this whole "marathon" thing

so, i'm doing this on saturday:

the half part. not the full - i'm not totally dilusional.

so we'll be walking

miles.

and i'm actually excitied about it!

this all came about back in january when janna suggested that we do this as a way to honor Thomas and be more heart healthy.  i thought this would be a great way to honor Thomas and Clinton.

we started training in january, following a plan by hal higdon.

on that cold day in january, melissa and i took our first steps to training for the half marathon by walking 3 miles.  it was so cold that day, and i was sure i'd never make it.

there have been many many walks since then. our last long walk was this past weekend, and my mom and i walked 10 miles. it was a slow one, but i felt like i could have done 3 more miles.  according to the application on my phone i use to track mileage, i've walked over 120 miles. if you had told me i would have been doing this a year ago, i would have laughed in your face.  i just don't do stuff like this!!

there have been several points during this journey, while i was walking, and while i was hurting from walking, that i thought "there is no way. i won't ever be able to finish this."  i have prayed about it a lot, and often when i am walking i just beg God to keep me upright and help my feet keep moving.  and so far he has shown grace by allowing me to finish the training, and still be going. 

i also think about Thomas and Clinton a lot.  all they have been through, and all their families have been through - and i then i know i can do this.  for them.  many times while Thomas was in the hospital and since his passing, and since Clinton was diagnosed a year and a half ago, i have wished i could take the hurt and pain away, and while the only thing i can do about that is pray and be there for my friends, i can show my support for these two amazing boys and their families in this very tangible way. 

so when (not if) i cross the finish line on saturday, it will be for Clinton and Thomas, and it will be by the grace of God!!

felt flowers

these little cuties have been all over blog land, so i guess i'm a little slow on the uptake, but i finally got around to making some. and you can too!! so easy.

just grab some felt and cut out 4 circle the same size, and one that is little smaller that those.

take each larger circle and put a little dot of hot glue in the middle and fold it in half. (if you have a low temp setting on your glue gun, that helps cut down on the burning of the finger tips.)

then glue and fold again.then glue your little quarter circle pieces to the smaller circle. then, you're almost done....just pick out a fun button and plop it right in the middle and you have a cute little felt flower!

add it to a scrapbook page, glue it to a pin and put it on your purse or hat...i put this one in my journal. how fun would it be to make a set and glue magnets to the back...you could have a flower garden right on your fridge!

just call me the bag lady

i'm in the process of making 5 bags for the graduating girls at church. i made one last year, and it was pretty easy since katie, who the bag was for, loves cows. so i got some cow print fabric and whipped that one right up. this year, there are 5 girls i wanted to make bags for. so the deal was they had to pick out the fabric - that was just a little too much decision making for my feeble brain! and look what they picked out - so impressed, and excited to be making these bags for some awesome girls!!

i think they did a wonderful job!! i am about half way through making the bags, so i think i will have no problem getting them done by graduation - i hope =)

fabric covered journals - would you pay for one of these?

i saw a version of these on a blog sometime last year, and i was hooked. i love journals and i love fabric, so i figured i couldn't go wrong.

i did these first ones for my girls at church for Christmas. they are composition books and i used mod podge to attach the fabric. i love the way they look, but i wasn't crazy about the way they felt with the mod podge. they were a bit rough, but i think they will hold up well.

i love the ribbons on this one. i just think that turned out really well.

this one is covered in a corderoy napkin, and i didn't cover the outside with mod podge, so it is softer than the others.

i made this one for my boss for her birthday this week. she has been pestering me since i made the others to make her one, and i think it turned out really well.

i used spray glue to attach the fabric this time, and i like the results much better. although i love mod podge for lots of things, spray glue just worked better this time. the drying time is lots less and you can feel the texture of the fabric.

this shot shows the texture on the front a little better, i sewed some pleats into a strip of fabric and then sewed kind of a ruffle on top of that, then used hot glue to attach the whole thing.

also, this one is a "real" journal that you might find in a stationary store, or whatever. i got a ton of them last december from a stationary company a friend of mine works for - which leads to the question above....

would you pay for one of these? i am thinking very seriously about opening an etsy shop and selling journals like these. just wanted to see what people think.

are you a brave girl?

i discovered brave girls club about 6 months ago through one of the many blogs that i read. i was originally attracted to the fun graphics and the happy atmosphere on the main page. this is what "they" have to say about the site:"they" are kathy wilkins and melody ross. they are beautiful girls who just want to share some of the things they have learned with women everywhere.

