Lost In My Hood

I had no way of knowing that early this morning I would attempt to take an innocent walk with my girls around our hood and enter our neighborhood Bermuda Triangle.

It was lovely at first. We walked along and found pretty flowers.  A teeny frog.  Then I got adventurous. I decided to take them down streets I have not been on before.  What could happen?

I got us lost.  In my own neighborhood? 

Yep.

The total kicker?  My friend Jen had to google map me to my own street.  From her house.


SHE GOOGLED ME DIRECTIONS.  ON FOOT!

Oh, the shame.

The girls were dehydrated (ok, just thirsty) and passing out taking seated rests under tree covered parts of the sidewalk. As shown above taken from my cell phone.  

It was really quite alarming that I was lost about 20 feet from the intersection to my own street.  But this is par for the course in my life.  This is just what I do.

After I hydrated and fed them we had naps.  And the girls woke up a tad grumpy.  It must have been the arduous and tortuous trek I dragged them on. Soon, Cati and I are having another one of our "Mother/Daughter" spats.  As in, "Cati please come inside the house."And Cati responding with a glass shattering equivalent shrill scream of "NO!" and threw her croc flip flop at the window. And the girl has game cuz that sucker hit it HARD!

I was NOT happy.

So in order to teach her about how we need to be respectful of property, and because she could have broken a window, she will need to understand how we take care of property.  So her punishment was issued...

 I gave her this great stuff called Baby Girl Cleaning Products that would be safe for her to use.

Got it from the same friend who navigated us out of my own neighborhood.

 But it streaks on windows when the cleaner is a 3 year old.  I so created more work for myself.

And I began to get nervous because she was really excited at first.  So I kept making her clean.  

And clean. And clean some more.  Suddenly, this chore was not so fun.

My poor Cinder-cati.

Oh, but wait...where was my Cinder-ella?

Lounging on her chair, feet up with a cinnamon roll. 

This role reversal so did not work for the real Cinderella with her sisters. 

But I guess the ball, glass slipper and prince thing made up for it.  

For now, the cinnamon roll and watching Cati clean is all MY Ella needs.

Sorry Folks...No Tips. But I Do Have a Before/After Lamp Makeover

Well, not new. Just updated.This old lamp has traveled many places.  It has seen many things. It was my sisters for who knows how long and then I inherited it when I had my first apartment after college. I bought that lampshade when I first got married and I am really not sure why.  I must have loved it then.  And it has stayed with me because you always need a lamp. But it has begged for some updating. Some oomph.  A lampy light face lift.

And here it is....

 

 

So fun, right? Don't you just heart spray paint?  I love the paint color. Avocado.  And the lampshade is from IKEA.  

This lamp is still hanging in there with a fresh coat of paint and a new shade. I am full of complete glee when I shop my house and find new life for old things.

Glimpse

Do you ever have a snapshot moment that if you had blinked, looked down, or the sun was in your eyes, you would have missed it? A glimpse of something pure and true that imprints a forever picture in your mind?

 I had a glimpse like that yesterday.  It was not anything I would have thought significant.  My husband was chasing my daughters around the house and the sounds of giggles, sock covered feet hitting the floor, and pure delight surrounded me as I was just putting laundry away and other chores. As I stepped out of Cati's room, I saw Cati look up into the face of her beloved Daddy and this moment that lasted 2 seconds seemed to make time stand still and what I saw there was something bigger than the smile on her face.

I saw a child made by the hand of God. I saw a childhood memory in the making.  I saw a future yet untold.  I saw a life just beginning. I saw the gift of innocence.  I saw a trust and devotion for her Daddy.  I saw joy.

And my heart swelled and beat harder at the magnificent responsibility given to me as a mother. The love I felt was overpowering and almost more than I could handle.  I wanted to weep and dance as conflicting emotions clashed within my heart; as if it was more emotion than a person should be able to handle.

I even feel silly writing all of this here because those of you reading are unable to know my heart, the emotions that flowed through me as I stared at the face of my child for a mere moment while exiting a room. It would have been missed but for some reason God did not want me to miss it.  He wanted me to drink in the face of my child and see her in a way I believe...HE sees her.

I am so guilty of getting caught up in what ultimately does not matter.  My house.  Vanity.  What others think of me. Pride.  Busyness. Being a Martha when I desperately want to be a Mary.

But as I saw my child's face I saw that all of those things are not on her radar. Neither of my daughters are worried about paying a mortgage, tithing faithfully, or keeping a schedule. They are still children where their parents are bigger than life.  God is not questioned.  He just IS.  Swinging on a swing or jumping through a sprinkler is a memory that will be recalled decades from now and evoke feelings of home and nostalgia.

