Pinch me.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm dreaming, my life is just so beautiful... God has blessed me beyond belief. This morning as I was making breakfast for the boys I gazed  into the living room. Avery was putting together a Mario Bros. puzzle he got at a yard sale yesterday for $0.10 (woo!) and Jeff was reading the Sunday paper in his jammies with Transformers playing in the background on the TV.

I couldn't help but just smile. Smile at the peace of knowing I'm right where God wants me to be.

As the sizzling bacon brought me back to reality, I turned to the stove still smiling, thinking to myself, "How can this be real?" I don't deserve it. That's the beauty of God. He turns wreckage into gold and I'm just so grateful to be where I am today.

A couple of minutes later Avery pulled me off to the side and we had a "secret" pow-wow behind the couch all crouched down, and he asked me when we should give his dad the Father's Day gift we made. I told him it was up to him and in his little whisper voice he said, "I think now's a good time." I love that he wanted my opinion on the matter. :)

So- we got to surprise Jeff with the poster we made yesterday. And, of course, there were tears. (Success.)

 

Avery and I brainstormed all of the things that Jeff loves to do, and how we contributes to our family. We went around and photographed everything and then hooked up the camera to our Panasonic instant printer (which prints onto 2"x3" sticker prints)- perfect for our project.

Pictures: mowing the lawn, chubbing the cats, pouring coffee, holding his dad's golf clubs, basketball, shaving, baseball, chugging hot sauce, gearing up for a Nerf war, family time, holding all of the Batman movies (Jeff's hero), reading his Bible, scooping crap out of the litter box, and lastly- dressed up in all of Jeff's Cowboys gear

It's pretty awesome. :)

What a beautiful life we have. Praise God!

My Magic Pot

Any one familiar with this little beauty???

If there was only one Pampered Chef item that I could live with for the rest of my life, it would be this one. This puppy is a crockpot on steroids. Cooks whole chickens in the microwave in 25 minutes. Yeah, you heard me.

My famous (famous, meaning my husband tells EVERYONE about it) meat loaf. 20 minutes. Microwave.

Molten lava cake. 10 minutes. Microwave.

You don't have one. You need it.

www.pamperedchef.biz/thevarners   Click it. You won't regret it.



That being said.... I made this

tonight.

After prepping... 5 minutes in the microwave. PERFECTION.

There's certain things in life that make me feel like a pro. wife. Cooking stellar meals is one of them. Especially when they're super simple and taste great.


Another thing is going to bed with a clean sink. Both of these things are happening tonight thanks to this meal.


Like a boss.

Introducing "Felix"

So excited about our new addition to the family!!

Jeff and I were waiting for our income tax refund check to help with the down payment on a new vehicle. I've been driving a '94 Honda Civic (named Trevor) since I was 17... and he has 265,000 miles on him right now... with driving about 100 miles a day total with my commute to work and back, I needed something more reliable.

After comparing vehicles for over a month, I settled on the Mazda 3 Hatchback. I was looking for a 4-door vehicle with the prospect of expanding our family at some point in the future. The Mazda 3 suits my style, and it's just super amazing in every way I can possibly think of.

Perks: heated seats, sun roof, Sirius radio (free for 90 days), in-car bluetooth, navigation system built-in, cute spoiler, low profile tires, dual heating/cooling controls for both passengers, gas efficiency screen, back seat folds down completely flat, keyless start...... and the list goes on. :D

I'm very pampered in my new car.

~A proud owner

The One With All the D-I-Y projects

So, with Christmas this year (read: Christmas over a month ago)- I decided to be super crafty and make gifts for the people I am closest to. Also, with a lack of money- it just seemed like the way to go. Win win.

Over the past four or so years I've become that person. The one who's goal is to make you cry when you open your gift. I've been quite successful over the years.

Here are this year's endeavors:

   -niece, Brooklyn: (age 2) a Dora the Explorer felt board
   -brother and sister-in-law: a shadowbox frame with a scrapbook page and a cute family photo I took
   -mom: her favorite bible verse embroidered into a rustic-looking fabric, then framed
   -dad: stylish pictures of his Harley (which he adores), framed for his man cave

The results:

Dora the Explorer Feltboard

 

So it all started with white and blue felt... and I hot glued it to an old canvas I had lying around.

 

A rolling snowscape.

 

 I made Dora with tan felt, then glued brown felt on for the hair. Her mouth and nose are written on with a fine-point sharpie. The eyes were white felt- then I used Crayola markers to make brown eyes with black pupils. Easy peezy.
I made 2 outfits-- her typical pink shirt, orange shorts, and yellow socks. And then I also made a cute purple snowsuit (with sparkly purple felt accents), and pink gloves, scarf, and boots!

