Becoming

Making Floral Less Floral-y

Whitney — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:14:56 +0000

The birds are tweeting pretty loudly, the air is sort of warming up, my allergies are attacking my face, and we’ve made the pleasant discovery that our yard is made up of mutant grass that has to be mowed twice a week. In other words, spring is here!

I’ve been itching to add some spring to our house, and I considered for 2.8 seconds planting some flowers outside. But I’m about 90% positive that I’ve inherited my mother’s pitch black thumb. (Don’t hate me, Mom. But you know it’s true. Ha!)

So I’ve decided to add spring to our door by switching out our wintery wreath for a bright, floral happy one. I’m pretty much in love with all of these wreaths:

from A Continual Feast on Etsy

from Alessandra Hayden on Ravelry

from Bustle & Sew

from Attic 24 (tutorials included!!)

But in case you all didn’t know, I’m married to a manly man. And the boy just doesn’t get florals. I’ve tried. But then I remembered that I like his manly ways. And I would be concerned if he loved my flowers. So the goal is to make a floral wreath that doesn’t necessarily scream FLORAL. Maybe I’ll knit a little Ninja Turtle guy and stick him on there to up the manliness? Ha!

What about you guys? Anyone adding some fresh, bright decorations to their home to celebrate spring? Do you all change your wreaths seasonally? Any suggestions for making a gigantic floral wreath look manly? I’m all ears.

~Whitney

Play Place Woes

Whitney — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:53:55 +0000

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So here I am, sitting in McDonald’s play place trying to pretend that this pack of sliced apples actually taste like apples. So far? I’m not succeeding.

I’m babysitting my two sweet boys for most of the evening, and I had big plans of OUTSIDE. I have been dying to mow our grass. I have a husband who is more than willing to mow it, but I’ve got it in my head that it will be good exercise and I’ll think that it is fun. I’m not sure where that idea came from, but I’m going to see it through. Anyway, I was going to keep the boys outside until dark. The park, swings, playing basketball in our driveway, jumping over our bushes, tag, and maybe even lightning bugs. But then April laughed at me and sent a gigantic rain storm. Boo.

They played inside with legos for 2.6 seconds. Then switched to army men for about half of a second. They threw bouncy balls around my house. They tried to convince me to “referee” their wrestling match. And then they pretended to be Woody on the Wii. When they requested to watch Spongebob, I knew I couldn’t take it any more. That sponge needs to grow up.

So that was the first hour.

Then inspiration hit. I strapped them in the car and drove thirty minutes to the nearest McDonald’s with a play place inside. They scarfed down their kids meals, then dove right into the kid-infested play place.

When I was little, the McDonald’s play place was the thing dreams were made of. And if it had a ball pit? Oh my word. Heaven. But now?

I could barely eat my food because of the smell of moldy socks. And you know the little boy head stink? It’s super prevalent. And those slides are sticky with I don’t want to know what. And I’m having pretty interesting convos with the natives.

little girl: Excuse me, ma’am? Your son just told me to be quiet.

me: Oh.

little girl: *pout*

*five minutes later*

little girl: Your son is the one in the striped shirt.

me: Oh.

little girl: *pout*

Tattling is the gossip of the five-year-old crowd and I will have none of it.

And may I say, if you are a parent with 23 kids in the play place and LOUDLY proclaim that you’re about to bring them all ice cream cones, please go ahead and buy the two little boys with the lame baby sitter some ice cream. And bring the baby sitter one of those fake frappuccino things. I need some caffeine to get me through this mold headache.

And on that lovely note, I’ve got to go take care of my boys. The older one is showing all the kids with the ice cream cones how he can body slam his younger brother to the ground. Sweet.

~Whitney

Moving In

Whitney — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:56:42 +0000

The whole buying our house and then moving in process felt like a whirlwind. Well, it felt like riding on the back of the world’s laziest turtle at times, but mostly it just sped by. I didn’t blog a ton about the whole process because I was too busy pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. But we’re still in our house. It’s apparently real. Ha!

The day it became official, we wanted to move in, but we had quite a bit of construction work to do first. So we settled on moving in one item and celebrating with McDonald’s afterwards. We’re pretty hardcore around here.

We chose to move a globe. We chose it because it was so symbolic of world peace and love and all that.

Just kidding.

There was no real thought process. I just quickly glanced around our trailer, it caught my eye, and I grabbed it.

Look how cute and excited he is. It was a pretty big deal for these Gothras!

Growing up, I got teased quite a bit for being so dramatic. It actually never stopped. I just married someone equally dramatic. At times it can lead to interesting moments. But then there are times like this. When he doesn’t make fun of me for taking 836.5 pictures of us carrying a globe inside our first new house. Instead, he just smiles right along and embraces it. Firsts are my favorite.

