Author Archives: April

Constant Prayer

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Today’s daily God time comes from a devotional series I’ve been reading through, with writings from Ruth Harms Calkin, accompanied by a piece of great scripture. Or should I say, her writings accompany the scripture. If you haven’t heard of her, definitely check her out. She’s got some awesome insights into the awesomeness of our Lord. The piece I intend on sharing with you today is actually from October 5th, but it still applies even if it’s not on the right day.

The Reason

Lord, we both know

I come to You

Boldly

Persistently

Expectantly

Day after day

Need after need

As if everything

In my entire life

Depended upon it.

There’s a reason, Lord-

It does.

And the verse that was given as a reference is found in Pslams 146:5-6 (KJV):

“Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help; whose hope is in the Lord his God. Which made Heaven and earth,  the sea and all that therein is; which keepth truth forever.”

How often do we pray? Do we pray consistently, constantly, as is mentioned in Romans 12:12 “Be constant in prayer…”. And do we pray as if everything in our entire life depended upon prayer? It’s definitely something to think about. Because prayer shouldn’t be something that we feel needs to be done, so we can just go down our list of requests and leave it at that without realizing that we are speaking to the Lord. To the Creator of the entire universe. So, prayer shouldn’t be something that we use as our personal “blessing wish list”, it should be a time spent with God. A time that we realize that our life really does depend on prayer, that nothing can be done unless we give it over to the Lord. It should be done, day after day, boldly, persistently, and expectantly. But we cannot forget why prayer is essential to that closer walk with Him, we are praying to speak with our Savior. How wonderful is that? That we can talk to our Savior, that He is waiting to hear from us?! That He wants us to ask for His hand in the situations we cannot handle, And to thank Him for the abundant blessings that are all around us.

Big News at the Yellow Casa…

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It’s finally happened folks, I received a gift from the sweetie that’s been a long time coming. No it wasn’t a drill, I got that for Christmas back in 2007, which by the way is one of my favorite presents. (Maybe someday I will learn how to use it.) But, I received  one of these!

Well, actually I recieved it in August, and it’s taken me this long to get the nerve up to mention it on internet land. But if you guessed it was an engagement ring, you were right! The sweets and I have finally decided to make it legal  after 7 (!) years!! Don’t bother asking what date we’ve set, because we’ve set and changed our date countless times already. But we are shooting for this November. Yes, we are aware that’s next month. But it shouldn’t be that hard to plan a wedding, right?? Anywho, aside from the aniexty and the constant nail biting, I am very excited about this next step. And I can’t wait to be a wife to the man I’ve loved for so long.

 

 

Today

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It is true, the Lord is with His children  every minute of every day, but it makes such a difference to spend that time in His presence. To drown out all the noise and listen to His still small voice. That is why I try to set aside that all important time with Him. It’s like a standing appointment with God, a time for me to “dish” with my Heavenly Father.

They say you should spend quiet time with Him first thing in the morning so that your day is started off on the right foot, in God’s presence. But that’s not feasible for me and my morning un-alertedness. Yes, I pray  as soon as I wake-up, or after I realize how late I am for work. But I don’t take the time to sit quietly and soak in His presence.  So, I try to set aside sometime in the evenings before I go to bed, and at least one point during the day to stop and just be with my Lord.

To keep myself accountable for this time with God, and to share the blessings found in His word, I would like to share what God has laid upon my heart for that day. It may be an entry from my current devotional, or it may be scripture that has really spoken to me  that day.

Don’t worry, this blog will still remain a happy place, where I can share my home improvement fumbles. But I find it so important to include the Lord in everything in my life.  Even if that means including Him in this silly little blog.

So to start us off with this new endevour, I’d like to share with you a verse that I use in my life daily, if not hourly and minutely and secondly (?). It is found in Matthew 6:34

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

This is something that I must remind myself of everyday. So often, I get lost in worry, and I end up in a vicious cycle of internal questions: What will I wear tomorrow? Will I get to work on time? Will I not hear my alarm and oversleep again? Will I have time to scrub the shower today? These questions, although important to me today, will they matter a year from now, or even 5 or 10 years from now? Probably not. But what will matter is how I used today, because today is really all we have. Tomorrow is not promised, yesterday has passed, but today is what God has given us.  We must use today as it was intended, as a testament to His love. As a way to show others who Jesus is, so that they might know that joy and peace. So, to be worried about the little things does not show the perfect peace that resides in my heart. Instead, I want to use my todays to serve and glorify the Almighty. How do you want to use your todays?

We all need more thyme…

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With my dirty house and uncompleted projects, not to mention my frazzled mind,  I thought it appropriate to share some time management tips I’ve found while lurking around the web. Maybe it will encourage me to actually implement them in my own life. Hopefully, then all the painting and cleaning and organizing will finally get done!

