Here is a lovely blanket rack I purchased from someone on eBay.  I am going to do paint it white, it will be perfect for hubby to hang his clothing on that he wants to wear again, instead of on the end of the bed!!!!

Today I was feeling a bit down about having to move to a new town (and needed to get away from a clingy, screaming baby for a few hours) so I went out and purchased some renovating and decorating magazines and a tin of white paint:)  I am excited about having our own place that we can do up and having a bit of land to plant lovely gardens, have hens and space for the children but just wish it was not so far away.  It is not that I don't want to go and do what God has called us to do it is just I don't want to do it in the location he wants us to go to.  At least I have the house reno plans to help me keep my mind from having to move.

I went window shopping to get some decorating ideas and found these wall decals.  So glad I found then today as I was going to purchase a set from ebay, these were half the price from House and Garden.

This writing will be going on the patio wall after I bag and render the walls. The front patio in this house is like another room without 2 walls the patio leads to the front door and will be the perfect games/reading and morning/afternoon tea area.

This book I purchased today is divided into 4 areas and has little pockets where I can put clippings and paint samples.  I am going to divide the book up into 4 areas bedrooms, wet areas (bath room, toilet, laundry, kitchen), living areas (lounge, dining room and office) and outdoors (patio's and gardens)

My stash of Mags I got, when I went to Mitre 10 I found all these free plan project planners I grabbed a heap covering everything from rendering, painting to building guinea pig cages and forts.

My Decorating Style

When we moved into the house we are currently living in 4 years ago and I changed my decorating style many people told me I must be crazy to paint my furniture white.  And to tell you the truth a few years ago I would have thought the same, white furniture and young children just don't mix.  Well it was the best thing I ever did, for starters you can see if it is dirty and if the coffee table happens to get scratched or marked you can either say it is part of the charm or take it outside and give it a fresh coat of paint. 

It is such a great style to have with young children you can pick stuff up cheap and make it over, then there is not concern if accidents happen.  I would much prefer my kids to be able to be kids and learn to take care of things that are not valuable.  How much more will they care for items of value.  I also have never put things up when my children are toddlers, I taught them what they could and could not touch and when we went visiting I did not have to worry about them touching and breaking things.  And yes one of my children was a strong willed child and it did take a lot more work this this one than my other two but it can be done.  Will post about how I did this at a later stage.

At the moment my decorating style is shabby meet cottage with french provincial twists and a bit of contemporary.  I am not a true shabby chic as I am not really into lots of floral, lace and frills around the place.  I love french and cottage kitchens and love white furniture and two toned furniture.  I also love country stuff as well.  Decorating with this style has made our house a lot more homely.  And another great thing about this style you can pick up old pieces of furniture and give them a face lift.  It is perfect for my stage of life.  I love to mix and match stuff from different styles.

Here are a few photos of my house.  You will see more in later posts.

I painted our old coffee table white and put baskets under it.  One basket for news papers one for decorating/craft magazines and one for knee blankets.

 I picked this kitchen hutch up for next to nothing it had been used in a garage to store tools and stuff I sanded it and gave it a fresh coat of paint and new draw knobs.

Yes we even have a whitish dog, well where we live he is quite often tinted orange as he has a love for dirt and mud.

I did up our old pine bed it was starting to look dull you know the look pine gets when it is getting old.  I painted it antique white and got the spray of flowers sent over from America and it has made such a difference.  I will be doing a post on our bedroom in the coming weeks.  I gave our room a makeover as an anniversary gift for my hubby.

Moving here was one part of discovering me I had always been kind of tomboyish, trying so hard not to be a girl, but also wanting to be a girl but just now knowing where to start or wanting to look silly in the process.  Learning to like me has been a long had hard journey one that I am still on.  Growing up I was constantly aware that I never really measured up, though no one would have known.  How easy it is to hide how we feel inside. I am the Master of mask making.  I was a pastors kid and ran the youth group, and Sunday school, song lead regally, shared in Church, while all the time feeling that I was not good enough.  I had a good relationship with the Lord as he was my only real friend, but still struggled with who I was and that I was not good enough. 

I have to remind myself daily that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  I am a child of God and was created by him and by not liking me I am telling God that his creation is a mistake.  I am sure I am not the only one who battles with who they are, but once we start to discover God and his heart we can learn to accept our self.  For me this is my struggle, the one thing I battle with, the one thing I do not want to pass onto my children.  Oh how I want them to be secure in who they are and know they are amazing and measure up. 

So how did I get onto that oh that's right decorating, learning what I like and to put pretty things out is okay, to let people know I like china and girly stuff is okay.  To want to make a nice homely home for my family is again okay.  I don't have to keep all this inside I can let people see me and if they don't like it that is okay.  It does not change who I am.

Psalm 139:14 declares, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

I read these quotes the other day from a great blog Chats with an Old Lady.  This is one of my favourite blogs to visit.  I thought this was so in season for my life now.  The quotes are from C. J MaHaney from his book entitled "HUMILITY--True Greatness",

"Serving others for the glory of God. This is the genuine expression of humility; this is true greatness as the Savior defined it."

