Decorating Dilemmas Party!

Decorating Dilemma party?! YES, please! Thank you, Amanda, for hosting this. And thank you, Tanya, for posting your dilemmas, which are JUST like mine!

Okay, here are my dilemmas. I hope it's not overwhelming. And sorry the pictures are a little blurry. My dinky camera is just not like my husbands nice one, but I have no idea how to work his :)

#1 . . . My corner fireplace.

Because of our narrow living room, there is NO where to put the t.v. except on the mantle. I always thought I'd enjoy a corner fireplace until I had one. Seriously! Andy started building a "media closet" but it will take him awhile to fix it all up. Until then, our Dish box and t.v. and PS3 (yes, that is a controller charging...my hubby plays games after I go to bed!) on the mantle! BOO! (And yes, that is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Never knew a 5 month old could have a favorite show!). We are getting new hardwoods in the next couple of weeks and will be pulling up all that brown tile and replacing it with glass tiles, so the fireplace will look really pretty, but the top of it just bums me out. Until we can move and I can find a beautiful entertainment center with doors to hide my t.v. . . any suggestions!?

#2 . . . My couch.

Much like Tanya, I have an issue with my couch. Because of the size of the room, Andy and I bought a sectional. Bummer - we didn't get the kind where we could break apart. So, it is one big massive couch and it makes the room look closed in. Also, just like Tanya, I HATE that the first thing you see when you walk in the door is the couch. Sooo... I want a new couch. I am in the process of trying to find a good deal and selling ours. Any suggestions on furniture arrangement, however? I'd love a sofa and a chair and a half, but worried I won't have room for both.

#3 . . . My couch (again).

Until I get rid of this couch, I need any advice possible on the pillows. Our unruley dogs always sit on the cushions and they are all mashed down and misshapen now! They have that green stuff inside them. To top it all off, they are velcro, so they fall down all the time! How can I get them full again, and how can I get them to STAY on the velcro - besides the obvious, get the dogs to act right? Even when someone sits down, if they sit the right way, you hear a loud screeecch as the velcro separates. UGH! Don't ever buy a couch like this one, FYI :)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :) And just for fun...

Proverbs 18:24

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Emory's Haven

So I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the right time to take final pictures of Emory's nursery and post them for my friends to see. I secretly have wanted to post them on Rate My Space because I'm nerdy like that! haha! Anyway - I have never been able to get pictures because I've been waiting to put up pictures, etc., and waiting on my busy hubby to finish a few projects. Well, I was finally ready to take pictures and the pipe burst in her closet.

So, I'm just biting the bullet (is that the right term?) and posting pictures. There is usually a nice white, comfy rug on the floor but, alas, it was flooded out. Good news - insurance is going to buy me a new one (BONUS! I was wanting a new one anyway since the dogs had rolled in the dirt and had a party on her rug!). So, I am waiting for that. But, here are a few pictures of Emory's safe haven. FYI - the room is SUPER small, so I really had to crunch it all in without making it look crammed!


Here is a picture of her crib and the built-ins that Andy built. The crib is a Stanley Young America. I KNOW! Super nice and, yes, super expensive. Too bad I found it on Craig's List for way cheap!! I was so excited! Emory's Shabby Chic bedding is from Target, which is most likely my favorite store! (And yes - that is her playing in the crib!).








I really wanted a big comfy chair/glider but space (and funds) would not allow that. Instead, I found this glider for FREE on Freecycle. If you've never heard of Freecycle, it's a great program that you join and people post things they want or want to get rid of - all for FREE. The point is to keep the stuff out of landfills. This glider was originally oak and had a minor defect. The cushions were also disgusting, but Andy painted the glider and Grandma Alice made us new cushions!





This is one built in. I tried to fill the shelves with things that were special to me. You will see pictures of our family and a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa on their wedding day. My Grandpa was an American soldier who found my Grandma in England and swept her away to the states. There are also a few knickknacks that were passed down to me from my mom! And don't forget the wicker baskets. This room is so small that I had to have some storage somewhere other than the closet since we can only fit a small dresser/changing table.



This is the shelving on the right side of the crib.





This is one of my favorite things in the room. This mobile was made by Andy's friend Chelsea, who also made us a beautiful blanket made of the same fabric the birds are made of. This is such a beautiful touch and I love it!

Andy rags me so much about this chandelier. He did NOT want to take the fan out! But when I found out I was having a girl, I wanted a girly room! I found this chandelier at Hobby Lobby on sale for $25! We put a brighter light bulb in and it works great!

