If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

Have you read the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? Many of you probably know the book, but it has a funny premise. In the beginning of the story, a child gives a mouse a cookie. Then the mouse wants milk. Then they need a broom to clean up crumbs. The story goes on and on and shows how one thing leads to another, leads to another...

My blog this week could be titled If You Buy a Chest on Craig's List. I got the deal of the century on a brand new chest for my bedroom! I had been seeing this chest on chest that was exactly what I wanted. It was posted several times, but life was crazy with being a soccer mom. I never got to go see it. Last Friday, though, it was posted again at a deep discount. My sweet husband took time off work, borrowed a van, and off we went. It was gorgeous, and we bought it. When we got home, Barry started looking on the Internet to see how much it retailed for. We got it for $3,000 dollars below the retail price! I knew we were getting a great deal, but paying 10% of the original cost really got my motor running!!!! (Moral of the story: There are great deals on Craig's list. Check it out, but be careful. There are also lots of scams and some yucky/crazy postings. I stick to the sales areas.)

So Barry and Anson lugged the heavy thing upstairs and plopped it in the middle of the room while I vacuumed the inch of dust that had accumulated under the ramshackle buffet that I had been "temporarily" (now 4.5 years later!) been using as a dresser. When I thought about how heavy the new chest was, I thought we should paint behind it before we moved it into place. Keep in mind that 1/3 of another wall was already painted the dark taupe that I had already painted in the bathroom. I was testing to see if I liked it, but 8 months later it was getting on my nerves.

My saintly (yes, he just keeps getting better through this story) husband helped me to paint the wall behind the dresser and then said, "Let's just get to it and paint the whole room." Yeah!!! By late Saturday we were finished. We have high ceilings and an office/loft in our room, so it was quite a job. I must be getting old, because I was exhausted.

So now I have a new chest (did I mention that it was the deal of the century?) and freshly painted walls. I didn't have any curtains, though. Hmmm... what's a girl to do but go shopping? After all, I had saved sooooo much money on the chest! I've ordered 2 sets of curtains to try from Penneys (50% off!!!), added some accessories, and I'm almost done. The only thing left is to find a deal on a bedside table. Back to Craig's List....

See what I mean? That's what I've been doing instead of writing on my blog. I hope you all will stick with me while I finished this flurry of nest feathering. In the meantime, Luann's blog on being obsessed with God refocused me after becoming obsessed about decorating. God showed me one time that I had let the obsession with decorating an old house that we were redoing become an idol. He told me to quit watching HGTV for a year and to cancel my subscriptions to all my home magazines. I don't want a repeat of that, so I repented quickly this time! Thanks, Luann!

Next week I'm going to post 3 posts (I'm announcing it for accountability's sake!) one of my favorite women in the Bible--Mary, Lazarus' sister. Hang with me, and I'll share pictures next week. I'm a little embarrassed that my bedroom looks so much like Lysa's, but I promise that I'm not a crazy stalker girl (Well, I am sometimes, but that's only when I'm stalking a potential mentor. It doesn't extend to decorating!) I'll also try to share some of the inspiration that I've gotten from Mary.