The Big Picture

I was two seconds away from writing a blog last night about how scared I am for the things to come and my mom called to tell me something really great, which was a perfect reminder that when God opens doors, there isn't much else to do but walk through them.

For the last three years, I have been working mostly full time on a Bachelor's degree in Interior Design. We have always discussed my graduation date with a "some day this will happen" sort of way and I honestly thought I had at least another full year of classes before I finished. In June, my academic adviser counted and gave me a number that made me really happy and after counting {{a few times}} I realized by the middle of January, I should be finishing up my last two classes. This is GREAT news. I am excited to be finishing and getting done with something I have worked so hard on, but that excitement comes with a lot of other feelings too.

In June I shut down SBE. For awhile {{actually the whole entire month of June}} I was pouting about the 'loss' of my business. For years now I have worked, studied, researched, worked some more, on creating SBE, growing SBE, and making something of it. My life the last twelve months had been a crazy chaos of kid-work, life-work, school-work, SBE-work, and house-work. There were weeks where I was going non-stop from 5am until 10 o'clock at night - days where I literally didn't sit, except for at dinner. And when we decided in June that I needed to set SBE aside, for the bigger picture, and it freed up a good portion of my day, I literally didn't know what to do with my hands. I've been afraid to write about this because I was worried about what people would think were the reasons we decided to stop putting energy into it, after working so hard to get where we were; if it's really making money, why stop? One of the main reasons was because we decided to home school. Homeschooling is right for our family for a number of reasons {{I'm not going into right now}} and if you are already so busy that you don't sit down but once a day, it would be nearly impossible add that too your day. J was {{rightfully}} worried about my ability to juggle it all. Another main {{and probably more important}} reason is because it was just time. I realized a few months back that SBE was never meant to be my life long goal. In fact, part of the chaos was getting SBE handled and then working on my school work, for my actual life long goal. One day after praying for guidance on the whole situation, I saw the video testimony of someone I admire and she was saying how she felt like a failure for closing her business. God told her it would be okay because He had bigger things in mind for her, later. Sometimes those immediate answers are the ones you need to hear the most. I never dreamed that my little business would become what it did. Say what you will but I sold several thousands of dollars worth of glass mugs last year {{maybe not tens of thousands, but it was only my second real year in business.}} Glasses that I designed. FROM OUR HOUSE. That's nothing to sneeze at when you're working around a family schedule, a full time school schedule, and a military schedule. Running SBE and doing it all myself and figuring things out as I went taught me so much about the business side of, well, business-ing {{that's a word, right?}} The experiences I have gained from SBE will be invaluable in the future when I am ready to start again, on the bigger picture, later.

That brings me back to the things to come. Though I whole-heartedly feel that homeschooling is for us, the way our schedules are right now, with my school ending, and J's work schedule as busy as ever, we have decided to send Bug back to school this year. My baby is going to first grade. She's a very bright little girl and our main reason for homeschooling is because of how bored she was in kindergarten. But I have been assured by the school counselor they will pay very close attention to Bug and make sure she is being properly challenged. 2.0 is also going to school this year, and Baby J will also start preK after she turns three in the fall. Their level of excitement and readiness {{somewhat}} eases my anxiety {{why is the world so scary!?}} about them being away from me for most of the day. This change is probably going to be the hardest on me. I have been at home with them since before I even had Bug, and now three of the four will be gone for most of the day. {{Have I ever mentioned I'm a control freak?}} I know they have to grow up some day, but I just want them to stay little and innocent forever {{is this too much to ask for?!}} I'm not ready for them not to need me the way they always have. I also know that easing them into a school routine will be much easier than dumping them in daycare when it's time for my internship {{and hopefully a full time job}} and leaving it up to them to adjust on their own. My BFF said something that will stay with me forever, "Who are we without them?" And that's exactly it. I have all these things I want to do but I know in the depths of my being that none of it will ever compare... to them.

The last big thing to come is a doozy. It's also scary {{and wonderful, and exciting, and overwhelming}} but we think it's what is going to be the best start for our big picture: the kids and I will be staying with my mom in CA for my internship. I'm not sure if you've ever looked at Fort Polk on a map, but we are sort of in the middle of nowhere. There isn't much around and though I do have a couple options for interning out here, they won't really be as outstanding as they will be in the bay area in CA, nor will they be even close to where I would like to go with my career. This is a problem solved for me and things have fallen together so well with it, there is only one explanation {{remember those doors I was speaking of?}} As for fear of all the scary changes, I have decided to embrace it. My friend wrote about fear on her {{wonderful}} blog, she said, "At every transition the devil will send a spirit of fear, but 'I have not given you a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and self-discipline.' 2 Timothy 1:7."

So here's to the big picture, opening doors, and family <3.

The chair

As with everything I do, when I decided to reupholster our office chair, I jumped right in without doing any research. As with most things I do, I GROSSLY underestimated the difficulty of this project. I was prepared to photo bomb you with pics of every single step in the process. But having just finished this bad boy, I'm tired.

