Photo Friday + PeloQuotes

A very happy 40th birthday to the lead character in my favorite fictional series, Harry Potter!!

I know I'm ridiculous with that, and I so don't care.  Yay for July birthdays!

This is a very #firstworldproblems moment, but still annoying.  Without fail, my Roomba gets stuck in wide open spaces on my rugs, thinking the black swirls or stripes are "a cliff" or the edge of the stairs. lol  It drives me insane, and there's no way to turn those sensors off for people with a one-story home!  Overall, it's great and I'm thankful to have it, but that's a feature I recommend someone change on the next version.

Just a meme that made me laugh.  I hate being directly involved in any public FB drama, but there are many who seem to thrive on it, and the comments can get pretty entertaining!

A lovely reminder on this happy Friday!

Thankful I get to see these two (and their older brothers and all the fam) this weekend!!  This pic is them sleeping in their "fort" under Mom's table. lol  Presh.

This one also made me laugh!  ...2020 has already gifted us with a deadly virus that seems to affect every victim differently, an ongoing global pandemic, nationwide school closures, hospitals and nursing homes closed to visitors, unprecedented economic loss and small business closures, mass political division, numerous conspiracy theories and hysteria, growing racial conflicts and chaos, the terrible Hollywood pedophilia scandal, disturbing murder hornets, a coin shortage, new mysterious seeds from China, and oh so much more... and we've still got five full months to go.

And now, a few quotes from my two fav Peloton coaches:

CODY RIGSBY:

"It's not that deep, Boo!"

"Do not compromise who you are or what you came here to achieve!"

"I love a good Coca-Cola!  I think it tastes like... exactly what America tastes like!!" lol

"What are you bringin' into the ride, Boo!?  POSITIVITY!  EXCELLENCE!  BEAUTY!  GREATNESS!  STRENGTH!  RESILIENCE!  -- What you might be coming to the ride with that I need you to leave right here... Bullsh*t?  Drama? Negativity? Self-doubt?  Leave it right here, thank youuu!" ❤

(During a Lauren Hill song:)

"I was gonna say that you can't win Album of the Year without being able to SING.... aaand then I remembered that Taylor Swift has won it twice.  ...I know.  I know I'm gonna get some hate for that one.  Y'all know I'm not a fan!"

~Cody with the T-Swift burn

(I'm still hoping he'll come around on this topic.)

#swiftie #hatersgonnahate lol

ROBIN ARZON:

Talking about the mess of 2020:

"Have grace for yourself - we're all doing the best we can!!"

"Self-pity is poison, but movement is medicine!!

Take care of yourself because you are limited edition, baby!"

"Mediocrity is a prison... good thing we get to rattle the cage!"

"We live in a world where this music exists!  What!??  This is a privilege!"

(-during her Queen ride)

Thankful Thursday (117)

"You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book and ordained for me before a single day had passed. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!"  ~Psalm 139:16,17

Happy Thursday, friends and fam!  It's been a very rainy week, which has gone along well with T-Swift's new album.  There are several pics on FB this morning of the beautiful double rainbows.  Seeing that makes me feel grateful for God's promises... including the one above about Him knowing and ordaining all our days before our lives even began!

Some other things I am thankful for today:

1.  My friendship with Tiffany, and getting to have lunch with her today!

2.  My near-weekly lunches with Sarah, and for the bread and cheesy pasta, and for our kind and observant waitress at Napolis! 

3.  Hitting my Century Club milestone with Peloton this morning... twice. lol  I kinda cheated the system and did two different live rides (deleting one in the middle) hoping for a shoutout from Cody, but no such luck this time, unless it happened during a WiFi glitch, (and believe me, I will check later) - I may need to pick a less popular coach next milestone - there were almost 4,000 people on both of those rides today!  Three other Lindseys got a shoutout, so I'll just claim one of those. lol  ...I am incredibly thankful to have found Peloton and these workouts that I enjoy enough to do almost daily!!  (Cody's repping the #LegendsofFun team with his fab pink hair today!)