~Whitney

Shrubbery Patrol

Whitney — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:57:29 +0000

I’m typing this blog post with sore arm muscles and a new found obsession. Shrubbery. ”Yes, shrubberies are my trade. I’m a shrubber. My name is Roger the Shrubber.” Monty Python, anyone?

In our first home, we had a piece of land that two swipes of a push mower would take care of. Now, we have quite a bit more. My baby giant brother is trying to save his money to buy a gun (he’s a country boy through and through!), so he’s been asking if we’d hire him to mow our lawn. Although I wish he was still little enough to want to save up for a new pack of legos, we hired him on the spot.

Timothy was working late, so my dad, brother, and I tackled our yard. My brother did the mowing and my dad handed me a gigantic bush trimming power tool. Boom.

Our shrubs were looking a little scraggly. My dad offered to clean them up, but no way! I’m a DIY-loving homeowner. I’m tackling these shrubs if it’s the last thing I do. About three bushes in, I got over my fear of bugs. It got a lot easier after that.

The previous homeowners made some questionable shrub-shaping decisions. From the bushes in the picture above that look like a buzz cut to the one below that is nearly six feet across and is shaped into a big sloping thing.

Oh, and there was the life-sized bush at the side of our house. My brother tried to convince me to sculpt the bush to look like him. Umm, maybe next time.

After some shrubbery research, I decided to go for the rounded shrub shape. And I’m pretty sure that is the most interesting sentence I’ve ever written. If you’re still reading I’d give you a cookie. Below is some of my bush handiwork. Be prepared to be amazed.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the most life-altering change, but it is a bit better, no? I just barely rounded the tops because I was scared of hacking them up. And that big sloping thing? Yikes. I don’t know if I made it better or worse. It looks like it’s had a bad haircut and is in the middle of growing its bangs out. Poor shrubbery.

Oh, and I also did some weeding. At our first house, we only experienced one weed. Which was a pretty awesome weed. And then our neighbor cut it down. Whatevs.

So ripping these weeds out felt like a pretty big deal. I keep waiting for the newness of this house to wear off and for each “first” to feel less monumental. But it’s not happening. And for that I’m so glad.

Timothy is kind of wanting us to get into gardening. And I don’t know if I can keep my fear of bugs and dirt held at bay long enough to conquer a garden. What about you guys? Do any of you garden? Or enjoy shaping your shrubs? Or take pictures of your first weeds? I’d love to hear.

Spring, Glorious Spring

Whitney — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:55:35 +0000

via

You know that whole S.A.D. thing? Seasonal affective disorder? I’m pretty sure I have it. Or at least had it. Today feels like the first day of spring and I am a new woman. We slept with the windows open last night, and I woke up to birds at 6 a.m. Crazy, crazy, crazy loud birds. They must have been suffering from S.A.D., too, and wanted the world to know that spring had come.

But for some reason? Those birds didn’t even make me mad. My mom even asked why I’m so chipper and nice today, it being a Monday and all. I don’t know. But spring. Spring, spring, spring. Has it ever been so beautiful?!

I feel like just hanging outside with the super zealous birds. Or clean my house. Or go bake some bread from scratch. Or plant a garden. Or give up gluten. Wait, that was definitely one too far.

Spring has sprung and I’ve never been happier.

What are you looking forward to this spring?

~Whitney

Overheard at the Gothra’s

Whitney — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:06:30 +0000

This weekend I went to a ladies conference in Michigan. It was one of the absolute best I’ve been to! So encouraging, uplifting, and just plain ol’ fun. Timothy, of course, stayed at home because he’s not a lady. Thank goodness.

Before I left, I showed him where all our snacks are. I had lunches (yes, plural) and dinner for each day I was gone in the refrigerator. All on the top shelf. Lined up neatly. Sometimes boys just need a little help. Especially in the food department.

As I’ve said before, I am an Administrative Assistant, but I also baby-sit two little boys. It took a few days of “nudging,” but I got Timothy to agree to baby-sit the boys in my absence so their family wouldn’t have to find other arrangements. He was a little dubious about the whole thing. We had a run-down of how it would go many times before I left. The morning of Operation: Baby-sit, Timothy called me a couple times while I was on the road.

He: Do I need to feed them?

She: If they’re hungry, then yes.

He: About the school thing, do we need to leave at 8:00 or be there at 8:00?

She: We live one minute from the school – it doesn’t really make a difference. But you will have to tie the youngest one’s shoes.

He: Oh man. Really? Hmmm. Okay, I got this.

And then later that night, when he had the whole house to his lonely self:

He: I’m lonely. And I’m eating the roast you left me. And watching basketball. I feel like a caveman. Like a lost caveman. All I know is meat and basketball. When are you coming home?

All I gotta say is, it’s good to be needed.

