is probably not what they thought i would.
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this is my laundry room. it's a real beauty. so i day dream….about pretty rooms like these.
my dream laundry room would have a table for folding, a sink, a convenient place for soap that didn't require craig just said to me "people in africa would love to have your laundry room" OH CRAP. he's right. and i have some laundry to do. These are gorgeous rooms. I think you can make your own little space at home. I have tried making my own after all the chaotic clothes I have. Interesting post regarding the laundry room. Even though it may be difficult to keep it clutter-free, the examples given would give any stay-at-home mother the willingness to strive towards that level of neatness. I drean of those too! just found your blog. its fantastic 😉 Hee, at least you have a laundry room! Our laundry area is a corner of the unfinished half of a my basement, a bit too close to the catbox corner for my particular tastes. Another one here with a laundry room looking more like yours than the photos…..a girl can dream. Thank you so much for being REAL. I will never forget the picture you posted of the laundry piled high on your couch. It helps me to know I am not alone in my laundry battle! I forwarded the link to this post to my husband in defense of our own laundry room! 😉 Um, I live in AZ and our laundry room is in our garage. boo.. there’s no way it will ever look pretty! But love the inspiration you posted!! I firmly believe that those photos belong to people who don’t do laundry.. There’s no way. I think most of our laundry rooms look like yours. I know mine does! Man! I was agreeing with all of things you are wishing for…then I had to agree with Craig! Men…. I dream of laundry rooms too. I only have 2 kids so far – one on the way- but laundry is a bad bad situation at my house. I’ve decided the only way I’d ever be on top of laundry is if I had a washer/dryer right next to where we spend most of our time- the kitchen, or living room? one day… The only people who have clean laundry rooms are either a) kid-less or b) nudists. drool worthy! but at least we have a laundry room, right? Meg! those are almost too lovely to do laundry in….maybe a little chaise for napping and reading instead. i might forget about the grass stains and wet stinky towels with a room like that. aw….if it makes you feel any better i have a craig too. i call him big red. 🙂 I think Craigs comment is just a cop out of helping you make a better laundry room!! 🙂 I too dream of such a lovely laundry room. My washer & dryer are in our garage – where the ceiling is starting to crumble, so sometimes we have rusty re-bar (sp??) and concrete fall on top of them. And during heavy rains? It pours in from the ceiling and leaves huge puddles we have to wade through – and if we don’t get it shopvac’d up quick enough, mosquitoes lay eggs in the water and we get to wade through that too. Again, still better than most people around the world. I’m going on a trip to Haiti next month, so I’m sure my perspective will be put in check on quite a few of these things!! I have a small washer, no dryer and live in a small house in england. No space whatsoever for a dryer and I’m kind of glad because they use a lot of electricity! (We don’t have a dishwasher either for the same reasons!) So most of the year, my washing hangs up on the curtain rails in the living room and on all the radiators in the house. It looks like a chinese laundry:-) I guess its the difference between living in a real home as opposed to a show home, like those photos;-) Oh my… I dream of those same rooms… and maybe a maid to keep feeding the washer dirty clothes. (-: …on the bright side, i see some awesome hardwood floor peeking out from under there!!! I totally feel your pain! I love my home but for whatever reason my laundry room is LITERALLY the hallway! I don’t know what they were thinking when they built the house and more importantly, I don’t know what I was thinking when we bought the house! You are a better woman that me. I’d have let Craig have it and sent HIM straight to do the laundry!! I’m only able to drop by here on occasion as life with 5 children ages 5 and under keeps me running – but this post brought much needed smiles today! I think I have just about every one of the images you posted saved on my computer – I saved them all earlier in the week as I had 20 loads of laundry due to a leaking washer! I wasn’t about to take a 5 week old to the laundromat – let alone all the others! I was just so giddy that someone else is dreaming of a laundry room… I even drew mine out and asked my husband if we could put our house on the market soon – so we could have a huge laundry room and a “family closet” … Read the Duggar book to find out more on their family closet – you’ll be inspired… Um…I’ve seen your laundry. You, Girl…need a laundry Mansion. I love that you posted a “real” picture of your laundry room. Sometimes people post pictures of rooms in their house that look as if they were arranged for the picture so they would look messy-neat. I actually believe that your laundry room looks like the picture and I love it! It makes me feel normal. So thanks. 🙂 You know you have a sizable laundry room when you are able to put decorations in the room. I’m lucky to be able to fit the detergent on a shelf. I dream of having a laundry room too. One where we could just put dressers and clothes racks and just keep everything in there even after it was clean. Reality is our laundry room is a closet. It was either that or put it in the basement which is really more of a cellar. When the drier door is down, it is touching the wall. That’s how tight it is in there. But I guess we are lucky just to have one at all! the last one with the map is my favorite!! my laundry is in the basement. ugh. so u-g-l-y! Thanks for sharing your pic of your laundry room! It sooo made me laugh! You are very brave for sharing that photo…mine looks exactly the same and I wouldn’t dream of letting people see it! HaHa!!! I am fortunate enough to have a laundry room…one that I decorated when we loved in to our home…one that used to be a porch and is enclosed with all windows with lots of natural light…one that is fairly large with room to move around…and one that STILL LOOKS LIKE YOURS! There is just more room to throw clothes around and leave piles in baskets! I HATE LAUNDRY..but I am thankful for my room, my machines and the clothing which piles up!!! Gorgeous! And he’s just cruel. A girl’s gotta dream and if it’s about a dang laundry room, well, then in my book it’s okay. 🙂 I began cleaning my laundry room today… didn’t get very far… You can still dream while you give thanks that, in fact, you do have a laundry room, thank you very much Craig! No matter how many coordinating bins, beautiful shelves, or freshly painted cabinets I had… my laundry room would still have mounds of clothing, tacky detergent stains, and lint dust. I dream of laundry rooms too…some day…one day….sigh. I am drooling. My laundry room is in the basement and I just explained to my husband how we are going to tackle the area to make it beautiful…he agreed after seeing the pics you posted. 