A glimpse...

There have been many things changed since we moved into our home 24 years ago. But this little closet has changed the least since our initial makeover. This was the coat closet, it might have held 5 coats...but it made a perfect china cupboard. We were able to purchase glass shelves at a discount store and had them cut to size. We bought an old door and cut it down to size and then stripped layers of paint off it. A few years ago I added the paint color.
The previous photo was kinda blurry but I wanted you to get the idea-here is one close up.
This next photo is a idea we put together tonight. I had purchase this great paper at Ecru a few weeks back, Gary cut it to size and mounted it to some poster board. I added a cute verse from the internet and set it all back into the frame. Love this-

It fits right into our colorful dining room...

adjacent to our colorful kitchen...

guess what two of my favorite colors are...

More students...

What we have spent the last month of Saturdays on...plus a few other days here and there.

Daniel

Sisters- Daryen

and Taylor

Dominic

Aaron

Aaron loves restored autos so we met up with him at the Camas car show. One of the guys even let him get in his muscle car, needless to say Aaron was grinning ear to ear.

We have had a few regular photo trips too but I currently don't have access to those. Besides I tend to be the driver on those excursions anyway...

Senior season is back and it started out really well! 

So far only two appointments changed because of weather.
This year because it's too hot...

Here is a sampling of the great images Gary is producing-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll post more as they come along...

Last week and beyond

In my August 23rd post I mentioned my ability to get really good parking spots. Gary made me take a picture of the car right in front of the store we were going to...ecru. You need to check this store out if you have an affinity for cards, paper and office supplies. Ecru describes itself as the modern stationer. It has walls of cards and lots of journals, post it type notes and just general yummy stuff. We got some tape on clearance, sticky notes, a cute storage bag with old camera images and ordered a really cool address stamp. It's in the Pearl District and easy to get to.
Sunday Amy came over and had no real plans so I asked for her decorating advice for my craft cottage. We took everything off the walls and started fresh. By we I mean Gary and I-Amy was the not paid designer! This is one corner- The canvas we had seen something similar online. Amy painted the background, I picked out letters and painted them & then I glued it all down. Finished with glitter Mod Podge because...I could!
close - up...
I bought these two windows at a friend's garage sale. I attached photos I had copied from online to the back with clear contact paper. This one is in the cottage-in case you couldn't tell from the pink boa!
This one is in the living room. Although because of motion sickness I can't enjoy carnival rides,I do enjoy the beauty of them.
This week has been productive with home things and business and a bit of crafting fun. There is just something fulfilling about getting stuff done. I hit Walmart's back to school isle and picked up some cute composition books that I think I will transform into journals to sell. But first I have my current life journal to finish as part of my last Soul Restoration class...

Confession is good for the soul

This is me a few years back. I don't know why I'm smiling I sure didn't look very healthy. I guess it's because I didn't want to have a dowdy "before" photo. I was embarking on an adventure of weight loss with Medifast products. I hadn't tried this type of program before in my 20+ years of trying to loose weight. I had high hopes.
and it worked- I lost 65 pounds within about 8 months. I was exercising. I was feeling pretty good. I was buying clothes a size or 2 smaller. But...
I had trouble seeing it!!! I still thought I looked fat, I still was bigger than everyone I knew. Then Satan got a hold of me and started playing bad things in my head. And before you know it I was missing a lot of things like this-
and this-
and this-
and this-
and most decidedly this-
and even this-
oh these too-
and so I gave up and ate and ate and ate. It didn't help much, it felt better for awhile. But those things I was hearing in my head were sure loud. My feet started hurting and my knees. The family went through some stuff and I ate to feel better. I ate to drown the voices in my head.

And then January came and I started my Soul Restoration class. I awoke from my stupor. I learned to shut out the voices in my head. Then I repeated the Soul Restoration class with some new and old friends and I remembered that people did like to be around me. During the Soul Restoration II class I started making goals and the steps to achieve them. I caught up with all my scrapbooking and saw A LOT of photos of me after I had lost the weight. I really did look different. I looked healthier, thinner and happy. I decided I wanted to be there again, I wanted to be content again. I wanted to be able to move. I have plans for hikes, and I want to bike and I want to smile for a lot more photos.

So I am back on Medifast. I have a better coach this time. I've asked some friends to come beside me and help me listen to the great truth teller.

And I am planning on looking at least this good come the next Christmas....
definitely not the end....