The Ultimate Home Project

I've been thinking a lot lately about legacy and what is most important in life.  I'm not sure what led me to ponder such deep thoughts.  Maybe as parents we all wonder at times if the way in which we spend our time day in and day out is the best use of those precious minutes.  Whatever the reason, these thoughts have been swirling around in my mind for the last few weeks.  My visit to my parents' house this week has allowed me the time to reflect on the subject of legacy.

Hanging in the hallway of my parents' house is the gift that I gave to my parents and my in-laws-to-be on the eve of my wedding.  I had wanted to give our parents something meaningful that would mark this momentous occasion in each of our families and so at our rehearsal dinner I gave them a framed family tree of sorts that listed their marriage, the marriages of their children, parents and grandparents.

As I stood looking at it this week, my eye was drawn to the very top, to the names and marriage dates of my great-grandparents.  I thought about how much, or rather how little, I actually knew about them.  I knew their names and their wedding dates (thanks to some investigative work by family members) but other than some vague holiday memories as a small child, I really didn't know who these people were as individuals.

I certainly didn't know or care what kind of sofa they had or if their throw pillows coordinated perfectly with their drapes.  In fact I thought it silly that they would care about such mundane things.  Especially, I thought, if they could see and appreciate what their lives had led to - the continuing of generations of loving, beautiful individuals who were carrying on the family legacy.

These thoughts have led me to consider carefully what I deem important in my own life.  I spend so much time and energy on things that seem important in the moment, but I often wonder...

Will my children care if the beloved living room sofa is beginning to show signs of wear?  Or will they only care that our home was a safe haven for them, a place to find rest in a sometimes difficult world?  

Will my grandchildren care that I never could figure out the right furniture placement in the office?  Or will they only care that they inherited their grandfather's strong work ethic because he instilled the same in his sons?

Will my great-granddaughters care that I never could seem to finish all of my house projects, or will they  only know they inherited an eye for beauty and a passion in creating a loving home environment from their own mothers?

Most of all, will they know God and serve Him with their lives?  Will they show His lovingkindness to those around Him?  Will they love God and love people?  

If this is my ultimate goal for the generations to come after me, then how I spend my time should be a reflection of this goal.  

I do believe that God has created me with purpose and that my passion for creating a lovely home is part of that design.  But I'm smart enough to acknowledge that my passion for creating outward beauty in my home should never surpass my passion for creating inward beauty in the lives of my children.  This is what matters.  This is what is of utmost importance.

The same passion and excitement I feel in creating the next beautiful decoration for my home should pale in comparison to the excitement I feel at a new day of helping to create who my children will be.  I think sometimes I get it confused and switch around the priorities.  I want to be different, though.  I want to live my life in such a way that, even if someday my great-grandchildren only know my name and marriage date, they will be God-serving individuals because of what I chose to do today.

It is for this reason that I have had to accept the fact that my idea of perfection may never come to fruition.  I will never post as many blog entries as I would like, finish as many home projects as are on the to-do list, or ever feel like we have enough money to do everything on my wish list.  But I will strive to live each day with the goal of laying my head on my pillow at night knowing that I gave my all that day to the things of importance.  I gave to the things that will last long after I am gone from this earth.  

Paint and Furniture Cheap Mama Style - French Antique Look

Four years ago when we moved into the house we now live in, my in-laws sent a truck of hand-me-down furniture from Georgia.  There were pieces in there handed down from both of Georgia Boy's grandmothers and they were all full of memories.  Most were beautiful but a few had seen better days.  Since we were trying to fill a brand new house, we weren't about to turn down free furniture!   But I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would be painting furniture.

Fast forward to four short years later (humor intended) and I finally got around to painting one of the side tables.  This was a beautiful table with great details but it had been stained an ordinary color and the top was scratched from years of use.  I wanted to use it in the sitting room of my master bedroom which is decorated in blues so I decided to go with the antique french country blue look.  If you have ever wondered how to paint furniture or how to do an antique french paint job, this is how I did it.

Here is the table BEFORE!

I first primed the table using ordinary oil-based primer.  If you've never used oil-based paints before, don't be intimidated.  You can use all of your regular paint supplies but you'll need mineral spirits or another paint thinner for cleaning your brushes.  The paint will stick on your skin like glue so it's best to use latex gloves while painting.  Oil-based primers are used when you want to paint something that already has a stain or finish.  Latex paint won't adhere to a stain and instead of stripping, you can prime with an oil-based primer which seals and primes and dries matte.