🙂 Meg, Jeez, Craig is such a Debbie Downer! 🙂 Yeah, with my family if I had one of those bigger laundry rooms, it would just mean more room for more diry clothes. I linked to you today! Hope you are having a great Saturday! http://keriandbrian.blogspot.com/2010/11/pretty-pictures.html My laundry room looks just like yours! I would love a new and bigger one too please I love your blog!!!!!!! I’ve got the laundry in garage thing going on. The saving grace is that he machines are right below a window that looks out onto the backyard. I dream about them too! Mine is so small! We’re hoping to buy a front loader washer and dryer to stack on top to clear up some more necessary space. I can’t wait until that day! (Can I still want/ dream of that space and feel bad for Africa at the same time? I really know I am blessed… just want a neat laundry room really bad! :o) ) The rooms are beautiful!!! I’d kinda like your room too. Mine are shoved out in the garage. I wedge myself between the car and machines. Summer laundry here in AZ is brutal out there. I think I just figured out why I never have the laundry done. Do you think people with those swanky rooms always do their laundry. And does the room stay that pretty? I love the second one!! I looove that last one, too! I do have laundry room, I’ll admit, a little nicer than yours, but no dream laundry room. It also has no heat 🙂 I have a lovely bucket of robin’s egg blue paint, even, waiting to cover it’s walls. but, I have not done it. I hear ya sister, I hear ya… Craig is a wise man!!! I don’t even live in Africa and I would take your laundry room. I should send you one of mine and you would give yours a hug. Mine is in the garage with BUGS, toads and whatever finds its way in….most of the time it’s so cold we are having to put a little heater out there just so we CAN do laundry and not freeze to death. Be grateful Meg, you have MUCH!!! Well Craig did put it in perspective!! I’ve been drooling over everyone’s laundry rooms too…and mine is GAGOLA! Guess I’ll be grateful now that I have one!! Thanks for sharing!! Suddenly my “pit of mess & clutter” seems like a blessing now!♥ When our dryer broke and we had to run five loads of clothes to the laundromat I really appreciated my basement laundry “area”. While at the laundromat I did not think ahead and loaded all the dryers up (five of them) and put in my money and sat to read my book. Well, they all stopped within a minute. I felt like Lucille Ball on the candy assembly line. How do you fold five loads at the same time! So I loaded another quarter in each a couple minutes apart, so they wouldn’t get wrinkled! Live and learn. This made me really appreciate what I have at home. But we can dream! Craig is so right…makes me put it in perspective! I was going to say at least you have a room.. 🙂 mine is stuck in a closet! But those other pic’s of laundry rooms makes me swoon!! Love them! My laundry “room” is a 3×5′ closet in our downstairs bathroom. Laundry day (or, ahem, DAYS) means piles of dirty clothes lining the wall in our foyer. The mythical dream house my husband and I sometimes talk about has a gorgeous, sun-washed laundry room with a designated crafting space. Someday, maybe. Until then, I’m thankful not to have to wash our clothes on a rock down by the river. I too dream about laundry rooms. *sigh* Pretty sure I would dread doing laundry MUCH less if I had a room like that to do it in.. PS: Glad I’m not the only one with a mountain of clothes on the floor. 😉 Wow. Those laundry rooms are nicer than my living room! I too love looking at laundry rooms – mine is the washer and dryer in the basement. The end! Oooh! I SOOO empathize with you! My laundry room is terrible! We live in an old farmhouse, where I’m sure laundry was originally done with a washboard & tub. So… our ‘modern’ laundry room is in an area that use to be a porch. It’s SUPER tiny & unheated. For some reason, no one ever uses our front door. They all come to the side of the house where the laundry room is & get to gaze at my dirty clothes as they enter my house. Your pictures make me almost giddy. Wish one of the rooms could be mine one day! 🙂 my laundry room is small. but i did paint it purple! that makes me happy. Love all the pictures!! I hope someday to have a dreamy place as I have so much wash to do with eight kids:) Mine is smaller than a closet and I can’t even open the cupbord under the sink as the dryer is in front of it. Oh well my Al won’t let me complain. Some times I have to remind myself that others have it far worse than me.Have a wonderful weekend!!! All gorgeous pics, but none of them have any LAUNDRY in them!? Wow, with five kids it really does multiply, doesn’t it? I picked up more hours working part-time and hubby agreed to takeover the laundry. We have baskets of clean clothes all over since he doesn’t put away (and our boys haven’t figured that out yet), but gotta say, in the big scheme of things, we are not slaves to laundry and can’t be judged by our piles! Have a glorious weekend and Happy Thanksgiving! If Craig ever complains about your cooking, you could tell him the same…ha ha! Do people really have laundry rooms like that?! Mine looks like yours. Craig is probably right…although it is not fun to hear when one is dreaming. 🙂 I am fond of the first one. One thing about my laundry room that is nice is that it is upstairs. That is where all the bedrooms and showers are. I bet a woman designed this house. A man would simply not understand that concept. 🙂 haha – sounds like exactly what my husband would tell me! Our laundry is in our kitchen (and both are old and need to be renovated). It’s especially cool when the dryer is going and I use the microwave and then the power overloads and shuts off! You know what’s funny? Just last night I was thinking about your laundry room…I was wondering where it was in your house because I had never seen a picture of it (and now I have) 🙂 Then I started daydreaming about laundry rooms too! Our washer and dryer is in the garage *sigh* But, we should take Craig’s advice and think on the bright side…at least we have a washer and dryer. Thanks for sharing!! Yay! Now I don’t feel so bad. Mine looks the same. Laundry is one thing that never ever ever ever ends! Thank goodness for a door to hide the mess! Thank you for showing me your laundry room. I appreciated it. Mine looks pretty much the same. But now I know I’m not alone. I feel lighter, happier, less guilty. People in Africa may love your laundry room, I wouldn’t – just saying!!!… but no one in Africa would like your laundry pile, well unless what you wash you can keep… but otherwise it’s all yours!!! Have a fun weekend!!!! I hear you…and husbands have a way of inserting reality into our day dreams, huh? 