Our home was built in 1921 and it truly has a lot of character and unique features. I love old homes and have always been attracted to antiques and items from the past. This idea was not mine, but borrowed. I picked up this antique cast iron heat register grate at the old house revival company for around $45. It wasn’t cheap, but I had been looking for quite some time and knew that the price was very comparable to what I had been seeing on kijiji and on the internet. I chose this one because it had a great design and the size was perfect.
It was in pretty rough shape, so I had to scrub it with a heavy-duty wire brush to get all of the loose paint off. I then spray painted it with a flat black spray paint. I flipped it upside down and had Tim mount it on the wall above the counter in our kitchen. (This was before I learned how to do wall plugs on my own.) It now serves as a “mail” holder for all of the kid’s notes from school or pieces of paper we need at our finger tips. It may be hard to tell, but we also have a few pencils and pens stuck in the end of the grate. They are very accessible, but up and off the counter. Love this project!
An antique heat grate was painted and converted into a mail slot in the kitchen.
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I am fortunate to have a designated scrapbook/project room in our house. I love that this room is all MINE! Although it is small (about 6′ and 9′) and there are still some things I would like to incorporate to organize it even better, it is one of my favourite rooms in the house. The west wall is banked with windows, so there is beautiful natural light and a very cozy feel to the room. I have not done anything to really “decorate” this room, but it is functional. Someday, I hope to have a perfect spot for everything and a more appealing decor, but for now there are a few things that have worked well for me at very little cost, and so, I thought I would share some of the ideas. (It is always difficult to keep this work space tidy as I nearly always have a project on the go. This is pretty much as tidy as it gets and it never stays like this for long!)
Organizing Your Scrapbooking Supplies:
PAPER: One of the things that used to drive me crazy was all of the scraps of paper. The bits and pieces that were left over from a project. You know the pieces that are too small for most things and yet too big to recycle. I tried several organizing systems, but this is by far the best. I basically created a bag for each of the main colours. The bags are ziplock type bags, but were not bought in a store. They were passed onto me and were originally the packaging for computer parts (I think). The bags are about 8 3/4″ wide by about 12″ tall and the plastic is actually a little heavier and thus more sturdy than the store bought bags. The size is perfect, but I am sure store bought bags would be fine as well. (I also wonder if clear page protectors might work as you can purchase some that are a bit thicker.) I punched a small hole in the corner of each bag and then set an eyelet in so that the plastic wouldn’t tear. I then tied a ribbon to each bag, indicating the colour of paper it would contain and lined my wall with those little screw in hooks. Each bag hangs on its own hook and all of my scrap paper is organized by colour. I still have to sort through the bag to find the exact shade I am looking for, but it is so much more manageable and the system is really easy to stick to. If you don’t have a room, you could always keep the bags/page protectors in a binder.
Here is a close-up shot of the eyelet and ribbon tie on a bag.
I now use my “Big Bite” tool from Crop-A-Dial for setting eyelets and hole punching. This tool is super handy.
I used to use this “eyelet set” before I had my Big Bite. It works fine and could be used in lieu of the Big Bite tool.
Scrap paper storage system.
EMBELLISHMENTS: What do you do with all of the little knick-knacky items like brads, buttons, tape, eyelets, rhinestones, etc.? Well, what works for me is this screw/nail chest that I picked up at Canadian Tire for under $20. I think I got it for 60 or 70% off and it seems to do the trick. I don’t love the navy colour and could easily spray paint the cabinet, but thought I would wait until I actually have a colour pallet to work with and then paint it to coordinate with the other elements in the room. The little drawers work perfectly to hold all of the little odds and ends that I use to dress-up a page.
Screw/nail cabinet used to store my knick-knacks. (You can also see a few jars of ribbon on the white shelf.)
RIBBON: I have quite a bit of ribbon and have not yet got the perfect system for organizing it. I have some of it in jars which works well, but I would need way to many jars to store all that I have. I have some in ziplock bags, similar to the paper, but I don’t find this works very well and the balance is in a drawer. I think that if I had the space (or set-up) the jars would be ideal. You can easily see what you have at a glance and organize the jars according to colour. Maybe some day!
You can see a few of the ribbon jars and the bags hanging on the bottom hook of the little white shelf.
