A little help from my friends...

Friends are so great. This past week I've been blessed by my friends.

See this cup:



My friend Amy gave it to me. I LOVE it. It's so me. I've already told the kids not to touch it as they have had a bad habit of breaking all of my favorite glass things lately. And this includes my vintage Pyrex. Grrr...



Also my friend Janna taught me how to can applesauce and now the girls and I are going to town filling our pantry shelves with applesauce. We have big plans next year to can everything we can get a hold of. Canning is a lost art and so very practical. I'm so glad I had the chance to learn and the girls are learning.

So it's been a great start to the week. It can only go downhill from here. ;)

Getting the bug...

Unfortunately for my husband ,I'm getting the decorating bug again. (I can hear you groaning from here Bri. Just cover your eyes if you don't want to know.) I have Paint ADD and can't stick with a paint color for more than a few months. I thought it would be easy to choose paint colors but it's HARD. So I'm really thinking it through this time and will be getting samples to try out before buying the whole stinkin' gallon.

I also want to slipcover a chair we found at Goodwill and rearrange the living room. I would like to finish decorating my bedroom and I'm so close. I want to find some vintage mirrors for one wall. I found the perfect ones at Pottery Barn but they are waaaaaay to expensive. If anyone knows of a cheap alternative, I would be grateful.

The hallway is boring and small so I want to punch it up with an Art Deco flavor. I'll probably stencil some type of art deco pattern and I would love to get a mirrored desk since it is kind of dark in there. Again, this one is way to expensive.

The school room needs a new paint job as well as the ceiling molding put back up. Graedon decided that the walls needed some pencil art so the whole room is looking shabby.

So lots that I want to do but I don't have any money. The hospital bills came in from Molly's birth and Ava's bungled trip to the e.r. We now owe $4000. That's after insurance. I "cheerfully" sent off $100 to them yesterday. I'm very generous. It's going to take awhile to pay them off.

Oh and we need a new hot water heater, washer and dryer. Oh and the old van just went in for $600 repairs (paid for with cash from our new emergency fund). And the half the girls and the boy need some new fall shoes because they insist on outgrowing their perfectly fine ones.

Aaaahhhhh! I'm looking around the house for anything to sell ;) The girls are starting to feel anxious and holding their posessions closer to them. I know their hiding places though.

Brian did remind me that God has always given us enough money to pay our bills and I shouldn't be anxious. It's hard not to be but he's right. (Yes I did just say you were right Bri, it's even in print). So we'll see how fast we can tackle those bills. Hopefully by Christmas or the girls will only get oranges ;)