Thank you - Readers

Today I want to thank you, yes you, for reading my blog. I'm not, by any means, a talented writer. I simply write what's on my mind, what's going on, what I feel led to share. Its not one of those 3 drafts and a final copy, thought out, mulled over projects. This blog is simply me, in type, for all to see.

I'm nothing special, just me. Why you folks check back to find out what I have to say, well that's just beyond me. For some reason, I have had more readers in the past two months than I have had in the past three years. For that, I thank you.

I have had so many different things to talk about this year. Remodels, crafts, plain old off the wall comments, my family, my Jesus, so many things and some of you have read every single post.

We've almost hit 500 readers in less than two months. That just amazes me and tickles me pink. I've always wanted to be a writer. Writing was always my passion. I never pursued it the way I should have but now, maybe I will. Thank you for taking the time to stop by, to pull up a chair, and to visit my world for a while. You are appreciated.

Arts and Crafts

I have always been an arts and crafts kind of girl. If I can cut it, glue it, color it, paint it or sew it, I want to give it a try. Whatever I make, no matter what pattern I follow, will be uniquely mine and (most of the time) treasured by the recipient.

In this new, technological age, I have found and fallen in love with craft blogs! Some of my faves are:

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Becky Higgins' Blog

Those are two that I check regularly. I will let you know if I find more. I LOVE craft blogs. I love to share craft blogs with my friends. If there is a craft blog that you really enjoy, please leave it in the comments of this blog entry so that we can enjoy it too. I'm sure the writer of the blog would enjoy the free publicity as well!!

Thanks, have a wonderful day, make something fun and look for a new Homemade Christmas idea real soon!! If I can pray for you, please let me know!

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving is coming. I have already begun plans for the holiday season. Its exciting, my first holiday season in my new home. With Thanksgiving on its way, I wanted to start a series on Thankfulness. I want to try to show thankfulness in some way every week until Thanksgiving.

I Thessalonians 5:18 says, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Today I have some specific people to be thankful for.

First and foremost, as always, my Jesus for taking what I had made of my life and making it a beautiful place. For healing the ugliness that I created and creating me to be lovely in Your sight. For all of the blessings that I have in my life to be thankful for every single day.

To my beloved. My help meet. My companion. My lover. My friend. You are everything that I never knew I always wanted. I did not know that I could be who you inspire me to be. I've never dreamed that I would be loved by a man in such a way that it makes my life feel full, complete, overflowing. Thank you for everything you do for me.

To my children. My reward from God. My legacy. I pray that both of you know every single day that Mommy loves you and is so very proud of you. My son, my sweet boy, the way you have improved at school is just outstanding, you have every right in the world to be so very proud of yourself, hold your chin high and keep up the good work. My daughter, my beautiful girl, I know that you feel so little when you get teased but remember that you are so beautiful and that your worth comes from God who created you to be beautiful in His sight and not from silly people who need to make themselves feel better by hurting others. Psalm 127:3 "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."

To my three oldest friends: Jocelyn, Sharon, and Jessica. I have known each of you for what seems like eternity. You know my past and yet still, you are here. Miles and situations may separate us, but please know that I value each of you dearly. Know that I would travel the ends of the earth for you. Know that you are priceless to me. Thank you for choosing to love me.

To my new friends: Becky, Sandi, and Christy, for teaching me that in order to bear another's burdens, I must allow my burdens to be borne as well. Thanks for being there and for standing in the gap with me and for me girls!

Its like those potato chips, once you start you just can't stop. I think I could thank folks all day long but I will stop there for now. If I can pray for you today, please let me know.

Maybe Next Week - Thank You!!

I promised I would shout it from the rooftops, so here I am shouting! We might get to move into our house next week!!

We only have a few things left to make it ready: some trim, a bathroom sink and a hot water heater. Oh yeah and I have to paint the fridge.

We don't have a stove or a microwave yet, but I do have an electric skillet and Mom's stove until we get ours. So if you come across a decent black gas stove, let me know. We are planning to buy a new one, but if I come across a used one that's in good shape, we might go that route too.

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged us along the way. I was just amazed at the blessings that God has given us through this entire remodel. So many of our friends have helped in so many ways. Right now there is not a single piece of furniture in my house that God has not blessed us with through one of you. The electric work, the cabinets, the paint on the walls, all of it would not be there if it weren't for our friends allowing themselves to be a blessing in our lives. I cannot say thank you enough. All of you, every single one of you is a blessing in our lives!

I haven't forgotten home made Christmas. I have a few projects to finish up and I will have a post later this week.

