First of all I want to tell all of you Thank you SO much for all of your support with my Praying for Trials post. I was worried the post may have been a little too personal but I have felt strength in all of your sweet comments and  feel so lucky to have you all here reading and providing me withsome much needed emotional support. I love you all! I have taught a total of about 4 classes and feel that I am catching on. It is definitely still terrifying to get up there and talk to people that are much older and more knowledgeable than I am but I am finding that I am a person of value and I can do hard things!!!!! So can you! I hope you all will remember that!

On another note I have finally starting crafting again! It maybe just because we have to get all our projects out of the garage so we can fit the boat in but nonetheless I am doing it! I am working on a little girls yellow nursery and should be finished soon! I can't wait to post about it.

To all of you fellow St. Georgians there is going to be an amazing sale this weekend. It will be held on Friday and Saturday. This is a Designer sale. My friend Julia, who is an interior designer (and amazing) will be running it. What's a Designer sale? Basically it's when a design office/studio/showroom cleans house of anything they've purchased to use for specific projects that didn't quite work out, extras, or things they have just had around a while to replenish our stock and bring in new things. They will have art, accessories, dishes, fabric remnants, a few rugs, a few custom furniture pieces and more. Don't miss it!!! I am going to do my best to be there helping out! 

Thee Blog Hop

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Praying for Trials

I am not sure if anyone reads this blog anymore because of my recent neglectful nature towards it but lately I have been trying to take it easy and I feel if I write I may be able to work through it. This has been a weird few months for me. I have not been myself. I must admit I am just like my father and I like to fill my schedule so full that it's bursting at the seams. A few months ago that overfilled schedule exploded and I have refused to pick up the busy pieces that were left behind. Since then I feel that I have done nothing but sit on my couch and sulk. We all have times that we sit back and reflect upon our lives and wonder where we are going. For most people it only lasts a day but for some reason my sulky attitude has lasted much longer than that. I have dropped everything that was not a necessity. Everything but my husband and kids and believe me there were days where I wanted to drop those responsibilities too. Trying to fix myself and my poor attitude, I have been doing a lot of scripture reading and sitting by myself thinking about how I want this life of mine to turn out. I have had a pretty easy life thus far and I know that no one gets off that easy. Deep down I feel that there will be mountains to climb and very difficult lessons to learn ahead of me. Maybe I have an idea of what those trials may be but maybe I am completely dead wrong. Whatever they are they have been giving me the most uneasy feeling. While I was reading past conference talks given by church officials of my faith,I ran across a talk that struck me. It was called Mountains to climb by President Henry B. Eyring. (I have linked it in in case anyone is interested.) He talked about praying for trials. At first I thought "what a strange concept, praying for bad things to happen to me? Who would want to do that?" but then I remembered the uneasy feeling that I keep in the back of my mind. The thought of getting down on my knees came to me but I quickly pushed it out of my mind. I knew that if I prayed for trials that life would only get harder and thats not what I needed. I needed my life to get easier. Ignoring my instincts I went about my day, my week, the rest of the month all the while that little talk kept popping in my mind and I kept pushing it out. What if the trails that come are not ones I am expecting or want?  What if they are the trials I know I can't overcome. Tired of worrying about it I finally gave into the ever nagging prompting and got on my knees. I wanted to get it over with. I wanted to start my hike up whatever mountain was coming so that I could hurry and be done with it.

The next day I got a call from one of the the Bishop's (much like a priest) councelor's asking that my husband and I come into meet with him. That day I received a calling to be a sunday school teacher. But not just any sunday school teacher, Gospel Doctrine Teacher. This class teaches about the doctrines of our church and is a class I have actually avoided in the past because it was a bit boring and over my head at times. I couldn't believe I was being called to teach the class! When the words came out of the Councelor's mouth I heard them but they didn't make any sense in my mind. I heard my husband gasp. After all he is the Sunday School President. It was his job to assign teachers to the classes. He would know better than to call ME as the Gospel Doctrine Teacher! The only reason I know the stories in the scriptures is because I had a diligent Mother that read them to me and I loved watching the animated scripture movies when I was a kid. I sat there in shock thinking this is a joke. They wouldn't call ME. I am a mom with two kids. The ward (church group) was full of teachers and scholars. Why would they call ME. I felt absolutely inadequate and under educated. When it finally sank in that he was serious the tears started to well up in my eyes. How could they do this to me! I hate talking in front of people. I am probably the youngest married adult in the ward. What did I know that they didn't! As I was asked if I would accept the calling I put my face into my hands and the tears started rolling. I knew I had to say yes. Not because I felt a duty or was pressured in any way, but because I knew that this was a trial I had prayed for. After leaving the office I attempted to control my emotions as we walked into the chapel but couldn't. I handed over the baby to my husband and left him to fend for himself during the sacrament meeting where I was sustained without being present. I ran out the building doors and thought "What in the world are you thinking Heavenly Father!" This was definitely not the trial I had anticipated. I ran down the street in my skirt and heels trying to somehow get away. I found a shady spot in a neighbors front yard under a large tree, sat down in the grass and uncontrollably sobbed. As I sat there I felt a mix of emotions, fear that I couldn't complete the calling I had just accepted, anger that I was even given the calling, inadaquacy because of my lack of knowledge. As I tried to sort through my emotions I remembered something that my Sister-in-law told her grandfather when his wife passed away. 

"You can do hard things." 

