Spring MUST be near!

This last weekend I got little accomplished in cleaning inside as I had planned, but My Hero and the kids? WOW! They got so much done, as you will soon see. I didn't get before pictures, so you will have to go by your imagination of a wildly overgrown garden box and it's twin. The weeds, I am sure, looked like 1000 year old trees of Lebanon to the worms and ants below. The dirt...there is good soil under there? The garden boxes looked like the kids room, no floor space to speak of and total chaos, overwhelming to say the least. To sum it all up in one word? They looked like....WORK! A LOT of work!

Richard and the kids starting working on them. Our oldest had begun this a couple weeks ago while Richard and I were away, but he soon found it was a job for....more than one super hero!

How about a Super Family! Yup! That's right! I have a SUPER family!

 This one has to stay in one spot and cannot do any labor that required walking or machinery, but the area he cleared out learned its lesson and I don't think will be back to soon!

 Attitude! It's all about the Attitude!

 Be afraid weeds, be VERY afraid!

I AM THAT HERO!

Next hero is one who looks like a normal teenager with the MP3 player implanted into his ear. Most would comment that must be listening to that crazy music of the young people today or question if he had Lady Gaga in his ear. Aside from the fact he is a teenager they couldn't be more wrong! His favorite thing to listen to on his MP3 player is books! He has listened to more classic than I, or most other adults for that matter, have EVER read! If he isn't listening to books then it may be classical music and then praise and worship music.

 His weed pulling expertise is busy at work, enjoying the less challenging chore of picking the weeds from the loosened dirt and putting them into the compost bucket.

 Ah! He is successful! You can try to win weed, but you will lose! 

I have super weed pulling powers!

 Powers they only wish they had!

 A few pointers from His Majesty the Master Weed Destroyer.

 Die Weeds! Fall like ancient towering trees, crashing to the ground.

  Timber!

 Go, Weed Jack! Go!

 Yes, little hero - you too shall get to use such power tools one day soon.

And though you will have to wait an extra year or two for the privilege of using power tools to fight those weeds, it too will one day be yours as well.

This super hero is truly a princess warrior! Stronger than she looks she tackled that job of leveling the soil divinely. Here you can see the determination to win on her face. She was master of her tools.

 And now for Pertinacious Man vs. Barbaric Mantis.

We all know this battle. The struggle to keep the mantis on the straight path and to be sure that every weed is chewed up into unrecognizable little pieces. The sign that the Mantis has had its cake and eaten it too.

Man tamed this mantis and became the Master Weed Destroyer, 

while the mantis was rewarded with a meal it will never forget! 

The job is complete and ready for planting 

when Mr. Frost has migrated farther North for the spring and summer.

It's Been Some Time Now....

Each time I post here it has been quite a while from the last time. This is the place I would like to post about my family. Our life, our children, our schooling, our living. But all too often life gets in the way and time for posting is rare.

I do have to say that I have found that I enjoy posting on wordpress more, but my family posting is here so I will try and continue at least until I figure out how to switch this blog to my other sight.

Now that the pictures of all the kids are FOUR YEARS old! I guess maybe I should put up new ones. So look soon for new pictures of everyone and a new design? Maybe? (that is why I switched all my other blogs to the other site as I found it easier to design my site - if I can't figure it out here I will definitely have to switch this site over too).

Till then I will just say, have a lovely day!
TTFN

LOVE

God doesn't just sit up in heaven waiting for you to make a mistake. His love is grand and He waits for you to partake in His love. These are just a few scriptures and my thoughts today on what I read about God's love.

Psa 42:8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. (NLT)


Psa 42:8 Then GOD promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God's prayer. (MSG)


Psa 41:11 I know You are pleased with me, for You have not let my enemies triumph over me.
Psa 41:12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; You have brought me into Your presence forever. (NLT)

Psa 33:18 Watch this: God's eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. (MSG)

Psa 51:17 I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice. (MSG)

God's love is extravagant. It is faithful. Constant. Pure. Deep. Waiting. Available. Unending. Perfect. Wide. Ever-present. Sweet. Free. Wanting your attention. It is for you and for me. Take it, accept it, hold it, Maul it around in your mouth. Know how good it is. Know how good God is. God is love. If you cannot live with out love then you are unable to live with out God! Tell Him today how much you need Him. He is there waiting for you to sit and chat with Him. The chat line is always open.

It's been awhile but we are still moving forward...

I thought I would post some new pictures of the Kitchen and the dinning room/school room. Also the living room with all the painting we have gotten done. It has been quite the undertaking.

So let's start with the kitchen.
The first thing I did was take pictures of the bare WHITE walls. Yup, I have never lived in anything but white. Okay, wait! I did have a VERY bright yellow room growing up and man of my dreams and I, well we did paint our bedroom a year and a half ago. But I have never had any color on my living room, dinning room or kitchen walls. Choosing what these colors would be was not so easy. It was a long hard decision.
Our first picture is of the Kitchen with it's white walls and cupboard door fronts.
The counters were unorganized and messy.

It was hard to have much of a vision for this room as there was so much STUFF that didn't fit and we hardly ever saw the counter tops. Sad but true.

We tore all the laminate paper off of the cupboards and drawer fronts due to the stuff we had didn't have very good glue compound and the paper was already peeling off.

