Marriage is not easy. Its not all butterflies, snuggles, holding hands and love letters. Its often uncomfortable, frustrating, and downright hard sometimes. Do I love my husband? Of course. Do I always like him? Next question, please.

I will proudly say, though, that I have grown so much in the past three and half years we’ve been together. I owe a lot of it to him. He is my best friend, an awesome partner, and my biggest challenger. He calls me out when I’ve crossed a line and backs me up when I’ve been challenged. He’s my biggest cheerleader but I still haven’t been able to get him in one of the uniforms.

Yes, this is a very old photo.

But like I said, it isn’t all fun and games. Since we’re still a young couple, its often rough and stressful. We’re both growing individually. We’re also still learning how to work together and take the other’s feelings and desires into consideration.

Lately, though, Billy–I mean Bill–has been working extra hard on himself. I’m pretty proud of him, so far. He came to me the other day and told me he wanted to start writing about his battles within himself. He’s working towards a better him. A better perspective, better habits and better decisions.

Though he’s no Hemingway, I’m sure his content will be valued by many. And on that note, I think you should go check him out over at his new blog: Becoming Bill. And don’t forget to tell him who sent you.

{warning: poor image quality to come}

Another year gone. Though I can’t think of a big long list of events that occurred, a lot has passed, none the less. We are not just older individually, but another year older as a family. Though far from perfect, we’ve had another year to learn to live and work together. Part of me would say we aren’t any closer to achieving our goals, but then I take a deeper look.

time spent playing games as a fmaily is happening more and more

Sure we’re in the same town house, but its more homey and memory-filled than last year.

a few days in the sand hills of nebraska

No, we didn’t go on any vacations to far off tropical places, but we did venture west for a week with loved ones.

another sunday amongst friends at rlc

Yes, we’re still in Kentucky.  But we’ve some how managed to grow some roots, here, with new friends and a church to call home. It might be harder to leave when the time comes. But we’re leaving that timing in His hands, now.

the daily grind at jcp salon

And–big sigh–no, I still haven’t received my degree, but I have landed myself a real, grownup full time job. Though I sometimes despise it, its blessed my family in so many ways. Who knows what other doors it may open for me in the future.

christmas 2012

Sure, our savings account still isn’t where we want it to be, but we were able to have the best Christmas yet, this year. It brought so much joy being able to bless our loved ones with gifts.

I think our biggest accomplishment for 2012 has been our family’s spiritual growth. As a whole, our relationship with God is stronger. Our obedience is more consistant. We have felt His love so strongly this year. He’s saved and blessed us so much. Through Him, our bonds with each other are stronger. We love each other more and forgive each other faster.

No, 2012 may not have been eventful, but it was a blessed one, indeed. More than going and doing, we were growing and learning. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us in 2013.

In case you didn’t notice, I haven’t been around much lately.  Since I’ve gone back to the salon {full time}, volunteered to take on an extra responsibility or two for our amazing church, I’ve found I don’t want to spend much more time on anything other than my family/home.

So, what have I been up to lately?

1. Spending as much time as possible soaking up the sunshine in my favorite spot.
2. After hours, with my love.
3. Trying to keep as much of the same eating habits as when cooking was my job.
4. Driving across southern Kentucky to help out a salon in need.
5. Enjoying the quiet morning hours before the clients start rolling in.
6. Goofing off and helping my favorite lady figure out life as a kindergardener.
7. Trying not to feel like this.
8. And drinking too much of this.

Leading the salon is a job full of never ending works-in-progress.  I go nonstop while I’m there and yet at the same time see little finished when I leave.  I’m a person that likes to finish a project before moving on to the next.  I like the satisfaction of completion; closure, maybe? So this new way of working is taking some adjusting. I’m trying to find my routine, there. Not to mention build trust, respect and rapport with my stylists. They need a lot of lovin’ in there.

I’m only taking two classes this semester: Copy & Layout and Women’s Studies {Billy is thrilled about the latter}.  Two is still more than enough. I guess I’m a bit surprised by how mentally exhausting my job is. I’m going to have to work my butt off to stay organized and sain, this semester. Full night’s rest, proper eating habits and Sundays will be my saving grace. We’ve been mattress shopping, so that will help, too.

