"I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths."

~Proverbs 4:11

"Set up road signs;

put up guideposts.

Take note of the highway,

the road that you take ..."

~Jeremiah 31:21

I Love Hot Glue

I've got another little project to show you. One that was waiting for perfection and time I don't have, so it was not happening. I have a chandelier in my bathroom that I love, but have never been happy with the way I hung it. I really wanted to sew one of those cute cord covers and put that over a straight chain. So one day I thought, WWND? (what would Nester do?) Well the answer was easy:

I do know how to sew quite well, but why would I do that when I can spend my extra time with my precious kiddos?! And who is going to get up on a ladder and inspect my sewing anyway?!! I cut a very long piece of extra fabric I had sitting in my "to do" pile, and I glued that sucker right on.

Well, I didn't actually glue it to the chain, but I did fold a little hem and glued that. Then I slipped it right on the chain.
Can't even tell, can you? My one piece of advice if you try this is, try to go light on the hot glue. It's difficult to get the fabric to bunch up naturally if there is too much glue on it.

Sooooo much better.

And here is another lady who is helping me get over my perfectionism:

I have a HUMONGOUS pile of pictures to be scrapped, and it just stresses me out. I thought when I finally got a scrap room to work in, it would get better. But it didn't. So I picked up this book written by Stacy Julian about how she organizes her photos and gets them into books. It totally annihilates the old chronological scrapping method most of us cling to. I really, really, really love this book, and I'm photographing the transformation of my scrap room as I go through this process. I will share it with you once I get a little more work done on it (The "before" pictures are just too embarrassing).

Has anyone else read this book?

Helloooo, is anyone out there?

You are, I know it. Because that is why you guys are such great friends. I've been lame, not posting, not commenting, not visiting. But you people will show up again like you always do. I love ya. My excuses? I started working (earning and not spending -- it's a great feeling), sports x 3 kids, 3 kids period, Mr. Jones MIA at work, vacation, PTO over-commitment, etc., etc., blah blah blah, whine, whine, whine. But now that summer is here I will try to fit a little posting and commenting in here and there.

So I did a little project this morning ala The Nester and her window mistreatments inspiration. This is the window in my laundry room. It's so boring I could fall asleep right there on the spot. I was going to take the blinds down and tack some fabric on instead, but I didn't want to spend any money on upholstery tacks. So I used what I had. I was in Calico Corners Outlet (Oh yeah, I just happened to drive by this store when we were cruising through Amish country in PA and I made Mr. Jones stop) and I saw that their valances/blinds were all on little board frames that stuck out of the wall, so I had an idea.
My blinds stick right out of the door just like CC's valance frames, so I just broke out the glue gun and glued some fabric right on that bad boy.

I glued it across the top and then folded and glued again on the sides, like this:

I used a bigger piece of fabric that I folded in half, and I hot glued the seam so it wouldn't show. Then I hot glued some scrap trim I picked up at CC Outlet. Look at how crooked and imperfect it is.

Then, I just got some big safety pins and pinned the pleats in the back. All done. So easy. So fast. If you look up close you will find all kinds of things wrong with it, but who's going to be inspecting window coverings in my laundry room?!! My family will notice right away, of course, because you know they use this room to do laundry and get cleaning supplies all the time. Not really. I'm glad I didn't wait until I had time to sew perfect blinds. Cuz it would have stayed like the first picture for a few more years.

So the finished product is great because I still have the blinds and can actually close them if I care to. I probably won't though.

Here is something else from my laundry room. I stuck one of those tool peg boards from The Home Depot on the wall to hold my stuff. Apparently you are supposed to put two boards on the wall and mount it to that, but I didn't. I just stuck it right to the wall. I drive Mr. Jones nuts with all the horrible things I do to our walls.

Here's a closeup of the rooster hook that really doesn't hold anything. It just looks cute.

And here's a picture of what my laundry room floor looks like. Just keepin' it real. In case you thought I was clean or organized or something.