My dear friend painted this picture for Emory's room. He asked me what my favorite childhood book was and I told him The Velveteen Rabbit. This is just so special to me and I hope it will always hang somewhere in our house!

So, I never use this camera anymore since Andy got his nice Canon and when I turned it on to upload these pictures I found this picture of Emory! She was so tiny here - only like 7 weeks old! I can't believe how little she is here - although some people may not think she was so little compared to other babies since she was almost 9 lbs at birth!

That's all the pictures I have for now. Hopefully I'll find a new rug soon and I'm working on a couple of projects to hang on the wall!

Psalm 28:7

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,And with my song I will praise Him."

DiShInG iT!

I think my friend Tanya has such cute posts, and today she has participated in Serenity Now's Dishing It! party. I thought I would play along! This week is all about BLOGS.

I have been blogging since 7/08. WOW. I actually had to look back and find that date and I really had no clue I had been blogging that long! It's amazing how time flies - and even MORE amazing what happens when you have a baby and your memory goes to pOt!

I started blogging initially to have somewhere to express my thoughts - a creative outlet mind you - and at the time intended it to be geared towards my work as a Registered Dietitian. I have so many hilarious, crazy, and sometimes even slightly scary stories from being an RD and dealing with parents.

"He has caffeine headaches if he doesn't drink his sweet tea. He's been drinking it ever since he was a baby and I would put it in his bottle."

So, I thought I'd start a blog to get out my frustrations but it pretty quickly took another turn when I got pregnant. After that it turned into a MOMMY blog...and I had NO idea I would ever have a mommy blog! I enjoy reading mommy blogs, however, and let's face it...once you have a kid, there is nothing more fun to talk about ;)

My blog's title...

Sigh. ... (Revert back to previous post)...

Basically my title is me trying to say - these are my thoughts on paper people! I am not the type of person to be loud or overly outgoing, but I love to write, and I love to write in COLOR, or OUT LOUD - meaning letting people know my true thoughts and feelings ... well, you get it.

My favorite thing about blogging is that I can sit down and let go. I try to contain myself and sometimes but I really enjoy letting my thoughts flow. I also enjoy reading other's blogs, getting good home ideas, seeing their cute designs, and thinking about re-designing my own (obviously, it needs a makeover). Basically, I enjoy having this online journal that will be here for years to come, where I can look back and think wow - I remember that now! I also love getting spiritual inspiration from others. There are a few women out there that I enjoy following and they really inspire me to try to become a better person. After all - friends (whether they are close friends or mere blog acquaintances) should always give you some type of positive inspiration...right?

If I could have one famous person become an avid reader of my blog...probably Candice Olsen from HGTV's Divine Design. I just love her! In an ideal world, she would post decorating tips or even come over for dinner and while she was here, just happen to drop off some of her designs that she was discontinuing. haha! Dream on! I would love to have her sit in my living room and pick her brain regarding how to arrange my long and narrow room with a corner fireplace! She can make a shack look like a palace.

I actually can't remember any overly funny comments that I have received, but I haven't really been all that public with this blog and haven't received a whole lot of random readers. Most of my followers are just close friends that put up with my ranting and most likely just enjoy seeing baby pictures :) But I'm okay with that!

And that is my first DISHING IT!

Proverbs 27:17 NIV

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Getting To Know You...

My friend Tanya has hosted a Getting To You Know question on her blog, so I thought I'd join in on the fun. The question was: What did you want to be when you grew up? Well...I'm a little sentimental talking about it. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a writer. Not just a writer...but a great author. As a child, I wrote short stories and poems. As an adolescent, I wrote DRAMATIC poetry and longer stories, about love and loss and death...all things I thought I knew all about but really had no clue! haha! As a young adult, I wrote skilled papers in my College Comp 1 and 2 class. I remember my teacher writing on my paper "You will be a great writer one day." Did I ever cling to that thought. It was my dream. She had written on another paper that I should major in journalism - but if you know me, you know I am not a risk taker, and journalism is a risky business.

I still love to write and dream about writing a novel one day. I start novels and get about 2 pages into them and then just can't pull it all together. I lose confidence in my abilities and start to wonder what I am doing and why I'm even trying it. Then I thought, perhaps I could write a children's book. YES! That's it! A children's book! I drew out my characters and thought of a great idea to write about and then thought I'd better Google search the topic to see what my competition was. Low and behold, another woman had previously had the EXACT same idea as I did and had a successful line of books out on the same topic. Sigh...

So, I pretty much gave up. I mean...pretty much. Every once in awhile I get the idea again and think...that would make a GREAT storyline. (Tanya - maybe I can write a great play one day and you can star in it?! lol!)