{Table and Home}

1. Keep a list. Yeah, this would be a good tip, only if I could keep track of my list. But funnily enough, those helpful little lists always end up being found at the bottom of my purse a month after the fact.Maybe I should clean out my purse more often. Or stop making lists and then sticking them in my purse!

{Margarets.com}

2. Evaluate how you spend your time. O.K., this is a big one for me. And I must make a confession here, I am a TV junkie! The first thing I do when coming in from work is turn the TV on. Of course after petting the dog, and getting a plate full of yumminess that the sweetie has concocted. If I were to omit the TV portion of my evening, that would free up a good 3 or 4 hours of time that could be spent making my casa the casa I know it could be. (Yes, I am militant about giving my house a pep talk.)

{BestBuy.com}

3. Plan your week. This could be helpful, at one point in my life I remember that Monday’s were always grocery shopping and laundry days. Now a days, Monday’s are come home plop on the couch and watch Monday night sitcoms.  No laundry gets done, which my overstuffed hamper can attest to, and our pantry is filled with food that the sweetie has deemed acceptable. Honestly, I haven’t found Ramen noodles acceptable healthy fair since I was a 21 year old college student. The ingredients for his yummy meals are usually purchased that evening. So, we never have food on hand to prepare a quick and healthy dinner. If I do not set aside an evening to do laundry then I at least need to re institute my Monday night trip to the grocery store.

There you have it, three good solid tips to a more timely life! That sounded like it should be in an obituary. Maybe, 3 time saving tips to allow you to get your house clean and still watch Monday night sitcoms!

You Little Devil You!

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Since I’ve been too lazy busy to add more harvest cheer around the casa, I’ve been doing some online fall decor shopping instead. While perusing through Target.com I came across these cute guys:

Nutcrackers for a holiday other than Christmas! How cute are these? I really like this little devil , he’s so tacky he’s cute.

I love these little skeletons, especially with Day of the Dead coming up.

And they even have turkey nutcrackers!! I wonder if they will be making them for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter too.

Free Hugs

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Not much to share today. I’m way too tired, stressed, and lazy to prepare a thought provoking post. But I did come across one of my favorite childhood poems. And it’s just perfect for a manic Monday!

HUG O’WAR

FROM THE BOOK “WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS” (1974)

BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN

I will not play at tug o’war,

I’d rather play at hug o’war,

Where everyone hugs,

Instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles,

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,

And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,

And everyone wins.

Where even smelly little dogs get a hug, while the sweetie grins.

It’s the most gourdoues time of year!

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I couldn’t help myself, I’ve just got gourds on the brain. Especially after visiting the dollar store last night! They had the prettiest ceramic pumpkins! I may have gone a little overboard with the pumpkin hoarding harvesting.

Amongst my ceramic pumpkins I also purchased some “faux” gourds. They won’t rot like the real thing, so if they survive a season in casa de April, I can use them next year!

So here’s what I did with them once I got them all prettied up and unwrapped.

All of the pumpkins and squash like items, came from the dollar store. Everything else I already owned. The table runner is actually a small round table cloth that I folded to fit like a table runner. The place mats I purchased, at the dollar store (!), back in February. I raised some of the pumpkins by placing them atop upside down drinking glasses, and a pillar candle holder I got for Christmas last year. And the dinnerware of course, I have owned since my first college apartment. Speaking of which it might be time to buy some more “grown up” dinnerware. A girl can only use her mom’s 80’s goose plates for so long!

Here’s some more views of my pretty harvest table:

Doesn’t it make you want to GOURDge on a yummy harvest inspired supper with pumpkin pie for dessert?!

Here’s the low down of how much this little project cost in case you were wanting to take up the dollar store fall decorating challenge yourself:

Pumpkins: $15 from the dollar store

Table Runner: FREE-bought last year at Wal-Mart after Christmas

Placemats: FREE-purchased last year at the same dollar store said pumpkins were harvested

Tableware: FREE-thanks Mom!

There’s linky parties happening!! Visit Hooked on Houses and The Nester for some more fall decorating eye candy!! And link up if you have a blog!!

Much Ado about nothing…

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Much like the title of this post indicates, there really isn’t much to say today. But I did feel the need to post about fall. Decorating for fall to be exact. For a while now I’ve had fall decorating on my mind, and I’ve been trying to decide if I should change out my old fall wreath for a new one. Or do away with a wreath completely. But I do know that I MUST have something outdoors to celebrate fall, aside from the trees that are allowing there leaves to FALL! Sorry, I just couldn’t resist the obvious.

Since I tend to lean toward the Halloween side of fall, I’ve found some more sweet and yet spooky decor ideas! All found on the Good Housekeeping website. Please click on the pictures for all the ghoulish details from the nice folks of Good Housekeeping.

How sweet are these punkins? Yes, I said punkins! I love how they made a tree out of them!