This is after one coat of primer.  It will be streaky but as long as it's completely covered, you'll be able to begin the coats of latex paint.

After I primed it I painted one coat of Sherwin Williams Georgian Revival Blue.  After that I dry-brushed Sherwin Williams Silvermist.  I did enough to hit a little bit all over the surface of the top and legs but not so much that I couldn't see some of the Georgian Revival Blue peeking through.

 Dry-brushing is a technique that simply means getting enough paint to barely wet the tips of the bristles of the paint brush and then applying it with a light hand.  It's better to do a little bit at a time and build to the look you want.  You can always add more - but you can't take it off!

Basecoat of Georgian Revival Blue.  It's bright!

This is after I dry-brushed with the Silvermist.  At first I did a light coat but after looking at it for a while, I decided to go heavier with the Silvermist.  You can still seek the blue peeking out.

The final step was the glazing coat.  This is what takes a painted piece that looks like it just received a paint job by a kindergarten student and turns it into a piece of furniture with an antique look.

I made my glaze by mixing 3 parts Sherwin Williams Faux Impressions Glaze (Latex Finish Clear) with 1 part Sherwin Williams Umber paint.  The glaze is clear and can be tinted to whatever finish you would like to have.  I used the dark umber glaze on this table and a couple of other pieces but for my next project, I am going to be doing something a little different.  (Stay tuned!)

To glaze, brush on the glaze with a paint brush and then wipe off with a clean cloth.  I used my husband's old undershirts for this.  Even though you are wiping with the cloth, you will quickly see that it creates an aged look even when it is wiped off.

Finished product!

The piece ended up with the exact paint color I wanted but after living with it in the room for a couple of weeks, I think it may look too "fancy."  I'm contemplating hitting the edges and legs with sandpaper for a more distressed look but I haven't completely decided if I want to do that.  So, until then I'm enjoying my "new antique" table!

I got a lot of my inspiration for this table from one of my favorite bloggers, Miss Mustard Seed.  Check out her blog for LOADS of tips on painting, sewing, and making your home beautiful.

Easy Cheap Mama Teacher Appreciation Gifts

I apologize for doing two posts in two days but I had to add this post while it was still Teacher Appreciation Week.

When I started blogging, I was introduced to the wonderful world of printables.  Printables are downloads of all kind of graphic designs, cards, etc. that you can print out and use in a million different ways.  Sometimes these printables are available for purchase at very reasonable prices but there are also a lot of FREE printables available.  When I'm looking for a particular theme, all I have to do is google my topic with "free" and "printable" and I've always been able to find something great.

I am still blown away that all of these creatives ladies out there in the blogosphere provide these printables for FREE and so I wanted to give a shout-out to a couple of the people that I have used in some recent projects.

For Teacher Appreciation Week, I found Cheri of I Am Momma Hear Me Roar.  She had several great ideas for Teacher Appreciation Week, all of which were available as FREE downloads!  I chose the Thank You For Helping Me Grow printable which I attached to a potted plant for each of Superman's teachers.  I am giving Cheri the shout-out here, but I'm okay with Superman's teachers thinking that I came up with this great idea all on my own!

Superman also recently had Crazy Hat Day at school.  To say he is obsessed with Lego Star Wars would be an understatement so I wanted to find a way to incorporate this into our crazy hat design.  I found Cindy of Skip To My Lou and her FREE Lego Star Wars cupcake topper printables.  I printed them out, put them on pipe cleaners and attached them to a red ball cap I found for about $1 at Hobby Lobby.  The result was one great crazy hat!

Superman wouldn't let me take a picture of him wearing the hat so I made the topiary wear it.

I am now hooked on printables as a great way to do something very creative for any occasion.

Happy printing, Cheap Mamas.

Easy Balloon Shade

When I was pregnant with my first child I didn't want to find out the sex of the baby.  It was my first child and I knew I would be excited whether it was a boy or a girl.  My mother, who is a great seamstress, made custom bedding and a window treatment that was beautifully gender neutral.  My son slept on that bedding until he moved out of his crib.  I loved that bedding and all of the memories it held.

When I became pregnant with my second child, for some reason I decided we should find out the sex and we discovered we were having a girl.  I planned on using the bedding that my mother had made because of the sentimental value but then a friend of mine gave me the bedding that she had used for her twin girls.

It was pink.  It was wide gingham check.  It was gorgeous.  My mother ended up making a quilt that went perfectly with it which meant I then had the best of both worlds - beautiful pink bedding and something handmade by Nana.

