7(not)QT - Crazy Paintathons, Reminders, St. Nicholas, and More

1.
Happy St. Nicholas Day!

You have no idea the scene I almost made in the store when I found these Lindt santas clearanced last Christmas for a dollar.  I've always thought these little St. Nicks were so cute but always cheaped out of getting them.  The boys are going to flip.

2.
So two days ago I did that thing that all the normal people do and woke up deciding that it was the perfect day to go to the paint store with four children, come home, and repaint the kitchen.  By the time Brian got home from work I was done and everything was back in its original spot.  Which is what all the good wives do, right?  Surprise, honey, our kitchen is painted!  What?  Dinner?  Oh, that.  (Just kidding.  Freezer meals for the win!)

I'm so happy with the color now, thanks to my friend Nicole's living room for inspiration.  Astute blog readers will remember that for the previous color when I was at the point of paint color picking where one wants to run screaming through Lowe's waving all the paint swatches and screaming, I gave up and took an oops can of blue paint that I had picked up for five dollars the year before, mixed some white with it and went to town.  It turned out a robin's egg blue and it was okay but I wasn't thrilled.  This time I picked an actual color and because I only do things the right way, I went to a real bonafide paint store.  (Just kidding, I had a coupon.)  

Behold, Benjamin Moore's Healing Aloe mixed at 75% (matched at Sherwin Williams):
It's such a neat color but I had a very hard time getting an accurate picture of it in our dark kitchen.  In some lights it looks gray, in others you can clearly see the green, and sometimes even has a bluish hint. And yes, I cleaned off my counters for you :)




P.S.  Sherwin Williams has 30% off all their paint with the coupon through December 31st.  Email me if you want me to send it to you!

3.
Don't forget to enter to win Friar Alessandro's Christmas CD!  Open until this coming Tuesday!


Psst...word on the street is there's another very very fun music giveaway coming up in the next few weeks!

4.


Hey, people are buying things right now, right?  For Christmas and all?  Do something fun and anytime you shop at Amazon remember to do it through the link of one of your favorite blogger affiliates!  I don't even care if it's me.  (But it's oh so fun when I see that people do it and I am so grateful!!  Thank you!)  I just love that it costs you nothing and it's a nice way to give a little nod to a blogger you read with something you were going to be buying anyway.  

But many people have told me that they forget to do this, so here's a super simple way to help you remember:
1.  Go to a blog that you know is an Amazon affiliate.
2.  Bookmark the blog page on your computer tabs.
3.  Label the blogger's page "Amazon" in your bookmark bar.
4.  Next time you click on it to go buy something, you'll hit the blog page instead and remember!  And then just click the link through that page to get to Amazon.  Or head over to another affiliate to spread the love.  I like to take turns when I do my shopping.  (FYI, blogger friend, that was me buying all that little boy underwear ;)

Other bloggers I know who are affiliates:
I know there are more that I don't know about...please list yours in the combox if you'd like! 

5.
We rolled our Advent candles last weekend and it was the super easiest but most gratifying crafty type activity I think we've ever done.




6.
My sister-in-law Jill invited us to a do a nature exchange with her girls.  They live on the opposite side of the country (with much cooler terrain) and sent us a box packed with some of the treasures they've found and we sent them a box with some of our finds.  Isn't that fun?  The boys thought it was really neat and if I can ever regain our nature shelf from the reign of the Luke, master of throwing and scattering things that are fragile, we're saving some of these to go on there.

Why yes, my photography skills do pale in comparison with hers.

7.
One Day Less
Day 6

The readings for today seem to be all about trusting in the Lord's faithfulness.  Of approaching Him with a humble trust and confidence and placing ourselves at His mercy.  Trusting that He can and will do what He says.  

"The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?"


I don't generally think of myself as a fearful person.  I have confidence in most things I do and a general trust in God.  But underneath, when I look deeper I can indeed find fear and doubt.  
Of rejection.  Of being left out.  Of the past.  
Of failure.  Of physical pain.  Of confrontation.  
Of not being enough.   
How often do I let fear motivate my actions and neglect to trust completely that the Lord is who He says He is?  How often are my fears rooted in my faith in myself and not in the One who has proved Himself faithful time and time again?  How often do I forget that He will be faithful no matter what I have to endure?

 "Do you believe that I can do this?"
"Yes, Lord," they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
"Let it be done for you according to your faith."
And their eyes were opened.

Dear Lord, help me to believe that you can do this.  I give you my fears.  Teach me to not be afraid so that I may fully live the life you desire of me.  A life of freedom, of joy, of giving myself to others.  Help my eyes to be opened.  Help me to live just this one day with less fear and more trust.



