The Frazzled Mama

Faith = Love

by frazzledmama on May 21, 2013

I sat this morning and wrote a post about God’s goodness, something I was dealing with. Then, I started a post about a project my kiddos completed for school. But I couldn’t publish either one. I know anything I could write about my kids or the goodness of God would be trite compared with the tragedy in Oklahoma. My heart is breaking for those who’s lives have been changed in such a tragic way. I woke this morning to the tragic news of the all those precious school children who perished in the tornado….

My heart aches for their parents, their aunts and uncles, siblings….

I want to do something. I want to tangibly show love and compassion to them…. I’m just not sure how.

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Frustrated?

by frazzledmama on April 30, 2013

Over the last week the girls have been painting their room. Sugar Belle had a little mishap when her roller slipped and hit the window, breaking it. As the girls were telling me all about how it happened, Tootle Bug said, “Then I said Moms going to kill you!" We had a little laugh about it, and I have to admit I didn’t think much about her statement. Any kid who breaks a window would have said “Moms going to kill me!” I know I would have…

A day or so later, Tootle Bug used that phrase again when she slipped and painted the other window in the room a lovely shade of blue.

“Moms going to kill me!”

I was starting to take this a little personally. Finally, I asked her why she kept saying that. Her response? “Well Mom…. You do get mad a lot.”

Knife. To. The. Heart.

But it was true. Life has been so busy, and busyness for me tends to lead to stress. Stress from busyness tends to make me feel pressured all the time, and when things go wrong…I get frustrated. Which is really the same thing as being angry, but it is more socially acceptable to be frustrated.

After retracting my application for Mother of the Year, I consulted Proverbs to see if I could find some help.

The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Proverbs 19:11

Now, as a mom I cannot overlook transgressions when it comes to direct obedience. However, I can overlook (or not get ~~frustrated~~ angry) when something happens that is accidental. I need to! I need to relax and remember that accidents happen, children forget things, and life is not going to run smoothly, especially when we are super busy. I need to remember what is important. It is important that my kids not grow up thinking that mom was mad all the time and that they were the cause.

Please feel free to download this graphic for personal use. Simply click the image.

I recently read this quote by John Witherspoon and saw how perfectly it fit this thought,

"Nothing is more destructive of authority than frequent disputes and chiding upon small matters. This is often more irksome to children than parents are aware of." – John Witherspoon, 1723-1794

~~Many times~~ Every time I get “frustrated” or “annoyed” or “react” to something insignificant not only am I damaging in some part my relationship with my kiddos, I am also damaging my authority. No wonder we’ve had a season of delayed obedience in our home!

Sigh… At these moments I wonder, will the Lord really say “Well done, good and faithful servant?” Thankfully the Lord doesn’t grow weary of me. Thankfully when I call to Him and ask him to fill me with His patience, He is faithful. Through His strength, I refuse to sacrifice my children and the relationship I have with them on the alter of anger and busyness.

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DIY Roller Maps

by frazzledmama on April 16, 2013

I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a while. I wanted to find old-style maps from public schools, you know the roller kind? I wanted to use the roller maps in place of blinds. But you know what? Those old maps are hard to come by. Which lead me to search the internet and Pinterest to see if anyone had tried to make their own roller maps by decoupaging them onto a regular vinyl roller shade. I found 2, count ‘em 2 articles about using this method to make a map that rolls up. After studying the directions from both articles, here is the procedure I followed.

1. Roll out your new vinyl shade on a flat surface.

2. Sand your shade down with fine grit sandpaper.

3. Using a piece of fleece, wipe off all the sanding dust from the shade.

4. Prime your roller shade with gesso, which is a canvas primer.

5. Allow the gesso to dry according to it’s directions.

6. Lightly sand your shade again, and dust with another piece of fleece.

7. Lay out your map(s) on the shade, trim and arrange them in the thinnest way possible. I chose to use several small maps to fill in the space around my USA map and World map.

8. Once you are satisfied with your arrangement, I highly recommend taking a picture to refer to as you decoupage them into place.

9. Using a roller (yes I said roller) coat your entire shade with an even layer of modge podge.

10. Carefully put your maps into place, and smooth them to minimize bubbles.

11. Using your roller again, apply another even layer of modge podge over your maps.

12. Allow to dry following your modge podge directions.

13. When you are ready to hang your map, roll the shade completely and hang. Then unroll the map and allow it to stay unrolled for a week or so to allow the modge podge to cure well.

14. Sit back and watch the learning happen :)

I found gesso at our local Michaels in the painter supply section. It was about $7.00. I recommend buying the small container, as it doesn’t take very much to cover your shade. It also stinks to high heaven, so make sure you have some windows open in your working area.

I will say that when it comes to rolling the shade up, the extra weight makes it difficult, but it’s not a huge issue for us, as this room gets afternoon sun, and we like to keep the shade down 95% of the time.