got that figured out, I worked my way around with the hot glue gun. 

Then I glued the ribbon on.

I can't wait for Sarah to see it when she wakes up!  She is going to be so excited!

(I actually plugged in the lamp, turned it on, and took the pictures while she was sleeping!  She didn't stir a bit.  She must have really been out!)

Living thru faith,
Misty

Cousins

I was looking through some photos on my phone and forgot that I had taken these on our trip to Huntsville, Alabama over the July 4th weekend.

Because of the miles between us, our kids do not get to see their cousins very often. 

Daniel with his cousin Samantha - Christmas 2010

But when they get together, it's like they were never apart!

The boys are going to get to spend time with their cousin Samantha this weekend.  
I can't wait to hear the stories!

Living thru faith,
Misty

Brings Back Memories

I ran across this picture on houzz.com and had to laugh a little.  

modern hall design by austin architect Webber + Studio, Architects

Who puts a gas pump in their house?

modern spaces design by austin architect Webber + Studio, Architects

Well, our friend Eric did!  He found an old Mobile gas pump, bought it for $10, and put it in his bedroom.  He cleaned it up, repainted it, and it looked amazing!  If I dug through all my old photos from college, I might actually find a picture...
but, that would take ages, so you will just have to trust me!

modern dining room design by austin architect Webber + Studio, Architects

Eric got it appraised one day and I believe they said it was worth about $400 (back in the 90's).  I'm not sure what he ended up selling it for, but he no doubt made a profit on it.  

Eric, you were just ahead of your time!

Living thru faith,
Misty

Fresh Salsa

Friends were leaving town (actually the country) for a week and gave us some tomatoes before they left, so I decided to try my hand at homemade salsa again.  

The first time was some what successful. 

(I took the blender apart wrong and salsa went every where!)

I cut up the tomatoes, the bulbs of green onions, and jalapenos.

(The last time I handled jalapenos, I ended up getting juice on my contacts and had to wear my glasses  for 2 days!  

I hate my glasses! This time I wore gloves and still washed my hands repeated.)

I roasted them under the broiler for about 15 minutes.

(They probably could have gone a little bit longer, but I was impatient!)

I put minced garlic, the rest of the green onion, lime juice, and cilantro into a blender 

and then added the roasted tomato mix.  The tomatoes were hot, so I took the little top off the blender lid.  (I think you are supposed to do that!  I'm not the most knowledgeable cook in the kitchen!)

The result was yummy, although a little strong on the cilantro.  I had to throw away 3 of my tomatoes and forgot to adjust the amount of cilantro.  Maybe tomorrow I will pick up some more tomatoes and add them to the salsa to see if that will help. 

Did I mention that I'm not the best cook.  I do great with a recipe with measurements.  It's the things like this without exact measurements that do me in!

Living thru faith,
Misty

VBS Week

This has been VBS week and Sarah has had a blast!

She is so excited to go each evening!

It had to be canceled Tuesday evening because storms knocked out the power.  

Sarah was not a happy camper that evening.

Tomorrow is the last night and the kids have raised over $250 for their mission project so they are going to get to throw water balloons at the children's minister.  

(If they hit $500, she will dye her hair pink!  I think she's safe at this point! Maybe!)

Living thru faith,

Misty

My Sunday Deals!

Sunday we went into town after church to do some grocery shopping 

and make a couple of other little stops.  

We ended up with a new patio table, some clothes for Sarah, and only a few grocery items!

I wanted to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to look for a bowed curtain rod for the kids bathroom and curtains for Sarah's room.  We walked up to the door and sitting outside was a patio table marked 50% off!  It was a rectangular glass one just like what I've been wanting (but not willing to pay full price for).  One of the screws were missing, but when Brian talked to the manager we discovered there was actually one more in the store with all the parts!  Whoo hoo!

SO!  It was marked down to $75.  

I had a 20% off coupon which brought it down to about $60.  

I had a $50 gift card I had received at Christmas (we don't get to town much!).  

So, I paid $13.59 out of pocket!!!!!

Now, I'm on the look out for chairs to match!  :-)  

I'm also still looking for the curtain rod and curtains, but that's ok.

After meeting up with friends to transfer Sarah into their vehicle and taking the table back home, we went back into town to finish our original shopping trip.  We met our friends at Kohl's and got Sarah, even though she preferred to stay with Anna and Abby 

(we feel so loved sometimes!). 

I had a $10 coupon for Kohl's which was expiring, plus another 15% off card.  I was hoping to find curtains, but no such luck.  I did find a dress, pj's, and sunglasses for Sarah - 

all of which she  needed  could use - and only spent $5.39!

I love getting great deals!

Living thru faith,

Misty

4th of July Pics

First a quick update:

We have stayed busy since we got back from our trip preparing for our garage sale.  Thankfully, it was very successful! We have already spent a little bit of the money we made on a new faucet and knobs for our upcoming kids' bathroom remodel (more to come on that in the next few weeks!). 

So, for 4th of July we met Brian's parents and his sister and her family in Huntsville, AL. It's a nice almost half-way point to hand over the boys for the month.  We had a great weekend and enjoyed being together again!

We were the first to arrive on Saturday and, of course, the first thing my kids wanted to do was go swimming.  So they swam a little bit while we waited for everyone else to arrive.  Once my nephews got there I let them get a few wiggles out from their long drive while their parents got settled in their room. Daniel had as much fun as they did!

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to a "fun center".  They played arcade games and then we went outside to play putt-putt golf.  It was loads of fun, but oh so hot!

Sarah is 11 days older than Luke.  Cutie pies!

Luke's technique resembled more of a baseball player than a golfer.

Sarah preferred to use the backwards style of golfing.

They got a kick out of the oversized flamingos!

Cole got the first hole-in-one!

Wow! I managed to get a pic of Matt actually smiling!

My brother-in-law making his hole-in-one!

I ended up taking Sarah in early to cool down after she decided to lay down on one of the putting greens.  We got some shaved ice and felt better in no time!

Once everyone cooled down, we headed back out for go-carts.  Everyone had a blast!  I even drove one for the very first time!

Andrew and Daniel goofing off as usual.  :-)

Granddaddy and Cole getting ready for a great race.

Brian driving with Luke.

We were all hot, tired, and hungry after our fun-filled afternoon, so we headed to eat supper.  It wasn't too long of a wait, but it felt like an eternity at times!

Waiting patiently.  The little ones really did well!

Then there was more swim time to end the day!

Brian, Deborah and Andrew took the little ones to the Space Center on Monday.  My boys had been there last year and they preferred to just go to the mall!  Teenagers!

I think this is my favorite picture!

The Space Center had a special dinosaur exhibit!

Huntsville has a great fireworks display every year and this year we happened on a great place to watch the show by mistake.  We got in the wrong lane and didn't get to turn where we had planned, which worked out wonderfully because the kids had a great place to run and play for the close to 2 hours we had to wait for the fireworks to start.

 

Even though there was rain in the forecast each day, it didn't rain on us until the morning we left.  The boys went back with Brian's parents and will spend the month visiting friends and family, swimming, and helping Brian's parents with the mowing and in the garden.  They will come back just in time to get ready for school to start!

In the meantime, we just have Sarah which makes things a little quieter and a little calmer.  But we so miss our boys! (Who, by the way, called last night to announce they had decided we were all going on a cruise!  I'm still waiting to hear how they plan to pay for it...)

Living thru faith,

Misty