1.) I learned that it really wasn’t hard for me to put my phone down (surprisingly).

2.)  Don’t give up screens when your husband decides to work 70+ hours that week.

3.)  And if you really wanna do yourself in, take away the kids screens as well!

Ha!  I really feel like Satan was working over time this last week to GET ME TO FAIL.  And I think that I am just so stubborn (a trait Ryan loves–trust me) that it made me fight all the more.

Honestly though.  Ryan hasn’t worked over time in for.e.ver. and it just so happened that this week he worked almost 80 hours.  Which means we literally didn’t see him.  Beckett decided to wake up super early every morning as well.  Like in the 6 o’clock range, which for this girl is WAY TO EARLY!  And to make the week more “fun” I took screens away from the kids too.  For a couple of reasons….they totally needed a break.  I was so sick of, “can I play ipad?” “Can I watch a movie?” all the time.  I really need a system….any suggestions will be well taken!!  And second, who can’t get suckered into a good Tinkerbell movie every.single.time.  Oh yeah me.  I can.  So for self control for myself, and for a break for the kids, they lost screens as well.

And here’s what I noticed.  When I started the day out reading and looking in God’s word, it really set the tone for the whole day.  I had more patience for my kids, I had a better attitude with my hubby (who really wasn’t there….but trust me, that’s when things can get ugly:) and I found myself talking to Jesus more throughout the day!  All great things!  I also noticed I was more productive.  The house was usually clean by 9 since I wasn’t still sitting on the couch sipping coffee and watching the today show, and projects were getting done during nap time.  Also, the whole atmosphere of the house seemed more pleasant when I wasn’t distracted by my phone and instead had the Praise and Worship cranking.

What I noticed for my kids was that they HAVE AMAZING IMAGINATIONS!  After about the second day they completely stopped complaining or asking how many days left.  They were outside from almost sun up to sun down playing mechanics on their little gator, squirting bees, swinging, playing on the tramp, and making little habitat homes for butterflies and tree frogs that they caught.  By taking away screens it actually took away a lot of negative behavior.

The only downside to not having screens.  I noticed that there are times when I need to completely shut my brain off for a time.  And usually that comes at the end of the day, especially when daddy isn’t around.  I did miss turning on a show at night and not doing anything.  I found myself trying to be more busy so I wasn’t as bored, and I did take up reading again, which was a huge plus.  But there is something to be said about having a break.

So that was our week.  Overall it was a huge success.  Now we are just trying to figure out the balance between “some” screen time…and are having a hard time finding that.

Okay, onto the next thing.  You guys, I have found a product I have shared before, but I had to share it again because I just love it.  And I am not getting any endorsement for this, it is solely my love for this product.  It’s called NewPanes, and it takes your ordinary boring windows and turns them into gridded, cottage style, windows for a very small price tag.  I have used this product for most of the windows in my house, and in the guest house, but there were still two areas that were bugging me.  My front door, and the big picture window in my kitchen.

Here’s a picture of my front door from awhile ago.  You’ll notice a few changes:)  I had painted it to look like faux wood, which I loved, and I loved that the full glass pane let in a lot of light, but it was missing a little character.  When I realized that I had a lot of the new panes products left over from my other projects, that I just needed a few connectors, a light bulb went off!  Why not put grids in my front door.  I had always thought in the past that the door was too big and it would look tacky, but it was worth a try!:)

and here it is now with the new panes product in it.

Such a little thing that makes such a big difference.  So you buy this product in pieces.

The second project I did was this huge picture window in our kitchen.  I absolutely love the light it brings in, but have always wished there was a little detail to it.  So, new panes it was.  For this window I used 4 connectors and about 5 strips.  And here’s the after..

huge difference.

If you noticed, I also added a bamboo blind with a sign and sprayed my galvanized Ikea light flat black to make it appear a bit more industrial.

Well, I survived a week without screens.  And through the process I learned a few things.

I couldn’t be happier with $12.

It adds so much character..

and the best part is that it adds character on the outside too!  I’ll show you that in a post soon since I’ve been working on spiffing up the front door!

So seriously, you should go check out New Panes.   We have used this in the upper of all of our windows and I believe it only cost us around $200 to do the whole house!