10 Things Tuesday - Songs That Encourage

Trying something new here on One Tough Mother...because I can.  :)  Until I grow weary of this little segment, each Tuesday I'll be sharing 10 Things.  Random things, fun things, curious things...but there will be ten of them.  It's a nice even number and makes for a decent list, dontcha think?

To kick it off, I want to share with you 10 songs that never fail to uplift and encourage me.  Enjoy!  And feel free to add to the list in the comments below.

   {1} Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave.  Honestly, I cried every single time I heard this song for
   about 3 months.  At least.

   {2} Stronger by Mandisa.  Rock out and get encouraged, all at the same time.
       
   {3} Already There by Casting Crowns.  "When I'm lost in a mystery, to You my future is a
   memory, cuz you're already there!"

   {4} Need You Now by Plumb.
     
   {5} Hello, My Name Is... by Matthew West.  Very cool song.  Love, love, love!  You cannot be in
   a bad mood after listening to this song.

   {6} Lord I Need You by Matt Mar.  Haunting, yet beautiful.

   {7} Changed by Rascal Flatts.

   {8} Walk by Faith by Jeremy Camp.  No matter how many times I hear it, it touches me.

   {9} Where I Belong by Building 429.  Amen.

   {10} Undo by Rush of Fools.  Honestly, this song changed my life.  "I need you, I need your
   help, I can't do this myself.  You're the only One who can undo what I've become."

That's ten.  I'm done.  Peace out!

Got a suggestion for a "10 Things" list?  I'd love to hear it!

Behr v. Glidden Paint Comparison + Craft Room Sneak Peek

There's been a really great invention in the paint industry - paint + primer in one.  I've recently had an opportunity to try both the Behr Paint & Primer in One and Glidden Duo versions, and wanted to share my findings with you today...and give you a sneak peek at my craft room remodel (which is still in process).

We bought our house almost a year ago and had most of the rooms painted prior to moving in.  One exception was my craft room/office, simply because I couldn't decide what color I wanted it painted.  Eleven months later, it was still a God-awful ugly poop-green mess.

And by mess, I mean:

What was meant to be a room that inspires me to create had become a room that was being used for craft supply storage and was honestly completely uninspiring.  Just keepin' it real, people.

I couldn't stand it any longer.

Mother's Day was the magic day.  We went to church, had lunch, then headed to Home Depot to buy paint. When we got home, I assigned the task of laundry to my husband, sent my daughter outside to play, and I got started.

Seriously, how ugly is that color?  Gross.  I painted...

...and painted...

...and painted some more.

I was a painting machine!  I got the first coat of paint finished and allowed it to dry, then when I went back to start the second coat, I noticed something...

I didn't need it.

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared my daughter's bathroom reveal with you?  Here's a quick review of the before & after:

Why do I bring this up again, you ask?  Well, as you can tell from the pictures, when I painted my daughter's bathroom, I painted a brighter blue over a darker blue.  Blue on blue.

The paint I used in her bathroom was Behr Paint & Primer in Embellished Blue.  It took two coats & touch-ups in some places to cover completely.

Now fast forward to Mother's Day weekend and the paint job I did in my craft room.  I covered a really dark green with a bright blue and only used ONE COAT.  I did a few small touch-ups in places where the roller was running a bit dry during my first coat application, but that was it.  One coat.

What paint did I use this time?  Glidden Duo in Deepest Aqua.

Different brand of paint, different results.  

I love the color, and I'm so glad I used Glidden Duo for my craft room.  From now on, any room I paint will be painted with Glidden Duo.  It covers so much better with Behr Paint & Primer in One.  I bought a full gallon of paint for my craft room and used only about 1/3 of the gallon.  It truly covers that well.

I've got a little more work to do in my craft room before it's finished, but I will be sure to share updates and of course, the big reveal with you soon!

I hope, if you're planning a paint job in the future, this will help you choose the right paint for your home.

{By the way, this post was not sponsored by Home Depot, Behr, Glidden or any other brand.  The opinions are completely my own.  You're welcome.}

Shine on Friday Linky Party

HAPPY FRIDAY!  We made it!  *whew*  I don't know about you, but this week seemed to drag by so slowly....boo.  I am very much looking forward to the weekend!  Here in Georgia, it's nice and toasty warm, so I'll be cruising with the windows down, radio up!

