Blogger Fall Feature: Week 1 Fall Mantel

Love this Inspired Fall Mantel

by Chinstna's Adventures

More pictures on this lovely fall mantel 

CLICK HERE!

Love fall's natural beauty~

Bree and J

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Blogger Fall Feature: Week 1 DIY Fall Wreath

Beautiful Fall Wreath Tutorial

by Shanty 2 Chic

Link for beautiful fall wreath tutorial by Shanty 2 Chic:

DIY Wreath - Fall!

Your front door is the threshold to your home, make it beautiful~

Bree and J

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And she's a walker!!!!

:'( My baby is growing up ~
Bree and J Pin It

You smell like Taco's Mommy

I guess I never thought of this until a few days ago.
Or maybe it didn't really SINK in... especially in other peoples point of views.

I am a single mom.
I am a single mom of 3 little kids.
I was blind sided one day when my husband came home and told me he didn't love me and then again months later when I found out anther woman was involved.
I was pissed....PISSED is and understatement, disgusted, sad, depressed, hurt, broken, mad, mad, MAD, pitied, self conscious, sick, tearful, but most of all.....SCARED.
Instead of making the choice to accept what happen and let it shape my life into someone elses future, to let someone else know they could treat me like something disposable, unrespected, and a tool instead of your life long partner, you love, I choose to leave. Well actually I told him to leave.
Some may think making the choice to leave and not fight, for my family and kids, is a cowards way out or an easy way out. An easy way to walk away. I disagree.
I did fight and was fighting. Doing counseling every week for months. How hard do you think it is to do couples counselling alone...and the worst part was my husband WAS there.
You think its easy to ask your husband, partner and the father of your 3 children of almost 8 years to leave. Your soul source of income for your kids to divorce you? I'd say I was pretty damn sure when I told him to leave it was not going to be the easy choice for me.
I now have to move my kids and I out of our home I shared with my husband, I had to buy another car, and I've had to pay for all of my divorce proceedings with the little money I have. I do photography on the side for barely tips and since I was a stay at home mom for 5 years  have no income for work history t use for any type of loan or rental agreement.
I was forced to figure out how I can still be a stay at home mom and provide for us financially. Which lead me to start getting resourceful and find a part time job at Taco Time evenings and weekends. Something that at 27 wasn't in my "dreams of dreams" to do. But it's the only flexible, secure, friendly place to work that's also close to home. I also baby sit, co run the blog, do photography on the side, while also manage to cook, clean the house, raise my 3 kids, take them to sports and activities, school, workout, and get any sanity for myself while then throwing in my new part time job.
I'd say I'm NOT taking the easy way out.
Difficult right!?!?!? LOL But what makes things better is I have an amazing set of friends who help watch my kids for CHEAP! My small family being there when they can. And my kids whom at the end of a long day can always cheer me up and make me laugh. And I know when I read them a story, snuggle, hug and kiss them goodnight and tuck them int bed that all this was and is worth it, all this busting my ass is worth every second of every difficult time I go through. I may not be following my fairy tale anymore but I sure as hell will make sure they have an opportunity to still have one.

After my second day of work I came home and was greeted by my oldest son who wanted to stay up to say goodnight to me. But instead of goodnight it was "Mommy....you smell like Taco's"
Baaahahhahahahahahahahaaaaaa!
I couldn't stop laughing after that. Yes, hunny. Mommy does. Thank you little man for making it all worth it! I love you!!

Bree's RULES on MEN:
Before I ever got married I promised myself a few things.

1. I promised to refuse to ever let a man cheat on me and take him back. My life experiences from early childhood on this: If a man cheats on a woman AND she takes him back, he will forever know he can do that and she'll always forgive him. It sets a tone for the rest of the relationship. And they always do it again. All the times I've seen this happen, no matter how great you thought the guy was...my theory has always proved to be right.
I also refuse to be turned into THAT woman who never trusts her husband again, who looks through emails and phone records. Who stays up worry if he really is where he says he is. I am and will never be THAT woman.
The choice I see that you have....leave first before you cheat.
(Ironic thing about this rule is my husband ALWAYS completely agreed and would tell me that he WOULD NEVER....EVER!) (Maybe lieing should be a rule too, lol)

2. If I ever were to get married I would do ANYTHING it took to save my marriage. Especially if children were involved. The last hope being to do counseling. As a child of divorce I made this promise at an early age.

3. No excuse and no explanation....you hit me or my kids or do anything to my kids...I know something that can hit harder...its called my gun!

Don't worry...if I'm going to see you after work I'll make sure to shower first OR bring taco's so I don't make you hungry for them, LMAO~
Bree and J Pin It

Trick or Treat Fall is here!!

