The Dining Room Process

We have disliked the dining room chair rail job in our house since we moved in almost 4 years ago.  I recently decided to do something about it.  Here's the progress so far.

BEFORE

Notice the beautiful brown globs of glue peeking out from behind the moulding.

Next, notice the chunks of drywall that were removed with the glue.  We used acetone to try to release the grip of the glue.  It worked better in some places than others.

After that, we used joint compound to fill in the chunks of missing drywall.  We smoothed things out with a putty knife.

After this step, we used a spray can of Knockdown texture to recreate the look of the original wall texture.  I didn't take a picture of that.  

Next, I primed the newly textured area where the chair rail used to reside and also primed over the incredibly dark navy blue on the bottom half of the wall.  It took three coats to cover up the navy!  I tried to take a picture just now, but it's pretty hard to get a picture of a plain white wall.  That's all it is right now, just plain white primer.

Today, I shall paint the wall from floor to ceiling in our new color selection, Bonjour Beige by Glidden.  I'll post a picture when I get that all done!

Another Blog

I started a side blog this morning.  Keep me accountable to update it and be reading my Bible!

My Word from God

Hearing the Voice of God

i have been trucking along in my walk as a Christian, trying my best to follow God's commands as i know them to be from my past Bible reading and study.  over the last several...maybe 6-12 months...i have been relying on what i already know, but i have not made Jesus my one priority.  my priority has been myself, my emotions, my enjoyment, my feeling of security, my this, my that.  

as i should, i have continued in my commitment to expose myself to God's word through church and such.  what i have not done is to sit down and ask God for a word for me and then open the Bible and seek it out for myself.  this is about to change.  today.

i heard a sermon on wednesday night at church that i enjoyed, but i didn't really take anything way from it.  i talked with kristin on thursday about how the point of the message was potentially useful for someone else, but i wasn't really thinking of myself at that point.  that changed during a 30 minute drive on friday.  i realized that wednesday's message was a word for me!  the message had been about losing sight of Jesus.  he had pointed out that it is even possible to lose Jesus while doing things in his name.  it's possible to lose your focus on Jesus by doing things that are perfectly acceptable and good.  but sometimes you need to stop where you are and turn around, go back to where you lost sight of Jesus, leaving behind the crowd you've been traveling with.

ok, where am i going with this in terms of my own life?  i have been struggling (although i didn't realize i was struggling) with decisions about the fall.  since leaving the nazarene church and giving up my role as leader of our mops group, i have been seeking out a new group.  there are two choices, one that meets twice a month, but conflicts with my weekly Bible study (which is also a Bible study for caleb) and the other meets once a month, but does not conflict with my Bible study.

i had pretty much made up my mind to quit my morning Bible study to attend the twice a month mops group.  i would still do the Bible study, but would attend on monday evenings without caleb.

i received a phone call from the Bible study leader, asking if i would interview for a children's leader position.  this threw a wrench in my plan.  i began feeling doubt about my decision to switch from the daytime Bible study for both myself and caleb to the evening Bible study that would not include caleb.  i was still leaning strongly toward the switch though...

so, in the car on friday, i realized that i was following the crowd, but not keeping my eyes on Jesus.  several of my mops friends were going to attend the other mops group (the one that conflicts with my Bible study) and i was seeking to remain a part of my group of friends.  that's not a bad thing, but the problem was that i was seeking it because it made me feel good, but not because i had been seeking to follow Jesus.

confirmation came on friday night.  i attended a beth moore simulcast at my church.  the message was about working for my 100-fold harvest.  it was about hearing God's word and not letting it slip by without taking root in my heart.  it was also about taking that word that i've hidden in my heart and applying it to my life, helping me to achieve my 100-fold harvest.  she placed emphasis on the 100 fold harvest not necessarily meaning 100 folks.

my application: stick with my daytime Bible study, interview for the children's leader position, and watch God continue to work in me through the study of His word.

Sticky Fingers

NO, this post isn't about Caleb playing the syrup or glue.  In fact, it isn't about Caleb at all.

This post is about an anonymous person who apparently has little or no sense of proper ethics.  You see, I was checking our bank account online this morning.  Fortunately for us, this is a habit of mine.  What I came across when I looked at our transactions was not a pretty sight!  In 5 days, someone had debited our account in excess of $400!  

If you ask me, the person probably isn't that bright though.  They didn't buy gas or clothes or food, which would be almost untraceable; they paid bills, or at least that's what it seems like.  The largest charge was for $370 on an insurance policy.  I would think that would be pretty traceable!  They also paid for phone service and made two other small transactions.  

Of course, I'm filing a fraud claim and we'll be reimbursed for what's already been taken, but we had to cancel Jadie's debit card, which will take a while to replace.  Annoying!

The ironic part?  Jadie uses his debit card far less than I use mine.  I would think that my card would run the higher risk of being stolen.  And even though the charges originate from his card number, the actual card is still in his wallet!

Owning a Home...

Isn't all it's cracked up to be!

Yes, it is wonderful to have a space to call your own.  Yes, it is nice to think about being able to sell your house for a profit years down the road.  Yes, it can be fun to dream about home improvements and design upgrades.  But it is not fun to spend big bucks on something absolutely necessary that isn't aesthetically pleasing or even readily visible.

What the heck am I talking about?

Monday night Jadie discovered a section of our roof was drooping near the eave of the house by the chimney.  He stood on a chair for further examination.  After lifting the shingles and feeling underneath them, he discovered that the decking was completely rotted out!  The only thing keeping water out of our attic is a thin layer of shingles!  

Last night he busted out the ladder for a more thorough inspection.  He discovered that all of the decking around the chimney is rotten and that there is no metal flashing where the shingles meet the chimney.  Is this why the decking is rotten?  Because of water being allowed to seep between the shingles and the chimney, with no way of escape?  Could this be the source of our problem?  If so, is it the fault of the roofer who installed our new roof only 4 years ago?  If so, can we hold him responsible?  If so, do we want to go to the trouble?

Great!  How much is this gonna cost us?  We'll find out soon enough.  I have 3 companies coming out for a free estimate and a handyman friend of a friend that I'll be calling to come out also.

This one's from a few weeks ago, but so precious!

Daughters Do Demolition

Kristin and I spent all day yesterday destroying Mom's master bathroom!  Just kidding...we did do some demo work, scraping off wall paper, prying off panelling, and scraping off popcorn ceiling gunk.  We also took off cabinet doors to be cleaned.  Right before closing time, Kristin and I rushed to Home Depot to pick paint colors for the walls and cabinets (which we've worked hard to convince mom to let us paint).  

Unfortunately, demolition is all that we were able to accomplish during this quick trip, but we plan to return next month to plaster the walls with texture and paint the walls and cabinets.  We will also retexture the ceiling with a sand texture.

I don't know what's wrong with me.  I had my camera and everything, but I neglected to take any pictures!  Maybe I'll remember to take one before we start repairing our damage...