Thank you, Jen, for hostessing!

21 comments

  1. Those St. Nick's are perfection, indeed...what a great idea! I am an Amazon affiliate too :)

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    1. Ah, see, I knew I was forgetting people! Thanks, Colleen! I'll add you up there :)

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  2. Beautiful kitchen! Such energy! ;-)

    Thanks for the reminder about Amazon affiliates. I should look into that...even if I was the only one clicking from my link it would be helpful. In the meantime I'll use yours.

    I love those beeswax candles, too. But be careful...they burn faster. We had a fire a few years ago. :-(

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    1. Unfortunately, you can't earn anything on your own purchases but at least that gives me the incentive to go to others' and help out! And I thought beeswax was supposed to burn slower? We'll have to experiment...but hopefully without any fires...

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  3. That paint color goes perfectly with your in your kitchen eh!

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  4. I need to move into your home. Then, you need to show me how to have a house full of white and three boys. Okay? Thanks!
    In other news, you are crazy with the painting. Love it. And finally, rolling advent candles scared me (I am not a crafter) I am no longer afraid. I shall roll away next year :)

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  5. Beautiful kitchen...

    I need to remember to shop Amazon through you - is it all purchases?

    Love the chocolate St. Nicks.

    We haven't gotten your nature box, but the girls are looking forward to it. We should do it again in the spring....maybe we'll send you some frogs and salamanders. : ) or skunks...

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    1. Yep, it's everything as long as you click through via this site. Pretty cool!

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  6. I've thought about putting a link for amazon on my blog too, but I just don't feel right about it after reading this: reviews.faithdrivenconsumer.org/CompanyReviews/PrintableDetails.aspx?id=52&catid=21&ove=1.5

    I do buy from Amazon sometimes, but I really wish there was a more Christian alternative.

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    1. Oh, that would be awesome if there was a Christian alternative! It's so hard that almost every major company has ethical concerns. I am grateful, though, that Amazon does offer tons of Christian resources unlike a Target or Walmart, you know?

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  7. Oh you're sweet! Thank you for the link!

    I love the paint color you chose. Fresh and soothing.

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  8. I'm an Amazon affiliate as well! :) However, I did want to point something out your idea about bookmarking someone's blog and always clicking through their link. I don't think that is a good idea. I think Amazon might frown a lot (and possibly suspend/ diasble someone's affiliate account if they are getting lots of affiliate orders from the same IP address. I do try to buy things through other people's amazon accounts, but not the same one...a different person every time. The point of the affliate program is I reccomend a product in my blog and people click on it and buy it BECAUSE of my recommendation. That's the way it's supposed to work..so "organically" it would be all different IP addresses clicking/buying through my link. If lots of purchases are coming from the same IP addresss, I think it can look like fraud/suspicious activity to Amazon and they can suspend someone's affiliate account. Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there. I know with Google Adsense, people have gotten their accounts disabled because of "click fraud" which is lots of clicks coming from the same IP address. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Amazon mighta also frown on lots of buys coming from the same IP address.

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    1. Eek. Do you think so? I'll have to read up on it. I would think Amazon would be grateful that we're sending them any business? And wouldn't loyal blog readers/buyers who were clicking through on recommendations routinely cause the same? I switch around to different people, too, but I guess I should check into it, huh...

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    2. I switch around too, but it seems like there would have to be an INSANE amount of traffic for Amazon to take any notice, and my blog is not really the "insane amount of traffic" sort of blog :P

      I'm sometimes conflicted on the whole Amazon shopping thing, because I want to support local businesses... But when it comes down to it, I just can't get out of the house to shop with the kids without needing to go to confession! So I definitely think there's a time and place for Amazon :P

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    3. I know what you mean. Long gone are the days when I could Christmas shop for and WITH the kids and they were oblivious! Besides, I don't know any local craftsmen creating little boys' underwear :)

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  9. Thanks for the shout out! (and for you sweet comments on my recent post at Mandi's) I can't wait to try out rolling our own candles next year!

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  10. I'm so glad you put up the amazon affiliate links! I've been looking for those on blogger's pages since I can never figure out how to make them work.

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  11. Mary
    re no 2- Love, love, love your kitchen!!!
    re no 4, Shower of Roses is also an amazon affiliate. and I'm off to check out the blogs you linked to.
    re no 6- you've just given me an idea, I have a friend on the opposite side of my country that I could do a swap with!!

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  12. My state is not eligible to participate in the Amazon Affiliate program. : ( I add books to my wishlist many times through others links. I try to remember which book I saw the book when I finally purchase it and go back to that blog to go through them.

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