Fall is here even though our weather here in Washington is still in the 70's. 

Fall is my favorite time of year and I feel this fall will be a time where it rains and clears the old dust and dirt away and new beginnings start.

Almost like spring ;) 

I am also deciding to kick off Fall with featuring other blogs every week that do some awesome Harvest/Fall/Halloween Stuff!! So if you see something pretty awesome please let us know!

 Feature Series: Blogger Fall Feature

Here is a sample "Blogger Fall Feature: Week 1"

Spooktacular Halloween Spider Party

by Giggles Galore

 For more info and photos click here to go to Giggles Galore's SPOOKTAULAR Halloween Spider Party

Purple Sticky Spider Webs

Sticky Spider Webs Tutorial by Giggles Galore

I can't wait to jump into a pile of leaves~

Bree and J

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Air Breaks

You know the moment where you sit down, take a break, inhale a deep breath in and *SIGH* it out???

What IS this action called...Air Breaks

Thank you for being patient with our temporary "air breaks" and mini breaks from posting. Things do get busy these days and we do NEED to get better!

I also feel since fall is now upon us its time for a little website fall cleaning and freshening up! Oh Jessi we are going to be busy!!!

Whats in the post agenda in the next few weeks??? 

Take a sneak peak at these fine post titles:

"Trying... Moving On"

"Downsizing to the MAX"

"You smell like Tacos Mommy"

"Muse"

"Coloring n 50 shades...OF GREY"

Learning new definitions for the strangest-normal things...thanks Chris~

Bree and J

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First Day of Kindergarten for Evie

Here's my little ham on her first day of school.
I had left my laptop at my brother's over the Labor Day weekend so I'm behind in my posting.

 

We took like 15 different pictures, these were my top 3.  Sometimes I cannot get my kid to look at the camera and hold still at the same time. :)

This one is the most realistic of her personality!

On the Bus. 
Riding the bus is probably the highlight of her day.

Showing off her pencil box.


So far she is loving kindergarten.  It took a couple of weeks for her to get settled in, you can't tell from the pictures but she is a bit of a wallflower.  She's made a few new friends and likes having hot lunch every other Friday.  Her favorite thing is playing at recess, of course!

 

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SHOE MAKEOVER

Thank LBB Babble for this awesome DIY!!!

Follow this link for tutorial:

10 SHOE MAKEOVERS

Get crafty~
Bree and J Pin It

They called me a what?!?!?!!

Yesterday I was at the gas station. I had the two little ones in the car and was on my way to pick up Bradley from school. After walking back from the cashier I overheard a group of 3 teenagers talking....

Teenage Boy1: "YEAH!!! Did you see that MILF on pump 2!"
Teenage Boy2: "F**k YEAH...I'd hit that anytime!"
Teenage Boy3: "What pump! I didn't see her"
Teenage Boy2: "Over at pump 2, tight black pants, work out stuff........"

That's when they noticed I was walking right by them and they shut up right away. At that moment I was just disgusted that these little boys would talk that way about a mom. More so, I was sick to my stomach that MY boys would someday be talking that way as well! They were BABIES once...still are!

I walked back to my pump, a mere 15 feet from them, grabbed the nozzle and realized I was at PUMP 2!!!!
OMG! OMG! OMG! Those boys...someones babies and still babies were talking about me!!!
All I could do was laugh! It took all I had to not double over in laughter!
I instantly went from OMG...how gross to...should I take that as a complement???
Baaahahahahahahaa!
It's still unnerving to have a young BOY look at you that way BUT I have been working my a** off getting into better shape that I did slightly enjoy the compliment. I won't lie. LMAO!!!

I saved the BEST for last though. They climbed back into their car and as they drove past me to leave, totally embarrassed, I put a big smile on my face and waved! Hahhahahahaaa!!!!
Have a good day BOYS!
Ya, ya I know...I'm so awful! But it was the funniest thing ever! Why not get a kick out of it!

Always looking at the positive side of things (LMAO!!!)~
Bree and J

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9/11 revisited

I was awakened by our phone ringing and my first thought was "who the *&%# is calling me this early on my day off?".  It was my dad calling from Taiwan where he was on business.  His first words to me were "Are you ok?" and "Get up and turn on the TV, New York is under attack.".  I remember stumbling in my pajamas out to the living room with Dave asking what was up and we turned on the TV. 
The first tower was burning and the thick black smoke was billowing out like a roadside flare.  We stood there dumbfounded as the second plane hit.  Just like that, slicing through the building like butter with just a puff of debris exiting the other side.  The news anchors were in shock and confused, it took them a few seconds after me to realize that it was a second plane and not repeated video of the first account.

