Dining room about finished...

Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 01:53

I'm quite proud of how it's turned out.  The lilacy-lavendar colors with the bits of bright coral-pink, the chairrail crackled white over dark green, the trim in brown sugar over white glaze over dark green with the putty stencils painted in sagey greens & country blues... - okay, that wasn't actually in the plan, but it just wasn't looking right, so I kept trying and now it's just perrrrfect...  The pannelling was so much fun, I fingerpainted the darker purple & greyish tan over the yellowytanish color giving it an old fence look.  We've made transparencies of Beatrix Potter critters to paint on the pannelling in stratigic places.  #2dd has started cutting 1x4s from the broken building leftovers that we'll paint the greyishtan color for baseboards...  We put all on hold for a week to work on dresses for the concert, now I'm pooped from all the activity and our trip (it was a 4 hr drive...) and taking this week off to rest and catch up on basics around the house.  I've got ladies coming for a Home Extension meeting next Thursday, so I've got a lot of cleaning up, organizing and putting together of the rest of the house to do before then....  Whenever there is a big project in one room, the rest of the house suffers!  Do you like the shelf?  I wish I had gotten pictures of that process.  They are plywood because I wanted them deep enough to hold school books and baskets.  There are two of them, so one shelf for each child #2-6 and a shelf for misc math manipulatives & dictionary...  #1 has her own little office area now, she grew out of a shelf.  I have science stuff in one of the top baskets (microscope & such) and index cards & such in a matching one on the top of the other shelf...  I'm really hoping to be much more organized this year for school....  I feel much more refreshed with this much done and I'm looking forward to spending time with our family and making lots of memories in this room! 

~  Abundant Blessings to all of You!  ~

Concert Excitement

Posted on Thursday, July 2, 2009 at 01:37

We all had a blast at the Celtic Woman concert.  I am in total disbelief.  They did a wonderful show and seemed so sincere and sweet.  The girls are still bubbling over with excitement!  Here are some pictures of the youngest two that went.  We went to a Japanese resturaunt, which dazzled us.  All the young ladies dressed in formals.  One said "we're ready for a ball!".

new cabinet & baby goat

Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 08:02

Well, the new cabinet turned out pretty nice.  Hubby helped put it together.  I've got the white-board in it and on each end will have cork boards (when I can get through the mess in my room to get to them...)  I'm really proud.  The boys helped me stain it.  It's 'plantation walnut' stain & I love the look.  This was taken before the crackled chairrail went back up this afternoon.  I'll have to have oldest dd take more pics as we finish up...

New Baby Announcement!  Shirley had one little girl.  Aunt Osha named her Terressa.  Isn't she cute!?

peacockfights... painting... fencing...

Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:20

It was so funny the other morning.  The peacocks were fighting in the back yard and the kittens were chasing their tails.  I did get one picture of them fluffing up at each other, but the kittens had already given up before I could get the camera.

The geese are upset since we put up the back yard fence.  They really like to come up in the yard when we are practicing music in the evenings.  They don't tend to be as on key as the peacocks though...

I have got the painting in the dining room started.  I texture\stenciled over the doorways (there are four in this one room...), then started painting the light lilac color on top, then covering up my lovely light green on the paneling (I'm gona miss that color...) with a yellowy-tan...  I did a bit of colorwashing on top with a darker greyish purple and a bright coral pink, but it darkened things up a bit too much, so I went back over it, just letting a bit show here and there.  My aunt is here right now, so she has helped crackle the chairrail that goes on top of the panelling.  It was a dark green, and we crackled white over it.  I'm very happy with it.  Then I fingerpainted over the panelling with the dark greyish purple and a tanish grey color to give it a watercolored old wood look, which turned out pretty good too.  The door frames are whitish now with some of the dark green color showing through.  I'm going to try to bring out the texture with a bit of another green, but I think I'll wait till I do the tree in the opposite corner...  I'll try to remember to have the girls take a picture of that process...  I'm excited to see it all coming together.  OOOooohhh... and> we ripped up the carpet and there's lenolium under, the neat old pebble looking stuff.  It's cleaning up really nice.  Sticky tiles soon...  I'm trying to talk hubby into an afternoon at the lake today though.  A break would be nice!

dresses & concerts

Posted on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 12:22

Oh my...  We have tickets to Celtic Woman concert!  We are so excited!  Now for cocktail dresses...  We've been collecting formals from garage sales and 2nd hand stores...  I'm thinking about just hemming a few of the simple ones to T length, would that work for a cocktail dress?  Not too formal, but dressy for the occation?  Then the extra material can be used for modesty additions and clutch purses...