~Whitney

Desperation

Whitney — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:59:25 +0000

When I started this post, I thought it was heading in one direction, but it quickly turned into something else. It’s been sitting in my drafts folder for a few weeks. It’s a little heavy, and it came out all in a rush. But I just needed to write it. Maybe you needed to hear it? Either way, it’s a testament to God’s unfailing love.

There is one certain book on my bookshelf that always, without fail, makes me catch my breath when I see it.

No, it’s not Life of Pi or Emma, as great as those books are. It’s not even Captivating, my all-time favorite book (as seen here and here). Nope, it’s Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge.

A little over a month after my husband and I got married, something happened that shook our world. It was one of the hardest things we have ever been through. I know it’s annoying to be so vague, but this is, after all, the internet. Thumbs up for privacy!

Timothy and I only had around a month of that “newlywed” stage before life hit, hard. We were blindsided and found ourselves scrambling for how to be married when life was just so difficult. My Dad is our pastor, and he and my mom really helped us make sense of things. At one point, he told Timothy and I that if we could overcome what we were going through, if we could use this opportunity to grow, then we would be at a point in our marriage years ahead of where we should be. That the lessons we were learning now, as a one-month-old married couple, most couples didn’t learn until years down the road.

Now I can see that he was right, but at the time I could have cared less. I didn’t want to be “wise” in our marriage at that point – I wanted the rosey glowy honeymoon stage. Not the hard part.

There were weeks and weeks that it felt like all we were doing was hurting and disagreeing and struggling. Marriage felt like hanging onto the side of a giant mountain with no footholds. We were clawing at it, scraping our hands and feet, simply trying to survive. With no years of marriage experience under our belt, we didn’t know how to unite together and face the problem. We were hurting and we blamed each other. We blamed ourselves, we blamed the devil, we blamed the world. It was just hard.

We knew we were in God’s will. We knew we loved each other. We knew this was right. But we felt so broken.

One night we were headed to Wal-Mart together to pick up some things and got into an argument. I don’t even remember what it was over, but I’m sure it was something minuscule. Our hearts felt so raw, and we were just done. We were tired of struggling. We were ready for the daylight. We walked into Wal-Mart and ended up in the book section. Right in front of us, lined up like hope personified, was several copies of this book.

Love and War.

We grabbed it and put it in the cart, even though we didn’t have the extra money to really afford it. We were so desperate. So willing for anything to work.

Now, it would be a tidy way to end the story if I could say that this book changed our lives, but it didn’t. I’m sure it’s a good book, and I’ve been meaning to reread it because I don’t remember anything in it. But this book didn’t fix our problem.

It took weeks and months and even years of praying, fasting, praying, trying, praying, loving, and more praying. I honestly can’t pinpoint a moment that it got better. It just happened. We worked through that problem that shook our world. We learned how to lean on each other, how to trust in God. That time of desperation didn’t last long. Not even a year. Yet, we are still faced with the ramifications of that event to this day. There are still sore wounds, but God is my Healer. He’s my husband’s Healer. He has taught us how to live through disappointment, how to abound in struggles. He has healed and is continuing to heal our hurts every day. He has placed within us a joy that just can’t be silenced or subdued.

Now we rest in our marriage. We rest in the fact that it’s not going anywhere. We rest in the great love that God has shown us and that God has designed for us to have in our marriage. That love has been what has kept us together. Not just the butterfly-in-your-stomach love (although we still have that!), but the love that reaches beyond pain, hurt, and doubt and brings you together regardless of how many odds are against you.

I don’t take that for granted.

Every time I see this book on our bookshelf, those feelings come rushing back. That desperation to survive. That bittersweet mix of confusion and hurt and hope and faith all bundled together. I wouldn’t trade that time of pain for all the pleasure in the world. That desperation taught us how to be married. That desperation gave us such a clear picture of God in our lives.

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis

Whether it be disease, a thorn in the flesh, infertility, the loss of a family, or slavery, the Bible is full of stories where God used a trial to bring victory. You don’t take joy for granted when you have waded through depression to fight for it. You don’t take peace for granted when you have battled with fear.

Going through something hard doesn’t mean that God has left you alone. It doesn’t mean that He loves you any less. No, not at all. It is His way of catapulting you further into His will. It is His way of trying you by fire so you can come out gold. It is His way of bringing to light those bits of fear, greed, doubt, and selfishness that have no place in a child of God. It is His way of showing you that He loves you with a fierce, powerful love.

Thank You, Almighty God, for the desperation. And for the unspeakable joy that is always soon to follow.

~Whitney

A Nerd-alicious Transformation

Whitney — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:00:34 +0000

So a few months ago I was roaming around on Pinterest when a certain pin caught my eye:

In case you can’t read the caption, it says “a nerd living room … Sheldon could live in here.” And in case you didn’t recognize, that is our old living room.

Thank you dear Internet reader. Although I’m not sure if the label “nerd living room” is a compliment or an insult. For the sake of my pride, I’m just going with compliment.

