Treasures in Heaven

Not feeling many words today. Just a few things to note.

1) Saturday a hawk flew into our living room window. Left a streak of blood on our window & feathers on our ground, but thankfully the window didn’t break & the hawk flew away. It was loud, frightening, unexpected, and scary. {And another stinkin’ bird sign for my life I think, but that’s for another day maybe.}

2) I’m more thankful than I ever have been for good friends. True hearts who care for you so deeply and take care of you when you can’t seem to even think. {Wondrous thing without a doubt.}

3) My pretty purple flowers in the front yard were so perfect this Saturday. I’m glad I snapped a picture because now Ohio’s turned freezing again & we had a hail storm that pelted the poor things. That’s one thing I love about taking pictures – beautiful things are preserved for as long as I want to look at them. Go ahead cold weather, you can make it miserable outside in March, but I still have my purple flowers blooming in my living room! {Insert evil laugh here.}

4) The main thing I wanted to say today - I’m repeating this verse in my head today…

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

I’m trying my hardest to focus on the treasures in Heaven today.

Conquered the light.

Ever since we painted our kitchen we’ve had zero lights up because we removed them to paint the ceilings. I’ve tried {and tried and tried} to get a pendant light hung above our kitchen sink for weeks. Every time I attempt it, I get stuck at step, lose patience, or some part of it won’t work. For instance, during my first attempt, part of the ceiling crumbled away, so I had to stop what I was doing to patch the ceiling. My second attempt it was too dark in the room to see which wires I wanted {since I had to turn off the electricity.} Third attempt, I got confused on which wire went where & was just so annoyed I gave up.

FINALLY, last night, I conquered the pendant light. Hallelujah!  It wasn’t even that hard for me last night…quite simple actually. It was definitely a wondrous thing that popped me right out of my overwhelmed mood.  And I quite possibly did a few fist pumps and touchdown signs in my kitchen once I flipped that breaker & saw the light! :)

Here’s what it looked light before I finished the final steps. You can see the plaster where I had to fix the hole earlier. I still have to sand & paint this part, but hey, I’m just pumped to have light.

 

And here it is completed. YEAH!

Yes, that’s Shout & Carpet cleaner. The pup hurled yesterday. Poor guy must’ve been rattled with all the work being done for our wet basement.

 

Got the glass cloche from Goodwill, cake stand leftover from a wedding event & those cute soaps in the metal holder from Bath & Body Works. The white pendant lamp was the brand “Portfolio” and came in only around seven bucks {cheap, I know!} on sale from Lowes, plus it included the shade too. See this post for more details on the light.

I was on such a roll, that I decided I could hang the curtains in our living room too. I’m sick of parading in front of our neighbors – this window faces the road & while there’s hardly any traffic, any passerby can see everything going on in our living room. Not to mention, my new Ikea curtains were screaming my name.

I had to use drywall anchors before the screws because the wall will not hold screws well, especially when any amount of weight was applied.

Once I inserted the anchors, it was a solid curtain rod. I made sure to have four brackets because when we moved in there were just three & this caused the rod to sag in the middle. Saggy middles are not cool. So here’s the final product sans curtains…

 

When I got the curtains out of the package, I realized i picked up two different types of curtains – ones with tabs and ones with out. So I went with the Ikea clips & simply folded the tabs down, added the clips, and hung ‘em up. And you know what, you can’t even tell they’re tab curtains!

I went with kaki color on the outside and white in the middle. I may paint a design on the kaki ones, but that’s still TBD.

Bad, dark pictures, sorry. Here’s a close up of the linen texture in the curtains. For $15 a pop, I’m totally pleased – tons of fabric, thick and quality fabric too.

 

And I also swapped out this muddy, dirty, very used entry way rug…

 

For this brand new one…

Ah, much better.  It felt so good to actually accomplish something for the house, by myself, without needing help. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to do any big work on the place, so this was just the pick-me-up I needed yesterday.

