Door Re-purpose

 This is a door. I have two of them. I plan to paint them and use them in my house. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I can't reveal my complete idea for these doors until I have the task accomplished. My sincerest apologies.

First Coat

The doors are being painted first. I only got one coat on today before I had to drag the door inside and let it dry because it started drizzling. Julia assisted me in getting the door in the garage. She is becoming such a big helper!

Since I am leaving you hanging with the whole door thing, I'll show you a few more pics of our vacation (aka pick Julia up from kamp). Enjoy!

Beauties Watching 101 Dalmations

Eating Coffeecake and Waiting To Get Julia from Kamp

Reunited At Last!

"Sister, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters." Julia squealed when she saw us. I was so happy that I cried.

Our Kamper and Her Counselors

Grandpa Dan and Grandma Christie

This was Julia's Teepee

Taking a Stroll

The camp that Julia attended last week is called Kanakuk and it's located in Branson, MO. Every kamper receives a teepee award. The counselors announce the award and say some words about your kids. They do it because they like to make people cry. Here is what was said about my kid:

"Julia has a heart that constantly seeks to serve and help others. She is a great listener and quick to cooperate in what is asked of her. She is a girl who is very mature for her age. She is hungry to know and pursue Jesus to grow in her relations with Him."

Julia won the award called: Four Square Life. It encompasses a balanced life including Wisdom, Physical, Spiritual and Social. The Bible verse on the award is one I've prayed that all my girls would aspire to be since they were born. "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man." Luke 2:52

Thanks for reading! Love, Amber

P.S. Don't forget to come another time to see how I use those doors. Also, sometimes I get sidetracked.

Exhaustion!

So, this weird thing happened. It honestly came as a surprise to Dave and I. We are so tired! And for some odd reason, that took us by surprise. I'm so tired that I have an exhaustion headache, and all I wanna do is sleep. I guess a week and a half vacation with four days of driving, emotionally detaching enough to allow your 2nd grader to go to a one week church camp, and getting a blow out on your way home is exhausting. Plus, we got to pull over for about 10 minutes because Julia got motion sick and needed to get rid of some of her subway dinner. Who'd a thunk?

There is no food in our house except for some tomatoes that turned red in our garden, so Dave grabbed a "bake in the oven" pizza on his way home from work. We will be having Walmart pizza and home grown tomatoes for dinner. Works for me!

I also missed my run yesterday thanks to getting home late because of our flat tire. So, after our nutritious dinner, that's where I'll be.

But despite all this, I am so thankful to be home! Home sweet home. I miss our family and the joys of Branson, but being home is wonderful. Even the girls have mentioned the goodness of it a few times.

Here are few pics from our crazy trip:

Walking On the Trails Behind Grandpa Dan's House

Playing A Lot of Chess with Grandpa Dan

Dave Loved this Gorilla at Branson Landing

Petting Zoo at Silver Dollar City

Saige is Too Cool for Daddy's Shoulder School

Dunkin' Shorty at Silver Dollar

Our Blowout Damage :(

Bad Tire!

Buffalo Sighting in The Gas Station

Saige was Afraid of this Coon Hat at First

Silly Buffalo Lydia

More pics and better posts to come! Please stay tuned!

Love, Amber

Coconut Oil Re-purposing

We've been visiting with my in-laws the last few days, and I have discovered that my Father-in-law loves coconut oil. He loves coconut oil like I loved the oils that I wrote about here. He uses coconut oil for cooking and to soften skin. He also uses it to soothe scrapes.

My in-laws live in a beautiful home that backs up to a wooded area with trails. We love to visit the trails and do so every time we visit. There is a creek bed that the trails lead to. When it has rained a lot, the creek fills with water and a water fall spills over the rocks. It's beautiful.

On our trek back to the creek this time, Dave slipped and scraped his arm on a tree. When he got back, his dad rubbed some coconut oil on his forearm, as the scrape covered his whole forearm. That was on Monday, and his scrape is already gone! The coconut oil really helped, and I didn't hear another word about it from Dave at all. (...Not that men are known for being babies. That's not what I'm implying...)

