Kastle - Kitchen

Ah, the Kitchen!  The room which 'really' got the ball rolling on this, hmm, I think painting would be a good idea.  Nest is empty, time to upgrade and make some cosmetic changes.  So here we are at Phase I - before.

Notice the paint chips pinned to the wall?  I was trying to make up my mind.  Do I really want red?  My boss blessed me with a toaster to match my new color choice!

Yeah, my counters are always loaded, no matter  how hard I try - there is ALWAYS something on them, making for a cluttered picture.  Such is life!

Here we go!  Do I like red, do I REALLY want it ALL over my walls?

Take note of this poster - it will show up later.  :-D

Oh dear!  What to do, what to do!  The 'wall' where I marked the growth of my sons!  With one for mom squeezed in there at some point (when they passed me!).  Fortunately these tack strips are what needed to be removed so I was able to save them.  I know, I know...pack rat!

Grief!  I must have taken 10 pictures of the growth markings!  Delete, delete, delete!  Chalk it up to mom sentimentalism!

Alright, now we're entering Phase II - drywall tape and mud and joy of joys! Building corners - AGAIN!  These weren't too bad as they were 'angled' so no sharp edge required!

I must have gotten lazy somewhere along the line - who me? As I don't have as many photos of the in between stages!

Phase III - paint on the walls!

Ha...this particular shot - I had gotten done for the evening - lights out except for the one over the stove - came through the house and thought it was on fire because of the red paint.  Quite a shock!

I was going to 'cut off' the red and delineate between the kitchen and the dining room.  However, after I'd looked at the 'line' for a while, decided it really looked better to finish out the wall.

Phase IV - Paint done, cleaned up a bit, and pictures on the walls!  You'll notice in the shot below I finished out the red.

A fellow square dancer gave me a little sign - Fresh Eggs - she knows my penchant for farm fresh eggs!

I had a small valance running across the top of this window - with the bottom 2 panels in the dining room.  Decided I'd use all in the kitchen window - heh, however I neglected to take into consideration that the kitchen window is much smaller (shorter) and I would have had to layer the panels and the valance.  I had picked up some curtains (marked down - whoo hoo!) - one was a shear and put it up in the DR - didn't like it.  Swapped the valance and panels to that window and put the shear here.  Only problem - or so I thought - WAY too long - so as a temporary fix (while I tried to figure out WHAT to do) I doubled the curtain and fed the bottom onto the rod and stuck it up there.  I think it turned out pretty neat!

Next up...the dining room!  Whew!

Motherhood

I'm in Chapter 5 of Lies Women Believe - and wanted to take a moment and share a few gems.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss quotes Dr. Dorothy Patterson on the subject of feminism and the 'liberation' of women.

"Women have been liberated right out of the genuine freedom they enjoyed for centuries to oversee the home, rear the children, and pursue personal creativity; they have been brainwashed to believe that the absence of a titled, payroll occupation enslaves a woman to failure, boredom, and imprisonment within the confines of home."

and

"It is true that many 'perfect jobs' may come and go during the child rearing years, but only one will absolutely never come along again--the job of rearing your own children and allowing them the increasingly rare opportunity to grow up at home."

For all the moms who are in the 'trenches,' take a moment and snap your fingers.

Really I mean it...take a moment and S-N-A-P.

That's how quickly the time goes when you're raising children - I know, we all hear it when the first baby comes - all those grandma's in the store, "Honey, take time to really enjoy that baby, because before you know it, they'll be grown and gone."  They are 100% right.

It's really hard some days to think that one day the house will be quiet, there won't be anyone arguing, fighting, jostling for position, no more dirty diapers, spit up, throw up, potty training, learning to crawl, walk, run - wait STOP!

Teaching them to talk - will you please sit down and be Q-U-I-E-T! - laughter, snuggles, giggles, story time, tears, fears, dreams and aspirations for the future.  What if... How did... Why does... Who did... When will... Where can...?

Ask the Lord to help you when you are in the thick of it and want to pull out your hair, or theirs, or both! This season is really, really short...if you'll live to be 90, and you are 20-30 years old now, 20 to 30 years of child rearing goes by in a flash.  Savor those moments - remember when you want to 'blast' them with your tongue - bite it instead.

*For all those times you are or have served your husband and/or family with every:

• meal prepared;
• load of dirty clothes washed (those things multiply quicker 'n rabbits!);
• trip made to the grocery store, school, dentist, music lessons, sports practice, store;
• scraped knee, boo-boo or band-aid applied;
• encouraging word spoken;
• night hour spent rocking a sick or scared child;
• dispute arbitrated;
• moment spent building with Legos (my personal favorite), coloring, helping with school work, reading a Bible story, listening to a husband/child describe their day;
• moment spent interceding for the spiritual growth and protection of the family (as a whole and as individuals).

(* list taken from Lies Women Believe, Chapter 5.)

Modesty Is The Best Policy

My all time favorite recommendation for challenging our perception of how we dress is this booklet: Christian Modesty, The Public Undressing of America offered by Chapel Library.  If you'd like to peruse their free PDF library or order free materials, click this link.

Ladies, Does How You Dress Cause Men to Lust?
All I can say is WOW!  Every woman should hear and heed the message presented in the link above, seriously.  He emphasizes that he is NOT infringing upon Christian liberty - and he's not.  It is time for the women of God to stand up to the culture and its 'norms' and take back ground that has been lost, or worse given away.

