Love is Not a War

This is a beautiful song that was a great reminder to me today.  Every word resonates and is incredibly true!  Turn up your volume and ENJOY. 

House Remodel-Part Four

If you missed Parts 1 thru 3 of our House Remodel, click here for Part One, here for Part Two, and here for Part Three.  While the first 3 installments of our remodel were dramatic in their own ways, Part Four tops them all!  This is our Master Bedroom before:

It was AWFUL.  The paint was a mauve flat paint and then someone spend an awful lot of time sponge painting in a lighter pink on top of the mauve.  Side Note:  This is not our furniture…a single bachelor was renting this house when we took these pictures. 

This is our Master Vanity area…more of the same mauve paint with a sponge paint overlay.  Again, AWFUL.  The towel rod, hand towel holder, and light fixture were among all the horrid accessories in this area.  Not to mention the 1982 faucet.  The door to the left of the vanity is our Master closet.  To the right is the toilet and tub/shower.  There are built in cabinets above the toilet that were also painted with the flat mauve paint.  Somehow I don’t have a picture of the cabinets…what a shame! 

Isn’t primer an amazing thing?  I knew that I could actually sleep in this room once the primer was on the wall…even that made such a difference!  Even the baseboards were painted the horrendous mauve-that was a challenge! 

Here are the bathroom cabinets…even they love the primer!  So much better already!

I’m working hard to rid our house of horrible paint jobs forever!  We chose Barnwood by Valspar at Lowes.  Several people in our family have used this color in various rooms in their homes and we just love it!  It’s a very warm neutral tone.

This is the way we left the bedroom after Day 1 of the remodel.  We got all of the paint done in the actual bedroom, other than the trimming. 

Finally, all of our hard work paid off and this is our Master Bedroom now!  We replaced the fan/light fixture and brought it into the 21st century. 

This is our wall to the right of our bed.  The hope chest has been at my parents house since I moved out 6 years ago because I never had a place for it.  I’m so glad that I have space now!  The wall art was so cheap and easy…I took blank canvases from Hobby Lobby and stapled fabric from WalMart onto them.  Then, I took some upholstery tacks and hammered those in around the edges for some detail.  I’d say that the entire project was less than $30. 

This view is standing by the hope chest and looking towards the bathroom.

I’m so proud of the way our Master Bath turned out!  I can’t remember the exact name of the color, but it’s actually a WalMart color.  It’s a very soft ice blue.  We chose oil rubbed bronze fixtures so that they would stand off of the blue paint. 

We painted the same blue color in the tub/shower area and we also painted the cabinets an antique white.  I don’t know if you can tell in these pictures or not, but the vanity and tub/shower area had carpet in them before we started the remodel.  It was awful.  We had it ripped out and had gorgeous tile laid.  It was well worth the expense! 

I’m so glad this project is done…I’m always tweaking things, but at least the mauve paint is gone forever!

Paige starts Cubbies!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can’t believe that Paige is old enough to be in Cubbies at church this Fall.  Technically, I guess she’s not since the program is designed for children that will be starting Kindergarten in 2 years…we’ve already decided to not start Paige in Kindergarten until she’s 6.  Anyway, we didn’t think that she would be eligible for Cubbies since she’s 3 years out from Kindergarten, but the directors really wanted us to bring her and we’re so glad that we did!  Paige is absolutely loving it.  She gets to recite verses, enjoy a puppet show, play games, sing songs, eat a snack, and play outside! 

She earned her official Cubbies vest on the first night by completely the BearHug brochure and then earned her first patch to put on her vest this past Sunday for reciting her verses!  It’s so precious to hear her reciting verses like “All have sinned” and “God is Love!”  God’s Good!

Football-Week Two

Unfortunately, the Junior Panthers lost this past week.  However they played extremely well and Stephen and the other coaches were very proud of their effort.  Hopefully we can pull off a win tomorrow night!

Even though we didn’t win, we still had fun supporting our team…

Nacho Cheese anyone?  She begged and begged for chips and dip and when I finally gave in ($2 later!), she barely touched them.  Lesson learned.  

Will you pray for my Gran?