But before I can do that, we have to PAR-TAY!  WOOT WOOT!

Did you party with us last week?  We had a record number of link-ups last week in our Shine on Friday party!  THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Here are my Top 5 from last week - be sure to head over to my Button Up page and grab a "Featured" button if you see your project here!

1. S'mores Cheesecake Cake by Little Accidents in the Kitchen
2. Twig Wreath by The First Year Blog
3. The Wreath That's Technically Not A Wreath by Pitter & Glink
4. Summer Fun Activity Calendar by The Benson Street
5. Desk Makeover by Craft A Spell

Make sure you also stop by the blogs of my 3 co-hosts to check our their features each week!

Ready to Party?  I thought so!  Just follow a few simple rules:

- Follow all 4 co-hosts (see links below)

Happy Go Lucky, One Artsy Mama, One Tough Mother, Young and Crafty

- Grab a party button and put it somewhere on your blog

- Have fun and visit some other friends

- Please do not link up any commercial sites or shops (thanks!)

<a border="0" href="http://onetoughmotherblog.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h451/onetoughmother/Blog%20Buttons/shine_on_friday_zps63440b68.jpeg"/></a>

Small Kitchen Organization Ideas

One of my main requirements for a new home when we were shopping around last year was a big kitchen.  When people come over, that seems to be where everyone congregates.  It's easier to cook for the holidays with a larger kitchen.  It was most definitely at the top of my list...

...but I didn't get it.  We got a bar in the basement instead.  If our house didn't have the bar, I wouldn't have agreed on this house.  The kitchen is beyond small, so I've had to learn a few tricks.

I have, literally, 3 squares of counter space, so I don't keep very much on my countertops.  However, the things I do keep on the countertop are things I use regularly and need to have in arm's reach, like my dish towels.

I have this gorgeous tub that I've had for ages, and it holds all of my dish towels, washcloths, and pot holders with a bit of style to boot!  It sits to the right of the sink so I can grab whatever I need when I'm doing dishes.

Another problem area can be plastic container storage.  I have dedicated one entire lower cabinet to our plastic containers, simply because we use them so often.  I cook almost every night and we take leftovers for lunch.  Here's how I organize our containers:

Let me give you a closer look:

On the top shelf, I have our divided lunch containers that are stored with the lids on them.  It's easier to grab and go.  The containers in the middle are used for soups or spaghetti...things like that.

On the bottom shelf, I have the containers that we use for things like fruit storage, or miscellaneous leftovers. They fit inside one another for easy storage.  In the back on the bottom shelf, I keep the odd-sized containers that are used less frequently.

All of the lids for the containers on the bottom shelf fit into one plastic container from the Dollar Tree.

I do our best to keep our pantry organized as well, to eliminate wasted space.  You can see how I put together our pantry lunch station HERE.

I also use a rolling cart to give me a little extra counter space when I'm cooking.  Check out the details of my cart HERE.

How do you organize your kitchen?  Share your tips and tricks!

DIY Mason Jar Projects

I've been a lover of mason jars for a long, long time.  On Monday, I shared our kitchen transformation with you and you may have noticed a couple of mason jars sitting around my sink.  I was inspired to create a couple of quick mason jar projects after the sink and faucet were installed, and wanted to share them with you today.

For my kitchen, I wanted to use mason jars for my dish soup dispenser and to hold my scrubby brushes.  Easy peasy!

I added twine to one of my jars with a hot glue gun...

...to dress up my scrubby brush holder.

I had an old soap dispenser so I used the pump from that, drilled a hole in the top of the mason jar lid, and filled it with soap.

Easy, right?  And so cute!

There are so many ways to use mason jars.  I use them all over my house, including...

...the office...

...and the bathroom...

I've used them in previous craft projects as well.

They were perfect for my daughter's Horse-Themed birthday party favors, filled with trail mix, topped with a horse toy:

A mason jar was also the centerpiece of our Valentine's Day mantle, filled with kisses:

I use both mason jars and repurposed glass jars, like spaghetti sauce jars, for all kinds of things.  You can get more ideas by checking out my Mason Jar Pinterest board.

