Love Language

Growing up in a Christian community there was a lot of talk about love languages. We took tests to see how we received love and how we offered love. We compared our styles to our peers and tried to evaluate, on our own, if those results were actually accurate. I think my love languages have changed as I've matured and dealt with different trials, ups and downs in my life. I've reached a point where I think things have leveled out, so to speak, and the way I love and receive love has become pretty steady. Maybe it's because I'm married, I have a regular routine, I have children, I'm a home owner. And maybe it's none of those things. Maybe it's just who I am. Either way, I find peace in my love language of gifts. When someone puts in the time and effort to give me something thoughtful, unique, and heart felt, I see their love for me through it. Oh man, and when it's something they made themselves, it's like Christmas in my heart! It's not that I love getting gifts. It's that I see the love someone has for me through their desire to make me happy. And if you know me or someone with the same love language, you understand this.

Many people offer love in one language and receive it in a different one. Mine however are the same. I find so much joy in giving someone a gift as much as in receiving one. It's difficult b/c I'm married to a man who's does not receive love through gifts. So as much as I love giving creative things to my husband, I know that he doesn't receive them with the same enthusiasm  It's not because he's ungrateful, it's just not how he interprets love. This has been a hard lesson for me in my marriage. I can't tell you how many times I've been so excited to show him something I created, or purchased specifically for him and then had to fight disappointment because he didn't react in the way I wanted him to. I'm still learning of course, but I've grown a lot in the ability to remind myself that although I should continue to pursue my love language, I should not be discouraged when someone else doesn't receive it equally.

Anyways, I've done a lot of loving this week. Starting with meals for a cousin with a new baby, another cousin with some health problems and  then some muffins for a good friend getting over the flu. Although I don't envy the stress that comes with any of their situations, I'm grateful for them in their current conditions so that I have an excuse to love on them in my own delicious, home made way.

It's Been a Pinterest-ing Week

So after about 6 weeks, the kids and I are finally into our routine on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; the days that I am *pretty much* home with them all day. This week particularly, I've been able to get a lot done that involves pulling stuff off of my Pinterest boards and actually completing them.

I started with a pin about growing your own plants/trees from left over seeds. I had bought some avocados and a pineapple at the store so those are the two I'm growing. So far not much has happened but I'm pretty sure it takes awhile. I'll let you know how that goes....

I recently made a cushion for our large bay window. That's seriously been on my list for the full 6.5 years we've lived here. Oh well. (And by "make a cushion" I mean I found a long cream colored valance that had been hanging in the same bay window when we moved in and has since been stored in a box in the basement, stuffed it with some extra pillows and poof, a comfy neutral toned full length cushion.)

Anywho, the cushion wasn't quite long enough so I stuck some other throw pillows we had at each end. Now the orange and red ones were perfect but I had these two other little ones that had originally been from a bed set that we don't use. So I found another unused valance, the same color as the one used on seat cushion and got the idea to put some scripture in Espanol with a stencil from this pin. The first is Joshua 24:15 and the second is 1st John 4:19.

We have one window in our bedroom that was in desperate need of a spruce up. So I created fabric flowers, glued them onto an existing curtain tie, and then glued on a button so I could hook it together once I wrapped it around the drape.

I created a sign for our front porch. It says "welcome" in Spanish. Carlos thought there should be an "s" on the end of the word, but after doing some research online I was able to find lots of welcome mats, signs, etc, with the same word, minus the "s". You'd think that a native Spanish speaker and a college graduate with a degree in the same language would be able to figure out something so simple  Oh well. The idea for the sign came from here. And the way I made it came from here. And I mean seriously, it was so easy! I'm going to be making lots of signs!

Finally, this pillow. I didn't make it, my mom did. But the flower in the middle was quite fragile and so we weren't able to keep it anywhere that the kids could reach. But I liked the colors and the style and have been meaning to figure something out in order to be able to use it on our bed. So I took off the original flower and then cut out a bunch of fabric circles and then glued them all together.

The best part about my crafting... I did no sewing at all. Hot glue is my new best friend! 

I also made a couple recipes off of Pinterest including this and this and this. I didn't get pictures of them before they were gone.

Needless to say, it's been a good week.