weiner dog wednesday - jackson the vicious hunter

i have no idea if this will entertain anyone else, but it was hilarious to me. jackson killed his third snake in two weeks on sunday. should i be concerned about the snake infestation? maybe. at any rate, i managed to catch this one on video because i was taking pictures of our picket fence project. please excuse the hammering/sawing noises in the background. jed was hard at work while i was video taping the dog. apparently the snake tasted really bad, because every time he would bite it, he would drop it again and shake his head. so cute. and vicious. also, he really likes to roll on anything he kills. gross! for those of you out there that think dachshunds are just cute little lap dogs with ridiculous body structures, think again. they are vicious hunters bred to kill that happen to also be really snuggly lap dogs.

love that will not let me go

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

this is one of my favorite hymns, written in 1884 by george matheson. it has been stuck in my head all day as i've tried to spend some time with jesus, and thinking about holy week. i am so thankful that His love won't let me go, and keeps bringing me back to Himself. i am so grateful that jesus loves me and died for me so that i could have a relationship with my Father God. i hope that i get more time this week to think about the cross that lifts up my head, that gives me eternal life, that gives me hope. i am ready for the joy of easter morning.

picket fences - one man's trash...

last week i was driving to a young life women's lunch and noticed a pile of picket fence that someone was throwing away. on the way out i stopped and asked the homeowner if i could take a chunk of his old fence. he looked at me like i was a crazy person and said, "sure, whatever." i loaded up this piece of fence into my car and hauled it home. thankfully i have an understanding husband who was only too willing to help make something cool out of the old fence.here is what we started with:

i figured out that i wanted to make a piece for the wall in our bedroom, and showed jed where to cut. you can see the line he drew across the fence.

he cut across the board while i held the base of the fence.

here is the leftover fence piece.
i'm brainstorming project ideas for the leftover boards.

in the midst of the action, jackson tried to wander off. as usual.

i got distracted by a little eye candy. i cannot resist my man working hard in a pair of carhartts. seriously, look at that bootie.

here is the finished product.
i cleaned it up and it was ready to hang it on the wall.

here it is on the wall. i'm not sure i'm done with it yet.
i may add a cute clothesline with pictures pinned to it.
i'll let you know.

i'm linking to :

say yes to the dress!

i haven't been online much over the past few days because i've been hard at work on "ditch the dress" a fundraiser for younglives. younglives is an outreach ministry to pregnant and parenting teenage girls. it is a part of young life, and therefore part of my job. we restarted younglives at the high school in my area last year, and i have been amazed by what the Lord is doing in the lives of teen moms. my partners in crime for the event this weekend, anita and becky, are amazing, godly women. they came up with this incredibly creative idea, and i quickly jumped on board.
we collected donated dresses from anyone and everyone we know, sorted them by size, and held a massive one day sale (yesterday) for anyone who wanted to shop for a good cause. every dress was $25, no matter how awesome or not. we sold 44 dresses, enough to pay for 2 girls and their babies to go to camp this summer. amazing! we learned a lot, and made some $$. we donated the bad and the ugly to goodwill today, and kept a few crazy ones for young life skit costumes. we are taking a bunch of non-prom dresses to a resale shop, and anything we get there will go towards the camp scholarships as well. the remaining prom dresses will be sold at a local high school at a one-time after school sale. the whole thing was a lot of work, but so much fun.
the pictures i've added show all the dresses, then 2 special ones that my sister purchased. they are both designer dresses in her very tiny size, and each unique and beautiful. we had a lot of great designer items donated, so some folks walked away with incredible deals. that's how i spent my weekend.

best of etsy - big girl headband edition

confession - i have 2 baskets full of headbands that i wear on a regular basis. yes, i am a 30 year old, grown up big girl. i think it is totally ok for adult women to wear headbands, and i'll show you why. once again i have combed the pages of etsy, through the good, the bad, and the just plain creepy to bring you the very best (in my humble opinion). this time i am concentrating on headbands for us grown up girls. check them out and see if you agree with me.