🙂 I don’t have a laundry room. We have stacked machines in a closet. Even a hamper on the floor means you can’t shut the door. When I’m trying to make the house clean but the laundry is over-due (which is always,) I throw all the dirties in the guest bathroom’s tub. I call it “the tub of denial.” It’s pretty much ALWAYS full. I would love one of those big beautiful rooms too… And then a maid to do the laundry anyway. =) i’m right there with ya! i think because laundry is such a dull chore, a beautiful laundry room would just make it so much more fun. Ugh. The laundry room. Mine is in the kitchen, behind doors and off to the side, but still. When I sort everything, I end up with dirty clothes what feels like everywhere. It feels unsanitary to have dirty undies in such close vicinity to the kitchen, you know?? 😉 I grumble more than once when I have to traverse Mount Laundry to get to the pantry or the back door, but I know I shouldn’t complain though because Craig is right on. oh i hear you. i have the tiniest little laundry room and i’ve dreamed of a window & a sink and room to stinkin turn around. sheesh! and now we are moving in 3 weeks to a rent house that has the washer and dryer in a closet behind by-fold doors. ….sigh. reminding myself of the people in africa….. 😉 Oh I love them all, but the last one is my favorite too. 🙂 I feel you, we remodeled the main part of our basement this summer and the last part is the super dingy laundry/utility room. I am hoping my Hubby gives the go ahead next spring for that to happen too. 🙂 Oh, honey. Here is my laundry room. I can relate except mine is bigger than yours…but still so icky. Those are gorgeous laundry rooms to dream over. Dreams are good too! A girl can dream… That last laundry room you love so much actually belongs to my friend Sarah, my former coworker at Cdn. House & Home mag. I’ve been telling her for years that if she ever wants to get rid of that map, I will buy it. Here’s her website: http://www.sarahhartill.com Oh Meg! Your laundry room looks familiar…I mean with all the laundry, Ha! I am fortunate to have a decent laundry room although those you pictured were amazing but even cooler mine has a laundry shute so the kids can toss their clothes down from upstairs each day! We just put it in a few months ago! Come say Hi! “melissasheartandhome.blogspot.com” Hello! Oh what a fun post. I just did a laundry room post as well. It is a blessing to have aa nice one for sure. Your images are gorgeous! I love my laundry room. I linked it up at Kellys Korner. 🙂 I love your laundry room picture. Now you have me dreaming of an amazing laundry room . . . one thing was missing in all those pictures . . . clothes all over the floor!! Those fresh flowers would SO be in the way. They’d be knocked over for sure. i would love to have A laundry room and i live in california…i have a laundry closet in my kitchen!!! ok, who let you in my laundry room (that first pic!)…glad I’m not the only one…although I have a laundry GARAGE which is not good at all…way to much room for stuff to pile up! I am happy to have a laundry room after not having had one for 5-6 years and going into a dark icky basement! mine has a sink and shelves and cabinets, but doesn’t look as nice as these ones! I think perhaps a coat of paint and a map would help mine look “almost” as nice! BUT, you are right, women in africa would like your laundry room just to live in! I bet doing laundry in one of those rooms, would make you even HAPPY to do laundry! I love doing laundry myself, if I lived close, I would come over and heLP! My laundry room looks just like yours.seems like i will never get done. Those rooms are beautiful. I would love one of those. Our laundry room is in our living room so when the old as crap washer hits the spin cycle, you have to turn up the TV, so I am with you in wishing for a fabulously “Real Simple” or “Martha Stewart” laundry room too. I take that back – I think all of those are bigger than my kitchen. lol Craig is right, but that doesn’t mean you can’t day dream either. And oh holy cow, some of those are bigger than my kitchen (although that’s not saying much lol!) It really is hard to keep one’s perspective. Without my husband to remind me now, I framed two pictures a friend took in Africa of women washing in a stream and drying clothes on bushes – plus a minature washboard that says “give thanks” and hung them in my laundry room. I once had five children too and laundry that looked just like yours. Now they are grown and I have to scrounge to get a load together. (: Hang in there. When my husband says things like that, I call him a “dream killer”. Two washers and two dryers…can you even imagine?! If we ever build a house, I’m definitely designing it around a laundry room because it’s where I spend most of my time! aack! I’ve been on the edge of my seat since TUESDAY waiting to hear more about being whisked off to Atlanta. And now you’re talking about laundry??? Although I have to admit, I’m drooling over those laundry rooms too… I would just love a laundry room that is heated so I don’t have to use my hair dryer to thaw out the pipes every.single.morning during the winter. Craig is so wise but seriously, those laundry rooms are just photos. No room is that clean. I dream of them too and now I have a new favorite inspiration photo. Thanks. I think. husbands are great that way huh….always bursting the bubble..lols…thats funny!!! { sigh } I dream of laundry rooms too, my house now doesn’t even have one, they are in the garage. My last house had a huge one, but that was the only thing that it really had going for it, so I sacrificed the laundry room for a bigger house w/ more character. The pictures you posted are gorgeous!! um, ya. just be glad you have one. we’re a family of 6 with no laundry room at all, just a washer and dryer hid behind a curtain in the kitchen. People in Africa would be grateful for just that too though*sigh* ok…seriously…i’ve come back everyday waiting for your big reveal…PLEASE TELL US!!!!! or not. i love reading your blog! last year we had a weekend in the fall where we got together to craft for Water4Christmas. this year….life has gotten in the way of having a craft weekend. could YOU make something to donate to the Water4Chistmas etsy shop? YES. the answer is yes. you can make one thing or you can make 20. i am making these t-shirts again. and some burp cloths also. do you think that we can raise enough money for a well AGAIN this christmas? i do. email me for details on where to send your items. (cdduerksen@yahoo.com) but God is BIG. even if you can only send one small item you will be making a difference. what could you make today? (ps…i wrote and posted this from the waiting room at the doctor's office…i love technology!!) UPDATED…………… THANKS! Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-23 if you make them for boys make it camo, regular and digital. some desert storm ones for the troops. wish i could sew. use your talents cuz GOD said so. I had a whole Saturday to myself as the boys were gone to a flag football tournament at church. I crafted all day and thought of other crafters across the country working too. I love this idea where everyone can be involved to help some way, using the talents we have been given. God is so good. I will like to buy a boy one or two to help out. Where can I do that? Meg – I am a Youth Minister here in Ohio. At our church, we have planted a Biblical Herb Garden and make potpourri from our harvests called Heaven Scent. On the labels we have our website on which I have a tab that lists all the herb, their Biblical references, history, and significance. If I can ship several bags to you on Monday – would that be too late??? We devote 100% of our profits to charity. Let me know if it is too late – we would love to help!!!!! I would love to donate a couple of paintings on canvas. I’ll email for the details! Bracelets and necklaces are packaged and ready to go in the mail Monday morning. I’m hoping I’ll get a few minutes to make a couple baby slings… We’re making flower fairies – we made them for fun last year and when friends saw them on our blog they wanted them for themselves. The are fussy to make, which makes selling them for a purpose all the more meaningful! Fabulous! I would love to buy some of those Africa shirts, but in onesie form…is that a possibility? Awesome idea! I can do some jewelry. Will email. I’d love to donate something…I make baby/children clothing, quilts, fabric buntings amongst some other sewn goodies! O.k. I’ll email you too…thanks for doing this! -Tyler i make magnets out of upcycled bottlecaps; will donate some. let me send u an email. If I survive Disney tomorrow I’ll email you for address…I have a princess beach bag that I’d love to donate but I don’t know if it’ll get to you in time. i will donate 1-3 tile necklaces. pls email the deatils JOYfilledfamily at gmail dot com. http://joyfilledfamily.blogspot.com/search/label/Glass%20Tile%20Necklaces I would love to donate some illustrations! This is greatness! Will you make shirts for grown-ups? I would love one. Size small. 🙂 I will send you a bunch of my cards. I emailed you for details on where to send them. I will get some items off to you soon!! And let me know when the etsy site plans to go live and I will post on my blog as well. I would love to help! I made a craft today, do think its a good one…. I’m so excited about this. I do have some ideas for crafts on our blog http://www.nurturedpath.com what a fabulous idea! i would love to send in a little something(s). please send me the address of where to send them! can i add this request to my little blog too? hmmmmmmmmmm…..oh man, Meg…I want to help…but all I can do lately is cry and yell at my kids! Only you and this great cause could help me to actually get into my crap room and make something… Count me in, for one or two simple things (and more shopping). My sister and I have a craft site and we sell our stuff at all the local craft shows. I’d love to donate something. Take a look at our website http://www.wix.com/chicsisters/chicsisters or visit our Facebook page called “chic sisters” and let me know what you’d like and where I need to send it to! awesome!!! I just e-mailed someone at Water4Christmas last night about this. 🙂 I’m also not crafty…like not crafty at all. But I will be praying that God does more than you could imagine! Love this whole idea! I am going to try to make something. I bought an africa shirt last year and I will definitely buy something this year. Now we are in the midst of beginning an ethiopian adoption, so we need some things from his native home…haha!! 🙂 Just sent you an email! So excited. Crafting is fun but crafting for a good cause is even better! I would love to buy something, but I have boys. Is there a way to do the shirts in a boy style? For you!? I’m in. I bet we can do it! I will send you some stuff! Love the idea! Sent you e-mail – happy to donate some photos. Count me in! I’ll be sending you at least 1 baby… let me see what I can do. Have a happy Thanksgiving! I will make something. I love the idea. I will think some things up this week. I am so excited!!! I WISH I were crafty…I’m only crafty with my wallet 😉 Can’t wait to see the goodies and support this great cause. Thanks for doing this, Meg 🙂 Calling all buyers…that’s me. 🙂 It doesn’t have to be Christmas-y, right? Just something that someone will buy. Right? I’m not crafty at all. We can make a tutu to match your red/pink africa shirt! We sold a few tutus on their site last year. Quick question: Does the craft have to have something to do with Africa? sent you my email. super excited to be creating with a purpose. brilliant idea! hummm. not crafty. i take pretty pictures though. But pictures of Texas and my kid so I don’t think that would help. I know lots of kiddos so I can help with buying stuff! I have an apron I would love to send for the cause. I’ll email you for the details. Thanks for doing this! I dont know how to sew but I could buy one….are you going to make boy shirts?? I’m in! I’ll make a God Box. I would make more than one but won’t have enough time! 🙁 Here’s what a God Box is… http://lltthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/11/god-box-tutorial.html Unfortunately I am not crafty. But could I place a custom order for a toddler long sleeved T and a 3-6 month onesie? you thought i was going to tell you more about atlanta didn't you? well….i just need one more day to process my thoughts. so for today it's about talby. talby requested a chocolate cake with white frosting and oreos and was very excited to see balloons! we had cake as a family the next day and watched Harry and the Hendersons! such a big girl…growing up too quick for her mommy. oh I just love seeing birthdays at your house! Kelly Oh yea….I wanted you to know I am making your blueberry buckle tonight for Bunco at my home 😉 Can’t WAIT!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TALBY!!!!!!! She is ahhh-dorable!! Happy birthday Talby! You have a wonderful mama! Happiest of birthdays Talby! I think your choice of cakes is absolutely brilliant!!!! So fun. So happy. Happy Birthday Talby! Love Harry and the Hendersons! Happy birthday to your sweet Talby. 🙂 Where is the picture of the birthday girl alone with the parents???? Happy Birthday to Talby!! from Clara and all of us First of all I wish I had a piece of that cake right now. 🙂 Oh Happy Happy Birthday you cute thing!!! Hope nine is a year full of totally happy fun!!! my heart is smiling with you at such a precious celebration.. I haven’t thought about Harry and the Hendersons in forever! Too funny. aww! happy bday talby! First, Happy Birthday Talby! I have a recent 9 year old (boy) as well and I demand to know where the time has gone! TOOOOOOO fast! Meg, I have never neen ablt to take a pic of tne birthday girl withe lit candles. Can you shareany tips on shooting in tnst light setting? Please. 🙂 talby’s my fave 🙂 9 :0 I thought she was way older…………………… She’s beautiful! Happy Birthday, Talby! (and I’m so glad to hear she still likes Fancy Nancy. I don’t want my girls to outgrow her 🙂 ah Happy Birthday!!! Sleeping at all during a sleepover seems like a success 🙂 What a sweet girl-happy birthday Talby! My 8 year old had her first sleepover in March of this year-total disaster! 5 girls plus big sister = one ER visit (big sister fell off chair), screaming and dancing until midnight; we had a movie to watch (was some icarly thing that some kids claimed they weren’t allowed to watch, so no down time)…my daughter didn’t get enough sleep and was a grouchy rude host in the morning. UGH! I’m so glad that yours went differently! How fun? Meg, I have 2 11 yr olds and a 13 yr old and a 5 yr old………They just wont stop growing up! BTW I posted this great video on my blog that my kids LOVE and I am certain yours would too……I like it also 😉 Yummmmmmmmmy cake!!!!! Such a cutie! Happy b-day Talby! Happy Birthday, Talby!! 