Somehow, I knew I wanted to be a dietitian when I went to college. Don't ask me how I arrived at that decision and what research I had done on the topic. I just remember already having a major when I registered my Freshman year at UCA. I finished college super early (in three years), got accepted into the UCA Dietetic Internship/Masters program, finished my Masters degree and Internship the next August, and shortly thereafter passed my exam and became a Registered Dietitian. I took the job that I have right out of college and MAN! was I clueless! After 3 1/2 years of working with children with special needs, I still don't feel like I have a clue sometimes!

Being a dietitian is not all what I thought it would be. Sometimes, or I guess a lot of the time, I question this decision I have made. I love nutrition. I think the human body is fascinating and the role that food and nutrients play in the body is just amazing to me. However, there are so many things I struggle with, especially working in the population that I work in. A lot of my time is spent doing countless evaluations (I have to follow roughly 400 children), making menus, reading food labels, and counseling parents. I love doing some of it, but some of it I detest - like meeting with a parent because their child is obese. What do you say to a parent of a 95 pound 4 year old who looks you right in the eye and says, "But she's not overweight, look how tall she is! She is just going to be a big girl." ...

Many times I feel like I do no good in my job, and other times I feel like I really help people. But I guess that's the way many jobs are. About a year and a half ago I finally decided to go back to school. My husband was in school full time and I would come home and just lay on the couch - this was before I had a blog - and was just bored. So I decided to go back to school for my MBA, and in December I finished my MBA with emphasis in Health Care Management.

So now what? I'm still in the same position for the same company. I guess my ultimate goal is to work as an Office Manager for a medical clinic of some sort, but am trusting God to lead me in the direction that I need to go. I would also love to be at home 1 or 2 days a week with my baby girl.

I get disappointed sometimes, I have ups and downs, I think that I don't want to leave my company because of all the great people I work with and sweet children, and then ultimately I just have to hang it all up and let God lead me.

So that is probably 1000 times more than what you wanted to know...but there you have it!

Phil. 4:6 NIV

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Sweet Spring

Easter weekend has come and gone and my little girl continues to grow so fast. I can't believe the weeks are flying by as fast as they are. I guess working full time really helps the time go by.

This weekend was so good. I really look forward to the weekends now because I know that I will be able to spend time with my husband, daughter, and family. Not to mention dinner with my family on Friday nights and lunch with my sister, mom, and grandma on Saturdays. I just love these two "traditions" we have and look forward to them EVERY week!

Friday I left work a little early and met Andy and my sister and her boys at the zoo at 3:30. She watches Em on Fridays so she had all three kids in her backseat! Talk about a lot of carseats! The zoo was a lot of fun. I haven't been there in years so it was neat seeing the changes that they are making. The boys had a lot of fun and Andy got some great pictures!



Jude had lots of fun running around!



My baby girl and I...



About halfway through, she got soooo sleepy and fell asleep in her stroller. We then met mom and Ryan at Cactus Jack's for dinner and headed home for the night. Saturday I woke up early (as is the norm with a little one) and Andy and I decided to take Emory to see MaMaw (Andy's grandmother). It's hard to get out to see her because we are so busy, but we had a great visit and MaMaw was so happy to see her!





I did a little bit of shopping and went to lunch with the family and Andy and I spent a quiet night at home, grilling hamburgers and hanging out together as a family.

What's weird is that I woke up at exactly 6:52 on Sunday morning, which was sunrise on Easter. I thought that was a little uncanny. Our family got ready and went to Sunday school. For those of you that don't know my specific beliefs, we don't really celebrate Easter or Christmas per se for many different reasons. One major reason is because we celebrate Christ's birth and death every Sunday when we take memorials (communion). So, the day was not necessarily anything extra special for us, but every day that we are able to praise God and what He gave to us is special - which hopefully is EVERY day!

This weekend I have really been hit with so many emotions. I don't know if it's hormones or what, but I am really overwhelmed by such thankfulness as well as worry and anxiety. I guess I never knew I could love someone so much, and the thought of anything happening to her is frightening. I have spent a lot of time in prayer lately but feel that I need something more. I'm still finding my way in this area.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend full of family, friends, and most of all...FAITH!

