Some kind of BUSY

I have been so busy throwing out

my 50 ++++++ things lately

that I can not seem to STOP and get

on the computer to keep you posted on the progress.

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I can however tell you that this is one of the

MOST life changing books I have ever read.

I would so highly recommend it to every person

I know.. and even those I don't.

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I have been very diligent to go through

EVERY closet, EVERY storage box, under the beds,

and yes... even my garage.

I can tell you that there is ONE word that comes to mind

when I look at all of this stuff... WASTE.

There is no telling how many thousands of dollars

I have spent getting small stuff that

I was one day going to do something with.

AND as you can see... MOST of it never got around to

becoming that "something it could be!"

This is MY old studio room...

Which in a few weeks is going to be Brook's new room.

We have all been piling everything in here to "go through"

and needless to say... there is a VERY LARGE

garage sale in the works.

I have made a new vow to myself that

IF I don't know where it is going to go,

or if it does not have a purpose "at that moment"

then IT is no longer allowed to visit at my house.
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Brent (the big son) has been one of my number one fans

throughout this process...

A process that .... may I say,

has been rather difficult at times.

It is almost like exposing your worst feature

for the world... and most importantly

for YOURSELF to see.

But... As with most things in life

THAT is how we learn.

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So... as I continue my cleaning,

I am thankful for the encouragement

and never ending words of praise from

a son whose LOVE I hold dear.

(even if he did come home with a hair do like that) ha

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Then.... there is the MIDDLE child.

My one and only daughter...

who can I just say is NOT full of pep talks

and "your doing good MOM" speeches.

However.... she has given me something I truly

needed these last couple of weeks.

She is my child who freely

pours out her honesty.

AND though it may not sound as pretty..

It was just as good to hear.

Everyone needs a wake up call on occasion.
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In the midst of our ROOM SWAPPING transformations,

my sweet Brook had her 17th birthday..

I took she and her boyfriend to the lake

to take some pictures for her to put

in her new room.

I must say... they are so darn cute...

and just the most darling looking version of

America High School USA I have ever seen.

I kept waiting for Norman Rockwell

to come around the corner.
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Here she is with her best buddies...
THE BEST FRIENDS CLUB as she calls them.
(Brandon, Brook, Kristen, and Trelle)
Trelle has also been one of the catalysts in our room transformations.
He has come to live with us for his Senior Year.
Lets just say that his situation is very unfortunate
and when Brook (my honest, full of logic child) said
"MOM I think we could make a difference in his life
if we let him live here this year," I had to listen.
As usual... her heart was in the right place.
So.. Trelle has taken Brent's old room
while he is off at college
and more room transformations are in the works.
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Anyway... we didn't let our MESS upstairs
interfere with our party downstairs.
I have always tried to make a big deal
out of my kid's birthdays.
After all... I tell them
"It is the day that God decided to give you
to me to borrow."
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How ever old the kids are...
that is how many presents they get.
It is always fun for them to open,
and a challenge for me to find.
Some of the gifts mind you are gum, lip gloss, and I have even
been known to wrap a pair of socks separately..
BUT... it is always FUN !
After the turn 21 however... the multiple party gifts are over.
And let me just tell you...
Brent KNOWS he still has one more year to go.
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Brook got a guitar for her birthday this year from my mom.
She has always wanted to learn how to play,
and thought this would be the year she'd give it a try.
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My precious mother...
brought not only the guitar...
but the perfect matching cake to go with it.
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We took a day off to party...
and quickly got back to work.
This was Brook's old room.
She had an Arabian Bed complete with about
6 loads of laundry. haha
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Her bedroom is now Brenae's ( who is home from college,
and going to live with us all year while she does her student teaching)
new bedroom.
We gutted it completely... painted it to Brenae's request
and color scheme.... and in less than 2 days
Her new room was ready to MOVE IN.
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Here is her room NOW !!

I call it " A grown up version of FUN."
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ONE more down... and 2 more to go...

