DIY weekend

Alrighty, first of all I'd like to thank SeekingMyLord for the Stylish Blogger award...so sweet♥ Thank you!

Now, on with the show :)

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Recently I've been redoing my bedroom. On a, um, shoestring budget. Shoestring budget here meaning Basically No Money budget.

It's pretty fun!

My walls which were once a year-2002-era lime green are now a pearly grey.

(Paint-$35)

I was given a beautiful futon frame by a family at our church and I'm currently making do with my twin mattress on it while I save for a full size futon. I did buy a lovely new quilt from Urban Outfitters ($30 ON SALE! Best!) and a white comforter from Target ($15) to replace my decrepit old neon daisy bedclothes.

My big spend though was a closet system to turn my wall into my closet so my closet could be book storage space. It was way too much. I won't even tell you. So now my shoestring budget is absolutely shot. I shamelessly stole curtains from my generous mother. I also took my generous mother's old sewing desk and ripped out the (broken) sewing machine to make room for my legs. Being tall is a curse. Now, out of things to steal from my generous mother, I had to look within my own collection of stuff and stuff to cover my bare, lonely walls.

Well, I have a lot of paper.

Bought it at Michael's with a gift card.

IT'S CRAFTY TIME.

Paper triangles...

...and ribbon, and fabric flowers...

...make flag banners!

I found the idea for this one at the Martha Stewart website, and after just a little modification ...

...I have a fantastic wreath-y thing to cover a rather, err, unsightly spot on my wall!

I love doing things like this. And honestly, I like them much better than what I could have bought at the store!

Shoestring Budget = Awesome Budget, apparently~

Missionary.

 One of my best friends , Casey, is on a missions trip in India currently.

Casey!

 Now, Casey's a courageous lady. She's there for months, and by herself! And we talk on the phone, and I say things like "I can't wait until you come home, you haven't seen my room since I painted it!", and she says things like, "Oh Amelia, next week I might be going to Calcutta to work with the Missionaries of Charity!" and I feel like a dweebo, and I miss her. She's felt called to India since she was a little little girl and it is incredible to see how God put everything in order for her, how she just happened to meet just the right people at just the right time, how there was a genuine need that only she could fill. What God is doing through her over there is amazing. And Casey is amazing!

But, here are a few of the pictures she's sent of her trip so far, I enjoyed them so much and I imagine you will too~

Cutest girl/henna tattoos

This is how babies sleep! Doesn't he look so comfy?

FIRE.

Casey took all the kids out for a play day and they fell asleep like this on the ride home. Don't you love the last little boy in the line? So not asleep!

So beautiful

Hello little girl! I want your dress!

 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,  for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:12–15

P.S. Okay guys, it's very possible that today might be awful for

me...your prayers for me would be appreciated alongside 

your prayers for my lovely Casey!!

Dessert

Sundays in winter at our church are delicious food days. 

Y'see, winters here in western New York are killer. It's cold. It's icy. It's snowy as all get out. And the driving is AWFUL. So instead of having two services six hours apart and have everyone brave the snowy-blowy twice we have only an hour or so between services. And we fill that hour with delicious food! Everyone brings two dishes. I particularly enjoy making dessert. And I thought of a fun desserty idea just a few weeks ago.

Pie pops.

Tiny pies on sticks! Like lollypops! But with tiny pie!

I'll tell you what though, those little monsters were fiddly to make. They separated top from bottom, bubbled over, slid off their sticks...took me a good hour to perfect them. But once I got them down, I was like a pie pop making machine.

Apple, cherry, and pumpkin, I made 20 or so of each. They didn't all fit in those mugs!

In the interest of full disclosure I must confess that the crust to filling ratio was all wrong. They were tasty, don't get me wrong, but I expected them to be basically the most amazing pie experience of my life! It's a flaw in the design, I guess. BUT LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE!

I was thinking of doing a tutorial on how to make them, since they were so fiddly. If anyone's interested?

Black Plague/Flu/Death

Some of you expressed enthusiasm for the idea of hearing about my "Everyday Adventures". So I'm here today to relate the everyday adventure of being sick.

It's like this-Baby Arianna is sick on Tuesday and, unbeknownst to us, our house becomes a virtual incubator of viral plague. Wednesday morning we are feeling a little funny and grocery shopping falls to the much more palatable idea of staying home and resting. Wednesday evening rolls around and we are feeling sick indeed, call into church, I'm so sorry I'm sick and I can't teach my class tonight, would you mind taking over for me thank you so much you're a lifesaver. Wednesday night and we're....well...the only ACCURATE way to describe it is the worst sickness that has ever happened to anyone in the history of forever (I kid, I kid!). Thursday I am too sick to watch poor baby and the day is spent laying down, feeling awful, and avoiding food. Friday, today, I am sad to report that I am still quite under the weather. But I am upright, breathing, and fit to type!

