friday fotos: five things that made me smile... and one that terrified me

I've meant to write more than twice a week this month...really, I have. Life just hasn't been so cooperative. My school is nearly out for the summer though, that could be the light at the end of the tunnel or the beginning of something even busier. We'll see.

For now, here are five things this week that made me smile:

1. Black light bowling with Ninja and Melissa. I won, of course, if you count the lowest score as winning...like in golf.... :) We had fun making up creative ways to throw the ball though: backwards, slowly, underhand, left-handed. And the glowing just made it all the more, um, glowlicious.

2. Curtain call for *The Tempest*. Finished up my Shakespeare internship this week. The kids did soooooo good! Just about brought tears to my eyes! I was pleased with how the music turned out too--and just happy to have been involved in any way. It was really life-altering.

3. Paper towel dispenser with a crank handle. Yes...this seriously made me happy. Took me back to my childhood--the good old days before you had to wave your hand repeatedly in front of some kind of sensor to make a pre-determined length of towel come out. Nope. With this baby I could just crank and crank and crank until I had ten feet of papery goodness. (don't worry. I didn't really do that. but I COULD have...)

4. Me in a self-portrait with toilets. This was in the same bathroom as the paper towel dispenser. It's actually the bathroom in the (very old) elementary school I did the Shakespeare internship in. I've taken quite a few pictures of myself in the bathroom mirror and thought it pretty funny to get one with a row of porcelain bowls involved :)

5. My kids in the sandbox with friends. It's just a happy sight. Nuff said.

And now for the thing that terrified me.....

HIDEOUS COLOR SCHEME ALERT!!!

I took this picture in Wal*Mart. I'm sorry if you are a big fan of these colors, but I find them all kinds of yucky!!! And not only were the colors on these pans, but there were hangers and storage containers and blankets and cups and all manner of assorted home goods sporting this scheme. Teal? Melon? Banana yellow? Bright blue? Bluuuuuugh! Every color I hate. I'm really not sure why. I guess at some point growing up I must have attached a bad memory to them. I just hope Wal*Mart guessed the trend wrong and this disaster will pass quickly.

ENDING ON A NON-HORRENDOUSLY COLORED NOTE: a little over two years ago, I participated in a bloggy giveaway where I offered free products from a talented artist I discovered named Sarah Abraham. She was kind enough to mention me in her "success timeline" for suggesting the idea behind her bestselling flashcard designs. It's good to get a little credit where it's due :).

OK folks--there ya go! Hopefully there will be time available next week for writing and sharing more than twice. Thanks for sticking with me and ~Happy Weekending!~

poor, poor me...

Yeah--that's what I've been thinking this week. It has been one doozie of a seven days! My internship came to a stressful crescendo when, at the last minute, I was put in charge of compiling and running all the music and sound effects for The Tempest. I spoke to a successful literary agent out of New York who told me just how hard it is to make it as a writer and that I should for sure consider going into some other field if I plan on supporting my family. I paid a year's worth of my living expenses to taxes, leaving the "threat" of needing to find full time employment looming ever closer. My boys, as kids are wont to do, have been busy undoing all the spring cleaning and organizing I did. And to put a cherry on the whole thing, my 3 year old ended up constipated...and all that that entails. ***SIGH***

Needless to say--there was a lot of sorrowful violin music playing in my head this week. "Poor, poor me" I thought again and again. "What did I ever do to 'deserve' all this? Haven't I loved thee, God? Haven't I always been a good and thankful steward over my blessings?"

All I can say is: thank heavens for the scriptures! I am fully convinced they are the best self-help book ever written covering every problem one can ever have. I've been studying the Old Testament since January and made it to Numbers this week....where I found just the answer I was looking for.

In Numbers 11, we find Moses having his own 'poor me' experience. Speaking to the Lord he says, "Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight that thou layest the burden of all this (people) upon me? Whence should I have flesh to give (unto all this people)?...I am not able to bear all this (people) alone, because it is too heavy for me." (vs. 11, 13-14)

The Israelites, whom Moses was leading, were growing weary of their situation in the wilderness--subsiding on manna daily-- and had begun to desire the things of their past, namely the meat and food they enjoyed while in bondage in Egypt. I, too, was tempted (as I have been many times) to look back at all the things I have lost: my beloved husband, my father and mother, my financial security, the ability to be a full time mother and homeschooler, the peace for my children that a two-parent home brings, my less jaded opinion of the world. In doing that though, I was quickly losing sight of all that I still have to be grateful for now. No...my situation is not perfect. I am terrified that I am going to fail in numerous ways. I do not want the burden of caring for and supporting my children alone--just as Moses didn't want to bear his burden alone either.