Want a quick tip?  If you repurpose your glass jars and need to get the sticky labels off, use vegetable oil on a paper towel and scrub in a circular motion.  It takes a bit of time, but works like a charm!

What have you made with mason jars?

To Tell the Truth...

Remember that old game show called "To Tell the Truth" where a guests would try to convince the panel of celebrities that their story was true?

Well, that's not what this post is about.

But I am going to be honest with you - no tricks, lies, or other such nonsense.

Just a few weeks ago, on April 22nd to be exact, this little piece of the world wide web celebrated two years of blog-dom.  It went by unnoticed at the time...because I was busy doing bloggy things and didn't really care too much that my blog had a birthday.

To tell the truth, it doesn't matter really.  I mean, it's kind of cool I suppose, but it doesn't matter.  At least to me, anyway.

I sat down the other day to reflect on this lovely little spot on the internet, and as my head filled with one idea after the next, I hit the brakes and came to a screeching halt.

{From my first blog post with pictures, April 24, 2011}

To tell the truth, I feel like a chicken with my head cut off most of the time.  Running around like crazy, posting when the mood hits, trying out different ideas, starting (and stopping) linky parties or series posts, all the while wishing I had it together.

I'm not sure if it's because I will be celebrating my 35th birthday in a few weeks and I'm hitting my mid-life crisis (God help us if that's the case!) or if it's because maybe I'm just now reaching some semblance of maturity (again, God help us!), or what's going on.  All I do know is that I feel like I'm finally there.

To tell the truth, I am finally content.  For the first time in my entire almost-35-years, I'm completely content with my life.  I feel good most of the time.  Do I have it all figured out?  Hell no!  Am I ecstatic about every aspect of my life?  Hell no!  But I am content.  I'm good.  I'm at peace.

And because of that contentment, I feel like I am finally figuring out some direction - for my life, my career, and my blog.

To tell the truth, for the past two years, I've been throwing ideas at the wall and waiting to see which ones stick.  I've pulled bits and pieces of things from other blogs that I love and given them my own "flavor", only to later realize it's not working for me.  

{My first attempt at a linky party}

Blogging is hard work, y'all.  For real.  It takes a lot of energy, time, creativity, patience, balance...but it's so worth it.  After two years of blogging, I have come to realize my voice.

I'm DONE.

Not with blogging!  I just mean that I'm done trying to do things that work for other people, and trying to please everyone.  

My biggest goal is to one day meet you (yes, you!  Hey! How are ya?!) and hear you say to me, "Kirsten, you are exactly like how I thought you would be."

{I'm weird, y'all.  And Southern - crazy combination.}

Why?  Because I aim to be completely genuine, open, honest, and real.  And I want that to come through with every single blog post I write, every photo I post, every comment I reply to, every everything.  I don't want to leave any doubts as to the kind of person I am.  {Not that I've been someone else this whole time, you see.  I've always been me, but I have a tendency to leave out some of my finer qualities...like sarcasm.}

I've done a lot of thinking, and journaling, and thinking some more...and here's what I have come up with for this little blog of mine (and yours - because if you're here, that makes this part of your life, too!  Thanks!):

- No more What I Wore Wednesdays or Saturday Snapshots.  I'm not a fashion blogger.  I love my clothes, but to tell the truth, I don't have a ton of clothes and generally wear the same few favorite outfits over and over.  How boring would that be every week?  "So, here's what I wore this week....the same thing I wore last week!"  And as for the Saturday Snapshots?  It's just too much - because I co-host Shine on Friday on...well, Friday.  Yea.  Done.

- No more haphazard posting schedule.  I'm a planner by nature.  It's seriously just in my blood.  But for some unknown reason, I have the hardest time planning my blog posts, so they tend to just pop up whenever I get an idea, or finish editing pictures or something.  Nope.  I need to organize my editorial calendar so I can actually have a method to my madness.  It's for my own good, y'all.

- There will be MORE blog series posts that involve YOU!  Because that's what I love.  I blog for the community.  If I'm not engaging with you, I'm blogging for nothing.  So look for more interactive posts and series coming very soon.  