Basically, I’m apologizing for my recent absence, my lack of posting. I’m also apologizing for the fact that I don’t see it getting much better any time soon. Forgive me if I only post once or twice a week. I’m also keeping up with social media for another entity.

I hope you’ll keep up with me in other ways, though. I post daily on my Twitter and Instagram {@littlewishball}.

Will you be trying anything new in the near future? Are you nervous or worried about how you’ll handle it? I’m stressin’ over here, darlin’! Who’s with me?!

Friends, I’m so excited to host a very inspiring guest post from a strong woman and mother.  Please give a warm southern welcome to Heather.

I wasn’t prepared for the storm. When my daughter was born on August 4, 2005, my life appeared to be perfect. How could I think otherwise? I had my parents, in-laws, and friends all around me to help greet my little one’s entrance into the world.

Storms are like that sometimes. They begin with just a few dark clouds, but instead of breaking up, they continue to grow. That’s how my life was. I went back to work, but I didn’t feel well. I was exhausted and having trouble breathing, so I went to see my doctor. After a series of tests, I was diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer on November 21, 2005. It was only 3-1/2 months since Lily came into our lives. The type of cancer I had was pleural mesothelioma. It is caused by asbestos exposure and affects the lining of the lungs. Apparently, I had been exposed about 30 years earlier as a child.

The doctor gave me about 15 months to live, but I couldn’t do that to my husband and child. I had to help myself for them. In early February we left Lily with my parents in South Dakota and flew to Boston where I underwent surgery to remove my left lung. I spent 18 days in the hospital and another two months in recovery before I began chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

One of the realities about being so ill is that it shows you who your friends are. Many people I thought would be there took off and others whom I didn’t expect to see gave us their full support. Kids I babysat as a teenager returned the favor and watched Lily while my parents worked. People I went to church with surrounded my parents and gave them the love and support they needed. In Boston, I made new friends with people who were going through the same thing I was.

One of the most difficult things for me was watching my baby grow from a distance. My mother emailed me photographs and my husband printed them off, but it was hard not to cry. I wasn’t there to deal with the bottles or to see Lily scoot. Yet, I knew I was fighting this fight for her. Cancer can be funny that way. It’s a storm that no one ever expects, but there are many good and loving things that come along with the bad. My daughter, my husband, my new friends, and my parents are a few of the things I’m most grateful for.

Heather Von St James is a 43-year-old wife and mother. Upon her diagnosis of mesothelioma, she vowed to be a source of hope for other patients who found themselves with the same diagnosis. Now, over 6 years later, her story has been helping people all over the globe. She continues her advocacy and awareness work by blogging, speaking and sharing her message of hope and healing with others. Check out her story at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog.

Oh, darlin’.  What a week it seems to have been.

In case you hadn’t noticed, Fuzzy Little Wishballs has been through, yet another, makeover.  This was all initiated by some malware code being planted in my blog.  Yep, I got hacked, yet again.  Needless to say, I’ve sought out the best in security plugins and tightened my ropes.  This baby’s solid–err I hope.

Luckily, I had planned on doing a redesign after school let out, so I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted.  I love the new look and hope you don’t have any trouble finding what you need.  If you’ll notice, I actually switched some links out over on the right.  Some that were never used {google+ & tumblr} for new ones {flickr & instagram}.

So, please look around and see what you can get into.   Also, I’m missing quite a bit of posts from my first six months.  I’m still working on getting that restore.  That’s taking a back burner, for now, though.

And it starts: the long stretch of the last month of Spring semester.  It always seems to be worse than Fall.  I think Spring semester is worse because that’s when Mother Nature decides to bless us cabin fever-stricken, sunburn-deprived, Summer babies with a bit of fair weather after months of wintry torture.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love boots, scarves, cozy sweaters and cardigans; but a southern bred girl can only take so much before she needs her toes in the grass and sun-kissed skin to bring her back to life.

