My first window mistreatment

BEFORE

AFTER

I am so excited about this you guys! I thought about it for a couple of months but didn't have the nerve to just do it! I have been so inspired by all the posts you talented bloggers have put up about your mistreatments and have really been wanting to try it. I am the perfect candidate....we are in a rental and I don't want to spend money on curtains that only work for this house and honestly.....you can spend a small fortune just for one window after buying the actual panels AND the hardware. Add in the fact that my son Michael wanted something nascar and so I wouldnt have been able to settle for something found on sale.

I got this specific mistreatment idea from Kimba at A Soft Place to Land and you HAVE to read it first because she makes more sense than I do!

Michael also needed a shelf for all the nascar collectibles he has that really didn't have a place to live in his room. Here they are piled on a table in his room.

I went back to the Nester's sight and read back through all her posts on the subject......thanks Nester!!! You MUST go visit her blog even if you just read the window posts your life will be forever changed :)

I went to Lowe's because I had $11.42 on an un-finished giftcard. All I had to buy was the board, furniture tacks and 2 brackets.....I even HAD to buy 3 mum plants for my front bed to finish up the card!

One thing I do have in my linen closet is a TON of extra sheets.

With 3 boys and 4 twin beds we are never short on sheets. I used a black flat sheet that is all by it's lonesome (this is pretty common in my house) and I also used the 2 extra nascar pillow cases since the other 2 boys are no longer using them (the third is still on Michael's bed so it is a great tie-in) I didnt want to cut anything just in case I might need it as a sheet again (i'm glad to read on the other blogs that I am not the only one who thinks this way). I did open the pillow cases on the seam but I know if need be I could stitch them back up again in a jiffy.

It may be hard to see here but all I did was use the tack to hold up each corner. After that I tacked up the middle making a pleat first. I then kept going half and half while making pleats and just tacked it up as I went. This is the back panel.

This may not make sense to you since it really only makes sense in my head......but go read the this post on Kimba's site (with much nicer fabric) and then it should start to come clear for you.

This is just 3 halves of the pillow cases (i have one leftover) I used no sewing at all in true mistreatment style. I bought a 1x6 board that was 6 ft long so the length was just perfect, no cutting.I used the upholstery tacks to put the fabric onto the board and hubby hung the new valance/topper/shelf over the window using the brackets. I used my hot glue gun to connect the 3 pieces of pillow case and make it look seamless. Now we have a back panel, a valance and a shelf! I know it is hard to tell from this picture but it looks really good!

I LOVE THEM! Michael loves them!!! Even Jeff thinks they are great (even though he made this face when he saw me tacking a sheet over the window)
















I also got a shot of Michael happily arranging his cars on his new one of a kind shelf :)

A lesson learned

I just read the funniest story on Liz's blog and it inspired me to come post my own!

You know Jeff and I have been married just over 2 years and there is a LOT of learning to do about each other still. It is pretty common for him to say "must be a southern thing" or "we don't do that up north". I think it is more indicative of us just growing up in different families.

Leading into my story......I grew up playing jokes on people and the people I knew all played jokes on each other. In my house we were always trying to come up with a good joke. We loved to jump out and scare each other, we hid things that would cause a scream. My Mom taught us early how many screams you could get dumping cold water on someone in a hot shower. She also could be found chasing David and I around the house spraying us with a water bottle until we could find a place to baracade ourselves in for protection and find something water filled to fight back with. I apparently passed this on to my boys because they are constantly practicing how to quietly sneak up on someone and love love love to jump out and cause a yell. I can't tell you how many times I have "found" snakes, spiders and mice all in unexpected places (they have some very realistic fakes out there now).

About a year ago, I was washing dishes and accidentally dropped Jeff's favorite paring knife. It fell in such a weird way that the stainless steel blade just broke in half.

He was in the shower so he was clueless about it and I thought to myself....this is too good, I could never plan on this happening but i HAVE to use it! I thought it sounded like fun!

I knew he wouldnt think it was a trick knife because he would recognize the knife right away.

When I was a kid I pulled the prank of sticking it between my fingers with ketchup to fake out my Mom (who pretended to be horrified at my injury).

NOW without thinking much about it, in about 30 seconds time I quickly grabbed the red food color and ran a few drops down my hand and mopped it all up with a towel. I was thinking of how to fool someone who would be expecting it and all the things they would look for. I held the knife pointed down tight against my skin so it would look like it had gone through, pushed the "blood" soaked towel around it and rushed into the bathroom.

I put on my best "im in a lot of pain and trying to stay calm because i'm the Mom" shaky voice and told Jeff "honey, i need you to keep the boys calm and somehow get me to the hospital because i've had a little accident".

