What a week!

Wow, last week was intense! I haven't been that busy in... quite a while. A quick recap of last week: housesitting, taking car of our house, babysitting, sick (Read: broken) car, sick (Read: really sick w/ bronchitis) hubby. Yes, it was C-R-A-Z-Y! But we made it. I however, cannot say that I responded with grace to all of this... In fact, I  was more this last week: 

Definitely not graceful. My husband is really wonderful and not only understood, but he doesn't hold my crazy-non-gracefilled reactions against me. I am one blessed girl! 

Now on to something else. This picture. 

Yes, it's the same picture from the top of the blog. I took tis picture in May of 2007 when I was in Israel. Those little red flowers, if you can't tell (or are like me and tend to be a little bit ignorant in this area) are poppies and they were everywhere in Israel! This specific picture was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane. I chose this picture for the top of the blog because it was simple but beautiful. You wouldn't think of pretty little red flowers growing in the middle of a heat soaked, arid semi-desert, but they do. I love the simplistic beauty of these flowers and the garden in which they were growing. That's your "all things beautiful" picture of the day (maybe picture of the week). 

In other news... D and I have been married 3 months! Yay! Can't believe it's been three months already! Time flies! 

More adventure than I planned on...

Do you ever have one of those days when end up with a little (or a lot) more than you bargained for? Well, today was one of those days. Let me explain. Every afternoon this week (except Monday), I have been babysitting for some friends, they have two wonderful little boys. Having grown up in a house with three younger brothers, I understand the need for little boys to have something to occupy their time (it can get a little messy and/or creative otherwise) and having an event or a place to go can be a good thing to keep them from going stir-crazy. Hence, I have been trying to have an outing/activity for a few hours each day this week. Today's outing was supposed to be the library. I love the library. The boys love the library (and they love being out of the house). However, this was not to be.

Not only did we not get to the library, but something rather unexpected happened: my car died. Yes, died. Died meaning there was the smell of something burning and smoke coming from under the hood. Praise the Lord I was able to get off the road and into a Walgreens parking lot safely. I then called my wonderful husband and dad, at which point they both said they were coming to get me and the boys.

In the meantime, the boys and I wandered around Walgreens and got something to drink (it was in the high 90's today). Once my Heros arrived, it was determined by my dad (who operates an auto repair shop) that the compressor in my airconditioner had seized up, causing the belt that controls the water pump to quit working thus making the water pump not work and the engine quit. Needless to say, I'm getting a new airconditioner in my car. (There has also been a noise under the hood, I was told it was probably a pulley or belt that was going bad and to keep an eye on it. In keeping with this, I had noticed that the noise seemed to be getting worse so I was planning on taking the car in next week when I could be without it for a day or so... guess I don't have to worry about it now.)

Through this whole ordeal, the boys were great! They were also very eager to announce to anyone who would listen that my car was broken- kids are awesome! In spite of the heat and a broken down car, today wasn't horrible. It has been stressful but not horrible. The fact that we could get off the road and into a parking lot without any injury or problems is a God thing (drivers around here aren't the best, to say the least). I am grateful, so very very grateful for His hand of protection and His grace for that situation.

So, how was your day? Did you have more adventure than you planned on? Have you a time when you knew God's hand was at work in your life, protecting you? Please share!

Baseball!

How did you spend your Memorial Day? I hope you were able to spend some time with family and friends relaxing (and eating) and remembering those who have served and are serving us in our military. We are a truly blessed people.

The Husband and I spent our Memorial Day at the baseball park. I'll admit, it was a little on the warmish side of things but it wasn't unpleasant, actually it was really nice. We were able to get 2 club leve tickets for the price of 1 through groupon {click here} and as it turns out our tickets were right behind home plate and they were in the shade! :) Yes, we were very happy! Not much of a better place to sit and watch a ball game!

Hope your holiday was restful and fun!

polka dots

Confession time: I love polka dots! Why? Because they are happy! I mean, how can you not smile when you see something that is all polka dotted???!?!? Exactly. I rest my case. I love polka dots so much that I have polka dotted dishes and coffee mugs. (My wonderful in-laws found them and gave them to me at Christmas. And the dishes are oven, freezer, microwave safe- happiness!) Here are pictures:

I only have the mugs but aren't they cute?!? They are from Pier One but I don't know if they were a seasonal item or something. 

These are awesome! I love these dishes! In addition to the oven/freezer/microwave safe features, they are also dishwasher safe and come clean really easily. You can find them {here}. 

I found this hand towel on Pinterest. LOVE IT! You should really check out Pinterest {here}.

What about you? Do you have a pattern, a color, etc that never ceases to make you smile? Do tell! 

Coffee

I have to buy a new coffee maker today. I've needed a new one for a while but I've been putting it off. I hadn't planned on buying the one I chose today, but no regrets. My old coffee maker kept leaking and that's very annoying in the mornings when I'm not caffeinated and trying to pour the coffee and not make a mess. You see, the coffee that had leaked out would pool under the carafe and drip into a big puddle on my counter- very messy. So, today the husband and I went and bought a new one. This one.

It's a Keurig Elite and it brews 1 cup of coffee at a time. It really makes sense since I'm the only one who drinks coffee on a daily basis. But I had been avoiding buying one because they are expensive. Now that I've got one, I'm happy with it. No regrets :) And, perhaps best of all, no mess!

Laundry

Laundry. Its my sworn enemy. In the past 3 days I have done 12 loads of laundry. 12. Twelve. One dozen. That's a LOT of laundry! I didn't think that two people could accumulate that much laundry but it's true. To be fair, five of those loads have been linens or towels but that's still a lot of clothes to be washed, dried, folded, and put away, and that's a lot of linens and such too!

There is a confession under all of this laundry: I haven't been caught on up laundry since D and I got married three months ago. Yes, this is essentially THREE MONTHS worth of laundry. Epic fail on my part. Now, I have done laundry since we got married but I haven't been caught up on it. This means that as of now I am caught up on laundry! Yay! I should have a party! Ok, not really. Next week will probably put me a little more behind again (Working and house sitting all week) but for right now, I'm caught up! It's a beautiful thing! 

I don't know if you have a laundry detergent that you absolutely love, but I do. I'm in a sharing mood so I'm sharing my favorite laundry detergent with you. Here it is: Arm and Hammer Liquid Launrdy Detergent, Clean Burst

My mom had been using it (before I got married) and I knew it worked well but thought that it was just of the new front loader HE washers and dryers, but it's not! I was thrilled to learn that it was for the traditional top-loader washers too! I really do love the way this detergent cleans and smells! I love for my clean laundry to smell fresh and clean, in my book, there's not much else that smells as good as fresh, clean laundry. I know, I'm weird. 

Someday, I am going to have a legit laundry room. I currently have a laundry cubby (comes with living in an apartment) but someday I would like to have a laundry room like this: 

I wouldn't need the 3 machines, 2 will be fine (1 washer and 1 dryer) and yes, I want front-loaders. I like the cleanness of the room, it's soothing... Do you have a laundry issue? A dream laundry room? A favorite washer/dryer? Do tell!!!!

Adorable Mirrors

Ok, so the sunburst mirrors that are so popular right now and are totally fabulous? Well, today I stumbled across this cute take on the idea. 

And here it is with close pins: 

Aren't these cute! If I was a teacher I would use one of these, probably the pencils, in my class room! Love it!