Results

My apologies in being a WEEK late on the results of my aspirations.  Things have been... nuts. :)

I'm sure you're sitting on edge wondering what in the world I had planned to do, but let me tell ya, you can scoot back.  For most of you, disappointment will probably invade your mysterious excitement.

What I had decided to do, was to paint our bedroom and dressers as a surprise to my hubby.  He was going to be working yet another 14 hour day, and I thought it would be a wonderful, lifting encouragement for him to come home to a 'new' bedroom.

You have to understand WHY this is such a big deal.  I've struggled so long with discontentment with this house, that I (we) got to a place where we started letting things go.  Add to that, no money, no desire, no energy, and you have a small, messy, cluttered, outdated home.  I should actually use the word house not home because it stopped being a home to us years ago.

With all the changes God has been doing in my heart the past few weeks, one of the challenges He's given me is to change my attitude towards my house, and make it a home again.  Regardless of how my hubby may still feel about the house, if I can change MY attitude and actions, perhaps it will begin to reduce his discontentment with the house.

All nonverbal of course. ;)

Over the past couple of weeks, I've made it a point to keep parts of the house clean as much as possible (I do have 3 tornadoes five and under), as well as work on the rooms that have gotten left out.  I'm sure one of the kids (or ME) will break a neck or leg by tripping over the toys strewn horrendously in their rooms.  I set up a schedule to work 30 minutes in each bedroom (yes, ours too) and the computer/school/everything else room.

I've been happy to complete this at least half the days in a week for the past two weeks, and I love that my hubby comes home to a cleaner house.

**I need to put in here that he DOES NOT CARE at all what the house looks like.  While that is a HUGE blessing, it is also a curse for me.  But as everyone knows, a clean house encourages a calming spirit. :)  or so I'm told. ;)**

I've become more organized with my house (okay, I'm getting there), and more organized with my schedule. It helps that I've committed to staying up until he gets home from his 3rd job at 12:10am, and getting up with him at 6am.  More time with kids sleeping equals more time to organize and clean.

The biggest change of all is my attitude... I'm enjoying getting things in order.  I'm enjoying cleaning (well... more than before).  :)  I'm enjoying seeing the change in my husband because of the change in me.

I decided last minute to take on the challenge of redoing our bedroom, both to encourage him and to encourage me.  It really needed a makeover.  My mother-in-law gave us a bedspread four months ago that I refused to put on the bed until the room was painted.  yep, that's pretty much how long things take to get done around here... actually, it's more like years.


I hit up my favorite painting girlfriends for advice and encouragement (see previous post here), and added that to my limited knowledge of decorating and went for it.

I managed to paint the room, one complete dresser, and almost all of the second dresser, plus clean it up (enough) and put the bedspread on before he came home from work.

He. Loved. It.

He loved everything about the room, unfinished as it still is, but even more, he loved that I did it for him.

The room still isn't done.  I decided during the project that I wanted to also paint the ceiling and headboard, as well as do another coat on the 4th wall (I didn't paint it because I wanted it to stay that color.  However, the blue expo marker is begging to be painted over since I cannot get it off!).  The past few days I've also decided I want to rearrange the room.  Hubby doesn't know yet, because there's really only one other way to do it, and he doesn't like it that way.  I think he might now though??  :) We'll find out!

I also want to actually decorate the walls, something that has never been done in the almost 12 years we've lived here.  That is definitely an area I am handicapped in...

Here's a few before/after pics.  WHEN I finish the whole thing, I will post more.

It was such an uplifting encouraging thing to ME to see what I can actually accomplish when I put my mind to it!  I'm starting to win the battle of disability in life by doing and seeing I CAN do it.

God is so good!  I'm am very thankful He doesn't give up but keeps at me to change.  Thankful my stubbornness didn't win out this time! ;)

Both dressers looked like this.  They were given to us 12 years ago and I've always hated them.  Not until I met Kathy K. did I realize you could paint furniture to look like whatever you wanted. :)

(note the expo marker on the chocolate wall...)

I don't have any before pics of the room.  We didn't have a bedspread and as mentioned above, the room was a disaster.  It took me a long time to clean it, and you'll notice the left side of the room is missing... because I didn't get the piles of laundry completely folded/hung/put away. :P