The only problem was that I had two windows and the set had only come with two tie-top panels.  I thought about hanging them straight down on either side of each window, pulled to each side with a tie back but then I got a crazy idea to fashion balloon shades out of them.  I thought this would give more of the shabby chic look I was going for in Sidekick's room.

I hung them over the curtain rod like you would drape a bath towel over a towel bar with the ties in front.  I then used ribbon to pull up each side creating the balloon shade look.  I tied the tab ties into bows and adjusted it all until I got the look I wanted.

This meant I was able to outfit 2 windows with half the needed panels which made this Cheap Mama very happy!  I love the look and love the pink for my baby girl.

8 Cheap Mama Grocery Shopping Tips

One of the first places I knew that I could work to stretch our monthly budget was in the food department.  Because I live with a "foodie" husband and a picky stepson, I had fallen victim to always trying to cook amazing meals which required amazing ingredients and which meant an out-of-control food budget.  When it was time for me to be a Cheap Mama I let my husband know that we needed to work on the food budget.  I promised him we would not be eating beanie wienies every night but that some things were gonna CHANGE 'round here.

Now there are entire books and blogs dedicated to this topic alone so I won't attempt to cover everything here but instead I will share the most important tips I use each and every time I go to the grocery store.

1. Make a List
Studies and my own experience show that if I don't make a list before I waltz into the grocery store I will buy more than we need which means I'll spend more.

2. Make a Menu Plan
Even better than simply making a list is making a menu plan first and making the list from the planned menu.  With leftovers included, I was really surprised to discover how little I actually needed from the store each week when I plan exactly what I need for each week's menu.

3. Buy the ingredients, not the packaged meal
It's always easier to go for the pre-packaged meal whether it be a Stouffer's lasagna or meal-in-a-box but it also means I'm paying for that convenience.  To combat this, I break down what I like in those packaged meals and buy the ingredients to make it myself.  The one pre-packaged meal that I do keep around the house are frozen pizzas.  For those nights when I'm too exhausted to even think about cooking, having a frozen pizza ready to go is much less expensive than ordering one for delivery.

4. Shop the perimeter of the store
If you think about how your grocery store is set up, the perimeter of the store includes staple ingredients which are always cheaper and usually also healthier.  That's not to say I can shop exclusively outside of the aisles but it's something I keep in mind when planning meals and making my shopping list.

5. Use coupons only if you already need the item
There are also entire sites and blogs dedicated to the art of couponing so I don't mean for this to be the end authority on coupons.  However, I've been there, done that and have the binder to prove it so I do speak from experience.  If I may offer one word of caution: the coupon isn't a great deal unless you need the item already.  Purely shopping from the coupons you have instead of the items you need will ultimately mean you buy things you don't really need and spend money you didn't plan on spending.  Coupons aren't a bad thing; they just have to be used the right way.

5. Always look at the price per pound or price per ounce
This sounds elementary my dear Watson but when put into practice it takes a lot of work.  This is why I usually leave the grocery store with a headache - all of that mental math trying to find the best deal.  Not to give a shout-out to any specific store but one of the reasons I like Wal-Mart is that they do this for me.  They have the price per ounce listed on the shelf next to the price of every single item in the store.  This convenience alone is enough of an incentive for me to brave the behemoth that is Wal-Mart when grocery shopping.  This is very helpful when I'm trying to decide if the bigger size of the same item is really a better deal.  (It usually is but the price/oz will verify it.)  If I compare the prize/ounce or price/pound of items when trying to decide the better deal, I'll always win; not so when just comparing the total price of the items.

6. Give the store brand / generic brand a try
Before you gag a litle bit, let me remind you that I am married to a total foodie husband and our pantry is stocked with store brands.  The way I explained it to Georgia Boy was that we would never know if the item was as good as the brand name if we didn't give it a try.  Therefore our compromise was for me to buy the store brand when it was cheaper and if we found an item that was awful, I would promise to never buy the generic again and from then on I would pony up for the brand name.  This has only happened for one product in the 1+ year that I've been buying generic products.

7. Meatless Monday
My husband and stepson love this night.  Do you detect my sarcasm?  As much as some members of your family may not love this night, it can do wonders for your grocery budget and their health (but they don't need to know that.)  Meat is by far one of the most expensive items on the grocery list so if I can do one meal each week that doesn't include meat I can stretch my food budget even more.  Here in Louisiana, Mondays are traditionally days for red beans and rice.  My husband insists that we have to have sausage or some other meat with our red beans but I remind him that beans are protein, brown rice is healthy and a nice salad rounds out a healthy meatless meal.  Come up with your own meatless meal and watch that grocery budget streeeetch.

