I mentioned our laundry room in an earlier post and I promised I would share, just put the finishing touches on it today and I hope you all like it. 

This is what our laundry room used to look like...

Gross...I know.

One night last week after too much sweet tea too late at night I could NOT fall asleep.  I was just hanging out it bed, trying to get Brady to wake to keep me company, but he was having none of that.  So obviously I take out my handy dandy, can't live without it iPhone and started creepin'.  As I looked browed Pinterest and looked at all the wonderful pins before I came to the shocking realization that I had a BUTT UGLY laundry room. 

So naturally the next day Brady and I tore out the disguisting cabinet and started to brainstorm what to do.  A hundred bucks, some mudding, painting, shelf hanging, and hobby lobbying later...we have this...

Isn't it so wonderul!?  The project was easy, cheap, and I personally think that it now looks a million times better!  And my favorite little detail (in case you didn't notice) is that the vase holding the flowers has clothes pins in it!  I mean, come on...I'm not trying to trick anyone by putting water in the vase with the silk flowers, so obviously if you aren't going to fill a vase with water then you might as well fill it with clothespins!

Sorry I kind of suck at taking pictures...I feel like the pictures don't really do justice to how amazing the transformation is in real life, so you will all just have to come over and see for yourselves!  Just remember how ugly it used to be =)

This Saturday was the perfect day.  We didn't do anything extraordinary or special, but it was just completely wonderful.  Brady and I woke up early because we were signed up for a 5k.  On Friday night we were both less than excited for the 5k the following morning because it was early, it was cold, and we were lazy.  I struggled to get out of bed, but having Brady bring me my favorite breakfast (english muffin with peanut butter, honey, and banana slices) immediately put a smile on my face and was a great start to the day.

I have been running 4 days a week for the last 4 months.  Brady has not run one mile since I have known him.  I thought I would have pity on my husband and leave my running legs at home and walk the 3.2 miles with Brady.  When we toed the start line he said to me "Let's just run for a little bit until we get tired".  3.2 miles later we had run the whole way and I went way faster than I would have if I were running solo.  Brady was a great coach and he really got me to push my limit and increase my pace.  We finished the race in 32 minutes and both got 2nd place in our age group!  A wonderful couple from our church organized the 1st annual "5k to the Cross" and all the proceeds went to Samaritan's Purse and their Operation Christmas Child ministry.  Brady and I both had a blast at the race. 

We then went home and hung some shelves in our laundry room, thus finishing our impromptu laundry room redo.  Okay, when I said "we" hung shelves, I actually meant Brady hung shelves and I barked orders from the nearby master bathroom shower where I was rinsing off all my post-race grime.  Brady is such a great handyman!  I would share more about the laundry room but I'll save it for an upcoming post.

Then we took a little ride down to the library to get a couple movies. If you read this post then you will know how much I love the library and will understand why this made me so happy.  But seriously...Blockbusters are virtually no more, RedBoxes have a super limited selection and usually only have new movies.  The library has tons of movies, new and old, and best part...it is FREE!  Oh mother hell! 

The afternoon was spent watching college football and taking glorious naps!  Then for dinner I made Monica's fiesta chicken, it was delicious.  After dinner we read and discussed "The Story" together.  I am so blessed to have a husband who reads to me from God's word and teaches me so much about what it means to be a follower of Christ.  Then we had bloody marys, with tomato juice that we canned ourselves from Brady's garden.  Brady made a fire in the fireplace (first one of the year!) and we ate popcorn and watched a movie together. 

It was such a wonderful day and I hope we can have another just like it really soon!

