Happy Birthday Holly!

Today is my big sis's birthday so I thought I would honor her with this post! When we were little we didn't hang out that much.. we were 5 years apart so maybe our interests varied a bit...
However I always looked up to her... when I was in kindergarden and she was at school I would always play in her room (strawberry short cake behind the bed... there was a space between the bed and the wall.)
When she was in High School I always admired her taste in music and clothes. I would borrow her cassette tapes now and then... (oops without asking)
When she went away to college I cried myself to sleep for 3 nights... that's when we became friends and I would go visit her at Western Illinois University.
She took me to a resale shop called spirit in the sky... I loved it!
We've been the best of friends ever since.
She married a wonderful man Chris Adkins who takes the best care of her and together they have 4 irresistable kids Sydney, Marie, Luke, and Faye.
Happy Birthday Holly... You're the best BIG SIS ... EVER!

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War Week

Good Luck to the "Crew" at War Week. Great War Week video posts on www.erikscottberg.blogspot.com and www.misteng.blogspot.com
.. or you can click on "Mike" or "Perik" in my side bar.

I will be praying for your safety and effectiveness of your ministry! Have a great time!

Icky Wall...

At about 5pm yesterday I finally finished stripping the wallpaper in the bathroom... One of the last areas I had to do was behind the toilet ... which was awfully close to the wall. Mike was a nice guy and pulled the toilet for me!

I had a sneaky suspicion that there would be a situation behind there because I saw the paper peeling quite a bit more than average..... low and behold...

A Big Moldy spot! EEEW! Gross! Well, mold is just something we are not willing to tolerate in the Stenglein household!



Soooo... we took a quick trip to Lowes. (Unfortunately that's really our only choice... I know I know we would prefer Home Depot too)
When we got back we did all the preparations necessary for a quick switch-a-roo...
Mike cut the new piece while I cut through the old one... then we quickly yanked the nasty piece and swept up the debris so we could quickly slide the new one without having the wall open for too long. (Incase there were any mor surprises (spiders) lurking in there... we're really a pair :)




There's the new piece... I know ... It's blue! Well, it was the perfect size... and we really didn't want to buy a whole sheet of drywall... plus as an added bonus it's moisture resistant! No one will ever know once it's painted.

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Our weekly visits...

For the past 4 sundays we have been "visitors"... it's nice to see and feel how different churches operate, and feel the chemistry.. and interesting to BE the visitor for the first time in a while....
But there's nothing like having a church home and family that you can "Come Home To" every week or multiple times a week.
This week we visited the Coweta First Assembly of God. Mike and I both really enjoyed the service, we felt God's presence there, and had a chance to briefly chat with a handful of the members of the congregation.
We chatted about it afterwards... and would like to go back again... if not several more times... we really enjoyed it! I say that with a huge smile on my face... as nice as it is to visit and observe, we both have hearts for service and are anxious to get involved in fulfilling God's will for our lives.
Oddly enough that is what the pastor talked about today..
"For I know the plans I have for you says God.
Plans for good and not for evil
Plans to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11
"When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Psalm 139:16
Every one of us were created uniquely for God's purpose, let us not waste another minute in hesitation.
Thank you God for calling me to know you and be your servant, may the words that I say and write be used to glorify you, Jesus.

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Master totally done...

Before... The walls were off white with a border... I took the border down before taking the picture... oops!

After... I of course needed to have a very green room... it's funny because I think I almost think I do it subconsciously in each home... Then I realized after I picked it. :) Anyways I wanted the walls to kinda glow... I did a simple metallic glaze and am happy with the results!

Closets... one of the more important aspects of "Mission - Update and organize Master Suite" (Before pic not rotated... whoops... you get the idea though)

I painted, bought organizers and arranged clothing by category... (I did Mike's too)

Now that that's finished I will probably take a break for a bit... save some pennies for the next project (except of course the bathroom I already started taking down the wallpaper in)... then I hope the next project will be a paid project in someone else's home! :)

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Tunes...

One of my favorite things to do is jam to some good tunes and paint... walls, canvas, furniture... whatever...

While painting my bedroom today some of my selection has included:
Bare Naked Ladies
Casting Crowns
Rig 'N Rich

Some other favorites ... Indigo Girls, Van Morrisson, Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Al Green, Bob Seger, David Crowder, Paul Simon, Almost any Sound Track... and last but not least... Random All .... All Great Road Trip tunes too...

What do you jam to?


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First Project Completed...

One of my first projects was to get our bed and bath painted to our liking... I finished the bathroom over the weekend...

Before:
The Bathroom was blue with a border which came down with a small amount of elbow grease...



After: I painted the walls a dark greenish brown and added 4" Metallic Bronze stripes. I also painted the cabinets a cream color and rubbed an oak wax on them leaving color in the creases... hardawre is new too...

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Yesterday I moved on to the bedroom... I got the border down in like 5 minutes... It came down like tape... I felt so encouraged that I moved onto the other bathroom while the steamer was already heated up... yikes it was glued to the drywall... I don't see evidence of even a primer... take a look at my next project...





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Bottled Water

Last Weekend Mike and I went to Sam's Warehouse... We only needed a few things... but it's always worth seeing if select items come in bulk and can save you... mainly for us it was chlorine for the pool and toilet paper.
However I do have to mention something I noticed and quite frankly sickened me... as we were walking past the "soft drinks" I couldn't help but notice the variety of idiots filling up their carts with cases of bottled water [proud to say a bandwagon I never saw the sense in hopping on]. Forgive me if I offend you and you happen to be one of those households that waste your money on senselessly on filling our landfills... but I have to say :
1: You pay taxes for the government to spend billions of dollars a year to make sure your water is safe to drink.
2: You pay your village every month to supply you with clean and safe water
3: Water bottles take like a million years to decompose... why not just use a glass?
4: If you're still paranoyed get a filter and refill your own bottles... BTW keeping bottles you fill yourself in the fridge is just as convenient.
5: It's all about trading out habits... drinking water is healthy so don't stop... just do it more efficiently... it's cheaper!
6: I'm sure you heard this before but bottled water is just tap water in the bottle.. minus a bunch of [essential] minerals.
Once again, not meant to be a personal slight... just think about it... be sensible
Happy Hydrating!