So here are the cliff notes:

What you need~
~ Furniture with good bones and horrific upholstery fabric {{check Craigslist}}
~ A Tack Hammer
~ A Staple Gun
~ A BOAT load of staples
~ A flat head screw driver
~ Needle nose pliers
~ Band aides
~ A Current Tetanus Shot

Step One: Bask in the disgust glory that was our office chair.

Culinary Curiosity

Whiskey Chicken

This is an old *new* recipe. It is one of the first ones I tried when I started the new recipes and I have made it a good four times since October. It's delicious and J LOVES it! This is the tweaked recipe I make. It is not by any means a "healthy" meal. But sometimes it is ok to splurge.

First things first. Get in the mood with a little "Whiskey River," Willie Nelson style.

Preparation: 20-25 min
Cook time: 20-25 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Fresh Ground Pepper
4 tbsp Butter or Margarine
2 tbsp minced Green Onion
1 small Sweet Onion Minced
1.5 Cups Whipping Cream
1.5 Cups Chicken Stock
1/4 Cup Irish Whiskey
1 tsp. Tarragon Leaves

Preparation:

1.) Place chicken pieces between sheets of plastic wrap. With the flat side of mallet, pound lightly. Make the chicken as thick or thin as you like, just please adjust the cook times accordingly. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

2.) In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp of butter until pan is hot but don't brown the butter {{med high heat}}. Place just enough chicken into the pan without crowding. Don't let the chicken touch {{that is how the pan gets all watered and it wont let the chicken brown}}. Cook 3-5 minutes until chicken is browned. Remove chicken to a warm place. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked.

3.) After last chicken is done, turn heat down to medium low. Add whiskey, green onion and onion and use a whisk to scrape the bottom of the pan. The whiskey will boil up a bit and then reduce. Now add the chicken stock, the drippings from the chicken you set aside, the tarragon and the whipping cream, stirring as you add. Boil 3 to 5 minutes.

4.) Place chicken in pan with sauce and coat each piece. Let boil for a few more minutes to reheat the chicken. Serve chicken over egg noodles, spooning sauce over them. Garnish with fresh green onion.

This dish is SO good! It even looks good cooking!!

Even the toddler likes it!

2.0 was so impressed with my kitchen skills, she went right to sleep.

ENJOY!!

A Craft Project

As I said in an earlier post, I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest. Getting all sorts of ideas for stuff to do to our house {{Sorry, Honey.}} A friend of mine posted a very cute map framed art piece and then another one that had heart shaped maps with the words "We met," "We Married," "We lived" above them. We had talked about having a craft day and having this as one of our options. In the mean time we had been planning a craft day to do a Valentine's Day craft. The craft I chose for that needed a love quote and had me on the look out for the perfect one.

While I was out one day {{in my search for Fashion Fabulousness}} I decided to hop into a local boutique. The boutique wasn't what I expected but they did have an area where another vendor had quote signs for your house {{that's right I thieved one - the quote that is}} and I saw a quote that was SO perfect I had to put it on my "notepad" so I would remember it. The problem was that it was SO perfect I wanted to put it up where it could be read year round, not just in February. With the quote on my mind and the map ideas fresh in my head, my brain molded them together into what was sure to be an AMAZING piece of art for the house... if I could pull it off.

You know those ideas that you get and you have the PERFECT image in your head but when you try and execute it, you suck at life?

This wasn't one of those...

I started by purchasing a large poster board {{I wanted mine to be big, but this could be done at any scale}}, a map of the United States, some decorative scrapbooking brads and some laminate.

Then I laid out my items on my kitchen table to start work.

I started by prepping the map. I wanted a distressed look and after discussing cutting options with my friend, we decided the best way to do it would be to tear it. I was a little nervous about tearing {{I was worried about tearing it wrong}} but I guess tearing and distressing go hand in hand so I jumped in. When I finished tearing it down to the places we agreed upon, it still didn't feel done. I kept on tearing until I was happy with it. Then I smushed it into a tiny ball.

Once I was happy with the map, I was instantly unhappy with how white the poster board behind it was. I tried a few different colors of paper to see if I could layer some paper to make a nice background. But none of the pages I used gave me warm & fuzzies so I thought I'd give painting it a try. It was a $3 board and I figured at worst I would just have to buy another. I used a dry brush and made small "x" shapes for the cross hatch pattern I wanted.

Next, I used spray adhesive {{This is the first time I used spray adhesive. This stuff is AMAZING!!}} to glue the map down. Then spent some time on my computer deciding on fonts and word sizes by making a mock up of the board on Corel draw. When all the words were perfect, another friend and I used her Silhouette machine to make the letters. After I got the letters placed, I was SO excited!! I used the decorative brads I bought to mark the places we met, where we lived for the military and where we live now. I am SO happy with the way this turned out!

It now has a home above our crap shelf {{Crap shelf: n. Builder-built place in your home that makes NO sense, where crap will undoubtedly collect. See also, place where children will most likely hurt themselves one day climbing on things they shouldn't}} It isn't framed yet {{we have to make a frame for it, but I will post a picture of it completed when we do}} but I was SO happy with the way it turned out, I decided to post about it anyway.

*If you love it and you make it, give credit where it's due*

{{J's addition to this post: "tgpgkujoflyt9jo"}}