Rocking Baby to Rocking Mama...

The power is out and I’m sitting here in our basement with my family waiting out the tornado weather, listening to my son play the guitar and sing.  As he is playing and singing, I am recalling how when he was little he use to lie down on the couch every afternoon and ask me to sing him a “pretty song” and I would pick up my guitar to play and sing for him while he fell asleep for his afternoon nap.  And at bedtime each night he would say, “Rock a baby” and I would rock him to sleep.  Now, some 16-17 years later he is the one playing his guitar and singing, “Rock me baby like a south bound train. Hey, mama rock me.”  He has also learned to play the harmonica and he plays nicely.  So as we sit here with candles burning because there still isn’t any power, it’s almost like sitting by a campfire with soothing music to listen to and enjoy, and to help pass the time on this April evening with thunder rumbling like a soft bass drum in the background.  This is definitely about making every moment count…

Maybe Not Smarter... But Wiser...

Okay, so I deleted my favorite post in the process of creating my last blog where I had trouble figuring out a way to add a slideshow to my blog.  At my age becoming computer savvy isn't easy, but I'm learning.  Victoria becomes quite frustrated with my "handicaps" on the computer.  So I find myself winging it most of the time and taking longer than I really have to spend at the computer trying to figure things out.  Which of course, if I'm actually doing it, I will be more likely to remember it than someone telling me 10 times what to do in terminology that is mostly "Greek" to me, or not learning it at all if they are doing it for me.  It use to be me, Mom, teaching my children how to do things, explaining things they don't understand, or helping them when they mess up, and in general, helping them to understand and discover the world around them in order to have fulfilled lives, while trying not to "pull my hair out", at times.  Now, it is my children teaching me how to do things, explaining things I don't understand, helping me when I mess up, and in general, helping me to understand and discover the world around me, while trying not to "pull their hair out" - thanks, in particular, to the computer age we now live in, and to modern technology increasing at a speed I would have never imagined possible!!!

My favorite blog, which I deleted, had to do with being a Mom.  I will try to recall as much of it as possible for this new one because even though my kids may not remember the precious, frustrating and endearing moments of raising them, I do.  And since the better part of my life has involved raising them, for me, there couldn't be a more important thing to blog about than my children...


Being a mom is about time seemingly standing still for a period when my children were small, but realizing now, that it was actually a speeding rocket that can't be stopped, now that they are approaching becoming young adults.  Being a mom changes your perspective.  Before becoming a mom, I remember being in a department store at the mall once and witnessed a mother dealing with an unruly child and she asked her child, "Do you want me to spank you?"  I remember thinking to myself, "why would you ask him that?"  Do you actually think he will say, 'Yes, please spank me!'?"  How convicted I felt years later when those exact words were blurted out of my very own mouth!!  Once I became a mom, I became a more compassionate person and less judgmental; more empathetic of what someone else might be going through that I may not be aware of.  Not every mishap had to be viewed as unpleasant, and I learned to view a situation from the perspective that one day I will look back at this and laugh about it, which helped me many times in the moment of crisis to laugh something off.  Once when Victoria was about 2 years old, I was in a small pharmacy slash gift shop and was not watching what she was doing for a moment, which is all it takes at that age, and she had picked up a tube of bright red lipstick from a basket below me, on the bottom shelf.  One of the ladies that worked there came over to me to make me aware of what Victoria was doing, and I could not contain a laugh when I looked down and saw her face smiling up at me smeared bright red all over.  The clerk was clearly not happy about this and preceded to tell me that I would have to pay for the tube of lipstick.  All she could think about was how annoyed she was with me for not watching my child more closely, and all I could think was, "I wish I had my camera!!", (obviously, before cell phones).  I paid for the tube of lipstick, which turned out to cost only a dollar, but to me it was one of those priceless moments and I wouldn't have cared if it had cost twenty dollars.

Being a mom is about letting your son wear his "Bible Man" costume, red cape, "shield of faith", and all even when you take him with you to the grocery store and then letting him wear it to bed to sleep in later that night.  Being a mom is when I used to tell my son, "You're my main most man!" and he would tell me, "You're my main most mom!"  And I would sometimes teasingly tell him after a growth spurt, which always reminded me of how fleeting his childhood would be, "You better stop that growing!" and he would reply with, "I can grow!"
                                                                                              Preston did NOT stop growing!

Being a mom is those special moments when you want to reassure your first two children of their place when a new baby is on the way, so you tell them when their sister is born to place their finger in her hand and if she squeezes it then it means she loves you.  Baby reflexes naturally do this, and their faces both lit up when they stood by my hospital bed waiting their turn to do this over and over; they still remember doing this to this day.

  Abbie Grace - September 17, 1997

Being a mom is many things to other moms, but to most every mom it is a life changing experience that we would not trade for the entire world.  So as the rocket is flying by at an even faster pace these days, I can look back, and I can look forward to the plan and purpose God has for each of my children, and I can rest in His peace knowing that, according to Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." And Jeremiah 1:5, "Before He formed them in my womb, He knew them".