Papa's not doing so well...

Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009 at 11:27

Okay...the hat is just too cute, I had to post it....

Papa's not doing so well.  We're not really sure what it is yet.  First, his legs were hurting, then his neck and head, then his PSA is elevated, then he spent a night in the horspistal with an IV for dehydration (he doesn't drink much at all...).  That didn't help, and he's in a lot of pain so they did a cat-scan.  Now we wait for the results.  I'm at a loss, wishing there was something I could do.  Hubby is just waiting and processing.  I'm not good at that, so I'm just praying for God's Will and hoping he can be kept comfortable until His Lord calls him home.  ...wishing we could be closer...

Of course, I'm in the midst of caos around here.  We're building a new fence in the back yard, cleaning out the wash-house, building & painting shelves for the dining/office/school room, planting flowers and garden vegies... and I'm primed to clean out the affore said room so I can pull up carpet, paint panelling, walls, crackle the chair-rail, and lay down sticky tiles...  We have company coming next weekend (which I intend to put to work...)....

Praise God, His Plan is always the Best, whether it coinsides with my plans or not!

Some of the simplest things in life...

Posted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 10:07

The bubbles that pop up in your cup as your pushing the tamper down a little at a time in the coffee press...  New item in our home, the coffee press cup.  Wow.  Well maybe that's not the simplest of items, but bubbles are simple.  Baby doesn't want to come inside for her bath?  Simple solution, "bubble bath", she comes running...  Children boored and impatient while waiting for dad to finish a job before we go somewhere fun; a bottle of bubbles, it's clean and hallariously fun. 

Psalms 4:7a "Thou hast put gladness in my heart"

Up way too late...

Posted on Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 02:29

I'm thrilled.  I finally figured out how to personalize my blog template.  Yeah!..  Now after going to the zoo Thursday (2 1/2 hrs away), and trying to prepare for Sabbath, and cleaning more of the yard...  I'm thinking I'm going to regret this in the morning (oops it is morning)...  Well, anyway, I'm very happy with the results.  Hope you all like it too!  Blessings!

Birdnest

Posted on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 09:15

Got a tree taken down yesterday.  The children were fascinated with the dozer.  #5 is our tractor boy and got to ride in it while they moved the biggest part of the tree out into the pasture.  We spent all morning cleaning out the building and then the afternoon moving limbs.  The children found a nest and one baby bird is still alive...  I'm sunburned really bad from Sunday...  We're planning on a trip to the zoo tommorrow, 2 1/2 hrs away, so we may try to take naps today...  Now we have back yard fence to finish, rabbits to move, chicken coop to move and a run to build onto it...  Things are begining to look much better around here.  I'm pooped, but very happy to be able to work so hard...

Beatrix Potter kitchen Inspiration

Posted on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 11:09

Once upon a time, there was this crazy mother of 6 who had so many ideas she didn't know what to do...  I've been thinking about decorating my dining room in a nursery theme...  I can't remember if I've posted the idea or not.  I can't decide on Beatrix Potter or Pooh...  I'd really like to do something in-between with a touch of both...  Anyway.  We watched the delightful movie, Miss Potter.  Oh, it is so sweet.  Not too much romance, and very proper.  So inspiring.  Well, I've also been trying to figure out how to spruce up the kitchen, without completely remodeling.  I'm thinking about taking down the cabinet doors and cleaning and sanding them a bit, putting a little stain, sanding the middles and doing a white-wash and decopauging storybook pictures on, then varnishing them real good...  Then I've been looking at depression glass handles.  There's an ebay store where I can buy different colors in the number I need.  I thought I'd just mix-n-match different ones around....  Hubby even kinda likes the idea.  I still can't decide on the dining room.  We have so much stuff in here.  This room is office, school room, family room, sewing room...  It's probably against some law having so much in one 14x16 space.  I'm really beginning to get a nack for it though.  It's starting to come together.  I have bought some shutters to make a cabinet for the wipe-off board and cork-boards.  We have a nice double window and front door on the North, open to the kitchen on the West, a built in bookcase where the chimney used to be in the SW corner, doors to the boys' room and our room in the SE corner, and a doorway to the living room on the East side of the NE corner...  So there really isn't a lot of wall space.  I have a country blue & maple colored hutch between the two doors on the East side.  There's just enough room on either side for a student desk and a few nicknacks or pictures on the wall.  The piano keyboard is under the window on the North, with shelves on each side of the window and over top and pictures in available spaces.  Shotguns are above the front door.  Shelf above the opening to the kitchen.  An old door laying across 2-drawer file cabinets for a desk on the South....  (I wonder if I've got all my directions straight...)  Well, the shutter cabinet is going above the desk.  Now I'm wondering where I'll end up putting the old window frame with the children's pictures in it... (6 panes, 6 children, perfect!)  I spoke to one of our friends about painting a tree around the built in book case in the corner.  There's a bit of overhanging wall/ceiling that would be great to hang little birdhouses from.  I'm afraid to get too carried away with the rest of the room, because we're just honostly not going to see most of it.  What I need is a nice background color that would go with the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Tea Party idea.  Something a bit whimsical, but earthy.  Colorful but not too bright, something soft.  I'm driving myself nutty with options and ideas.  I need to go back outside and work on the back yard fence and playhouse...

