Fast, Easy DIY Art on the CHEAP!

Our guest bath, (aka: the girls' bathroom) has been under a decorating re-do for months now. JR insisted that the previous "fish" theme had to go and a more mature "rock star" theme was suggested to take it's place. What a six year old knows about being a rock star is beyond me, but I went with it. Momma is always up for a decorating challenge.

The thing is, NOTHING about this room has come together in a way that makes me think, "YES! I love it!" and so has therefore been left unfinished. As a woman obsessed with task completion, this room has become a thorn in my side. My new organization plan to start with the smallest room in the house and "re-work" it to my specifications (progressing to the next bigger room once completed, and so on...) has led me to once and for all FINISHING this bathroom.

So what does momma do when she needs a cute little picture and doesn't want to spend a lot of money (cuz there are LOTS more projects, people...)? She gets creative.


Out comes the embossed wallpaper that I have used for more projects than I can count...


My new Barbie calendar that I picked up at Costco for next to nothing (a smaller calendar also came with... this bigger one was bought for crafts in mind!)...


And a purchased frame from Wal-Mart...


And viola! An easy, tres chic piece of artwork that is cute enough for momma and sassy enough for my wanna-be rock star/ first grader.


Here's a shot from farther back to kind of give you the "feel" of the piece in relation to the room. It's a small bathroom. I was practically "feeling" my backside against the shower wall to get this shot! LOL! I think Barbie is going to like her new digs. She, like Chaka Khan and myself, IS every woman. I think she'll like her new "rock star" status! Stay tuned for more bathroom updates!

Carbs Or No Carbs... That Is The Question

If you are around me for longer than five minutes, I'll have told you AT LEAST once or twice what a fan I am of The South Beach Diet. It is my "go-to" diet plan every January 1st and any other day in between when I realize I'm tipping the scales in a not so flattering fashion. Why? Simple. IT WORKS!

Broken down into three phases, The South Beach Diet focuses on good fats and low glycemic index carbs for a healthy eating lifestyle. Where I tend to go overboard is trying to stay longer on the first phase of the diet than necessary (Phase 1 is two weeks). This first phase is very limiting on your carb choices, completely eliminating some delectable healthy food like fruits and fruit juices. BUT THE POUNDS FALL OFF. My "more is more" mentality thinks that if two weeks of this is "good," a month would be even better! Yeah, that's why Dr. Agaston has all those letters after his name. The man knows what he's talking about. Read the book. Follow HIS advice. Don't be like me (the non-doctor person in this scenario) and do your own thing. Doing "my own thing" is what got me in this situation to begin with, right?!?

It's hard not to look at a piece of whole wheat bread and think, "Hey! Why don't I just forget about you and just have the meat and cheese of this sandwich all by itself?" when denying yourself bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice for two weeks has helped you fit into a smaller dress size. Suddenly carbs of ANY kind start to look like the enemy. And suddenly you start to become obsessed with food. Not healthy.

Carbs are NOT the enemy (I'm saying this for MY sake more than anyone else's!). Whole grains are good. Brown rice is good. Fruit is good (heck, it almost tastes like candy after you've gone without for so long!). It's a crazy, mixed up world when we are more concerned about the amount of whole grains we've consumed in a day and NOT the amount of NutraSweet we've ingested (again... talking to ME). So guess what? As I sit here drinking the last of my Lemon Berry Slush from Sonic ((gasp!)) I'm not gonna beat myself up over the carbs I ate today having lunch with JR at school. I'm hoping that they will fuel the exhaustive efforts I'm about to throw down on the treadmill as I continue to train for a 5K. As someone reminded me today, carbs are ENERGY. And I'm gonna need me some of THAT!

I'm On A Mission For Organization

I'm the self-proclaimed queen of good intentions. Case in point: this last snow storm where we were holed up in our house for the better part of a week. Delusions of grandeur filled my wee little brain as I plotted and planned how I would meticulously clean up and clear out closets and cabinets and crannies... oh my! Well, to be fair, Anna's sock drawer did get an overhaul. Everything else... not so much.