I particularly liked this quote below:

When God sees a mom with small children daily serving in her home, for HIS glory, He calls that TRUE GREATNESS! Isn't that encouraging?

Galations 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

What to do.

Don't you just love school holidays :) no morning rush.  This morning my daughter wanted pancakes, we made the pancake mixture, I went off to be sick again (at the moment this is a common occurrence in our household) the my husband came home from work and cooked them for me:)

What a great way to start the day :) (I mean the pancakes, not being sick)

So what do you do when you have had 14 and a half weeks of the worst morning (all day) sickness, no social interaction other than school pick up.  You teach yourself to crochet, make a list of projects you would like to finish.  Well actually I only have done that in the last week.  To be totally honest, the last 14 weeks have been very challenging, lonely and frustrating for me, but also a time where the Lord had to teach me a few things. 

For those of you who do not know me, I am not one to sit down and do nothing I am always on the go, doing this and that.  I actually find it very hard to just sit and watch tv or blob.  I feel that I must be doing something that I am being lazy if I just sit.  (This is something I am working on and having a very lade back husband has helped me allot)  So you can imagine how hard it has been for me not to be able to do anything, had trouble cooking, cleaning, just getting through the day was a challenge.  I was nauseous all the time, had head spins, sooo tired and the smell or though of food made me ill.  Even the smell toast or peanut butter had me running.  The Lord showed me 2 things the first was am I a Mary or Martha.  Here is the little article I wrote for our church ladies newsletter.  (Now when I wrote this I did not know I was pregnant I had actually been suffering from morning sickness)

Luke 10 : 38 - 42

Mary Or Martha 

This past week I have been sick with the flu and then twisted my ankle. I had so many plans for the first week of the school holidays, outings, cleaning, you name it, it was on my list. Then I got sick and hurt myself and all my plans went out the window.

I was reading the bible and read the story of Mary and Martha. The story stirred something in me and made me evaluate and think about my life, (especially the last few years since being married and a mum) my priorities. I pondered on the Western life in general.

I am very Martha like, and I saw myself in a new light. Running to and fro, taking care of everything, doing and cleaning and always on the go, when the most important thing is to just be still and listen to His voice and have a worshipful spirit.

Then I came across this quote on a friend’s facebook page.

“ Slow us down, dear Lord. We’ve been like Martha, worried and distracted, instead of Mary, who spent time at Your feet, enjoying and adoring You. Please change our hearts..”

Learning to spend time at the Lord’s feet like Mary is a hard thing to do. It is easy to get distracted by life, the children, the fly on the wall, that ball of fluff on the floor.

Many times I am so busy doing things that I miss out on what he has for me and miss out on a relationship with him. Our culture is one that is on the go all the time and it is hard to find the time.

Don't get me wrong we need Martha but sometimes Martha can get lost with the doing, coming and going. My prayer for all of us is that we learn to fit a bit of Mary's nature into our lives everyday.

Quote:

It's exciting to live in complete oneness with the will of God. It is never dull or static because it is not a one-time, once-for-all commitment. It is something we have to work at constantly, moment by moment.--Evelyn Christenson

So that was the first lesson then after about 10 weeks of being sick and having had prayer for the morning sickness I was asking God why, why, why.  By this point was was totally frustrated, then he showed me that he had allowed me to this sick, he did not heal me as it was the only way he could get me to sit and listen.  (I must not have learnt the lesson that he showed me about Mary and Martha).  It was during this time that I was shown what he wanted me to do, just sit in his presence and pray and intercede for member and situations in my family.  I was being called to pray.  It was a time that I really needed to pray about a situation and the outcome was better than I could have imagined.

The last few weeks the morning sickness is not as bad and I have a few hours during the day when I am okay.  So I decided to learn how to crochet, something I have always wanted to learn.  I started with "The art of crochet" subscription every 2 weeks I will learn a new stitch and at the end of it I will have made a lovely throw. 

Other projects I am planning to do as I get better are:

 I painted all our furniture in our room white but I still have not found the right knobs for the draws. 

 This desk I got for my eldest from ebay for $15 needs some tlc, a new coat of paint and some new draw knobs.

 Thinking of painting this tallboy white to go with the girls room.  Needs new knobs and am thinking of removing the panels in the cupboard and replacing them with mesh or over them in some pretty material, or paint a picture on them.

 Oh my what was I thinking 9 years ago when I painted this change table yellow.  In my defence I though it was a lighter colour.  This need a new coat of paint and some tlc.

And my lovely table I picked up over a year ago.  I started sanding it needs to be totally sanded and repainted.  There are 3 coats of paint on it and it was finished with this terrible poo brown colour :(

And get my sewing machine fixed.

So that should keep me out of trouble for a few weeks.  Will post as I finish each project.