decorating advice

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that we recently purchased a new sectional, a very significant purchase.

We have REALLY been enjoying that sofa and now we are planning on repainting the room it is in plus the kitchen and eating areas since they are connected. I am pretty excited. I decorate and make curtains free-lance, but rarely get to spend the money to do anything in our house. Anyway, I need some opinions because my husband and I don't completely agree on the trim for the curtains.

Here's the paint colors:


Here's the first trim option:


Here's the second trim option:


So what do you think? The first or the second trim?

Board games - friend or foe?

We've all seen the commercials...

There's the breakfast cereal that will bring you closer together as a family...

There's the restaurant that guarantees to bring families together around their tables...

There's vacations and cruises that claim to make children who are always surly and sullen, turn into smiling, happy kids...

There's convenience food mixes that are easy to prepare at home so families will actually spend time together...

My personal favorite is the one that claims if you buy their mini-van, a family that does not spend time together and are very annoyed by each other, will find new life and happiness by taking a ride in their awesome, wonderful vehicle. The kids all of a sudden like each other, bad moods fall off of them on this wonderful ride, they play Jenga together in the moving vehicle, and even learn each other's names. (The teen-aged daughter didn't know her younger brother's name until they have a wonderful ride together in the mini-van. It's the stuff of dreams, I tell ya!)

There's shoes, toys, electronics, furniture, drinks, homes, clothes...well, all the stuff that will finally make you happy is limitless. This world glorifies materialism and self-gratification. But that is another post! (Although you'd never know it by my tirade! :-)) But no, this post is about family games.

The commercials for family games show happy families being drawn closer by "game night". Everyone is smiling and laughing and having the time of their lives. The implication is that the family that plays games together is happier and more adjusted than others. It's actually a claim that I kinda agree with. So imagine my angst when I finally admitted to myself that games do not do that for us.

Warning: We are a real family...no perfection here. We love God and each other with all our hearts, and even though Mr. Shumway and I teach our kids to always be kind, never to argue, and to always think of others before themselves, the truth is that they DO fight, they DO disobey, and they ARE selfish sometimes. (OK, more than sometimes.) Add to that, everyone's personality is so different and we a like such different things. One person likes math games, but hates word games. One person loves word games, but hates games that involve any kind of numbers. One person doesn't do well with pressure-filled games, another hates games with any kind of guessing involved. One person gets bored after ten minutes, another could play certain games all day. There are issues involving how fast people read, how much trivia they know about certain things, how good they are at holding their cards so no one can see, or even who sits next to who.

Anyway, it all started with this rainy Monday. Since we were stuck in the house, I suggested a game. Game playing usually follows ten steps around here:

Step 1. The parent/s suggest a game, or goes directly to step 6.
Step 2. One or more children do not want to play that game.
Step 3. The parents proceeds to suggest every game in the house.
Step 4. Each suggestion is met with an ever-increasing torrent of tears, arguing, and coercion as the children try to talk each other into playing the game THEY want.
Step 5. Everyone becomes emotional and upset.
Step 6. The parent chooses the game with the least amount of resistance and announces that a certain game WILL be played.
Step 7. Someone refuses to play said game.
Step 8. The parent informs the children that they all WILL play, they WILL be nice to their siblings, and they WILL have fun, whether they like the game or not.
Step 9: Game commences with one person fighting tears, another one muttering under his breath about how girls are overly emotional and ruin everything, and another one asking constantly why they have to play?
Step 10: Since everyone's mood is so pleasant, you can imagine that no one rubs anyone else the wrong way, yet somehow someone always mananges to get into real trouble with Mom or Dad. Then the REAL arguing and tears ensue and someone ends up being grounded or losing a privilege. See how we are all better off for this foray into gamedom?

And through all of this, the parent struggles to maintain a happy, encouraging mood. Ahem. Games aren't supposed to make people work extra hard to like each other, right? You don't have to answer that.

garden advice?

