Savoring the sweet life.

This morning was Maddy's scheduled scope.

I caved and cancelled.

Have you ever just didn't feel right about something?

This was it.

It just didn't feel right.

I talked with her Dr. and we both agreed to give her new diet a chance.

She is showing improvement and has not taken any meds for over a week.

I am hopeful. I am praying.

 Thank you for your prayers too!

She is so excited!

It's that time of year again for school dances.

Every year her school holds a Mardi Gras Ball

And without fail, I hold my breath.

I watch as she excitedly picks out a dress, shoes and fancy earrings.

I make sure her hair appointment is scheduled around her makeup.

She is ready. I am not... LOL

When did I turn into an adult?

I guess I had my answer when I called my husband...

"I bought new fluffy towels babe and they are wonderful"   !!!

yep.

I'm a Mom.

I picked angel food cake with fruit over King Cake because it's healthier for us.

As you can see, they didn't refuse ha!

Life passes so fast we tend to just digest it in a blur.

I want to savor its sweet flavor.

I want to enjoy my lifes deserts one day at a time.

I snapped this picture the other day just playing around. love it

Today her passion is horses.

I know that won't last forever..sigh.

So I make sure to pray for her prince charming now.

I have done that for all three of my kiddos.

I'm so glad that the Lord knows their hearts.

I find peace in that ;)

Today I am savoring...

My middle one wants to hang out with me after school today.

My youngest is too young to drive and needs me for carpool.

My oldest still comes home for lunch.

life is sweet!

xoxox

Board n Batten DIY

This weekend I jumped on the board and batten wagon.

If you have a plain wall and a few hours to kill,

this DIY is for YOU!

Our little hallway bath was just that...little.

It lacked in the character department as well.

After our towel bar fell off leaving two large holes to fix, I knew it was time.

We started with an MDF board from Home Depot.

We glued/nailed it level with the shower.

We also added a bit of trim to the top portion to jazz it up a bit.

Once the trim was added, we then added 3 smaller MDF boards.

And caulked... and caulked...and caulked some more.

After painting it a glossy white, I knew it needed two more boards.

Awwww.. much better.

I think the walls are happy now ;)

I didn't want to replace the towel bar so I added 2 hooks instead.

They are from Home Depot as well.

The yellow sign is a scrap piece of wood I had along with my famous yellow paint.

Happy Happy!

It's not perfect... in any way.

But the sign says ..

"life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful"

It's a quote from Annette Funicello.

You may remember her?

She was from the Mickey Mouse Club way back when.. :)

Towels are from Target and the rug is from TJ Max.

Not bad for one days worth of work...

Have you jumped on the board n batten wagon?

xoxo Susie

Free Art DIY

Something about typography gets my heart racing.

New. Old. Fancy. Bold.

I love it!

It was a no brainer when I needed to fill the empty wall behind my new bed.

I knew just where to go.

Google.

I printed four different fonts that I love.

Black and white straight from my copier. Free!

I had four old black frames that matched but their mats didn't.

Hmmm?

Did you know that you can paint mats?

yes indeed!

I played around with a few colors and decided on this blue.

I just brushed over the mats with a sponge brush and fanned them to dry faster LOL

I'm so impatient haha!

It is so hard hanging 4 frames straight while balancing on a bed.

I have googled hanging pictures before but too lazy to put forth the effort.

How crazy is that!

As you can see the top right one is still a bit off .. sigh

I love the look of gallery walls but the hanging part is the stinker!

I have a huge empty wall in my living room just begging for attention.

I'm thinking about trying these picture hooks.

They give you that gallery wall look without pulling your hair out haha.

xoxo Susie

going there.

Life gets messy.

It's ugly. It's painful. It's needed.

No matter how pretty ones life may appear,

you can bet your bum, there will be smudges.

Today I waddled in smudges...not pretty people.

Chores that have to be done.

Appointments.

 Commitments.

 Feelings of helplessness.

My youngest is suffering from what we think is reflux and needs to see a specialist on Friday.

Could y'all pray?

My "to do" boards that were supposed to help me better manage my time..

remain blank

All of those things I expect in life

but..

It's when my faith feels faint and I doubt.

Why Lord?

Why must everything be so hard sometimes?

Every Wednesday I attend a class at church.

I surround myself in His word.

I breathe it in. I live it out.

Why then do I still suffer and doubt?

There is no doubt I believe.

I trust HIM and what He says is true.

It's my heart that I don't trust.

Hearts break and try to justify.

Hearts fail you...even your own at times.

I'm reminded today not to trust my human heart,

my tired body and mind.

It will fail me.

My heart is so good at making excuses...

Can you relate?

I love this..

I'm thankful for my human heart and my shaky knees.

I'm thankful for the Earth that sometimes crumbles under my feet.

For when I'm at my lowest...

He. Is. Near

I feel His love and my doubtful heart takes the backseat.

And tonight.. it's not my heart that I'm following.

If it were I would be lost!

Thank you for being here to allow my soul to vent.

Thank you for your prayers for Maddy.

It's nice to know I'm not traveling this journey alone.

 Maybe one day our smudges will turn into a beautiful masterpiece ;)

xoxo Susie

Unexpected sweetness

Sunday afternoon Maddy and I went to Baton Rouge in search of a dress.

She has a Mardi Gras Ball to attend, so off we went.

After finding her dress, shoes and jewelry..she was a happy camper!

I was too!

It's not often we can find everything in one day.

So with time to spare and a World Market across the street...

you know..

I wasn't looking for anything in particular just browsing.

That's when I ran into the sweetest bed.

It's from their "Courtney" collection.

It was so perfect in every way.

I resisted at first and even left the store, only to return an hour later.

The sales associates were so very kind.

They even gave me a 10% off coupon at the register.

For those of you looking for a new bed, I'm 100% happy.

It came in 2 boxes and was very easy to assemble.

Very well made.

Flower pillow is from 20NorthOra .

You may remember when I found these two guys below at World Market..

I'm still in love and they are holding up very well.

This was not a paid post nor was I compensated in any way.

The opinions and recommendations are all mine.

If you do not have a "World Market" near by, I do believe they ship as well.

Now I'm going drool over their dinning room chairs ;)

xoxo Susie

Sweet Friends!

hello hello hello!

Are these not the cutest little hoops ever?!!

My friend Sasha makes these and I am in love.

You cannot visit her adorable blog without smiling.

Her friends call her Lemonade makin mama.

If you visit her blog, you will know just why.

She is always seeing the upside of everything and the joy in her heart just spills out.

I love surrounding myself with friends like her.

No one can be happy all the time but when you have JOY ...

it just happens.

Sasha has a way of sharing her joy with all of us..

I guess that's why I just hang out at her blog and soak it all up some days.

She is so giving of herself and her kind spirit. I just felt like I needed to repay her for all of the smiles she has given me and the inspiration she has passed on. And the uplifting words of encouragement that I know she must be reading my mind some days. She lets her love for Jesus show and it then sprinkles down to all of us. How do you repay a friendship like that?

I don't think you can.

I do know that I can share her sweet blog with all of you.

I can also joyfully spread the news of her Etsy shop opening again. Cute stuff!!

And I can say "Thank you Sasha"

Thank you for sharing your kindness and a smidge of your life with me.

You are what makes this blogging world extra special!

I hope to share  many more of my dear friends here with all of you from time to time.

Do you have a special go to blog friend that just makes you smile?

I sure hope so.

Blogging would not be the same without sweet friends like em!

xoxox Susie