 

Snowman (three individual circles)- I traced around a cup, a gladware container, and a bowl... oh- and I used sparkly white felt to offset it from the plain white snow background.

 

Here's all the pieces laid out on the table

 

And here's everything sticking to the feltboard as I hold it up.

**Gift was a huge success- I put all the pieces in ziploc baggies and wrapped the board separately. When Brook opened it she saw the pieces and knew it was Dora instantly and also knew to put a snowman togethe with the sparkly white circles. **

Very cool. 

 Framed Scrapbook Page

Simple- "And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love."

Bible verse Embroidery

 

Romans 8:28 embroidered with black thread...

 

Man Cave Art

-I'm happy with all of my products! Also, Operation: Make Someone Cry was a success. And of all people, it was my dad who got teary-eyed. Aww :)  He sure does love his bike.

Our New Furbies!! (Fur babies)

Things with the housing loan- apparently due to my excessive school loans, I couldn't be approved for enough $$. Which is fine- so, we're moving on to Plan B! (save money/pay off debt) I've been working on my financial binder (more updates to follow).

In the meantime- we decided if we couldn't get our own place then maybe we could talk to our landlords about their no pet policy. We've been renting our house for a year now and have a great rapport with them (they even got us a Sheetz gift card for Christmas!). So we made the call last Friday and Saturday we got the OK!

So this week our family got 8 paws and 2 tails bigger! 

Meet Nala. She's so teeny!!! Definitely the runt of the batch. 

 And this is Vito. I think he's part sloth. haha... actually, they're both quite rambunctious (+5 points for me using a big word like that)

 At the end of the day... they love each other. Brother and Sister.... so cute <3

Welcome to the Varner family, Nala and Vito!

So prepare to see endless pictures of my new babies. Afterall, I'm a proud parent now. :)

*Soon to come, camping pictures- my newest sand sculpture*

Varner Family Planner (Part 1)

Yesterday I woke up thinking, "I have nothing to do today."

And then I stumbled upon this beaut: The Nest Effect

After drooling a bit, I scoured my office/scrapbooking supplies I realized I have everything I needed on hand to create such a masterpiece (except a 3-hole punch)...


I spent the better part of the day going through all my scrapbook papers finding scraps that would work together to create a purty cover that would slip in the clear pouch on the front.

Success?

I think yes.

I also researched a few other family planner/binders online and made 5 of my own sections. A lot of people have a section for meal planning and grocery lists but I already have a system set up for that.







 So my sections are as follows:

*Calendar/Planner (also lists birthdays/anniversaries)

 *Budget (breading down our spending into subcategories and what bills are paid with which paychecks (isn't organization BEAUTIFUL?!)

 

*Bills/Expenses (lists when bills are due w/ contact information)

 

*Debt/Savings plan (based off of Dave Ramsey's teaching)

 

*Cleaning/Projects (monthly cleaning tasks and DIY projects I would like to attempt)

Here are the calendars I made up for the rest of the year... and a list of months' days for birthday/anniversary lists...

 

I ended up checking Facebook to find all my friends/families' birthdays in one convenient spot!

So, there's what I have so far. Many more forms and pictures to come. :)

We Came. We Saw. We Loved.

Jeff and I went to tour a house this past week. I don't want to get too excited yet, I'm still working on getting the pre-qualification for the housing loan.

It was just simply perfect.

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, hardwood floors, cute kitchen, sweet deck, 3/4 of an acre of land, tiger lillies galore, and trees that line the property. 

What's not to love, right??


So, here's the plan. Jeff and I are praying pretty hardcore about this. Last week we did some fasting, and talked to God about the situation. We're asking for His hand in it. If we get approved for a loan, and the house is still availabe, we're going for it! (Woah!) If we're denied for whatever reason we're going to stay where we are for another year and  save $$$! So either way it's a win.

Of course, having tons of free time while I'm on vacation all summer... I've been pinning on Pinterest like a busy little beaver!

Current Loves:

Coral and Aqua. I'm thinking of incorporating these colors into the dining room.

Yellow and Grays. Master bedroom.

I can't stop meditating on this verse:

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:4

It's so beautiful how our God wants to bless us. Jeff and I have recently been given the opportunity to host Bible Study at our house the past two weeks for the Men's Freedom House (click link) and it's been incredible. We'd love to give God the glory for a new home with even more space and opportunity to host events.

Please feel free to pray with us!