Our youngest daughter (9 1/2) loves anything domestic. She wanted to plant a garden this year. I've never planted anything from seed, but I figured we can learn by trial and error. Well, she picked out what she wanted to plant and we sowed it today (pumpkins, watermelons, peppers, onions and cilantro). I was wondering what we could make to mark the different plants that would hold up to the weather and that we don't have to buy. Any ideas? Also, any suggestions about how to make sure our seeds actually come up? Thanks!

Sunday Scrappin'

OK, I realize it's only Saturday and I'm posting a Sunday Scrappin' post, but I missed it last week, so I'm making up for it, I guess. (Actually, I just had a little time right now while I'm waiting for Mr. Shumway to make me a yummy gourmet meal.) Sunday Scrappin' is a meme where I get to share what (if any) creative thing I've done this week. Lately I started experimenting with doodling, made a lot more embellishments for my embellishment box, and scrapped seven pages. I've now completed 93 pages this year and I hope to get 250 done by December 31. We'll see if my momentum holds!

Anyway, even though I've been doing this meme for over a month, I am just now realizing I wasn't giving credit where credit is due. Amy is the one that came up with this, and here is the button so you can check out lots of other awesome creations...

And the other person who deserves major credit is my scrapping hero and mentor, Snizzle-Sis, my awesome sister-in-law who’s one of my biggest fans. She asked me where my offering was last week, so this post is in tribute to her. (I love you, Leah!) BTW, she’s a way better scrapper than me and the pictures on the first layout were taken at a scrap at her house. I know it might seem too busy, but I tried to express the controlled chaos a person experiences when they're scrapbooking and all their misc. page elements are scattered all around them.…

This last one is an example of printing off two blog entries about Baylee's softball season and using them in layouts. The individual pictures on the second page were just a few of many more I'd already scrapped and therefore weren't super important. So I printed that blog entry on vellum so I could fit six pictures and a fairly long entry on one page.

Question: Do you buy patterned paper just because you like it, or because you have something specific in mind?
Answer: I rarely, if ever, buy any paper because of a certain layout. I would like to, but just can't afford the time to pre-plan my layouts. (I'm all about speed.) I buy paper because I like it, then go into my stash and start picking our colors that go together when I'm actually ready to do an event. I use embellishments to pull together a theme...like dried leaf skeletons for a Fall theme or snowflake stickers or stamps for a winter page. If I don't have a specific thing I'm looking for, I may get frustrated, but just do the layout anyway. I may not love it, but it's just one page of many!

Happy eleventh, sweetheart!

My Snizzle-Sis BFF SIL, scrapbooking mentor and idol wanted to know where my Sunday Scrappin' post was. Some people actually care about that kind of stuff, I guess! So I told her I'd post one, just for her, giving credit where credit is due! And I will, but first I need to share about our girl who turned 11 on Sunday.

The walls were pale yellow with just a hint of a white sponged glaze. Light green stenciled leaves were scattered here and there.

I was painting the last wall when Mr. Shumway called to me that my dinner was ready. As I got awkwardly off the stepladder, I put a hand to my huge belly and smiled. You were going to love this room.

Ah, a light salad. I had lived on salads and baked potatoes for nine months, not the healthiest diet, but the only one that helped my stomach and I get along. When I sat down to eat it, I felt it.

"Uh, my water just broke."

Mr. Shumway blinked at me for a moment. Then he got up and nearly ran to the phone to call Angie, who had agreed to watch your brother when you decided to come. She arrived in record time and we were out the door.

At the hospital, the whole experience was surreal. I felt no pain, yet they couldn't send me home because my water had broken. How different from when your brother was born! That had been a truly painful, traumatic experience as I'd had no pain medication, was in labor for over 24 hours, and had major physical damage afterwards that caused me to be in agony for months. That was one reason I suffered from post-partum depression so badly and my new doctor was determined that wouldn't happen this time. She ordered an epidural.