Feed My Sheep

Most people, when they think "homeless" they think, "Why don't they just go get a job??" Friends, its just not always that easy. You can read about Vaughn and my trip to Colorado to visit Feed My Sheep by clicking here. When we were there, I met a sweet, sweet woman. She had been married to her husband since she was 18 years old. He took care of everything, they had their own business. The husband got sick, all their money went to take care of him. He died. Now that sweet woman, she had no skills, she had no business, she had no savings left and her mortgage was due. She lost everything. The shelter at Feed My Sheep is a place where she can come to learn job skills, wash clothes, get three meals a day and most winters, a warm place to sleep at night.

This is Colorado folks, it gets COLD. Several of these homeless die each year by freezing to death. One died on the steps of the church, trying to find shelter. I learned so much about God in this shelter last year. I believe that we are to go out and meet God's people where they are, wherever they are. Each winter, Feed My Sheep spends $20,000-$30,000 to rent a few hotel rooms for the winter months, they completely empty these rooms of their belongings, and they fill them with as many of these homeless as possible. This is all that some of these guys have.

I'm not asking for you to send this ministry $25,000, but that's what they need. It's already cold there. It's cold beyond my imagination at night. So please, if you can spare that one double espresso a week, that one Big Mac, that one small comfort and join God in ministering to these fellas, I know it will change someone's life, maybe just mine, but I doubt that. They don't know that I'm asking this, but I know that they need the help. You can find their blog here. If you can help, please send me an email kacilusk@gmail.com

I will end this the same way I ended my last post about this wonderful ministry: Pastor Lee in Colorado taught us that when God gives you a vision, you then begin to pray for laborers. People who have skills or resources that you don’t that God will bring to make the vision come to fruition. Luke 10:2 says, “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”

We don’t know who these laborers are, but we pray that you will join us in praying for God to send them.

The vision is simply this: Meeting God's people where they are and sharing His love with them. We don't know exactly what God is doing right now, but we do know that God says if we love Him, we will feed His sheep (John 21:17).

My kitchen

For those of you just tuning in, this is what my kitchen used to look like:


And now, after much hard work, here is the very same room!! So many friends have helped to make this happen. I appreciate each of you. So while it is not exactly finished, it is beautiful and to a point where we can move into it.


Most of all, thank you to my beloved husband for all he has done for me. I love you forever!

Kitchen Floor - Done!!

The only thing different between the first and subsequent coats of polyurethane is that you sand with very fine sandpaper in between coats and then wipe down the floor with lacquer thinner to remove all the dust. It wasn't bad, even with the fumes, I did the second coat myself.

And now, after all the work, after all the scraping, sanding, staining, and polyurethane-ing (okay that was cheesy), finally I can move into my kitchen
Yes, the cabinets are getting doors, maybe next week.

It's been a crazy day and moving my dishes into my kitchen was a great way to end it, so now I'm gonna rest, relax and wait for my sweet husband to call from the mountains so I can tell him all about it.

If you have cutback over hardwood and you're wondering whether it's worth saving, hit "Hardwood Floor" under labels at the left and take a peek at the before and after pics in each post. This floor, to me, was totally totally worth it. I love my kitchen and if a clumsy girl like me can make this happen, so can anyone.

Have a wonderful evening and if I can pray for you, please let me know.

Wild Weekend

I had an amazing "Wild" Weekend with my children!

I told them on Friday that I had gotten them the book Where The Wild Things Are and would be mailing it to them the next day. On Saturday, I got up early, fed the horses and headed to Dallas. I called my daughter on the phone and told her I would not be able to mail it and when she asked why I told her to look outside. It was a wonderful surprise.

We went to the Movie Tavern and watched the movie Where The Wild Things Are and had a wonderful time together.

Here are some pictures that I took while we were together:





The movie was wonderful. Its more for those of you, like me, who loved the book as a child, but my kids enjoyed it very much. Especially my son who got crazy looks from the people in Wal-Mart who had no idea he was quoting the movie when he pointed at me and said, "FEED ME WOMAN!" To which we all busted up laughing! I'm sure they thought he was a horrible, insolent child.

The hardest part of the weekend was the leaving. I never want to leave my children. Its never any easier, no matter what someone might tell you. It hurts just as much now as it did the first time several years ago when we divorced. All the "coulda, shoulda, woulda's" in the world cannot change the fact that they don't live with me. Nothing makes it any easier on me or them when we have to leave each other. So we shove as many memories as we can into our short time together and make the most of every single minute.

Although it was over all too soon, we had a wonderful time together. A weekend I doubt any of us will forget any time soon. I have the greatest kids in the whole world!!!