 I'm pretty sure both Dave and I said the f word, we were 21 and 22.  We stood there in our pajamas just mind-blown.  I didn't sit down until the first tower fell.  I didn't really sit, I sank to the floor and bawled my eyes out.  I was wildly exclaiming "The people, the people!  All those people!", as if Dave wasn't standing there watching all the same footage as me.  I couldn't believe my own eyes.  I have never felt so absolutely and utterly helpless in my life.  I sat there on the floor in front of the TV and prayed my heart out for everyone to escape the chaos.  The second tower collapsed and was just as heart wrenching as the first, maybe even more because you knew it was coming but still just as helpless.  I spent the entire day just glued to the TV. I remember taking the dog outside and how eerily silent it was.  Our town is small and quiet anyways but the silence of the planes that week was horrible and when I heard my first plane overhead it made my hairs stand. 

The small things in life simply changed.  That was the last time we used land line and phone in our home.  I remember walking my Dad to his gate at the airport and giving him a really good hug because he was headed out of the country and I was worried about him being so far away.  I have never written out this event before but felt compelled to have it somewhere for my children.  It's my "Where were you?" story, so where were you?  Please share your story no matter how insignificant you may feel your story is.  We will never forget!!!

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Heroes Mud Run 2012

WELL.... My friend Christa and I ran our mud run on Saturday and did awesome! We do wish there would have been alittle more mud but it was a BLAST!!!

Thanks for all the support!!!!

Before the race, all nice and clean!!!

And there OFF!!! First obstacle.....watered down gak!

LETS GOOO!!!! Whoop...whoop!!!

Last little bit!!

JUMPIN' IN!

Splash!!!

That pool was full of Pancake batter and TONS of water! YUCK! LOL!

ALL DONE and DIRTY!!!! =D
Hero Mud Run, 5k and 15+ obstacles DONE in 34 min!!!!

My Friend Christa and running buddy kissing her clean hubby!

My hair is normally really dark but after the mud started to dry I looked gray. 

We donated our shoes to help people in need who don't have shoes!

Donated Shoe Pile

Staying Active~
Bree and J Pin It

10k and 10 Resolutins

Well me MUST be busy because neither Jessi nor I realized we are now well over 10,000 views! It's been only 6 months and I am amazed at how far Farm House Sisters has come!
With well over 10,000 views I think we should make 10 resolutions for the next 6 months!

Bree's 10 Resolutions:
1. Don't worry about what other people think SO much. Constructive criticism is great but don't make decisions based on what others will say or think.
2. Try new things. My marriage is over and I don't know what I like to do, or eat, or think by myself. I'm going to try new things, new foods and center myself back to BREE.
3. Run more...run farther...prepare for my 10k on Thanksgiving.
4. Try forgive more...but never forget.
5. Expand our variety of post content.
6. Try not to let life keep me away from posting. (i feel its almost therapeutic sometimes to post, but I haven't been so regular about my postings these days)
7. Craft more...WAY more!
8. Paint my bedroom furniture I was never "allowed" to paint. =D
9. Pass along my GREAT Karma that has recently come my way...over and over again!
10. Be less judgmental...if not at all.

Jessi's 10 Resolutions:
1. Lose some weight, go from large to medium.
2. Get this blog rockin' and rollin'! :)
3. Make all my Christmas gifts by hand.
4. Spend less time online and more time with the kids.
5. Holding out for what I know I want instead of settling for "good enough".
6. Going outside! Even in the rain. :)
7. Supporting our local business downtown and volunteer in my community.
8. Growing my Camp Fire family!
9. Getting some me time, every week.
10. Be a Force to be Reckoned with!

The last 6 months of this blog has already been such a journey for us!  We are already changed women with changed families and goals.  Thank you for your support and for reading our crazy adventures.  We have a lot of fun hanging out on this blog.  We couldn't do it without you!!!

Hugs and Kisses!!!
Bree and Jessi

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Preparing for a MUD RUN

I will be participating in a MUD RUN this weekend and I'm SO excited!!!

HEROES MUD RUN

Find their facebook page 

"Hero's Mud Run" 

to participate!

Whats a mud run?

It's like a 5 or 10k but instead of a running coarse of pavement your running through mud, pools of water, forced to go over or under obstacles including wall climbs barbed wire bear crawls, mud pits, fire pits, log jams and more.

