Birthday Surprise

    This year I wanted to get Phillip something really awesome for his birthday. I picked what I thought was the perfect present and I couldn't wait to give it to him. I told him how awesome it was going to be and that he would love it. When I gave it to him he was surprised, but not necessarily in a good way. He definitely thought he was getting something "techy" but he was wrong. He ended up really liking it and it was finally warm enough recently for us to put it together and stick it in the garden.

  It's a compost bin! It's also enormous, I didn't realize how big something was that could hold 75 gallons. It's big enough for me to climb in, sit with my legs crossed and still have room to put the top on. I tried to convince him that he needed to take a picture of that but he thought it was silly. This coming from a man who wears a hat with ear flaps.

 We have tried composting before, we initially tried something called vermi-composting but we did it wrong and all of our worms died. Live and learn right?

 I didn't realize how much waste we throw out that could be turned into compost for our garden this summer. All of the peels from our fruit and veggies, coffee filters, coffee grounds, newspaper, egg shells, and the fiber left over after making juices can just be tossed into the bin. You can also throw your dryer lint in too. It's pretty nifty. We're still reading up on the ratios to make the everything break down faster. The bin that I bought is supposed to speed up the process because of the way it absorbs and distributes the heat.

 It's pretty nifty! So now our old compost bin is going to be used as a container garden, I'm going to try to use corn in it. It's just a 5 gallon tote from the Dollar Store but from what I've read it should work. Only our strawberry plants died before winter was over. The basil is still fine and our periwinkle is still blooming.

  We're going to get our seeds planted this weekend. Are you planting a garden this year? What are you trying to grow?

Happy Friday!

  Now that I've gotten my ramblings out of the way, it was supposed to be my Happy Friday! post but it morphed into something different. So here is a happy video for your Friday. The looks on his face crack me up. Just shows you no one can resist snuggly cutesy doggies!

When We Love The Least of These

   I visited K-Love's website this morning to look for some happy news. This video happened to be on their home page this morning.

   I tried to post the video here but it looks like they're on the Sony Label and it can only be shared on certain sites. Anyway I LOVE this song. A few years ago I read a book by Wess Stafford, the former president of Compassion International. It's titled "Too Small To Ignore: Why the Least of These Matters Most." It's kind of a memoir but it also focuses on the importance of children's ministry, not only abroad but also here in the US. I've been involved in children's ministry one way or another since high school and it's something that's very dear to my heart.

  My favorite summer was spent serving with NAMB in Louisville, KY. I worked for the Baptist Fellowship Center doing day camp, organizing a clothes closet, and food pantry. I lived in the parsonage of a small church plant so as repayment my roommate and I helped with their Sunday School classes, outreach, and VBS.

   Something I've been thinking about lately is how caught up I get in my own life and forget to look for ways to serve others. I've recently been pondering the idea of starting some kind of soup kitchen in the area where I live. There are several in Knoxville but I know there are homeless and hurting people in this area too that might benefit from something like that. Maybe some of them aren't homeless but still don't have enough money to provide nourishing food for their family. Does anyone know how you would even get that started?

 ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  

Matthew 25:35-40

Redecorating!

    This weekend we were actually productive! Shocking! It helped that the sun was shining, Gloomy weather makes us just want to snuggle up on the couch and watch The Big Bang Theory. We have been in this apartment almost a year, Phillip actually lived here for about 6 months before we got married.

  I've been reluctant to do any decorating because to me an apartment just doesn't feel like "home". I've finally given in to the fact that our rent is pretty much dirt cheap, the area isn't THAT bad, and living here will help us pay our loans off faster. So we've been making an effort to make it more cozy.

 It didn't take me long to figure out that decorating can get expensive! I've not kept track of what we've spent but we've been picking up little bits here and there. We now have 3 rooms finished! I'm not sure the size of our apartment because I can't find our exact floorplan on the website but it's between 700-800 square ft, we've had to get creative with some of our organization.

  Here's what we have so far:

  This is what we did over the weekend. I have 4 rolls of gossamer left from the wedding and I've been wanting to make a soft canopy for awhile. I made the little rose out of burlap that we had leftover as well, I made the flower and hot glued it to a candle lid. Those end tables were sitting next to the dumpster so Phillip decided to rescue them. They're pretty sturdy but were really ugly. We sanded them down and stained them. We're looking for another lamp that matches mine and it will be finished!

 This is the second bedroom, initially we used it as office space but now we've made it into a reading area. It still needs a little bit of organization but it's much more comfy than it was! The short bookshelf on the left holds all of my crafting supplies, the bookshelf on the right are all of our old textbooks and boxes of keepsakes.

The bathroom is the first room we decorated with gifts from my bridal shower. It's super tiny but functional!

I think if you go slowly enough it is possibly to decorate without spending a ton of money. It was hard not to go out and buy every pretty thing that I saw!

 That's all for today :) I just wanted to share what we've been up to! 2 more rooms to go, the kitchen and living room, then maybe it will feel like 'home'.

 Have a good day!

Happy Friday!

 So I've not had a lot to write about, we're close to paying off another loan so I'll fill you in on that when it happens.

 As I've mentioned before I can't stand to pay attention to the news anymore. It just makes me anxious about things I can't change. I've decided that on Fridays I'll be posting a happy news story, remember "look for the helpers?" that's what I'm going to do. Some days it may just be adorable animal pictures because, who doesn't love adorable animal pictures?


  This video has been floating all over my Facebook newsfeed this week, it seemed appropriate to share. You might have seen it already but if not, I hope you enjoy it.




 

Bye Bye February...

And good riddance!!

  I normally don't have any problems with particular months but February just kicked our butts! We both got sick with a crud of some sort. Meaning a doctors visit and prescriptions, then my antibiotic made me not feel so hot, so more medicine. Plus a root canal and finding out all of my wisdom teeth need to go as soon as possible. I've not made that appointment yet because I'm a bit of a chicken. 

  February also brought more car repairs. Phillip called me on my way home to tell me "when I pulled in the Jeep was smoking, we need to take it to the shop tomorrow." The next day as we pulled/sputtered into the shop he got out of the drivers side and tried to shut the door. Then he tried to shut the door again...and again. No luck, the latch had busted. They put in a new water pump, to the tune of $280 which was actually a discounted rate because we had to wait longer than anticipated to get the car back. 

  The door was another story, it wouldn't stay shut. Solution? Bungee Straps. Oh yes, we were looking fabulous, his headlight is also strapped on with a bungee cord. It took me back to when I was little, my parents had this old black truck and if I'm remembering correctly there was a hole in the floorboard. That embarrassed me to no end. "But Moooom, all the other kids parents have NICE cars. What if I fall out!!" Obviously little Sunny didn't know that everyone else had car payments too. We didn't really know where to start to find a door so we called some junk yards and found one who could order the door. We crossed our fingers hoping it was the same color, it was!! We ordered it and finally put it on the Jeep Monday night. 

  He bought this Jeep in 2006 (I think) and is really reluctant to get rid of it. We're going to start a car repair fund in our savings account which we should have done prior to this. 

 Not everything in February was bad though. His parents came down for a visit which is always fun, we also had a chance to visit with his cousins before they leave for Mexico, my show wrapped up, and I was able to catch up on my sleep! My dad also had back surgery which so far seems to have gone pretty well. 

 How was your February? Did Cupid throw you any curveballs?