Kitchen - Before & Almost After

If I hadn't been there every step of the way, I doubt I would really accept that this is the same roomI have watched and helped create this transformation and still, I can hardly wrap my brain around the fact that this has actually come to pass. It just amazes me that this is the very same room, the very same house that we started out with last December.

We should get the floor finished in the next day or two. Then, while Vaughn is off hunting, I will be able to paint the stove and fridge were given so that we can use them while we save up to buy black ones. Hopefully, then we can move in shortly after he comes home.

Before we go on to the next step, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped. To those who spent hours in my attic connecting the wiring. To those who donned their painting gear and picked up a brush. To those who said, "You can do this," "That looks great," and "I'm so proud of you." To those who encouraged. To those who prayed. To all of our friends, especially the Adult II class and Wednesday Small Group from First Baptist, thank you all so very much!! We are so very very blessed to have friends like you! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Kitchen Floor - Poly First Coat

Okay, the next step on the floors after scraping, sanding, cleaning and staining is POLYURETHANE. This is the last step! After this, my floors will be finished.

Now some will argue over how many coats of poly you need. We've used two for now. In a few months, we may regret that because some people say you need as many as eight. I will let you know if in a few months, our two was not enough.

We used Minwax, Semi-Gloss

First, you take a decent paint brush and brush on the poly around the edges and under small places, such as the cabinets here Don't use a cheap horsehair brush for this, you don't want the bristles falling out into your poly.

Then you use a lambswool pad like this to mop the poly onto the floor

Some folks don't like the lambswool because it leaves small hairs in the poly. They see that and they panic. They go back to the paintbrush and spend hours brushing poly onto the floor. Don't worry about the hairs, when you're totally done with the poly, you can't see them.

Here's the floor after first coat of poly

Tonight we will sand and 2nd coat. Some folks come back with subsequent coats immediately. Read the can of poly that you get. Some of them you can come right back within an hour and re-coat. The stuff we can get here, says wait 24 hours. Be sure to follow the instructions, you don't want the poly to start flaking off in a few weeks.

I'll have the next steps posted soon and by Tuesday I will be moving things into my kitchen!!!

Homemade Christmas - Photography Gifts & Winner

Today I will be featuring an awesome artist from right here in the Texas Panhandle. But first, as promised, the winners of the candle contest! Since I had so many people who wanted a candle, I drew two winners. Actually, my friend's kid drew two winners out of a hat. I think he rigged it, but not sure if a three year old can do that, his momma, Michelle, won the tall candle and Becky Dietz won the hope candle!! Congrats girls, I will be bringing them to you this week!

Now, an awesome gift idea. How do I know this? I have received two of these as gifts and I just love them. They are from right here in the Panhandle by a wonderful, wonderful person, and would make an inexpensive wonderful addition to any home!



For only $10, you can receive an 8x10 print on high quality photo paper. She only has a few of her photos listed in her etsy store but she has a link there to her flickr site where she has many, many choices available for purchase as well.

Here are a couple of examples:


I have one of her black and white car pictures for my kitchen and a beautiful purple flower in my purple bedroom. I guarantee that anyone would love to receive one of these as a gift this Christmas! For only $10, the price can't be beat and the artist is a genuinely wonderful person!

Kitchen Floor - Stained!!

Staining floors is not a difficult process. I think the hardest part so far has been the orbital sander, that was not fun. Even the big drum sander wasn't as bad as that little mean thing.

If this is your first time to my blog, be sure to hit the "harwood floor" link in the label list on the left, you will get all the posts in this process to see how I got to this point. I had to take a break for a minute because my beloved was down in his back, but I'm back and my kitchen floor is stained and ready for lacquer!

All you need is you can of stain, clean floors, and a few rags. I use the cotton t-shirt rags from ACE. Dip one rag in the stain and don't ring it too much. Then you simply wipe it onto the floor.

Wood will only take as much stain as it will take. Wipe it on generously, then come behind with a dry rag and wipe the excess away. (The wood here was so dry that I had no need to wipe the excess. I simply wiped the stain onto the wood and went on.)

This floor has come a very long way from that ugly green speckled laminate that we started with and I am just as pleased as can be.

Was all the hard work worth it? All the steaming, scraping, sanding and staining? Look at this GORGEOUS floor...it has been most definately worth it.

Next step: polyurethane. I will not be doing this step. I have a seizure disorder and my darling husband is worried about me inhaling all the fumes. He will be doing the poly and I will post pics as soon as I can!!



P.S. Sorry about the delay, the next edition of Homemade Christmas, including candle winners will be posted tomorrow!!