As the professor’s use the last month to pile on the load of final projects, homework and whatever else they forgot to assign earlier in the semester, I become Princess Procrastinator.  I call myself the princess because as bad as I seem to be, there’s always at least a few in the class that are worse.  I’ve known several to literally walk out of the computer lab with freshly finished projects to turn in, still wearing the yesterday’s outfit.

Also, princess just makes me sound more fresh and sexy.

Due to my near-mastering of the skill, I’d like to share my top five methods of Spring semester procrastination:

“I think I need a snack.  Bagel?  Salad?  String Cheese!”

“Flickr?  Oh, yeah, I was meaning to go make a new account of there…”

“Oh!  Idea.  Let’s write a blog post.” {hence, you are reading this}

“Hmm, now I think I want a glass of iced tea.  Crap, someone drank the last of it.  Guess I’ll make more.”

“The patio sure does look lonely out there.  Someone’s gotta hold the fort down; might as well be me.”

I know what you’re thinking, “How is the patio and excuse?  You can do your work on the patio.” *insert wrong answer buzzer sound* Wrong–well, kind of.  I can get my work done there, if I have plenty of time.  Because with the patio comes little girls, excessive daydreaming, chatting with whoever, random inspiration, and more daydreaming.

Ok, that’s enough procrastinating.  Back to that drawing essay I was writing.

p.s.  Notice I didn’t list Facebook or Twitter.  I assume you follow me there and, therefore, I need not list the most obvious of methods.

What are your favorite methods of procrastination?? 

Happy Friday, darlin’.  Are you relieved its here?

Spring Break is winding down and I feel it wasn’t a waste.  I have a completely clean house to show for it.  Oh, and A nice new shop open for business.  :)

Though I have tried to keep myself from being completely worthless, I’ve also allowed myself to be  lazy a bit.  Time sipping coffee and finding time lost in a day dream, time writing, designing, planting some herb seeds, time wasted in front of the boob tube and time aimlessly wandering the web.

I hadn’t used StumbleUpon in a while, so the other day I thought I’d see what I could find.  I love finding new things to feast my mind on.

Over at Stylist I found this really great list of the Top 100 Opening Lines from Books.  I was happy to see some of my favorites made the list.

I found this list of  ideal food combinations to be both interesting and helpful.  I know that growing certain herbs/veggies together was beneficial to growth, but I didn’t realize eating certain food paired together could be beneficial to your health.

I’ve seen this site before, but I’m not sure if I shared it or not.  It is probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while.  This lady takes drawings by children and gives them life as a toy.  So clever.  What a special little treasure to hold on to.

The National Education Association has a list of Top 100 Books for Kids.

Though I have yet to hop onto the ebook wagon, if I did finally decide to own one, I’d insist on this case.  I don’t really think I have to tell you how amazing I think these are.  They’re gorgeous and I love them.

T’ is all.

Have a blessed weekend!

Hello, darlin’.  Hope this post is finding you well on this chilly Saturday.  I just wanted to drop you a quick note to make you aware of a few things.

First off, If you’ll notice on the lower right hand side of the page, there’s a new button.  One of my blogger friends requested a button swap with a few of us bloggers.  Be quite a fan of her page, I jumped at the opportunity.  So, I hope you’ll scroll down and click over to Naomi’s sweet little page.   {p.s. if you’re interested in doing a button swap, contact me at meghannLchapman{at}gmail{dot}com}

Second off, I wanted to point out the new comment platform I’ve installed on the page.  This new way of commenting should help make our interactions more easy, appealing and, well, hopefully more frequent.  I can’t wait to hear from you to see how it works out.

Third, I have some bad news.  I didn’t get the internship.  Bummer.  Yeah, I’m a little down about it, I suppose, but not too bad.  I actually feel very comforted in the fact that I’m learning to ask God for HIS plans to come through.  I, of course, make Him aware of my wishes and desires, but also admit that He is the one with THE plan and that’s the one I want to follow.  Seems to be working out pretty well.  Considering how much I really wanted this position, I’m not near as down about it as I expected to be.

