Nesting has hit an all time high around here. We’re rearranging rooms and making plans and cleaning things out and organizing nooks and crannies and and and and…
I’ve been on Pinterest a bit more than usual lately. One, because the nesting just puts me in that creative mode and two, because at the end of the day, after all the nesting, I can’t move anything but my fingers. Kidding. Sorta.
Here are my latest and greatest Pinterest Picks!
This poor thing has been neglected! I wish I had some deep, revelatory reason as to why…but I don’t. The Lord didn’t tell me to take a break…I didn’t take a sabbatical to make sure I was spending x amount of hours not on the computer and with the fam…I haven’t been suffering from writer’s block and there certainly hasn’t been a lack of happenings to talk about…I’ve just been absent. Shame on me!
Alas, I’m back! So let’s catch up!
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We had a fabulous Christmas break! My husband’s job affords him quite a few days off, so we had daddy around (all to ourselves, mind you) for two weeks! YIPPEE! We ate well, slept well, played lots of games, watched some fun shows, cuddled a lot, talked a lot – took full advantage of our time with him.
We were all dreadfully sad a little sad to see him go Monday morning but we all survived!
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I have been in MAJOR nesting mode. My poor husband.
The past two days, I’ve decluttered/deep cleaned our ENTIRE house! Six bags of trash and six bags of give away later, I’m feeling good! (Except for my feet, lower back and hip – but hey, it was worth it!) Now if it will all just say this way until baby comes……..
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Speaking of baby….we’re having a GIRL! Sawyer called it from the beginning and she was right again…and quite proud of herself. 🙂
Sayble Jean Phipps is due May 1st and doesn’t seem to be near as active in utero has her siblings. 🙂
We are over the moon about having another sweet little princess. I’ve already ordered a few *ahem* hair bows. The selection of girly, frilly, adorable clothing, footwear and head wear is astounding. I’m already thinking I made need to order a new debit card so I won’t have the new number memorized like I do this one. Ay yi yi…
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We got to see a lot of family over Christmas break. We got together with all of Wrex’s family over Thanksgiving and snuck in some family pictures! How cute is this set of grandkids? I mean, I know I’m a little partial, but come on!
We met up with my family halfway in Kansas and spent the weekend together – soooo thankful for the time together! Sawyer was so excited to have another cousin to play with, hold hands with Gramps and swim at the motel pool, of course.
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Other happenings (in no particular order, thank you pregnancy brain)…
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I’m sure there’s more to tell but that’s a good start, yes?
Besides playhouse move-in day, yesterday was also chicken moving day!
The 100 little hens that we ordered a while back were ready to join the big flock in the chicken house. Sawyer is an incredible helper! She carried two chickens at a time and made about 10 trips with us. They were still exploring their new digs this morning, but I’m betting they feel right at home soon enough.
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On the playhouse front, I had to laugh/grimace/shake my head yesterday. After breakfast, we went back out to play and I had a little mowing to finish up. The kids played in the little house for about 20-30 minutes and then I see them scurrying off……..to the barn………where they played for over an hour. HA! Sweet Tredessa reminded me that the barn was just like a really big playhouse…
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I was talking to a friend last night about some of the struggles life throws at us. She was saying she just felt like she was unequipped to deal with some of the trials that her family has been going through as of late; she felt like she had no strength to dig in and conquer. She felt frayed and frazzled and a little scared.
As I was chatting with her, the Lord gave me a picture of childbirth. When you get into transition phase – right before that sweet, beautiful baby that you’ve been waiting on for nine (long) months physically makes its way into the world – things get rough. The pain is intense, it feels like it’s gonna never gonna be over and you start saying/screaming/yelling/crying “I can’t do this! It’s too hard! I’m not gonna be able to do it!” – the tell-tale sign of transition. Don’t ask me how I know. *ahem*
And lo and behold, you’re able to…you’re more than able to…and out comes this sweet little life that has been knit inside your womb by the very hands of God. And? Every month and day and minute of pain and discomfort was worth it.
