Incredibly Average

Oh Happy Day!

Posted on June 6, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

I hope it isn’t too late to blog about Mother’s Day. I recognize it was almost a month ago. I know…slacker. Well I have been a little but occupied with a massive event I am planning for work so blogging has taken a back burner. But now that the conference has wrapped I am able to hopefully blog more often. There has been lots happening so I will have to work on catching you all up.

I did not want to get to far away from Mother’s Day without at least documenting a little of it for our own family memories. This year was fun because Eli is starting to speak in very little sentences and was able to tell me, with Daddy’s help, “Happy Moder’s Day”. It was super sweet.

It was nothing extravagant or crazy just a wonderful day with family. Aaron let me sleep in and I took full advantage. I was in bed until 9 a.m.!!! That is by far the latest I have slept in over two years! It was glorious. Aaron left a set of ear plugs on my night stand the night before. You need to know I never use ear plugs because I want to hear Eli but I am telling you what ladies, DO IT!! If your hubby is committed to getting the little ones I totally recommend them. It is the only way I made it. Aaron uses them often so I thought I would give it a go. I was able to fall back asleep which I never do because I just lay there and listen to my two boys and want to go hang out. They helped me shut down long enough to doze back off and it was AMAZING! I know I keep going on about it but that might be the best gift I could have gotten.

Once I finally put my feet on solid ground I came out to our living room to find a sweet sign that Aaron and Eli had made on the felt board as well as a poster board card and my gifts. Aaron picked out the movie “Something Borrowed” because he never watches chick-flicks with me and he thought it was a sweet gesture. It totally was. We ended up watching it that night but, I will get to that later. He also bought me a pillow for our library.

It didn’t arrive in time but when it did arrive I was pumped! It is a print of Aches National Park in Utah. It is the place that Aaron decided he wanted to marry me. It isn’t something others might want and I recognize it is an odd thing to want and it will stand out because it is so bright but I am in love!!!! It is so special to me. It will be a great reminder of our journey. Aaron is so thoughtful. I really appreciate that he doesn’t just buy things to fill closets or our home in general but he listens to things I mention, puts a personal spin on things and even asks for ideas when needed.

Side note: For all you ladies out there here is something that works great for us. I have a pintrest board that is all just things I might like. Aaron can go there anytime he needs a jumping off point but it is still all a surprise for me. It has been a game changer for us. He also sends it to his mom at Christmas so she has ideas. Do it ladies! Your men want to get you things you will love but they also like choices and ways to surprise you.

Ok, back to the day. After opening gifts we had breakfast and then just played all morning with Eli. We went to my parent’s house for lunch with mom, dad, Alex and my Vernon grandparents. It was right at Eli’s nap time so he was not having it. Mom took him downstairs and they snuggled and ate their lunch while watching “Despicable ME”. The rest of us had such a nice time talking, laughing and just enjoying time with one another.

After lunch we took Eli home for a nap and then Aaron and I just sat and read with one another. Later in the afternoon everyone came to our place so Grandma and Grandpa could see the house. We had dessert and just hung out. Eli eventually woke up after a three hour nap! Happy Mother’s Day to me! After the nap we again played and then had a knock at the front door.

It was the Mossburg grandparents! What a nice surprise. This is why we moved to Indiana. Time with family! We all decided to go back to mom and dad’s and we again just hung out some more. Like I said, nothing crazy just lots of family time. The best Mother’s Day I could have imagined.

Kickin’ It Old School

Posted on May 17, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

My newest DIY project for the little man was a throwback for sure! When I told Aaron what I was making he was like, “You’re making what?”. He had never used a felt board!!! Can you believe that?!?! Well those of us who are a little older remember those old school felt boards. They had all the characters cut out and they told all the bible stories on one board.

I saw the one below on another blog and thought I could do that! So here we are! I made one myself and it was so easy!!!!!

Source (Funathomewithkids.com)

I bought a yard of felt at Joann’s for $4.00 and it was plenty!! It was doubled over so I had double what I actually needed. We had the board but I am sure it is only a few bucks. I laid the felt out, put the wood on top and then simply folded it over and stapled it. Again, super easy!!!!!! I cannot say it enough. So easy!

The colored felt was .25 at Hobby Lobby so I bought $5 worth and have made cars, trees, clouds, sun, moon, shapes, etc. Alex made the awesome little squirrel for Eli and he loves it. Aaron left me this sweet little note on Mother’s Day.

This is what Eli thinks of the board thus far, but hopefully in the future he will be totally into it.

