Fall'ing all over myself...


So... September is almost over, cool weather might be coming... maybe...

It's obviously time to decorate right?!!?

It must be because my Pinterest has been hounding me about it.
Seriously, if ever was a time where Pinterest were to come alive and hound you for not doing something... it's FALL.

I ignored its promptings for a few weeks. It was my hubby and I's birthdays so I thought I deserved a break. My mom came in town so finally I bit the bullet and was like...


FALL!  Why not! Maybe if I decorate... the cold weather will come....

No. 

It did not come. 

Probably cause what I did to my house or half-did to my house wasn't considered "decorating" or... anything at all besides apparently adopting a crud load of pumpkins that are now stacked randomly around the house aimlessly waiting to become pies. 


The problem with having a giant mantle? You need a ton of stuff to fill it... Usually I stare at an unfinished mantle for a few days before I happen across something that makes it work and figure out a way to finish it... haven't really had that happen yet....


This looks good! My mom did it... 


And this... I added the milk jug. Score! 



I must have run out of money at this point... Not even sure what should go here. But I did build that box. Extra points. ;)


Then I had it. 

My first ever... FALL DECOR BREAKDOWN

It was just too much. No Pinterest. I can't make giant topiaries or a million little feaux pumpkins with random things I found in my attic... because my attic is empty

Granted, I've been married for six years but this whole decorating thing started.... like last year. Up until then my "FALL DECORATING" consisted of buying a cute baby pumpkin at Wally World and placing it in front of my front door.

Yep. I so did. For 3 years. 

Yet now.... ugh.... a tiny little pumpkin isn't going to cut it anymore. 

Now the smart thing to do is obviously decorate a tiny bit... buy when it goes on SALE and slowly over the years build your arsenal of holiday decor stash. 

But that, much like pregnancy... takes forever

But who has $400 to go out and buy all these beautiful things to "Make your own" holiday decor?

Not this girl. 

So let's review...

Had to move on from the tiny pumpkin -- check.
Don't have money to waste on fall decor -- check.
Still wasted money anyway and have not much to show for it -- check check.
Cold weather... nowhere even remotely in sight cause I obviously live on the surface of the sun -- check.
Had a stress attack over decorating a house that my friends don't really look at anyway since they are too distracted by my awesomeness... Fail.

It's moments like these, when I feel an utter failure, (over something utterly stupid) that I turn to Proverbs 31.... like an idiot and start to berate myself. 

Proverbs 31:15-16
She rises while it is yet night
 and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it;
    
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She is super womanFALL DECORATING isn't even probably on her list because it's useless. Sadly, in times when I want to feel sorry for myself I can look at this woman who loves her family so much and does all of these insane awesome things, without obviously any sleep or any real selfish tendency or sin whatsoever and I'll compare myself to her...

I do not rise early. Period.
I'm not the best steward of my money.
I sometimes meal plan.
I'm a money waster more than a money maker.
My children eat fast food and watch Disney movies. 
I DO make a lot of stuff with my hands... so that's one thing. 

But Comparison... like the kind I subconsciously do when I look at all the other crazy bloggers who have already blogged seven different Fall Crafts and DIY before I had time to wake up this morning (I MEAN SERIOUSLY?!) I compare myself to them...

I could do that... why aren't I? Because I am a lazy oaf.

Then I get depressed... you know why?

Comparison is the thief of Joy. 

When we look at others or things and than look at our self we are looking at a very skewed image.

First, if you are anything like me... you are your worst critic. No one will beat me up faster than I will and I can go on for hours and hours about the things you should not like about me... 

So, I take that image of myself (which isn't great) and then compare it to someone/something I am only seeing a surface picture of. 

Yea... your fall decorations are amazing... What I'm not seeing is the HOURS and probably Money it took you to do that.
Or your Pumpkin Cookies could grace Martha Stewart Magizine... no nevermind that it was the 12th batch you cooked to get 6 of those cookies perfect.. ect... 

I'm setting myself up for failure with insanely inaccurate information

You know what is accurate though? 

Proverbs 31:11
The heart of her husband trusts in her, 
and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm,  all the days of her life.

My husband does trust me. 
It is my joy and greatest role to do him a lot of good... 
granted I've done harm to many things of his like walls, floors, old heirloom furniture, clothes... ect… 

But I’m not what I do to my house. Neither are you.

So, when Pinterest tries to swallow you up... 

Remember you are a beautiful Daughter of the King
You are your husband's favorite person in the whole world because of everyone he wanted you.
Your children come to you when they are scared or need a hug no matter how much you spend time with them making insane crafts or teaching them calculus before they are four. (if you are doing that by the way… stop right now.)
And your friends... your real friends... would love you if you lived in a perfectly decorated mansion or in a shack with one tiny lame pumpkin.

So, let's take a deep breath... and place our little baby pumpkin outside our front door and keep praying for cooler weather. 

It's going to be a great season. 

Psalm 139:14 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.

God bless and Much Love,

 Jessica


4 Things my Husband wished I hadn't done to our house...

love my house.



And... I often am overwhelmed by my house.

We built this house last summer when Bryan's job transferred him from my hometown of
New Orleans, Louisiana to the Woodlands, Texas.

It was fun building a house. Picking out all the flooring, the fixtures, the carpet, cabinets...

But when you walk in after it is finally built... it's all one giant blank canvas waiting for you to fill it with your memories, your likes and your messes.





