So much...

I have so much to tell you, my friends.  So much.

But not right now.  Because my mind is jumbled.  So, to keep myself accountable, here is what I'll be telling you in the next week:

• Domestic Day #2 (remember the first one?  yeah, this is like that one, but super organized)
• Freezer meal day - to wet your appetite, think 7 hours of cooking with an end result of 35+ meals...yeah, get excited
• House projects - baby projects (not projects prepping for a baby, just small projects...stop that rumor, now)
• Birthday week (which is right now, yipee!) report
• Life is going to be okay (this is to remind me that yes, yes it will be okay)

Posts are better with pitchers (yes, pitchers).  Here is a look back at girls weekend 2011.

 It's happening AGAIN in a few short weeks.  At MY house.  Wowza!  Pumped.

Happy Tuesday.

Grieving

My heart is grieving this week.  On Tuesday, my principal called to inform me of some "bad news."  A student of mine was killed in a car accident on Monday night.

I've only taught her for about 6 weeks (I didn't have her last semester and she was at a different school for the first part of this semester), but my heart still grieves.

Naturally, I think of my last interaction with her.  Was it positive enough?

On Thursday and Friday of last week, my kiddos were a little insane, but I told myself not to make it a big deal because their insanity was likely due to spring break being just around the corner.  So I didn't make it a big deal.  The girl who was killed was really pushing my buttons on those days.  I wrestled with what to do because I knew any kind of discipline would not be helpful due to the impending break.  So I pushed her, but not too much.

The first question that came to mind when I heard the news was, did she know Jesus?  I grieve if she didn't and I rejoice if she did.  I grieve with her family.  I'm not even a parent, and I can't imagine being told my 15-year-old has been killed. I grieve with her friends.  Teenagers are so wonderful, but sometimes in their wonderfulness, they forget that they are not invincible.  And I grieve with my 7th hour.  It's a small class (25 students...my smallest class of sophomores), and I know her presence will be missed.

So now the question is, what do I say to a group of confused, grieving, and aching teenagers?  Oh to have the freedom to tell them about Jesus.

My prayer now is that the Lord will provide the words to say what needs to be said, the eyes to see what needs must be addressed, and the ears to hear my sweet students' thoughts.

When life is confusing and I don't understand why certain things happen, I must remind myself:  God is good, and He only does good.

We did stuff.

It's true.  We did.  Dans is still doing stuff.

Here's what we tackled this weekend (with mucho help from my mother-in-law):

Knobs in our laundry room - purchased from Hobby Lobby - $2.50 a pop.  Woo!

 Hmm, a little blurry...

 I'm sure you get the idea.

 So I bought this window from Countrypolitan in Abilene.  I cleaned it like a mad woman.  Then I spray painted the right side with chalkboard paint.  We hung it and I debated about what to do with the left side.  After considering a myriad of options, I remembered what my friend, Brie, did with her kitchen cabinets (inspiration side-note: she glued small clothes pins to the front of a few doors to use as recipe holders, picture holders, etc.).  So I placed a bunch of small clothes pins in a sweet little pattern.  Then, we (mother-in-law and I, not huzz and I) started gluing (using hot glue).  I immediately found my Christmas cards this year and began to place them.  Then I realized that I needed to glue more clothes pins.  So I did.  And I realized that the sweet little pattern didn't matter at all.  So we kept gluing and pinning.  It was a beautiful thing.  Smile if you see yourself!  If you don't see yourself, send me a pic. :)

 How lovely, huh?  It's right across from my kitchen sink.

 Here's a close-up of the clothes pins.  (Side-note - I didn't distress the window at all.  It literally is that chippy and lovely.) (Side-note shout-outs:  cousin Katie, friend Kelsey, cousin Nicole - hey girlies!)

 These next pictures aren't in order.  Just saying.  We started this this (pictures taken last Spring by realtor - hey Helen!):

 Painted with Valspar's "Lyndherst Heritage Beige" or something ridiculously silly like that.   And we hung the clock!  I know it looks a bit high right now, but I promise it will all come together. I was inspired by this pin (not sure if the link will work...).

 Lots of furniture painting and brightening to happen later.  Yipee!

