Heading to the Tay.lor Swift concert at Cowboy's stadium tonight with my MIL, two of my SILs and my sweet niece...
But not without keeping close tabs on THE RANGERS! Yes, I did paint my nails with this on it:
GO RANGERS!!!!!!!
I love Fall so much.
The cooler weather.
The changing of the leaves.
The anticipation of the holidays.
So, in preparation for this new fall weather (ie: NOT 100 degrees out), I finally decorated around the house. I will say, after I decorated around the house the other day, it was still a bit warmer than I would have liked so I pumped the ac down to about 70 and lit my fall candles and snuggled under a blanket as I pretended it was chilly out.
Here's some of the decorations around our home:
I revamped this little section of our bar by adding fall ribbon to the lamp and some other little fall decorations (umm...how many times can I say, "fall" in this post?!):
Here's our mantel:
I love this a lot. I finally was able to use some of those thrift store mason jars that I have been collecting. I replaced the three big pillar candles that normally sit on our coffee table with these:
Somehow, our front door wreath managed to not get damaged while it was packed away...I made this last year:
And here I replaced my "summer" decorations on my homemade coffee filter wreath with some fall stuff I used last year:
And although this has nothing to do with fall and more to do with my love of thrifting and revamping things on a bargain, here's a .99 cent sheet I found at the good ol' thrift store and put up as curtains to replace the old dark ones we had in the living room:
And the final photo...the random one of the bunch, because it wouldn't be a real picture post without at least one random photo! ;) Here's what happens if you get a spray tan but don't pull down the little booties you are suppose to wear:
The end and goodnight! :)
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." (George Eliot)
I've just been busy!
Best birthday weekend and then day and now week! :) My husband has been amazing! I plan on doing a picture post of all the festivities soon.
Also, although I have already emailed her...I wanted to mention to the world (the blogging world that is!) that I had the privilege of praying for Jeremiah...and for the second time! I told her that God must really want me to keep her and her beautiful family in my prayers!
The amazing thing about prayer buddies this time was that I had a strong calling to pray my rosary for Jeremiah and all her intentions. The thing that was different for me was that I do not pray the rosary but once a week but here I was feeling a strong calling to pray the rosary every.single.day. So, not only did I have the honor of praying for her, she also helped me with my prayer life! I did miss a few days, but that's it...I am hoping to keep praying my rosary as much as possible because I really feel like it helped to keep me anchored. So, Jeremiah...thank you! You helped me without even knowing it.
I also wanted to say a big THANK YOU to HE adopted me first for praying for me! Thank you!! I am still in awe that someone who has never met me before is willing to offer up prayers for me. So beautiful. AND, I received my bracelets in the mail today...you are too sweet, thank you!!!
Anyways, this post is going to have to end with this because I'm in the middle of making 50+ invites for my in-laws 40th anniversary celebration, and a list of other things...
I've felt so beyond blessed lately, even in the midst of all the busyness, and am so grateful for each and every blessing in my life...no matter how big or how small.
"Enjoy this moment. For this moment is your life."
Here was my thinking in the store:
"I so cannot buy this pink mace...I'm not a 13 year old girl...but pink just makes me happy and if it's going to make me happy when I start my running up again, the why not? I can't buy this, I need to be practical and just buy the army green kind like an adult would do...but then again, it is the same price...well, actually holding it in my hand the pink will actually blend in more, so really, it's the logical choice."
When I got home my husband just laughed at me and said, "you would." ;)
I bought it because I've been wanting to start running again and thankfully the weather is slowly getting cooler. I say this, although it does call for a 98 as the high on Friday...but whatever.
My dh and I attempted P90.X for a couple weeks but unfortunately got burnt out on that and although I was biking, the heat was just too much.
So in comes the running. I want to start back again because 1)It'll make me healthier 2)I'll lose some of the fluff around my midsection 3) I know losing weight will help increase fertility-at least that's what the doctors say and 4)It just makes me feel better.
I would have started running last week but for some crazy reason, I've been thinking of all that bad (people or crazy dogs) that could get me...even though I would never run at night. It's weird, the older I get the more I am paranoid (sorta kinda) and it's not that much fun.
Part of it could be the since my husband is a police officer is the not so great part of town, I hear some crazy stories.
Yeah, that probably plays into my dramatic crazy thoughts...
Anyways, the cooler weather is calling for me to get off my tush and run so I bought the mace to help me relax a bit.
Speaking of cooler weather, it's still in the 90+ here, but I am so ready for Fall. In fact I still have an awesome scent fall candle burning and today I had my husband pull down the fall decorations from the attic. Tomorrow, with cooler weather or not, I'm transforming our home into a Fall oasis! ;)
Anyways, I can't believe that I've devoted an entire post to weather, mace and running...boring. Moving on...
"Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)
I'm seriously amazed that I am just now-CD15, feeling fine.
I mean, like no more anxiety.
No more feeling left out.
No more feeling that lack of hope.
No more feeling overwhelmed.
No more feeling like I have that heavy heart that has been following me since CD1.
