WARNING, this post is different...

It's not about decorating, DIY, home improvement or any of the things that all of you would normally come here for.

Please bear with me.

This post is about three things. Thanks, a Plea and an Apology.

Yesterday morning I posted this picture of my childrens first day of school.

Less than an hour after school got out, my oldest daughter Morgan {my blondie on the right} had a head-on collision with a full size pick-up.

This is what her car looked like at the scene of the accident.

And Praise the Lord, she is OK!!

She has many bruises and abrasions. Most are from the safety features keeping her IN the car. What amounts to burn marks on her forearms and chin from the airbag deployment. Abrasions on her collar bone and hips from the seat belt, and a small cut and bruises on her feet. Oh, and one broken flip-flop!

How blessed are we?

The first thing I have to say is a huge thanks! Thanks to our Heavenly Father for keeping my baby safe in an accident that could so easily have taken her life. I know he wrapped his loving arms around her as the car was crushed and spun like a top. Additional thanks to the Father for protecting the gentleman and his teenage daughter who were in the truck she turned in front of. {Yes, the accident was her fault. But as they say, accidents happen. We are moving on and learning from it.}
Thanks to all the rescue personnel who responded so amazingly fast and who took such good care of all of us. Thanks to the bystanders who stopped and cared for her until we could. Thanks to the Ford Motor Company for building a car with enough safety features to hold up to the impact of an oncoming truck. And a huge thanks to my husband!

He was traveling about a mile or so behind her and I can only fathom how he must have felt in those few moments between realizing the crushed car was ours and making it to her side and finding out she was ok. His phone call to me was urgent, but reassuring! Thanks babe!!

The second thing I want to share is a plea to everyone who might read this.
If you and your family are already seatbelt wearers, thank God! If you aren't, please, please, please start!! My daughter has injuries from the impact her body had when the seatbelt did it's job and kept her in the car. With as hard as she obviously hit that belt, I don't even want to think about what would have happened had she not been wearing it. Seatbelts have been a habit for our children since infancy. Please make sure it's one for you and your kids as well. I have NO doubts that without her ingrained habit to wear her belt, our family would have been permanently changed yesterday.

And for the apology. This one goes out to my husband.

When we went shopping for a car for Morgan to drive, he wanted a newer, "safer" car, I said she needed an old beater. That's what I had growing up and what I think is typical for most teenagers. I hated the idea of putting a new car in the hands of an inexperienced driver. Plus, I hated the idea of making the payment! He stood his ground, and I was eventually convinced. I truly don't think it was the safety features that made me give in, more like I hate car shopping and just wanted it to be over!
Every time we discussed our bills, I would gripe about making the payment on a car of that caliber for a teenager. At one point, we even went so far as to see if we could trade it in on an older car. {buyers remorse} But that didn't happen, and I thank God for it.

When I saw the engine of the car lying on the ground and thought about the car I drove in high school... well that engine would have been in her lap. This car didn't allow even one bit of the front of the car to intrude into the passenger cabin!
So thank you honey, I know I don't say it very often, but I'm sorry I griped, and you were RIGHT!!
His persistence that we buy a safe car meant my baby girl went to her second day of school today {she insisted} instead of the hospital, or worse.

I know this post isn't fun or pretty, but it is life in all it's blessings, heartache and joy. And believe me when I tell you, I'm feeling every one of those things today!

So hug your kids a little tighter, linger just a little longer the next time you kiss your spouse, say an extra prayer {added to the 10 you already say} when they walk out that door and love 'em all as if there's no tomorrow!! 
Oh, and if you would, I'd so appreciate it if you'd say a little prayer for my Morgan today. For her future safety as well as her quick recovery!

Thanks so much for allowing me to share my heart with you. I can't share enough how utterly blessed I know we are!!

I'm linking to a few of these blogs. If sharing our experience can convince even one person to start wearing their seatbelt, then this traumatic event was not in vain!

Happy Back to School Day!

And that pretty much says it all.

{that second pic was totally unposed by the way, love it!!}

Instagramming... and then some

I've been going a little bit crazy on Instagram the past two days.
And by "a little crazy," I really mean just straight up berserk.
It's bad.
To the point I should be apologizing to my 4 followers bad. 
Ok, fine, I have more than 4 followers.  {pretty sure it's maybe 34}
Not the point.
They just all deserve some restitution, so...

"Sorry!"

In my defense, I do have something to blame a reason for uploading pics like a fool.

I have an idea in my head to revamp my damask screen door a bit. {if you're not familiar with that one, you can find it HERE} 
Well to do that, I need to have a few photos.
Not just any photos.
I need those little fun square ones of course!

So I headed to my Instagram feed, and what did I find?
Not much.

