Pinterest Makes It Fun!

Last month there was a post going around Facebook proclaiming that Pinterest makes people feel guilty for not being a good or creative mom.  While I understand that we as moms often feel like a failure when we compare ourselves to what others seem to be able to accomplish, I completely see it a different way.

I'm not a creative person, but I am great at being a copy-cat.  Pinterest has inspired me to do things with and for my family that I would not even have thought of on my own.  I don't feel guilty or even ashamed if my Pinterest inspired activity turns out to be a complete flop.  I tried something new.  If it worked, great!  If not, oh well!  My self worth is not tied up in if I can do a great pinterest pin.  I struggle with that in other areas, but not in my pinterest-worthiness.  

I have done several Pinterest inspired projects.  Most have had some sort of success, if not fully successful. But I don't put pressure on myself to have a project look as perfect as the pin that inspired it.  I also choose not to attempt pins that require a large investment of money.  That way, if it doesn't work, then OK, no biggy.

The funny thing is now, my kids ask right away if something new or fun we are doing is from Pinterest.  I've even had to defend a couple of projects I actually did pre-Pinterest.  They assume if it's fun, creative, or new, it had to be from Pinterest.  OH well, I don't need the credit if it is something they have enjoyed or even learned from.  Here are some great Pinterest moments:

This was the girl's Father's day gift to dad.  Modified from a Pinterest idea.  Each girl used one color for their hand print over tape.  We also made signs for Grammie (Brave) and Papa (Care) for their birthdays.  All of the signs were a hit, even brought tears.

Last minute teacher gifts.  Whew!  Was I glad to find this idea the night before the last day of school.

Play rice.  Worked well, but we didn't use it much.  I was planning on it for my then 2 year old.  Her hands took on the color from the rice.

I didn't have a picture of the final product here, but we made tealight holders that looked like turkeys to decorate Grammie's hospital room during her stem cell transplant that Thanksgiving.  Another big hit.

The minivan express complete with tickets, popcorn and starbucks hot chocolate - girls were in their PJ's as the minivan express took them to see Christmas lights in our area.  Shortly after this picture one of the girls asked "was this on Pinterest!?"

Cinnamon ornaments.  Actually turned out almost as nice as the Pinterest post.  Instead of glue and glitter I used glitter glue which was much easier and turned out just as sparkly.

What are some of your favorite successful  (or Not) Pinterest projects?

Making My Home a Haven: Inviting

Thank you Monica from The Homespun Heart! It has been a revealing, fun week for me this week.

Well, since my husband has been away on business for most of the last month and a half, we are really just looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. But with Thanksgiving around the corner we are hoping that our friends will be joining us. With family far away, we find it lonely around the holidays. Most of our friends live close enough to drive home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it would take us at least 3 days just to drive home! Leaving us the only ones in town, it seems. This year we have invited some new friends for Thanksgiving and though they haven't officially gotten back to us yet, we are hoping to have them for Turkey day. On that note, I want to encourage those of you who have family close to invite at least one of your friends who is far from family to join yours for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Being invited to be part of a family helps a little when your miss your family.

So here is my plan for the day, not much in inviting. We're carrying fun Thursday over to Friday!
*Get 5 year old to school - complete with lunch in hand today!
*Library with 3 year old
*local Firehouse with our playgroup!
*Dollar menu lunch
*Straighten up counter tops
*Laundry
*pick up playroom and media room with help from 3 year old
*pick up 5 year old from school (devotion and knitting in the carpool line)
*Read/play with the girls
*dinner- Pizza tonight!
*Mommy goes scrapbooking!

So that's our day. A mixture of fun and duty today. Hope all of you have a blessed day!

Day 4 update: Fun

Today's plan was pretty simple: have fun! So we did.

I only had a couple of to-dos other than playing with my girls and I was able to complete them.

I got my 5 year old to school unscathed.
Ran to Super Target and got some fruit and the needed bread,
Ran home to make a lunch for my 5 year old then ran it to school.
Played Candy land, Chutes and Ladders and Dominoes with my 3 year old. How does she always win?
Had lunch
Made Cookies (burned one pan thanks to my timer that makes one weak chirp when it goes off)
Ate Cookies
Napped with 3 year old
Picked up 5 year old
Announced my plan to feed the ducks and go to the park which was turned down for playing in the driveway with their various vehicles and chalk. (5 year old doesn't like ducks?)
Still playing while I am typing.
Getting ready for dinner and a night of more fun (so glad Daddy is home!)

Since I want to focus on being real with everyone, I want to be clear that things do get derailed from time to time, it's really an unspoken part of my plan. I'm not usually a lister but after this week of being focused on my home, I think I will make more lists. Like I said in my comment on the last post, I feel like I was able to get a lot more done. And if something were to get in the way, oh well, I can put whatever got missed on my list another day. I'll get there eventually!

And on a spiritual note, today I found myself thinking of those dealing with cancer a lot today. I think its because of my knitting. I decided to pray over the piece that I'm attempting to make for someone I don't even know, who may not even know they are sick yet. I pray for healing and comfort and that they know the maker of the universe and his love.

Hope everyone else has had a successful day! Thanks again Monica from The Homespun Heart for hosting this challenge.