Anywho, I saw that Sam's sells coconut oil and I'm kicking myself now that I didn't buy a tub of it. But, I will be grabbing some soon!

Thanks for stopping by! -Amber

Re-purpose Beliefs

I am training to run a 15K with my sister in October. I've never run that far before. Ever. So I have been running a lot more, and my body is physically exhausted! I have a facebook friend who recommended the Jeff Galloway method of training, and I have been doing my best to follow the plan. But if any of you all have any running recommendations for me, I'd appreciate the info.

I ran 5 miles on Sunday, and today 30 minutes of running was on the schedule. I ran my 30 minutes, but I felt like my muscles were in rebellion. They were tired and unhappy with me, but thankfully I pushed through.

I guess my Julia is learning to push through too. My sister-in-law had lunch with Julia today at the camp cafeteria. (She gets to because she works for the camp.) We dropped that sweet girl off on Saturday, and we don't get to pick her up until next Saturday. She isn't allowed to contact us unless an emergency arises, but we can send her some emails and as you saw in one of my earlier posts, we left notes and packages for her as well.

I texted my sister-in-law to see how Julia seemed to be doing, and this was how our texting conversation went:
 -----
SIL: She is doing well. She's so grown up in expressing her feelings! She said that last night bc she was tired after a full day of activities that she sat down and shed a few tears bc she missed you but her friends came and got her and reminded her that she only has 2.5 days to go and there is still so much she hasn't done. :)

me: Awwww. So sweet.

SIL:She was so careful to not tear up and be a big girl. :) But I know she is going to love seeing you! All of your girls are so truly sweet at heart and so funny!
 -----

Isn't that the sweetest thing? I'm so thankful for my in-laws! I can't wait to see my big girl again, but for now I am also incredibly thankful to be her mom. I love her!

Pics from yesterday:

My Girl and Her New Friends

Group of Girls! Julia is at the Top!

"Snow" Party with Millions of Suds and Bubbles

More and more I learn that the attitude I have about things is rubbing off on my girlies. The life approach that Dave and take on is the same one that my girls will inherit. (At least in their childhood.) So, I am constantly trying to think well, positive and Godly thoughts. I try to apply the principles of a great book called "Failing Forward" by John Maxwell. Because my kids will re-purpose my beliefs, and I want to be proud of the ones that stick!

Thanks for reading. Sorry to get mushy. I'm just missing my kid.

Love, Amber

Thinking Like Those Who Re-Purpose

Soon and very soon, Dave and I plan to leave our girls with their grandparents and steal away for a few days. We are super excited to be able to complete a sentence, eat whatever and drink beverages in peace, shop, relax, and, of course, talk about our wonderful children. I plan to watch a lot of my favorite shows as I relax with my hubby. I love shows like Rehab Addict and Junk Gypsies. I probably love them because they keep my re-purposing juices flowing!

I don't necessarily have the exact same style as the amazing women on these shows, but I LOVE their creative minds and that they barely throw things away. They even "dumpster dive" at times. Would you do that? (I would. I guess it depends of the dumpster.)

Another thing that I love about the portrayal of these shows is the entrepreneurial spirit of each of these great women. They don't have a "job" that they go to everyday. But, they found something they were good at, and loved to do, and worked hard to achieve some amazing goals. This spirit is something that I desire to have myself and that I want to instill in my children.

So, if you get a chance, sit down and watch a few episodes of one of the shows. Let me know if you are inspired! Also, watch for some picture of my little entrepreneurs at our garage sale in a few weeks. I will post some here!

But for now, here are the pictures from today of Julia on the Camp Blog:

SO SWEET!

Thanks for stopping by today! Love to you all. -Amber

Facebook and Twitter

There are so many advantages to regularly checking Facebook. I have stayed semi-connected with a lot of friends in Bartlesville and Houston via Facebook. Thanks to Facebook I have learned a lot about the small town we live in in North Dakota. I've learned about other important stuff... like things that pertain to the public school that my children attended last year. I get messages from people when I least expect it, and I love that. I love it almost as much as I love receiving packages in the mail.  