these gorgeous roses are by sweetivygirl. i think they are romatic and a little dark. very vampire romance. vampires are so hot right now. team edward forever.

this is so art deco and fabulous and would totally work for a bride or dress up a little black dress. by liveinstyle

this one is for the modern day elizabeth bennett. i think jane austen would approve. go get one for your date with your mr. darcy. by littlepinkdollhouse

glamorous and fabulous. embrace your inner carrie bradshaw.
by heknowsmyname

if you are going to san fransisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. these felt ones would be perfect. by giantdwarf

springy, casual, amazing... i would wear this everyday.
by bebecha

this gorgeous neutral number would work with anything, dressy or casual. love it.
by beautifulblossoms

blog hop

i'm participating in a blog hop over at the trendy treehouse. check it out.

the biggest loser

this past weekend we went to little rock to celebrate several birthdays (marci, dad, and joyce) with folks we love. my brother chris and his wife emily were in town as well, with our precious niece in tow. caroline is the prettiest baby ever, though i will admit i'm biased. the best part of the weekend was the quality time with some of my favorite people. the second best thing was seeing the change in my dad. right after christmas he joined a gym and started working out almost every day. he and my mom changed their eating habits to concentrate on making healthy choices. my daddy has lost 36 pounds since the beginning of january! he has struggled with his weight my entire life, as well as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a host of other weight caused issues. he went to the doctor and all of his levels were already back into the healthy range! amazing! we had to buy him new clothes for his birthday because the old ones were falling off. i am so incredibly proud of him and my mom for changing their lifestyle. they are such an inspiration to me. now if i can just get moving myself...

the proud grandparents - dede and papa john

aunt becca and baby caroline

a little frugal spring redecorating...

spring is finally, officially, here. it was time for a little redecorating in my living room to bring in some spring time flair. my local grocery store had beautiful bunches of flowers on sale for $4.99. they had my favorites- stargazer lilies, and i couldn't pass them up. for a vase i used one of my meme's old mason jars. tie a piece of raffia around the neck and it becomes a vase. i used a fun effect on the pics on picnik.com - called ortonish. i love how it makes them all soft and glowy. if only i could get this effect on my face in real life...



here is another mason jar vase, a smaller version. we use them as drinking glasses at our house. this $2 bouquet of faux daffodils and a little ribbon leftover from our wedding make it festive. you can't go wrong by adding a few cheap plastic easter eggs. i played around with 2 other effects from picnik, special focus and reala400.

jackson's 15 minutes of fame...

jackson the wonder weiner dog is featured to day on a lovely dachshund blog called "the long and short of it". thanks y'all! other than that he is having a rough day. he is known to be a trash-hound and must have gotten into something over the weekend. we were in little rock at my parents house where he got to play with his sister bebe and get into all kinds of trouble. he also had to share the yard/house with 2 labradors and a german short haired pointer because all the granddogs were in town. who knows what they got into?!... he is having some tummy troubles today. poor kid. maybe his shot at blog stardom will help him to feel better. at least the snow is gone...

acknowledgement

"whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. but whoever disowns Me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven."
matthew 10:32-33

i'm still reading crazy love by francis chan. he quotes this verse from matthew in the chapter called "profile of the lukewarm". in the chapter he discusses how we often don't share our faith openly for fear of rejection and making others uncomfortable. the chapter asks a lot of hard questions: do i love God with my whole heart? is Jesus my life, or only a small part of it? do i share my faith openly with others? do i have limits on how far i will go to serve the Lord? do i try to love others as much as i love myself? these are slap you in the face questions. i don't really like my current answers, but making a real change is scary. i want God to go all out for me, but i'm not really willing to go all out for Him. how do i change my attitude? i guess i'll just keep reading.

easter is coming...

