Lessons From Gideon

Some recent goings-on (and some not so recent) have prompted me to once again start evaluating where I stand in my life. 

With my lovely daughter being a senior this year, I am quickly closing in on the empty-nest syndrome. 

And with the advent of the empty-nest syndrome comes the inevitable question: "So what are you going to do now?"

GRRRRR!!!

Yes, all these people are very well-meaning, they are only curious about this because they know that I have devoted the last 16 years to be being a full-time home-schooling mom.  

And I know that I do get annoyed far too easily.  My knee-jerk reaction is "What's wrong with what I'm doing now? Why do I have to do something else?" After all, I do have a part-time job as a piano teacher extraordinaire ;)

And the rest of my time is spent, as those of you who read my blog know, working on my home.  

So this has been on my mind for a while, but then a few weeks ago I started a Bible study on Gideon.  Those of you who know the story of Gideon know that he was challenged by God to step way outside of his comfort zone and become the leader (judge) God intended for him to be.  Gideon seemed to be a guy with a major self-esteem issue. He didn't seem to think very highly of himself, so he couldn't really see why God would think that people would actually follow his lead in any daily activity, let alone in going to battle against their enemies, the Midianites. In this, I seem to have a lot in common with Gideon, for you see, this has always been my fear. My excuse if you will, for not stepping out and leading.  That fear is grounded in reality, for I have had bad experiences with stepping out and leading where I thought that God wanted me to go.  And not waiting for God to tell me where He wanted me to lead resulted in... well, poor results.  

And now I feel God tugging at my heart to do...something.  No, I'm not sure what.  Does it involve furniture?  I don't know.  I think maybe in a perfect world it does. :)

I'm sure it involves stepping out of my comfort zone.  Going to battle with my poor self-esteem. Loving people like Jesus did.  

I am trying to quietly and patiently wait for God to whisper my mission in my ear. 

So tough, when I seem to be so good at making up my own missions!

I thought I would add a few of my artsy-fartsy pics for your entertainment pleasure! :)

Oh, and by the way, I believe I have it set up so that if you feel so moved, you can subscribe to my posts to get them by email.  Look for the subscribe button on the right. 

Blessings,

Ronda

4 Hours!!

This morning/afternoon I spent 4 hours sanding a cabinet door!  

It was certainly not how I would have chosen to spend this day.  But since starting this kitchen renovation, I have been trying very hard to make sure that everything that I do will be something that I can be happy with for a very long time.  

So after finishing my pantry (alright, not truly finished as we still don't have the crown molding on it), I realized that I much preferred the finish that I ended up with on that piece to the first cabinet that I had painted black. 

No pic of the other cabinet, but it was just too shiny and the distressing didn't show as much as I would like.  

Here's where my inexperience shows, since I thought that I would just lightly sand to take the shine off, then be able to put another coat of paint, distress again, and top coat like I did the pantry.  

BUT NO!!

I started sanding and the poly coating started to roll and ball up. GRRRR!

So, using a sanding block, I tediously sanded the poly coating off of a cabinet door.  I did it very cautiously to try to avoid over-distressing. I used tweezers to peel it out of the corners!!!  

And the whole 4 hours I was sitting outside in the blazing heat!

Actually it wasn't terrible in the shade. 

And when I was finished I was covered in black dust!

I don't have a pic of the finished product, but honestly, I am still trying to decide whether it is too distressed for my taste. 

In the mean time, note my new clock!

And me trying to be artistic...

Blessings,

Ronda

Fruit Flies and Moles and Hills, Oh My!

I am SOOOOO tired of having fruit flies in my house!

And I am SOOOOOO tired of having moles in my yard!

Little pests!

But I am progressively working on getting rid of the fruit flies using the funnel-in-a-jar-of-fruit method.  

The moles on the other hand have me stymied.  I have read of various methods, but outside of standing in the yard with a shovel, silently waiting for movement, I've not had much luck.  Even my cat, who patiently sits and stares at the ground for hours on end, seems to have had no luck with moles this summer.  