4.  Having a new Hobby Lobby so near my house... and buying this little verse block for my office! =)

5.  Cody gave a mini-speech this morning on how he loves a good donut, especially pink iced donuts with sprinkles. lol  Not my usual choice, but the speech was inspiring. ;-)  And since I was up before 7am and did two early workouts, I treated myself to one at the new Tulsa Hills donut shop before work today. =)

6.  My favorite podcast, Annie and Eddie Keep Talking.  Just two friends chatting about their lives and all manner of random subjects, and it's fantastic and fun.  They started a daily thing when she was quarantined back in March, and they release two new episodes every week now.  I feel like I know them both, and I love their personalities and stories.  The Big Boo podcast also makes me laugh a lot most weeks... and it's a similar vibe with Melanie and Sophie just talking about whatever interests them week to week!  In this lingering pandemic season that is lonelier than usual for most singles, I feel thankful for solid real life friends, entertaining podcast friends, and even fictional friends (making my way through the HP audiobooks once again and wishing I could be friends with Sirius, Dumbledore, Neville, Lupin, Ron, Harry, the whole Weasley fam, etc.)

7.  This encouragement from Karen Bullard's blog:  "Even when we are all stuck at home, things still kept changing around us... The HARD is always mixed in with the JOY.  The JOY is always peeking through in the HARD.  They don't come in isolation, they come together.  All mixed up and twisted together in some kind of craziness that we call life. The HARD will continue to come. It always does.  But I'll keep looking for the JOY that I know will be there, too.  It's always there. Sometimes we just have to look harder for it.  God is good and God is faithful.  He always will be.  And He's given us above and beyond all we could imagine in blessing us with His Son and Eternity with Him - but there's joy here in THIS life, too.  And even though I find myself praying daily for Jesus to come back and take us all to our REAL home, I'm thankful for this home, too - and these people He's given us to walk through it with. Every day a gift." ❤

Swiftie (Top 10 Tuesday)

Here's something a bit lighter today...
Taylor Swift released a surprise new album called Folklore last week.  It has a softer indie rock feel, and I'm loving it - already listening on repeat!  I'm a lyrics girl, and I always appreciate her strength, vulnerability, wit, and emotional expressiveness.  She is bold, beautiful, fun, fierce, deep, silly, thoughtful, flirty, protective, resilient, and real... and I am a fan, not just of her music, but of her. #swiftie  I also love that as the years go by, she continually reinvents herself and tries new things with her writing and music! ❤  (#3 below is from the new album - enjoy.)

So without further ado, here are
My Top 10 Favorite T-Swift Songs (thus far):

1.  All Too Well, Red


2.  Love Story, Fearless


3.  Exile (featuring Bon Iver), Folklore


4.  Everything Has Changed (featuring precious Ed Sheeran), Red


5.  Mean, Speak Now


6.  This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Reputation


7.  Afterglow, Lover


8.  Ours, Speak Now


9.  London Boy, Lover


10.  Blank Space, 1989

Birthday Eve Nostalgia

Happy *first birthday in heaven* to Grandad tomorrow!! ❤

Choosing my labels for this blog post, I went with "Birthdays!" + Memories + Thankfulness + HOPE.

Here's Grandad painting my nails for me sometime in 1985...

It's Babah's favorite pics of us, and I love it too!

I skimmed through these books tonight - the red one is full to the brim with stories and memories from Mom (along with two other calendars she wrote in)... and the other two are partially filled out by Grandad with little thoughts and anecdotes from the babysitting days that make me laugh!

Below is Mom's entries on these two days 35 years ago... I can't describe how much stuff like this delights my soul!  On this very day 35 years ago, I said "Grandad" for the first time. ❤  I stayed the night with him and Babah, but Mom was still unable to sleep because she was focused on ideas for decorating Dad's brand new State Farm office.  Hahaha that's so her.  I never knew Alan had helped out with the roofing at the SF office.  I also reeeally love that Bill Lemieux (written as Lemo below) was helping them with the move.  Seems appropriate, since he was over at their house this weekend helping hang some new outdoor pictures!  According to Grandad's entry, he and I "went for a stroll" outside after a breakfast of sweet potatoes and applesauce, then he wrote that while I took a nap. =)

Bill still being awesome and helpful, 35 years later! =)

This one from Grandad's book made me laugh out loud at his dry sense of humor!!  He is super tenderhearted and would tear up and cry pretty easily.  Babah, not as much.  So him saying he acted proud since Babah was so proud the day I was born was pretty funny!  (I'm their first grandchild and I was born on their 30th anniversary.)

