Since I had built a beautiful wreath holder for my front porch, I went searching for a wreath.  HOLY COW WREATHS ARE EXPENSIVE!!!!  Again, I turn to Pinterest for inspiration.


This is the wreath that I found that I liked best:
 

But, could I actually recreate it?


Off to Hobby Lobby I went.  Seriously, what did we ever do before Hobby Lobby (and Pinterest?)


Floral was 1/2 off so I bought 4 $4 bunches.  I had a 40% off coupon for the wreath base.  I also found all the envelope seals for Addyson's graduation announcements on clearance.  Total spent was just under $17!  


So, how did it turn out?

I like it.  I really like it.  






Here's the view of the front entry now.  




I suppose flowers for the empty pot is my next project.




 

In order to escape from reality, I often find myself in a dream world.  Sometimes that is on facebook, sometimes on pinterest.


I have wanted to create a welcoming entryway into our home since we built our home.  I love our front door.  I also love wreaths.  However I felt that a wreath takes away from the beauty of our door.  I went on a mission to find a way to hang a wreath somewhere other than a door.  


I found these to attach to the brick.  Not exactly what I was looking for, though very cool.


Then I found these:
 



An idea was born.  I decided rather than hang a welcome sign I could hang a wreath.


I was on a mission.  I headed to Lowe's for supplies.


I looked at different posts, finials, moldings, boards, etc to build my own.  Then I found these:
 

PERFECT!  Very little construction needed.  The end is meant to attach to a deck so there was a notch cut out of the bottom.  I don't have a saw, but I do have a chainsaw.  FUN!  I just chopped off the bottom.


I then bought 3 of these in different sizes for the base.  
 



I secured them all with a 6" screw.  I added a small screw hook and a coat of paints and viola! Because I had to buy paint it cost me about $25.  Had I not bought the quart of paint, this is a $20 project!






Now all I need is a wreath.


Check out my Beautify my Home board

Not much to report on. Overall we are doing pretty good. We are finding our new normal. I discover everyday things that Marty doesn't remember. We learn new things together.


We had a minor meltdown last week.  We pushed through it.  Marty has decided he is jealous of time that I spend away from him.  Whether it's work, primary, shopping, or other tasks, he misses me and wants to be by my side.  That's not always feasible.  I am grateful that we are both committed to our relationship and to our children.  That makes pushing through the meltdowns much easier.  


We had a very productive weekend.  Several projects were clicked off with Marty as my assistant.  He is wanting to be involved in everything I do.  He watched me cut, sand, paint and assemble a cool wreath holder for the front door.  (that's worthy of a blog post of it's own).  He helped me clean off the front porch including washing and sweeping the porch.  He helped me make bread, cinnamon croissants and nutella croissants.  We loved spending time together.


This week is spring break.  That means that I am spending all day in the office while the girls are with their dad.  Addyson and Marty had a date today.  I don't know all that they did but I know it involved lunch at Mimi's.  That used to be a favorite of Marty's and now it's just okay.  Overall, I don't think Marty likes to eat out.  I suppose I'd better learn to be a better cook.


We are rapidly approaching 90 days since Marty's stroke.  Crazy that it's been this long.  Physically he is back to normal.  Speech wise he's about 90%.  Memory is probably 25% at best.  I don't know that memory will every really come back.  The rest of his recovery will be about re-learning.  Hopefully within a year he will be able to fully function on his own.  For now, we are pushing for the necessities and pray for the peripheral tasks to come later.


I don't know that I will ever be able to thank everyone or even come close to expressing the gratitude that has been in my heart through this process.  I see people all around me with trials much more than mine that are giving aid to our family.  I am so excited to be able to start serving others as well.  What a beautiful charity circle the Lord has created.