But, sometimes I'm kind of a facebook junkie. I look at it a lot. Sometimes I hide the facebook app on my phone just so I won't check it. Sometimes I'm looking at it and thinking about something else. So, it's ridiculous. I'm embarrassed by it. Sometimes I just straight ban myself from looking at it. When I do that, I rely on twitter and pinterest to keep my social needs met. But, I don't really "get" twitter. I don't think a single person has ever responded to one of my tweets. Ever.-- I find the conversations that other people have on twitter very interesting. But, overall it's sort of mysterious to me.

HOWEVER! With all of that being said, I am currently LOVING Twitter. Even though my eldest girlie is at camp, I kinda sorta know what she's doing thanks to that dang social media site. They had smores tonight. And for some reason it made me cry when I saw that tweet. A few real tears. Tears of joy, but still tears. (Emotional much?) Why does the fact that she is eating smores with her camp-mates make me so proud that I cry? I guess that's the prerogative of a mama.

Julia at Camp

Even though I'm missing my big girl, my other girls and I had a blast with their Grandma Christie today. We went to the local waterpark and partied like it was 1999. Lyd was tall enough to ride on a lot of the rides, so her and I had a totally radical time riding as many rides as we could. It was such a neat time for Lyd and I to bond. We don't get a lot of one-on-one time.

Babies Having a Blast!

Facebook is good. Twitter is Better. Love ya' peeps! -Amber

Kids and Camp

I'm sorry I've been MIA for a few days. We just dropped my eldest baby girl at a one week camp today. Besides taking forever to drive here, I've been trying to prepare myself mentally and emotionally for the time away from my girl. I don't know if I was ready, but the day came without my permission.

Julia is super excited about the zipline, riding in canoes, hanging with new friends and the pool blob.

Standing in Line to Register

 She is so beautiful. She was so genuinely happy. And Squeal-y.

Registering for Camp

She Was So Excited!

Announcing Her Name, Age and Cabin

Each camper gets to climb up the platform and announce their name and cabin. After they've announced their cabins, their counselors cheer and run up to meet them as they slide down a firemen pole. I was crying a little.

Beautiful Camp Counselor and Beautiful Camper

Julia by Her Bunk

So, I cried a little. And, I miss her. And I've been wondering what she's up to. But I know she's doing great, and that her life is in the Father's Hands. For some reason this verse gives me comfort this evening: 

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I had a fun time writing Julia notes everyday. I made her two care packages. Dave wrote some of the notes as well, and I can't wait to hear how she liked them. I re-purposed some plastic shoe boxes and filled them with goodies, snacks, a note with Bible verses and reminders and extra toiletries. 

The One With the Pink Lid is Hers

I hope she loves the goodies!

We plan to do some super fun and really great things with our younger daughters. Please stay tuned for more pictures and fun. 

Thanks for coming by! I appreciate it SO much! -Amber

Makin' Banana Pancakes

Do you know the song "Banana Pancakes" by Jack Johnson? It's a great song! If the Disney CD "Disney Shuffle" wasn't already playing in our living room, I would be listening to that song right now. You can click here to listen, if you'd like.

I think what Jack was talking about in his dreamy song about pancakes was not what I made for breakfast. What I made is still banana pancakes, but they are really healthy and they have no gluten whatsoever. So, they are still yummy, but not the thick buttery goodness I think about when I listen to his song. (Sarcastic font:) So, now that I've talked these pancakes up so much, here is more about what I did so that you can make them too.

These really were good. They are healthy. I will make them again. And you only need 2 ingredients!

Take one banana and two eggs. (This is a pretty smallish recipe.) Throw them in your kitchenaid (I used the wire whisk attachment) or other mixer and blend until the ingredients became a thin batter. Oh, I let some vanilla dribble in the batter while it was mixing. Cinnamon would have been good to add too! (I'm not very good at sticking to recipes.) Spray a pan with some oil of your choice, and put the batter in small amounts on the pan. Big pancakes do not work with this recipe.