Fun fact:  On this very day last year, I was interviewing for a CR job in Wichita Falls, Texas.  (Chet, Sarah, and Elizabeth were the only ones outside my family who knew at the time.)  Here's my pre-interview mirror selfie at the hotel with Mom.  I am thankful for so many reasons now that it did not work out.  The last "advice" Grandad ever gave me was on this topic, saying I have a really good thing going with my current job and the life I've built in Tulsa, and that making more money wouldn't be worth the trade unless I'm really sure about what I'm heading into.  He was right, of course, and it was a well-timed word of caution and wisdom!  So I'm thankful for that, and for the many other things he did for me throughout my childhood and young adult life!

Last year, we celebrated his 90th birthday at Virginia's Cafe.  He was in a wheelchair and very limited in his mobility and control after the stroke in March.  He was surrounded by good friends and family that day, some who had traveled from other states to see him, and I believe it was the event that kept him going for a while (the thing he was looking forward to and trying to stay alive for).  Less than a month later, the day after JoBug assured him we would take care of Babah, he died peacefully.

This year, he is wheelchair free and pain free.  He is alive and well with Jesus, probably riding horses and helping care for them, and I believe he knows we all love him and wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY in heaven!! ❤

Parched and Weary

"She was tired. She was weary. She was worried. She didn’t need a seasonal patriot. She needed a gracious Christian... This world needs humility, grace and forgiveness. It doesn’t need more casual Christians dying on their temporal hills. It needs more Jesus-followers living out the Gospel. Yes, be a patriot. But don’t let your personal beliefs drown out your faith and witness. All we are enduring will one day fade away, but the Word of the Lord will endure forever." ~Levi Smith ❤

Amen to that.

As Christians, we all have a mutual enemy whose clearly defined goal is to kill, steal, and destroy every good thing God is building. He works relentlessly and viciously to accuse, shame, and exhaust us so that he can divide and conquer. And the current state of the world has made his job a bit easier. Many are hurting and struggling with extra stress, difficult emotions, political tensions, and unforeseen losses. Most people are not at their very best, and the enemy stands ready to take advantage of our pain and devour us. But as Paul said, we are not unaware of his schemes. 

"Yes, for your sake and with Christ as my witness, I have forgiven whatever needed to be forgiven, so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan. For we are not ignorant of his schemes." ~2 Cor. 2:10-11

In challenging seasons like this, humility and forgiveness go a long way. Kindness and patience are extra powerful, and the light of the gospel shines even brighter than usual. At the very same time, it's easier than ever to avoid church gatherings, and there is an increased temptation to give in to resignation, fear, anger, and numbness or to feel alone and misunderstood and wallow in self-pity. Emotionally and spiritually, things are heightened on both sides of the spectrum. So this is a reminder that our enemy is on the prowl, and we would do well to pay attention and stay on guard!

While there are many things I am grateful for, the past week has been difficult. I am praying for God to be close and for more fruit of the Spirit in my life and my relationships.

• More LOVE
• More JOY
• More PEACE
• More PATIENCE
• More KINDNESS
• More GOODNESS
• More FAITHFULNESS
• More GENTLENESS
• More SELF-CONTROL

We all desire these things, and spending more time in the presence of God naturally produces them in us! He strengthens us and gives us wisdom, discernment, and security. Spending time on Facebook and Disney+ can bring us joy, but it's far less likely to have a lasting positive effect on our character, relationships, and future. This year has been rough, and the earth really does feel "parched and weary" right now. Yesterday, today, and forever, we need to pursue and seek first what only God can provide! ❤

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?"
~Psalm 42:2

"O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for You. My soul thirsts for You; my whole being longs for You in this parched and weary land where there is no water... I stay close to You; Your right hand upholds me."
~Psalm 63:1,8

After Party!

