Where has the time gone??

I must apologize for my enormous lack in the blogging dept! My parents arrived safe and sound Tuesday evening and have been spending the week with us...attending grandparents day at the kids school, cooking a fantastic turkey for Thanksgiving and also spoiling us rotten. I do mean rotten. Not like a $4,000.00 shopping spree rotten, but more like a "I'll paint some of your hideous walls a neutral color" rotten. Let's just say the house I bought had an "interesting" color scheme. Now if you have walls painted this color...please do NOT be offended. To each their own I say. I love color. LOvE. But the previous owner had painted my walls every shade of ugly. I mean not just once...but there are at least 4 coats of paint on any surface that has been painted. Right now I would like to give some mad props to Behr paint with the primer in it. Because other than my Dad who is doing all of the hard painting...it's pretty much my hero right now. Awesome...with a capital "A."

This hideous green wall is no longer...it is now painted a beautiful shade of grey. Hallelujah! I walked in Saturday afternoon and thought I must have walked into the wrong house...that is how much of a difference it made! Don't get me wrong...I love green, in fact it's my favorite color. But this green with burgundy, gold yellow, and turquoise painted under it...was just TOO much. The kitchen and the powder room has the darkest turquoise color painted all over it...and that will be transformed tomorrow also...I WILL be showing the transformation! Next up after that is the kids room. Oh my word...of all the walls in this house...these are hands down the worst. I would show them to you because I have taken before and after shots...but blogger isn't letting me post any pictures anymore. Boo!

You'll just have to stay tuned I guess. I also have lots of fun Thanksgiving photos to share and so I will end by saying that I hope you all had a beautiful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be grateful for!

Monday!

Did you see that all my old posts have arrived! Woo hoo! The whole blog switch-a-roo was a little more complicated than I had anticipated. But Elaine (now new owner of Freehand Scraps) is blog savvy and she hooked me up! Thanks Elaine!! As we were trying to come up with a solution to swapping blog names I was reminiscing about all these years of blog posts and how much they really mean to me. It's been an online "journal" of sorts and I am so happy to have it all here. They say a picture is worth a thousand words...but with the words...they absolutely take me back to the moment I wrote them. How I was feeling, what was running through my head, and how much my life was changing at that time. I can't tell you how therapeutic it has been for me. I went from being married and being to a stay-at-home mom to a single mom who was taking on the biggest adventure of her life up to that point. Starting a business and trying to make sense of what was left of the pieces of my life. Sometimes I would write a blog post just to encourage myself. To remind myself that the sun would come out tomorrow! To focus on the strength that I knew God had promised me if I would just trust in Him. I learned so much, I grew so much, I had the highest of highs...and seriously the lowest of lows of my life. I am so grateful for this little place to just be me. And be real for heaven's sake! After all, life is just whizzing past. I'm so happy to have a little slice of our lives here. Thanks for reading...

and for cheering me on...and believing in me. You have blessed me so much more than you know. 

Seriously...

Saw these on Design Sponge...and am in love. If you collect globes like I do, this would be such a lovely addition! Don't you think? The one that says Bon Voyage is pretty awesome.

I think the "peace" themed one is pretty much perfect. Take a closer look HERE.

Snowy Saturday...

After a busy, busy work week I was really looking forward to today. NO plans, and snow in the forecast...means a guaranteed day at home! Just what we all needed I think. Even my silly dog was so excited that we were home with him all day long...he just kept coming over and playing with all of us...or at least trying to talk us into throwing a toy for him. The kids watched cartoons this morning as I continued to unpack. Seriously...as I was unpacking boxes...I just wanted to throw a ton of stuff away! I'm not sure how some of this stuff made the cut and got packed into boxes to make it all the way here. I cannot believe how many toys we have! I went through a bunch of books and toys and made a donation box. I just can't stand clutter and being stressed out by all of our "stuff!"

The kids played in the snow and sledded down the small hill in our front yard. They loved it, and finally came in for some lunch and hot chocolate. The temperature is supposed to be in the 30's all week long with more snow fore casted so it looks like there will be a lot more snow to play in. I just hope my little car gets us to church in the morning.

The best part of the snow today...besides being beautiful...is that I did not have to shovel. The association takes care of that. Hallelujah for snow removal. But I didn't get any photos taken and I do regret that. Maybe I'll get a few tomorrow? Hope you are warm and cozy!

P.S. I got this posted before midnight!! Woo hoo!

It's nearly midnight...

Why on earth do I only have time to post on the blog here at midnight? My bed is calling my name, but I still want to remember this day. It was busy and stressful at work today and I almost forgot to pick the kids up for school on time. I was one of the last mothers there. (Not a great feeling!) But they were happy as clams when I got there chatting with Chloe's new teacher all about how dogs can die if they eat chocolate and Mrs. Brandeen was telling them that if you give them hydrogen peroxide it makes them throw up and saves their lives. The kids thought that was fascinating.

They are excited everytime we pull into the garage that there is the possibility that there could be a dead mouse in a trap. So weird.

Chloe is eating bagels and cream cheese like they are going out of style. It's never a question what she wants in her lunch everyday. Don't even bother to ask if she wants turkey or peanut butter and jelly. It's always a bagel. I'm fairly certain I could wrap some up for Christmas and she would be over-joyed! :)

Tanner brought home a book tonight called "The Little Panda" which we have read the past 2 nights. He says now that the panda is his favorite animal and rode to school with his stuffed panda on his lap and played all afternoon with it. When it was nearly dinner time he came in and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and asked in his sweetest voice if we could please eat dinner at Panda Express? Of course the stuffed panda came also and one of the employees there told him she would trade him dinner for the panda. Tanner wasn't game, so she told them if they ate their dinner she would bring them both a treat. They both got a free chocolate chip cookie and I have a feeling they will be asking to eat there a lot in the future.