Dragons in God's Creation

Posted on Friday, May 8, 2009 at 11:19

Okay, as a homeschooling, Bible believing mother, I tend to stay clear of 'fantasy'.  Fantasy being defined as anything that deviates from God's original design and/or purpose.  Little girls 'fantasize' about being princesses and mommies, which I feel is totally healthy, since we are princesses of the King of Kings and His original plan was for us to be fruitful and multiply...  As a little girl, I always dreamed of having a closet full of pretty dresses and lots of beautiful horses.  My boys want to play Ivanhoe and Robin Hood and Cowboys and Indians...  Well, recently a wave of Dragon craze has whipped through our home.  I tend to question myself and the children...  How did God create dragons?  I believe dragons were dinosaurs.  There is lots of evidence to support that dragons (dinosaurs) have lived with man throughout history on all contenants, and some still live today.  There is scientific evidence that some dinosaurs could breath fire.  And of course, some could fly (no I don't believe there is any credible evidence that birds "evolved" from them).  So here we are, with dragon stuffed animals, 'fantasizing' about how Adam and Eve may have enjoyed being stewards of such amazing creatures...  And trying to keep the magic, and anything else satan may try to slip in, out of it.

New Baby Bunnies

Posted on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 07:42

Aren't they so cute?!

Sleepy Sabbath

Posted on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 10:06

It was a very sleepy Sabbath today...  I really did just about sleep all day long, how wonderful!

Wouldn't it be nice...

Posted on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 07:47

Something I wrote 9-16-06

 Wouldn’t it be nice…

If things could only be exactly the way we want them?

I don’t really thing I want that much in life.  I just want a peaceful life with little bits of excitement here and there.  Something like a plain doughnut with just a thin layer of chocolate frosting and a sprinkle of nuts on top.  I want to eat off of real glass plates and have the time and energy to wash them.  I want the wind to only blow hard on days that I don’t have to go outside.  I want my family to have time to pop in occasionally for a cup of coffee or hot tea.  Of course I want the house spick and span and some lovely smelling treat baking in the oven when they come.  I want the older children to always remember their chores with prompt cheerfulness and to chip in a little extra every day.  I want the little ones to always play quietly and peacefully in the house and use all their extra energy outside in constructive play, rather than running 110mph inside scattering toys like a hurricane and them finding paint outside to decorate the house or baptizing the kittens in the stock tank…

I want to always be a few minutes early for everything, looking my best with the children all in coordinating outfits and smiles.

I want to never have to remind my husband of anything and I want to always feel like I’m his most cherished love.

I want a self cleaning toilet that never gets plugged up (that’s self-cleaning, inside and out!).  As a matter-of-a-fact, I’d like the tub and sink that way too!

I want to be able to have a dozen or so babies 2 or 3 years apart and never have a contraction until about 39 weeks and just pop a healthy baby out after less than 6 hours of handle-able labor, and to have had enough energy through the pregnancy to have 6 weeks worth of yummy food in the freezer so I can rest and enjoy the new little one with my family.

Well…  I guess we can’t always have everything we want, realistic or not, so I’ll just be thankful for; the peaceful moments, the gentle breezes, the few visits we receive, the spurts of energy that help me keep the house tolerably clean, the energetic young’ns and the fact that the whole house will get new siding one of these days, kittens are resilient creatures, better late than never and most of our friends don’t care if we have the stains on our clothes and leftovers on little cheeks…  Thankful for a hubby who provides well and makes a real effort to be with us as much as he can, the toilet plunger, brush and bleach, for shower curtains to cover the tub…, and for the opportunity to have had 6 beautiful babies that eventually grow into children that sometimes remember to clean up after an experiment in the kitchen.