SECRETARY STYLE DESK: The white secretary style desk in this room was a cheap Kijiji find. You can check-out the before and after shots by following the link. I love that this desk provides additional storage inside and an extra work surface when open. It works great for a small space because it can be closed-up when not in use.
CRICUT DRAWER: I repurposed a drawer from an old desk and incorporated into my existing scrapbooking room because I loved this feature in my old desk. (Actually my new desk is older than my old desk which might be a bit confusing). This drawer allows me to tuck my Cricut away, without the hassle of having to haul it in and out every time I go to use it. The drawer feature allows me to keep it plugged in and ready to go at all times, but also allows me to put it away so that it is not in my way. Love this!
The drawer is the big beadboard unit below the desk.
Overall, this little space works really well and I know I am very fortunate to have it. I will continue to make this space all that it can be in both function and visual appeal. It is a work in progress, but it is all MINE and I love that!
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I found this idea on Pinterest months ago and it made so much sense to me. Don’t you hate it when you go to dig a t-shirt out of your dresser drawer and you either can’t find it or you mess up the whole stack trying to maneuver it from the bottom of the pile? I used to hate that! Not anymore, I decided to rearrange my clothes in a vertical formation as suggested on Pinterest. It works beautifully! So, if you are in the mood to get organized, you have got to try this. It really works and is easy to manage.
The above photo is actually of my husband’s dresser drawer. He has so many t-shirts wedged in there, you can barely open and close the drawer. He has not yet converted to the new system. You can only see the shirts that are on the top of the pile and it is difficult to get a shirt in and out, let alone find the one you are looking for. Fortunately for him, he really only wears blue and black, so I guess pretty much any one will do!
Okay, this is seriously a “no-brainer”. You can see every single shirt in the drawer and they fit in there beautifully. This system gets 5 stars from me! I love that I can easily find what I am looking for without destroying the whole drawer of clothes. A must do for the organized person in your home!
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I started scrapbooking when the kids were small and absolutely love it. However, I knew that my personality is such that all enjoyment would be squashed if I tried to scrapbook everything. I devised a plan that would help me to keep my scrapbooking hobby fun and not an overwhelming project on my list of things to do. You can check-out how I manage my scrapbooking in this previous post: Creative Memories: Scrapbooking for the Busy Mom. One of the books that I created is a Family Christmas Album.
Scrapbooking Christmas:
This scrapbooking album is strictly Christmas layouts. I love that you can flip through the pages of this album and see the growth and changes in family members through the years with the simple flip of a page. Of course, what makes this so easy, is that I only do one double page layout per year. I use a 12″ X 12″ album and with the book open, both pages capture that particular year. The very first page in the album is a single page (of course), so I decided to make it a title page for the album. I find it really funny to look back through the album as it not only reflects how we looked so many years ago, but also what a novice scrapbooker I was. You can see how I have progressively gotten somewhat better over the years.
Here are a few shots of our album.
My advice to anyone taking up scrapbooking is to keep it manageable. For me this meant, letting go of the desire to scrapbook every event and sticking to more of a general focus. Picking the 5 to 10 best shots from that year and capturing it in a layout. Here are some simple guidelines that I use:
keep it more general than specific (ie highlights from 2013 to create a layout for each child)
make one album for each child
make event scrapbooking something you do for fun, not a “must do”
create a Christmas album or even a Halloween album if you are big on Halloween (I love having all of the memories in one book)
stay on top of it
purchase the online photo books to capture the memories from a trip and do it as soon as you get home. (Within about 3 to 4 hours, you can choose your layout, pictures and even journal the whole trip. Well worth the time and money.)
Happy scrapbooking!
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I am not sure if your family purchases Christmas Crackers for the holiday season or not, but my sister in-law always has a cracker for everyone at our family Christmas dinner. It is a tradition. I am not sure where she purchases them, but I think she might get them at Costco. They are always quite elegant looking and the prizes are pretty good. This year we got a key chain, an egg timer, a set of mini dominos and a heart pendant necklace. Aside from the fun and the prizes, I also have a tradition of my own. For me the prize is much more about the packaging than the actual contents of the cracker. I always collect all of the little embellishments and take them home for use in other projects. I thought I would share a couple of repurposing ideas for those cute little cracker decorations.
Repurposing Christmas Crackers:
Here are a few shots of some of my salvaged loot from the past three years. You can see that some of the piles are already quite depleted.