And I so appreciated this precious moment where I could stop and suddenly become keenly aware that I am daily witnessing a future in the making.  And my role within it is radically significant.  My walk with God will affect the walk of my children as the grow up. My actions will be watched and mirrored.  Even in adulthood.   It was like I suddenly realized I was seeing the very history they will live with for all of their days.

Of course, memories fade.  But I am still astounded by which ones remain firmly embedded in my long term memory.  The ones that have significance to me but would not to someone else. And you never know which ones they will hold onto. For all I know, I glimpsed the moment Cati realized that her big, strong, safe daddy was so much fun and she would always remember squealing and running as he rounded the corner to catch her and tickle her. What I do know is that these moments are precious and I need to attempt to handle each one with care.  So often I am careless with my words or even downplay something that would mean everything to my little Cati.  Like a picture she has drawn or a stick she has found and talked to like a friend on the sidewalk.  I need to stop and see life through her little eyes.

So I desperately needed to write this all down today.  Not so much for all of you precious friends of mine who take the time to read my little blog.  But today was for you, girls.

My Cati-Bear and my Ella-Roo,
One day you will read these words.  And you will know how I felt the first weekend in June, on a Saturday evening in 2010.  Because if I never wrote this, you may have never known it.  Life would go on and my glimpse would fade from memory. But I have wrote it here to remember that even the every day things are extraordinary.  They are part of our past that will shape our future.  And you girls, are extraordinary.  You are my daughters but most of all you are Daughters of the King.  And every moment matters. To God and to your mom who loves you with every beat of her heart. And as I type, the words become blurry through tears of gratitude for a God who loves us with an everlasting love. Whose will for our lives is so precious and we are to treasure life's simple moments because they are gifts. I just wanted you girls to one day be able to read my words  and have your own glimpse from your past as I glimpsed your future in the making.

 Girls, you are my heart.

Two Tips Tuesday

Tip#1:  Update Your Kitchen Cabinets...On the Inside

When we first looked at our house, I was kinda bummed about the kitchen cabinets.  They were not the best quality but I honestly like that they are white. But the inside of them were showing some yellowing and grime.  Totally grossed me out.  I thoroughly cleaned every inch of them but they still looked like this...

Look closer...

Ick, Ick, Ick!  

So I decided to paint them and I loved how they turned out!

So fresh and fun!  I am really loving the contrast between the wall color and the inside of the cabinets and the way all my white dishes pop.  It is so fun to open my cabinets!  It was a great way to update the kitchen and make things feel newer and more "me."

Tip #2:  An Old Window that Holds Memories

My dear friend Nicole has this amazing, old window at her house where she decided to commemorate her precious engagement and wedding moments with flowers!  The top left panel are the 3 flowers that were sitting on the alter where her husband proposed to her at our church.  They got married on that same altar exactly one year later!  The other 3 panels are petals she pulled apart from her dried wedding bouquet.

All she did was buy the window from an antique store, and got heavy, cardboard poster board that she was assured would not yellows with age, and went at it with a hot glue gun. That was it and so brilliant!

There are so many idea you could use with this old window idea...wedding photos of all your children or siblings, seashells from your favorite beaches, baby booties of all your children, etc, etc.  The list is endless and the look is just beautiful!

Happy Tuesday Friends!

I Am Finally Home

Ahhhhh...ahhhrrrgghhhhhh!

(Translation:  Contented sigh turned into cry of frustration).

See, it all started out great. Woke up Saturday morning and my first thought?

MOVING DAY! 

Our friends came to help us move and things went smoothly. I forgot Ella's diaper bag 602 times and finally gave up trying to make my memory function. I dropped off the girls with a friend (where Cati learned to pump on the swing for the first time!  I was SOOOOO EXCITED FOR HER!) and I went ahead to the house to start unpacking and moving stuff around that was already there.  We had everything piled in the living room because we had new carpet installed.  See?

 Ahhh...love new things.

And we grunted, inflicted bodily harm, tore off a glass door on one of our book shelves, and nicked the tar out of every piece of furniture I prayed would come out unscathed. 

Dang.

But all in all...a good day.

But then came when I picked the girls up and ran to the grocery store. That is when things began to go awry.  To the point where I began having superstitious thoughts (I am soooo not superstitious...I mean, hello? That would be weird if I claim Jesus and then panic if I step on a crack and start calling Mom to see if her back is OK).  Like, what if this house is cursed or jinxed?  Nonsense type thoughts that I would scoff at someone else if they said them out loud.  Because I am compassionate like that. Here is how it went down.

