birch & lily

One of the things we’ve needed since forever is some art to hang above our bed.  But that’s a tricky spot to choose art for, I think.  It’s your bedroom.  It’s awfully personal.  The subject matter has to fit the space.  And the size of the art needs to be fairly substantial.  (My general rule is that art should fill at least 2/3 of the width of whatever it hangs above - so in this case, our headboard.)  But usually, bigger the art = bigger the cost.  

The thing is, I can paint.  I just almost never do - it takes space, time, creative energy, and focus, which seems hard to come by in these baby years.  Furthermore, living with my own art can sometimes be tough (I’m my own toughest critic).  

But for the sake of getting this place “finished” to sell, it was time to finally get something hung there.

I decided, since it was for my personal use, and I didn’t have a photograph I wanted to paint, I’d copy a painting from an art book I have.  I liked this painting by James Whistler - it had all the cool colours I’d want in our bedroom.  And the image of the calm water, the sun setting, and (what I thought was) ships returning home, it seemed like a great image to see at the end of the day.  (Further research showed, however, that these are probably war ships that Whistler saw down in Chile, shortly before Spain began bombing them.  Hah.  I’ll choose to ignore that part…)

We managed to get the kids to bed early and I got straight to work.  It was lovely to paint again - it’s been forever.

And here’s the finished product:  

I still have bunch more stuff to finish in our bedroom - that throw pillow and that portrait on the side wall are place holders from other spots in the house.  And we have to install closet doors (there were none when we bought the place).  

And I have to do something with those lampshades - they’re especially ugly when the light is on.  I’m thinking I’ll spray them a matte gold or bronze, and then depending on how they look after that I may add linen to the outside.

And I’ll probably check HomeSense or Zellers for an affordable white coverlet or something to change up our bedding… but if none is found for the right price I think we’re OK for now.  In a perfect world I’d install a great light fixture, layered low just above the painting - but that won’t happen before we leave this place.

For now I’m just glad to get some art up!

Feels like the ole’ blog’s taken a couple knocks down on the priority list again.  We’ve finally emerged from the craziness that is tax season and seeding (my husband is an accountant and a farmer).  I’m so glad to have Sean back by my side.  And I’ve been really pondering my direction as a blogger over the last little while - as readership has grown, how much do I share personally?  What kind of format/content/topics should I have?  Do I stay with Tumblr or try something else?  Just a few of the things I’m still not sure about yet.  But for now, I’ll share a bit of a life update:

For starters, we’re selling our condo.  Very soon, hopefully.  We hope to put it on the market by early July.  But we’re not building our house yet.  Wait, what?  Yes, the plan is to order our house after harvest this year (praying for a good crop!).  And in September we’ll be moving into a house owned by our church, and we’ll live there while our house is built.  It’s a house that the church uses to host Sunday school classes, or house missionaries, interns, etc.  Or staff members like me!  We’re super grateful for the opportunity to do this, and especially so that we can sell our condo now (which we really feel is the right timing.)

That means we’re working away at getting our place ready to sell - purging, organizing, cleaning, touching up, and finishing those details that still aren’t done nearly 3 years later.   The good news is I have some new corners of my home to finally show you.  Bad news is, posting may be more sparse.

Back to the church house thing… (which is affectionately known as “The Pink House”, because it is a terrible salmon colour on the exterior)  …One of the many reasons we’re so glad we’re living there is because the church is right across the street, and I’ll be going back to work starting in July.  I’ll be working from home (but if “home” is right across the street from work, that’ll be sweet!)  I’m partially super excited to work again - my job description will shift and I’ll be mostly working on curriculum development (writing, editing, recreating), and artistic things.  It’s work I’ll really enjoy, and it will be an excellent creative outlet, and it’s work that my boss and I have longed to work on for years, but have never been able to with the week-to-week demands of ministry.  I’m 100% sure it’s what I should be doing.  But I’m partially nervous, too.  It’s one more thing to throw into our week, and I’ll need to work very hard to keep our home reasonably organized.  But when I went back to work after I had Little M we worked it out (though I should note my husband is especially gracious and laid back) and it was a really good thing for my family and for me.  So I’m hoping for more of the same.  And this time I’ll be working even less hours (a little bit more than 1/3 time.)  I’m beyond blessed that my mother-in-law will be watching the kids twice a week while I work (so my kids get to go to the farm and have grandma time.)  They’ll be loving it.

And those kiddos?  Growing like weeds.  Baby L’s almost a year, which blows my mind.  And Little M is becoming a young man before my eyes.  Ha ha!  They’re hilarious, and adorable, and amazing, and frustrating, and exhausting, and delightful, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  Baby L’s a speedy little crawler, stands on her own, and is SO close to walking.  She has a fistful of words: Dada, Bi-Bubba (Big Brother), Babu (Baby), Puh-puh (Puppy), Uh-oh, and of course “Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma” when she’s whining or crying. ;)  She loves music and instruments, and grooves to anything… including the music in her head sometimes.  She’s nearly fearless.  And is in love with puppies, dolls, and stuffed animals (and may have a crush on Buzz Lightyear).  She’s starting to play by herself for longer stretches now - “reading” books, driving cars, or playing with a musical toy like the Leapfrog piano or guitars.  She’s more and more outgoing and curious with people, and LOVES to make people laugh.  She has a twinkle in her eye, and a coy little smile when she’s being funny..  She adores her Big Brother (he has always been the one who can get her to laugh the easiest).  And she’s shown a fierce independence and fiery spirit in the last few months.  Uh oh.  I have no idea where she got that. ;)

Little M is in the thick of “terrible two’s”, but I’d call it the “turbulent two’s” - in an insanely short amount of time he’ll have us laughing, then gritting our teeth, then smiling in adoration.  He is so active - loving all sports and games (even inventing his own).  His temper is quick and hot (hmmm… think I know where he got that, unfortunately), but he has a wonderfully tender side as well - gently hugging his sister and telling her she’s beautiful, or carefully cradling a doll being a “daddy”.  He’s very good at encouraging - cheering for Lucy when she does something new, or telling us “Good job!” or saying my dress is pretty.  He can at times be very stoic and serious.  Or try to act very grown up, telling people he goes to school, and rides dirt bikes, or laughing at whatever the adults are laughing at.  Other times he is delightfully silly - making faces and dancing around or making up crazy words or speaking in funny voices.  He’s sharp.  He is keen on learning and proudly names letters he sees and sings the alphabet, retells the stories in books he gladly gathers at the library, and we’ve begun learning some Bible memory verses because his memory is pretty darn good.  (I know that because he’s got lines from his favourite shows memorized…)  And his Daddy is his hero.  If Daddy does it, he should too.  He’s told me Daddy’s his “best friend”, his “favourite soccer player”, and that when he’s gone he “misses him SO much.” 

So.  That’s mostly where I’m at.  And as I finish writing this I realize again just how incredibly blessed I am.  Thanks for reading and following this blog.  Hopefully there will be plenty of good things for you this summer.