The Batter

Before you flip, you have to wait for the edges to turn brownish. If the under side is under done, your pancakes won't flip. And then they will be a crumpled mess of banana and egg in your pan. That's what happened the last time I attempted these little babies. I gave up that time.

I had more patience this time around. And, we ended up with some yummy pancakes.

These are Palm Sized Pancakes.

 The above picture is a bit deceptive. The cakes are smallish.

They would have been really tasty with toasted pecans...

Kid's Cakes

We topped these pancakes with some homemade syrup. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. While the recipe isn't healthy, it is delicious! Click here for a link so see the recipe I used.

I thought about Jack's song the whole time. I hope you make some too. Enjoy!

-Amber

School. What do you think?

As an update to some of my previous posts, I wanted you all to know that we are still gardening and composting. We harvested 3 more heads of broccoli, and are seeing the brussel sprouts starting to bud up with little brussels. There are several tomatoes that are still green, but should be red soon. I've pretty much used up all of my cilantro, but my basil and mint are still going strong. The jalepenos are flowering and getting ready to produce as well. Gardening is such a neat resource for teaching my girls about the way things grow. I'm so thankful to get to have the time to teach them about it.

Teaching my girls is something that I love to do, and something that I have considered doing full time. But teaching the girls all day everyday is also overwhelming. Dave and I plan to start a pros/cons list for public school versus homeschooling. We will let you all know what we decide. If any of you have pointers for me, please feel free to comment. I'd love to take your comment into consideration on this huge decision for next school year.

Pros
More time with our girls
Sleeping later in the mornings and not having morning rush hour at our house
Work at my girls' pace
Not packing lunches
Forming relationships with other home school moms
More time to teach my girls cooking and other things besides just Math and English
Bible lessons
More flexibility in vacationing

Cons
Less "Mommy" time
More brain power, creativity and energy required from me
Potential crazy cabin fever
Finding something to occupy Saige during "class" time
Needing to designate a place for homeschooling curriculum and materials
Less time to clean and organize at home
Less time to work on projects I'd like to work on

Y'all, this is me, re-purposing my blog in order to get some feedback from you. This blog is not just about me sharing my thoughts and feelings, but it is also to connect with and learn from you!

Thanks for checking in today.
Blessings, Amber

Dresser Re-purposing

When Dave and I were first married, we couldn't even make ends meet financially. Things were tight. Really tight. We were in college, and had part-time jobs or full-time 100% commission jobs that didn't pay well. When Dave bought the $300 dresser below, I was very upset. We could barely afford to go to the grocery store. When he got it home, I painted the dresser with some left over black paint that we had in the garage, and eventually changed out the hardware. We put it in our bedroom and used it for storing clothes. It was our only clothes dresser at the time. 

A few years later, when Julia was in the womb, but expected to come soon, the dresser moved into her room. In our little two bedroom home, the second bedroom was actually bigger than our master. It fit better in that room. So, we moved the dresser into the baby's room, and it doubled as a changing station. 

After we moved from that house, we bought different second hand furniture for my girls, and the black dresser became our TV and electronic entertainment cabinet. It held electronic items, vhs tapes, dvds and cords in the drawers.  On top it held a TV, VCR, DVD player and an original Nintendo gaming system.

In our Houston town house, it served as a buffet table and additional storage in our dining room. It held coloring books, kitchen towels, napkin rings, odds and ends, and grocery toys that belong to the pretend kitchen.

Now, the dresser that everyone hates to move (because it's real wood) is back to being an entertainment system in our basement. It now has a TV mounted over it instead of sitting on top of it. It holds a DVD player, blu-ray player, Xbox 360 on top. (It actually still has a VHS player too. We still whip our the VHS tapes from time to time.) The drawers are filled with controllers, remotes, odds and ends and blankets. Because here in the North, the basement stays cool or chilly always!

After all these years, that good ole' black dresser has moved with us from house to house. It's served in many different aspects of our home, and we have needed it over and over again. Now, I'm so thankful that Dave bought this piece of furniture for our very humble abode. We really needed it at the time, and it's been a life saver in every other home we've lived in. I hope it stays with us for quite awhile or longer.

