Wonder Wife

Is there such thing as a wonder wife? Is there a woman out there that is good at all of the "wifely" things that we should be good at, and fun at the same time? I don't think there is. I think every wife, every woman has something that she hates doing, is bad at doing, or just plain refuses to do. I think I might have more than the average wife but can I just say my number 1 wifely duty that I loathe is LAUNDRY! I just. hate. doing. it. The only thing I enjoy about laundry is the end when it is all clean, folded, and put away- I just don't like doing any of the steps to get it there. Seriously, if I could pay someone to do one chore it would be laundry-hands down. Coach always says he knows I have too many clothes because I never do laundry and yet I continue to pull out clean things to wear (oh-uh he is on to my clothing addiction) We were talking at small group the other night about this issue, is there something that you wish you could learn how to do, learn to enjoy doing, or at least learn how to do it in the most efficient way when it comes to you wifely roles? Or is there something that your sweet husband takes on and you are so grateful that he does? Don't get me wrong, my favorite thing in the world is being a wife to the most wonderful husband ever, and I love every second of it but let's face it we aren't all Miss-Martha-Stewart-June-Cleaver's! I'm more like Martha Stewart with a nasty secret in my closet, ok so Martha Stewart had that too- at least I won't go to jail for my overflowing laundry basket! Ok, that was low- I love you Martha!

Inspired

I have been reading some amazing blogs with very low cost home decorating ideas and I have been so inspired lately, and thought I would share some of my projects. My first project was to tackle our dresser and chest of drawers (which up until last year I always thought it was called "chester drawers" not chest OF drawers oops!) They were a hand-me-down from my grandmother-in-law, which don't get me wrong we LOVE free stuff especially furniture. We will just say they weren't exactly my taste so it was time for an upgrade, except we didn't want to spend the money, so in came the creativity. A borrowed sander, a trip to Lowes, and a couple days later and voila: new bedroom furniture minus the cost!

Here's how I did it:

Sorry I didn't take any pictures during the process so you will just have to listen up good...First I had to remove all old hardware and get to sanding. I sanded with medium grade sander and I will admit this part was a booger, not my favorite step that's for sure! After the sanding was done it was on to the primer. I bought some spray paint white primer and sprayed it down. The primer doesn't have to look pretty just give it some coverage. Once the primer dried it was time to paint- I used Behr Matte Churchill Hotel Lace for the paint. Since I primed it I only had to do one coat + some minor touch ups. Then came the "antiquing" look. For this I used Valspar glaze. All you do is apply where you want the antique look and then wipe with a dry rag until your desired look. Then apply new hardware- I thought about just painting the old hardware but one was broken so we just upgraded hardware. This was the most expensive part of the project because we had to buy 14 new handles, but well worth it I think! Any ways, I hope you enjoy and maybe you will be inspired to start a project yourself!

I will update later this week with another project that I recently finished also- I think you are going to like it!

Four Christmases

So you know the movie Four Christmases? Well that is real life for us. Both mine and coach's parents are divorced so for the holidays we make four rounds. It gets a little crazy but I am not complaining because there are so many people that have no one to spend the holidays with...so I think too many people to have to visit is a blessing. I know this post is a little late but I still wanted to share a bit of our holiday season with you. We started the rounds on the 23rd at my Father in Laws house. It was so much fun, breakfast dinner, family, and presents! Unfortunately I did not get any pictures from that night because I hadn't yet received my wonderful new camera! Anyways I think someone got some pictures and hopefully at some point I can get my hands on them. After that is was off to the Mother in Laws house on the 24th. We had a blast hanging out with the nephews all day and opening presents. Then off to the grand in laws were there is always an amazing feast which includes shrimp cocktail, Chick-Fil-A nugget tray, fruit trays, and sooo much more. I don't think I actually sat down and ate I mainly just shoved all the appetizers in my mouth and then went in to a food coma only to wake up for more presents.
After that we headed back to our house to wait for Santa to make the rounds. Christmas morning I got Coach all to myself...well I did have to share with the pups, but it was a wonderful morning none the less. After our lazy Christmas morning we made our way to my Mom's and low and behold it started SNOWING! What? I know! A white Christmas in Georgia, can you believe it?
Well ok you can't really tell in this picture but I promise it is snowing!

Uh...these three men steal my heart! Especially the one on the right!

See I told you it was snowing!
Then last but not least my Dad's for Christmas dinner.
Where we had a delicious meal compliments of Mr. Blackwelder. We were also very entertained by the XBox Kinect, watching the snow fall, and hours of the now-to-be-made-annual dance party...so fun!
Don't let the brother in laws face fool you, when the cameras were down the boys hammed it up, they just didn't want to get blackmailed I guess!

So there it is, our tale of Four Christmases. I hope your Christmas was just as wonderful as ours! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members to spend it with!