Joys of summer

We have enjoyed so many gorgeous beach days this summer. The sun, the sand, the surf ... it all makes for a wonderful, fun-filled day.

Last week my brother Matt and niece were visiting and we took them to a great beach in RI where the waves are bigger than we tend to see around here. It was a picture perfect day with not a cloud in the sky. The three little girls had a blast playing in the sand, jumping in the waves and enjoying each other's company.

Here are a few photos ... kind of makes me sad that summer is coming to a close and pretty soon we will have to say goodbye to the beach days for another long, cold winter.







{{I love the look of pure bliss on H's face in this picture!}}

Being a Christian

I am a Christian. Those that know me, know this about me already. But sometimes it's hard to really explain what that means.

It doesn't mean that I'm 'religious'. Or that I'm perfect. Or that I'm better than anyone else or holier or more righteous .... I really like this poem, I think it embraces what I am and what I believe.

I have a relationship with God. He is my Savior and I know that I am a sinner. Every day I sin. Every day I mess up. But every day I seek to follow God more and to live according to His Ways.
So enjoy the poem!

BEAUTIFUL CHRISTIAN SISTER
by Maya Angelou

'A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ
that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin'' I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible but, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Get caught reading

You can get caught up in a great book anywhere you go! Just pick up a book and let your mind escape!
Speaking of which ... has anyone else seen Nim's Island yet? It was fabulous! The girls and I loved it. It has adventure and it's creative and fun for kids to watch ... I was just really impressed with it. And that Abigail Breslin that stars in it ... she's amazing! We also saw her in the Kit Kittredge movie this summer, and she's one impressive little 11 year old!

Guests

We have had many guests this summer, some that have just visited for the day and some that have stayed overnight. We have really enjoyed using our home to entertain this summer. Especially since we've added the pool this year and are getting lots and lots of use out of it!

A few weeks ago we had some very special guests. They drove all the way from Wisconsin to Connecticut to see us! We went to college with Stephen, and we had never met his wife Nicki, but we had talked through email and our alumni website many, many times. I knew I would love Nicki before they even arrived and the moment they stepped out of their car we started talking and right away we hit it off!

They have four boys - Sawyer (H's age), Soren (J's age), Rece (20 mos.) and Roen (7 weeks). The girls were not too excited about 4 boys coming to stay, but got along great with the boys once they arrived! They had such a blast together and had so many similarities in their personalities.

I took so many great photos, but I'll just try to share a few that summarize the 3 wonderful days we had together ...

This is their beautiful family ... on the docks, we went there after the Aquarium and lunch at a fabulous seafood place ...
Here is Nicki and I at the Aquarium ... The four older kids on the docks ... {Sawyer, H, J, Soren}
I got to hold sweet baby Roen!! He was such a cutie and such a good baby! This was the day we spent at the beach ...
At the beach ... J, Rece and Soren ... Sawyer had fun catching creatures like crabs!!
The men went out fishing on Bob's Dad's boat ... and they had fun catching lots of fish ... {this is Stephen}
I got some cute photos of the older kids together ...
And we even got a great group shot ...
The kids had fun swimming in the pool ...
And playing baseball in the yard with Stephen ...
Catching bugs and frogs works well for both girls and boys!
And Bob taught the boys some golf ...
What an awesome time we had! I was so sad to see them go. I have no idea when we will see one another again, but we really enjoyed every minute of our visit. Nicki and Stephen, thanks for driving so far to come see us - we miss you!

Olympics Inspired

The girls have turned into regular little fish this summer. They have always loved swimming, and done well in swimming lessons every spring ... but this summer with the addition of our own pool they have gotten really good! They have also loved watching the Olympic events and have talked and dreamed about being Olympians someday. (Hey, you never know, right?)

The other day we were at my Mom's condo pool and Bob was giving them diving lessons. H is doing great and can do an almost perfect dive into the water ... J is getting there, I think she's afraid to go head (hands) first into the water and ends up jumping feet first. She'll get it eventually. Here are some fun pictures ...

