
As my desire for authentic and intentional living unfolds each day, it is so obvious to me what jumps out in my balancing act…both beauty and bedlam. That is my theme, and I love it. It’s SO ME!! I live to “be real,” and so with that I want to be vulnerable and open a door to the blessings that comes from balancing both. Every time I post, look for them…they will always be there!
One of the things that I have been most amazed by as I have entered this bloggy world over the last few weeks, are the unbelievable before/after shots. Guess what….they take a lot of time. No, not the actual projects…we’ve learned how to do those quickly from master tutors, but the posting of those projects…geez! And then I’ve read that you need to “stage” them…that means make everything look all pretty in the picture. THAT TAKES TIME!! If I am going to be real…I don’t have the time to do the staging. Maybe someday I will because it won’t take me 10 minutes to move the stacks of things out of the picture, but for now…I don’t, and I keep forgetting to take those dratted before pics because I have been so excited with some of my projects. My great room/kitchen has the cottagey look going…kind of…sort of. This corner cupboard was found on the side of the road in the trash pile. I happened upon this beaut minutes after my friend had hauled it home, and I gleefully mentioned that I would buy it off her. Now being the good friend that she is…I think she felt guilty since she had just proclaimed her amazement at getting it for free, and thus…it’s in my house. She’s a total ‘Nester #2″ and was the first to astound me with the revelation that gluing a little piece of fabric to an insert could be so beautiful.
Now, if I was staging this, I would have wiped down and repainted the bottom, but remember…it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful (love that).


Now for my cozy kitchen corner (which is also part of the great room).
Found this at a yard sale for $40…love it!! Everything on the shelves are yard sale finds…yipee.





Now for my true bedlam moment.
Bedlam as defined by Webster’s is “a scene or situation of noisy uproar and confusion”.
Can you determine what this is?
Chocolate?
Since there are three girls in this house, chocolate chips have a special place in our hearts…I went to wipe up the chocolate chips, and realized an odd consistency, and smell. I now had it on my fingers, and I thought it was chocolate!!!
Are you tracking? This isn’t for the faint of heart…will you still come and visit? You’re only getting to know me.

Bless her heart…
she came over and inspected it and replied so innocently, “I don’t think it was me, mommy, but I’ll check”.
And so she did (’nuff said).
It wasn’t her, and it wasn’t the dog….definitely different aroma.
I STILL DON’T KNOW WHO IT WAS!!! And I have asked them all (well, not the other 15 nieces and nephew who live next door…I am on the hunt).
SO GROSS!
Bedlam….SHEER BEDLAM!!
Just another day of balancing it all.
Wow! That’s a serious post! You’ve been busy! I love both cabinets. Especially the fabric on the bottom of the first one. Great idea!
And you know I love the painted plate! Love it! Love it! Love it! Another good idea with the scrapbooking embellishments.
And as for the last little surprise…I just love that you actually took a picture of it.
Wow! For not having much time to post, you sure accomplished a lot!
The corner cabinets are beautiful!
The plates … so creative!
The poo … so REAL!
Moms get to find all the fun stuff!
Oh wow! We had some of that in the tub tonite…we pretty much knew it was the baby…
Anywho – keep it up. You’re having fun, aren’t you?! (I can tell!)
I am so glad that I happened upon your blog! I came via The Nester. You have a lovely blog and I am enjoying reading and taking note on crafting ideas! :o) Your plate and hutch turned out beautifully!
~Tricia Anne
Jenn!
Hi!! I am so glad you found me on here – now I have a new blogging buddy 🙂 I cannot believe that Taylor is that OLD. I remember when the boys were in diapers!! Your blog is great, I look forward to catching up with you and your family! love, lauren
I love those corner shelf pieces and have wanted one for a very long time. My sister-in-law picked one up at a yard sale years ago and every time I go to her house I comment on how much I reeeeaaaalllly like it to which she replies, “Well, you’re reeeaaalllly not going to get it.”