What new things have you tried that your kids aren’t quite into yet? I love trying new things and I know he will like it soon. Regardless I know we will make memories. That is the point. Just spending time with our families.

Ours is Bigger Than Yours!

Posted on May 16, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

Our library that is!!! Last night we took a huge jump forward in that home renovation world. We painted the library! It is Rockport Grey, I think by Benjamin Moore. Yes you have seen it on a million other blogs just like me but I loved it and couldn’t resist putting that putty grey junk all over my walls too!!

Eli got in on the building action as well with his tool set, work bench and tool box. It was so cute. he really likes to be in with the action. He likes being able to help Daddy and Grandpa.

This shows the wall color in different light, but it funky coloring of the rest of the space so you can ignore that. It is really in the middle of these two. I describe it as a muddy grey. If I had to marry a paint color it would be this one.

I really am in love! This is clearly a transition shot, but Aaron and dad hope to have the bookcases finished this weekend!!! BAM! I cannot wait! I am chin deep in conference planning at work so coming home to do more work sounded terrible but it felt so good to have it painted.

Also, I forgot to blog about this a few weeks ago, but that bases were finished up at that point and when we put them in place I took the chance to leave our little mark on the home. I know our taste may not be everyone else’s and they may choose to rip these bad boys out as soon as they move in. I put a note and our family picture on the back of one of the bases. So if it is two of 200 years from now the folks who take them out will get a little piece of our family history as well.

As most of you know the Hubs has a bazillion books and I could not wait to have a place to put them all. Over half of them have been in boxes for the last three years while we lived in the dorm and have been in transition here. So I cannot wait to move those exceedingly heavy boxes one last time to their final resting place. Until we buy another house someday that is. I plan on entering the room upon finishing and singing like Belle in her ginormous library from the Beast! Ha! You think I am kidding but I know that at least one of the two people who read this blog has to know me at least well enough to know I am totally serious! It will happen! Lots and lots of singing.

Moving on to the real point of this post. It took us only two hours to paint the whole room. My mom and I are a dream team when it comes to painting. She cuts in and I roll. Once I finished rolling I did cut in as well on the bottom and I tried to stay in places people wouldn’t be staring since it is not my greatest gift.

I cannot wait to get the curtains back up and those dang bookcases mounted to the wall. This room has looked pretty bare and funny for the last six months and it will feel nice to have it near completion. Honestly, I am most excited to have this space just because it is a space all for Aaron. He loves to read and I look forward to lots of nights with us snuggled up in our chairs and Eli playing on the floor of our library. We have already made lots of memories in that room in the few short months but there are tons more to come and now our walls will look nice in pictures. Hahaha. As you can tell Eli thinks it is newest toy, but I cannot wait to see it filled with books and the cabinet doors across the bottom.

What rooms have you painted lately or what rooms are you waiting and waiting to get done? It will happen eventually I promise.

Wordless Wednesday – Growing Up

Posted on May 15, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

More Than Just Laundry

Posted on May 8, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

I am going on my first Pintrest Challenge adventure! As you probably know my favorite blogger Katie Bower over at Bower Power hosts this fun event with another oh so amazing blogger Sherry at Young House Love, also whom I love, so I thought I would give it a go. I was planning on adding to the laundry room anyways so this was the perfect encouragement.

I already showed you our laundry room with the landing station post, but I have much bigger plans for this space. I know it is just a laundry room, but let’s be honest as a wife and mom of a two year old boy I spend a lot of time in there. So I decided to spice it up a bit.

Of course I got some inspiration from Pintrest. I saw this post more than a year ago and knew that it was what I want to start my gallery wall with.

Then I remembered this print I got from Jennifer over at Rambling Renovators. Don’t even get me started on how much I love her laundry room. I love the little splash of color and it is functional and helpful as well.

Like I said earlier, you saw some of the laundry room already and this was a small part of that. My ironing board doesn’t look near as cute as this one, but it is better than it leaning against the wall and taking up space.

So to add a little more character and personality to the laundry room I decided to add a small gallery wall. I did stick with my original plan with the letter going up first. I got the letters at Hob-to-the-Lob and gave them a quick spray down with metallic spray paint.

This cost less than a few bucks and took me less then five minutes. It was a windy day so they dried really quickly. I wanted the look of the Anthropology letters here without paying the $18 a letter. I had the spray paint, but if I didn’t it still would have cost me less than $7 when it was all said and done.

I knew I wanted to add a few more item, but wanted to keep it small since we will eventually hang a rod between the cabinets and wall for me to hang clothes to dry. Knowing that I just went with the two frames. The one holds our last family photo taken in Kentucky and for the bottom frame I remembered the print that I showed you earlier. So I printed it and then just taped it to a piece of old scrapbook paper.