Daddy and his girls ...
Ready, set, GO! (J is on the left, H on the right - check out H's dive!!)
Here's H again ...
And J ... she's even laughing on the way in!

Recipe for a perfect morning

A fresh-brewed pot of coffee

A nice cool morning (60 degrees! just how I like it!)

A warm, cozy sweatshirt

A sunny deck with a comfortable chair

My Bible, devotional and prayer journal

Sounds of God's creation all around me

Time spent with my Lord, uninterrupted

A sweet little 5 year old coming out to snuggle with Mama and say good morning

Window Mistreatments

Raise your hand if you are a fan of The Nester's blog ... Me, me, me!! {my hand is up, you just can't see it through your computer.}

The Nester is famous for her quote "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." and for her window mistreatments. She calls them MIStreatments because she frequently takes shortcuts in order to make them look pretty. Now that is my kind of decorating! That must be why I love her blog so much ...

Anyway, I do sew. A little. But I'm lazy and I'm impatient and I frequently take short cuts too! In fact almost every single curtain that I've made has some type of hidden mess up or short cut. If you're reading this Mom, I'm sorry! You taught me how to sew well, but I'm just too lazy to do it right most of the time! {My Mom is an amazing seamstress ... I only wish I had her patience with sewing things to perfection.}

So today the Nester is hosting a mistreatment party in which her loyal blog readers can tell on themselves and reveal their own window mistreatments. Since my blog is private (and I like it that way) I can't really participate in the Nester's party, but I can share my mistreatments with you, right?

Now, I am about to reveal to you some astonishing things. So, you have to PROMISE me that the next time you are at my house you WILL NOT go around looking at the back of my curtains, or checking for glue gun strings or any other imperfections ... ok?? Promise? All right, let's get down to business ...

First we have my kitchen curtains ... they may look good, but that cute little fringe was actually HOT GLUED on there - gasp!
This is my new downstairs curtain (got this fabric super cheap too!) -- see below for the big reveal ...
I was too lazy to sew, so I hot glued the whole thing! No sewing whatsoever! {my daughter Haley helped me and said I was cheating - ha!}
AND, that cute little gathered look ... is just a couple of clips holding the back!
This is our downstairs TV cabinet. The glass area was empty for a long time until today when I decided to use it for storage space. But I didn't want all the junk to show through the glass so I 'created' this little curtain to put behind the glass ... it hides the junk well, right?
Inside it has frayed edges and was completely done with hot glue! {I love my glue gun!}
Here is the upstairs bathroom curtain ... notice the cute layer that goes behind the striped fabric ...
ha ha, it's not really a whole layer! It's just a piece large enough to cover where you will see it from the front! {I'm SO lazy}
Haley's new roman shade ...
...was another hot glue project! I hot glued the pieces of fabric, then hot glued the ribbon to cover up the seams of the fabric. This view from the back even shows a bit of the old fabric that was on it before!
This curtain is in my dining room. It's actually a pair of store bought panels. I didn't like how thin they were though so I decided to back them with some heavier fabric after I got them home. See below ...
The only problem was I bought some green fabric (from my cheap store) and got it home and realized it wasn't enough! So a few days later I went back to the cheap store to get more ... but because it's a cheap store and nothing is consistent there I couldn't find the same fabric again. Now, I know it's a cheap store, but I'm even more of a cheapskate ... I COULD have just purchased a big piece of something new and just used the first piece I bought for something else ... but somehow I thought the colors and patterns would match up OK and I could get away with using two scraps ... so this picture is the back of my curtain ... two patterns, two greens - the color actually looks more similar in daylight - but they don't match at all! But who will know? Well, now you all will, but I trust you won't tell!
And lastly, here's my final mistreatment ... my shower curtain. It really turned out pretty, I was so happy with the results ...
But once again I measured wrong {I'm really not that dumb, I just don't take the time to pay attention to details!} and I ran out of the pretty trim with about a foot left to go! And guess what, I haven't even gone to buy more ... the curtain is usually bunched up anyway and no one really sees that part ... so who cares?
This concludes a look into my completely imperfect, yet totally beautiful life. Hope you have enjoyed it, and promise to never tell a soul what you have seen here today. =)

My project

Have I kept you waiting long enough? Are you dying to know what I used all those fabrics for??