On the way home, I encounter rain that made it impossible to see.  I am thinking it was a monsoon that had been held off for my move.  Thank You Lord for this kind mercy. Later, I come home from the grocery store and as I am turning into my development, the light starts blinking and the telephone pole pops and a transformer blows right before my eyes. All the neighbors on my street are coming out to find out why we have lost power and conveniently we meet the next door neighbors. They have 3 dogs, one that is a beautiful Great Dane.  This sweet horse of a dog is excited to say hi and wants to say hello to my girls.  Thankfully, they are not afraid of dogs.  Well sadly, in this dogs excitement, it wraps around his owner, then around Cati and spun her around with him.  My Cati was dragged around the sidewalk and the leash was caught under her arm.

This was probably one of the most frightening things I have seen in a long time and it took 5 full minutes for my heart to beat normally. She is pretty bruised up. My poor Cati was terrified and my neighbors were so upset. They even visited later to check on her which was so kind. Fortunately, I was a dog trainer a lifetime ago and I have had a dog or two take me out.  I just pray Cati is not fearful of dogs now. But I would understand COMPLETELY. She was certainly brave.

Then, we come inside and it starts getting dark.  The whole point of the grocery store was to make dinner.  And dinner took the form of PB & J, crackers, and grapes.  YUMMY! But peril lies in wait around the corner.  As I step into the kitchen looking through boxes and trying to find candles, I run smack into Ella sending her sailing face first into the base of the fridge.

Was this really happening?  Are we without power our first night in the house with a promising possibility of visiting our nearest Urgent Care?

Oh wait.  I am so not done.

So the power comes back on (CHEER!) and now it is time to take baths.  It now dawns on me that we have nothing on our windows and are in essence, a family in a fish bowl.  So I make my poor tired husband put up curtain rods and curtains at 9:30 at night.  But Ella has this funky corner window and our hardware won't work.  So what do I do?  To the complete horror of my husband?

Oh yeah, baby.  I made sure our neighbors knew the Family from Hicksville moved in.  Because I put wrapping paper on the windows.  Christmas wrapping paper.  No wait, it says HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  I put POLITICALLY CORRECT wrapping paper on the windows!  And you read it right.  We taped it up there with blue painters tape, right on the window. And I ripped it. Not even nicely. It looks like I tore it off with my teeth.  Hubster is completely horrified and believes we have now been "labeled" within our new hood.

I am going to go in her bedroom now and take a quick pic so you can see my ghetto fix on the windows.  She won't wake up...I promise...

HAHAHA!  I just stuck my arm in there and hoped for the best! And I totally forgot I used packaging paper too.  That is so awesome.

So you all know it is a temporary fix, right? But I believe hubby thinks I am leaving it up there for awhile.  I should really feel bad about the immense joy this brings me.  I think I will change out the wrapping paper to different ones just to mess with him.

Anyway.  The night closed with my poor daughters utterly baffled about why they are getting into their familiar beds in a very unfamiliar place.  I wish I could hold them close all night but sadly, those two chatty things would be trying to tickle me and stick things up my nostrils. I know this from experience.

But guys.  Guess what?

I'm finally home.  Praise God and say it with me...Hallelujah.

Two Tips Tuesday: More Tips From YOU!

 

It has been great fun checking out so many of your blogs.  All of you are so witty, fun, creative, and inspirational.  I love getting a glimpse of your lives and seeing parts of your identity within the context of your posts.  I wish I have had more time to peek in on you but things are hectic in the Two Shades of Pink household.  So on with two great tips from two fantabulous blogs...

Embellish Unsightly Books for Gorgeous Display 
at Thrifty and Chic.

 

Alicia has an eye candy type of blog for me.  I swooned a bit on my first visit but remembered she is a real person and not some rock star and finally left a comment. I can scroll through her archives and find nothing I would not love to do or have in my home.  She is so talented and inspirational with her projects.  Like this one.  Oh, and this too! And the best part?  She does it on the cheap and everything is gorgeous and well done.  Love it! Love Her!  Go say hi and give her some bloggy love too!  How I wish she lived near me to be my on call decorator. And a friend to have coffee with too!

Amp Up Your Hoop Earrings 

with Jessica at Happy Together

 

I absolutely love Jessica and all of her creativity. Her blog is full of her fresh, innovative, and incredibly beautiful work including this and this and this. If I had the ability to sew or crochet like she can...life as I know it would be full of all things handmade.  All THINGS, I TELL YOU! I would crochet a car cover or sew cozies for all my juice glasses or something.  But alas...I am a novice sewer so I drool over other people and their talents. And their creations.  And this one just blows me away. Oh, and the icing on the cake?  That fabulous plate!

And here is a sneak peek on my own current project that has been shelved until we are completely moved in and I can find my crafty mojo again...

Happy Tuesday Friends!

We Bought a House!

It is done. Now we paint.  And clean.  And fix stuff.  And move next weekend.

I am so exhausted I can't even type anoth...