9 just seems so grown up! I love the pictures. What a wonderful way to celebrate your 9th birthday. Happy Birthday to your girl. 🙂 I Love everything about this post…it makes me Happy! she looks like you I dream of having a kid that would be excited to get craft supplies for his/her birthday….I suppose there is still hope the younger ones are quite little. Oh happy birthday Talby!! Love her cake:) Just because our kids are getting older doesn’t mean we are, are we??? Happy Birthday to Talby! Love Talby’s new outfit. 🙂 And the sunflower behind her head in the first picture! Looks like she had a great Birthday. And let me know if you find out how to keep children from growing up so fast.. I’d like to know, too! Hey, happy birthday to your little lady! in the pic of her by the chalkboard, i spy a b&w “whatever is lovely, etc.” where or where did you get that? Have a fabulous day, susan She really does suddenly look SO much older!!! Darn her! What a lovely, lovely girl! And not make you blush, but is she a Valentine Baby? You don’t have to answer 😉 So sweet! I love that she loves Fancy Nancy and basketball. Sounds just like a little girl in my house. 🙂 Happy Birthday Talby!! Looks like she had such a great time. :o) Happy Birthday Talby! You are adorable! love all the pictures….she is just beautiful! LOVE Harry and the Hendersons! 🙂 Happy Birtday, Talby! Happy Birthday, Talby! Love your new outfit and the cake you chose. Who wouldn’t love a cake with oreos wrapped around it?! 🙂 oh my goodness, for some reason i thought she was older than that. she’s right in between my two littlest. happy birthday talby! nine is so much fun. Happy Birthday Talby! Awww Happy Birthday Talby! Happy birthday Talby! Yummy looking cake! ahhhh so sweet! happy birthday Talby!!! That cake is amazing. She is so cute and I love the drawing on the chalkboard…it is also super cute. I love all the color on your blog and in your house! It’s very inspiring! the cake looks yummy…birthdays are so fun!! Can’t wait to hear more. Meg God really is using you to influence others. I’m sure you keep asking “What are you doing with all this God” but how awesome to have a front row seat at His plan for your life. I haven’t read through all the comments but I think the consensus is: it had to be you. I’m new to “Whatever” and it’s now part of my daily browsing. I love the colour, the richness of your family life and the way you weave in your faith in a totally un-annoying manner. On ya! Oh how very cool – of course they wanted YOU!!! Don’t leave us hanging for too long – And. For the record? I always talk to people. My friend Debbie and I have traveled here and there, and she’s shy and quiet and I know I embarass her, but we’ve met the most interesting, kind, fun people, simply by my starting up a little conversation – love it 🙂 mmmeeeegggggggg…you visited the mother ship…my frien-enemy…COCACOLA….{pause for sobbing}…..I…{gasp, pause, while I sob some more}……how could you go WITHOUT ME??? Megan, this is so awesome. I’m really really proud of you. Way to go, sister! That is very cool! Oh my stars! Congrats girl, you’ve earned it! Why wouldn’t they want you Meg?! You are amazing and inspirational in so many ways!!! ARGH! I live 7 hours away in Florida and I SO would have packed up my hubby and 5 kids just to have you take our pictures! I LOVE your blog. I hope you had a GREAT time and felt VERY special, *’cause you are* I am so proud of you! -Tracy Fisher I love Atlanta! We were just there in June and visited the World of Coke. Can’t wait to hear more about your trip! And you didn’t come to Cameli’s Pizza????? Wah!!!!! Would have loved to have seen you, that is only a few minutes from our house…Can’t wait to hear about your trip!!! Very cool! I can’t wait to hear more. wow. Give us a list of all other bloggers invited…would love to see the different blogs! I have never commented on your blog, although I read it almost daily. I know exactly why you were chosen! You are down to earth and your kind heart shows in your posts. You often make us laugh and show us that you are not perfect, just like the rest of us. Thanks for always bringing a smile to my day:) Sigh, the life of cool blogger just got totally cooler!!! Fun, fun, fun!!! Oh my goodnss — you got to meet Bossy! I recognized her in your piture and hopped over to her blog to see if she mentioned the conference… and she HAD! of course you were invited. you’re rad! what a great opportunity! i would have totally come and hung out with you. i live in atlanta! you were living my dream….to be in a hotel with a driver take me there. can’t wait to hear about the rest of your trip. Wow, what a neat experience. And to answer your question: Why wouldn’t they want you to come? You have one of the best blogs. I’m always inspired and entertained when I read it! Hope you have a great trip. so happy for you and your experience-wow!! So Exciting! I Love That You Posted At 1:31 AM! Look what God is doing with you now! In your own simple way, you are INFLUENCING all of us. I love the internet. I love that you share with us. YOU are AWESOME! I understood your nervousness. I would have felt the exact same way. Out of my comfort zone I’m a different person. You need to shake that place up a bit. Water… for Africa. God it working through you Megan. He has a plan. Can’t wait to see what you are doing in another few years. You are a total ROCK STAR!! I love it!! Congratulations! 🙂 That is so cool Megan! Of course they picked you! You’re honest, real, encouraging and inspiring. Doesn’t get much better than that! !!! I knew i should have gone! You were there with one of my favorite bloggers, Georgia. Who is not Bossy, but quite lovely in real life. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Remember, you ARE worthy of every litle thing. Very cool. As an Atlanta, I hope my city treated you well. 🙂 What an honor and adventure to be a part of the social media conference! Oh, look at you! That is so awesome! I can’t wait to hear about your adventure! I’m sure you rocked it out! You represent SO many of us… and that is why you were there. You are awesome! Congrats!! That’s awesome! Can’t wait to hear more… What an honor! Of course they chose YOU…you rock girl:) I LIVE IN GEORGIA!! Jen That is so great! What an honor for them to have a blogger with such heart, vision and creativity. Is it weird that I was totally getting nervous for/with you as I read about you being alone?! Lol! I can totally relate!! But, you survived! Or so it seems since you’re able to blog about it. Ha! Our family traveled from Little Rock to Charleston, SC this summer and Atlanta was our stopping point. Loved it! How exciting! I cant wait to hear more! Oh, Meg! I live a little south of Atlanta – would have loved to have been a friendly face for you. (I know you haven’t met me exactly but I swear my face is friendly!) But all those other women look friendly, too. 