Isn’t that how life is sometimes, too? When you’re being held over the refining fire…when the Lord is working things out for the better for you, even if it feels like the worst…when we finally get to the other side, there is LIFE. I’m praying that for her and for you…and for me.
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Sweet Sawyer put on her swimsuit yesterday all by her lonesome!
I didn’t tell her it was on backwards because she was so proud of herself and I was proud of her, too. Plus, she looks stinkin’ cute with her backwards suit! And in these sunglasses…
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Daddy took Sawyer to the sale barn today as part of “birthday week” and I stayed home with little man to have some one-on-one time with him and to catch up on some housework. I had just sat down with a notebook and pen to make a lit of things that ‘needed’ to be done when I came across this post from Ann Voskamp.
I get increasingly frustrated by moms that celebrate their kids going back to school, not for the sake of the kid, but out of their own selfishness. THAT’S another post for another day…
Ann beautifully captures the order in which things should be. She writes:
What if I want to play more games of monopoly and leave the dishes in the sink more often? What if I want to take you fishing more Saturdays and blow off cleaning up the garage? Why doesn’t someone tell all the homemakers: Cleanliness isn’t next to godliness. Love is.
Oh. My. Heart. I’m crying again just reading it. Let’s just say I haven’t done much cleaning…and I’ve loved every minute. Please, please take the time to read her post…
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I’m off to see if I can catch a nap before WD wakes up…it’ll be all over after that!
Our floral boxes have really come on in the past two weeks and things have bloomed like crazy! ***I contribute their success to my sweet neighbor who took most excellent care of them while we were gone.*** Regardless, the Phipps “Ranch” is looking more like a country cottage…and l love it! If only we could find time to mow…sigh…
Today was so incredibly lovely…I even told the Lord that if He wanted to send an early fall I wouldn’t complain one bit! I’d gladly trade these pretties for pumpkins. 😉
I feel so troubled…I can’t find the before pics of the living room anywhere! I’ve looked on two computers and a flash drive – what happened to them!?
Close your eyes and imagine white walls…and then pick up a rag and smear some yellow brown paint in a circular motion on said walls – THAT would’ve been the living room. The floor was fine and the wood work was good, it just needed some paint!
After:
Our living room changes a bit from time to time, both in arrangement and details. It’s shaped really funny and I’m always arranging and rearranging trying to find the setup I like best. This is where I’ve landed for now. Things are decorated a little on the Americana side – summer just screams that to me.
I have lots of little vintagey things displayed in crates that are kind of fun…
The stars are old carpenter’s rulers that Wrex shaped into stars for me. I swiped the July 4th printables off a Pinterest site and added some touches of red and turquoise.
I found this gorgeous fabric at a yard sale this past weekend. It’s thick, red-striped canvas and totally reminded me of Old Glory…
Wrex built this tree for me out of scrap wood and it’s one of my favorite things in the room. I keep thinking I’m going to get sick of it, but so far it hasn’t happened.
I used flashcards to make the bunting…
and scrap fabric to make this wreath stand out a bit.
This is command central for all things preschool/Cubbies/blogging/bill paying, etc., can you tell?!
We made this chicken wire bulletin board and have been using it as a prayer board for a few years now. It’s just a simple reminder to intercede for the people we have tacked up there…
I love these Ikea hanging systems. So handy!
We made the big star out of yardstick around Christmas and I threw it up there for summer. Our TV stand is an old dresser we bought from some friends. We sanded it to rustic it up, added some funky paint and fabric and voila – I love it!
Our light fixtures in the living room are old minnow buckets we found at a flea market. They, too, are one of my faves!
I hope you enjoyed our little living room tour! We’re headed to enjoy some summer outside!
The kitchen is the most popular room in our house…probably because we spend a lot of time there. Between three meals and two snacks, plus prep and clean-up, some days I feel like I rarely leave it!
Aside from the flooring, this room didn’t need much attention; it mainly just looked dated…a little paint goes a long way…
Before:
After:
We painted all of the cabinets a soft white, added a dishwasher, painted the walls and put in new flooring.