Each end of the cracker is usually tied with one or two pieces of ribbon. A wire with little balls on it is twisted around to make a pretty little decoration. The ribbon pieces are quite small and their uses are definitely limited, but I absolutely love those fancy little wires.
I have used the small ribbons and wires to add a bit of extra charm to small gifts in much the same way as they are used on the original crackers.
The wires and bows can also be used to add some pizzaz to a scrapbooking layout.
It may be too late, but if you have some crackers hanging around that still haven’t been used or maybe you are saving them for New Year’s, don’t forget to gather all those odds and ends and add them to your stash for future use.
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I love heritage homes. The character and custom look of an older home is almost impossible to capture in the newer homes that being built today. The amount of oak and natural woodwork simply can not be afforded by the average home owner. There are so many wonderful aspects of owning an older home, but with the character and beauty come many obstacles as well. Our home was built in 1921 and is approximately 2300 square feet. Our basement is not yet finished and although we still have ample living space, it seems as though adequate storage is a constant battle. Both of the upstairs bedrooms were remodelled at sometime prior to us purchasing our home and they both have the luxury of walk-in closets. However, the rest of the house is limited in closet space and I am always thinking of creative ways to use our space more efficiently. Such was the case with my 2012 closet make over. Tim works shift work and I have always found it more convenient to use the closet in the spare room, so that I can try to avoid going in and out of our bedroom while he is sleeping.
Spare Bedroom Closet:
Below is the spare room closet which I use in addition to one of the small closets in the master bedroom (for dresses). The closet is 33″ wide, 9’6″ tall and quite deep at 33″. The space was being used really poorly, so I decided to embark on my first “build” project without the help of my husband! The original closet had one bar going across the closet at about 70″ or so with one shelf sitting on top. All the rest was empty, unused space (other than the pile of junk I had piled up on the floor under the hanging clothes.) Too bad I forgot to take the true “before” picture. It was like one of those closets from a sitcom or cartoon in which the contents of the closet falls out every time you open the door! Anyways, I researched closet make overs and had an idea of what I wanted to do, but had to work up the courage to get started. I am a project queen, but my husband is always asking how and why “my projects” always become “his projects”. I was so fed up with relying on him to make the cuts and use the wall plugs, etc, that I decided that I would learn to do these things myself. What better place to start than a closet, where all of my mistakes and slip-ups can be hidden behind closed doors. I must admit that there was some frustration along the way and my husband notes that he has never heard of it taking so long to mount a few boards, but I literally had to learn everything. I had used many tools before, but my husband would always get the drill bit I needed, find the proper screws, use the wall plugs if needed, etc. I was determined to complete this project without him and at a minimal expense.
First Step:
Clean out the closet.
Getting Started:
I had to remove the single bar as the height would not work with my new plan.
I had to patch, prime and paint the closet. It was in pretty rough shape and had probably not been painting in decades. I kept it white, but the fresh paint made it look a hundred times better!
I then installed “cleats” (I actually know what those are now!!) to support the three shelves and the double hanging bars.
My husband was going to help set me up to use the table saw for the shelves, but he was busy and I was on a mission, so I just measured them out and used the electric jigsaw to cut them. They may not be perfect, but they seem fine to me – and I did the cuts all by myself!! Besides, at that height, who will ever see them?
I also wanted to incorporate vertical storage up the front sides of the closet to make use of the empty space there. Old closets are often very deep and there ends up being “dead” space at either the front or back that is often rendered useless. I figured out a way to make this space work for me. I purchased pegboard at the Re-store for $5 and cut, primed and painted it white to blend in with the rest of the closet. I had never used pegboard before and fortunately I was smart enough to figure out that it couldn’t sit flush against the wall or you wouldn’t be able to insert the pegs into the board. I used scrap wood to build a simple wooden frame on the back. (I even mitred the corners.) I then screwed the peg board securely to the wall with long screws, through the wood frame. This provided about a 1/2 to 3/4″ gap between the wall and the back of the peg board, so that the pegs would insert properly.
I went to the dollar store and purchased several little nylon fabric covered bins (or some kind of fabric similar to nylon). They had cute little handles at the ends and you could tell they were constructed from heavy cardboard (beneath the fabric). I used my We R Memories Hole Punch/Eyelet Setter to punch two holes in the backside of each basket and then set eyelets around the rims to avoid damaging the baskets with the pegs. The eyelets also gave the basket a nice “finished” look.
