Move It Monday

Good Monday morning to you! It's an overcast, sleepy Monday here, but we are pushing through, none-the-less! There is much on the agenda today, and it won the coin toss over crawling back into bed! lol! I am getting ready to have some cranberry juice, and some cinnamom raisin bagels with butter. I am NOT a bagel person, but for some reason, if you put some butter on a cinnamon raisin bagel, and microwave it for 30 seconds, I am in love! ;)

Today I need to get most of my list accomplished. I am behind on things again (no surprise) and need to catch up so I have time for flower planting next month! YAY! I hope to:

*Wash a load of laundry-DONE

*Vacuum front room floors-DONE

*Wash dishes-DONE

*Put away clean clothes from yesterday-SOME

*Wash second load of laundry-DONE

*Tests with A.M./Write out this weeks assignments-DONE

*Third load of laundry-DONE

*Schoolwork with A.J.

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me, so I better get to it! I'm already late with my breakfast, and I'm starving! (or so I think :P) I pray you all have a wonderful day, and a wonderful week!

Women In The Word Wednesdays~03/16/11

(Click on the button above for more WITWW posts!)

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain"; wheras you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that." James 4:13-15 RSV

Now, I don't think it means we can't make plans, or try and prepare for the future. I just think we need to be in constant awareness, that the future belongs to God. We can make those plans, but should be prepared for the Lord to change them if He wills, and not go into a fit over it, or be caught off guard and have the wrong attitude or response.

I used to pray every morning, when we lived in Georgia, for God to guide my day. For Him to lead me, and rebuke satan, that I would stay in His path for my life. I would ask that He help me make all my decisions and be with me every time that I spoke, so that I would speak His words, and not my own. I also asked that He hold my tongue when I should not speak so that I might not sin against Him. (I'm very bad in that area) It's been a few months now, that I haven't been praying this every morning, and God has definitely told me that it's time to return to doing so. I am a planner. I feel much more comfortable having a firm plan in place for everything, but this leads me to great disappointment when it doesn't work out, and sometimes I have even looked like a fool, saying I know somethings going to happen, and then it doesn't!

We do not know what tomorrow will bring. It only makes sense to lean on the One who does, and include Him in our plans!!! An elder woman in the church in Georgia, who really was a Titus 2 woman for me, always said, "Lord willing." She said it so much, that I really pondered it, and if it was necessary. But as time went along, I realized how much everything really was, "Lord willing!" Something as simple as driving to the post office, can be delayed with a suddenly bad starter, or keys being locked in the car! She taught me to always remember that the future is in God's hands, and all I can do is live each day for Him, and see where that takes me! :)

Project Organized Home~Chair Recovering

Today, I thought I'd share with you what I did this past week! So many people are afraid to tackle this project, and they shouldn't be...it's not that complicated! :) I'll show you how to do it!

For the longest time I had just plain wood dinning room chairs, but when we bought our first new set ever, when we moved to Georgia, I was so excited to get wood chairs with a fabric covered padded seat! Well guess what? I have 4 young children, and within months they were nasty looking. :( I decided to recover them with curtain fabric so that they would match the curtains in the room, and I covered the new fabric with clear vinyl so that they could be wiped down, and protect the fabric! Well, they made it almost 4 years, and the kids have finally ripped the vinyl. So, it was time to recover them again. And if you know me at all, you know that I wouldn't dare go another 4 years with the same fabric color! Hehe! So I headed to the local fabric store and picked out one I thought would go great with our rental house!

The first step is to take off the old fabric. Now if you have a new chair, there might be a nice neat covering on the bottom, don't be afraid, just cut or rip it off, and underneath will be the seat fabric stapled on, looking like this in the picture below. There should be screws holding the cushion onto the chair, you'll need to find them, and unscrew them. Now, you can decide...sometimes it's better to leave the fabric and just cover over it, while other times it needs to be taken off, so it's not to bulky. If you are using a thick fabric, plus vinyl, you'll want to start fresh with the wood and batting or foam. Since I had two layers already, I had to take one off. I just use a flat head screwdriver, and pull up the staples...

Once that fabric is removed, I am ready to put on my new fabric! Just place the cushion on the table or floor, over your fabric. Cut it with enough extra fabric to go up and around the cushion, and room to staple it in place. Now this can be done so many ways, but I would highly suggest you staple all sides first, and then tackle the corners. If you have a patterned material, make sure it is centered on the cushion before you staple it! Pull the fabric nice and tight, and staple in place. Keep it as straight as possible, so you don't have pulls or wrinkles in the fabric up the sides. With these cushions, the back is pretty curvy, so I staple the front, then the back, to hold the fabric in place, then I go to the sides.