And you know what the Lord did for me?..... The same thing he did for Moses. He sent help in the form of other people "that they shall bear the burden (of thy people) with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." For me, God sent help in the form of a friend who knew how to mix music so I could accomplish the internship task given to me. He sent it in the form of a friend with an English degree who had a few ideas of what I might be able to do post-graduation. He sent it in the form of another possible internship that would give me more work experience. There was a friend who watched my kids. A friend who mowed my lawn. Several friends who just checked in on me and made me laugh.

I didn't receive any of the answers or opportunities I've been praying so diligently for this week--but I did survive it. And I am filled with hope that I can make it through next week too. And the next. And whatever life is going to continue to throw at me. Because just like Moses--I'm not alone. God sends people when we need them the most--I'm sure of that. And, of course, He is there for me always.

Who knows....maybe after 40 years I'll get to go into my own promised land flowing with milk and honey (or Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream :) ) For now, I guess I'm going to keep making the best of this wilderness experience---and stay ever thankful for those hanging out here with me.

it all started on easter... (a makeover story)

My brother and his wife were over for Easter dinner and remarked on the ever-worsening state of my hot tub cover. "Yeah, I know" I answered, "I'm not sure that I want to invest $500 to buy a new one when no one seems interested in getting in there anymore anyway. I think I'd like to get rid of the whole thing soon...."

Well--that's all it took. With one phone call, my sister-in-law had a friend of hers who refurbishes and sells stuff like that lined up to come haul off my hot tub the very next day. Bye-bye old hot tub!

Ready or not...it was time for a backyard makeover!!!

I had a $350 dollar budget and one Ninja to help me out. Score for me!--When they removed the hot tub, turns out there was a cement slab under it! So, now I would have use of two patios. It was going to take dismantling part of the existing deck and shoring up the other part to make it work thought. Here's the "during" photo.....

Nearly one solid week of work later and TA-DUM!!!..........

Looks pretty amazing if I do say so myself :) ! I added one $90 outdoor ottoman. Two $25 dollar outdoor chairs. A $70 outdoor umbrella. And a few outdoor cushions and pillows totalling $80. New pots, big glass candlesticks on clearance from Pier 1, screws, and some 2X4's took up the rest of the budget. The blue "Oh" chairs by Umbra were in my boys room and never used so they came to join the party. And I already owned the little outdoor table and the dining set so no money spent there.

When it was finally done, we celebrated with a barbecue and a fire in the fire pit. Aaaah....can't wait to enjoy many hours out here over the next three seasons!

I'm glad one comment on Easter propelled this project forward!

And just in case you don't think there was THAT much change....here's what the backyard looked like when I bought the house 3 1/2 years ago----

Yeah. It's come a long, long way, baby :).

friday fotos: life is grand!!!

Such a random, busy week! Seems like I had my camera with me a lot more than usual--a good thing for Friday Fotos! (at least I think so :) )

Here's what we've been up to this week....

Caught a neat picture of my tights and shoes. I'm sure y'all have always wanted to see a picture of my feet....


New sand in the sand box made my little guys super happy....

Z and E built an agility course for their gerbil. See the piece of Honeycomb cereal left as a reward at the end? The gerbil found it, took one bite of it, and immediately started chewing on the books trying to get out. It was fun to watch anyway :) ....

Z has shown an interest in photography lately. Here's one of the pictures he took. Not too bad for a 12 year old! ....

I've been interning with a Shakespeare after school program. I LOVE the kids and love the work and love that they let me take all the pictures! Wish I could show you some of the incredibly photogenic kids, but don't know that their parents would appreciate me sticking their faces up on my blog. Here's one of the scripts though....
Yay for straw bowls!...

And finally, it's good to know I've raised a child who doesn't let a cupcake go to waste--not even the crumbs...

And now to bed with me! My week of cleaning and remodeling has wiped me out indeed! Should have pictures of the outdoor project up next week. It's gorgeous if I do say so myself :).

And as always....~Happy Weekending!~

once upon a time there was an ungly laundry room...

It was functional, yes--but SOOOO ugly. I took the worst *before* picture I could to show you..... The mountains of clothes on the floor are actually clean--I often times just plow through as many loads as I can in a day and leave the folding after the kids are in bed when I can spread it all out and watch a movie. The walls had not been painted since 1988 (when the house was built)....well, except that you can see I STARTED painting them a little over 2 years ago. Ummm...I didn't get very far. And since I mostly just went into this room, used it, got out, and closed the door---I didn't feel a huge urgency to finish it. Still, this eyesore was visible from my living room and I decided in my Spring Cleaning frenzy to get it finished. Lucky for me, Green Eyes volunteered to come help move out the washer/dryer and be my painting buddy.