As mentioned yesterday, at loooooong last, my home renovation project is finally complete!  Here are a few before-and-after photos, starting with a pic of the completed fireplace surround, the very last thing they finished yesterday!! ❤

Dining Room

(New paint + laminate flooring + chandelier + table with leaf for extra seating + table runner)

*This before pic is from Christmas... I'm so ready for that! =)

Master Bathroom

(New paint + floors and baseboards + white cabinets + chrome hardware)

Kitchen!

(New paint colors on walls, island, and cabinets + floors + beveled arabesque backsplash tile + new granite + cabinet hardware + barstools + chrome faucet + pendant lights + trash can)

Guest Bath

(New paint + flooring + cabinet hardware)

(And new 20x36 Hamilton poster! ❤)

Hallway

(New wall paint + flooring)

  (New frames for the Days of Creation painting series - Mom switched with me)

Library/Office Room

(New wall paint, removed carpet and installed laminate flooring)

Side note: The lovely chevron stripe wall art above the book shelves was the absolute WORST thing to rehang... so unnecessarily difficult, especially for one person on a ladder... my arms were done after that!!

Laundry Room

(New wall paint + new navy cabinets + crystal hardware)

...I really love this navy! ❤

Fireplace!

(New paint + floors + TV + Bardiglio gray marble tile + aluminum frame + high-temp black paint inside firebox + mirrored fireglass.  Loooove it!)

Despite many minor frustrations and difficult conversations with contractors along the way, I am super happy with how it all turned out!!  I considered a crazy number of options in flooring, tile, paint colors, hardware, etc., and I'm happy with all my choices (and with myself for making those decisions - it's as close as I ever wanna come to building a house - all those decisions overwhelm me)!  And I'm oh so glad that it's really done now. lol  Dinner party or movie night coming soon-ish. =)

Happy Friday, gang, and happy surprise T-Swift album release day!!

I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead!

The Process

Thanks in large part to a generous gift from Mom and Dad, I had the privilege of renovating a few things in my house this summer!!  Tomorrow's post will be Before and After pics.  This post is mostly for me to have a record of the process.  When we initially had the idea in late April, it was much smaller in scale, and we were told it would take 2-3 weeks.  One thing leads to another, and the project grew exponentially, but now that we're nearing August, it is finally completed!!

Here are a few of the steps along the way...
Some are probably out of order, but you get the general idea:

• Talk with Mom about ideas and decide to move forward with new paint and floors!
• Look online, text with Mom and Chet about ideas, get quotes from multiple contractors, and make approximately 500 trips to Lowes, Home Depot, ProSource, etc. to consider options for backsplash, flooring, and more.

• Try out samples and finally choose paint colors from the Sherwin Williams color-wheel:  Mindful Gray, Gauntlet Gray, Zurich White, and In the Navy!!
• Take tons of pics of my full shelves, cabinets, and decor so I can put things back quickly and correctly.  *So important, especially on the kitchen cabinet tops and reconnecting the thousand cords in the computer room!!
• Choose to go with M&K, then spend the first weekend of May taking down everything and piling ALL THE STUFF into the two extra bedrooms and my garage.
• Feel proud of myself for clearing off the kitchen cabinet tops without help!

• Take a deep breath, and get used to tarps being everywhere while they paint all the walls and cabinets!!  
• I ❤ organization, so I'm sure this all felt longer to me than it really was.

• Admire the new Mindful Gray paint, the first completed step in this transformation! =)  (Try to ignore paint drips on the tile and carpet because both are being replaced with laminate soon.)

• Take walks outside + text and hang out with friends, family, and the best girlfranz to help keep myself sane!

• Measure granite, then go look at options.  Find the perfect slab on my 4th trip with Mom, Dad, and Jace (Cloudy/Viscon White)!  Choose which free edges I want and let Summer know.