Within 10 minutes I had the whole thing done and I hung them all with 3M strips!! A girls best friend. Well this girl anyway. Ha! I am hard to please folks.

Here are some better shots of the ironing board and the new gallery wall.

Oh yeah and the light used to hang over my grandma’s kitchen table. So special to now have it in our home. Aaron installed that months ago and added the ceiling medallion for some more umph. I love how it turned out.

I still have big plans for this room. I will hopefully in the next decade or so, just kidding more like couple months, paint stripes on the bug blank wall, paint the remaining trim and door white, hang a curtain on the door and add a few more personal pieces to the striped wall and then of course like I mentioned earlier hanging the rod over the dryer.

I do need you input in one area however. I go back and forth all the time wether or not to paint the cabinets a tiffany/teal blue or leave them as is. Bam! Go! What do you think I should do?

Holy Junk It’s Been a Year!!!!

Posted on May 7, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

One year ago we loaded our little family up in our car and we drove to Indiana not for a family vacation but to actually move!!! Holy junk on a stick! I cannot believe that it has been a year!! Seriously, what a year it has been. I miss Kentucky terrible and all our dear friends. You can see post about us leaving and our initial transition here and here. Our transition has been less than easy with Eli being sick, moving in with my parents, selling a home, buying a home, moving out of my parents, moving into our home, both of us starting new jobs, jobs changing and shifting a bit, trying to make friends, and just all the drama that happens in life added on top of that.

It has been a wild ride. The highlights have certainly been times spent with loved ones. Either them visiting us or us going there for the holidays. Like when Anna, Nana and Papa, Gloria and Steve as well as Aunt Emily came to visit! Also holidays like Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

It has flown. I can easily say it has been one of the harder years of my life. I have fought lots of loneliness, doubted our decision to come and even questioned if it was truly God’s will but looking back over the year I have seen His faithfulness. Aaron and I have grown more in love with one another, I have become a better mom, bought a new house, gained several pounds, found my creative bone again, become a less selfish people in some ways and in other ways not so much. I value good, true and solid friendships. I don’t take for granted the people in my life who truly invest in my family, my parents, brother and grandparents are for sure at the top of that list. Mostly though I am reminded from looking back over the last year that I am not in control. While I wish so badly that I was most of the time I can see the Lord’s guidance, provision and faithfulness and that has taught me so much.

Really, it has just been a full year and while I know January is usually the time for reflection and setting goals I find myself looking back over this last year and doing that now as well. I want this next year in Indiana to be better than our last. Hopefully at least a little easier. Ha! I can dream right?

Let’s not forget too the purchase of our “not so dream” home. We have had lots of up hill battles with this place but in the end I think it will be a good choice just like our move to Indiana. It was a worth while investment and it has already given us a place to make lots of new memories. I still need to blog more. There are a million projects I have completed that I have not put on here. So here is my commitment to you that in the next year I will get on that lots better. Although, I will pat myself on the back because since making my new year’s resolution to blog at least once a week I have only missed twice…last week being one of the times.

I was reminded the other day by a former student about a time that I spoke during their retreat and the story that I told. It was an analogy about our lives/careers being compared to a child playing in the backyard. The kid could go from toy to toy as much as it liked as long as he or she stayed in the backyard. The same is true for each of us. We are able to go from one thing to the next in life as far as career choice or moving, but we must remain in community with our Heavenly Father. He does not care where or what we are doing as long as we are in conversation with Him. He will guide us and keep us in His will.

I know there are lots of people in transition every day and in this time of year lots of students graduating, parents making moves during the summer to start new jobs and avoid the school year, you name it. The bottom line is we never know what others are going through and it is our job to be a piece of joy in their day wether we are in transition or they are. Just like Ellen says, “Be kind to one another”.

How will you make your year better for yourself and those you interact with? From my family to yours, Happy “New” Year!!!

Mudroom Landing Station

Posted on April 25, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

We like most families do not use our front door very often. We enter through our mudroom off the garage. That being said it tends to collect our things. Eli likes to take off his own coat and shoes when he comes in the door. We still have lots to do but I tackled a small project a few weekends ago.

I wanted to hang hooks for our jackets as well as the ironing board. So with a wall level, frog tape, drill and screws I went to work.

I have found the easiest way to hang something with multiple holes is to put frog tape over each hole. I then make a hole where the nail will go. Easy peazey. Then put the tape on the wall making sure it lines up with the level mark.