A full cart.

How about a virtual shopping trip to Ikea where you can view what’s in my cart? As I mentioned yesterday, Eugene & I went to Ikea with our friends on Sunday afternoon to pick up lots of items for the house. And I have to admit that I’m now having some serious buyers remorse because I learned yesterday we have to purchase four new tires for my car. We probably spent too much at Ikea {$400.00}, but I will qualify that by saying that everything we got was a good deal.

On our way down, we stopped for a super good lunch at Red Robin with Jake & Sarah.

I was so thankful to have Sarah’s help in making decisions on curtains and other decorating items. I tend to get a bit overwhelmed with choices…especially in a megastore. {I hate making decisions.} So Sarah came in clutch in helping me pick out items. Not to mention that Jake kept Eugene sane. {Eugene hates shopping.}

We made it safely to the West Chester Ikea in about an hours time.

I always feel like I’m a lab rat in a maze when I go to Ikea. I love the items, but the layout of the store tends to make me dizzy!

 

So, what did we buy? The main bulk of the purchase was curtains & rugs.

We already have this rug in our entry way area, but we bought a replacement for $14.99. Our current one’s been through two moves and a puppy, so it was high time to get a new one.

 

We got this rug for one of the bedrooms. At $19.99 I figure I should be able to find something to match the basic gray pretty easily.

 

Then we picked up two of these rugs for $29.99. I plan on using them in the other two main bedrooms. Basic, nothing special, but a good price & we need bedroom rugs.

For curtains, I picked up a few packs of these curtain clips for $2.99. I’m thinking I’ll use them in the kitchen for sure & probably the living room too.

And for the curtains, I bought five or six pairs of this basic white tab curtain. For $14.99 a pair, you can’t beat the price, and I can live with basic white curtains in most of our rooms. I can always jazz ‘em up later with a little creativity.

 

I also bought one pair of the same curtains in khaki color to use with a white pair in the living room

 

We picked out two of these large wall shelves for $19.99 each & plan to hang them in our dining area.

I snagged some of the Ribba frame collections because I want to make a gallery wall eventually. I bought them in black because I didn’t see them in white, but after looking online this morning I think they have them in white, so I’m a tad bummed. Oh well, I’ll make it work. These were on the “wish list” and maybe should’ve gone towards the tire fund, had we know about it at the time. Eh, we have ‘em now & I’ll just enjoy it cause we’re certainly not driving an hour to return some frames!

 

The one thing Eugene wanted to buy was a Wok. Don’t ask me why, but he’s been wanting a wok for our homemade Chinese dinners. So random, but I was glad we could get something he wanted. And at only $4.99, he said “It’s practically free!”

I desperately need a rolling pin, so I picked one up for $4.99. I have been using cups as rolling pins, and since none of my cups are perfectly straight edges, it hasn’t been too successful for me! {Go figure.}

Got this guy for $4.99 for our hallway.

And another one of these lamps {I already had one} for our bedroom. Just $9.99.

We bought five or so of these $0.99 stomach sleeper pillow fillers. We’ll use them for guests and for the shams on our bed.

And we bought some $2.99 Inner Cushion fillers for thow pillows. Probably should’ve passed on this one now that I look back, but oh well.

And for my favorite Ikea item ever: the Snartig vase. I love this dainty little vase. I already have two, but I picked three more up because at $0.79 apiece, they just make me smile! I just love these. :)

And on the way out we bought a cinnamon roll & a hot dog dinner for Eugene.

It was definitely an exhausting day, but it was nice to spend time with friends and get some new things for the house.

Today I’m feeling super overwhelmed. Last night right before bed, I walked down to the basement to turn off a light & realized that our basement was flooded. Our sump pump hadn’t been running and there was almost two inches of standing water seeping from our laundry room through the carpet in the living area & under the bedroom walls. {Oh gosh. It was bad.} I tried not to get too stressed, but poor Eugene had to stay up late to get the sump pump working again and start trying to mop up the floor and decide what to do about the carpet situation. He’s home from work now, being an amazing husband and trying to remedy the waterlog issue. I’m just hoping & praying the water doesn’t ruin the walls. Last night was the first time I’ve ever wished for a second that I still rented. It just makes me upset to think that something we just bought {finished basement walls} might already be ruined.