This is a heck of a lot of house to fill with memories people. I constantly feel like I am not really doing anything to this giant blank canvas and feel like nothing gets finished...

Yet, as we approach our One year Anniversary in this house I took the time to sit down and actually count all the things that Bryan and I (and sometimes Elliot and Ethan) have done to add character and life to this brick and mortar.


97


I've done 97 things to this house from sewing over 13 curtain panels, painting 14 walls, building shelves, hanging pictures, adding furniture, forts, drawer pulls, ect...

I have apparently not been sitting on my laurels over here. It just obviously takes time to make a house look complete.

I remember once visiting my dear friend Paula, who use to be a Pastor's wife at my old church until a huge church in Alabama stole her and her hubby away. She was gushing about how she finally had found the perfect picture to complete her living room. I'd kind of looked at her like she had lost her mind... she'd been living in that house for like seven years.

But keeping a house... it's not a sprint people. It's a marathon and with Pinterest... just make it an Iron Man cause there are a zillion ideas out there for you just begging to be done to your walls.

Now instead of sharing all the things I've done to this house I'm going to take a minute and point out the  Four things I've done in our home that my loving and patient husband Bryan wishes...
I hadn't.


1. 
A month into our new home I took on a project that I refer to as, "The Chalkboard Nemesis"  It was a beast... it was seven feet long and four feet wide and had a chalkboard, a magnetic board and a write board. I felt like I was going to get some serious mommy props with this bad boy. All I got was four months of annoyance and we finally hung that sucker up last month after it sat against the wall for five months. (That's 9 months for those who are counting from start to finish for that monkey to make it to the wall)
Bryan had paid extra for a stunning concrete back porch to our home with beautiful fans in hopes I'd spend some quality time out there with him. He did not foresee me hijacking his relaxing spot as my workplace. Again have to love a man who loves you so much that he lets you willingly destroy his 
man spaces. 
Below is my very real and very messy (as it always is) work space. That dresser is full of spray paint, sanders, paint brushes, all kinds of stuff...



While I was doing my chalkboard nemesis my then 22 month old Toddler had just begun his "helpful" stage. He was trying to "help" me paint and picked up my chalkboard paint can and proceeded to dump half of it on the brand new month old concrete porch. Yep.

As if that wasn't bad enough I ended up dripping write board paint on the OTHER side of the porch. Got that puppy from both sides in one day...  Fail.







2.
Anything with Spray paint. My love of spray paint has finally waned on my husband. He grows tired of the phrase, "Isn't it beautiful? Wait till I spray paint it!"
I think in the beginning he found my spray painting amusing. He sucked in a deep breath and ignored how I got the dust everywhere and often he would applaud my efforts.
I think it all went downhill when I spray painted his only family heirloom from his grandfather that he had gotten. Ok... ok... it sounds bad. 
 It was totally bad.
Granted the piece is stunning and awesome but he was so sad that I had done it and more sad that I apparently "forgot" he had told me it was his grandfathers that... well... he didn't even look at it for a good month. He forgave me the night I told him but let's just say there is always a phone call made before I spray paint anything from now on.






3. 
A misunderstanding about Stripes.
Thankfully, Bryan likes stripes. Seriously... good for him or he'd be getting nauseous every time he saw me cause I love me some stripes. I had been voicing the idea of painting a Striped accent wall on our stairs. He immediately said no. A week or so later we went to a friend's house and she had a striped accent wall. I gushed how stunning it was and he still said, "No."
I couldn't fathom why he kept saying no... this was a brilliant idea.  At this point I should have asked him why he was saying no and I'd have quickly found out he wasn't against horizontal stripes (as I wanted) he was against vertical stripes which he swears I told him I wanted. Oh...
Yea, I didn't ask him. I just painted it one day while he was at work and hoped for the best.
I do that a lot to that poor awesome sexy man... Please don't do that to yours.
It is not a nice thing to do.




Thankfully... it was pretty stunning and though stunned the first day... he has grown to like it and says it's one of the best walls in the house.
Win.



4.


The Aqua Door.


I had gotten permission for this one over a year ago from Bryan. I had a Pinterest picture, I showed it to him and he said, "Sure." I bought the paint two months ago and randomly instead of mopping the kitchen floor one night I decided to paint the back door this stunning shade of Aqua to match my kitchen curtains.
I did a fantastic job painting that door... I mean I'm still shocked at myself. I don't even know how I did it... it had to have been God's kindness cause that door looks great.
When Bryan walked in the house after his business trip at first he didn't notice it. Which, for an engineer not to notice something... he must have been tired. When I pointed it out he just stared at it in stunned silence for a few minutes. (Not a good sign) I watched him suck in a deep breath, plant a kiss on my forehead and sigh, "Great job painting the door baby," and than walk away.

He still hates that door.

His symmetrical nature finds it offensive.  There should not be a blue door in the middle of a gray and red house. I find it whimsical. He finds it out of place. At least he still says it's one of the best paint jobs I've ever done...




I'd say 4 out of 97 is pretty darn good! For two polar opposites... me a crazy extrovert and he a calm introvert to have so much in common even in decorating?

God must have had a great time making us for one another. ;)

I really like Texas. It's been a lot of fun. I hope the next year is filled with a little less stress about this house and a lot more messes, fun and maybe just one or two more things Bryan will wish I hadn't done but in the end he may just go, "Aw why the heck not."

God bless and Much Love,


 Jessica