Thanks for reading! Love from my family to yours! -Amber

Re-purposing the Fire Pit

My mom and dad love to re-purpose too! I guess they are where I got the passion from! Here is what my parents recently did: they planted some pretty flowers in a fire pit that they no longer used. It looks great, doesn't it?

If any of you would like to share your re-purposing tips with me too, I'd love to share them on this here blog just like I did with my parents' idea!

Thanks for stopping by today! Love to my parents and all of you!
 -Amber

Re-purposing Dreams

So, I have a new idea. A new dream. Do you want to know what it is?

I want to buy an outdated trailer (aren't they pretty much all decorated in 80's oak cabinets?) and I want to update it! I want to re-purpose the inside! Maybe there are compartments that can be made into something else! Maybe the cabinets can be totally re-painted! I want to re-upholster the fabric in chevrons or damasks or ikats. I want the inside to have a turquoise and coral color scheme. Or maybe a navy and sage green scheme. I could play around with different textiles, fabrics and counter tops that I would be afraid to put in my house. I could put tile in it! Sheesh. Wouldn't that be fun? I would LOVE it!

I first got excited about this little project when I found a post on pinterest that had done something similar to what I'm describing. And as I've been looking for pop-up campers, I've realized that the nice ones are about the same price as an outdated trailer/camper. And, who wants to camp in bear country with a pop-up camper? Dave and I looked at one, and those things are still tent like material where you sleep. If we went to bear country to camp, I think I would stay awake all night staring at my children. I want to camp in bear country because it's amazingly beautiful, but in a pop-up, notsomuch, you know?

You all, I think I may need to write this dream down and step away from this post before my adrenaline skyrockets in excitement! I mean, I could even paint the outside of the darn thing. Or maybe I could just paint around the windows. I could add cute curtains. So. much. fun....

Hopefully in the near future, I'll be sharing some before and afters on this here blog, God willing. Only time will tell!

Blessings, Amber

P.S. To my husband, please don't lose your cookies when you read this post. I will let you know before I buy this dream camper. :)

Flies and Vinegar Re-purposed

Because of our wonderful party on Saturday, we have had a gazillion flies in our house. I've been keeping the swatter close, and my girls have been rooting me on or trying to get the flies themselves. However, it's still been disturbing to hear Saige regularly announce, "I kill 'dem, I kill 'dem. I wanna turn!" Even though I know she's talking about flies, I catch myself wanting to make a new word up for what we are actually doing to those dang flies.

Speaking of flies and the party, I wanted to chat a little about vinegar today. You know the saying that says you can "attract more flies with honey than vinegar". And sometimes, you have to take that saying literally instead of relationally. Well, in our house we don't want to attract flies. So, what do we need? Vinegar! I am not saying that if you spray vinegar around your house that the flies will magically disappear, but if you use the vinegar to clean up crumbs and stickiness, less flies will be attracted to your house! What I mean is: for a lot of my cleaning, I use vinegar water. I have a squirt bottle that I put 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water in. And then I use it to clean and disinfect my kitchen counter tops, clean cabinets, wipe of the floors and anything else you might regularly do with a cleaning product. This way, I know there aren't a bunch of extra chemicals being sprayed all over my house. Just another bonus!

My Fancy Cleaning Bottle

 But wait, there's more....

I use vinegar for all kinds of things! Not just for cleaning. I also put some in my spaghetti sauce every time I make spaghetti. You can use regular old vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. Did you know that vinegar is really good for you? Some people drink apple cider vinegar straight for health purposes. (I tried it once and almost lost my lunch.) But, instead of drinking it straight, I just sneak it into my cooking whenever I can, and it tastes awesome! I made my spaghetti sauce from scratch tonight. But even if I have a store bought sauce, I still add it!

Vinegar is also good for taking away a sunburn! When either me or one of my family members get one, I just soak a paper towel in some vinegar and lay it right on the burn until the skin is sopping wet. If you let that air dry, it dries quickly, the burn turns to a tan and doesn't sting anymore. With my fair skin, I've had to use this trick a few times. I love it. (It helps if you don't mind the smell of vinegar. I certainly don't mind it.) It took awhile, but now even my husband is a believer in this vinegar trick!