Now I think it's important to tell you that only my mother and I have gotten sick so far, which brings me to a portion of this post I am going to call

I have an awesome little brother.

On Wednesday morning he noticed I was feeling unwell, so he made me my favourite breakfast.

A grapefruit.

And even though I wasn't quite hungry, the gesture was sweet!

Thursday comes around, and the adults in his house are dead to the world.

"Do I have you take care of you like little children? Uhhhh. Okay?"

 He makes us rice. He bikes down to the corner convenience store to buy us ginger ale. We have blankets and pillows. He tells us, most gallantly, that we CAN watch "Mooshy girly stuff" on Netflix, he doesn't mind.

Moral of the story: Being sick is lame, but it helps if you're blessed with a little brother who often acts like a big one.

A big brother, that is.

Excuses, excuses.

 I promised myself I would post every day for my first week here.

Only, today I am sick. I am quite sick. I do not want to write a post, I want to sleep forever.

So, here is my lazy lazy post.

Consider yourselves enlightened to the tragic consequences of bad literature!

I'm off to sleep and/or die now.

Yesterday was the first day.

The first day of my new job.

The first day of my new job at home you guys.

I'm nannying a little girl, you may have heard of her. Goes by the name of Arianna. Quite possibly the most beautiful baby ever born.

I can't tell you how happy I am!

Now, part of this happiness may possibly be attributed to the fact that I am getting paid to love one of the most lovable little beings I have ever met. I think that would make almost anyone happy!

 Awwwwwwwwwww.....

But.

Guys.

I'm just so happy to be home.

I've been working out-of-my-home for more than two years, and I've had a few very good, fulfilling sort of jobs. My past year and a half has been spent working at a workshop program with developmentally disabled adults. This is something I like to do, this is something I am good at! Other than a looney boss and a very lazy young man I had very little to complain about. Only, it wasn't what I wanted. (Or wasn't making me happy. Or wasn't right.)

Getting up at six every morning and rushing to pull on my (mandated) jeans and putting on some makeup and pulling out my hair and leaving for eight hours to run around in circles and coming home way too tired to to much more than eat, shower, and sleep is not where my life is going. I don't think that's God's plan for me! I anticipate wifeyness and motherdom in my future, not careeritude. So when the opportunity presented itself for me to go home for good, I gave my two weeks notice and thanked God pretty profusely. 

I feel like my life is balancing out~

AND I'LL NEVER HAVE TO WEAR JEANS AGAIN OH MAN I HATE JEANS THEY ARE THE WORST I AM SERIOUS YOU GUYS SWEATPANTS ARE COOL BUT OTHER THAN THAT IT'S SKIRTS ALL THE WAY. ALL THE WAY.

Today is the first day

Amelia Faith.

Twenty years old.

Mad and passionate lover of coffee.

Okay, okay, hi guys! 

Here are some things that may or may not be important.

 About me.

 Because I know you're interested.

• I am a girl.  Obviously, you may be saying to yourself: why is she telling us this? Well, I am telling you because it is very important. I love being a girl. I am a very girly girl. Okay, yeah, my little brother has a habit of calling me his "big brother", so maybe I'm not always a girly girl. But mostly I am. I'm a big brother in a skirt.
• I live at home. Home meaning a big yellow Victorian house in a small town in New York along with my mother, sister, and brother. Yes, I'm 20 and still living at home. Yes, I'll tell you about that later.
• I love making things. I especially love making things pretty ♥
• I don't date. No way. This doesn't mean I'm a snob, or that I don't like boys. It means I'm waiting for the right man. So until God decides I'm ready for him, there are better things to do!
• I make stupid faces all the time. It's not super attractive. But it's just the way I am. Or something. You'll see.
• I am a huge fan of friendliness, optimism, and positivity. Looking on the bright side is almost always the best choice!
• I love Jesus. This is the most important one. He is my rock. I try to be like him every day, I try! I try but I always fail. That's the miracle of salvation though, every time I mess up, every time he's there to forgive me. It's always been super hard for me to articulate my feelings about my faith, but I will tell you that it is the most important thing. Jesus is the most important thing!
• I'm totally serious about the coffee. Love the stuff. One cream, one sugar, my day is made. My love can be bought with coffee almost.

What about you, anybody anybody anybody? Tell me something important about YOU. Then give me a link to your blog, so we can be friends!

As long as you're not creepy.