Side Tables

I'm having a bit of dilemma at the moment. I just bought two amazing sidetables to refinish. My plans were to put them in our bedroom as nightstands, but seeing them next to my old nightstands, they just look too long! I have thought of cutting them shorter, but I'm afraid of ruining them. And even if I don't ruin them, it might be way more work than it's worth. Maybe I just need to get used to them. Have any of you ever used sidetables as nightstands? How did you like it? Let me know your thoughts!

Dynamic Marriage Banquet 2011

Our Banquet is now behind us! The week before was a bit chaotic. Especially since I'm the type of person that likes to do everything myself. But with a little help, I was able to pull it all together! The banquet room looked amazing, but what I wasn't prepared for was the air conditioning not keeping up with the heat. It was about 90 degrees in there!!! Needless to say, I was a complete stress case about the whole situation. Everyone said they had a great time, but as soon as the program was over, they all made a mad dash outside! I didn't blame them, but it was disappointing to see it over so quickly because of the heat. But it's done and over with now, so no point in dwelling on the things that didn't go right!

This is the amazing outfit I mentioned in my previous post!!! I am still in love with it and looking for another reason to wear it!

I'm linking up to

Wow Us Wednesdays

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2011/07/wow-us-wednesdays-22-and-features.html

The Chaos That Is My Life

I've been neglecting my blog for nearly three months now. In the beginnning, I felt that there just wasn't anything going on in my life that was interesting enough to write about. Then everything seemed to come at the same time and now it was a matter of finding time to sit down and actually get a post ready. At this point, I hardly know where to start.

I might as well begin at the beginning. In March, John and I facilitated an eight week marriage class, Dynamic Marriage.
                            
For anyone that hasn't heard of it before, let me tell you that, in my opinion, this class is God's gift to marriages!!! I feel that everyone should attend one of these classes at least once in their life, because not one person can claim they have the perfect marriage and we should be aware of all the tools that can get us just a little bit closer to that unreachable goal.(For more info on this course, send me a message or just google "Family Dynamics Institute").

Anyway, facilitating this class made our life busy, but I didn't mind. I felt that I needed something to do. But things seemed to get crazy after that! Easter holidays, family gatherings, etc. We made a trip to Kansas for a worship gig John had at one of the local churches at the end of March. Besides all of that, John's truck decided that it was his time to go. After already spending thousands of dollars into that thing, just this year alone, we decided it was time to get something else. This resulted in us flying to San Antonio to get another truck for my hubby.

It doesn't end there, though. For each of our Dynamic Marriage classes, we put together a banquet for our graduates. I love planning and decorating for them, but it is a lot of work and stress. Especially when we can't find a date that works for each of our couples and when we do find a date, the building we want to rent for the event is already taken!!! I did finally narrow it down to one day out of the entire summer that works for everyone and we just had to make do with another location for the banquet. I've been shopping and getting things together for this banquet for several weeks, if not months, now. I've got some great ideas for the decorating and can't wait to see it when it's finished. I just hope all the work I put into it will be appreciated by at least one person.

The scariest thing I've taken on this summer is VBS! I've never been in charge of it and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I'm doing!!! This project keeps me up at night and I have moments where I nearly have a panic attack when I think about it! But I am blessed with many friends who have volunteered to help me where ever and when ever I need them!! Thank God for that. With everything else that was going on in my life, I started planning this a little later than I should have, so I am having to get my butt in gear to get this all figured out and situated in time. To make that a little easier, I planned the entire event for the last week of July. Most churches offer it in the beginning of June, but I felt that I needed as much time as I could get away with! I finally bought the curriculm, so that's another load off my back!
                                       
As scary as this all is for me, I've faced bigger challenges in my life, that I was able to overcome, and I know with God's help, I'll get through this one as well.

And like our life isn't busy enough, John decided we needed to get out of town, so we're heading to Salt Lake City this week for a Monavie convention!!!
                                                           
I'm excited, but at the same time I feel like there is so much we need to get done at home. The hardest part of leaving is not taking the boys with us. I'm going to miss my little boogers soooo much!

Really, who wouldn't miss these adorable faces? But I know they're going to have a blast staying with their cousins! I fear for my sister, though! I hope she'll still be sane when we get back!

They look innocent enough.... but these four can create chaos like no other!!!!

With the chaotic life I'm living at the moment, I, unfortunately have not had any time to work on the furniture I wanted to refinish. My little workshop is slowly collecting more and more furniture that I just can't leave on craigslist. But when I really think about it, the weather hasn't exactly allowed me to work on it anyway. It's been windy nearly every day for the past three months!!! Blowing dirt + wet primer = 1 big disaster!

While I'm doing a little math, here's another one: drought + wind + spark = tons of grass fires!!! Our little town hasn't received any rain for about 9 or 10 months now!!! And with the wind never letting up, any little spark is creating massive grass fires!!!  We don't have paid fire fighters, just volunteers, and let me tell you, they have had to work their tail off!!! The get called out on a daily basis. They deserve a huge thank you!!! There have been so many homes saved because of them.

This was a fire near my sisters house! It looks really freaky!

I did actually have a day of fun this past week! I joined a bunch of ladies on a shopping trip! We spent the entire day looking for outfits for our upcoming banquet! I hadn't had that much fun in such a long time! We had some deep conversations, lots of laughs and a great time getting each other to step out of our comfort zones when choosing an outfit. I know I certainly did, but now I absolutely love my outfit. I'll post pics of it on a later post.

Anyway, that is what has been going on in my life for the past three months. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, but it still seems a ways off.

My Little Red Chair

I was so excited when I got this chair!! It belonged to my Mother-in-law, who hadn't even been able to sell it at a garage sale for a dollar!!! When I showed interest in it, she was more than happy to give it to me! The minute I saw this bundle of potential, I invisioned a red chair! Since I'm still fairly new at this, I spent entirely too much time sanding it down and then the painting took hours longer than I had anticipated! But in the end, I had a gorgeous little chair for my computer desk! The fabric was bought at Hancock Fabrics from the clearance shelf and it couldn't have been more perfect! It was exactly what I had pictured! (Again, I have to ask you to ignore the quality of the pictures. I'm going to ask a photographer friend of mine for some tips, so hopefully the next pictures I post will look more professional)



Before

 After it was sanded

 Primed- which I had to do on my kitchen table so that my boys wouldn't get paint all over themselves

 And the finished product!!!

My First Refinishing Project

I had this chair, another one exactly like it and a side table given to me. Before I got started on them, people questioned my decision to make something pretty out of them. Of course they were hideous, but I saw potential, that apparently, no one else could. (Please try to overlook the quality of the photos. My camera is not top of the line and I have so much to learn when it comes to taking professional looking pictures)

With the help of John, my husband, we turned this outdated set into something worth being envious of. I have received so many compliments on these chairs and some offers to buy them. That is how my love of reviving old furniture began.

Evan & Mason

I was so impressed and amazed with these photos of my boys, I just had to share them! Of course, all the credit goes to my great friend Bonnie at bonbonsphotography.blogspot.com. She does amazing work!!!!

The Scary World of Blogging

I have recently realized just how popular having a blog is, so being one to often "jump off the bridge if everyone else does", I decided to start one myself. Who knew what a pain it would end up being. But I think I've got a few things figured out. Enough to start with. I'm hoping to post pictures soon of some of the furniture I've refinished. I also plan on posting pics of some of my other hobbies, whether it's something to do with scrapbooking, designing and decorating rooms, or the ever on going process of flipping our house! So stay tuned for more interesting, maybe not quite original, posts!