I had been feeling contractions, but there was only one that hurt really badly before the epidural kicked in. Some doctors say you can't push if you have an epidural, but that wasn't true for me. I gave four great big pushes and you were here!!! What a joyous, wonderful day that was!

You were a happy baby, only getting really upset in the car. You were so cute and sweet, everyone wanted to hold you. I was happy to let them, and squelched the tiny, unreasonable possessiveness I felt.


You grew into a precocious toddler, then a funny child with a quirky sense of humor (you get that from your dad). Your heart grew ever more compassionate. You became more and more creative, trying all sorts of artistic pursuits (you get that from me).

But from God you got your unique mix of dependent, loving little girl, and independent woman, strong in your own sense of yourself. You'll never be a follower and you will always love your family and your God. Daddy calls you Bird-girl, Baylee-bird, or birdzilla. Daddy and his nicknames!


Your birthday was Sunday, but you had your sleepover on Friday. You couldn't wait...you'd been planning it for weeks. How much fun you all had!

The next day, Daddy and I took you and your cousin to the Japanese Steak House where, not only did we have a hilarious Japanese chef, but you tried sushi for the first time. You rock!

Then we went to the mall for a shopping spree. You bought three pairs of earrings (your first dangly ones), two shirts, some Webkinz trading cards, and Starbucks for you and your BFF.

The next day on your actual birthday, Mom made marinated flank steak, a family tradition for special events that just happens to be your favorite food! It worked out great for me because I got to have your party at your aunt and uncle's house---no cleaning! :-) You wanted me to surprise you with the cake...only specifying carrot cake decorated like an owl, a monkey, a toucan, or a dog. This is what I came up with:



(Vanilla cupcakes for the kids who didn't want carrot cake):

I love you, my individualistic, secure-in-who-you-are, funny, imaginative, caring, sporty girl. You are a huge blessing. Happy birthday!

Library follies - SS post from last summer...

Melissa from Such Simple Pleasures and Coleen from Manners and Moxie started this cool new meme called Scrolling Saturdays where you post old posts from when your blog had one or two readers (like your mom) in the hopes they may get more love this time around. It's fun and I always have something to post on Saturday! Yesterday I was talking to my friends Monica and Tami and it made me think of this one from this past summer...

My youngest daughter checked out a audio book from the library on her card. Pooh's Corner. She promptly lost one of the discs. She now owes something like forty-five dollars. I get around this by telling her never to use her card again...she can only use Mommy's if she wants a book. That way the fine can keep accumulating on her card and we never have to pay it. Just another of life's lessons we like to teach the kids..."If you can get out of paying for something you owe, do." That's chapter four in the parenting book my husband and I are writing. Ordering information is coming soon.

Anyway, this is almost expected after an incident that happened a month ago. My husband checked out a book and the library told us it never got turned in. I thought he must not have turned it in like he thought--secretly glad he had messed up since I'm usually the one who does things like that. But my husband insisted, so I went to the library and found it on the shelf like he said. I took it to the front desk, they scanned it and said it was a different ancient, used, torn-up copy. Funny, it looked just like the ancient, used, torn-up copy my husband had checked out. We got into a "disagreement", the front desk "clerk" and I. I will fight for anything when there is 25 bucks on the line (that's what they wanted us to pay for the old, obscure book that probably gets checked out twice a year but that they need two copies of.) The "head librarian" got called in.
"How do you know it's not somewhere in this library?" I whispered angrily as the teen-aged clerk snapped her gum and listened.
"We use our computer system to check in books," she whispered back.
"Do any books ever get missed?" My voice broke slightly over the whisper.
"No, I'm sorry. You'll just have to pay for it."
"Can't I get a copy on Ebay and bring it in?" By this time, a crowd of curious on-lookers had gathered around the front desk to see the crazy lady with hives on her chest fighting with the nice head-librarian.
"No, that's against library policy." Her whispers were so professional, while my whisper was quickly rising until it verged on something like shouting.
"Wasn't that book donated? So the library didn't have to pay anything for it?" My arguments were getting weaker and I knew it, but I kept on trying.
"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. You'll just have to pay for it."
"Well, I'll have to call my husband and tell him about this!" I grabbed onto something that would give me the slightest possibility to save face. I angrily ripped my cell-phone out of my purse, walked slightly away from my wide-eyed kids, and dialed my husband's number.
"They are making us pay for it! Twenty-five dollars!" I said, loudly enough for the onlookers to hear.
"Just pay for it," he said reasonably. In my angry state, this is not what I wanted to hear---I wanted some validation. My husband is always so reasonable and calm when I am upset. This quality of his drives me bonkers because it makes my "upset-ness" look--well, crazy--by comparison.
After trying unsuccessfully to get him to see how unreasonable the library was being, I said good-bye and snapped the phone shut. No help there. I slowly walked back to the front desk, and red-faced, wrote a check without saying another word. Then the kids and I high-tailed it out of there.
"See if they get our business again," I muttered. "They'll be sorry when we stop checking out their free books."