And here are the yummy, chocolatey-brown results.....



By day:





And by night:

How fabulous is my little crystal bedecked chandelier?!?! I know! I've been storing it in my garage for 3 1/2 years now. When Mom and Dad Peterson built a new house, I asked (begged) to have it out of their old one. It used to hang in their bedroom and I would lay my babies on their bed beneath it. The way the light would dance through the crystals mesmerized them. It held good memories, and I knew it would be an unexpected twist to find a pop of luxury in a laundry room :).

The 'curtains' you can see cover up all the tools and cleaning stuff I store on the shelves in there. They're actually made from two pillowcases hung with clip rings and strung up on a tension rod.

And here's the one wall that has anything hanging on it.....

The bird and house picture is a segment I cut out of a Pottery Barn bag from 2-3 years ago. The mirrored butterflies are from Umbra through Target. Love the girly feel they add! In a house full of boys, it's important for me to have a little girly :).

So now I get to wash dirty clothes in a posh space....and (bonus!) I get to leave the door open!

Now wait till you see what I did with this space..... COMING SOON :)

jennifer p.'s super ultimate spring cleaning chore checklist

Sorry about missing Friday Fotos .... I was a lottle busy! With the variety of activities and commitments I have going on lately--kids, homeschooling, church, my own schooling, internship, making writing deadlines, social life-- it was clear the one thing that was being given up to make all the other things possible was my poor, poor house. It got picked up daily (several times daily) but it was getting harder for me to do much more than that and fix it/ clean it projects seemed to be piling up. Being the minimalist I am, deep and regular purging is a must. I'm of the opinion that you use and appreciate everything more when you have less of it. I also find I am more creative, work better, and am just generally more happy when I have a nice, organized space to move about in. So, once a year I go through and do a deep cleaning and re-organizing. This year the boy squad spent from Wednesday at 4:30 to Sunday at 1 with their dad. It was the longest I'd ever been away from them and it wasn't easy but boy oh boy! did I ever keep myself busy!

Thought I'd share the Spring Cleaning chore list I use every year and over the next few days I'll share some fun before and after photos of projects I accomplished. If you haven't done it yet---throw open those windows to let a little fresh air in, crank up some good music, and CLEAN with me :) !

*STORAGE ORGANIZING (45-60 minutes a room--moving fast). This is a big one for me. I do every drawer, closet, and plastic storage bin in my house. I shake out all the items and either keep, throw away, or put them in a "donate" bag, wipe out the interior of the drawer or cupboard, and put what I've chosen to keep back in. You'd be surprised how much junk you've got just laying around :).

*MATTRESS FLIPPING (8 minutes a mattress) Strip all the sheets, throw them in the washer, and flip your mattress. If it's a non-flip kind, at least rotate it.

*CLOTHING SORT (45 minutes per closet) If you haven't worn it in a year or it doesn't fit---donate it! Rotate in your lighter clothes and move winter stuff to the back or to storage.

*KIDS STUFF (90 minutes) Be ruthless! Collect toys, games, equipment, etc that are no longer used or are broken and throw them away or put them in a bin to be donated. Give everything a quick wipe down and replace any batteries that need it. Gather small toy pieces in clear plastic bins and put as much within kid reach as possible My kids don't miss what I give away at all!

*PAPERWORK REVIEW AND TOSS (90 minutes) Check insurance policies and the like, toss what you don't need, file or scan the rest. Hopefully you already have a working file system. If not--this one might take longer, but you'll be happy you did it when you know where everything is!

*MIRRORS AND WINDOWS (5 minutes per surface). They're just going to get dirty again, so don't kill yourself with this! Give them a quick wipe down. Plan to at least clean the exterior ones a little better when summer sun can help dry.

*WASHING THAT STUFF THAT NEVER GETS WASHED :) (about 6 loads of laundry--time varies) Wash pillows, mattress and duvet covers, blankets, dust ruffles, bath mats...anything that you can throw in a washer--throw it in there!

*LIGHTS (30 minutes) Take down your fixtures and wash the dead bugs out of them already. Oh yeah--and the blades of your ceiling fan probably have an inch of dust on them--just so ya know :)

*OVEN CLEANING (time varies) Hopefully you can just throw on the automatic oven cleaner and call it done. Do it before it gets too hot outside. You won't want to be creating that much extra heat then!

