Projects

There has been a lot happening at the White house. It is hard to feel sleepy when it is light day and night, so we've been using a little more of that daylight than usual. It all kind of started when I got home from the park the other day, and was in a very crafty mood. (Definitely missed my crafting buddy, Megs). But anyway, for a few months now, I have been enjoying Pinterest. I find it so inspiring. So I looked on there, got a few ideas and went to work. It's refreshing to be creative. My mom has mentioned that this is an attribute of our Father. It comes out in different ways, but creativity is definitely within us.

So, for the day, my crafting was kind of spurred by a vision for our new place that started while we were in CA. I wanted kind of a rustic, outdoors, bird/tree feel. The house itself actually somewhat helps with the theme, so I've been playing off that too. But I have no intention of going overboard. My goal has definitely been to decorate on a dime. First, I just don't like to spend a lot on decorations since they typically serve no actual function, but on top of that, we have to leave everything here because of our weight limitations. So with that in mind, we have tried to make and get just enough to make it function and homey. (Forgive my wordiness... this is the kind of stuff I get a little excited about).

Anyway, on Pinterest, I was drawn towards pallet furniture. Because of this, Brandon and I actually snagged some pallets in California and brought them up. So... this past week, we worked together and made a dining room table with two benches (He even let me use his power tools!). We sanded and cut and screwed and came out with a decent product. Rough, for sure, but that is what we were going for. I actually didn't want to put the poly finish on it, but decided for it, considering that I wanted to be able to wipe it down easily. Besides that, I decoupaged some eggs, picked some leaves and pine cones, and crafted together some little birds to add to a couple thrift store finds, (plus several special pictures and things we brought with us to decorate with through the rest of the house), and voi-la, we are making it home. Still hope to do a few more projects but we'll see. Other things may take priority.

Besides that, we planted our garden too! We are hoping it does well, but we will just have to wait and see. (I don't do well with this type of patience... immediate results are how I work best, so I am looking forward to learning some lessons about persistence and patience.) Nonetheless, it's always good working outside and getting your hands in fresh soil, so we've enjoyed it thus far. Side note from the day... the Alaska state bird (mosquitos) are definitely out in full force. They were like a cloud around us, and I came home with over 60 bites. Thankfully, only two managed to get Kaylee. But it was crazy... and I am crazy itchy. The locals say they are extra bad this year, but hopefully they'll die down. Oh well... definitely gives me sympathy for Brandon with his poison oak and my dear friend who suffered from dermatitis during pregnancy.

After we finished up at the garden we hurried off to a Bible study that meets 30 miles away. It was good to sing praise and get in the Word with others.  The pastor said he would really like to see something start in Anderson, knowing the drive is a lot (especially in the winter) and it's difficult to journey closely together with that much distance between. We'll see. Gotta continue seeking. Atleast for now, we have these believers to fellowship with (our dear friends from our road trip were the connection, here... isn't God cool). There seem to be some possibilities forming here in Anderson too, so hope is rising in that arena.

This week, I also enjoyed a quilting day with some older ladies from the area. They put our "big adventure" to shame. Many of them live several miles off the road with no electricity or running water. One of them even made it the whole winter without going to Fairbanks. She is an original homesteader, which is pretty cool. Another lady I met at the garden who lives off the grid said her family had a hard time "getting it." She said they say things like "We put you through college so you could have anything you want" and her reply is, "I do". Haha. Definitely a different way of life. Simple and not so simple at the same time. The ladies meet at the local restaurant/bar to quilt and use their electricity to run their sewing machines. It was a good time to meet others and have time to work on focus on nothing else but sewing projects (well... plus entertaining a one year old). Ultimately, it's good to have full days, but I will have to choose my commitments wisely.