🙂 Can’t wait to hear more about it! Go for you! I hope it was fun! I’m looking forward to your next post. I’ve lived in GA pretty much my entire life and I’ve yet to visit the World Of Coke… I know, random… Wow Meg..Go you! Such an achievement : ) So cool! A car service, that is POSH! I read part of the list of brands from Coca Cola…I wonder what a “Bimbo break” is?! I love their Mezzo Mix, we had that in Germany. Part orange fanta, part cola. You look fab in the pic. Can’t wait to hear all about it! 🙂 WOW! How exciting! I actually got goosebumps thinking about how exciting that must have been for you! That’s awesome!! I’m a new reader….can’t wait to hear more about it!! We’re from GA….about an hour Northeast! Of course, we live in Orlando now…but we’re FROM GA. 🙂 DANG!! And I was only about 45 minutes north at the time. AND my husband earns the bread and butter in the very same building for the very same company AND I blog AND they didn’t ask me. Shoot. Sounds like fun. (I would have been completely terrified, too.) Sounds like you had a fabulous time. You go girl – you, you… invited one. OMG, I LIVE IN ATLANTA AND IM A BLOGGER/TALK SHOW HOST AND I THINK I WAS INVITED TO THIS AND COULDN’T MAKE IT. I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO MEET YOU IN PERSON SIGH! NEXT TIME YOU COME THIS WAY PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Wow! How awesome! Can’t wait to hear more!
this is a project our family loves to take part in. i used to bring my kids with me to shop for the gifts that go in the boxes now i buy things throughout the year when they go on sale…..school supplies especially. we watch the video on samaritanspurse.org. (the same one that is posted above) then my kids fill the boxes. each of them made a card for their box. our church collects them and then drives them to a collection center. go to samaritanspurse.org for any information. I know this comment is late…late… I had a very long thanksgiving. 🙂 But I wanted to say “thanks” for packing boxes. I got to see kids recieve boxes and it’s awesome. I worked at a childrens home in thailand for a few years and we got Operation Christms Child – SO FUN! (thanks on behalf of the kids!!) Have a Merry Christmas! Love -Mary I cried. We packed three. We sent them. Love this! The MOPS group that I attend participates in OCC every year. Today our table put together one for a little boy. It was so much fun to bring in what we could and see what we could cram into the shoe box. Every year we play the DVD from Samaritan’s Purse and I cry every year. We have so much here and I often struggle to focus on the blessings. Thanks for the inspiration and you fabulous blog. Warmly, Jen D. I love this! I am going to check it out. Breaks my heart that kids are excited to get toothpaste! =( Toothpaste should just be a necessity! Makes my heart break! Thanks for the link Megan! I shared this video with my kids before we filled our boxes. They each wanted to include a note and picture like your family does 🙂 I’m a substitute teacher and the 6th grade class I was with today are collecting items for class boxes so I shared this video with them too. (Not sure all the Christianity was appropriate but it is the group of people that deliver these boxes. . .) I think it really inspired the class to go home tonight and find items for their boxes! I hope so. Thanks for posting. Our new church does this too and I can’t wait to do it. We’ve done it before, but we missed last year. I think it’s going to be so so awesome. 🙂 What a great project…and one we will adopt this year as well. Thank you for the generous inspiration! This is one of our favorite things to do each holiday season. We packed our boxes last night! I posted about OCC today and included a link to your post :). I *love* this. We did something very similar a few christmas’ in a row down under – my mom and I LOVED doing this. It is so wonderful , so lovely to give, so satisfying. Such a good tradition to rekindle now that I’m settled here in america. We turned in our shoeboxes last night! And I’m so excited to track them this year!! GREAT idea to gather things throughout the year. I’m totally going to do that (instead of scrambling at the last minute & frustrated the budget didn’t allow for more). We participate in this too. Two years ago, I was able to go help (along w/ others from my Church) at the Atlanta distribution center. We are going again this year and I’m SO excited!! Thank you for this post. Great suggestion, I will do it with my kids this year. Is not too late. We packed our box tonight! So glad they have EZ Give Tracking now. the best part of christmas is giving to those in need. last year, i organized an adopt a needy family with our high school hockey team. we all took part in this wonderful program through focus hope in Detroit. both our jv and varsity (i had a son on each team) adopted four (large) needy families in detroit. we bought each member of the family clothing, toys, or whatever they needed. We also supplied food for their christmas dinner. of course, the best part was delivering the packages and seeing the joy on the families faces when we loaded their homes with presents and food – the excitment on the childrens faces and the hugs i got was all i needed for christmas. i took 12 hockey playing boys in my group – it was the most rewarding experience for all involved. although, my boys no longer play hockey, we have decided with a group of friends to once again adopt some needy families, i am so excited to take part in the program this year!!! if you are interested in this program in your city, contact focus hope or your church. my church has done this is the past and i hope we do it again this yr…i will check on! meg your a great example of God’s love (: blessings, My 3 year old daughter & 11 month son just shopped for OCC this past Friday:). My daughter had a lot of fun…but it was a little hairy. Especially when it came to buying the toys for someone other than HER. It’s a hard lesson, but I’m so glad she gets to learn it by giving to others. We’re donating online too! Sooo awesome… We did this with our youth group last year. It was one of the best gift giving service projects we’ve ever done. I plan to do it this year as part of of our 24 days of Christmas project at home. Wish me luck. 🙂 i also cry EVERY SINGLE time i watch one of those videos. they always play them at church during a service a few weeks before collection time and i swear, there isn’t a dry eye in the sanctuary. so amazing… what precious little children. THEY bless US! seriously! we just bought a whole wackload of stuff yesterday and dropped the boxes off at our church this morning. such a great thing to do with kids. so fun and so important, especially in our crazed materialistic world. thanks for blogging about this… hopefully others can now be encouraged to take part! 