8. Breakfast for Dinner
As opposed to my meatless meal, this meal usually brings hoorays from everyone in my house.  This has traditionally been the fall-back menu of many a busy mom but I find if I incorporate it more regularly into our week's menu I save money too.  The great thing about this meal is that if done right, it can still be healthy and the proteins in the meal are relatively expensive such as eggs and turkey bacon.  So the next time you're trying to figure out how to make an expensive meal in a hurry treat your family to breakfast for dinner and bask in the applause.  (I'm only kidding - I've never received applause.)

Hopefully these tips will help you in stretching your grocery budget.  If you'd like more in-depth information on frugal tips, check out my Cheap Mama Handbook.

It Turns Out, You're The Jones

"Keeping Up With The Jones"

We all know what it means and we've all been guilty of it at some point or another.  In my constant meditation on being content and what exactly that means, I have discovered that there is something I admire in almost everyone I run across.

I may not covet it or envy it but it's something that, if I'm honest, I wish I had a little of too.  I suppose someone might say the same thing about me but I, like most women, find it hard to believe that someone would admire something about me.

So just in case you ever feel like everyone else is the Joneses and you're just struggling to keep up, let me point out some of the things that I love/admire/envy (in the good way) about you.

Your new haircut.  (Such a good look for you!)

Your beautiful skin.  (What IS your secret?)

Your newly painted toenails.  (Love the new color!)

That new thing you bought for your house.  (Looks like a million bucks!)

How many kids you have.  (Blessings, all of them.)

How easy it was for you to get pregnant.  (We'll talk about this when you've got more time...and coffee.)

Your personal style.  (Why can't I put outfits together so easily?)

Your patience.  (Seriously, where can I get some of that?)

Your new shoes.  (So cute. Love them)

Your cute laugh.  (As opposed to my sudden, loud cackle.)

Your cooking skills.  (My family would really appreciate a new recipe.)

Your creativity.  (What a great idea/product/skill!)

Your blog content.  (It's what mine wants to be when it grows up.)

Your expertise in an area in which I feel like a dunce.  (Do they have a book on it at the library?)

The beautiful flowers in your garden.  (Why do yours look like the ones in the magazine?)

Your height.  (I'm 5'3" but I remind myself that so is Reese Witherspoon.)

Your jean size.  (I swear I'm going to exercise tomorrow.)

So the next time you start feeling down on yourself, remember that there is always someone somewhere looking at you and thinking "I wish I had that."

Be Content, Cheap Mamas.

For When I Am a Famous Blogger

I've decided to make a list of embarrassing things that have happened to me over the years.  This is so that I will still remain a humble girl after I become the galaxy's most famous blogger and Reese Witherspoon is playing me in a movie.

Please feel free to judge me and/or laugh hysterically.

*When I bought the bed we now sleep on, the furniture store only had a mattress on the floor model instead of a mattress and box spring.  I did not know this and purchased said bed.  When we got it home and put both the mattress and box spring on the bed I discovered that at my towering height of 5'3" I had to jump to get on my new bed.  I now have to keep a step-stool under my nightstand to use each night when I have to hoist myself onto the bed.  Ridiculous.

*In junior high when anything and everything can be mortifying, I was with a group of friends at a pizza place and somebody said something hilarious.  I laughed.  And a booger decided to make its escape at the same time.  Humiliation ensued.

*I have fallen off wedge shoes twice in front of a group of people when the strap broke.  Even after two times, I have yet to find a way to do this gracefully.

*I was actually afraid of Y2K.  I didn't build a bunker or stockpile food but I completely bought into the hype and worried what would happen to my bank account.

*I am not really familiar with marijuana at all and the first time I smelled it I thought someone was cooking chicken.

*I like Grease 2 better than Grease 1.  I know, the shame.

*I once sent my child to gaze in wonder at a large snail on our back porch.  It turned out to be a poop ball from the dog.  I am expecting my Mother of the Year award in the mail any day now.

*Public lactation leakage.  Enough said.

* There exists photo documentation of my personal style in the early 1990's.  Let's just say,  I loved hot rollers, had yet to meet Mr. Tweezers and wasn't afraid to roll my t-shirt sleeves.

*I probably use dry shampoo more than is advisable.  Just don't ever tell me that you can tell.


There you have it.  A list of just some of the embarrassing things that have happened to me.  And you thought being a Cheap Mama was all glitz and glamour.