I took one more look at the final product, and thought my thrift store lamp might look great in there. A little ambiance while I'm working. I'm worth it.

The Unfortunate News

Hi everyone! So here it is, the most unfortunate news: My computer croaked about 2 weeks ago. I think my family sabotaged it as a computer detox, if you will. Well, actually, the story is that Mr. Jones bought me an ipod for the plane ride to our vacation. Despite the fact that 4 other ipods have worked just fine on my computer, mine did not. The computer didn't recognize it at all. Mr. Jones spent a day trying to figure it out. The next day I called customer service, who had me uninstall and reinstall itunes and restart my computer, all of which wiped out my operating system. Oh, but Dell forgot to give me the disk with the drivers on it when they sent me my new computer 3 1/2 years ago, and they don't give those to customers anymore because that was SOOOOOOO long ago, so I need to download them. Well, you can't download anything without drivers, so I tried to sign up my kids' computer temporarily on a dial-up service so I could download those little drivers. That computer was a wee bit jealous of all the attention the other computer was getting, so it crashed. Yes, completely. I had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything. But after all that, could technical support get me hooked up to a dial-up service? Of course not! So today I went to my dear, sweet neighbor's house to download the file. Got it! Woooohoooo! Called technical support for the 50th time, and it turns out they told me to download the wrong file. Back to the neighbor's house. Got the file. Tomorrow morning, crossing my fingers, I might get something accomplished. I'm not EVEN entertaining the thought that I might actually get it working on the internet or anything. Baby steps.

I've actually been ok with it because I have gotten other things done, despite the fact that I'm clocking about 20 hours a week trying to figure this out. Mr. Jones even offered to buy a new computer, but I can't spend that much money for something that should work!

The sad thing is, what is really most upsetting to me, and is causing much despair, is that I can't online bank. I put my foot down and I will absolutely not, no way, not a chance, going to balance my check book with a statement and a phone. Uh, uh. No way sister, ain't gonna happen!

Anyway, this is why I have seemingly fallen off the planet and not been heard from. I have high jacked Mr. Jones' laptop tonight for a quick e-mail check and post to say "hi!"

Hope you're all doing well. I miss you. Sniff, sniff.

I don't know about you all, but

I'm just a little sick of this . . .

and this . . .

Didn't get NEARLY enough of this . . .

or this . . .

ooooor this . . .

And I CAN'T WAIT for a little of this . . .

this . . .

and this . . .

But best of all, this week I get some much needed THIS . . .

So I'm sorry I haven't been good about visiting you all, but having 3 kids, a week vacation takes 5 weeks:

Getting ready, 1 week
Vacation, 1 week
Recovering from vacation, 3 weeks

"The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

~Psalms 23

I stopped by Debbie's blog this morning, and saw her funny post on having sick kids and being trapped in the house, and what a girl needs to keep from going totally nuts. It made me think of this special vintage, just for moms with cabin fever . . .It's Mad Housewife wine, which I am saving for just the right occasion, like, say, Mr. Jones' next business trip, the night before a school project is due, or possibly when my kiddos get the stomach flu. Once, my kids had the stomach flu for an entire week each ~ that is 7 whole days of puking, folks, PER KID. And do they all have it the SAME 7 days? Of course not! Then, when everyone was better for about 2 weeks, they got it AGAIN! I could have used a little MH that month.
And here's what I call a "keeping it real" photo. This is what is behind my staged photo: All the junk that was on the table, which I dumped behind the table for the photo shoot, and the game someone left out on the love seat. I wouldn't want you guys to think I'm neat and tidy or anything.
And here's a photo of the sweet bouquet of flowers my in-laws sent me for my birthday 2 days ago. It is so festive and cheery, and I love the vase. I know I will be able to use it for all kinds of things. Thanks Jack and Betty!
Here's a picture of me and Betty on a visit with her a year or two ago. I don't think there is a more organized person on the face of the earth. I wish I had just an ounce of that.