🙂 yikes .. thank you for reminding me .. that’s very impacting! I just looked at the KCParent magazine and ripped out the information for this – wow, we must start doing it this year. Thanks for the extra motivation – I can’t wait to share with my boys. We are thinking alike girl . . . we did ours today with the kids. We’ve never watched the video though – just added it to my list for this week!! We’ve never been apart of a church that did this just did it on our own. I’d love to see more people do it. I also love your “shop all year” for stuff. I also noticed you took stuff out of the packages – like panties and stuff. What a clever idea- you can fit so much more in that way I’m sure – I’m assuming it’s ok right? You have so many readers that I’m sure you just impacted this ministry so much. Love how God works!! Have a good weekend. What a great idea. Found a drop off location not too far from us. Think we’re gonna have to participate in this one. Thanks for the info. We show those videos every year – our church is a collection site. I cry EVERY SINGLE TIME. My kids love this! After typing that last comment I went to the website and realized I can TOTALLY make this happen by the 22nd. I told my kids we were doing it… we are doing it. THIS week?! Dang! I had every intention of doing this with my kids. And it’s such a great idea to buy stuff throughout the year. Our Mops group does this every year and I love it! We had a playgroup on Friday and the kids filled boxes while we were there. They took so much pride in filling in the boxes and it was so sweet to see kids ranging in age 1 to 6 working hard to fill their boxes. Our MOPS group got together and did this !! Its one of my favorite Christmas traditions 🙂 We do a similar thing here in Australia. I don’t think we can track our boxes though. So Awesome! I Love Doing Operation Christmas So Much! We are just packing up our boxes this weekend. The kids are so in to it and feel great about helping others, and what a fun way to do it! This video chokes me up every time I watch it. we do this every year too…for the ages/gender my kids are. this year i took them shopping with me. i usually don’t do that, but i had procrastinated so i had to. i like your idea of saving up stuff throughout the year. *hopefully* i will remember to do that next year. 🙂 Such a lovely idea, i said it last year and ill say it again, i still cant find anuything like this in the UK argh, not least near where i live…. love the photos, there very colourful 🙂 x So awesome!! I blogged about Samaritans Purse today too! Love that you guys are doing the boxes. We went for the gift catalog idea this year. My kids loved looking through it to see the needs around the world. You can donate online? How cool! We’ve done this before, but now we sponsor a little gal in Africa so we send here a big package in September and pray it gets there in time for Christmas! My kids love to choose out her presents. Hi Meg, followed your blog for years, but never commented before, love you and your family. what a great idea, never knew about this and just found out it operates in Australia too but I’ve missed the deadline, definitely will bookmark it for next year. I was thinking though how do you explain to your kids why santa doesn’t bring all children a gift? I’m not sure of your traditions but Santa still exists in our house (I have 7 year old twins) and I always find the santa story hard to explain when so many children around the world don’t get a gift at christmas time? Love to hear your view. Lesley I did this with my four nieces and nephew this week. I do it by myself, but it is SO much more fun with kids. I gave them each an empty rubbermaid box the size of a shoe box and we went to the store with them and they filled them there. They knew our budget and had to do some mental math. I told them about it last week so that they could think about what they were going to get all week. When we were done we watched the video so they could “see” what they were doing and how it affected the kids the boxes were going to. An awesome project. Really. I stumbled onto your blog a while ago, and what an inspiration you are! I am always looking for new ways to teach my boys about living outside themselves and having compassion. I enjoy your projects and photos and am also encouraged to know that I am not the only one who weeps at the simple things in life 🙂 Blessings to you. I didn’t realize that they did this near here, but apparently they do! I’ve only done Angel Tree before, but for where I’m at poverty is pretty bad, so any charity helps. My sons third grade class decided to make boxes this year instead of exchanging gifts at their Christmas party. They were able to gather enough donations for three boxes of supplies and shipping. It’s a wonderful program and a great way to encourage kids to think about other during the holiday season. thanks so much for sharing. i look forward to giving! My girls and I went yesterday afternoon to shop for the items. This evening we will watch the video, wrap our box, and pack it. The girls are very excited! We are filling our shoe boxes today. Love the idea of showing the kids the video before they fill the boxes … we see it during our church service … but they don’t. It will make it so much more meaningful to them! Such a great thing to do…we love it too. The hands and feet of Jesus! Hey! I just found your blog last night and have been reading as far back as I could since early this morning!! I am a 21 year old majoring in Accounting, striving to become a CPA, but desperately wanting to be a housewife and Mom just like you. I have known since I was little that that was my purpose in life, but have had to find other things to strive for until the time comes….. I have always said that I would have 5 children, but ultimately know that its up to God as to the definite details 🙂 Thanks for being an inspiration to me! Your post about Liza turning 100 really hit me when you were talking to the lady who was the oldest of 5 children, and you started crying because you said she just understood!! I cried when I read that because so many people find out what I really want to do with my life and think I am crazy for wanting to raise a large family and stay at home! Sorry for rambling, just wanted to say thanks for being so real! -Ashley Oh Gosh! Good thing I read this today (after work and before cleaning) our boxes need to be at church with us in the morning and I totally forgot about them! Thanks Meg…and your ideas of things to send are great! This is a great thing… I saw your post about Operation Christmas child last year and you’ve inspired our family to start doing it this year 🙂 Thank you! Thanks for posting this. I love this ministry. Our family does this every year also. I didn’t know you could donate online and find out where the boxes go. SO COOL. i’m so excited for the online giving and getting to see where they go!! i love this project too! We love participating in OCC too! I am the P.O.C. this year at our church and its great seeing so many boxes come in. I *almost* took my kids with me to shop then thought better of it, so they will just get to fill the boxes. It is a great ministry! Our church participates in the same exact program. It is wonderful and you’re right, heartbreaking. We just filled our boxes. We had the coolest thing happen one year…we sent a box off and later got a response from an Indian family who served in a ministry to street kids and orphans. Their son rec’d our box, and his name was “Benson,” which is my hubby’s mom’s