"Great fathers get promoted to grandfathers." -unknown

Today is my grandpa's 75th birthday.

Like I've said before, he really is the #1 Grandpa. He comes to our games, buys ice cream, hangs out with us, takes us places, calls us, texts us, writes on our Facebook walls, and all the things that good grandpa's do, but to be #1 Grandpa you have to set yourself apart from the rest. My grandpa definitely sets himself apart from the rest.

There are so many stories I could tell you about gpa. Like the time he had a raffle for a clock. Or how he'd wake up at 2 am to reset his clocks for Daylight Savings. One time we were in the car, and my cousin was texting him, but he kept answering it like a phone call. He'd put it to his ear, say "hello," then say, "Oh yeah, it's a text message." This happened at least 6 times. I'm not kidding.

Grandpa definitely keeps us laughing. He dances in restaurants, talks louder than a clap of thunder, and says whatever comes into his head. Even though we love him dearly for those things, that still is not what makes him the best. He is the best grandpa because he thinks each of us are the best grandchildren. Even though we're not. 

He loves us to the hilt. He is willing to sit through hours of football or basketball games to cheer us on whether we're playing, cheering, or just go to the school. He prays for each of us by name with my grandma every morning before he leaves for work. He was the one to baptize each of us. He buys special things for his great grandchildren because he just wants to see them smile. He watches hours and hours and hours of "Little Bear" because even though it's enough to push any grown human over the edge, it's Eva's favorite. We are spoiled rotten by his love and kindness, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you all because I want you to keep reading my blog.

Happy Birthday to the Best Grandpa in the World! You really are #1.

:j

The 4th Memory Verse of the Year!

Every mind is a room packed with archaic furniture. - Dee Hock

The first piece of "real" furniture I ever bought was my white couch. I remember it was a Sunday evening, and I was eating dinner with my parents. My grandma called to tell me that there was a white couch on Craigslist. (She combs Craigslist like the head of a little kid with lice - sorry to make you itch, but it's true. She is the Craigslist Queen!) Anyway, I'd just purchased my house, so I needed furniture. If you tell gma that you are looking for something, I can almost guarantee she'll find it at a sale or on Craigslist within 2 weeks. It's like her spiritual gift or something. Some people are good at teaching, some prophesy, my grandma is a bargain hunter. So, after gma called, I looked up the ad, decided I needed it, called the guy selling it, and went to see it with my dad. $75 later, the couch was mine, and I loved it.

Momma did not share my love for the couch. She said it was dingy, and she hurt the couch's feelings by talking about how low it sat, and then she said I needed a new couch. Mean while, I lost the leather sofa and recliner I had in my living room to my brother. Technically they were his, but I got to use them while he lived with me. Then he bought his own house and decided that he needed a couch and recliner, so all I was left with was my white couch.

As I was furniture hunting to find something to replace what Josh took, Mom convinced me that matching couches might be cute. She conned me into flipping through Pottery Barn magazines to see the matching couches that they used. She'd point out design blogs that had matching couches all in an attempt to break my love for my white couch.....which was starting to look a little dingy. Finally, I found a sofa set that I really liked. Actually there were 2 sofas that I really liked, but then Momma had a dream that the one I really liked just wasn't right for my house. The next night she dreamt about the other sofa set, and decided that it would be the better choice.

Therefore, based on 2 dreams, the need to replace Josh's furniture, and a white couch that was looking dingy, I ended up with new living room furniture. 

This is what my living room used to look like.

And this is what it looks like now

Mom got the chairs on either side of my TV for $10 at a garage sale. The original plan was to recover them, but they ended up working really well with the new furniture, so we'll see.

And as for my white couch, it's life made it full circle. I sold it on Craigslist within 24 hours of posting it. Dinginess and all.

:j

Well done is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin

New bathroom Episode 1

You know how I've been blogging about how I have nothing to blog about? I totally forgot that we were adding another bathroom to my house. Technically there was a bathroom in the mud room when I bought the house, but it looked like this:

Luckily, that phase is far, far behind us. In fact, really I should be on episode 3 or 4 by now, but I never even thought about blogging it. So even though we're nearly finished, I'm going to break up the reveal into a few episodes because I've learned from reality television that people like suspense, and what the people want, I give. (That's why I'm writing this post - my cousin Tracie is demanding it of me!)

The green door in my mudroom leads to the bathroom. That's why I painted it green, so that when I have guests I can just say, go through the green door. You've got to think ahead in instances like this. :)

Dad was able to fit  get a shower in the bathroom as well, so now I have 2 full bathrooms. 

I've had about 5 different ideas for vanities for this room. I went from wanting a wall mount sink, to a glass pedestal sink, to a farm house sink, back to a wall mount sink. Then Dad went to Home Depot one day and saw that they were having a "Vanity Insanity Sale." He convinced me to pick one of the vanities that were on sale. Personally, I think he didn't want to build me a farm house vanity, but was too nice to say so. :) Once I went and looked at them, I fell in love with this one....mainly because of the sink, and that it was only $99.

Below you can see that the light fixture is kind of over powering. I'm working on that. It's really tough to get pictures in a room that is the size of a man's closet. (A woman's closet would be twice this size!)

Oh, and the color is plum brown from Sherwin Williams. Momma picked it out. Well, I picked out a lot of purples, and she narrowed it down to this one. I was worried that it would be too dark, but once the mirror and things were hung it ended up being just right. You'll get to see those pictures next time. Hopefully by then I'll have my good camera back from the shop - fingers crossed!

:j

Scripture Memorization #3

It's February 1st, which means it's time for the third verse of the Scripture Memory Challenge. Here's what I'm memorizing.

:j