In case you can't view, here are the 10 things which are magnets for a man's eyes:

1. Dresses/skirts with lengthy slits - the higher the slit, the more the man's eyes travel.

2. Dresses/skirts which hug the buttocks - likened to how a prostitute shows her wares (my interpretation).

3. Upper garments which emphasize the breasts - no need to give an anatomy lesson.

4. Unbuttoned, low necklines, blouses that show cleavage.

5. Sleeveless blouses with LARGE armholes which allow undergarments to be shown.

6. Low rise skirts or pants.

7. See through garments - wear a camisole.

8. Skirt/dresses that are too short.  If you have to shimmy to pull your garment down to sit, or give a birds eye view of your undergarments, it is TOO short.

9. Slacks, pants, jeans which hug the buttocks.

10. Bare midriff or back.  If you raise your arms and show some winter white - ditch the blouse/shirt.

Ladies, when we come together to worship God, it should be a safe haven for all.  Our menfolk are so overwhelmed and inundated with flesh and skin every day, everywhere.  We need to give them at least one safe haven.

He quotes Richard Baxter:  "And though it be their sin and vanity that is the cause, it is nevertheless your sin to be the unnecessary occasion . . . You must not lay a stumbling-block in their way, nor blow up the fire of their lust . . . You must walk among sinful persons, as you would do with a candle among straw or gunpowder; or else you may see the flame which you did not foresee, when it is too late to quench it."

My perception of his final admonition? You now have the information, prayerfully seek God and headship (or a mature Christian woman's) input as to whether your attire might cause a brother to stumble.  What is more important?  Our vanity?  Blending with the culture?  OR rather glorifying God and serving Him with a pure heart?

Another site worth viewing:  Does God Really Care What I Wear?

Kastle - 1 Spare Bedroom

It has been a long haul getting everything done - its been a long time coming as well.  Keeping a house is not EASY!

Especially on a tight budget!  Most of the renovations I've done so far are topical - nothing like busting out walls (thank you Lord!) or having to replace walls or floors.  One of the major items that I've been  doing with each room is removing the carpet.  The carpets are over 19 years old - and I'm not replacing them with carpet either!  Right now I'm contenting myself with removing the tack strips (have you ever done that, it's not easy!) and any protruding staples or nails.  That said here is the 1st bedroom:

Stage I - boy friendly - classic colors - plus joy of joys, when we prepped the walls originally (wall board with some type of 'wall paper') we obviously didn't sand well enough and the paint literally peeled.

This is Stage I - how the room looked before I started and this 'program' doesn't allow me to 'place' the pictures as I'd like...so forgive the jumble.

Stage II - Preparing the walls - prepping the walls means, sanding, then vacuuming, then drywall tape and mud. Due to the paint peeling previously it was important to make sure the walls were sufficiently 'roughed' up so the paint would stick.  I definitely didn't want to experience the same situation!  At this juncture I believe the carpet was still on the floor.

Stage III - applying the tape and mud!  And 'making' corners!  Especially on an area that had already been spackled!  Some of these pictures show the first application of tape/mud.  While others may reflect the 2nd or 3rd (busting out the seams as the professionals call it - and no I am NOT a professional!).

Stage IV - I can see light!  Wait, that's the ceiling light!  :-)  Okay, we've finally got the base coat on.  How, you may ask, did I decide on such a rich and vibrant turquoise?  Well simple!  I needed to match a color from the bedding!  Also, at this stage the carpet and padding has been donated to friends who needed it to 'shore' up their dirt road.  All the tack strips and staples have been removed/hammered down.  In this room I thought I needed to 'spruce' up the floor so painted it using deck paint (gray).  I decided to forgo this on all the other rooms.

This shot below gives a better glimpse of the painted floor.

We're making progress!  The paper curtains are off and now we've got 'real' ones!

Ah, just what the room needs, a little rustic touch!  Courtesy of my oldest son!  A chest - and has this come in handy for storing extra linens and blankets!

Now we are almost DONE!  Curtains up - pictures on the wall, desk, chair, dresser!  We're ready for company!

And that completes this room - well as much as I'm willing to do at this juncture - onward!  This whole house project didn't start out that way.  I was simply going to take care of the bathroom and bedroom...wait, I've wanted to paint the kitchen.  Somewhere along this route, the paint was on sale, I had enough drywall tape and mud (or so I thought, hahahaha) to do the W-H-O-L-E house.

Next up...the kitchen - and my on my what a drastic change!

Kastle - Bathroom

While, I'm not quite 'done' with my kastle renovations, I have begun to see an END!  Thank you Lord!

I've several rooms which are either completed or almost completed.  Here's the bathroom in stages.

Stage I - boy friendly symmetrical squares which meshed the colors from both my sons' rooms.  That was a creative chore!

Phase II - we had spackled the cracks - however that really didn't make them 'disappear' so I attempted to work some mud magic.  Drywall tape and mud - it wasn't quite as 'smooth' as I'd have liked.

Phase III - done with mud - now to the base coat - I'm going for an underwater scene, so turquoise to match the curtain (which has now been replaced).

Phase IV - because the 'seams' weren't as 'seamless' as I'd have like and because I was going for the underwater scene, I added some ferns to draw the eye.

Some additional shots - I was looking for fish to put on the wall, and discovered these cool hooks.  My original intent was to paint the fish on the wall; however, I am now in the phase of I want to at least 'feel' like I've made some type of progress!

 

  
 Next up...1st spare bedroom!