I don't know if I have even found such comfort in 5 little words. After a lot of crying and fears whirling through my mind I am happy to say that I have peace of mind and I am ready to take on my calling. There are callings in life that are given to people that are solely to benefit that individual. I believe that this is one of those callings. Maybe it is preparatory to the trails that are to come. Maybe it is the hill before the mountain. But I believe it will benefit me and will prepare me for what is to come. Whatever it may be I try to remember that without difficult tasks we cannot grow as an individual. Challenges are what make us better people. I am ready to be made into a better person. I am ready to let the Lord mold and shape me into the person I am supposed to be. I know that this will be a difficult calling especially for me but I believe that I am here for a reason and that I need to do this for myself.  I just hope that there is someone out there that will get something out of my lesson BESIDES ME.

Blogging Event

Hello everyone! I will be participating in Thee Blog Hope over at Live Laugh Rowe and I would absolutely LOVE it if you would join!!! It's this Sunday so free up a little bit of time and head on over there to meet some amazing new bloggers!

Show & Tell Saturday

Here is another Show & Tell Saturday! Here is Jennifer from One Thrifty Chick to show us the cutest hutch she redid!I would LOVE to feature YOUR thrifty project here on my Saturday Show & Tell. If you have a project that you think will work email me at garagesalesrusblog@gmail.com

 It's been about a year since I snagged this beauty  diamond in the rough at my local thrift store!   I brought it into the space in the middle of the winter, so I simply put it to use trying to ignore the "old" factor.

I snagged this baby for $70, but wait! It gets better.... it was on half price special!!  After zero hesitation, I walked ran to the register and screamed... I WANT IT!!!   $35?!?!?   Crazy right?

It sat until I discovered Chalk Paint!  I realized I didn't to tape everything off, and that I could paint it in place!   Score!  So this past weekend I got to work. 

First to start clearing it out.

Which left heaps of very pretty and colorful dishes on my kitchen table.   I could stare at them forever, but let's move on....

I did bring in my painters tarp to protect my flooring.  But I will be honest, I can't stand that floor and am anxiously awaiting the day we get to rip in out. 

And I got to work painting.  I used my DIY Chalk Paint recipe, along with Behr Creamy White flat paint.  It took me 2 coats to get the coverage I was after.  I finished it off with Annie Sloan clear wax.

I left the back blank for a reason... onto that in a minute. When choosing the color I was really wanting to go with a fun color to pop against my walls.  

But being that I am a Fiestaware collecting fool, I chose white so that my dishes were the "pop" of color.   However I did not want a plain old boring white nothing to it hutch.... thus leading us to the next step!

CON-TACT Paper!!!!   I found some amazing choices of this fun self adhesive shelf liner, but went with a more classic approach.  Also a neutral color to help with the fore mentioned "pop" of color.

Here she is!  I chose to keep the original hardware to give it the shabby appeal.  

Check out the POP!!!  :)  I'm loving every.single.detail on this piece!

It was a quick post, but I truly want to thank you for stopping by!!!   Don't forget to check out all of the parties I like to link up to by clicking here!

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 What an Amazing transformation! Great job and Thank You for sharing with us! I would LOVE to feature YOUR thrifty project here on my Saturday Show & Tell. If you have a project that you think will work email me at garagesalesrusblog@gmail.com

October 6th 2012

This week I again did not get to go garage saleing! I feel like I have not been in forever! This week C.J. ran the St. George Marathon. Watching people finish a marathon is something I get so emotional over! I wear sunglasses just so I can cry without people knowing! HA! Last year when my husband ran I balled uncontrollably when I watch one man cross the finish line. I wish I had the picture they put in the paper of him but it's at my husbands office and am on my way out of town so this will have to do for now. This is C.J. after running.

Here is what I wrote about it last year on my personal blog.

Watching some of the first people cross the finish line is something I will never forget. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched the expressions on peoples face and watched their physical struggle to get to the finish line. I especially got emotional when I could tell that someone's body was shutting down but they continued to tell their legs to keep moving and again when I saw other runners come to a runners side who was about to pass out yet refused to give up till they reached their goal. I saw one runner who's body just kept getting lower and lower to the ground but he wouldn't let his legs stop moving. I thought there was no way he was going to make it until a man behind him grabbed his arm and held him up helping him to finish the race. I wish I could give a discription of his movements. It was almost like a baby horse that was first learning to walk and was taking wobbley exagerated steps and stubbling all at the same time. I cried when they crossed the finish line because the struggling runner's body just collasped and the other runner just held him up and spoke to him until the paramedics could get to him. If you have never watched anything like this it is hard to imagine. All I could think about was how we look like the struggling runner at times when we feel that we can't go any further in life and how the lord comes to our side to aid us. He does not take the burden from us but helps to hold us up to make our burden bearable so that we can make it to our finish line. I have a new respect for people that truly give all they have to accomplish something like this and hope that when I am struggling with something in life I can remember this experince to remind me that after I have given my everything the lord will help me the rest of the way.

Savers Trip

I am at my parents house in Las Vegas for a few days while my husband is working so of course I had to head to Savers! I wasn't looking for anything inparticular but I found some amazing things! Most of it was not in my size so I was a bit sad but I took pictures so I could show all of you!

Someone with the cutest style and the smallest foot donated a bunch of the cutest shoes! 

Love these grey heels!

Seriously?!?! This ruffle is so cute!

I am in Love!!!!! 

I was so sad when I was trying all of these on! They were all about a half a size too small! I felt like Cinderella's big footed step sister!!! UGH! SO MAD!

These ones were too big

Oh, and how I wish I had a little boy!!!!

I was hoping these would fit Paisley but they were too small! They were only $4 dollars!

I also saw LOTS of Hollister T's for those tweens and teenage girls. They were only $3 dollars!!!

I also came so close to buying these Victoria Secret T's

 I did however get lucky enough to walked out of the store with these MEK jeans for $12.99!

Find your nearest Savers HERE!