Anyway, I know there are a ton more uses for this wonderful stuff, but I don't want to give away all my secrets in one post! Plus, I'd love it if you shared your secrets with me. We can compare notes.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I appreciate it!
Blessings, Amber

Re-purposing before a Birthday Party

On Saturday, we celebrated my sweet, spunky, witty and mischievous 6-year-old, Lydia. It was the day of her birth, and the day of her party. We had a great time with some new friends and my old sister. (Just kidding, Aubrey. I'm older than you are.)  Four families besides my sis and my family were able to come, and after the party, Dave added up that we probably had 35 people here including kids! (The people we invited are good at the multiplication order found in Genesis. "Go forth and multiply.." ) It was so fun!

There were kiddos jumping on the trampoline, playing with toys in the basement, playing outside, and eating candy from a bashed pinata.  Adults and kids were finishing up hot dogs and hamburgers in the dining room and on the deck. They were also seen enjoying some homemade chocolate cake and some cookies and cream ice cream. It was exactly the crazy and fun kind of at-home party I always thought my kiddos would have one day. I loved it.

I was told by a some of our guests that the chocolate cake I made was delicious. Since I got a positive response, I thought I would share with you all where I got my recipe. It's a pretty easy one to follow, and if you buy a container of Hershey's Cocoa, Special Dark, you'll find the recipe for the cake and the frosting on the back. I wish I would have made two.

---
Cake Recipe:
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water

1. Heat over to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter in to prepared pans.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
 ---
One tip that I like to share, though, has to do with the dry ingredients in (step 2 of the above or)  any recipe when you bake. After the dry ingredients are all in the bowl, don't just stir them, incorporate and sift them with a wire whisk. This will help keep the cake both light and dense at the same time. (You know what I mean, right?) I don't even own a sifter, I just re-purpose my whisk every time a recipe calls for something to sifted. A whisk is a great tool! It has gads of re-purposing qualities.

After the party, Dave and I reflected on the party and felt so thankful to be able to be hospitable in our home. We really got to know people in our neck of the woods better, and had a great time doing it. Thanks to all of you who were able to be a part and a double thanks to my sister and brother-in-law! I thank my sister for driving 9 hours to my house with her kiddos, for helping me to set up the party and for doing dishes on a daily basis! I thank my brother-in-law for his blessing on the whole adventure.

Thanks for reading and for celebrating along with us in reading about my middle daughters Backyard BBQ Birthday Bash! Let me know what your whisk can do for you!

Love, Amber

Mud Baths and Re-purposing

Tomorrow is Lydia's Birthday, and Dave and are having a little backyard barbeque with some friends and family to celebrate Lydia's day of birth. We decided in preparation for the bbq, that we would do a little yard work today, and get a leg up on some of the projects we wanted to be a little further on. My nephew, Josiah, helped water my garden, and Dave asked him to put some water on another part of our yard because he hoped it would help in leveling that area of the yard out. As the water began to puddle, it became more intriguing to my daughters. Julia started out with a few toes in the water, and then a little wading. And before we knew it, we had four girls mud bathing!

The mud did in fact make the ground easier to level once we talked the girls into getting out and hosing off. By the way, my nephew put a toe in the mud, and that was it. He went back to the kiddie pool. Mud bathing isn't his thing.

After all the outdoor fun, baths were in order for all the kiddos. While bathing my girls, I remembered that I wanted to tell you all that I really love baby body wash. I still have my big girls use it to wash their faces because the tears and drama that come with soap suds in my girls' eyes is pretty much unbearable. So, my baby and my big girls all use baby wash at least on their faces. It's also great for adults to use too! It's gentle, and works great. My mother-in-law even told me it can be used to clean the inner layer of your eye. (She heard this from her eye doctor.) You just put it on a q-tip and run it along the rim of your eye. Disclaimer: Use at your own risk.

Thanks for reading! Please come again, and if you want to, please follow my blog!

Thanks so much, Amber