Inspired

The other day, I ran across a blog post about Pinterest.  H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.  I don't know this woman, but I related to nearly every word she said... and I admired the blunt and brutally honest way she said them!

I love Pinterest. I often find myself lying in bed at night browsing the fun ideas while watching the Friends marathon on Nick at Nite (which, by the way, still makes me giggle out loud -- I miss that show!)   It's inspiring. (Pinterest... not Friends.) Or at least it is supposed to be.

There are moments when I find myself slipping from "being inspired" mode to "feeling inadequate" mode. You know, like when I saw the incredibly awesome monthly shots of a pregnant mom (who, of course, only looked pregnant in her tummy, and not in her face, hands, legs and feet) and had her adorable 2-year-old daughter peek in and touch her perfectly round tummy on the 9th month... that's when the "inadequate" mode set in.

I try to recognize the mode switch. Sometimes when it happens, I think of an excuse of why that isn't "mine"... (like the fact that when I was pregnant, I was miserable and felt like throwing up nearly every second of the day, and taking a picture of myself was on my list of to-do's, just under "smack my head against the bathroom wall.")

Then I remind myself that excuses aren't the way to go... (not quite the positive spin I was searching for) so I feel happy for the person who's "pin" it is... "Wow, I bet that Mom is so incredibly happy she has those amazing pics of her pregnant days!"

Yeah, that's better.

Sometimes, a pin is easy to pass by.... either the style of it just isn't me (I don't think a lamp made out of plastic spoons says 'Carin.') or the usefulness escapes me  (I just don't know that I would use a pot-holder-cleverly-and-cutely-turned-cell-phone-case.)

But then comes the fun stuff... the easy stuff... the do-able stuff.

Something I can print and stick in a frame I already have in my storage room and put up for Valentine's Day and look all festive?  I'm IN!

And when I saw these, I knew I could pull it off.

There it is. Inspiration.

That's the mode I want.

So, tomorrow morning, the kiddos will wake up to mail in their mailboxes.... a note about something we love about them.

Mail every day until Valentine's Day unless I forget a day in which I will make up an excuse that my head had so many ideas of what I loved about them that I couldn't choose and that they would have two notes in their mailbox the next day.

So, thank you Pinterest. 

I'll pass by the photos of the elaborate backyard patio draped with gorgeous fabrics and decorated in hand-made flowers, and the blanket sewn from clothing from someone's first-born's first year of life...

and head right for the photos of Valentine Mailboxes.

And I will feel inspired.

* * * * *

Mailboxes from Hobby Lobby... covered with scrapbook paper and decorated with stickers and ribbon. (Carter opted for no ribbon.)  Candle holders from The Dollar Store (and be sure you search through all 400 of them to find ones that stand up straight, because 395 of them don't, and they are not such high quality that you can bend them gently to straighten them out.  Not that I broke 2 of them trying and had to go back to the store to buy more.)


Oh, and grab a black frame while you're at the Dollar Store... go here for the cute printable, and you're all set!