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Sometimes the progress is slower than I'd like,

but it has taken a while to go through all of our (mostly my) STUFF...

YET..... when I am finished

everything in this house will have a REAL place to LIVE....

And as I empty the physical mess... it has been amazing

at how the mental mess has gone hand in hand.

Gail Blanke (the author of Throw Out Fifty Things) says

"Always remember, clutter (of any kind) blurs clarity."

And I.. my friends, had so much of it,

that I had LOST MY FOCUS.

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May we all mull the truth in the statement

that "The more STUFF we surround ourselves with,

the less room we have for the never-been-so-good

before part of our lives." Gail Blanke

My New Office

Our LIFE and our entire upstairs

have gone through fruit basket turnover since school was out.

WHAT a HUGE mess parts of it still remain.

Brook decided that she would really like to have

my upstairs studio as her bedroom for her Senior year.

I have always hated working that big room

(for some odd reason I do so much better in small spaces)

so I thought

that would be a great idea.

But.... It required that everyone switch rooms

in order to make that happen.

My office went from about 850 sq. feet.

to one bedroom....

and I have to say... I can not be more excited.

Here's a little peek into my new world.

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Glenda the GOOD witch rides along side me daily.

I bought her last year at a garage sale for 2 dollars.

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Here is my sewing corner where Glenda hangs.

Found the brackets to the shelves at a flea market.

Bought the whole box for 1.50

painted them with dots... and now my shelves are fun!
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Here is the whole sewing table

and fabric corner..

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I bought this scarf thing at Goodwill for a quarter.

The picture above my shelves is a copy of the original

that Brent drew when he was 5 years old.

My table is filled with both the things I need to sew and the things I need to smile.

I LOVE the idea of the frog prince... and have lots of them in here.

This room also has to double as a guest room.

If you remember my garage sale adventure..

This is the headboard I bought last year for $1.75.

Now that was a deal...

I painted some quickey stripes on the wall.
and my favorite picture of my "big kids" a fun shade of pink.

It made that fancy gold frame so much more fun !!!

Brad and I bought this cabinet several years ago with a tv in it for $40.

A fast coat of white paint and some dots later... I have storage with energy !

I adore flying pigs..

They remind me that dreams are possible!!!

I made this lamp years ago and remembered it in the attic.

It is covered with dollar general cheap flowers... but it makes me smile.

I have now have the most functional desk in the world.

I just have 1 more drawer to paint.

The top I found on the side of the road.

I remember getting out of the car to stand by it because I thought someone else would get it before Brad got there to put it in his truck.

I filled it with everything I need, and a few things I like to look at.

I painted the entire desk with BLACK paint

so it would sorta look like it all went together.

Then I bumped my painted dresser up behind it

so it would give me extra counter space.

On top of that dresser is one of my ALL time favorite things.

A pig from the yard section of Wal-mart I painted,

and another Good Witch I bought at a garage sale for $3.

She makes me smile from the front and the back.

One of my other all time best smile getters is this elephant.
I bought it for Brady when he was a baby.
He never really liked it, but for some reason I always did.
I put Brook's old tutu on her and man I can't get the grin off of my face.
The last wall of my office is eventually going to be filled with
all of my kids old art and some of mine as well.
Things that I always loved, but didn't have a place for.
I somehow thought that my old studio was supposed to look grown up.
But... Now I've decided that in this one I am filling it with things
that I LOVE and things that give me energy to WORK and create.
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May we realize that sometimes smaller can be WAY better!

New Computer

I have had the most horrible YUCK couple of weeks ever.

You know it's bad when your mother prays that the BLACK cloud

following you will be lifted.

ANYWAY

I am on my 3rd new computer in the last couple of weeks.

Something weird was wrong with them all.

Best Buy assured me that it was a freak thing.

SO... I am weeks behind now at work.

Having NO computer is a nightmare.

Promise tomorrow I will have lots of wonderful

to say and show...

For now I have to catch up on a little work..

Bliss and Blessings to you !