Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue....

Did you think someone was getting married? Sorry, I just had to use that title for today's post.....it somehow fit! :)

I've been eyeing this bench for awhile now thinking that it needs help! It is in my foyer. The way our house is designed, you walk right in the front door into the foyer which is all open and steps down into the living room, which you know is decorated prim Americana. The colors in there are beige, navy, red, and colonial blue. I've had this bench for a long, long time. I really like all of Rondell's blue (and the blue cupboard Jason made my mom that I had to give up), and was thinking that I just might give it a coat of colonial blue paint. There are quite a few hearts on there, so I'm not sure what I'll do with those. They may just have to stay. What do you think, should I paint it blue? And if you have any great ideas for the hearts, I'd love to hear it! That's "the old" for today's post.



Now for the new. When I went to the antique gallery and bought the little bench that I ended up putting on the hearth of the fireplace, I also picked up this picture. I kept walking by it and being drawn to it. When I looked on the descriptive tag, it said, "Colonial Picture". No wonder it caught my eye. I just loved the people in it and the colors and I could just imagine all sorts of history when I looked at it. Well the last time I walked by and looked at it, the owner of that booth happened to be in there and she said if I wanted that picture, I could have it at 20% off, so I had to bring it home. I got it for $9.40. I ended up hanging it on the little wall between my staircase and hallway. I decided to just let it stand alone (for now anyway). I'm trying to decide whether to paint the frame or not....what do you think.....the same dark navy that my long shelf is behind the couch....colonial blue....or leave it alone? That's "the new". Well it's new to me!



Now for "the borrowed". The borrowed started off as borrowed from my mom's house and ended up in a trade. I traded her a bunny decked out in a blue and yellow dress for this crock. I added it to the foyer. It is straight ahead as you walk through the front door.



And finally, my "something blue" doesn't have anything to do with decorating (well I guess contemplating painting the bench blue could fit that bill), this one is about Joy. Monday night she tested for her blue belt in taekwondo. Testing had been scheduled for the day we had Super Saturday VBS, so they arranged a special testing for her and this was it. Here she is during testing (with her green belt still). It's so hot these days inside the building, that they are allowing them to just wear a T-shirt instead of the entire uniform.



And Ms. Jane presenting Joy with her blue belt. They always put the old belt around their neck. Can you tell by that smile how happy she was to move on to blue?



She's been white, yellow, orange, green, and now blue. The hardest (and longest to achieve) are still yet to come.....purple, brown, red, and black.

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I hope you're all staying cool! It is super hot here today! I'm so thankful for air conditioning! Have a great Thursday, everyone! :)

~ Tammy ~

A New Color!

As excited as I would be over a new color for a wall in my house, this new color isn't for me. This time it's for Joy, and although she does want a new look for her room, this isn't even for her bedroom. This new color is found around her waist!

Let me back up to late September a minute. A taekwondo school was coming to one of our gym days to perform a demo for our group. One of our very own members was participating. On the way that day, Joy was a little disappointed that she wasn't going to be playing with friends like a "normal gym day". I told her she would love it and that she was so young at the time, she didn't remember her brother's days of performing and competing in takewondo; but it was really interesting and lots of fun to watch. Within minutes of the demo beginning, it had completely captivated her (actually the entire gym was so quiet...watching every move). After a few more minutes into it, she leaned over to me and said, "Mom, you've GOT to sign me up for this." She's very into dance (ballet, tap & jazz), so I was very doubtful as to this fitting into our schedule (and being affordable).

Because of the flexibility of the program (which we love), we were able to get her signed up. This school is a Christ-centered martial arts system that incorporates the fruits of the Spirit. Each belt level represents a fruit...white-love, yellow-joy, orange-peace, green-patience, blue-kindness, purple-goodness, brown-faithfulness, red-gentleness, 1st to 2nd degree black-self control, 2nd to 3rd degree black-walk in truth, 3rd to 4th degree black-servant's heart, and 4th to 5th black-true discipleship.

There are no contracts - you may come as often or as little as you like (and progress at your own speed) - with the cost of a suggested donation. Every effort was made in this system to accomodate anyone interested. I think that's great!

So..Joy began the very tail end of September. She has since progressed two levels. In November, she tested for her yellow belt (joy) and moved from white to yellow.







In December, she tested for her orange belt (peace). She progressed from yellow to orange. This now makes her part of the "advanced" class.







Each level requires learning stances, kicks, punches, blocks, forms, and self defense sets. At the advanced ranks (orange belt and up), weapons training and sparring is also offered. At each level scripture memorization is required. Progression to each level requires a pre-determined amount of lessons, increasing in mumber while moving up in rank.

Taekwondo for Joy really has complemented her dance well too. Both require discipline, determination, memorization, coordination, and physical challenges. We call her our "Girly Tomboy".

The way Joy has it figured, she will go for a new color in February, green (patience). Who knew she would get so excited over a new color around her waist?