they live in idaho and conduct brave girls camp, which looks like a ton of fun to me!! a little out of my price range at the moment, but just looking through the pictures and stories from brave girls who have gone, what an awesome experience that would be!

thankfully they recognized that there were lots and lots of us out there that would love to experience brave girls camp, but could not make it to idaho, so they came up with soul restoration. Click on the photo below for the official sr page.

when i heard that they were offering this online course, i knew it was right up my alley. a little time for some work on myself mentally, and learning a few new art techniques in the process...what's not to love!?! Since the registration started in december, it was a perfect gift to ask for from my mom, and as always, she came through! each time i got an email about the upcoming course i was so excited. i didn't really know what to expect, but the more i read about bgc and what they are about, the more excited i got. i was downright giddy to get the kit that is included in the registration fee. plus there were a few craft items they suggest having on hand, so i got had to go shopping for those!

the course started on jan. 11, so we just started the 4th week ... and it has been great. melody has come up with some great curriculum, wonderful collage sheets to use, an inspirational online community so that participants can go and share triumphs and troubles they have experienced while working through the lessons and projects. she is so genuine, and shares some very hard stuff she has worked though, and some fears of hers, which makes it easier for me to trust what she is saying and get more out of the lessons.

i have had so much fun working on the projects, well, most of them ... they do require looking at some things that can be painful, but it's so good to work though those things. my favorite part, so far, has been the journaling. in the first week melody shared some painting and journaling techniques that have been a lot of fun. i like journaling, but i am not usually very regular about it. since i started this course, i have journaled at least every other day, and sometimes twice a day. it's just more fun when your pages are pretty to look at! i plan to post some pictures of some of my journal pages soon.

so, check out brave girls club, brave girls camp, and soul restoration, because

there is a brave girl in there, and she's got things to do!!

hugs and kisses

i'm not usually one for decorating for valentine's day, but there have been so many cute ideas floating around blogland i couldn't resist! plus, i went on an impromptu trip to joann's the other night and the wood letters were on sale...as were all the valentine embellishments and other goodies...it was practically meant to be, right?

so this is what i came up with...not much, but it's a start. just a couple of wooden letters painted white, then stripes for the x (using painter's tape) and little dots for the o (using the cap of a pen), a picture frame i had on hand (with a peice of cardstock, painted free-hand), and voila!

right now they are living on the mantle...but after looking at this picture, it's getting kind of crowded up there, so i may move them, but i may not...we'll see!

three boys

this is a post that i started several months ago. because i was not able to finish it, i have not blogged. it's just been hangning out there, i have thought about it often and some of the details have changed, so i will edit it, but today i will finish this post.

three boys (and their families) have filled my thoughts and prayers the past few months.

these two:

thomas

and james were born on august 28, 2010. they made the mcgregor clan equal 5! they were over 9 weeks early, and spent a little over 6 weeks in hospital growing and getting strong enough to be in this big old world on their own. i prayed for these little guys and john and janna (their mom and dad) and alana (their AWESOME big sister) since before we even knew their were two, and before we knew they were boys. there were some pretty hectic days for them in the hospital and i was ecstatic to get the news that they would be coming home - and even more excited to finally hold them in my arms, and be able to love on them in person.

james and thomas spent about 5 weeks at home until janna and john had to take thomas to vanderbilt with breathing problems. he was diagnosed with a heart defect, spent a month in the PICU, had several surgeries, touched many, many lives, and went home to be with his Heavenly Father on december 10, 2010. janna and john chronicled this time on their blog, here. they did a wonderful job of putting into words a near impossible journey and inspired everyone who read with their faith. if you haven't read it, take some time to, it's totally worth it.

james has had some issues with choking while he's eating and even spent a couple of nights in the hospital with the croup a couple of weeks ago, but he is just growing and getting stronger every day. this is him a week and half ago:

and this boy,

oh, this boy ... this is my precious clinton. this picture is from when he was at st.jude the first half of last year undergoing radiation and chemo treatments for medulloblastoma. medullo is the most common kind of brain tumors in children, and these tumors can do what they call "seed", where little parts of it are let out into the brain fluid, which then travels to the spine. when clinton left st.jude in august, he was all clear. no more cancer! i was so thankful that God had answered the prayers of so many people!

when clinton and his mom, kim went back to memphis to have his first 3 month check-up, they were devastated to find out that the cancer had returned. i think it's safe to say that everyone who knows and loves clinton and his family (kim and jeremy, big brother jordan, and little brother max) was devastated by this news. the doctor told them that with oral chemo medication (full-blown chemo is not an option because his system is still too weak) they are looking at less than a year.