I loved our trailer. It was the perfect place to learn how to be married together. It was also a great place to experiment with paint colors and decorating styles.

When we first moved in, it was a blank canvas straight from the ’90s. Decorative frosted mirrors and wallpaper border included.

These pictures were taken on move in day – the day after our honeymoon. Also known as 15 pounds ago. But moving on.

About a month after moving in, we attacked our trailer with a paint brush and all the colors. Um, yikes. I would never choose these colors today, but at the time I loved them.

We kept the walls for about a year and added a whole bunch of accessories like pillows, rugs, and curtains. The more colors and textures I added, the more I wanted to tone down our walls. Finding the green leather couch of our dreams was all the motivation I needed to repaint and restyle.

And that’s where we ended up. Nerd style? I don’t know about that. But I do know that our little trailer was filled with love. The kitchen update was my very favorite thing in our trailer. And if I’m honest? Looking at these photos made me tear up a bit. It was such a good first home. We put so much effort and love into it.

Looking at the transformation our trailer went through in less than three years really encourages me in our new house. In their book, John and Sherry from Young House Love mention several times that decorating a house is a process. If you do it thoughtfully and right, it can take years. While I’m itching to DECORATE ALL THE ROOMS NOW in our new house, there is something to be said for slowing down and enjoying the process. Painting a room, then repainting it. Deciding on a color scheme, and then finding the perfect area rug that changes your whole plan.

What about you? How long does it typically take for you to get a room or house where you want it? Do you like to switch up your decorating style often? When you switch things up, do you rely on pops of color in rugs and pillows, or do you repaint rooms and start from scratch? Do you enjoy the process? Or just want it to get there? Let’s talk :)

~Whitney

My Crowning Achievement

Whitney — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 12:30:50 +0000

Okay, that title was maybe a leeetle bit of an exaggeration. Okay, maybe a lot a bit. But it might have won me the best sister of the year award, and I don’t take winning lightly.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you may know that my 14-year-old brother has been begging me to knit him a bearded hat for a while. And I finally came through.

Feast your eyes on that. Beard. Camo. Puffy vest. Duck Dynasty has nothing on David.

Ha! Knitting this beard was interesting. I had another pattern picked out, but a sweet reader left a comment that directed me to this pattern. (Thanks, Rebekah!) I just modified the mustache to make it thinner. Weird sentence. David asked me to make the hat the same pattern as his other one, and it’s quickly becoming my favorite hat pattern!

For the facial addition, you knit the mustache and beard separately and then sew them together. My bro can rock the stache! I tried to talk him into letting me make the beard detachable so he could get some actual use out of the hat, but he refused.

He then proceeded to wear the hat all night long as he and my husband played X-Box. It kept startling me to walk into the basement and spy a lumberjack on the couch.

Of course, Timothy and I had to get in on the “fun.”

You guys. You have to see Timothy in this. He has never looked more Indian in his life. His family is Punjabi, and the men have beards and mustaches. Timothy put this hat on and started speaking Punjabi, and it was like we were in India. Ha!

I didn’t quite pull it off as well. Which I am not mad at.

I felt like my only option was to take an overexposed shot of the duck face in the dynasty hat. Frizzy hair came as a sweet bonus.

I love making gifts for friends and family, and it was such a fun process to choose the pattern and yarn with my brother. He kept giving me suggestions along the way, which was really sweet. All of my other knit gifts have been a surprise, so I loved knowing that he was getting exactly what he wanted.

While this may not be the most chic thing I’ve ever made, it sure did make the recipient happy. So in that regard? It’s one of my favorite creations.

~Whitney

p.s. You know those churches where the men grow beards so they can play a realistic Jesus in the Easter play? I’m thinking that’s my new market. So call me for all your beard needs.

p.p.s. That was a joke.

p.p.p.s Unless you’re serious. In that case, I’ll hook you up. I need money for my Easter dress. Ha!

Snow Day

Whitney — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:53:43 +0000

Today is my day off work, and I had big plans of dishwashing, laundry, dusting, mopping, scrubbing … you know, the fun stuff. My brother spent the night last night, so I was going to get up early and take him and the boys I babysit to school, and then get started for the day. But all that changed at about 5:30 am when we found out that it was a SNOW DAY!

So I’m currently cuddled up in our man cave in the basement, drinking coffee and knitting while my brother is having a movie marathon. When I go upstairs to get another cookie, I put a dish in the dishwasher, just to feel like I’m accomplishing something. Super productive day.

Last night I finished my brother’s bearded hat, and pictures will shortly follow. I gotta admit, it cracks me up. He looks like a lumberjack.

What do you like to do on snow days? Do you use those days to be productive? Or do you let the mess pile up and knit instead? Obviously I’m the latter.

~Whitney