So you run, get beat up, get dirty...really dirty and wet and basically come close to death! FUN right!!! =D

Beyond being able to run the distance and more here are a few other tips and tricks you might need too know when training for a mud run:

*Have a test run. Put on your event day clothes and go down to the river or lake and run through the water. Get wet then go run through the woods and get dirty. Feel how heavy your clothes will be, how your outfit and shoes feel. Prepare yourself for the extra weight of the clothes, water and mud.

*Wear tight fitted clothing, larger/baggier clothes will fall down, chaff or add more weight.

*Double knot your shoes. Some people tape them but you need to be very careful you don't tape over too much traction on the sole of your shoe and that its also not TOO tight on your foot. Wear older, care less about shoes.

*Don't wear goggles, sunglasses, glasses or even contacts unless you HAVE to. Contact lenses can be painful when mud gets in your eyes.

*If you have long hair, usually women, french braid your hair and make sure its tight to your head!

*On the obstacles if  you need to crawl do the bear crawl instead of being on your hands and knees. You will scrape your knees on possible small rocks.

*Mud pits...run along the edges of the mud pit not the middle. The middle can get very deep. Also be prepared for unexpected divots and holes. Proceed with caution!

*Loose fitting cotton should be avoided! Especially sweat pants! Also avoid thick socks or knee highs. All this can add alot of extra weight. Not to mention possibly chaff you! YIKES!

*Try to avoid cotton socks. Cotton + Water = Blisters!!

*Think about running in boots instead of running shoes, if you can. Boots support your feet and ankle more and are less liking to come off in the mud pit. LOL.

*Bring extra clothes, a towel for the showers and a waterproof bag, trash bag or washable bag to hold your dirty/muddy clothes and shoes.

*Take photos before and after for fun memories later!

*HAVE FUN and GET DIRTY!

Wish us LUCK!!!!

Can't wait to get down n' dirty~

Bree and J

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Nothing much and my latest stalker dream

I keep thinking it's Wednesday because Monday was a holiday and I had it "off"!  Oy Vey.  Getting the new routine has been a little bumpy :(.  Isn't that always the way?  So far we've had a successful week, getting to the bus on time and such.  I forgot my laptop at my brother's place so I'm having trouble getting the pictures from my camera on to my borrowed computer. 

So really, not too much going on around here.

I did have an amazing dream about the mother of all thrift stores.  It's one of my favorite recurring dreams, where all the freeways I've driven become one and brings me to what I think is the old look of the South Center Mall but in my dream we call it the Sea-Tac Mall (These are 2 very different and far from each other). And in the same parking lot (weird I know) is the "Giant Thrift Store".  There's no name on the building but you know what it is.  Warehouses full of furniture and housewares.  There's even one for clothing but I usually skip looking for clothes but the stairs for the furniture department are there.  

In last night's version, I was actually there with the Petersiks from YHL and I was star-struck.  I think they are the bees knees!  We rode there on an old school bus, John was driving and Dave was wondering where we where going but I knew as soon as we took the exit off the freeway.  I remember being bummed that we had gotten Evie a babysitter because Sherry and John had their adorable daughter with them and the girls would have played so well together.  Dave opted to wait in the bus as he hates thrift stores and garage sales lol.  

I find so many amazing things when I'm "there"!  One of the good finds towards the end of the dream was an octagon leather tufted ottoman that needed some work.  They wanted $100 for it!  It was big but falling apart and I was so mad that they wanted so much for it!  I actually threw it down and shouted that I was "sick of people charging so much for garbage!" and then woke up to the alarm clock.  Crazy! :)  Aren't dreams wonderful?  I would never throw furniture in real life or shout out the injustice of high priced used/broken furniture in public but it's obvious what my brain thinks of the whole thing lol.

Like this except octagon shaped. Pinterest

Bus fumes and outrageous prices,
Jessi and B

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You Tube Fun

Kittens Inspired by Kittens!!!!

Have a kitten cuddly day~

Bree and Jessi

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Back to our regular scheduled programming

Happy Back-to-School day!  Most schools in our area are getting started today and lots of us are looking forward to getting settled into a nice routine.  Today is also the first morning that I was actually thinking about how much I'm looking forward to Fall!

Via Pinterest

My family enjoyed the last long weekend in Ellensburg for the Rodeo and County Fair.  We've been going for the last few years and it's never disappointing.  I love all the Wild West Patriotic-ness!  We definitely need to invest in some of those bleacher seat cushion things with the backs though.  The Ellensburg Rodeo is one of the last stops before the giant huge rodeo in Las Vegas.  I don't know anything about rodeos :).

With everything getting back to normal around here (schedule wise), we should be getting back to Pinterest Challenges and Health Housewife posts among other fun stuff.  I've been working on a few projects that I haven't shared yet! :)  Also, today is Evie's first day of School too!

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