after consulting a doctor in los angeles, a new course of treatment was decided on and administered by vanderbilt. this was a very high dose chemo that really knocked clinton's immune system down. after two rounds of that treatment another scan showed that the cancer was still spreading. with that news, kim and the doctors decided that a continual low dose chemo would be the best plan. this would not make clinton as sick and allow him to get out and about to do fun things. after doing this treatment for a couple of months, a recent mri showed that clinton's cancer is stable! that is incredible news ... the first not negative thing that's been reported since coming home from st. jude. maybe the cancer cells are giving up ... who knows, but we'll take it. and give thanks for this nugget of hope.

this is the cancer-ninja himself, last friday night, when i got the distinct pleasure of helping him and max make bugs, and then squish them. i don't know, must be a boy thing! but they had fun.

i know that the bible says we are not guaranteed tomorrow. i know that God has a plan. i trust that God's plan is the right plan, even when we can't see that. i truly believe that no matter what happens in the world, God intends to work through it, even in ways we may never know. He is just that big and mighty and wise.

He has absolutely worked in my life (and the lives of many others) through these three boys, and i am so thankful for that!

google reader and igoogle

google reader is my new best friend ... and maybe my worst enemy.

i read blogs. i read a lot of blogs. i may or may not read too many blogs.

a few months ago i decided i would start following the ones i really like, because i would forget to check them for a while and then i would feel like i was missing out on something. and i don't handle that whole "missing out on something" thing very well. i had heard of google reader, but i didn't really understand what it was all about, but when i started following blogs i realized that every time one of the blogs i follow has new posting it shows up in my reader.

so for a while, about once a day i would go to my gmail account and check my reader. on most days there would be about 25-30 new posts for me to scan through. a nice little treat!

now, don't get me wrong, i do not really read each and every one of those, but i do scan through them and look at the ones that interest me.

you can even star the ones you think might want to reference again, and i've found that very handy as i try to remember exactly how someone did a project or the name a product they used for something.

you know what i found out today?

you can search in you reader.

and it searches all items in your reader. so i was sitting here thinking - i have seen 5,000,000 (or so) banners on blogs lately, i want to look a bit closer at them, as i am planning to make one for a shower, so at the top of the screen i found this:

i simply typed in "shower banner" and up popped every entry with the word banner in it.

if you remember which blog it was that you saw something on, you can search specific blogs, too. that's handy!!

if you add igoogle to the mix (where you can customize your google page by adding news, weather, and tons of other things including your google reader!!), you can (as i do) see what's new on google reader every time you connect to the internet.

this could be dangerous!

man, i don't know who thinks up these things, bu i'm sure glad they do =)

counters done.

here they are with the clear coat on. i like them! it will be a few days before i can put anything on them, so my kitchen is still a mess, but it's all good!

you can't see it in these pictures, but some of the paint got pulled off the wall, so i will have to do some touch ups, but that's not much trouble! i can't wait until i can use them!

kitchen redo part 2 - painted counter tops

so, back in february i posted my inspiration board for my kitchen redo. the first part of that project was to paint my cabinets, which i have really enjoyed. the scond part was to paint my counter tops using a process called "countertop transfauxmations". on thursday as i was contemplating what i was going to do over the long weekend, i realized that i had basically three days with no big plans and that i could finally tackle this...i was so excited!

i didn't take any before or during pictures, but i promise, it wasn't that exciting, so you aren't missing anything. the first step is to clean the counters very well, tape them and then use a bonding primer all over. second, paint your base color all over the countertops. mine was a very dark brown called "bark" - like a tree, not like a dog, i think. the third step - and most time consuming - is to sponge on your other colors. my goal was to have mostly shades of the light, cream color (parchment) with some of the dark showing through and some flecks the golden/tan color (country twill). i had never done much sponging before, so that was an experience. of course behind the sink and in the corners and crevices were the most difficult, but overall i am happy with the look.
obviously i am not done yet ... the painters tape will come down! the whole thing took longer than i anticipated, so i have done the fourth step - sealing. the instructions say to use satin finish polycrylic from minwax, but i wanted a shinier finish, so i chose the semi-gloss.

i have some anxiety about the clear coating ... just trying to get it all on there without lines and bubbles and such.

i will post more pictures when i get that done. i won't be able to start on it until sunday, though, because i am headed to memphis tomorrow to hang out with clinton!! i am so excited to get to go visit him finally - definitely more fun that countertops!!