 The master bedroom received a lovely update as well.  I mean, the lavender was beautiful, but...

...we liked the look of Valspar's "Nostalgia" better.  More to come in here - crown molding, headboard, painted side tables, small dresser, chair in the window area, etc.

 Have I ever mentioned my love for the light in our bedroom?  Well, I love it. 

 Back to the bedroom.  Golly gosh, this is a terrible picture.  It's much prettier in person.  Believe me.

 We have a billion brassy accessories in our house.  And we're slowly changing them from this:

  

To this!

 Huzz is behind this project.

 So that's how we spent our weekend.  It was full (especially with the -1 hour on Saturday night), but it was good.

Next house project: organize the office.  It's a disaster.  Just being honest...  Happy week before spring break!

Laundry Fun

We started with this on Friday night (hello awkward picture of my backside):

 Happy faces all around.  (Don't judge my painting clothes.)

 Disaster zone. 

 What's that, you say?  How do we USE our appliances?  Um, well, as of lately...we don't.

 Yeah, might think the shelves are nice...until you realize that NOTHING fits on them. 

 What's that strange pile of clothing at the top?  No worries.  It's just our laundry shoot.  Yes. 

 Disaster zone continued.

Don't judge.


To paint some of the ridiculous nooks and crannies, I found myself in odd places.

 Mildly afraid.

 And so, so sad. (Yes, that is paint in my hair.  Again, don't judge.)

 Huzz was super fab and used some of his Christmas tools.

 And wore his fashion-forward workshop apron.

 We (who am I kidding...huzz) tore out the shelves to make way for a faux mud room.

 And we (yes, we!) installed the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store cabinets like pros.

After working most of Saturday (okay, I won't lie, I took a 5 hour break to do some skyping, lunching, and movie watching), and part of Sunday afternoon, we were left with this:

 So here's a run-down of what we did:

• Painted cabinets
• Painted walls light gray
•  Painted faux mud room
• Installed 4 hooks (2 are hidden) in faux mud room.
• Hung ironing board and brooms
• Installed cabinetry

All in all, I'd say it was a productive weekend.  And all for $100.  Bada-bing.  The only thing left to do is "style" the room.  Huzzbie thinks it's ridiculous to "style" a laundry room.  I think it's the best part.  Stay tuned!  This weekend my mother-in-law is coming up to paint, yipee!

Ho-hum

Dear followers,
Sorry for my lack of posting.  The last 6 weeks have been, um...interesting.  Don't worry - no major crises at the Carlson Casa.  Just loads of processing the question: What do I want to do with the rest of my life!?!

I know, it's a loaded question.  So we've loaded and unloaded about a million times.  Daniel has had his ear talked off more times than I can count.  Pros and cons lists are flying through the air.  Conversations with all kinds of people are being had.

And in the midst of all the questioning, we've maintained our 40 hour work weeks and tried to keep picking away at this major purchase we made at the beginning of December.

In an effort to find joy in the present, here are some slightly entertaining snippets of our life lately:

• Daniel has a new-found pastime: bird-watching.  Yes, you read that right.  The previous owner of our house had a billion bird feeders outside, so Dans has kept them filled and prefers to spend part of every weekend gazing at the little creatures.  So I smile and call him grandpa.
• Last weekend, hubz and I spent time in A-town with my family.  My broski and I proceeded to create a comedic stand-up routine.  Are you laughing?  You shouldn't be. It was painful.  I mean, WE were laughing, but hubz keeps saying that the only reason moms, pops, and sissy were laughing is because our routine made them feel uncomfortable due to the lack of hilarity.  Whatever.  It was hysterical.
• Nothing real hilarious at school. The kids are sweet, and it makes me happy when they bring me Diet Dr. Pepper.
• I ruined a perfectly good batch of Amish friendship bread due to a minor oversight.  Minor oversight = dumping all the ingredients in the bowl before dividing the original dough.  Confused?  If you've made the bread, you know what I'm talking about.  So I threw it all away.  And mourned the loss of the 4 friendships I would have cultivated. 

 So life is still good.  It just feels...different right now.  I'm sure I'll fill you in sometime, but right now, the dots are still disconnected for me, too.

Happy Thursday, AKA, Happy best day of the week.