I want to start this tradition.....

I was pinning away on Pinterest tonight, after one of the worst days in my recent memory-feeling very down/agitated/exhausted-when I came across this simple looking post of a pretty, smiling lady and just decided to click on the link with her and read her story.

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358

 It was an immediate pick-me-up. I read her blog post (her name is Robyn by the way) and the comments from her readers, and I feel inspired to follow her example and be selfless on my birthday as well. I think it would be a fun tradition for me and a great example to set for my children. Hopefully they will want to do it as well.

I was thinking of the random acts of kindness I have performed lately, and how it felt to do them. It is definitely a kind of high that is addicting.

One that pops out in my head is a few weeks ago, I was at the grocery store and after just finishing my late night shopping I got into the line to check out. The lady in front of me had 2 kids with her, and as I was putting my things on the belt, I heard her tell the cashier that "she was short on cash, so could she put some things back?" When I saw that she was putting back things like bread, milk, and cereal I told the cashier to just add the remaining balance to my order. The look of shock and confusion on both their faces were priceless. The cashier asked if I was serious, and I assured her I was. I had a little extra money, and this was worth using it on. The lady kept thanking me, and telling me she was sorry. I just smiled and said "I've been there. I'm glad I could help." Then she came up and gave me a huge hug! That was awesome. She left with her much needed groceries, and I think I restored the cashier's faith in people. She kept saying she had never seen someone do that. I just smiled, and told her I was happy to surprise her.

Random acts of kindness rock, so I hope this experiment can be a success! My birthday isn't for another month and a half, but I thought I'd share this lady's GENIUS idea. I truly love it. I hope I have given you guys something to think about. Check out her blog, it is fantastic! I dare you to try and be in a bad mood when you finish it.

I am now in a good mood, problems behind me, and my mind running with all the possibilities of R.A.O.K. I can plan for my birthday. Mine will be less financially involved than hers, but I think I can still brighten people's days by being creative.

Have a Glorious day!!

My Latest Project....

Freshly painted clock for my notoriously delinquent brother and sister-in-law. See, I drew their names for Christmas in the family "grab a name out of a hat" tradition. While I did get them a normal gift-I had to do this. Jabbety-jab-jab. I'm always making fun of them for being so late. It's PERFECT for them, whether they want to admit it or not. I wonder if it will ever make it on their wall? =) Only time will tell.......

Drying now, waiting to be sealed. I'm hoping it looks better then.....Reads "Whatever, I'm late anway."

Speaking if which, My dad got me a Cricut Create. It is the smaller version of Cricut, but I love it!!! Give it up for early birthday presents!! I just need to make friends with a LOT of people that would be willing to share their fabulous Cricut cartridges with me. They are far too expensive! Meanwhile, my friend Misty has 2 of them, and we had fun doing some creative cutting last night. I see many awesome projects coming up!!!

Also.....

Tonight was the annual "Trunk-or-Treat" at church. Here are a few quick pictures of the boys. The older 3 anyway. Miles was WAY too fussy, and sleepy to come. It would have been miserable bringing a tired, crying 2 year old around a huge crowd of people. He will be doing Trick-or-treating on Halloween, after a nice, refreshing nap.

Ninja Assassin

Spiderman

Vampire Sheriff

Real non-vampire teeth



wanted a beard painted on when getting his face painted.



Cupcake treat!!!

Me and Miles hanging at home, after I got home.

My new love....

I have discovered a new obsession inspiration, for the paintings I want to do. I am just in awe of this man, and literally just sit and stare at his talent. I am a HUGE fan of color. The more vibrant, bold, and in your face, the better for me. Rainbows everywhere would be my ideal. I discovered a painting on Pinterest, and then another-but two wasn't enough. I searched, and searched, and finally found out his name. Leonid Afremov. Oh, you better believe I Googled him! What I found just blew my mind. I honestly could spend hours just looking at his work. I would die to own one of his original pieces, but besides being WAAAAY out of my price range, dying for it would be rather counter-productive. I wouldn't be able to enjoy it! Ogling them all the day through has inspired me to attempt to paint something like it. I think I'd do one of his Park scenes, since the Italian cityscape that I LOVE, is just a little bit out of my league. Baby steps. I will try painting something like his, and see what comes of it. Art and crafts give me peace, and make me so unbelievably happy that there is no wrong in the world when my hands are busy creating things. But the perfectionist in me may keep anybody from seeing the painting if I don't like how it turns out. Sorry. It's something I'm working on. =)

Meanwhile, enjoy some of his GENIUS I borrowed from Google images.......

So cute.

This would be such a gorgeous place for a stroll.



I can just imagine walking through the rain at dusk here.



I want to sit there forever.....



I love this.




The orange, yellow and red captivate me.



This is what I imagine Heaven looks like.



This is one of my favorites. Ah, Itlay.......




Couldn't you just die?




WOW!



Still here....

Taking pictures everyday is surprisingly harder than I thought. Well played, life. Many things have happened in the past few months, most of which I don't remember. But of the things I do: my Dad has moved in with us, my sister (Holly) and her hubby (Justin) have moved here, and Holly has had her baby, Mia. Plus school started, and with that; I now have a preschooler! First kid to go to Preschool-third kid. Is that weird? Am I the only one that usually doesn't send the kids to Preschool? It's a pretty big adjustment, schedule-wise, since he has a different time-frame than the older boys. They leave for school at 6:25 (gotta love bus times), Nathan starts at noon. They get home at 2:10, and Nathan ends at 4:00. My days are crazy with running around, doing dinner, Scouts, homework, errands, etc..... Thank goodness for Dad and his car! Nathan wouldn't be able to even go if it weren't for him, since the Preschool bus can't come here. Also, I'm volunteering in Nick's class this year. Which is actually, REALLY fun.

I'm randomly doing Pinterest projects, which I keep meaning to add pictures of here-but I am terrible at remembering to do so. Here are a few pictures of the things I have done, or am currently working on.

This is a journal that I am covering with fabric for myself.

The Zorro ornament I made for Nathan today. Pre-painting. Zorro ornaments? Impossible to find! Who knew? Nathan is kind of obsessed with Zorro right now.

Yoda shirt for my friend's son's birthday. I painted, "My Lego Yoda shirt, this is." underneath Yoda.

The Beatles painting I did for my brother, Jason.

The custom Scrabble coasters I made for my brother, Aaron's friend.

I made 2 sets of these Flight of the Conchords coasters for my brother, Jason, and sister, Wendy

I have to make a few more ornaments for Nick, Ben and Miles. And I'm going to be making some Camp Half-Blood shirts for my boys, as soon as I find either orange shirts or orange shirt dye. Percy Jackson books rock! =)