As it turns out, I'm happy I had a moment to once again, reflect on motherhood and write this blog after accidently deleting the original one.  With Mother's Day approaching next month, what better time for a Mom to reflect....

Olivia - Twirling

Creativity On A Budget... (The thrill of the hunt and how to turn "junk" into useful decorative pieces)

After I became a mom, almost twenty years ago, my career as an interior decorator and designer came to a halt.  Having four children relatively close in age became my life and a blessing I would not trade for any career or any amount of money, as most any mom would agree.  Over the years, I have been able to help people on occasion and I have tried to stay abreast of decorating trends and classics in order to maintain my knowledge in the field.  There is no way, however, to stop a creative person from finding ways to be creative, whether it is drawing, painting, sewing, refinishing furniture, upholstering furniture, knitting and most any kind of craft.  I love looking at an old piece of furniture, an old picture frame, an old light fixture, almost anything and seeing the potential in it.  My husband and I share an interest in antiques and I love the look of anything vintage.  We often make trips to antique stores, consignment shops, and even thrift stores, and one of our favorite spots is "Habitat for Humanity" here in Huntsville to see what "treasure" we may come upon.  Sometimes we have something specific in mind that we may be seeking, other times, it is simply the thrill of the hunt and we find things that, we eventually find a use for or "re-donate" to keep from acquiring too much junk.  Sometimes things must remain JUNK.  But the thrill of the hunt is fun and amazingly fulfilling when I find a way to create or recreate something I find into something unique.  For the past four years my husband and I have been renovating our basement.  It has taken that long with Jeff having a demanding, full time job outside the home and with me having a demanding, full time job inside the home.  We finally completed the task last fall in time to have an Iron Bowl party, which was fun until Alabama lost to Auburn.  I did not take before pictures and wish that I had now that I have decided to start my decorating business again.  The kids are getting older and I felt that it was a good time to "ease" back into the business.  I've included the after pictures of our basement in this post anyway and once I get a few jobs worthy of pictures, I will probably start a separate blog for my business.In the following slide show you will see pictures of our basement where Jeff and I actually did all of the work ourselves.  He is very handy with construction... I just tell him what I want and he can do it.  He even had his own ideas to contribute in the lay out and design of the basement.  We had two antique tables that weren't so nice that we couldn't cut them up and use the pieces from the top, legs and feet through out the pub room.  Jeff constructed the bar top in the opening between kitchen and pub room out of one end of the table, as well as, the two wall bars by the pool table.  He pieced the table legs for support to the wall bars.  I pieced table legs adding a base and top piece for the post on the buffet that we used for the main bar in the kitchen area.  I constructed a pool cue rack out of an old coke crate and using the two pedestal feet from one of the tables.  We purchased a two tier chandelier from an antique store, which I converted to two separate chandeliers, painted, added antlers with strips of leather and changed the light sockets for larger bulbs then hung one over the pool table and the other in the pub room.  I painted an old cabinet door with chalk board paint and decoupaged the frame of it for a chalk board to post the Alabama football schedule.  The bulletin board next to the chalk board, I made out of wine corks and an antique frame.  The stemware rack hanging over the bar was constructed from a wrought iron piece I picked up at an antique store in Mississippi near where I grew up.  You will notice several other items made from antlers that we collected; some from deer hunting expeditions by my step-dad.  You will also notice pieces of the tables used for a pair of candelabra and a piece hung as a decorative wall medallion.  I added a piece that came off of the buffet to the top of the kitchen cabinets to give it more character.  I made roman shades for the pub room and media room.  I made double hung swinging doors out of old cabinet doors.  I painted, distressed and changed the drawer pulls on an old entertainment unit for the television in the media room... it was rather boring before.  Jeff actually found it at a thrift store for twenty bucks.  I reupholstered chairs for the pub tables and a couple of ottomans that were covered in the most awful shiny purple fabric you could imagine.  I made a magnetic memo board for the office by hanging an antique coca cola tray on the wall by my desk that belonged to my granny and granddaddy...  as a kid my granddad cut many a watermelon on that tray.  I made tassels out of antique salt shakers (a hobby of mine) and framed a fabric covered board to display five of them for the office.  The old Singer sewing machine belonged to my grandma.  The oil painting above the mantle in the pub room and the oil on canvas of the paint horse were both painted by my dad.  It was many hours of work for both of us and I could write more than you would want to read to detail everything that we did, but it was a fun project to do together and we are both pleased with the end result even though the theme for the media room is Jeff's favorite, "The Crimson Tide and not mine, "The MSU Bulldogs".  If you notice, I did reserve a small space for them on the shelf that surrounds the media room; it's a good thing the colors work.

Enjoy slideshow:

                    

To view full screen, double click over image and choose option - "watch on Youtube"

*Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of my blog to silence or pause music on my playlist.