Phew.
It feels so good.
Feelings of blessed, hopeful, happy and trusting have creeped back into my soul and I'm grateful for that.
This weekend was a busy one...lots of family fun mixed with some Ranger fun (they clinched AL west title!).
Being with family and friends throughout this weekend-especially when my husband was working-has probably played into why my soul and heart have mended.
I got a lot of snuggles with my sweet nephew because my brother and SIL came up to visit for the weekend. AWESOME surprise I found out about on Thursday.
You see, with them in town it means that my Gm's house was busting with people-cousins, brothers, aunts, little man...good times.
Then we had a birthday celebration for my dh's side of the family-one niece, a SIL and BIL.
We have had so many birthday parties in September and now coming up on October. We like to say that parents really had a good time around Christmas and New Year's. ;)
Here's hoping that my DH and I can have a really good time this holiday season! ;)
Yeah, that hope is still there like I mentioned above.
I'm so glad it's back.
I will say, that I started the St. Therese novena, along with many other bloggers, and seeing as I have a special connection (I chose her as my confirmation sponsor, her feast day is the day before my birthday, she's helped me in many situations) with St. Therese, it's not that surprising that since starting the novena I have felt so much better. (Thank you JBTC for mentioning this particular novena-it's beautiful!)
I also wanted to say thank you so much for the comments last post. Part of me was nervous to share because well, that's not something a lot of people know about (just the near and dear ones). BUT, I realized it really does play a big part in why I am who I am and why I want what I want and so I am glad that I shared. So, thank you for the feedback!
And now, ending on something completely random (because why not) I laughed out loud when I was typing in the Yah.oo search bar, "how to insert a link..." into blogger and well, the things that Yah.oo predicted I was trying to search for were the following:
Happy Monday y'all!
"Hope is the soul of the dreamer
And heaven is the home of my God
It only takes on true believer
To believe you can still beat the odds..." (Lady Antebellum, "Heart of the World")
I realized that I have never spoken about my mother. I've spoken about my desire to be a mother but never about my actual mom. I really think that my strong desire to be a mother not only lies in the fact that I feel in my heart of hearts that this is the vocation I'm called to be, but also because well...she wasn't such a great one and so I have quite a strong desire to be (hopefully) a great one.
My mom wasn't the average mom. Well, she wasn't a mom at all really...
She made me sleep in the bathroom because I would wet the bed when I was younger.
I never knew what it was liked to be hugged or kissed on from my mom.
She liked to hit and say some not so great things.
She preferred drugs over me and my two brothers.
She liked to have boyfriends, outside of her husband (my father).
She didn't care if her three young children were in compromising situations with these so called boyfriends.
She liked to lie.
She didn't care if we saw fights occur between her and whomever she was upset with.
Basically...she just wasn't the best of persons.
The only somewhat decent memory I have of her is that she curled my hair for my aunt's wedding, in which I had the honor of being the flower girl. But that's basically it.
You see, my father came from an amazing background and family (the family that ended up raising my brothers and I) but for some reason he fell head over heels in love with my mother, who was from a not as great background, and got married.
Shortly after they were married, she had my brother. And then when my brother was 5 months old, she got pregnant with me. Then when I was only 6 months old, she got pregnant with my little brother. Then she tied her tubes.
She was really good at having babies. Just not so great at being a mother to those babies.
That's one thing that hurts me sometimes...looking at my mother and all that she didn't do for us or give us and I see that I didn't even get her fertility. Sure, I know she wasn't responsible for giving that part of her...but still...it's just another thing.
She did give me life, though, and for that I will be forever grateful towards her. I would say that's it but she and my father (who is another story for another blog post-a few more pleasant memories there) did ultimately decide to send us to live with my grandparents (his parents) and that's the other thing that I'm thankful for.
Life and life with my grandparents...two things she did right. I can only imagine where my life would be right now had I (and my brothers) stayed with my parents...
I wouldn't have my faith and trust in the Lord.
I wouldn't have this amazing man by side.
I wouldn't know what it's like to love and be loved.
Looking back, I still hurt over so much of the stuff that I experienced in my early part of life, but know that I am who I am because of everything that has occurred in my life.
My mother, through her lack of being a mom, taught me what kind of mom I want to be. The desire has been there since I was a young child-just ask my grandma and anyone who has known me.
I can't wait to be a mother and love and smother my little ones with kisses and hugs and love out the wazoo. My husband and I joke that when this little one(s) is finally here they will probably get annoyed at all the love! ;)
Moms are very important people and unfortunately my mother wasn't such a great one but one day, I look forward to being the best mom I can be.
The mom I feel I am called to be...
“To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.” (Arthur Schopenhauer)
As I mentioned in my last post, I'm doing a lot better.
However, there are still times where I feel like I'm still healing from yet another CD1.
So, a little something that helps when I'm feeling down (aside from crafting or one on one time with my dh) is this:
Delicious red wine and a fall scented candle (even though it's still getting up to 90+ here)...
The end. :)