My wonderful Granny has a condo in sunny Florida.  She bought this condo completely furnished and hasn't changed a thing in the last 20 years.  Okay, maybe a couple things are different, but the condo pretty much oozes with tropical 70's glory, right down to the olive green sinks, the plastic couch, and the hideous window treatments.  Despite all that, there was always one thing at that condo that I loved (besides my Granny of course).  It was a custom print hanging in the kitchen that was titled "How to Cook a Husband".  Last year when Brady, Mom and I were visiting Granny she must have felt sick because she gave the picture to me...and she never gets rid of anything!  I carefully packed the print for the flight home and prayed the glass didn't get cracked en route.  So I have had it at home for almost a year now and I still haven't hung it on the wall.  Want to see why...

Because it is hideous!  Sorry Grandma.  I always loved what it said though.  I just don't understand what a lady holding an umbrella wearing a body suit made of Vera Bradley look alike fabric had to do with cooking?  Also what is with the guys candy striper costume?  Freaky, freaky, freaky.  This Pati lady who made the print in 1967 must have been high or something?

But guess what?  Never fear Etsy is here!  I sent an email to my favorite Etsy graphic designer, explained the situation, and she totally came through for me.  I told her that we have a country kitchen, yellow is the prominent color and there is a mild sunflower theme.  A couple days and $15 later I had this gorgeous file in my email.

Sorry I had to post it as a screen shot from my iPhone...the actualy file is way top big to upload to my Weebly.  Maybe if I ever get serious about this blogging thing then I will purchase the professional version of Weebly?  Anyways, just imagine a more crisp photo without the iPhone border...isn't it gorgeous?!

I just sent the file to Mpix to get it printed as a 16 by 20.  I paid $`15 for the custom artwork, $20 for a frame, and $23 for the printing.  Less than $60 for a piece of custom artwork for our kitchen that no one else will ever have...AWESOME!

A few weeks ago our church held a challenge that people could participate in to spread the love of Jesus.  30 people from the church each got an envelope with $40 in it from the church general fund.  They were supposed to take this money and bless someone else with it to show them the love of Christ.  Many more people in the church pledged to do the same thing, only not with Rock Prairie's money but with their own.

Brady and I took that challenge almost a month ago and at the beginning of this week we still hadn't spent our $40.  We prayed and looked for opportunities to bless someone with this money but nothing ever came up.  On Monday I was traveling for work and I stopped at Panera for lunch.  There were a couple of elderly ladies in line behind me, I overhead them talking and I could tell from their conversation that they were having a hard time reading the menu. 

I felt the Holy Spirit tugging on my heart and I knew I was supposed to buy lunch for these ladies.  My heart started beating really fast and I got really nervous!  When I got done ordering my meal, I handed my credit card to the cashier and told her that I would like to purchase lunch for those two women.  It made me sad to watch the one lady order, the cashier had to repeat herself about three times when she asked "would you like a pastry item for 99 cents?"  Then she told the lady her total but told her that I had already paid for it.  The woman looked at me and gave me a big hug.  I told her that my husband and I feel so blessed and we just want to share that blessing with others.

I then got my food and proceeded to sit down by myself with a smile on my face.  One of the ladies then came to my table and asked if I was eating all alone, when I told her yes, she insisted that I come over and eat lunch with them. 

Turns out their names are Fiona and Wanda, they are both over 80 years old, and they are both widows.  We had a wonderful lunch together.  They told me all about their children and their church.  They asked me about my job, faith, and family.  We also prayed before sharing our meal together. 

When it was obvious to me that they were Christians, I felt like I kind of failed the challenge because it was supposed to shine the light of Christ to unbelievers.  But Brady reminded me of all the Bible verses where we are called as Christians to take special care of widows! 

I am not writing this post to toot my own horn; in fact I rarely ever do things like this.  But I am going to start.  I have witnessed a great example in Billy and Vonda of blessing others in monetary ways and I wish I would have started earlier.  As Americans we are so attached to our money, but it's just money!  Also it isn't even ours, everything belongs to our Father in heaven, He has just blessed us with certain things and we are giving the responsibility to be good stewards.  The $22 I spent on their lunch was worth so much more than that. 

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27