And honestly, momma is just a little overwhelmed. Seriously, there is crap as far as the eye can see over here. I get a twinge of motivation to do something and then I just stand around right in the middle of it all and think,"Well, where on earth do I begin?" Or once I start something, the "it has to get worse before it gets better" stage drives me to the brink of insanity. And trust me peeps. That's a short drive for somebody like me.

That's when fate stepped in. :) While magazine flipping at Lowe's, I spot a book on organization. I did not buy said book as I have numerous ones like it at home (all read cover to cover thankyouverymuch!). So, with a pang of regret, I put the book back (much to the shock and disbelief of my husband). Then, just the other day, Bonnie at House of Grace said she was going to be doing a weekly post from the chapters of THE VERY SAME BOOK I HAD SEEN AT LOWE'S. I knew it was meant for me to have the book, so off to Lowe's I go. When I got there, there was one. book. left. Fate, people. Seriously. :)

"Organize Now" is written by author, speaker, AND personal organizer Jennifer Ford Berry. Each week focuses on certain areas of our lives that need organization, beginning with "Yourself." Clever, right? Why NOT start with ourselves (our mind, schedule and priorities)? Berry finishes each week with a list of goals to check off, a cute quote, and tips to STAY organized a month, 3-6 months, and a year down the road. Sounds fool-proof. Er, I mean, Lindsey proof. We shall see as I am going to follow Bonnie on Thursdays as we work throughout the book together.

What is it about the new year that gets everyone in this organizational frenzy? I'm not sure, but I AM sure that something's got to give around here. Or else the hubs might just call my bluff and contact "Hoarders." I always wanted to be on t.v., but public humiliation is NOT exactly what I had in mind... Join us?(See Bonnie's post here.)

Money Matters Monday... So, How Are We Doin'?

I've been comparing a lot of things lately to "a race." Prolly because I've started this running thing. LOL! I've also realized that, unfortunately, I'm an "all or nothing" kind of girl. I'm either 110% IN, or completely and TOTALLY off the wagon as the saying goes. I'm doing my best to embrace the former, and with any luck, kicking the latter to the curb!

As mentioned in a previous post, we have been able to pay off A LOT of our debt recently. This has freed up a fair amount of cash that I SHOULD be using to pay off more bills. But oh how easy it is to take that extra money and buy shoes! Or a nice desk from which to blog from! Well, a honeymoon period is expected in ALL relationships, I guess. And my new relationship with a little extra cash is no exception.

But today is a new day. And as I am now looking at things from a long distance race perspective (instead of ,say, a 100 yard dash), I'm tying up my running shoes and digging in once again. And isn't that what it's all about, really? Not getting discouraged when we fall. Not just lying there in the dust when others start to pass you by once you are down? Keeping your eye on the finish line?

Whatever we try to do, whether it is losing weight, getting out of debt, or learning something new, we gotta keep at it. For certain, we WILL fall off the wagon. We won't be able to resist those cute pair of boots (even though they were 60% off!) or the pecan pie with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce (and it was delicious!). But a stumble on our way to our intended goal does not disqualify us from the race. I'm getting back up, dusting myself off, and getting back on track. That's where I am. How are YOU doing?

From Flab To Fab Friday

Welcome, everyone, to my 27th day on a diet. So you don't have to count, I started the day after Christmas. I'm impatient! I couldn't wait for New Year's Day to start my weight loss resolution (mostly because momma had NO pants that fit... not even sweats. Sad, right?)! So Sunday, December 26th, was D-day for me. And here I am 27 days later and happy to report that there have been no casualties! Ha!

About a year ago I started a weight loss blog trying to chronicle my efforts to shed the weight I have acquired in my 10 years of marriage. But, alas, I found that (once again) I was having a hard time making what the experts call a "lifestyle change" and the blog fell to the wayside (along with my willpower and motivation for healthy eating and exercise! LOL!). So since I'm "back on the wagon," per se, I thought I'd keep myself accountable here on THIS blog and do it on Fridays... with alliteration...cuz, you know... I'm a freak like that.