I cut Chloe's super long hair last night and we can finally brush through it again easily. It was out of control long. She wakes up in the morning and looks like she lived through a tornado.

I was uploading my iphone photos the other day and found roughly 245 photos that she had taken the first day we moved in to our new house. I thought it was super interesting to see the things she thought were worthy of taking photos of. Here are a few.

My new couch! :)

Looking through these just makes me laugh, those 2 bring joy and laughter and life and brightness to my life everyday! Just remembered I haven't made the kids lunches for the morning yet. Better wrap it up here! Good night!

So. Very. Tired.

This will be short and sweet. I am SO very tired. I have a mile-long to do list. It's really overwhelming. I have a house that is painted every shade of ugly. And there are at least 2-4 coats on nearly every wall...except for the closets. So it's hard for me to visualize the end result. I like what is in the works so far....but it's hard to hang any kind of picture on a wall that's so ugly. The ugliest room is the upstairs bedroom. The nicest room is my bedroom. Wasn't that nice of the previous owners? Oh my word. I have so much work to do. I can't wait to show before and afters...it's going to be EPIC. (By the way that is my word of the day today...I put it in a few emails too. I haven't used that word in forever.) I need some time to get those plans underway, not to mention pick out paint colors. I spent 2 hours last week scraping with a putty knife, none the less, glitter glue off of the hard wood floors in the kitchen. And today I caught the 5th mouse in the last 3 weeks in a trap. Tomorrow is another day...and it's a good thing Jesus is waiting there for me with new mercies.  I'm ready for it!

Ahhhh...a new home!

ahhh...a new home for the little blog. A new home in Minnesota. A new school for the kids. A new job to top it all off. I have to say that I am more than a little over-whelmed. I haven't had to juggle being a single mom and working full time up until this point. To top it all off, the kids have both been sick with colds since we moved (TWO WEEKS!) they are more like the colds that NEVER end! Tanner's turned into an ear infection. Not to mention that we are still trying to find a schedule that works for us all. It's amazing how a change in location can do that to you. But instead of dwelling on the boxes that I still need to unpack, and the worries I have through all of this. I am focusing on the positives. Like how much fun we are having here!

We have a park that is right next to our townhomes. The kids are BIG fans. The dog barked his head off at anything that moved while we were there but it was otherwise pretty uneventful. We walked all the way out to the middle of the lake on the dock and back again. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

You can barely see the dock that leads to the water, as the sun was setting, and as Tanner was planning all of our future fishing trips. I thought to myself how blessed I am.

I should have taken my real camera because the light was good and the weather was warm, and the kids were having so much fun.

How was your weekend??

Second Try...

Apparently I am blogger challenged! LOL! Sorry everyone for the redirection...so glad you stopped by!

Freehand Scraps Newsletter!

Wow! It feels like it's been forever since I sent out a newsletter, so I hope this finds you all doing well. If you have been following the blog then you will already know that I have accepted a position working for October Afternoon as their Marketing Communications Manager, and that we just moved to Minnesota. Talk about BIG change! I had been thinking about what I would do with Freehand Scraps and was pretty sure that I might be able to find the time to put together some project kits and keep up with it on a part time basis. However, I found that there wasn't much time to even unpack the house...let alone put together kits! (Can I get a good amen from all of the single Mom's out there?) Seriously, there are not enough hours in the day! LOL! So I was approached by my good friend Elaine about the possibility of her taking over Freehand Scraps. I knew I wasn't going to have the time to dedicate to it and make it great, and so Elaine is the new owner of Freehand Scraps! She is so very excited to get started and to "meet" all of you! I am confident that she will provide you with the same awesome customer service and creative inspiration every month that you have come to expect from Freehand Scraps. We truly have the best customers! She has updated the website with her biographical information and is ready to hit the ground running beginning with a brand new kit for January! I can't wait to see how cute it all is! She will be sending you out a newsletter with more information and will also be taking over the Freehand Scraps blog. So from here on out if you want to follow my new blog you can find it here. I hope you'll come over and stay in touch, as I will miss you all so much! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support and friendship...I am truly grateful!

Catching up!

Hello my blog friends! Just stopping in quick to let you know that I finally have internet at my new house here and am super excited to get all of you caught up to speed on the latest with me and also with Freehand Scraps! :)
We said goodbye to our "Illinois family" and packed up a big moving truck and put smiles on our faces, and left. (Especially me as I am trying to show the kids my positive attitude about it rather than shed tears about all that we'll leave behind.)
It's a 7 hour trip so napping was involved...which made for a nice, peaceful road trip. :)

We are getting settled, and I am trying to juggle everything and get unpacked and organized. The kids were excited for trick-or-treating this year, I don't think I have ever seen them running from door to door quite like this year. Our neighborhood has some awesome houses in it...they had fog machines and decorations that put Pottery Barns catalog to shame. Seriously. I have never seen anything quite like it. We had a blast!
Tanner was an astronaut this year...hence his slight obsession with space and anything related! Chloe decided at the last minute to be a ladybug...I told her how smart she was because it was a really warm costume. Minnesota is not warm my friends, and it kind of feels like winter already here. I was warned though, and am hoping that I toughen up as the time passes. :)
She was very concerned that her nose and freckles (liquid eye-liner...and it stayed perfectly all night!) would get rubbed off. And was the cutest little bug ever!

And here is a picture of our new house!

I'll be back tomorrow with more news...in a newsletter to update you on the latest with Freehand Scraps! Stay tuned...and I hope you had a great day!