- There will be MORE cross promotion.  What the heck do I mean???  Well, I am horrible about only posting my own content on my social media sites - Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google +.  I promise, promise, promise...cross my heart, that I will post more of other people's awesome-ness and random funny stuff and other non-Hey-I'm-Kirsten-and-I-just-made-this-so-come-check-it-out stuff more often.  K?  K.

So, having said all of that, let me leave you with this little gem:  The best years are NOT behind us.  Not for One Tough Mother at least.  There are some seriously awesome things to come, and I am so happy you are along for the ride!

Do you have these slap-in-the-face wake-up calls sometimes?  What was your latest epiphany?

Kitchen Transformation Reveal

We bought our home almost a year ago, and one of the home improvement projects on our list was a new kitchen sink and faucet.  The pipes leaked so we kept plastic containers under the sink to catch the water.  It was tolerable at first, so other projects took precedence over the kitchen.

Apparently, the sink got tired of waiting on us to decide when it was ready for a makeover and made the decision for itself last week.

Our stainless steel sink and the pipes underneath died last week from corrosion, rot, and pure gross-ness.  As much as I hated the thought of spending the money on a new sink and faucet, I was very much looking forward to getting rid of this:

Our sink was my least favorite part of the house.  It wasn't deep enough to wash big dishes.  The faucet rotated when you tried to just move the faucet head.  The pipes had become so bad that we didn't trust the water enough to put it in our dog's water bowl - we filled their bowl in the bathroom sink.  It was gross...ok?  Take my word for it.

So, last week, Mark was washing his hands before dinner, and decided to empty the plastic container underneath that was being used to catch leaks.  Well, when he opened the cabinet, lo and behold, one entire PVC pipe had broken free from the grips of plumbing lockdown and was spewing water into the floor of the cabinet at an alarming rate.

We had to resort to this:

Water in the kitchen was turned off immediately, and dishes were hand-washed in the tiny pedestal sink in the half bath.  A TV table became a makeshift drying rack over the toilet.  Nice, right?

The next day, I began shopping online for sink and faucet ideas, and asked all of my awesome Facebook fans for assistance.

Thanks to all of you, we selected a lovely espresso-colored sink for our kitchen.  That very afternoon, I came home to this:

Mark wasted no time at all getting rid of the sink, faucet, and pipes.  We headed to Home Depot and found the faucet I had my heart set on, but they didn't have the sink (even though their website said they did - boo).    We went to Lowe's and found a sink.  Even though it wasn't the one I initially wanted, I ended up loving it!

Mark spent two days figuring out the plumbing and installing the sink and faucet.  This was his first time with any kind of plumbing project and he did a fabulous job!  (Let's just say I was glad this happened during the week Marley was at her dad's house...because, well, Mark got frustrated a time or two, and...you know, things get said.  Yea.  You understand.)

Finally, all the pieces were put together and I am very happy to say that we have a brand new sink and faucet in our kitchen!!

It's beautiful!  It's deeper than our old sink, and the faucet it taller, so I can actually wash large dishes!  And the pipes are brand new and clean so the water isn't gross anymore.  It has completely transformed our whole kitchen, I swear.  It's amazing what a difference it's made.  It has really stepped up the design and made it feel more upscale.

Tips:

- Make sure the water is turned OFF on all valves under the sink BEFORE pulling the pipes apart.  (Yea, Mark got a bath he wasn't ready for.)

- If you've never done plumbing work before, it's totally do-able.  Take a BEFORE picture of the pipe configuration with you to the store.  That was a HUGE help.

- Be sure to purchase the sink strainers when you buy your sink.  (You know, those silver circle things that go in the bottom of your sink?)  Otherwise, you'll be making a run to the store mid-install to get them.  Can't attach pipes to an open drain hole!

- You may want to buy extra faucet supply line.  The line extending from our faucet wasn't long enough to reach the existing hot and cold water lines under the sink.  This warranted yet another trip mid-install.

- When in doubt, visit YouTube.  There are tons of helpful videos that will walk you through the installation process.

Resources:

- Franke USA Drop-in or Undermount Granite Double Basin Sink
- Pfister Avanti Pull-down Faucet in Tuscan Bronze

What area of your home is the bane of your existence?