Well, those who know me well know that I always have some kind of project going on. I just love to re-decorate and make changes around my home. I love how a can of paint and some cheap fabric can completely change the look of a room. I love to be creative and keep things fresh. Most rooms in my house have been changed many, many times. Several rooms have seen more than one color of paint, and most of my windows have have several different curtains on them. I even enjoy the simplest act of re-arranging the furniture in a room - just to change things up.

So I've been wanting to change things in H's room for awhile. Her comforter was getting very old, very worn and looking pretty shabby. I wanted to buy her a new quilt set but was frustrated at the cost. I also needed to change her window treatments - all she had was some fabric that I'd stapled to the window with ribbons to tie it up when we wanted to let the light in.

I was excited to find fabrics at my favorite discount fabric store, and at Walmart which were all between $1-2 per yard!! So these pictures are the results of my projects ...

I made a 'quilt' with the new fabrics, then slipped the old comforter inside, sewed up the edges, and used glittery silver yarn to hold it together at the corners of the squares ...
Then, I took some old roman shades (that I made years ago and were sitting in the basement) and recovered them with the matching fabrics ... and finally made a swag from all the leftover scraps of fabric.
I confess. I cheated on the shades. I hot glued the new fabrics to the old shade, then hot glued ribbon at the seams to cover the rough edges.
This swag idea came straight from the Nester's blog, I have one in my bathroom too and I love the way they look!
Here's the bed, curtain and swag all together.
I am so happy with how it all turned out! And H was too, she loves her 'new' room. =)

Book List Additions

My hubby has never liked to read. In all his adult life he's read only a small handful of books, and they were all related to a sports figure that he liked.

I've been trying to encourage him for years that he should try reading right before bed. He always has trouble falling asleep and I told him that reading helps relax you and take your mind off your day.

So this summer he's finally decided to start reading ... and he's gone CRAZY!!! He is flying through books so fast that I can't even keep up with him! I love, love, love to read ... but often fall asleep after only a page or two. Bob on the other hand is wide awake at night, and has been flying through book after book every night!

I am so proud of my honey! He has really gotten into the books by James Patterson and even went to the book barn the other day to pick up a bunch more books.

So far this summer he has read:
Uncas of the Mohegan-Pequot {A historical book about Bob's tribe.}
Beach Road by James Patterson
Step on a Crack by James Patterson
4th of July by James Patterson
Sail by James Patterson
Swine Not by Jimmy Buffett

And I'm still working my way through The Postcard by Beverly Lewis ... =)
I'm going to add Bob's books to our summer reading list. His books will get # next to them so you know who's reading what.

If Walls Could Talk

This wall says how much I love and value my family ...This wall says that I adore my husband, and thank God for our wonderful marriage...
This wall helps me to keep things in perspective ...
This wall says that I love collecting similar items, and reminds me that family = love ...
This wall says that I have a love of words and phrases, and again a love of collecting similar items ...
These walls reveal one of my addictions ...

This wall reminds me of all the people who mean a lot to me ... especially those that have passed away like my Dad and Grandparents ...
This wall says that a little princess lives here ...
This wall says that we love the beach, sun, surf and sand ... and reminds me of countless hours spent together enjoying God's creation ...
This wall says that a budding artist lives here ...
This wall says I am blessed to be able to teach my children at home ...
This wall says that a sports nut lives here ...
This wall says that my work is never done ...
This is my only unpainted wall, it's a new wall, and the paint is already bought for this wall ... so this wall says "PAINT ME! PLEASE!"