Now for the corners. There are so many ways to do it. You may have to do trial and error to see how you like them! I just pull a little section at a time, layering it over each other to make a cute little layered corner. I start off with this...

and just keep layering and folding over, until I'm left with this, and I staple it in place...

Once I'm done stapling the corner, I cut off the extra fabric, so it's not too bulky. If the corners are too bulky, they will show space between the chair and the cushion when you try to put it back on.

Finally, when done with the fabric, you can move on to vinyl, if you wish. Same thing. Lay the cushion over the vinyl and cut it to size. Staple it all around, using the same method.

Cut off any excess material once you are done, and you should be left with this!..

Now all you have to do, is place it back on the chair, get your screwdriver, and tighten the screws back into the wood on the bottom of the cushion! I recovered 4 chairs for $30. I am also covering the top of the bench behind this chair in the same fabric, and it only cost me an extra $10. Oh, I just LOVE them! The new fabric just matches this front room so well!!!! It's amazing how such little changes can make such a big difference!

FYI-For 4 chairs, I buy 2 yards of fabric, and 2 yard of vinyl. It just depends on the size of the fabric. They are always cut by 36" yards one way, but they all vary the other way. They could be 43", 24", or any dimension. You should usually always be safe with 2 yards for 4 chairs. It's better to buy more than not enough! You can use the extra to make matching
place mats, a table runner, or other projects for the room!

Women in the Word Wednesday

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

James 4:7-8

If you find yourself feeling down, angry, frustrated, sad, or just not yourself, do a spiritual check up! Ask God to show you what you are doing, or are NOT doing that has pulled you away from Him. He will be faithful and just to show you, so that you may restore your peace with Him!

Our God is a loving God, but he is also a jealous God! He has every right to be too! He created us, and only wants the best for us. Having our loyalties divided between the world and God, will only bring bad things for us. Our eyes need to be set on God above, and He needs to be our #1 priority all the time. As a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, etc, I know how hard it can be. It's a daily struggle for me as well. The blessings are so great though, when God is put in His deserving place! My joy is great, and my cup overfloweth, even through the bad times, when I am close to God!

I pray that today, you will pull that one foot out of the world, and place them both in the Lord's path. I pray you find that same comfort and joy that comes from walking in the Spirit, side by side with our merciful, patient, and loving God!

Move It Monday

Good Monday morning! I do hope that this weeks brings many wonderful things to all of you! I am starting out slow this morning. I am still trying to recover from the shock and pain from losing my dear Natasha this weekend. Some people think it's so silly to get so worked up over an animal, but anyone who's had pets, especially dogs, knows just how personable they are, and just how sad it is when you have to say goodbye. I miss my Tasha so much. I keep thinking my tear ducts have to be empty, but then more tears come out. I know time will heal, and though we can't ever replace her, my husband and friend are already trying to find the kids and I a new friend. They feel it will help us heal. I'm sure it will. We've always gotten a new dog shortly after we've lost one, and it does help. She was my favorite out of all the many dogs we've had over the last 20 years though, and I'm taking it pretty hard...I just don't know if I want another dog right now. The loss is so hard. I can't see us not always having two though, so I guess I'll comply with the process! Harley is pretty lonely too. (our lab) Love you Tash!

Well, on from that. I am trying to stay busy today and not think about my losses. Not think about GA, my old home, or my Tasha. I am focusing on our rental house here, and getting more things organized. Lots of laundry today, and keeping up with schoolwork. We are still behind for the year because of the move, but we are doing good at keeping up with our schedule here lately! I am also going to start getting in more exercise. I am going to keep walking Harley daily, and I am going to start with 20 minutes on the recumbent bike a friend gave me. I will hopefully work my way up to 40 minutes a day. I want to lose 15 pounds to ease the burden on my lower back. I'll need to lose more later, but for now, I think that's a reasonable, and much needed task that I can do in the next couple months! This winter, being back in Kansas, it was just too cold to expect my body to do much physical exercise without majorly increasing the pain from my Fibromyalgia. Hopefully, these slightly warmer temps we are getting now will easily accommodate some exercise!

You all have a wonderful day, and a wonderful week!