It is finally finished.

It's finally done and it only took 4 1/2 years.
Curious?
Well I won't keep you in the dark:
I've painted my bathroom. I know, thrilling, right? I am actually quite thrilled. I love to paint walls and repaint walls. It is the easiest way to change the look of a room and I really, for truly, enjoy the actual work of painting. Before we moved in 4 1/2 years ago I started painting all the rooms in our house and I had this proclivity for stripes. Now stripes in and of themselves are not objectionable but an overkill of stripes, that is another story. The kid room was painted with pink and blue stripes around the bottom and yellow on top. (It is now just green) The "guest" room was painted floor to ceiling in two different blue stripes(it is now just khaki) and my bathroom had horizontal stripes around the tops and bottoms of the walls. Herein lies the problem; I painted the horizontal stripes first, no base coat. Dark green stripes. I then decided that I needed a base coat as the wall was only covered in what amounts to cheap primer (it's a manufactured home) and it could not be cleaned. So I started. I always start with the cutting in as the rolling is the fun part and I never progressed past there. In fact, I never even finished the cutting in because not only did I have the floor and ceiling and doors to cut in around, I had the mirror and the bathtub and the vanity and all those wonderful dark green horizontal stripes. Over the years I have picked up a paint brush every so often and painted a little more but the more I looked at those stripes and the more I painted around them the more I started to dislike them and finally I decided it was not worth it to continue on and I bought a completely new color and some primer and a few glass shelves and in two days, yes, two days I have a new bathroom! My new color is called "Courtyard Shadow" - who comes up with these names? I think I'd like that job...I was going for a blue-gray color and I couldn't bring myself to use a color called "sensual silver" even if it was for a bathroom. It is calming and refreshing now and as a busy busy mom it is so nice to escape to there, lock the doors and just breath for a few minutes without child interruption. Who knew that my bathroom would become my retreat (Or my little piece of denial)?!

The Sun will come out tomorrow and even if it's only figuratively I'm okay with that.

Today has been one of those days. You could call it the "post holiday let-down". I skipped pilates because I was really tired but realized later I should have gone because it's a nice start to my day and usually puts me in a good mood. We made chocolate chip cookies before lunch and that was good but attitudes and behaviors quickly slid downhill after lunch. Clayton refused to take a nap and Ivan fell asleep when I told him to lay on the couch and not move for two minutes. (I was kind of hoping he would sleep...) but all four of my children decided that I needed to work on my patience today and I did not pass that test with flying colors. And at some point I discovered that I miss-buttoned my flannel shirt and was thankful that the only place I went today was Teacher Lynn's house for Hannah's violin lessons. Erik took Hannah with him when he went to his meeting at church and the boys are watching Veggie Tales Pirate Movie, so the day is ending well, and all's well that ends well, right? Tomorrow will be better? For "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it."

It's a New Year? Already?

I've been feeling the pressure from Facebook friends to comment on the coming New Year so to get myself in the mood I went back and read my post from last year. My sentiments regarding looking forward to changing seasons and major events more than the new year still ring true.
Regarding my resolution to-do list:
I did repaint the kiddos room though it needs to be done again. I did not repaint my own. The rock in the driveway was moved and my organizational skills and cleaning motivation have definitely improved. Movies...ahh well, you can't win them all. Actually with the addition of kindergarten homeschooling work into our daily routine the movie watching has diminished.
A lot happens in a year. (Call that the understatement of the year...) There is a little girl crawling around my feet right now who was in my belly at this time last year. There is a Clayton - ayton who happily sings Jingle Bells and no longer wears arm bands at all, who's face is kiss-ably soft once more. There is an Ivan who is four and loves wooden trains and his school work. There is a Hannah who got a violin for Christmas last year and can play a recognizable Jingle Bells and Mary Had a Little Lamb. There is a Erik who still enjoys building houses and is thankful for a wonderful boss to work for and there is me who enjoys her life as a mom but loves mommy-breaks and who finally figured out a sourdough bread recipe that we all enjoy.
I don't think I'll make resolutions this year, they end up to much like to-do lists and I will probably sleep through the changing of the years tonight, unless a little girl I know happens to be hungry.
All that said, for those planning parties and New Year's Eve surprises and kisses, I hope you have a grand time but more than that I pray you do have a wonderful new year!

Tongues

A few weeks ago Ivan stuck out his tongue in jest and I noticed something weird. He had a bald spot. Yes, you read that right, a bald spot, on his tongue. Just off to the side was a very smooth circle on his tongue. I asked if his tongue hurt at all and he said no. I resolved to keep an eye on it and see what happened. I asked him to stick out his tongue the next day and the bald spot was a little smaller and it looked like taste buds where growing back in the middle but on the other side of his tongue there was another little bald spot. So I took to Google and searched (I think I typed in "smooth bald spots on child tongue"). We think he had a case of Geographic Tongue. Apparently it's of no concern but it sometimes happens and "they" don't know why. It's characterized by smooth patches of the tongue that show up in different locations on the tongue but that do grow back. I checked his tongue a few more times and then promptly forgot about it because it didn't bother him at all. Then today, I remembered so I had Ivan stick out his tongue and lo and behold his tongue looks normal. I think I exclaimed, "Why Ivan, your tongue is healed!" To which he replied, "Jesus made me better, he swam from here (pointing to his heart) up to here (his mouth) and made my tongue better."

Made me pause and think of this:

James 3:5-10
Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Dear Jesus,
Please swim from my heart to my tongue and heal it.
Amen

More Red Shoes

What can I say? I love red shoes. These shoes of mine that Hannah is wearing are actually red but I took the photo with black and white film, which I also love, and colored them in by hand on my really, really (really) old Adobe PhotoShop program. Playing with pictures is not my art-form and I'll probably play with this picture more but this is my first attempt and I'm tired. Please don't click on it and look at it closely because you can really tell that it's colored in poorly.





You clicked, didn't you? : (

Boots, Red Boots Part II

They came today! The mailman dropped them off this morning...the shipping box was opened but everything was there. Yay for Red Boots!

Boots, Red Boots

I have a wonderful husband and not just because he lets me buy shoes. I've been eye-ing a really fun pair of boots lately and noticed the other day that they were not only on sale but I could also get an extra 20% off my entire order...alas, there are so many other things that the money could go towards and I already have a few pairs of boots. Well, I was drooling over them when Erik came home early for lunch and we had already discussed me running to T-Spot during his lunch break so I jumped up from the computer and ran for it (I wanted as much time as possible to touch all the yarns...) leaving the picture of the boots on the screen. When I pulled myself away from the yarns and came home I was greeted with, "So are you just hoping those boots will order themselves?" I said, " Well no, I was just looking again." Though I will admit to saying it with just the tiniest of sighs. He gave me a big hug and a kiss and said, "oh, go ahead and buy them."
It seriously made my day and I don't think it was just the prospect of new shoes (red boots at that!) but it was just knowing that my husband, known for being a penny pincher a lot of the time, let me spend a little money frivolously because he loves me. He's a keeper. (Ha! As if there was ever any question.)