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Time to Jump Back on

I know I sound like a big baby about a couple of spiders... I am working on getting over it... the good news is that we have not seen any in a couple days... maybe that's why they call them recluse?
Anyways I have invested a bunch of time and energy into my first marketing push...
I have gotten all of the paperwork for our home and bills that has been neglected the last 2 weeks handled...
Today I need to "Jump Back on the Horse" I started in the master suite and I need to finish that up before I move on to another room.
My goal was and still is... to live a clutter free and organized life... not that we were total pigs before... but it is being made an absolute priority this time...
We definately have enough space here.. but we have less space than before so we need to be deliberate about where we put things and what we do and do not keep.
Mike and I made the concious decision not to have an emotional attachment to "things".
I feel like you just can't live that way and have your priorities straight...
Clean, Clutter free lifestyle... That way we can focus on what's really important!


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At peace... pretty much

I know yesterday I seemed pretty frazzled... I am happy to report today that I had a good night's sleep... found no spiders [knock on wood], and it's an absolutely beautiful day!
Happy Thursday...

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fun... good... bad

First thing, I'd like to share the vintage-find I talked about yesterday...
Pretty cool huh? I thought it looked like something Mrs. Roper would wear.

Good.. I started working on networking and making contacts on monday... I found about 70 decorators/designers to send mailers to... I've put together some pretty nice literature... Had my first meeting today... went well! Found that there is raelly a great market for me here... glad to hear it!

BAD... We've found a couple of Brown Recluse around here... I had an exterminator out yesterday and I am absolutely sick over it. I didn't sleep a wink last night. My mental state is wearing thin.. I don't like it when that happens... I tend to develope a borderline severe case of paranoia. Please pray for us I am scared to death... I need to have more faith that God is WAY bigger than this problem.
Everyone around here says "Don't worry too much, they're common around here yada yada, spray and put traps out, they want nothing to do with ya"
It doesn't seem to ease my mind... and it wouldn't ease my mind either if someone were to respond to my despair with "you chose to move there bla bla I'm smarter than you bla bla whatever" Not what I need right now.
Okay BYE

"Our Big Adventure"

We have officially begun our "Big Adventure"... Kate and I drove down on the 3rd... I know it's been a while... we made it safe... but it took us a while...after a late start and driving down Lakeshore during taste of Chicago we had lots of stops... and crying cats... we arrived in the wee hours of the night.
Friday night we went to the City of Tulsa's fireworks... the movers came saturday morning. We went for a swim saturday afternoon... in our back yard YAY... Mike and I decided to put the cover on so it would heat up a bit... Yikes... there was a little snake hiding under there... we were reminded that we have moved to a completely different climate and setting...
Sunday morning Mike and I went and checked out "The Assembly" then we came home to do some more unpacking... in the afternoon Kate and I went to "check out" some shops and boutiques found an awesome "vintage" [resale] shop. I'll have to post a pic of my find...
Last week I worked on organizing, unpacking... and started getting our bedroom and bathroom together... I got closet orgganizers, painted the closets, and then started on the bathroom... I'm doing it right this time... I felt like we were too disorganized in the last house.
We devoted the weekend to shopping for a fridge and trying to get the pool balanced... after about 3 inches of rain our pool started to look more like a pond... ick. Finally got it figured out and cleared up for a sunday afternoon dip.
Yesterday I dug around looking for designers and contacts for my business... I found a lot... however... this is ridiculous... 2 out of 70 have websites... how ridiculous... how are you supposed to contact someone without an E-Mail address?? I guess I'll have to do snail mail and cold calls. UGH!
Today I plan to send out mailers... then meet Mike at John Deer... then the wallet is getting closed! In Mike's terms... I feel like we're leaking money...
Oh and I forgot one more crazy thing... yesterday the guys came to deliver the fridge.. when the hooked it up, water started cascading out of our [kitchen] ceiling fan... what the Heck? Keep in mind we live in a ranch... that IS, however, covered in the home warranty... but don't even TRY to tell me that the previous homeowner does not know about that!
So anyways... I am alive and getting settled... sorry for the break... but we didn't get internet until the end of the week.
P.S. it can get REALLY HOT here... we drink lots of water!

Finally Done!

The movers packed on Monday... everything went well... one coffee saucer broke... anyway as far as I know.. nothing to sweat about... not unless more break in transit.
3 guys came yesterday to load up the truck, that went even smoother... they were out by 2:30.
I swept the house out, wiped down the kitchen floor, emptied out the fridge and wiped it down.
Then I headed back to my mom's ... I was finally and truely exhausted! It's been a marathon!
Today I just have to take my inventory over to the studio to ship... then I'll hang with Holly and the kids... tomorrow is road trip day.
I think these blogs about my day to day tasks are getting boring... sorry that's all that's been going on here... and it's almost finally over! Then... maybe I'll have some more interesting thoughts... Stay tuned
Happy 4th of July weekend! Be sure and wear your matching sweaters.. haha... nevermind :)

Happy Belated 30th Perik! I'll bet the cologne is a Gem!... Have you ever read the bottle to "Really Ripped Abs"? My sister and I laughed our heads off at walgreens the first time we ever saw that... I hope it was a great day!