One very happy aloe vera plant that LOVES being root bound and not watered! Much anyways. This aloe will get thinned out so that we can actually open the window! I will end up giving away a couple of pots of aloe to others. LOVE having this plant in the house...just wish it would grow in a different window...sigh. It does love it here.
Oh, you will also notice the counters are visible in the last two pictures. My Emerald Eye helper assisted me in "editing" (as she puts it) the kitchen. We went through EVERYTHING in the cupboards and under the sink and drawers and everywhere in the kitchen and decided to only keep in the them what is used on a consistent basis. This items that I cannot get ride of as I use them, just not often enough, went to the garage. The rest of the kitchen items that just haven't been used in the last couple of years (or, realistically more like in the last 8 or 9 years) went bye-bye! With that we have more counter space and room and it is much easier to keep them clean and clear more often. Don't get me wrong, we still have our moments of not being able to see them due to busy schedule or craft projects....or painting projects, but they don't stay that way too long.

More will be posted on the Kitchen transformation in the next day or two as I have time....now that all the pictures are on my computer.

The God Who Can't NOT Give...

Romans 8:32 NLT
"Since God did not spare even His own son, but gave him up for us all, won't God who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?"

God never hesitated to give us His son, Jesus. there were no second thoughts, no questions. This is the depth of His love for us. He never hesitated to send us the only one who could save us - His son. Because of this we can be assured He will never with hold anything we need to be able to live for Him, to walk in complete freedom. The original way He designed us to walk!

I no longer need to beg God for that which I need.
- He is my provider
- He is my peace
- He is my healer
- He is my the one who takes care of me
- He is my wise counselor

In Him I have all I need to live. I will no longer questions Him, as I know He would not with hold from me. His love for me is too deep and too wide to comprehend. When I ask He is moved by my asking.

So how about you? Do you see God as being moved by your asking? Do you see Him as holding out till you "get it straight?" Or do you see God as the Father who loves his children to ask of him and to give to them? You know like the daddy that is wrapped around his little girls finger? Do you see God as wrapped around your finger. This isn't the "I can manipulate God to give me anything" type of statement. This is the daddy who gives good things to his children who knows when it is a good thing and knows when to say no to protect the child. But when it is not of harm to the child this Daddy is the kind of daddy who just cannot say no and LOVES to bestow good gifts to his children.
So I ask you again, do you realize that you captivate your heavenly Father's heart? You didn't do anything to deserve it, never could have. You can't do anything to earn it, and you never can! He just loves you to pieces. I dare you to ask with the boldness of Esther. With the child like heart of a little child to it's daddy. Go ahead, ask.

I am sure you all are wondering....

Is it done yet? Does she ever finish anything????
Well, yes I do finish projects (sometimes much later than I meant to...hee hee) and no we are not done yet. The heat wave here prevented us from finishing the painting up stairs as the paint was drying on the roller between the pan and the wall! I was constantly picking latex off the walls, so I put a stop to it all until it cools down. The down side to this meant that we wouldn't start back up again until school started. As many of you know we homeschool our children so "school starting back up" doesn't mean freedom or more time for me....it means less. Thus my Emerald Eye lady and I will work together once a month after the 18th.
I am hoping to have time the weekend of the 11th - 13th to up load some pictures of where we were and where we are now so that you all can see just how things are progressing.
Until then you will just have to do with words...so sorry.
Sorry I haven't posted recently but between trying to work as many days as both Emerald Eye Elf and I had avaiable to work together and then starting school with the kids by the 17th of August (yes we always start this early to get extra time off during the holidays and to end before Memorial Day) I just didn't have the time to post before. I should be posting at least once a month now with updates.

Excuse Our Mess...We are Under Construction

It has been a few weeks since I last posted about all our home make over stuff. We had several days where we were waiting on things to arrive (the boys' beds) or people to be available that could assist us in installing some things. With that they have all been here and gone and I just haven't had time to get pictures and sit and write. Though it doesn't look like it in our house right now (the old school room has taken over the living room and down stairs area...lol) we have been working on getting the kitchen ready! However, I am running ahead and need to slow down now so that I may show you the nearly final pictures of the office and the boys' Room.

Let's start with Man of my Dreams' office. He has been ever so content working in his office, having everything he needs right at his finger tips!


His "Tech board" is finally no longer in threat of being knocked down or the sticky notes getting knocked off and then trying to remember what status that customer was at.


The balloon was a gift from the guys at the Tacoma Museum Of Glass hot shop. This is one of our clients and every so often they will give Man of my Dreams a little gift as a thanks for the support we provide. I love this balloon, and yes it really is just glass. It hangs from some fishing line so it looks as though it is just floating there. I am almost tempted to update this particular shot as it is even more polished looking with 3 computers up on the tech bench and the other printer in there as well as the latest file cabinet that we picked up at a GREAT deal on Craigslist.


Now off to the boys room. What I realized here was that I forgot to get a picture of the room from the bed...HA! Well, here is a shot of their new bed anyway. They LOVE it and so do I! Everyone has their own space and it is clearly marked. They will have magnetic boards (just awaiting install) next to each of their beds to hang what ever on (this is the cure to using push pins and staples...yeah!) They all have a hanging, three compartment, thing from IKEA for their current book, light wedge and MP3 players. The boys above will probably end up with some sort of shelf or something as well for their alarm clocks...yes they all have different times that I require them to get up in the morning.
Well, there you have it for now. My pot rack has arrived but we must wait until the weather is cool enough to put it up. I did get my pantry mostly organized...I forgot the before pictures of that but will have the after pics once the door organizer is up and in use. This Monday we begin on the kitchen! I got my paint last night for kitchen, dining and living rooms. I can hardly wait to begin!