I left some of the cabinets exposed to show off some of my fun dishes and glassware.
We got this refrigerator from my brother. It had been in storage and was pretty scratched up so I painted it with chalkboard paint. It’s a fantastic place to write scripture or reminders and it gives the kids something to do when I’m cooking.
Wrex made this mason jar chandelier for me when we lived in Denver and there was no question that I was hanging it here, as well.
Wrex also made these wire baskets that I placed above my cabinets, along with a few other fun, vintage finds…
My other favorite thing in the kitchen are these giant letters.
They were from the old Ogallala Livestock sale barn sign and they let Wrex have them when they updated their signage.
We used an old pallet for a dish display…
an old tool box as a silver ware holder…
and a peg board as a electrical box hider/utensil hanger.
Our kitchen table is butcher block style and is banged up and scarred and for this point in our lives – it’s perfect…
I love that everyone likes to gather here, I just really wish we had a dining room. We have a big family and we love to have everyone over and our small space makes that difficult. One day…one day…
We are smack dab in the middle of an outside re-do, so I’m gonna keep this short and sweet so I can help lay some sod. EEP! Pray I don’t get too much dirt under my nails before the baby shower I have to get to this afternoon. 😉
The stairs in our old farmhouse are steep. The last person that came to visit said, “I don’t think I’d call these stairs – I think I’d call them a ladder!” I wish I had a picture before I painted the hand rail and the wall, but I’m sure you can imagine that lovely purpleish color that’s been in the bathroom and kids’ room, yes?! The stairs in and of themselves weren’t horrible, just a little plain…and dangerous.
Before:
The first thing we needed was a gate of sorts. With Sawyer’s room being upstairs, we did not want her falling down those steep stairs so we needed it be sturdier than a baby gate…and more aesthetically pleasing.
Wrex found a pallet that was narrower than normal and had slats that were really close together. We added hinges and a lock and the gate was born!
After:
We then decided to give the stairs a little pizazz using fabric and wall paper paste. Wrexy measured and cut all the rectangles and I “glued” them on to the stair faces. I absolutely love how they turned out!
I still hate those ugly black skid thingies, but alas, three years later and they’re still here. I’m kind of itching to redo the faces again with different fabric. We’ll see what I can get Wrexy talked into…after the sod gets laid.
When the Lord provided our little house on the prairie here on the eastern plains of Colorado, we were thrilled to have a place to call home…but home needed a little work. Mostly paint. It’s so…what’s the word…interesting?? the paint colors people choose and the previous renters had chosen some interesting ones for sure. Ahem.
We painted every space, put in new flooring in three rooms and spiffied up the others, built shelves and got creative and just had a grand ole, exhausting time!
Today, I thought I’d give you a little before and after tour of our bathroom. It was the smallest and easiest for me to throw together this morning. 🙂
Before:
As you can see, it needed a little work. We replaced the flooring, bath tub, sink and painted the walls. As weird as it may sound, it’s now one of my favorite rooms in the house!
After:
We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up. We chose a vinyl flooring that was water proof, not just water resistant. We kinda figured we might have a little splashing in here from time to time. This is my favorite flooring in our house, hands down.
We replaced the old sink with one with a much smaller vanity that takes up far less room and hung a new mirror.
We painted the walls a pretty, Tiffany blue and the wainscoting a soft, creamy white. I found these super cute printables and framed them and Wrex made the mason jar storage.
Our bathroom isn’t huge and there’s not a lot of storage so we’ve had to get creative. Wrex made these barnwood shelves for the short wall and I love this hanging system from Ikea; cheap, chic and functional!
We replaced the bathtub and then got to work on the shower walls…they are the best part of this room. I had seen one similar in a magazine one time and I fell in love. Thankfully, Wrex agreed to give it a try and we both love how it turned out. It was far cheaper (and easier) to install than tile and much more unique; it’s quite the conversation piece.