I then “stacked” these vertically along the front of the closet.
The fabric tubs line both sides of the finished closet.
You can see the eyelet I installed in the back of the basket.
I also wanted to use the inside of the door to maximize the space. One of the things I wanted to include was jewellery storage of some kind. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to use, but knew I hit the jackpot when I came across an old wooden spoon rack at the thrift store for $2.50. I simply painted it and drape my necklaces over the little rungs originally intended for spoons. It ended up being the most exciting part of the make-over!
BEFORE: Old Spoon Rack
An old wooden spoon rack is now a necklace holder.
I added some additional pegs for bracelets and an antique cheese grater serves as storage for my earrings.
I purchased this antique cheese grater for $3 at The Old House Revival Company (one of my favourite stores) and repurposed it for earring storage.
I followed Anna White’s tutorial for making a simple book shelf from a pallet. I love pallet projects as you can generally pick these up for free. I made a few of these and use them for vertical shoe storage. They only hold a few pairs, but take up much less floor space. I made the cuts following her simple instructions and just stained the pallet shelf for a nice finished look.
The three shelves above the two hanging bars are quite high and very accessible without a stool. I can reach the bottom shelf, but the other two are too high for me. I use these shelves for off-season shoes and purses. (And no this is not an optical illusion, this closet really is this high.)
I just added my final addition to the closet last weekend. I was keeping my scarves in one of my black baskets, but really wanted to hang them instead. I installed an old towel bar that was being stored in the basement and slid on some old curtain rings that have little clips on the bottom. My scarves now hang beautifully and don’t get creased.
I have to tell you, this closet is jam-packed! The “new” closet offers double the hanging space, triple the shelf storage, the little baskets hold my socks, underwear, workout gear, and tank tops. In addition, I managed to accommodate more efficient shoe storage, jewellery organization and most recently a great place to hang my scarves. I loved this project not only because the result was great, but because it truly was my very own build. If you look closely there are a few “boo-boo’s”, but you really have to seek them out to find them. Happy organizing!
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I haven’t had a chance to get back to the wreath yet, but hope to finish it up today. As mentioned, I ran out of my basic off white fabric and had to run out to the fabric store. I live and work in opposite ends of the city and ended up having to visit both stores before I found the matching fabric. In fact, I almost gave up because the clerk and I were unable to find it. It wasn’t until we took the “best match” to the cutting table that we found the bolt of my actual fabric. Someone was definitely watching out for me. Note: make sure you buy enough fabric for the project the first time – do you have any idea how many shades, weights and textures of white fabric there are? Needless to say, when I was not at the hockey rink I was out fabric shopping.
Captain Phillips
The great news is that my dad offered to stay with the kids in the evening while my husband and I slipped out for a very rare “date night”. It seems that life is so busy that we rarely take the time to go out together. I know that it is really important and we need to do it more. Well, the stars aligned and we had a free evening as did my dad and we made it work. We seldom go to movies (about once a year) and so it was surprising to learn that we had both had earned a free movie pass through our SCENE cards. We have been talking about getting out to a movie for a few weeks now as we have had about 3 or 4 movies on our radar. We decided to head out and go to which ever one we could get into. A gal a work recently saw “Captain Phillips” and was raving about it, so we ended up seeing it and were totally impressed. Here is the trailer.
We both loved the movie. It was one of those movies that you are so captivated by that you are riveted to your seat and hardly take time to blink. There wasn’t a dull moment and we spent the whole ride home talking about it. It is an absolute must see.
Date Night at a Glance
Really, date night is all about wellness. It is about taking time to get out of the house and reconnect as a couple. I find that working opposite shifts and with the pace of life in general, it is so easy to get in the rut of just doing life. It was so great to chat in the car without interruption and enjoy a great movie together. We were only out a few hours and were home by ten. My dad stayed after and we played a game of Canasta. I absolutely love playing cards and board games, so all in all it was a wonderful evening. We need to do that more often!
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I haven’t posted a birthday party theme for a while, so I thought I would toss one out today. This is based on Eden’s 10th birthday.