maiden name. It was just a fun, heart-warming God-incidence. We are going to an Operation Christmas Child party today. I love those flashlights you got with the batteries included in the package. Wish I knew where to get those…today!!! Thanks for the inspiration again! Some co-workers and I just bought our supplies for the boxes. I absolutely love OCC and I too cry at all the videos. I love that your kids are involved. I can’t wait to do this with my kids someday when I have some! I am totally crying after watching that video. This is such a important mission. I think my girls would love to be involved! Thanks for posting Meg. I got a brochure from my daughter’s preschool, they are participating in it. It’s actually the first time I’ve ever heard of it. I’m very excited for my kids to be a part of this. I couldn’t figure out if I should take them shopping with me. Your post helped me see that letting the kids put the box together (along with the video) will work out great. Thanks again! What a wonderful gift to give your children – to participate in such a wonderful Christmas tradition. We do that each year! I posted about working at the Operation Christmas Child processing center last year, here: http://theoldpostroadblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/operation-christmas-child-processing.html Thanks for the pics of what you guys are giving. Very helpful as we head out today to get our supplies. We can bring our boxes to our church tomorrow and then we are going to pray over them! Our kids are at such tender ages 6 and 4 and they were affected by the video! Praise God…thanks so much! my kids’ preschool does this! They are only three, so it was the first time I’d gotten to talk with them about other children in the world who don’t have as much as they do. We had a great time filling (and decorating!) our box. My twins’ teacher told us that if we wanted to add our address in the box (we put ours on the back of a photo) that the child might write us back! Thanks for sharing this today. The video got me too. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a collection location so I used your link and discovered that my Mother-in-law’s church is a dropoff location! I will share the video with my girls and take them shopping. I want them to have a good eye opener and see how it feels and what it means to help others. Thank you and I thank God you showed it to us. 🙂 Love, Operation Christmas Child! Our church has done this for as long as I can remember and of couple years ago when I was interning at The Tennessee Babptist Children’s Home I was able to be a part of the collection process. Such a neat thing to see! Oh, and by the way… when we watched the video, I cried too!! Can’t help it! Makes my heart happy and sad all at once! God is GREAT!!!!! What a great idea to work on getting items all through the year as they go on sale! I will remember that for next year! This is the first year that my daughters, 8 and 3, are participating and we are so excited to see where our box goes! Thanks for sharing! What a wonderful idea! I’m going to check it out. Thanks! I had no idea you could track your box, My three year old granddaughter wanted to know WHO got the things in the box. This is great! Thank you for sharing. I will go donate now!! Such a good idea to buy stuff at back to school time & throughout the year. It always sneaks up on me, thanks for the reminder. erin I actually got to see my box in one of the mags one year. Made it SO real for us! i don't know if you've noticed…. 🙂 i am a positive person and i LOVE stuff. so…this skit cracked me up!
shut the door. i love it. Sooooo funny!!!! I just noticed that I say “awesome” in all my posts. I love it! I love it! I don’t watch Mad Men, but that last bit about the show and the sentences was really, really funny. The best part of the skit. 🙂 Me too! Me too! I don’t have a blog, but that’s what my Profile on Facebook looks like 😉 That was funny! and yeah, I love it too. I saw this when it originally aired, cracked me up. Cracked me up again today, thanks for sharing! I say Love It alot too, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing to love things. It means we have a lot to love and I love it 🙂 Cute post! The way he says “I love it”… I LOVE IT! 🙂 And I love your blog. 🙂 Your Blog – I love it! did you get a chance to watch the Women of SNL? i think it came on last week. i love molly shannon. SUPASTAR!!! SNL – I love it! Oh my. We have SNL on our DVR list and our son caught it. Do you know HOW MANY times I have heard this skit reenacted at random moments by a 13 yo in the last week or so?? Too many! I have tried to not laugh, so as not to encourage more (he also does a mean Stefon), but sometimes resistance is futile. 🙂 you know what i love? your blog. i have a short list of blogs i read and yours is at the top. if i don’t really have time to sit down and read my blogs, i have to have to have to read yours. i always check to see if you updated. 🙂 just thought you should know. have a great weekend! Shut the door! I love it!!! SNL… I love it!!! heeeeeeeheeeee 🙂 I. LOVE.IT!!! Pertaining to your previous post – I saw just the top of the lens mug photo and my heart dropped. I thought you’d spilled coffee in your lens at first glance. That mug makes me nervous. 🙂 I love it! I don’t have time to add the “I”. Love it. 🙂 I love it, too! 🙂 SNL is too late for me so I really appreciate when you share these bits. I love it! :0) This made me laugh, too. Love it! Especially, the part about the horse not knowing he’s in a movie. This cracked us up, too! I can’t see an ad for Secretariat without losing it!!! I’m woefully out of the SNL loop! LOVED this. Love Mad Men. Love that cute guy’s Rockport dad. Thanks for the happy! shut the door! *giggles* Funny….I say “I LOVE it” a lot…so perhaps my all caps makes it worse. :o) Life is GREAT and GRAND! I LOVE IT… hope you like your Kopy Kat 🙂 You ARE a positive person… and I love it! ;o) Cute! I love it! |
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Juli - I left a comment “over there” too but you just don’t how God may have used you at Coke too. There may be some women who were seriously questioning whether they should return to work after a baby, others who are frazzled working Moms not thinking about their impact at home. It is beautiful to see a Mom satisfied “just” being a Mom in this day & age.
Kellie - Thank you Meg! We all need a quiet reminder!
kelsey i - Loved your post today. Thought you would like this great idea for some globes!
http://blackeiffel.blogspot.com/2010/11/globe-chandelier.html
april - Thats great!!! You work so hard to be a good mom…..a trip away and the recognition is awesome!! Good for you!!! <3
Sharee - I wanna say a big AMEN! to your vision and your witness of God’s purpose for us mothers and wives to the blog world. I think it’s so easy to get wrapped up in feminist views of the world and forget that is GOD’s will we need to live for daily. You inspire me and I will pray that God continues to use you in mighty ways for HIs Glory as a momma! from an at home Christian momma:)
Holly - Perfectly said. I’m sure you did a wonderful job the first time too.