Anyway... I could go on and on. But that is enough for now. There's a little bottomless pit who is asking for more squash (did I mention how much of my day I spend cutting food up into little tiny pieces... good thing I love her to pieces). And just in case it seems like I am one of those moms who gets so much done and has it perfectly together... I just got a pile of laundry folded that had been there a week, my toilets bowls are forming mysterious (well.. we will leave out the details), and we had frozen pizza for dinner on Monday. But that's not the point either. I'm am in process, and "perfection" is not the goal! On that note, to be honest once again.... sometimes it's hard to get out of bed and find joy in where I am and what God has called me to. Life back in Colorado Springs, where things were familiar and I had my dear friends and family so close, often seems alluring... But most moments, I am having fun where God has planted us for this season and I am definitely growing. We are all a work in progress and anything we strive for is worthless if the end goal is separate from His desires.

Micah 6:8

8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what the Lord requires of you
but to act justly, and to love kindness,[a]
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Colossians 3:23

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men

Philippians 1:6

6  He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

 Our garden! Our little area is on a plot in the community garden. We didn't want to get in over our heads, so we stuck with four rows. Because it's a little chilly here and the soil is like clay, they suggest you mix in lots of top soil in after tilling it up, and then mound up your rows to kind of keep the plants raised off the ground. We'll see how it works.

In our four rows, we have beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, beets, zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli, and potatoes. A little dab of everything. Supposedly the moose come through for a snack every once in a while, so we will see how much of a dab we actually end up with. At home, I am doing pots with tomatoes and herbs. Things seem to be growing fast already with all the sunlight, so that's exciting! I've also planted lots of flowers around the house, so it is definitely feeling lively and summery. (Hopefully I can keep it all alive!)

 Our little gardener who was ready to call it a day!

 Happier playing in the truck away from the mosquito-dirt-bug spray-and sun combo.

Now on to my crafting back at home...

 My birds : ) 

The one on the left is made from a print off of one of our favorite old hymns with a blue polka-dot wing and the others are just scrapbook paper I had that tied into my color theme.   

To make them, all you do is cut out two layers of paper for each bird, glue the top portion together and then hot glue bent out paper clips in the bottom from their legs and tack on a wing if you want. For a finishing touch, I also took a sponge and fanned a little brown ink on their wings to kind of age them. They were way fun to make and turned out cute, I think. 

Next, I decoupaged some plastic eggs to stick in my thrift store nests.

All I did was cut up little pieces of paper. Then, dipped the paper in a mixture of Elmer's glue and water and slapped it on the egg in a random fashion. I propped them up to let them dry and there you have it! 

Used random pieces of scrapbooking paper for this one

And for the second one, I used a print off of another favorite hymn but unfortunately, the ink kind of faded with the wet glue. I probably wouldn't go this route again, but it did give it kind of a cool weathered look. 

Here they are on the shelf.

The "welcome" sign was actually in the house when we arrived, but it fits in fine with the little birds painted on it (hard to see in the pic)

And this sign, I just really liked at the thrift store before we ever got to the house. It's crazy because, it matched the colors of the other sign and this shelf almost perfectly. 

And here is the whole thing all together...

And here... we have our little Alaskan girl, cheesin' it up.

 Now, onto another special treat that I found up in the shop upon arrival... 

My 7-up crate!!!  

I REALLY like it and had so much fun finding and creating little things to put in the cubbies. 

I didn't get to bring my candle collection, so I picked up some good smelling and color appropriate votives/tealights. To fill the other slots, I painted and aged the little frames I found at the thrift store and stuck some leaves in them, made a couple more birds, and found some cool clusters of pine cones out front. 

 So... we have our 7-up crate with our Coca-Cola table!

And... last but not least, a cupcake bottom girl playing with her mini camera from Uncle Trent : )

P.S. A little plug about Brandon's new job... (sorry, I have been focused on our little town and home.) Anyway, overall, he is enjoying it. The base is really small with only about 6 active duty (mostly lots of contractors and guard guys). He actually prefers the smallness of it. Right now, he is still in training, but they are pushing him through because they need him on crew. There is very little on base. Actually, essentially, there are two buildings. One that has the dorms, gym, chow hall, offices, etc, all connected by hallways, and the one where Brandon works. Kaylee and I are able to go on base into the first building to get mail and stuff but Brandon works in a separate building with much tighter security not accessible to us. So, that's that!