I'll keep y'all posted on what I'm doing (and NOT doing) to keep this weight off of me for good. I've made some decisions and I'm changing the way I'm thinking about things, so I HOPE that this is the first step on the long and continual journey to better health for me. In the meantime, I'll close by sharing that I've dropped a total of 13 lbs since December 26th. The pants are FITTING again and I'm able to broaden my clothing selection to tops that haven't fit in FOREVER. And this makes momma happy!!!

So join me if you wanna. It's always better to tackle the not-so fun projects with a friend in tow. And who knows? We might just find that there is fun to be found, after all!

Music Therapy Thursday... The Band Perry

This is another song for all you poets out there... simply beautiful. The members of this band hail from Tennessee and are siblings, all in their 20's. I think they are super talented and look forward to hearing more from them. Enjoy today's music therapy... with or without a tissue!

A Prized Possession

If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you would grab (besides your kids and the hubs, natch!) before you ran out the door? For the longest time I thought it would be my pictures. I have a black box w/ dividers designed specifically for the purpose of storing, I don't know, a THOUSAND or so pictures. It rocks the house and has been one of the best investments I've ever made. But I think I'd risk losing all of our family's memories on Kodak paper to save what I feel is one of my most prized possessions... my grandmother's wedding ring.

Years before my grandmother passed away, she started giving me things. Random things. A pair of red sheer curtains here, a mod 1970's polyester top there. Then she began to give me more personal things: Her beautiful gold watch from the 1940's (IN THE BOX), and then her mother's ring. I would try to protest my displeasure of the "giving away" of her treasures, but she INSISTED that she wanted me to have them so she could be around to see me enjoy them. I couldn't argue with that kind of logic, even though it made me super sad to think about the reason behind her gift giving: she was preparing for the inevitable. And I guess she wanted to make sure certain things were received by certain people. By giving them in advance, she could make sure her wishes were followed.

But one day, she completely floored me. I had been to her house for some delicious Sunday dinner, and she went to her room and came out with her wedding band and told me she wanted me to have it. My grandfather had passed almost 20 years before, but even before that, I never remembered her wearing it. It was well worn, however, having almost taken the shape of her finger. The embossing around the ring had been worn away too, but she said that it used to be a beautiful vine with intricately detailed leaves. I was in love with it from the first time I saw it.

My dad filled in some of the blanks for me later. He said that when my grandparents married, they didn't buy each other wedding rings. Money was tight and I guess they felt that rings for each other were a luxury and not a necessity. My dad says that he can remember my grandmother buying the ring for herself, with her own money that she had worked for, when he was young. He said she was so proud of it and was so happy that she got to pick out what she wanted.


My Mimi (as I called her) was not able to come to my wedding. Her ring was my "something old" that I wore that day as well as a representation of her presence, which I missed dearly. Sitting at her house a month or so later, we poured over my wedding pictures together and I would point out her ring and say, "Look Mimi, you WERE there!" I think that made her extremely happy.

From that day on, I've continued to wear my grandmother's wedding ring. Now that she's in heaven, I'll talk to the ring when I'm putting it on. I'll say something like, "Well, Mimi, today we are going to a graduation." Or I'll say, "C'mon Mimi, we've got to get to church!" LOL! I feel like when I'm wearing her ring, a part of her is still with me. Mimi has accompanied me to Nashville for my sister's bachelorette party, on vacations to the beach and to the mountains, to the hospital to celebrate births, to funeral homes to say my good-byes, and even to Mobile to a Mardi Gras ball. I think she would have really liked Mardi Gras. She was a woman who always enjoyed a good time!

So I guess if, heaven forbid, I hear the smoke alarm late one night, it will be a natural reaction for me to go and rescue Mimi from the jewelry box. More than a prized possession, her ring is almost an extension of ME now, like it was for her for so many years. I hope she knows how much I love it (and her!) and how happy it makes me to have ownership of this little treasure!