Although I live in the country and "country folk" are not supposed to care about their yards, I still have a desire for my yard to look like this:

When the reality of it is this:

Ok, so maybe that is a slight exaggeration.  Maybe a little more like this:

And this:

Ok, just kidding, but the shot of the mole hills really is what it looks like.  

Enough whining.  Maybe someday I will be rich and will be able to pay a gardener to make sure I have a beautiful yard. :)  

Maybe...

(Remember, my hubby is a pastor...)

Blessings,

Ronda

The Red Door

Happy Saturday to you all!

This was a rather unusual Saturday for me.  

I usually spend at least part of my day cleaning the house.  But today, I had projects that were calling to me...

Every time I walked by the front door...

Going THIS way...

...and THAT way...

I thought, "how terribly brown this area is!" 

(Please ignore the mess in the above pic.  That is, of course, my second project of the day.)

Anyone that had been to my house in the last few days had seen my little paint chips taped to the front door as I tried to decide on the perfect color.  This area was just BEGGING for a POP of RED!

Decision-making in general is not one of my strong suites, but when it comes to choosing the perfect shade of red...that was AGONIZING!!

Time will tell.  It changes throughout the day.  If I don't like it, it will only take another coat or 2 of paint.  

It's growing on me :)

The front entryway still needs something...

Definitely need to rid the area of the last vestiges of the orangey pine trim seen in the pic.  

Next up...

A Day of Rest :)

Have a blessed Sabbath!

Blessings, 

Ronda

Back Hallway and Hoosier Cabinet

I really thought that I might wow you all and put up two posts in as many days, but it just wasn't meant to be!

I did have a very enjoyable evening out last night with a bunch of other homeschool moms. Yes, we are still technically homeschoolers, even though Cammi is taking 2 classes at the high school this year.  

So one of the things that I have done along with the overall painting downstairs was paint a chalk board strip on my back hallway. 

This is what greets most people when they enter the house, since most use the back door. You can see, it is also where all of our "stuff" gets dropped when we come home.  I actually cleaned it up some for this shot! 

I knew that we had to have places to hang coats and such here, so when I started talking about what to use, DH remembered the coatracks that were in the old church.  So we contacted the new owners and sure enough there was still one there.  There were originally at least 4, but no idea what happened to the rest of them.  

I'm not great at fancy handwriting, but it's fun coming up with things to write on the chalkboard.

Part of the reason that we wanted to make the kitchen larger was to be able to move my Hoosier cabinet in there.  This originally belonged to my great-grandma.  

Since this is meant to be a kitchen piece, I thought that I would fill it with kitchen items.

The red recipe box was my grandma's and has her recipes still in it. 

Yes, the chocolate chips are a temptation. ;)

Love cookbooks!!

Blessings,

Ronda

Linking to:

Hey-O!!

I know, Belle Sutton, it has been a long time since I blogged!  Thanks for the reminder!

Our family just got back from a wonderful vacation with my extended family in Gatlinburg, TN.

We stayed in a 7 bedroom cabin high up in the Smokies.  

It actually rained every day...

But in between storms we played some games, took some hikes, ate good food, went ziplining and white water rafting.

Me, the hubs, the kids and spouses. 

Blessings, 

Ronda

Another Step in the Right Direction!

AHHHHH!!  I am so excited!

No, it's not completely done, but...things are moved back and I am unpacking boxes. 

Here is the view at this point from the front door...

And the view from the back door...

Obviously, there are still many things to finish.  Most notably, the base cabinet with now countertop on the left.  And yes, I have removed the doors from the pantry on the right in preparation for painting it.  

And yes, that is hubby's air compressor sitting in the kitchen! He decided it wasn't worth taking back out to the garage since he hasn't quite finished putting on baseboards.  

Exciting times!! We are just a handfull of boards away from having the floor complete!  

Blessings, 

Ronda