here comes peter cottontail,
hoppin' down the bunny trail,
hippity, hoppity,
easter's on its way.

does anyone else remember that song?
i think of it every time i see an easter egg.

this is my new/reworked easter basket. in its former life it was part of a flower arrangement given to me at a bridal shower two years ago. it lives in my guest bedroom and holds various items throughout the year. the ribbon is left over from my wedding. our two year anniversary is coming up, so now is the time for me to admit that i bought way too much ribbon for my little diy wedding. as we all know, easter grass is a giant mess. i like using this green filler paper instead. it can be recycled after the holiday as gift bag filler (or actually sent to the recycle bin). the eggs are currently candy-less, though they weren't a few days ago.
must have been the dog.

love

love is all you need.

you, my brothers, were called to be free. but do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. the entire law is summed up in a single command: "love your neighbor as yourself." - galations 5:13-14

i am currently reading a book called crazy love by francis chan. it is kicking my butt all over the place. if you want to be challenged in your thinking about God, read it. i not saying i like it, yet. i will say it is good and hard and making me think outside the box.

weiner dog wednesday

a few weeks ago, life looked like this, and jackson (the wonder weiner dog) could not have been more miserable...

now spring is here, and jackson is loving life! he has already killed two (small) snakes in the backyard this week. since we are on spring break we have been spending a lot of time outside, playing ladder golf, reading, enjoying a morning cup of coffee. everytime we are outside, jackson gets to sniff around to his heart's content. it has been a good week for the weiner dog.

the wearin' o the green

thank you to my irish ancestors, who fought discrimination like this to make a life for themselves and their descendants in america. i am so grateful that this sign would never be seen today. instead, we have this:

we've come a long way.

best of etsy - st. patrick's day edition (better late than never)

etsy.com is my source for all things lovely and handmade on which to spend my money. once in a while i search through the good, the bad, and the just plain scary to find (in my opinion) the best of etsy. here is a little green for your st. patrick's day celebration. if you are irish like me, take a moment to think about how far we have come in the last 150 years. when many of our ancestors came to this country they weren't allowed in restaurants and were discriminated against because of their irish heritage. employers wouldn't hire them, they were looked down upon, treated as rubbish. now the entire country wants to be irish at least one day out of the year. that, my friends, is something to celebrate.

what is with this bird trend lately? i love it. i can't get away from it.
by zephyrwoods

precious! some stylish easy green for the wee ones in the crowd.
by sleepyking

this monogrammed necklace is so classic, so southern, so perfect for representing a little irish pride. i can just see myself wearing it to the parade in savannah, ga. the st. pat's celebration there is completely out of control, and a must-see once in your life.
by rrpage

this lovely little coinpurse would be perfect for holding my lip gloss and $$.

by jenniferladd

these are absolutely beautiful and i want to wear them today. i've got to start thinking ahead.
by jlrydesigns

new project?

a few weeks ago, this was life:

our cute little house

our neighborhood

the snow is long gone, but the remains of the trees damaged by the storm are everywhere. jed, my hardworking and creative handyman husband, found some trees on the side of the road that he just couldn't pass up. we need some ideas for what to do with it. he can make just about anything, but we need a genius idea. we are thinking maybe a side table, maybe some signs or shelves... let me know if you have any ideas. here is the wood:

spring craft time!

i have an obsession with target. i pronounce it tar-jeh, as though it were a french boutique. i go there a lot. i went to two different ones (super and regular) just yesterday. it is a problem. i have been lusting after this lovely daffodil wreath they have for about a month. the problem is that it costs $25. boo. i remembered that michael's has grapevine wreaths for super cheap, and i figured i could possibly make a daffodil wreath of my own. i had never made a wreath before, but why should that stop me? i took one grapevine wreath, 2 bunches of fake daffodils, and pretty ribbon leftover from my wedding. it took about 30 minutes, and cost $6. i love it and is was 1/4 the price of the target version. crafting brings me joy.