I've had an account for quite a while now, {Nov. 2011 apparently, I just looked} but very rarely do anything with it.
Well that all changed yesterday.

I found this amazing app via Shelley at The House of Smith's called Rhonna Designs.
It allows you to add some really fun elements to your pics then save them to your iPhone/iPad photo stream, or upload to Instagram.

Obviously, I've been uploading.

My intent was to use Prinstagram to print out the photos I need.
You can print 24 4x4" square pics for $12, or 48 2.5x2.5" mini squares for the same price, plus $7 shipping {shipping stays the same no matter how much you order}.
The pics do have to be uploaded to Instagram though.
Or so I thought. 

I'm not sure why, but I finally scrolled all the way to the bottom of the Prinstagram main page and discovered Print Studio.
It's an app {or website, whichever you prefer} that allows you to print your photos that haven't been uploaded to Instagram.

Yes, please!

Same little squares, the shipping is actually a dollar cheaper and BONUS, it's not necessary for me to blow up everyone's Instagram feed with all the old pics I want to print.

Now all I need to do is pick out my photos, upload, then wait for the mail!

This would be so much easier if I wasn't impatient!!

Maybe I should add that I have NOT been compensated in any way for sharing the links to these sights. I just thought you might like to know about some of the fun products I found!

Hide those Bedside Cords in a Pretty Basket

Well Hi!

It's been a long rainy few days here in the midwest. {not griping, just stating a fact}

This morning though, the sun is shining.

Now I'm not gonna lie, that can be a bad thing for us night shifters. 
We like it dark and gloomy.

But today isn't a "sleep all day" day for me, so I decided to use the sunshine to take a couple of pics.

We've been working on doing some updates in our bedroom. 
I showed you a bit of that in my last post, and if you follow me on facebook, then you might've seen the little delivery we had last month. {We got a headboard from Pottery Barn. Still pinching myself!}
   
Since it's starting to look a little more put together in there, there was something that really began to bug me. 

See all those cords in this dusty, dirty, cluttered, horrible before photo of my night stand?

Those were the problem.

Some of them I could move to a better location and be done with them.
Others, well I kind of needed them.

My biggest problem though, was that extension cord you see there on the right.
I use it to charge the iPad and iPhone, and it's just absolutely gotta be there.
So what's a girl to do?

Buy a basket with a 40% off coupon from Hobby Lobby.

You saw it didn't you? 

NO?

There it is.

And here's what it's doing.

Yep, it's hiding my extension cord and charger when not in use.

Plus, it looks pretty darn good when it is being used.

Wanna see?

Instead of the cord flopping all over, it's nicely contained.

Unless I wanna read in bed while charging.

Then it's draped all over me and Mr. Concrete is fussing about the screen being too bright while he tries to sleep, yada yada yada...

Moving on.

It was a simple matter of shoving the small end of the extension cord through the bottom weave of the basket.

I don't think I cussed even once during the process.

Well maybe just once.

No, I jest.

It really was easy.

So there it is.

No more messy cords.

Any simple fixes you've all found to make your lives a tad easier?

Love to hear 'em!

Mirrored Jewelry Tray

You know those days where you're so tired you literally feel like you just can't move one more muscle.
You fall into bed, barely remember to set the alarm then roll over pretty much asleep already.
That's when you feel the stabbing pain of the earrings you forgot to take off, rip them out of your ears, throw them on the night stand and forget the world.

I live that scenario fairly frequently, and it's usually a day or two later that I realize those earrings I tore off got swept to the floor when I fumbled for that awful alarm clock the next morning.

So when I saw a cheap, plastic framed mirror at the thrift store, I knew what had to be done with it!

Jewelry Tray

I slopped on white paint...

Threw on a splotchy coat of blue...

Wiped it down immediately with a wet paper towel... {left}

Then threw on a very watery coat of ASCP in CoCo... {right}

Wiped that back too with the wet cloth, added some ASCP in clear then dark wax...

And DONE!

Yep, this matches my room much better.

I'm always amazed what you can do with a few layers of paint.

Now let's see if I can actually hit this thing when I throw earrings at it!

While I'm talking about stuff on a bedside table, I should show you what mine looked like when Mr. Concrete brought it home from a yard sale for $15.

Nothing really wrong with it, but the cherry just wasn't working.

And yes, I did snap a picture with no regard to showing you my dust.

I hate dusting.

Obviously!

Don't you think it works so much better in white?
I know I do!

Have an awesome week my peeps!!

To see how I made the glass bottle lamp on the nightstand, check out this post!

I'm linking up to some amazing blogs! Check them out HERE or just click on the Link Parties tab at the top of the page.