That lovely issue, combined with the news that I need new tires, on top of our expensive shopping trip {I NEVER spend that much money shopping…NEVER} has me all stressed out. We have the money, it’s not that. I just feel like things are out of control right now, and totally overwhelming Eugene & me. He’s handling it marvelously; I just feel for him that he’s got so much to deal with right now with teaching, coaching, fixing the house, and being my husband.

Welcome to the real world, huh. It’s overwhelming sometimes. And scary most of the time. But it always works out, and God is always in complete control. So we’ll keep on keeping on, and as Eugene always tells me “It’s gonna be okay.”

P.S. Anybody know of a good place to get quality tires that won’t break the savings account?

Whew!

What a busy busy weekend! Since I’m short on time {busy day today too}, here’s a quick recap. I’ll add in the details later this week when things slow down a bit.

Friday, when I got home from work, I sewed a quick throw pillow out of this shirt…

Then when Eugene’s practice ended, we ran to little Miss Ava’s 3rd birthday…

Saturday morning, Eugene’s team had their first baseball scrimmage. I made sure to get there early enough so I could see my man back in action, hitting his team some warm up. {The most handsome coach I’ve ever seen.} ;)

 

While we were at the scrimmage, our roof was completed. So crisp & clean & not leaky!!

About an hour after the scrimmage, I left to work a wedding for 300 guests. The family was so happy with the evening that they kept thanking me profusely. It was so nice to feel appreciated for all the hard work! After the reception, we tore down, cleaned, and reset for another event I have today.

Sunday, we had our fun two-year-olds in church, worship service, and then we went out to eat & to Ikea with our friends Sara & Jake. {More on the purchases another day.}

  

We got home from Ikea in time to pick up the chaotic mess we call our home & head to bed totally exhausted. Whew! I really don’t think I could’ve packed anything else into our weekend, but it was definitely a great time!

Life is good.

Last night I happily came home from work to the sounds of hammering and falling shingles. :)

 

They got all the shingles off last night…

  

And the first layer of protective stuff on… {ha, not sure what it’s called.}

The weather was so nice yesterday too – I’m talking 60 degree nice! So I was craving some french fries & bbq cups for dinner.

In general, the bbq cups are made very similar to the bacon & egg biscuit cups I made a while back. Season & brown the ground beef, add your favorite bbq sauce and simmer it until it’s thickened slightly. Then roll out your refrigerated biscuits & place them in greased muffin tins. Add some shredded cheddar cheese to the bottom of the biscuit cup, add your fully cooked bbq beef, and pop ‘em in the oven according to the biscuit baking directions. With about a minute or two left, add some more shredded cheese on top & bake until all is melted and the biscuits are lightly browned. Mmm. SO stinking good. {And, these are always a big hit with kids at our family potlucks.}

And I love these fries. They’re baked in the oven {preheated to 425 degrees} and not nearly as bad for you as they taste. I slice up my potatoes and place them in one of my plastic mixing bowls that has a lid, like so…

Then, I throw in some Light Italian Salad Dressing, Seasoned Salt, and Parmesan Cheese.

{Sorry, no clue on the measurements…just enough dressing to coat them, and the seasoning to your taste.}

Place the lid on the bowl. Do a St. Patty’s Day jig to shake the fries up to where they’re coated with everything. Throw ‘em on your greased baking sheet & pop ‘em in the oven at 425 for 30-35 minutes, flipping them about halfway through.

   

Even Eugene, who is a fry connoisseur, loves these bad boys.

Dinner was delish. Weather was beautiful. Roof was started. Life is good. :)

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