Invitations:
I made this invitation and envelope for the party. The invitation was made by printing the actual invitation in a white font on black cardstock. The words are on the back of the DISCO invitation. I downloaded a font called “bell bottom”. I tried to use 60 jargon (very lame, I know). I honestly don’t remember why there is green in the center, but I am pretty sure I just printed the white font directly onto black paper.
For the outside of the invitation, I actually used some left over fabric from Eden’s 60’s Halloween costume and some old denim. for jeans. The background was already black, but I gently used a embossing tool to make some little circular grooves in the “record”. The grooves are a bit hard to see, but I have a circle template in my scrapbooking arsenal, so they were easy to trace out. The word DISCO was typed in another free font I downloaded called Akka. I printed the word in black ink on purple cardstock and then cut out all of the letters by hand. I often use funky fonts in my scrapbooking and card making. One of my favourite websites for free fonts is www.dafont.com. I think that both of these were from there. The envelopes were made from plain cardstock and I embellished them with the shoe and peace sign which were both made on my Cricut. (Have I told you that I could not survive without my Cricut?)
Decorations:
I made my standard birthday banner, but didn’t do much more than that. Eden is getting older and isn’t as interested in a whole party theme.
I made the silhouette of the disco dancers with my overhead projector at school. I simply traced the images onto black paper and then cut them out.
Activities and Games:
Again, Eden is getting older and basically wanted to hang-out with her friends. We did plan two activities and both worked out well.
The girls played Just Dance on the Wii for most of the evening.
Tie Dye Sharpie Scarves
Tie Dye Sharpie Scarves
For this project, I combined the ideas of from two different bloggers. Basically, I went to the thrift store and bought a few extra-large t-shirts that were white. It didn’t matter if there was a pocket or small logo on the top as they would be cut off. I washed the shirts and then off the bottom seam. I then cut across the shirt (parallel to the bottom) to create a loop scarf. I don’t remember how wide I cut them, but I think I got all of the scarves from 2 or 3 extra-large shirts (maybe 8″?) I then stretched each scarf (loop) as much as I possibly could. Each girl received one of these as her scarf. We then did Sharpie tie dye on the scarves. This worked really well and the tutorial I followed was very helpful. One caution though, just be aware of the strong fumes from using both Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. It was okay, but I wasn’t really anticipating that and it is certainly something to consider.
Elastics around cup tops and colour away.
Turned out great. Just need to be sure they are really stretched out to loop nicely around your neck.
Cake:
I actually can’t find my party plan. I usually save all of my files, but apparently I didn’t save this one. I don’t remember going theme crazy with the food for this party, but I did have fun making the cake. I used my regular icing to generously coat the cake and then homemade marshmallow fondant for decorating.
Loot Bags:
Again, I am not remembering everything we gave out at the party, but I do remember that I made each of the girls a denim purse to go with their tie dye scarf. I made these out of old jeans that we had at home. (I had been saving them for this purpose.)
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It seems as though we are constantly being bombarded with new terms and jargon. I often find it hard to follow my own kids’ conversations as some of the words they use are completely foreign to me. One of the latest terms that is circulating on the internet is “life hacks”.
What is a “life hack”?
I often browse sites that share “life hacks”, as I am always on the lookout for new and creative ways to do life in a more efficient way. Here is one that I found, tried and modified to better suit my needs.
Gift Wrap Storage
I saw this great idea for gift wrap storage on Pinterest. This hack was both easy and cheap, but I wasn’t totally impressed with it when I tried it out. The concept is simple. Cut a toilet paper roll lengthwise and slide the cardboard over the gift wrap roll to keep it secure. Unfortunately, it takes very little for the cardboard toilet paper roll to become stretched and not have enough “spring” to hold the paper in place.
This gift wrap roll is fat, so it works okay, but I can tell that with only a few uses, it would be stretched out of shape and no longer stay in place.
I was really disappointed as I thought this was a great idea. So, I came up with an easy fix. All you need are regular brads and tiny hair elastics which can be bought at the dollar store. A bag of 100 is $1. (Lets hope you don’t need all 100 for gift wrap or you may have more serious problems than how to store it).
Punch 2 holes in the toilet paper roll, stick a brad in each and stretch the elastic across to hold it securely. The great thing about this is that you can modify it by cutting out a section of the roll to make it smaller to fit around those skinny rolls of paper as well. (Otherwise, the standard size roll actually overlaps and slides right off of it). It literally takes seconds to make these and they work really well.