• Feel overwhelmed while trying to find places to put everything from inside my bathroom, laundry, kitchen, and pantry cabinets.  The extra bedrooms were already full and there were tarps everywhere, and that somehow became the most daunting task in this whole ordeal for me. I'm sure it was just accumulated stress.
• Try to let go of the many small things and unfinished projects causing me stress and tension (wall plates that were broken or thrown away - why!?, awful holes in the backsplash area after the demo, trash left on my front porch for days, unfinished cabinets, possible leak under my reconnected kitchen sink, etc.).
• Fix what I can myself every night as this goes along (marking spots for the cabinet hardware installation, touch-up paint, scraping off splattered paint, etc.)
• Eventually get frustrated and feisty enough to demand better communication from contractors.  Thankfully, it did improve a bit after that.

• Have Mom come down for the actual granite installation since I'm at work that day... This process involved them breaking up the old granite, bringing in the new (crazy heavy), and using my pink wrapping paper to map out and then cut the hole to undermount my kitchen sink.  I was so happy Mom got those pics! lol

• Increase joy and self-care with my daily Peloton classes (the bike was moved to my bedroom through this process), mixing in healthy meals, Crescent Park walks, and a long-awaited hair appt with Janelle at Ihloff! =)

• Watch Jairo individually carry in 74 boxes of laminate flooring from the garage to the office room. (Pergo Outlast Waterproof Hawaiian King Koa)
• Antonio and his cousin Marco cemented over the grout lines, laid the black trashbag-like moisture barrier, then finally laid the actual new flooring (this including removing and resetting both toilets).
• Celebrate the awesome new floors, save two boxes in case of future need, then return the 9 unopened boxes of laminate to Home Depot (and brace up for a 2-hour return process when they accidentally refund the entire flooring order then struggle to fix that mistake).

• Enjoy podcasts and music for a few nights without Wi-Fi or TV...
• Help Antonio move my office desk back into place on the new floor!
• Take the rest of the night to sit on the floor and reconnect the zillion cords for the Wi-Fi, computer, cameras, printer, and shredder.  It was a proud moment getting all that put back together! =)

• Hire electrician (Eric Reed - highly recommend) to come install some new lighting and smoke detectors.  
• Laugh about Mom knowing his life story and future goals by the time I get home from work.  Get excited about new chandelier and pendant lights!

• Buy new chrome faucet and hire plumber Antonio to reconnect sink after granite is installed!
• Mom cleans kitchen sink, handwashes all silverware, and helps me clean and reorganize my entire kitchen.  A process, but so nice to have done!
• Mom and I lift my old TV back into place - SO CRAZY HEAVY - then discuss whether a bigger TV would actually be better there.
• Buy new TV for living room and have Eric come back to install it.  Enjoy my first official "Smart TV."
• Antonio installs the awesome backsplash tile and grout + part of the fireplace surround tile on June 4th, saying he'll return the next week to build a hearth and finish that area off.  (He doesn't ever show back up... and I eventually hire someone else to finish it).

• Hire Rach to paint a new side table for me and to redo the 6 verses/quotes in my bedroom - both turned out awesome!!
• Create a new Peloton canvas and a Hamilton quotes poster - LOVE them both - yay Walgreens photo orders!

• Spray paint the fan blades and add Mod Podge + silver glitter! =)

• Install new LED lightbulbs everywhere.
• Stay up crazy late watching movies and putting new barstools together. Another proud "I can do stuff by myself" moment for me!

• Buy new mattress with adjustable base. Rejoice about the massage feature and sleep till noon the day after the new bed is delivered!
• Add glitter to silver mirror and rehang it.
• Mom and I put together new table and added cute new table runner!

• Get hearth estimate from Alex... 
• Go to Tulsa Fireplace Supply and talk to them... decide to go with a clean, open look...
• Hire Alex's tile guy (Eduardo) to come and finish tiling my fireplace + add a few final quarter round, reducer, and silicone finishing touches!

• Celebrate all of this fiiiiinally being done... mention how nice it'll feel for everything to go back to normal (meaning all my stuff back where it belongs)... then immediately feel a twinge of sadness at how very abnormal this year has been and how nothing will be officially back to normal for an indefinite period of time.
• But still, I'm thankful for this and it's worth celebrating!!  
• Go back through old photos to write this crazy-long post. lol

That's all for today.  Hope you're having a lovely Thursday! ❤