II Corinthians 5:14-15
"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

4 Month Flooding

This weekend has been C R A Z Y. I'll start with Emory's appointment on Friday. It went great! She weighed 15 lbs 10 ounces (85 %ile) and was 25 1/8 inches long (75 %ile). Of course I had to plot her weight for length when I got back to my office, which fell 75-90th percentile. Dr. Holmes said she was proportional and looked great! We talked about starting foods sometime between now and 6 months, and I was glad Dr. Holmes sort of gave me the option on when I wanted to do that (of course, I'm a little weird about feeding since that's what I do all day!:)) She did say that we can give one more round of antibiotics if she gets another ear infection and after that we will have to discuss TUBES...but let's hope this 80 degree weather this week stays and that her ears stay CLEAR!

We also discussed the dreaded sleep issue. Emory has really been waking up more than she should lately and Dr. Holmes said now that her ears are clear and after we give a couple of days for her 4 month shots to wear off, it's time to let her cry. I had been expecting that and actually was very ready for it.

I was all set to start that process Saturday night. Friday night I wanted to give her another night since she had had her shots and she was really fussy from them. Saturday Em and I went to eat lunch with my sister, mom, and grandma. We went to Shoe Connection and my mom bought Em a few little hairbows and a couple of headbands that are so cute and so cheap! We ate at Panera Bread. So glad they opened up two of those in Central Arkansas! We used to eat there everytime we went to Branson, so when they opened them here, us girls got very excited! :)

I wanted to head home early instead of doing the usual shopping Saturday because I was planning on a girls night out dinner with some friends and then meeting the guys for bowling afterward. Mom was going to come stay the night and watch Em, so I wanted to rush home and get her freshly washed sheets on the guest bed and clean out the guest shower for her as well as give Emory an early bath so she would be all ready for her Gran. I called Andy to tell him we were on our way home and his response was "You may not want to come home."

Not exactly what I wanted to hear. He told me that a pipe had burst and the entire right side of our house was flooded (Emory's room, extra bath, guest bedroom, hallway, laundry room, and out into the garage). By the time I got there he had vacuumed up all the water but we quickly realized we would have to make an insurance claim. Ugh! Andy had to clean out all of the extra bedroom stuff and a restoration company came in to set up de-humidifiers and fans and used Mildewcide to make sure we prevent the floors and walls from molding.

Amazing how such a little hole can cause such a ruckus.

So now we are running the de-humidifiers 24 hours a day until Tuesday. That means Emory has to sleep in our room and the routine we had going is all jacked up! Last night was just awful. She must have been up every 1-2 hours. I know that some of it could have been her shots.

Let's hope tonight goes better and that hopefully the insurance adjuster will be out bright and early in the morning so we can get this show on the road. What a disaster! I do think, though, that we have been blessed SO much thus far so we really shouldn't complain.

On the up-side, I am off the next two days. I was hoping that I could use that time to spring clean and spend some quality time with my baby girl, but the spring cleaning is a little wrecked now. I guess that's the true lesson for us - God's plans are not our own! From something little like a pipe bursting to something big.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

Couch Potato

So right now I feel like a semi-poor mother because my 4 month old is sitting in her bouncy seat watching Mickey Mouse Playhouse! Seriously, she has been SO fussy these past few days and this afternoon I just couldn't take it. I tried everything and finally put some Orajel on her gums. She seemed a little better but still randomly screaming and freaking out so I finally just turned on the t.v. and sat her in front of it! Voila! She is now kicking her legs and soaking it up! I really needed a minute to just sit down anyway. Sometimes I feel like all I do is work, come home and entertain this crazy little one, and squeeze in a little couch potato time at night to watch a show or two! I never imagined life with an infant would be this way, but I wouldn't trade it, either!

The weeks are literally flying back in a whir of busy-ness. Last Saturday my best friend Stephanie and I went to a wedding of a friend that we lived with in college. It was a beautiful wedding and reception!! I hate that I didn't get any pictures, but it was raining outside so my camera really wasn't on my mind when I was trying to scurry into the church. Steph and I didn't stay very long. Emory has double ear infections a g a i n so I wanted to get home semi-early in case she needed me.

Sunday afternoon we went to my parent's house to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday! Again...no pictures of this either (yet). I know! I'm such a bad picture taker. My husband takes more pictures than I do! I just never think about it!

It's almost Thursday but this week for some reason is really dragging by. I think it's because I'm very excited for Friday, which is Emory's 4 month checkup. I'm always really excited for her doctor visits (um...unless she's sick) because I love to hear how the doctor thinks she is doing and developing and I love to see how long she is and how much she weighs. She is getting to be so much fun, although it is still stressful sometimes!

I hope to post more this Friday if I have time to update on how Emory's appointment went. Here is a quick shot I took with my phone last Saturday when Emory fell asleep. Hopefully more to come! I promise I'll get better at this picture thing!

Nahum 1:7 NKJV
"The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him."