I’m just batty for these bats! (heh heh)

I don’t have a mantel, but if I did you know I’d be doing something like this. Actually, if I had a mantel I’d be changing it up constantly. Hmm…can you have a mantel without a fireplace?? I sense a post idea coming on!!

I haven’t done Jack-O-Lanterns since Jr. High, it’s something about the squishiness of the inards that gets me. But I do enjoy looking at them. I think the skeleton is my fave of this pack.

Well, I’m off to find me some punkins, bats, and scarecrows! OH MY!!

Loving Home

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There’s a big trend I’ve observed while perusing through my favorite design blogs, neutral colors. It almost leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But then again, my paint choices seem to be akin to Mimi’s make-up and clothing choices.  You remember Mimi from the Drew Cary Show right? If you don’t definitely check it out, it’s a hilarious show that I’ve wasted many a afternoon watching re-runs of during college.

If you remember correctly, my living room looks like this, when it’s clean and I’ve sent sweetie and Annie dog off on an afternoon adventure.

Very yellow and very red, isn’t it delicious?!? I love color, and have such a hard time accepting this trend into neutral. Maybe it’s not a trend, and just an element of design that’s been around since before I became interested in design. Are we that afraid of color nowadays? Or maybe it’s just that we are all too lazy to re-paint our rooms once we tire of the Barbie Pink. ( I like bright colors, but not that bright!)  As I learn more about design through reading my shelter mags and design blogs, it got me to thinking, which in and of itself is a very dangerous past time that I try to avoid like a dirty dish that needs washing.

But like I was saying, it got me to thinking, why are we afraid of color? Yes, I’ve seen a colorful throw pillow here and there, or maybe a pop of color in a nice lamp or a rug. But what about real color? A bright colorful wall, or a bold piece of furniture, a red couch perhaps?

{Image Courtesy of Being Brazen}

Instead these days, especially in some of my favorite blogs, I’m seeing rooms that look more like this:

{Image Courtesy of Apartment Therapy}

White, cold, sharp but not in a good way. In the sort of way that you could poke your eye out. But not shoot your eye out like the ill fated Ralphy on A Christmas Story. Yeah, I had to squish in a movie reference, even if it didn’t fit.

But again, I digress, it has been said that a good neutral wall color can work as a “canvas” for riskier design choices. But why not make your color the risky design choice? And why should color be risky at all when it’s such an easy fix. A can of paint won’t run you more than $30, if you purchase the good stuff.

I’m not saying that I’ve never fallen victim of a trend that would later be called outdated and ugly. I was a child of the 80’s, I wore my fair share of side pony tails and leg warmers. But what I am saying is that, shouldn’t we have things in our home that make us happy? And shouldn’t we be proud of those things that make us happy? Most importantly, shouldn’t we love our homes? It’s the place that witnesses our most important and profound moments in life, and most often those times that aren’t so important or profound.

Trend or no trend, neutral or colorful, a home is a place where you feel the most comfortable. A place where you can express yourself, either through design, or another outlet, it’s the place where you can be yourself. And there should be no shame in that, and no excuses made for the state of our homes. We all get busy with life and sometimes the floor doesn’t get vacuumed as often as we would like. (Yes, I’m preaching to myself here too!) Our homes should be an outward expression of who we are or how we feel, and there should be no excuses made for that. We should all love our homes, and fill them with whatever it is that makes us happy. Whether it be that old blue 80’s couch that you just can’t bring yourself to part with, or a sleek new contemporary sofa.

Country Cones

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Get your mind outta the gutter! I’m talking about ice cream cones here! Oh, you knew what I was talking about? Well, I guess I’m the only one that thinks cones belong on a road. Construct cones…ya know the orange ones.

Anyways, to end the awkward silence, a couple months ago, I posted about Blue Bell ice cream, which by the way is the  best, most yummy ice cream in the world. OK, maybe second best, I’d have to say that Caliches in Las Cruces is the best, but that’s a whole different post.

My most recent discovery, or should I say the sweetie’s most recent discovery, as he does all the grocery shopping (Yeah, I know, he’s a gem, and he’s mine, and no you may not borrow him!), Mini Country Cones by Blue Bell Ice Cream.

Aren’t they cute?

They are 90 calories a cone, and have vanilla dipped in chocolate with walnuts on top, there’s even chocolate at the bottom of the cone! Needless to say, I was one happy camper. And at only 90 calories a cone, that means they are good for you and you can eat more of them right?!

It’s that kind of thinking that can get a girl into bigger jeans! I think mine just whimpered a little.

But I digress, the Country Cones are awesome if you are like me and need to watch a waist line, just be sure to only eat one.  And no, not one every hour!

Here’s the box if you are in the area and would like to buy some of these cute little mini’s for yourself:

No, that’s not me, but I do occasionally wear a cowboy hat and coordinating vest around the house. But only during fair season 😉