A Visit To Furniture Land South for BIG BOY/GIRL FURNITURE

On Friday, Darren and I hired Kaitlyn Belcher to watch our kiddies and we spent the day together shopping for “big boy” and “big girl” furniture for Jax and Lilah. We drove to the furniture capital of the world… Highpoint, North Carolina. We are huge fans of the store Furnitureland South. There is over one million square feet of furniture, carpets, accessories, etc, to choose from. That is NOT an exaggeration. Check out their website if you don’t believe me. We got there about 2:00 p.m and decided to have a relaxing lunch together at the on-site café. Afterwards, we were a little chilly, so we headed to the on-site Starbucks and grabbed a warm coffee. YUM!

I was so relieved we ONLY had to visit the children’s wing. We spent over 9 hours at FLS one year because we were trying to furnish our living room, basement, and kitchen nook. It was exhausting and stressful to say the least. Shopping for your children is fun and stress-free.

We entered the children’s wing and we were blown away. There was well over 75-100 bedroom suites to choose from. While that might sound overwhelming to you, it wasn’t. Darren and I, being together for 20 years now, have the exact same taste. We look at it and immediately say, “YES OR NO”. Out of all 100 bedroom suites, we fell in love with the same 3. I’m not surprised, but I am relieved. I know some husbands and wives have a difficult time agreeing on things when shopping for their home.

We left Furnitureland South in plenty of time to drive over to Greensboro and tour the “Rooms to Go for Kids” and then eat a peacefully delicious dinner at Carrabas. YUUUUUUUUUMMMMMY! Best meal EVER!!!!

If you are in the market for ANY type of furniture, invest in a 2 hour drive and VISIT FLS. They are offering FREE DELIVERY in the month of January ONLY. It is furniture heaven. Just like our minds cannot comprehend what Heaven will be like, you cannot even begin to imagine this place. You could walk it for TWO days and not finish! I’ve been told Michael Jordan, Martha Stewart, and Beyonce are just amongst a few who shop there. Of course, we DO NOT shop in their section, but at least there is a section we can afford. LOL!

I thought those of you with kids would enjoy seeing a few of the photos I snapped to give you an idea of some of their selections. This is NOT an extensive album of what they offered in the kids section. I do have a photo album with price tags attached if you are curious to see pricing

Bolling Steel

It's the famous question so many people ask when they meet you for the first time or they are at a loss for conversation. "So... What do you do for a living?" or "What does your husband do for a living?" Yesterday, Darren and I took a long day trip to High Point, North Carolina to go furniture shopping for the twins new "big/girl rooms". On the way there, Darren said he wanted to run by a job site to check on the job and see it in person. At first, I was a little antsy about it, but I didn't make it obvious. I was just so excited to get to Furniture Land South, but once I arrived to the job site, with him, I was so thankful to see my hubby's work up close and personal. It was very cool to witness structural steel being placed in it's proper place by a large crane, but even cooler knowing that that's OUR steel!!!

(Bolling Steel's erected steel for a new church being built .... "St. Mary's Episcopal Church". They furnish the steel, but their biggest responsibility is very carefully measuring where and placing the holes in the steel that you see in the above picture. If they mess up by a hairline fraction, that big piece a steel is worthless.)

So what does my hubby do for living? Darren works at a family owned, steel fabrication business called Bolling Steel! Long ago, Darren's father took every penny he had to his name, LITERALLY, and purchased a steel fabrication machine (not a cheap purchase). That was a brave, brave, brave move, after all, there was no guarantee this would be a successful purchase AND he had a wife and two children to feed. God has since flourished Bolling Steel and has made it was it is today! Like any company, fluctuation in businesses has taken place over the years, but with today's economy, we have seen multiple steel business flop, and God has been faithful to keep Bolling Steel alive and operating! We are beyond thankful! Darren is now one of the proud owners and has really taken the initiative to learn the business inside and out. His responsibilities range from estimating jobs, bidding jobs, taking "on-the-job" measurements, payroll, to hiring/firing, employee issues, etc....

I have watched him work there for the last 13 years and I have witnessed his growth and intellect in the business. It's kind of admiring to hear his own father call him and ask him how to do something sometimes. It's something that from day to day, I haven't really acknowledged or paid attention to, but as I type this post, I realize how proud I am to have a husband who works his cute little tail off, responsibly, respectively, with integrity, and to the glory of our God!

Darren thank you for the opportunity to see your work in action and for working so hard for this family!!! I love you!!!

More Fun Christmas Gifts - - IN ACTION!

Darren and I purchased this Magnetic Mosaics by Numbers kit for Christmas! It takes a little bit of patience, which he doesn't have, but we did it together today during part of his 30 minutes of "mommy and me" time! I have been really diligent about making time, alone, for HIM everyday! It has made a world of difference in his behavior!!!

This kit comes with 20 fun designs and/or you can create your own masterpieces if you are creative PLUS over 600 magnetic foam pieces and a magnetic board.

Ty chose a design for us to do and when we filled all the spots up, this is what we created.

W is for WINTER!

Today, I decided that I was going to stop taking the twins to story time (which starts back on Wednesday, January 18^th). We have been attending for almost 2 years now and I haven’t seen any changes in the lesson plans. While the twins do enjoy it, I felt spending some quality time with them, at home, would be more beneficial and enjoyable for us all.

I am trying to design my own lesson plans for Wednesdays. I have found if my day is planned out and I have things for the kids to do, I enjoy being at home a lot more than if we just exist (eat, house chores, some playtime).

The kids ate a phenomenal breakfast, so I was able to go along with my first plan of the day. The first event I had planned out was a marshmallow roasting. During Christmas break, I stopped by my dear friend Erin’s home to peak at her decorated Christmas tree. She should be a professional Christmas decorator!!! While admiring her tree, which by the way was insanely gorgeous, I noticed her kiddies had a toothpick in one hand and a small cup of marshmallows in the other. I said to Erin, “That’s a clever way to eat marshmallows.” She said, “Oh, they are pretending they are roasting marshmallows.” HOW NEAT! While I did NOT create nor have the brain power to create the idea to roast marshmallows indoors, I did steal the idea and I added my OWN special touches.

I set up a blanket near our actual fireplace, setting a warm atmosphere. Then I supplied the kids with their own “campfire”, a bowl of marshmallows each, and their very own roasting sticks (skewers). I took it one step further and provided them with a dish of graham crackers and oreos, just incase they wanted to make smores!

Afterwards, we enjoyed making a snowman out of marshmallows. I even had fun doing one of my own!!!! It was a great way to avoid this nasty rain!