But it all turned out ok. The library called last week and said they had made a mistake--they had found the book on their shelves--and owed us the money we had paid for the book. They promptly sent us the 25 dollars in the mail. I have my validation. Now we can go back and check out books again. Making sure my daughter only uses her mommy's card, of course.

I felt the earth move under my feet

We live smack dab in the middle of Indiana which is darn close to the center of North America. We have tornadoes occasionally, but that's about it in the way of natural disasters.

Last night at 3:39 AM, my husband and I were jerked awake. I sprung to sit upright and my husband bolted out of bed.

The house was shaking. I mean really shaking.

It took a few seconds, but I soon realized it was an earthquake. A significant earthquake. At least to us.

Those of you who live where earthquakes are common must forgive me for calling 5.4 on the Richter scale "significant". But to little ole me, Midwest born and bred, it was sobering and awe-inspiring and a little frightening and I kept thinking about how helpless and insecure we are when the earth moves like that. I have a friend in California who had an old stained glass window and she didn't know what to do with it. I suggested leaning it against a window pane for decoration. She said she could never do that because of earthquakes. It was so weird to me that she just always thinks about that...never having glass in your home that is unattached, because that never would have entered my mind. I guess I was smug in my Indiana address. But last night made me think about how insignificant this place is in the global scheme of things, how America is just one more place in the world, how we're all connected on this earth regardless of our nationality...oh, I don't know. It made me think lots of odd things.

5Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
Mark 13: 5-8

Sunday Scrappin'

Welcome to Sunday Scrappin', the blog entry that brings you exciting new images scrapped by moi!

For my ta-da's this week, I only scrapped four pages because I spent most of my time making miscellaneous embellishments for my embellishment box. Here's the first batch I made, many of them images from old magazines and laminated onto cardstock with added brads and eyelets and ink, etc. I made another group, but didn't take a picture. They included tags made from scraps of ribbon and patterned paper.


I blogged recently about the purchase of our new couch and coffee table. I printed out the blog entry, took a picture of the couch, and made this layout. That's something I've started doing...if I'm scrapping an event that I blogged something about, I'll print out my blog entry and add it to my layout. It's a fun way for my family to hear my "voice" because my blog is so much more interesting and full of life than my journaling. Plus, many people say they blog to keep a journal about the lives of their family. Why not incorporate certain meaningful entries into your scrapbooks?


I'm not happy with the title on this one. I may change it.


Question: What's the least favorite project you've done recently and why?

Answer: I made a really ugly scrapbook page recently and blogged about it. But I printed the entry off, and made a layout that included the blog entry on one side and the ugly page on the other, so I guess it was a happy mistake! Does that count? LOL.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. We're off to my niece and nephew's birthday party! Catch cha later!

