Paint My House-Before

Well, next to living in a purple house, I've always wanted to live in a yellow house. So there you go. Powerspraying was done two weeks ago and now today, we're all wrapped up in plastic and can't get out! That's real bummer, because I want to see what they're doin' out there!

The yellow isn't as deep and creamy as I would pick, but it is what it is. I'm thankful that as a renter, I don't have to do it all. Wish I had taken pictures of the old fence, because we have a new one. Talked to the landlord yesterday and she said I could do what I wanted with the front yard...hmmm, the ideas are swirling!

Today paint. Tomorrow trim and the red door. :)

Kitchen Update-After

It's DONE!

Wallpaper turned into yellow paint, white counters turned into neutral speckled Formica, white vinyl flooring turned into laminate wood planks all rounded out with a white tile backsplash!

Before photos are here:
http://tidy-house.blogspot.com/2012/09/kitchen-update-before.html

Ideas

Yesterday, while waking from my slumber, I noticed it was still dark outside. Which of course, makes it quite dark inside, as well. This is bothersome when wanting to rise and get out for a walk. The Lord gave me an idea...why not install a timer so the lights go ON when I want to get up?

I'm going to do it! It looks like I can buy a programmable unit that replaces my light switch! PERFECT, I'm going to get one!

The other idea was to replace the stack of boxes in my bedroom with a desk. Thank You Lord, I love this idea! My daughter likes me to stay upstairs after I put her to bed. I like this because I go to bed earlier. I don't like this because there are many things I could do downstairs before my bedtime! One thing that I haven't made time for recently is my word (Word) studies. This would be IDEAL! Put the kids to bed and slide into my jammies and have some time at this desk! I'm so excited!

Future desk area: nearly 40" x 31"

Kitchen Update-Before

Any day now, the counters and floor will be updated...I'm excited to see what it will look like.

The swatch of flooring was really ORANGEY and clashed with the cupboards. The next swatch was more expensive, but matches better. It is really busy. We couldn't find anything in the price range that was light, strange...light must be out of style!

Living Room Redo

So I was led to the living room to start in earnest getting things tidy...no more tiny tasks, I'm willing to spend whatever it takes each day to move forward...and decided to start where I could see the least amount of carpet.

Ah! When I evaluated "What Do I See", I realized what I saw wasn't mine! All of the mess was the kids not putting stuff away...so I helped them clean it up. Though not everything has a real place to live, the room is clean again. Now we can set to the needed work of keeping it clean as we go along. Glad to see carpet again.

Work In My Heart

I'm processing a lot of what is going on with me ON PAPER, rather than on screen for now. Just wanted to add this post as a marker of my progress in getting free.

This work in my heart is continuing, even though I've been putting it off and denying where the Lord wants to work. I don't cognitively understand it all. Instead of demanding to know about it all in my mind, I'm choosing to willingly move forward into the UNknown. The Lord has spoken so tenderly to me, giving me His assurance of His presence and help to overcome this stronghold of messiness as I willingly obey His leading. I've been doing this my way for too long and I'm ready to do it His way now.

So I'm moving forward in obedience, taking His hand as He specifically leads me.

Today we spent some time in the living room, basically starting over again because the room is a disaster again. But I'm not at all discouraged. I obeyed His leading to do two specific things:
-What Do I See
-Map out zones for the room and the purpose of each zone
That took about 15 minutes. I feel like a huge weight is lifted! I now know how to move forward tomorrow (as I've set aside a couple hours per day for tidying up and maintaining the clean once and for all).

But this time, it isn't just about cleaning it up...there is more going on as a deeper cleansing is happening in my heart...I can assume that cleansing of my heart will translate into a cleaner house. I'm looking forward to that with much eagerness!

UPDATE: Wednesday August 7-I realize only ONE thing was mine in the mess...ALL of this mess is the kids not putting things away. I realized that I don't ever enter this room, unless we watch a movie together, which happens at least once a weekend in the winter, but not even once a week in the summer.  This is interesting...what happens is that the children are not trained properly to put things away and I need to enter this room at least once a day to remind them to put their things away.

One Year Evaluation

It has been nearly a YEAR since I started this phase of tidying my house.

I've come a long way...and I still have a long way to go. It makes me think of the tunnel analogy from Vicki Norris' book (can't remember if it was the first or second book) and I really can see the light at the end. But I actually want to GET to the END!

I've been praying about my situation, it seems like I do a big clean, but then we go back to our old ways and rooms get messy again. We still have too much stuff. Last week we packed up four huge trash bags that need to be taken to a donation center. We continue purging!

This next week, my focus will be on ME. What do I personally need to do to be more tidy? I've been moving my clothes (which have lived in the garage next to the washer and dryer for five years) into my dresser in my bedroom. Here's a list as I think out loud:
-finish moving clothes to dresser
-clean up my side of the bedroom
-tidy up my desk
-continue keeping the kitchen tidy (this has been a good habit!)
-go all the way cleaning up sunroom
-continue keeping my bathroom counter tidy
-clean out my two expedit bookcases

This week I'll see what kind of headway I can make on this list. :)