Patience and balance! Is it possible?

It’s been a while since my last post…sorry about that!

Operation wall paper paint AND chalkboard wall have been completed successfully!  Here are some pictures to show the progression.  WOW it was definitely a process.  I love the way it turned out….like LOVE it but if you were to ask me how many hours (yes hours) it took me, I would have to say somewhere between 15 and 20 and that is not exaggerating either.  Clearly you can understand why it took me a few weeks to get this done.  Although I would love this pattern on my 3 other walls but I have realized that I just don’t have the patience to stick with one project for THAT long…..so….here is what it looks like right now:

Just getting started......

On a Saturday morning Kennedy wanted to 'help'

I thought about stopping here and just doing a picture rail across the top......but HAD to keep going!

DONE...FINALLY!  Notice the gap on the right hand side?  The pattern ended up not matching so I will be putting a small picture rail to cover up the gap.  Thanks Shelley for the idea =)

And here is the completed chalkboard wall.  This will be the wall directly in front of my desk and will be decorated so it wont be so blah once it's completed.....but here is what it look likes now:

For some reason the color looks a little light in the middle of the wall but in real life it looks even =)  And so weird how this picture makes my office look like the size of a cracker jack box.  It's not....thank God!!

In addition to working on this project I started doing a few mini projects……because apparently I can’t handle having any downtime right now (more on that a little later).  I need to add some color to my office and what better color then PINK??  So I want to make this flower ball things but wanted them in more of a cone shape…..so here is what it looks like so far:



This was my inspiration but I didn't want the balls hanging from my ceiling so I went with a little different approach.



I went with a cone shape.  I'm thinking like 3 different sizes on the shelf that I will be adding above my desk.

Aren’t they adorbs? These are SO easy to make…just streamers, some super glue and either a styrofoam ball or cone or wreath.  To get the tutorial, visit http://www.houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/ and go to ‘tutorials’ and then scroll down (quite a ways) and you will see it listed.

Here is another lil sumpin sumpin I want to make with the cricut I just HAD to have a few months ago! Finally a productive project with that bad boy!!





But instead of it saying ‘coffee’ I will make it say ‘Chai’ because I hate coffee and love chai.  And Hi...turns out I LOVE blogs.....so this is basically the perfect picture!!  Finished product to come shortly =)

And now on to why I’m so obsessed with projects……..

While I was going through the last few weeks working on these projects I just figured I was finally motivated to get decorating and I was just enjoying my hobby. I also noticed that I’ve been pretty  calm cool and collected when asked about Chris’ deployment and how dramatically our life will be without Chris.  I just thought I was finally onboard and ready for the deployment but sitting back and looking back at my actions and laid back attitude…..it’s so very clear to me that I’m disconnecting from the situation.  Not good people…NOT GOOD!

I mean it’s not like I have been neglecting my normal responsibilities. We still have food in the house, dinner is still made (well, most nights anyway), we all still spend a lot of time together as a family, the dogs are fed, the laundry is done (thanks to Chris), the bills are paid, the house is cleaned (thanks to Cheryl), I still carry a full time job, get Kennedy to and from school, arrange play dates, make it to the gym (not everyday mind you)…….and somehow I have still made time to loss myself in projects.  Not only do I enjoy doing projects, but it’s not just a hobby….it’s also a way for me to escape from reality and gives me time to sort through my thoughts and get my game face on for the next day. But I’m starting to wonder if I’m diving in too deep to projects during the last several weeks that Chris is here?!?!?  I mean, why do I always have to have my game face on?  My fear is that I'm pushing away my feelings and one day it will all come crashing down on me!  I'm just so focused on doing everything 'right' that I think I'm disconnecting in order to maintain functionality in all aspects of my life.  Ugh....life can be so draining sometimes.

So folks….I’ve gotta find some balance.  And let me ask you something – why is balance so hard to obtain?  It’s like we are normally all into something are all out of something but being right in the middle where everything is balanced almost seems impossible to accomplish. 

And with that……I’m off to spend some much needed quality time with the hubs =)  Night night friends.