Cut a slit down the toilet paper roll.
Tiny hair elastic, brads and toilet paper roll.
Use the elastic to secure the toilet paper roll.
Now, if you are like my husband you might be saying….”that is supposed to be better than a regular elastic?” Check out this spoof video on some of the life hacks that are circulating on the web. Funny.
Often times, some of the “life hacks” seem like they are way more work than they are really worth, but I like this one because I find that tape damages the paper and an elastic often ends up cutting the paper. Of course, if you make several of them, you can re-use them over and over again.
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Many years ago, our Pastor spoke of Dr. Gary Chapman’s book on the 5 Love Languages. We were intrigued and discussed what we thought our “love languages” were, but never really pursued it beyond that. However, with our busy schedules and Eden becoming so much more difficult to “read”, I thought it was time to read the book and really delve into the love languages of each of our family members. Learning the love languages of your spouse and children has literally saved thousands of marriages and restored many broken family relationships. Effective communication is the key to every relationship, so why not invest the time and learn the language of those you love! If you go to Dr. Chapman’s website, you can complete an online profile to figure out your own love language as well as the languages of your family members.
What are the Five Love Languages?
Words of Affirmation ~ verbal compliments or words of appreciation
Quality Time ~ giving a loved one your undivided attention
Receiving Gifts ~ for some receiving a gift speaks volumes
Acts of Service ~ actions speak louder than words
Physical Touch ~ to this person nothing communicates more deeply than appropriate physical touch
For each of the love languages above, there are different “dialects” within the language, so it is not always as straight forward as giving a compliment. You not only need to discover the love language of your loved ones, but the dialect of the language they speak. If you can ascertain, their love language, you will be able to consistently communicate your love effectively. Although everyone appreciates certain aspects of all of the love lanuages, one of the languages generally speaks “love” much more deeply than others. The difficulty in relationships is that individuals often speak different languages and thus are not able to communicate their love in a way that is understood by their partner or children. Dr. Chapman gives many examples in his book that help one to gain a better understanding of the languages, but here is a quick example. If your husband showers you with gifts as an expression of his love, but your love language is Quality Time ~ there is no amount of gifts that will ever make you feel loved in the way you need, to keep your “love tank” full. Like wise, if his language is Receiving Gifts and you rarely give him specials gifts to demonstrate your love, his tank will be empty as well. The key is recognizing each others primary language and choosing to communicate in that language.
Put To the Test
In an effort to communicate my love for my husband more effectively, my daughter suggested I get the van washed today. My husband regularly complains that I never wash the vehicles. Occasionally, I will take the car to the Mid Town Car Wash where I get to step-out of the vehicle and wait inside while they thoroughly clean my vehicle. I never go through the “drive through” car washes. Of course, there is a reason for this. I get very anxious and worry that I won’t know what to do when I get in line. My husband finds this completely ridiculous, despite the fact, that my last attempt ended in an “epic fail”. About 15 years ago, I did take the car through the wash, but when I got home, my husband asked what I did as the car was completely covered with water spots and still covered in dirt in some areas. I said I wasn’t sure what went wrong, but suspected the car wash wasn’t working right. He had me describe what I did and he couldn’t believe it when I said that I put in my code and then slowly drove through the car wash. I explained I was nervous and didn’t want to hold up the car behind me. He made it very clear to me that you do not DRIVE through the car wash. Oops! Anyways, I have never washed the car since. Until today that is. With Eden’s support and encouragement, I bought gas and a car wash. I thought I might hyper-ventilate when I had to get my tires in the narrow channel at the entrance, but noticed a mirror that helped me to guide them in without a problem. I was also very appreciative of the lady’s voice on the speaker that welcomed me and gave me the verbal instructions I needed to proceed. Eden thought it was all quite hilarious, but I didn’t care. I know it is pretty silly, but I felt pretty good about stepping out of my comfort zone in the name of love. Ha! Ha! The good news is, I made it through without pressing the gas pedal and the van came out pretty clean. (Not as good as the “hands-on” treatment at the Mid Town, but good.)
If you are interested in learning more about he 5 Love Languages, there are books written for marraige, children, teens and even the work place. They are easy reads and well worth the time!
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