"Wild Hair"

I love to paint. Paint walls that is. I'm pretty good at it too. I don't tape... ever because I have the ability to paint a really straight line. Whether it be along the ceiling or on the trim, I can make the lines straight.

Every time one of my family members paints a room in their house, they call me to come cut in the edges or do the trim for them. I'm okay with this because it usually means I get paid in food (which I love) and it's a nice boost to my ego. They won't even try to do it themselves, they just call the "expert"!

Well, after spending lots of time in the last year painting other people's houses, I got what my mom likes to call a "wild hair" to spruce up my own house. I had been saying since we moved in that I was going to paint the office. Our office/craft storage/guest room was a "lovely" shade of orange. Everything from the walls to the carpet was the same color. I happen to hate orange.

So I called up my good friend Matt, who works for a local paint company to see if he could hook me up. He could! YEA!

Here's the before picture:

This was supposed to be a pretty inexpensive project. Just painting the walls. We'd replace the orange carpet later. Then Eric walked into the room after I had painted the walls and said, "That carpet has GOT to go!" I was perfectly happy to agree with him.

So off I went to look at flooring. I got another screamin' deal on flooring, thanks again Matt! We got the old carpet out and the beautiful new flooring in with the help of some friends. I finished painting the trim and Eric helped me move everything back into the room.


It looks so nice now and even though it ended up being more expensive than we anticipated, it was worth it. We will be installing the same flooring in the rest of our house later this year because we love it SO much!

Here's the after picture:

So if you ever need someone to paint really straight edge lines for you, I will work for good coffee!

My Blankie

My son Taylor is obsessed with his "blankie". He's had it since he was only a month old. It was a gift from my dear friend Arthene Bell. She made it. And since Taylor is a twin, she made two of them! Ironically, Daniel has no intrest in the blanket, so they both belong to Taylor.

He carries his blankie everywhere he goes. It's like that Peanuts character Linus. It's completely worn and faded. The edges are frayed and it tends to get a funky smell after a while. When that happens we switch them out. He gets the clean one and the dirty one gets the laundry treatment.

I've gotten to the point where I make him leave it in the car when we go into a store.

Eric likes to steal it when Taylor isn't paying attention and remark about how much he likes the blankie. Taylor then tries to wrestle it away from his daddy. All the while shouting that it's "MY BLANKIE!!"

Some people may think he's too old to be so attached to this blanket, but I know that eventually he won't carry it everywhere.

For now it's just cute.

Scatter-brained

When I was in school I had it all together. I mean schedule-wise. You could ask me what I was doing in a month or even TWO months and I'd generally know, and probably have it written on a calendar somewhere. I used to be crazy organized and actually PLAN my life out. (shocker, I know.) My teachers, co-workers and friends could all confirm that too.

That's no longer my life. It pains me greatly to say it too because as OCD as it was, I like knowing what's around the corner. I hate having my husband come to me at dinner time and ask what we're having and responding, "I hadn't thought of it. What do you want?" EVERY NIGHT!

It's gotten bad lately too. My mom noticed it the other day when we were preparing for a baby shower. My only job was the games. I normally would have had them all done and put in a nice box together along with all the prizes and supplies I'd need. But we spent a lot of extra time we didn't have finishing them up. She commented on how strange it was that I was so disorganized.

Today I not only missed my son's doctor appointment completely (because I thought it was at another time), but I triple booked myself for activities tonight. I'm not sure I've ever done that.

I'm so frustrated with myself.

The problem is, I don't know how to make my life more organized. Maybe someday when I don't have children hanging on me every second of every day I'll have my life more together... maybe.

The "Runner" In Me

Back in December, I made a goal for myself. I wanted to be able to run the Race For The Roses 1/2 marathon on April 3rd. There were some other goals in there too, but that was the most challenging.

I trained by running consistently. At first it was too nasty to run outside, so I kept to the treadmill. But eventually you have to bite the bullet and be willing to get a little wet. I mean, this IS Oregon after all. If we waited until it was sunny to go outside, we'd never go outside! I only did one long training run (10 miles), but I felt like I was prepared for what awaited me at the race.

My goal was to run the entire thing. 13 miles is a long way to run without stopping though. I wasn't too confident that I'd actually reach my goal.

The night before the race I didn't sleep well because I was so excited. I also kept thinking of the Seinfeld episode where the alarm clock doesn't work and the runner misses his race. I practiacally bounded out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:30am (which if you know me is a complete miricle in itself).

After dressing and eating, I made my way downtown. The starting line was packed full of people. It was also FREEZING outside! We were all jumping in place while we watched the countdown clock. When the buzzer went off we all started running.

The first 8 miles went by pretty quickly to my great surprise. The next two were okay. I did notice my pace slowing down a bit.

By mile 11 I was so over running. I was getting a couple new blisters on my left foot and I think I started to favor that leg a little bit. I was SO happy to see the 12 mile marker!!!

I walked about a total of a 1/2 mile in the last two miles of the race. It was only several yards a couple times after a drink station then I walked up the onramp to the Steel Bridge (It's WAY steep when you're on foot).

At the end of the run they called out my name as I crossed the finish line. That was really cool! When I stopped running I realized that my foot was pretty tender with the new blisters. I was limping and the emotion of realizing I'd just finished a 1/2 marathon hit me and I started to cry.














As I limped over to the lady who was handing out our finishing roses, I must have looked like a mess because she asked if I was gonna make it. I laughed and said I'd be fine.

As I think back on the race, I remember rockin' out to some pretty awesome worship music (it was Sunday morning after all) and praying several times for God's special strength and energy (mostly toward the end). I always felt an extra push of encouragement after those moments. The verse from Philippians "I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength." kept running through my head. As well as the one that says "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

I'm thankful for a God who cares about my small goals. It was through His power that I was able to run 13 miles and "win" the prize! I'm also thankful for family and friends who come down on a freezing April morning to take pictures of me and cheer for me as I cross the finish line!

Now I can concentrate on the next goal... a triathalon! WHEW!