And finally.  I wanted to make sure we are as connected as can be.  Yes, I started this blog as a way for myself to grow creatively, but I also did so as a way to connect with others.  I’ve met so many super cool people through this whole blogging experience.  I want to continue to grow that network.  There are several ways we can do this: Facebook and Twitter will probably give us the most interaction.  To keep up with the blog, I suggest subscribing {to the right} or grabbing my RSS feed {the little orange box on the right} and adding it to your choice of reader {Google Reader, BlogLovin’…}.

That ’tis all, love.  Hope the rest of your weekend is fabulous!

Notice the random mix of items in the title.  Allow me to ramble a bit, won’t you?

Today, I heard, is National Bagel day.  Since I’ve been on such a bagel kick, lately {I mean that’s all I’ve want for breakfast}, I have been more than happy to oblige.  We were out, so a trip to Panera was in order.

I celebrated the day with a most delicious asiago bagel, topped with regular cream cheese {another favorite}, with coffee on the side.  Blonde roast, to be exact.  Its ok.

This is a photo moment I just wanted to share.  Lilie was painting–err polishing {because I’m a professional}– her nails last night.  However, the task at hand wasn’t really what I was even focusing on.  Check out those curls.  Au naturel.  No product and no curling iron.

Though her curls are some times a pain to tame, I adore them.  They visually make Lilie who she is {plus her big blues}.  Any time I have ever straightened her hair for her, everyone throws a fit and says “It doesn’t even look like ‘Lilie,’”  Everyone knows her as the brave, sweet, creative, outgoing, fun loving, little curly head.  Its just not the same when the curls are subtracted from the equation.

Two more randoms, and I’m finished.

Inspiration.  Change of scenery.  I get a lot of my inspiration from what’s around me.  I also get a lot of it from what I read.  An enormous amount, actually.  But when school’s in session, I don’t have as much time for leisure books {I’ve been reading Pride & Prejudice for a month and I’m dying to finish it}.  Instead, I keep up with blogs.  That’s my leisure reading.

As I am inspired by what I see and read, I’ve noticed my own blog becoming more and more like those blogs.  Why?!  That style of blogging isn’t even my aim.  Its not me!  And isn’t that exactly what this blog is supposed to be?  A reflection of me?

Well, I’m working on that.  I’m going through my blog feed and cleaning up.  Getting rid of some guilty pleasures and adding in some more design and intellectual type bloggers instead.  Still light and easy, though.  After all, I did call is ‘leisure’ reading.

And finally.  Long underwear. {click image to go to source}

I’m so over the cold weather and the layers and trying to decide what to wear and barely being able to move and yes, I know this is a crazy run on sentence and I just wanted to add a few more words to make it even worse; go big or go home, right?

Back to long underwear.  They’re definitely no sun dress, but they’re so comfy and light, I want to wear them all the time.  Is that allowed?  Is their a fashionable way to wear them outside the house?  I mean without all the layers?

No, really.  That’s not a rhetorical question.  I really do want your suggestions!  There must be a way!

Wonderful things are happening around here.  The truck driving thing got nixed {for a list of reasons} and my family is whole, once more.  I’ve applied for a pretty stupendous job with a fabulous company.  I”m still coming down from the excitement of a new connection and opportunities made from a phone call with this company.

Speaking of connections, are we connected?  If not, we should be!  I hope you’ll sign up for email notifications over there in the column to the right –>.  You inbox will not be filled with spam and trash.  I promise.  You’ll just receive one email each time I post here.

Or you can just grab my RSS feed url and copy and paste it into your favorite reader {i.e. Google Reader}.  And while we’re at it, be sure to find my page on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Blog Lovin’.

I feel surrounded by inspiration, lately.  I hadn’t planned on any more design changes so soon…but… alas, I’m apparently not in control of my own creative juices.  Ideas are running rampant in my brain for future designs for this place right here {no link… you’re already here, silly}.  My sketchpad is the only one to have seen them, so far, though.  However, I’ve let you in on a small sneak peak, here.

Now, lets get connected to make sure I don’t lose anyone along the way!  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!