We are so pleased with how it turned out! It’s been almost three years and the colors and shower walls still make me smile every time I see them. Let me know what you think about it! Log in later in the week and we’ll take a peak at another transformation we made…there were a few! 😉
*****Ok, I lied – Part 4 is my favorite part! There was too much to tell so here’s Part 3…or you can call it Part 2.5 if that makes you feel better…*****
Our time in Texas was HOT and, well, that about sums it up. Good gravy…we’re still not convinced we could hack it down there as a permanent dwelling.
We lived with Wrex’s boss for three months while he learned the ins and outs of this plant. He traveled to sales and watched and learned and calculated how to bid on cows and then got to follow them through the slaughter process to see if they made or lost money.
To be a cow buyer, you have to be able to evaluate livestock and, based on their weight and body condition, guesstimate how much they will yield (how many pounds of lean product the animal will produce), thus telling you how much you should buy one for, while also accounting for freight to get the animal to the plant. The cows have to fit the bid given out by the head cow buyer of the company, which he bases on several factors – how much meat is trading for, how much meat the plant has on hand, how much they need, where they could get it cheaper if your barn is high that day, etc. You also have to know what your competitors are willing to spend and how far to push them to make them pay more so you can pay less. It’s quite complicated really…and FAST. They sell a cow about every 30 seconds, so you have to be on your game!
Around October of that year, they felt like he’d learned enough to be turned loose on his own. For the last month, they had all strategized and come up with a list of sale barns that he would be responsible for buying at. We would then need to find a place to live that would be a somewhat central location for him to travel from.
The company gave him a week off to travel and find the community and home in which we’d like to live, so we loaded up and headed north. For as big of an area as this appears to be on the map, there aren’t a ton of communities in all of that off-white goodness.
Before we started looking in person, we had narrowed it down (based on distance alone) to six primary towns. We also knew that we really wanted to rent a house. Once we were married, we had accumulated over $100,000 in debt between the two of us (student loans, cars, credit cards, etc.) Yeah, THAT’S a post for another day, for sure. The Lord totally spoke to us regarding our debt, as did Dave Ramsey, and we had spent the last four years of our marriage getting out of debt and we weren’t really ready to jump in again with a big ole house payment. Plus, we weren’t completely sure this was where we’d permanently be for more than a year, so it just seemed like renting made the most sense. Those two things were pretty much the only qualifications we had for the Lord…rent and close to the chosen sale barns.
We started our journey in Wray, Colorado where some friends of ours lived. They did their best to find us some places to look at but we learned there, and moreso as the week went on, that there were very few rental properties in the area and the ones that were available, were for sale at the same time. We weren’t completely excited about that because we’d have to hit the road when they wanted to show the place and then find somewhere else to move if it did sell.
We looked in several communities in Nebraska and a couple in Kansas, none of which had much to offer. Everything we did find that was empty was for sale, so we started shifting our thinking a bit. Quickly, renting didn’t even seem to be an option….so….what next?
I remember going back to our room that night and just being shell-shocked. Buying a house hadn’t even been on our radar. I thought we’d find decent enough rentals and just have to be picky on the community, sign the papers, pay some money, go get our things and move in. Not exactly. We just continually asked the Lord to show us the place…the town…the house…the plan.
On our third day in, we felt a little defeated. There were no rentals out there and of the towns and houses that we had looked at that were for sale, none of them feel right. I remember leaving this cute little place in Bird City, Kansas and thinking, I guess I just never imagined giving someone directions to my house and it being in town. Yet, I never asked the Lord for anything different.
The only place on our list of six that we hadn’t looked was Holyoke, Colorado. The day was drawing to a close…it was going to be a little after 4:00 pm when we pulled in, so we debated even going. The friend we were staying with during this house-hunting expedition needed a transfer needle from the vet clinic and has asked if we could pick one up while we were out and about. We hadn’t done that yet, so we figured we could drive into town, get a needle, take a peak around, feel confused/defeated and then head home to regroup…again…