(4-15-09  BTW the house still doesn’t have new siding, but we now laugh about the special little “paint job”…)

Experiencing God

Posted on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 12:05

I had the neatest experience with God last week...

I was headed to bed...  I had recently finished a series of fiction-fantasy books about dragons.  I had been avoiding God lately, mad at Him because of the hysterectomy.  I had been talking to Him regularly about my disapointment and was working though it, but I was really avoiding listening to anything He had to say back to me.  (I get kinda bratty like that sometimes, not wanting His comfort, wallowing in self-pitty...)  I knew He wasn't going to tell me what I wanted to hear, so I was tuning Him out. 

Anyway, as I headed to bed, I knew I had been bratty long enough and that He was calling me back into His arms.  I said, "Okay FATHER, I know I've lost my FIRST love and I need to get back in fellowship with you.  To show myself serious, I commit to never read another dragon book unless I first read your word."  (I don't do this for His benifit, but for mine, He KNOWS my heart, but sometimes I'm not too sure of myself...)  So I sat down, content with my commitment, read the Proverb for the day, said a little prayer asking Him to feed my soul, and started my devotional.  I'm reading a book a dear friend gave me for Hanakah called, “My Bathtub’s Overflowing but I Feel Drained”.  She shared a conversation with her 6yodd about stretch marks, concluding that she chose scarring her body to give life to her children and she made the analogy… Jesus could have come back to life unblemished, but He chose keeping the scars, almost as a trophy for the hard work of giving eternal life.  What an amazing thought.  I never have minded my stretch marks, I appreciate “motherhood” as being a physical change, but I had a real problem with the nasty scar below my belly button.  Not that I ever showed off that part of my tummy, but I would have rather had my babies naturally, and had the chance to have more.  I’m only 36, and many of my friends are 10 years older and still bearing children…  What a disappointment.  Oh, I know, most of the WORLD today thinks I’m totally nuts.  I always hear, “I can’t handle the one (or two) I have, much less want more!” and “Don’t you know what causes THAT!”  We’ve even been threatened by well meaning family members, “This had BETTER be the LAST one!”  Those people just don’t understand the TOTAL JOY I feel receiving the gift my GOD says is the BEST gift he gives.  I never thought I deserved HIS BEST in my life.  Now I realize, I have received HIS BEST; and only because HE loves me.  I could never do anything to deserve even the breath in my lungs.  (I knew that, but this renewed it in a new way to me.)  While 10, 17 (or even just 1 or 2) children may be His best for someone else, 6 is His best for us, and I have the war-wounds to prove it to me daily.  I have shared in HIS suffering; persecution, physical scars, even the desire to do things differently while still accepting The Father's Will.  I was even promised all of this in His Word, I just didn't realize how I would experience it personally in my life.  (Sometimes it would be nice to have a little insight on the road ahead...  Then again, I probably would be tempted to turn and run away!)

What a nice coming Home gift!  Thank You Father!

Sigh... the snow is melting...

Posted on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 11:20

Well, it's over...

  Not really, it's still melting and there are still some really big drifts, and a BIG mess to clean up of the broken barn...  But, Hubby can get out to the road, so he's got a lot of people calling to come check pumping units that aren't working.  Probably with the electrical blips and all, he'll have to change a bunch of fuses and things.  What a blessing to have all the work, but it was so nice to have him home...  A lady came from the ins. co. yesterday to take pictures of the building.  She was impressed at all the snow and damage.  Ours is not the only roof that caved in.  Several in our area have their livelihoods at risk with damage.  Thankfully we didn't have a lot of inventory and we aren't in debt.  I'm sure others will have a much harder time.  My favorite furniture store caved in.  I talked to hubby about it and then called to let them know that if the table and chairs I've been looking at made it without too much damage to let me know, and that we could use a new mattress for one of the bunk beds.  Maybe that will help.  They are really nice people.  I'm excited to hear about the table and chairs.  Our poor table...  I was so proud when I got an 8' table at the antique store, but it has done it's time.  It's being held together by 2x4s running along under each side and our napkins and school papers stick to the finish (permanetly sometimes!) and the chairs were Hubby's Grandmothers in which his poor dad put screws in, in an effort to keep them together (but it eventually made them much worse).  If it is the Lord's will...  If not, we will make do just fine.  He did say they have mattresses in the wearhouse and that didn't sustain any damage.  There is just going to be a lot of work to do to clean things up, once everyone can make it through the mud and the snow melts off enough...