creative little daisy

Lets talk about something happy

Like curtains. Curtains are happy, right? I think so. Some girls have a thing for shoes and purses, my thing is for curtains and rugs. And lamps. I love lamps.

 But I digress, I am here to talk curtains today. Kitchen curtains.

I hear some of you saying, oh no she didn't.  And to you, I say, oh yes I did.

I've received lots of  nice comments on those IKEA curtains I had in the kitchen. I loved them too, but it was time for a change. 

These aren't actually curtains. Well, they are now,  but they started out as table cloths.

 
I lined them using white twin sheets.

You can find them here.

confession

I try to be a happy person.

A loving and understanding person.

I usually give the benefit of the doubt.

The older I get, the more I worry. I guess it comes with having lived life. Having experienced heartache and loss, the tendency to guard yourself more.

I am a believer in God. In Jesus. In grace and forgiveness, and yet....

There is a dark place in my heart. A place that is heavily guarded, and untrusting. It is a place I didn't even know existed until a few years ago. It is a place that  does not want to love and trust and give the benefit of the doubt.

Because of the existence of this place, deep in my own heart. I feel a bit like Adam and Eve, hiding in the garden from God.

Because of this darkness, my walk with God has suffered.

I want to place blame. To say it is because of another's actions that I have this place. But deep within me, I know this is my battle. My cross to bear.

I wish it would just go away. Oh how I pray for the blackness to be gone, but I know the answer to that prayer. I know it is my work to do.

When the day comes and I have to answer for myself, it will not be acceptable that I harbored this hate in my heart. No matter what the reasons. And yet knowing this does not make it any easier to let go. As much as I dislike the darkness, I hold onto it. As if letting go means the other person is right.  I feel so justified in my hate. Typing that word is not easy. I've always been taught not to hate. Not to even say the word and I until now, I've never felt this way. It isn't a good feeling. It's like living under a heavy wet blanket and even joyful times are slightly tainted by its ugliness.

So there is an inner struggle. The part of my sprit that knows better is at constant odds with the part of my heart that needs to protect those I love.

How do you come to terms. How do you love someone you just don't want to love, when you can come up with reason after reason not to?  Like Jesus, I pray that this cup would pass. Really I do.  I do not want to do the work I know I need to do. 

It's not been an easy road and in reality, it's not even my road. I'm just a spectator and yet bitterness consumes me.

I'm not trying to sound all cryptic, the details aren't important. The point of my post is hopefully by opening myself up, by laying it out there, I can at least face the battle that is before me.  

No matter what the other person does, it is my heart that I will hold in my hands when I stand before my maker and do I want it to be dark and ugly or bright and filled with love? I have a lot of polishing I need to do. I just don't know how to begin.

From hutch top to play kitchen

I had a thrifted hutch top I originally purchased for $14.00 and it made the rounds of the house serving various purposes before finding it's way to the garage.

Here it is in the living room, way back.. last year.  But it seems like ages ago since the livng room was aqua. And since I had that couch.

We've been working on a playhouse for Bayleigh and you know a sweet little playhouse has to have a sweet little kitchen.

Here is a semi-before shot. Mitch had already removed the top shelf and cut the hole for the sink when I thought to take a picture, so I just sat the top shelf in place to snap a pic.

From the hutch we made a little kitchen and a padded bench and the only money spent was for the faucet. It was less than $10.00 from Walmart.

The paint, fabric, knobs and vinyl for the burners, I already had.

Not too shabby for ten bucks.

Magical

Bayleigh's third birthday party was Saturday night and except for the guest of honor being under the weather, it was a magical night.

After seeing Tangled in the theater, she declared she wanted lanterns like that for her birthday. We didn't release thousands of lanterns in her honor, but we did suspend a few dozen throughout the back yard.

In addition to the lanterns the yard twinkled with lights from votives in mason jars.

We kept the food simple, take out pizza. Instead of a cake, I tried my hand at making cake pops.

Not difficult at all, but very time consuming. I can't say I'm eager to do it again any time soon, but they were a big hit.

The main event of the event of the evening was the movie.

We watched Tangled under the stars.

Thanks to the incredible know how of my uncle Jack and his access to the fancy equipment through his work,  the movie was projected onto the back of Bayleigh's playhouse. We borrowed a movie theater popcorn machine and Uncle Casey churned out the popcorn.

It was amazing to gather with good friends and family in the back yard and enjoy a movie under the stars, lanterns twinkling in the background.

So many people pitched in to make this fairy tale party come true. I don't know if she will remember it for life, but I sure will.

 

On a less happy note, yesterday Bayleigh's puppy, Willie was injured. His jaw is broken and will have to be wired shut so that it can properly heal. He will have to be fed through a feeding tube. His surgery will take place Wednesday. We'd appreciate any prayers you could send up for this sweet little guy and hopefully he will be up and running again very soon.