Lastly you make your holes in the wall and hang your item, in my case hooks for coats. As you can see Eli helped with the spatula. You can never have too many spatulas when you are doing house work. Haha. That is the trick.

Aaron mentioned to me just last week how much he liked having it. It has been so helpful. Things that were once scattered on the floor now have a place. I am a total goober and still haven’t taken an after picture, but at least you can see how we did it. Maybe someday I will start posting after pictures. Ha!

Update: Here are a few shots after. Please remember the room isn’t done, just this one little project. Also ignore the hideous ironing board cover. I plan on making my own someday in my spare time. HAHA! So maybe in three years I’ll get to that.

Again there are still several things I need to do in this room, but just this little 20 minute project has helped tons. Where do things just collect in your home? What have you done to eliminate clutter?

Wordless Wednesday- Play Time

Posted on April 24, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

Eli’s First Eight Point Buck!

Posted on April 22, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

I really wanted to title this “Nice Rack”, but rethought that and edited my funny to me thoughts and maybe not so funny to others comments. Ha!

This might be my favorite project I have ever attempted. It is all the rage to have mounted antlers in your home. Well being that neither Aaron nor I are hunters, and we live in town limits without random dead animals laying around, I had to get creative. I had found these really cute animals on One Kings Lane and I LOVED them!

After showing these to my co-workers I decided I would rather try and make my own. I liked the look of them but I wanted them to be a bit more rustic and natural looking. I went back and forth with wether or not I wanted them to be wood or if I wanted to try it with cardboard (meaning I wouldn’t have to use a power tool). So after being real with myself and knowing there is no way I could have attempted this project with wood I went with a cardboard version for the time being.

Have I said yet that I LOVE this project! It was so fun and I had lots of fun giving it a try. I got the cardboard from my office for FREE!!! Can’t beat that! I love free! I was home with a sick little boy and we spent time coloring on the cardboard together and while he had a great time I started sketching my little deer head.

I went with the deer because we actually have those in our area. We are a little scarce on bison, moose, and bear here in Indiana. So, a deer it is!

Again, it was really easy. I drew an outline and then cut it out with scissors. That was a little tough, but with a little patience it worked great. These are my five total pieces all cut out.

I then hot glued them all together and made my plan on spray painting. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the whole thing painted or just a part. I really liked it just plain, but there were some of my sketches left on the base piece so I knew I had to at least paint it.

I tried a few things, but decided that cling wrap worked the best. It let me cover only the places I wanted covered. I took it outside and sprayed the base. After the first coat I decided that I liked the look. There you have it!

Done and done! It took a little time and some patience, but it was FREE, FREE, FREE! It may not be something anyone else would like, but it is cute to me and looks great in Eli’s room.

What fun projects have you done for little to know money in your home?

Easy Dry Erase Board

Posted on April 16, 2013 by mrsabbywilk

Yet another cheap and easy DIY project. I actually did this about two months ago but keep forgetting to blog about it. I love the whole chalkboard paint craze but have yet to attempt a project because the Hubs is deathly terrified of chalk. Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration but he really does hate it.

So, I got this frame at a yard sale for I think around $2.50. I can’t really remember because it was so cheap! I had plans to make it a chalk board but instead went the dry erase route for the health of my marriage and home life. I got a yard of fabric at JoAnn’s for less than $3.00. Again, cheap! You could use an old remnant piece or even piece some things together if you wanted but I say this fabric and like that is had a pattern but it was small enough for lettering to stand out.

I got my fabric home and just popped the back off the old frame and laid my fabric over the glass. Then I placed the back of the frame back in place. After laying the back in I simply gave the fabric a little tug on all sides to make sure it was nice and tight looking when I hung it

Wooh-Lah! Is that how you spell it?! I have no clue. You get the drift. TA-DA! There that works better for the spelling impaired like me. However, I am sure that is not why anyone would ever read this blog because we can all agree I might be the worst writer alive. That is one area that I am most definitely less than average. Some of you might remember I sobbed huge alligator tears over a game of scrabble. For those of you who don’t know it wasn’t pretty. I was the crazy ugly Bachelorette kind of cry. Also, this didn’t happen 15 years ago in middle school. More like just a few years. Since I have been married. Ha! But you didn’t read this post to hear all about my educational insecurities. Moving on to the task at hand.

Well actually the task is now done. I probably took you less time to make your own dry erase board then it did for you to read this post. Now just go hang it in a fun place and start filling that bad boy with lists, pictures, Welcome signs, quotes, your own scrabble game…the sky is the limit.

Also, sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures. It’s all I have at this point.

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Incredibly Average

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