Pictures from Day 3 and 4

The beginning of the knitting project (ok, I had to start over a couple of times after this picture)

The first game with the 3 year old (can you see how far ahead the red marker is from the blue? Yep, that's me in the blue, she caught all the breaks and I wasn't even making it easy for her)

Making My home a Haven Day 3: Cared For

Today I had to come up with a project that I have been putting off that needs some attention. Hmmm....what to do. Since I always have everything done that I want to have done, I have to be creative with this one. NOT! I have a lot of things that I could put on this list today. I could put them all on my to do list today but then I would feel defeated by the end of the day so that's not really productive. So I think I will choose a couple and hope that I get it done!

To Do:
Get 5 year old to school
Pick up pictures from Walmart (didn't make my walmart run yesterday)
Organize pictures for Scrapbooking crop on Friday night
Sand Radio cabinet in the garage to prep for painting (will probably take the rest of the day)
Lunch
More sanding
Nap
Pick up 5 year old (devotion in the car while waiting in line)
After school snack/read books with the girls
Dinner- Probably Hot Dogs tonight because of Church
Wednesday night church activities

Wow, that still looks like a long list. Wish me luck! I added the link to my radio cabinet, maybe you have an idea of what to do with it. Right now I just plan to prep it, then I will decided to paint or restore it.

The end of day 2, Making My Home a Haven

Thanks Monica from The Homespun Heart for hosting this challenge!

I'm loving reading all of the comments and I'm hoping to be able to return some of those comments tonight, if I don't fall asleep typing. That would be unfortunate because I hate drool on the keyboard. :-)

Anyway, today I was able to accomplish everything on my list! I was through everything but the floors when I was hit with a crazy headache. I pushed through it for an hour then had to take a nap. That was difficult because my 3 year old decided she didn't want a nap today. Anyway, I did get the floors done in the evening. I will admit though instead of swiffering and sweeping the tile floors, I just used my vacuum cleaner on the bare floor setting (did I mention how much I love my new vacuum cleaner?) I also got two bonus things done today. A HUGE pile of laundry folded and PUT AWAY! Yeah, quite an accomplishment. Also, a very long talk with my dear friend, which was very fun and the highlight of my day.

I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings.

After Pictures of Day 1 and Day 2 Plan

Making my home a haven...




Here are my after pictures from yesterday. You probably couldn't tell what was under all that stuff! I felt really good because I got all of this done before lunch. In addition to the effectiveness of lists, I learned that I really don't have much of an excuse to not get things straightened up. It didn't take that long and I felt more comfortable in my house all day long! Instead of walking into the kitchen and being stressed by the mess, the energy from the room was much more positive. And my bedroom felt more like a retreat at the end of the night. The only thing I didn't get to was the car, but it really isn't bad, just need to throw out some papers that seem to accumulate.

So today I am going to follow the Challenge and Clean. Here is my list for today:

Clean up Kitchen dishes
Clean downstairs bathrooms (upstairs bathrooms don't get used very much)
Vacuum downstairs and the stairs (I vacuumed upstairs last weekend) I LOVE my new vacuum cleaner so this will be fun!
Sweep and Swiffer tile floors
Clean the inside of the fridge
Clean out the Microwave
Wipe up the front of the oven and the dishwasher
Lunch
Walmart run
Nap (I might as well admit to my blogging friends that I am 7 weeks pregnant and need to take about a 30 min nap in the middle of the day to function)
Read devotional while waiting for daughter in carpool line
After school Snack and read with the girls
Dinner- Chick Fil A school night (Like I need an excuse)

My devotional this week is on Leah. Interesting character. She was the unwanted bride of Jacob. Her sister was the one he wanted but their father tricked Jacob into marrying Leah first then working more years to get Rachel, the wanted sister. What discord must have existed between the sisters for all of those years. I will pray that my home and yours is one of peace and unity.

Making My Home a Haven: Day 1

I am taking the challenge from Monica of "the homespun heart" to create a Haven out of my home. Today's challenge is to tidy up, declutter and to make time for quiet time with God. Here is my plan for the day:

Laundry (all day)
Unload clean dishes from the dishwasher
Declutter kitchen counters
lunch
Declutter bedroom dressers and side tables
A hot cocoa break with my 3 year old
Declutter bathroom counter
Devotional time in the car while waiting in carpool line for my 5 year old (Women of the Bible, great book!)
Re-organize the cabinets and shelf in the laundry room
Declutter the car!

Whew! Kind of a lot! but I think I can do it if I start now! If you want to join in the Making My Home a Haven Challenge this week, check out "the homespun heart." I will post before and after pictures too. Here is my before - I'm being vulnerable here!



Update: I am more than half way through my list and it is only 11am! Sweet. Something I have learned: Lists are good motivators. (duh) I should have known that making a list would motivate me, I love to cross things off and get that sense of accomplishment!

What would you do with this?

Restore the antique or re-purpose the cabinet?

This radio/phonograph was purchased on craigslist for $25. It needs a lot of work no matter what we do with it. I am conflicted though. I am pretty sure that it could be a valuable antique. Do I restore it to it's former glory or do I paint and refinish it in a way that would destroy it's antique value? You can see the phonograph in the drawer and on the other side is a radio dial. It's cool isn't it? What would you do?