Welcome to our home

There are smudges on our windows

School work on the floor

Socks and coats thrown all around

Pencils, rubber bands, broken toys and more

The freezer doesn’t always shut

And no longer makes ice

The dishwasher’s a joke

It leaves crummies on our dishes--nice

There are misplaced shoes all over the floor

Flip-flops, dress boots, mis-matched cleats and more

There’s a spot on the ceiling that gets wet when it rains

There always seems to be laundry with lots of stains

The floor is covered with drip marks

That multiply while we’re asleep

The stairs collect strange bits of dirt

Even after we sweep

So if you come to visit us,

Please ignore the mess

And know that we’re so glad you’re here

And consider ourselves quite blessed.

We're opening a fruit stand

Mr. Shumway stops at Costco on his way home from work on a regular basis to pick certain grocery items up for me. Yesterday morning I emailed him the list, but I must have forgotten what I put on it, because I then went to Aldi and Walmart and got the items I thought I didn't email to him. (There are some things we can't buy at Costco.) So now we have approximately a bushel or two of strawberries, tons of blackberries, two huge bags of apples, a huge bag of oranges, two huge bunches of bananas, a big bag of grapefruit, tons of cherry tomatoes (which are fruits), and lots of cantaloupe. I have informed the kids that anytime they are hungry between meals, they HAVE to eat fruit, and fruit only. You would have thought I was sending them to the firing squad. But even with that, I don't think we're going to get through it all before it goes bad. I guess I should pay more attention to what I actually write in my emails!

Thrillsville

Well, my life is has just been a barrel of thrills lately. Here's some compelling highlights:

School is almost over for us. We've been taking lots of field trips to the Children's museum to climb rock walls and learn about robots, prejudice, and how boring carousel rides are.

Mr. Shumway was gone for 7 days eating good food and enjoying the sunshine and temperatures above 45 degrees F. (Although he did actually work during that time.) In the meantime, I was enjoying Totino's frozen pizza and Kraft mac-n-cheese with the occasional PB&J thrown in.

I put fertilizer on our weed-patch yard.

My brother's R&R ended and he went back to Iraq for 6 more months. (Ok, I admit this wasn't a thrill, but a very, very sad thing.)

I put off mopping the floor. I am still putting it off.

I yelled asked the kids to clean their bedrooms. And the van. And to pick up all their stuff lying around. Eventually they did, sort of.

I thought about refinishing the girl's dressers. Again. I also thought about planting and actually having a nice yard this summer. Again.

See, I told you. Excitement. Pure excitement.

Sunday Scrappin'

My Sunday Scrappin Ta-Da's. I scrapped 8 pages this week.






I also ordered and received our pictures from this March and will start on those next week.

I don't usually set weekly goals, at least for crafts. I have a yearly goal to scrap 100 pages this year which I've already almost met (I've done 85). I think I'll probably do about 250 pages this year.

Bonus question: What kind of projects do you do most often?

Answer: It depends on a lot of things. I am a very emotional, creative being who always must be creating something in some way. Some of the projects I've worked on the last year include:

working on my novel
designing and making curtains
Watercolor and acrylic painting
Faux finishing and decorating
teaching calligraphy
jewelry making
card making and design
photography

I have too many interests, folks. It's really hard for me to stay with one thing for very long. I can't decide what I like best; it drives me crazy. But since I get paid to do most of these things free-lance, it's all good. Still, my dream is to just focus on ONE and make that my career once the kids are grown. At least for the next several years, teaching homeschool HAS to be my number one priority, so there is time for God and circumstances to narrow things down for me. I am hoping things will become clear by then.

True Confessions

Melissa from Such Simple Pleasures and Coleen from Manners and Moxie started this cool meme called Scrolling Saturdays where you post old posts from when your blog had one or two readers (like your mom) in the hopes they may get more love this time around. It's fun and I always have something to post on Saturday! Here's an oldie but a goodie from July...