*STOVE AND FRIDGE (60 minutes) Pull them out and see what kind of treasures you find under there! Vacuum, mop and move them back. Take everything out of your fridge, throw out all the old stuff, wipe all the surfaces down (or do what I do and remove the shelves and drawers and clean them at the sink), put it all back together. The angels will sing when you open the door to your immaculate fridge :)

*UPHOLSTERY AND RUG CLEANING---You COULD take the 3 hours to rent a machine and do it yourself, or be like me and just bite the hundred or so dollar bullet to have it professionally done. They'll always do better than you can do anyway :)

*WINDOW COVERINGS (15 minutes per window) Yes you!...dust those blinds already! This is one I pay my kids to do for me.

There ya go! Are you tired just reading it? I promise you can knock it all out in 1-3 days and the results will last nearly a year. Happy Cleaning!

becoming a bounce back person

So it hasn't been a big mystery that I've been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster this past month! Whether I wanted it to or not-- the period of time leading up to and then finally passing the April 1st two year anniversary of my separation--most certainly took its toll. It's a daily decision for me to still continue to go on in life with hope and joy...and I admit that some days I make up my mind to do it better than others. Still, at the core of me is this attitude that things are not just as I'd like them to be right now. My married life was very fulfilling and I feel the sadness and absence of the loss. But I trust that I am not alone in this trial and that God CAN and WILL make something great of all of this. He's going to get me to where I need to be! When I focus on those hopeful feelings, they usually do a great job of swallowing up the fear and despair. Here are a few other things I try and train my mind to think about on a daily basis to keep me heading in the right direction:

*"Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day". I attempt to start off each morning by looking forward to something in my day. It might be big-- like the start of a vacation, or small --like a hug from one of my boys. But there is good to be had on a daily basis and I try always to actively search it out.

*"Never give up, You're closer than you think". In my darkest times when I've contemplated just giving up in some way or another--I think how I would feel if I were given access to a kind of map of my life. What if I truly did give up only to be shown how close I was if I'd just. kept. going? How could I do that to myself? The journey may seem long for now, but I think it's actually a lot like when I go running-- it's always those middle miles that feel the hardest--the last ones actually go fairly quickly and before I know it I'm "there".

*Surround yourself with positive friends: I don't ever want to entomb myself with only people who sugar coat the truth. I like a little rough honesty and constructive criticism from time to time. I like a little variety in my friends But I do recognize my need to limit my exposure to those types of people who would drag me down. If I'm going to be nurtured, I need to make sure I'm not hanging out in bad soil!

*"It builds character" AKA "that which does not kill me can only make me stronger". This one I have to say with a lot of laughter because, let's face it, growth can hurt! I recognize, however, that the hard times--now and in the past-- have actually brought out the best in me. Though I do wish sometimes to go back and reclaim parts of me that existed pre-divorce, I know my trials have given me a type of inner strength I didn't have before and that, if I let Him, God can make me into *one cool chick* because of what I've been through.

Hope you're looking for ways to be a bounce back kind of person today. Don't just endure but enjoy the journey along the way !

*I know I took the term "bounce back person" from Joel Osteen. If any of the other ideas are his--I'll give him credit! They've just become such a part of me that I don't know what is from me and what I borrowed any more :)

friday fotos: spring has sprung!

Lots of things to make us happy around here during this season change. Here's what we've been up to this week....

It was a joyous occasion at the Peterson household the day the giant gummi bears arrived! The boys had asked for these for WEEKS! Remember these are only the "giant" size and not the "world's largest" size, but you can see the difference in size between them and the regular gummi bear (who looks like it's afraid for it's life with the giant, bitten-ear bear towering over it! :) )....
Little J putting on his "game face" ....

My L turned 6! Unbelievable! He is such a sweetie pie--full of energy and humor while still a little on the shy side. He has been such a blessing to me and his brothers and none of us could imagine life without him!

Getting ready for Easter....

L and J jumping on the trampoline with a "smattering" of their Webkinz. They take one or more of those things EVERYWHERE!

Now I'm off to work on a few of my Spring projects: sending poetry out for publication, builiding bookshelves, and finding a way to furnish the new outdoor living space I recently gained when I had my hot tub removed and (bonus!) discovered there was a cement slab under it!

May you have a blessed Easter and soak in the Hope of the season. There is perfect comfort and understanding available for every pain or disappointment or sorrow in life because Jesus Christ has taken it all--and our sins--upon Himself and overcome it. This I know for sure.

~Happy Weekending! and Happy Easter!~