*UPDATE* Gran had another episode this morning that affected her vision first, then her speech. It lasted a bit longer this time and she is now back at the ER. I haven't heard from Mom in about 1/2 an hour.

During naptime at school today, my mom came to my classroom (which is extremely abnormal) and told me that her and my Aunt had had my Gran at the hospital since about 11 am today. Apparently, Gran was talking to her neighbor on the phone and she wasn’t getting her words out correctly. She realized what was happening and asked her neighbor to come over. Once the neighbor got to Gran’s, she knew she needed to go to the hospital. She called my mom who quickly left work and took her to the ER immediately.

From what we can gather, Gran had a TIA stroke, or a mini stroke. While in the ER, they did a Head C/T scan and and EKG. Her blood pressure rose to 190ish/97ish, which is extremely high for anyone, but particularly Gran. The C/T and EKG were both clear and they waited until her bp came down before they released her. She goes back tomorrow for an ultrasound of her carotid artery and then I’ll take her to her normal doctor on Thursday morning.

Paige and I went to see her this evening and she seemed like my normal Gran, thankfully. She was having issues with a few words, but nothing horrible. She sat with Paige and talked and laughed and was very aware of the situation this morning.

Would you just pray that we will have wisdom for her and the doctors will, as well? Gran will be 77 on September 28th…and while I know she’s getting older and her body is wearing out, she’s still my Gran and I never want to give her up.

More Football Pictures…

A post full of pictures and very few words…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paige got a new Warriors uniform this week (My Dad’s team is the Warriors)!  She went with my parents to the Warrior game on Friday night, so she got the opportunity to model.

 

Football-Week One

The Junior High Panthers and The High School Panthers won this week!  It’s a good week at the Banning house! 

I was prepared with a backpack of fun at the Junior High game this week.  I brought coloring books, crayons, Paige’s Leapster, and her portable DVD player and movies.

Ty, Fallon, Paige, Grayson, and Kale joined all enjoyed watching the Tinkerbell movie during the ballgame.  The DVD player will be a must at every game this year!

Paige and I trying to get a descent picture at Daddy’s first real ballgame of the year…

The young lady that dresses up as the Panther mascot lives right behind my parents and so since Paige knows who’s inside the costume, she’s all about being close to her.  Last year, this picture would have NEVER happened. 

Paige just had to pose in her post-game picture with her Daddy!

This is how we end each game…with prayer.  Such a sweet time.

We’re so proud of the Panthers this week!  Onto Week 2…GO PANTHERS, BEAT THE EAGLES!

Front Door Makeover

I’ve  been reading all over BlogLand about using vinyl letters and numbers on a front door…they look so inviting and welcoming!  I, however, do not possess the patience that it would take to order the vinyl lettering and wait for it to show up on my doorstep.  So, I did the next best thing…used my black paint pen! 

Here’s the before shot-it’s not horrible, but it’s just not saying “Come on In!” .  I didn’t take pictures of my process, but it’s really not that hard.  I used Microsoft Word and found a font that I like enough to paint on my front door…then I made it a size 400.  Once I printed it, I used my exacto knife to cut out the letters and numbers.  I used the very scientific method of taping the cut out letters and numbers to the front door and tracing them with an automatic pencil to get them in the right position.  After the tracing, I removed the cut out letters and numbers and went to work with my trusty black paint pen! 

 

What do you think?  It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it suits me just fine! 

Paige’s First Bus Ride

After Stephen’s scrimmage game last Tuesday night, Paige got to ride home with him on the school bus that the team rode on.  She was such a big girl and sat in her Daddy’s lap so she could “see the interstate”.  She also had her portable DVD player and Tinkerbell movie just in case she got restless. 

Paige was beside herself excited to get to ride home with her Daddy.  It reminds me of riding home on the bus with my Dad…except he was driving the bus and I would sit on the control panel to the left of the steering wheel…safe, I know!

Can you see the excitement oozing out of Paige?   I can.  However I cannot figure out what the look on Stephen’s face is all about!

I’m surprised that she slept at all that night after riding home on the bus-she couldn’t stop talking about how fun it was!