Disclaimer: I am about to admit something about myself that my mother will tell me later that I shouldn't have. For those of you who hold me as a shining ideal of perfection (which many, many people do), stop reading now. Otherwise, read on.

Mr. Shumway is the best man in a wedding tomorrow. Tonight is the rehearsal dinner. Since I rarely have the opportunity to go to a restaurant, let alone with other adults sans children, I am excited. Anyway, these events come along so rarely in my life, I am always in a dither about what to wear, because I know my apparel is HUGELY significant and will make or break the evening for all in attendance. Oh, did I say that outloud? Excuse me while I wallow happily in my fantasy world for a moment....

OK, I'm back. Since I refuse to believe that going to Bucca di Beppo's is not as important to others as it is to me, I've put much thought into this. Yesterday, I tried on all the outfits in my closet. I tried to think about things logically (no easy feat while in the throes of my fantasy). The few times in the past that I've been in this situation, in my enthusiasm I usually wear something totally out of character, something I've never worn before, something I am convinced makes me look young, and not like the 3o-something mother I am. And then I spend the evening extremely uncomfortable and unable to enjoy myself, sure that everyone is thinking I am an older woman who is trying too hard. And the sad part is that I am. (Trying too hard, I mean. We all know 38 isn't older.)

So last night I brought dinner to my friend, Kim, who just moved. She asked me what I was going to wear.
"This is the deal," I said, relieved to finally speak my thoughts on the matter outloud. "If I go with my instincts, I'll wear something that I really regret later. Remember when I wore those jeans I bought in the Jr. Department? "Hip-huggers"? I felt so young and cool in them, but when I got home, I realized my underwear showed everytime I sat down? Then there was the Christmas party where I wore that form-fitting velvet dress that covered me from head to toe. When I saw the pictures, I looked like a hunter-green blob with blonde hair. So anyway, I'm trying to learn from my mistakes and wear something I've worn before that is comfortable."

She nodded wisely, giving me the understanding my feminine heart craves.

Now, lest you think I am an extremely shallow, vain person, I know that inner beauty is what counts. But the feminine part of me groves in a totally weird way on dilemmas like this. Maybe when I am more mature, I will see how very foolish this all is. (Who am I kidding? I know how foolish this is now.) Foolish or not, I'm wearing my pink flowered top that makes my tan look good.

Baylee's art

Last year for her birthday, we got our 10 year old daughter an easel, different types of paint, and some canvases. One day last month she was bored, so she pulled out her watercolors and a canvas and painted this...


Sometimes boredom can be a good thing.

Warning: going around in circles at a snail's pace can be boring

A game was being played in the back seat. My daughter and my niece were closing their eyes, trying to see if they could tell by "feel" where they were. They were determined to keep their eyes closed.

"Do you want to open your eyes and take a peek?"

"No, I'm not opening my eyes. Are you?"

"Yes. I'm going to open my eyes by accident."

"What?"

"I'm going to open my eyes accidentally."

"Oh."

Car rides with those two girls are always interesting.

Anyway, from the time my son was born over 14 years ago, we have had passes to the Indianapolis Children's Museum, arguably the best children's museum in the world. It is a wonderful, magical, HUGE place in downtown Indianapolis with five gigantic floors, lots of light, countless exhibits, lots of places to eat and visit and see, many of which are always changing. And everything is interactive. It has it's own FREE parking garage, you can sign up to attend plays and rock-climbing sessions and...well, it's wonderful. Its only downfall is that it closes at 5:00 PM, because I'd like to actually go there on a date sometime so I can actually read all the interesting stuff instead of tearing through at a breakneck speed. But I digress.

We went there yesterday for a field trip. Today, the kids are working on a paper about what they learned. My youngest daughter (9) was having a hard time figuring out what to write. She talked her way through the whole day and eventually she said,

"I learned that riding the carousel is starting to get boring."

"Okay," said her exasperated mother. "Write that down."

And she did.