He pulls the shower curtain back and while I expected some sort of an "OMG" yell before I said "just kidding!". I was NOT expecting to see the horror on his face as i think his heart might have temporarily stopped beating or to see this big man jumping out of a running shower and ignore the fact that he was naked and covered in suds to start issuing orders like a war time triage soldier.

I was so in shock that he didn't even doubt me for a second that I forgot to say i was kidding. The look on his face when I dropped the broken knife (and time temporarily froze with a mask of horror and shock on his face) was enough to have me running for cover!

The answer to your next question is "yes" I promised him to never ever ever ever play another practical joke on him ever ever ever again. I still feel guilty about it and wish I had taken more than 30 seconds to put it all in motion and take maybe just 10 more seconds to think about the possible heartattack I could have caused (the point he was quick to make)

This has been referrenced from time to time in the last year and always with a reminder from Jeff in his most serious voice that I will NEVER play another joke on him. Imagine MY shock when Travis comes in a couple of days ago to tell me something funny he has just done.

He is already laughing and wants me to sneak in the dining room with him to watch because he just got finished crawling under the dining table (where Jeff was sitting at his laptop) and untied his shoes and tied them to his chair leg.

I can't believe my "ARE YOU CRAZY" wasn't heard throughout the whole house as I tell Travis he better get back in there and sneak better than he ever has before to fix this before Jeff even finds out he thought about it!

(post note: he didn't manage to undo his joke without being found out but because he WAS undoing it he got off light with just a lecture about how he would have felt when Jeff tried to get up and fell and cracked his head open and we had to call 911)

You are right Liz.......not everyone likes it.....who woulda thought?

WE LOVE YOU HONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did it!

I have had this canvas and paint for 3 months leaning against the wall. I knew what I wanted to do but was so nervous about doing it...........I finally did though!

Don't be too critical....i'm still learning :)

These are the accent colors in my living room....it felt really good to paint this, I think I'm addicted...

A redo project

This is what my first canvas painting project looked like.

It looked MUCH better in the old house because the walls in the bedroom were chocolate brown.

Since we moved and are living in a temporary rental I have to live with white walls and the paintings just don't work anymore. I really liked the way the paintings looked with the bedding that was my inspiration so I didn't want to lose that look.

What do you think of my redo?

I have to admit I have become obsessed with painting and have a million ideas. Maybe in the next few days I will show you my living room/largest project attempt once I determine it is complete. :)

An aha! moment

This is my oldest Travis at his 1st birthday party. It seems like I was JUST planning it. I know all parents warn you not to blink.......but SERIOUSLY you guys it really was just yesterday.
This is Travis now. He is 13. He is 5'7" (yes 7" taller than Mom) and has had his first girlfriend and first heartbreak. How is this possible?

"Travis......I am so proud of the man you have become". Those were the words that slipped out of my mouth without thinking at 6:34 pm tonight. WHAT? He isn't a man......he is 13, still my baby.

Since it did get a funny look from him I explained that I said it instinctly and that I realized he wasn't a man yet but that I could see so easily the man he has the potential to be.

Today we were driving along on the way to church and I am just listening to him in amazement talk so profoundly about his faith and his desire for all the people around him to have the same relationship that he has with God. It slipped out at that point.......my aha moment. It had been building for a while, but sometimes because we are with our children so much their changes slip by us and I just had a moment of clarity and pride!

Earlier this week I was talking to my Mom on the phone and Travis walks by and just says casually........"hey Mom, can you get Nonny to see if Papa can give me some testaments?" I pass the question along and when I ask Travis what he needs them for he tells me that he was just thinking and thought it might be a good idea to leave some in fellow football players lockers in the gym and pass some out to friends at school. His idea was to put the information inside as an invitation to his youth group on Wednesday nights. (My Dad is a gideon so that is the reason for the request btw). I brought them home yesterday and we spent the evening filling out the inscription page with an invite.

As we were on our way tonight he is texting back and forth making sure no one needed a ride and offering my services (I would never complain about that assumption). I just wanted to take a moment and record THIS moment so I don't forget it. You know what I am remembering so much of tonight? Those moments yesterday and last week when he was 2 and singing Jesus Loves Me or 5 and praying for someone he just saw on the side of the street.....I was so proud of my sweet little boy who knew Jesus and went to him so easily. Can I just tell those of you that arent at this place yet how your heart will swell when you realize that those seeds planted have sprouted and bloomed past heartache and the pain of grief and the heartbreak of divorce and have blossomed into a teenager who thirsts for a relationship with God and wants the people around him to have what he has. WOW. I don't feel worthy to be his Mom and I thank God that I have been so blessed.