School Mural

"Before" pictures are important, to give you an idea of the dramatic change a mural can make...

Kind of cute, not very scary.

It was an early dismissal day for elementary students, so I didn't have the traffic flow through the lobby.  Except for curious teachers coming to admire my progress and comment.  I had a grimmace smile going, trying to not mind the interruptions and be pleasant.  Sometimes I hear someone has said something to me but it doesn't register or connect with my mouth to be social back in time.  Painting changes time, changes how I listen to people.  Hard to start talking when working intensely.  I started at 1:30, left the school at 6:30 pm, after applying 2 coats of sealer.  (Read my Ender's lost years book and ate cheesecake while I waited for coats to dry.) 

Most time consuming was prepping the wall that had been destroyed by duct tape. Not a plesant thing to discover sticky residue, paint pulled from wall in spots, down to wallboard cardboard unprimed yucky.

My favorite part:  on the far left are front paw prints, BIG, bigger than my hands-silly.  THAT would be a squirrel to fear!

Worth It

I could have painted this myself, but it was perfect, exactly what I needed. I like how KJV "temperance" is worded as self-control. I want to be better at this, recognizing the spirit, and knowing when I am NOT feeling it. Source: artist Dee Kasberger, "Urban Soul"

If I am feeling hate, anger, sadness, chaos, impatience, mean & yucky, evil/bad, doubtful, harshness, and no hope & giving up with wild abandonment, I am not feeling the spirit, but the adversary's enticings.

Wordsmithing & NOT Dingthrifting

We love words in this home! There are words painted on our dinning room table, our bedroom wall, other furniture...I told Suzanna and a car full of seminary girls on the way to school that finding a spouse who loves to read like I do was on my LIST, and how thankful I am that Brother Landbeck is a reader.

One of the sweetest things he does is bring me library books that he knows I will love. And lets me read them first (his steampunk version of Mistborn novels was a fun read)! John just checked out a 1007 page Brandon Sanderson book for me and got it for himself on cd for his commute. It is like a book-date! We can talk about it as we go.

I also love thrift store shopping. It is relaxing, satisfying. I spent from 9 am- 11:30 walking leisurely up and down the aisles of my favorite thrift store earlier this week, looking at everything, finding some great treasures. I make up my own rules, about how much I am willing to spend that trip, and I am ruthless about editing my cart, even after filling it up, putting things back if they aren't 50% off sale or meet more than one necessary criteria. It is hard to explain my process, but a morning of thrifting helps me see my priorities more clearly, identify what is important to me, what I can live without, what I need, even what I need to throw away in my life (and donate to the same thrift store). Thrifting is therapuetic.

So I was delighted to learn the word for this day.

I am subscribed to wordsmith. It comes as an email. Today's word:

spendthrift PRONUNCIATION: (SPEND-thrift)

MEANING: noun: A person who spends money wastefully. adjective: Wasteful with money.

ETYMOLOGY: A spendthrift is, literally, one who spends his wealth, from Middle English thrift (prosperity), from Old Norse thrifast (to thrive), from thrifa (to grasp). Earliest documented use: 1601.

NOTES: Spendthrift is the longest word whose phonetic and normal spellings are the same. Two colorful synonyms of this word are dingthrift and scattergood.

Beach on Broadway

Picture this: 4:30 pm, our house. Paint up and down my arms, on my neck. I had forgotten to take a lunch to work. Very hungry. John whisks me to our favorite Chinese buffet for an early sushi plus dinner, tells our children to please eat leftovers. I still had on my scary paint clothes from finishing up this project, but was too hungry to care. Of course we run into someone we know...I should have at least brushed my hair!

As you walk into this teenage girl's room, this is what you see:

Turning towards the closet doors to the right:


And behind you (notice the ocean waves in reflected in the shell mirror!)


Downstairs, same house, in the big family room (re-modeled extension off of original kitchen--I love this room!). Goal was to be subtle, make the saying look as if it were carved right into the wall. "Priory" is name of font. Used base coat color and added Payne's Grey for shadows and basecoat plus Titanium White.

Friday Feelings

I believe in words! Visual reminders of what I should be doing (funny to me that the "S" in simplify is hidden by clutter-paperwork!)

Guest speaker Brother Mark, the young men's president, brought donuts to daily seminary. He told the students that he woke up half hour before his alarm, at 4:30, wide awake, so he was able to come today. He told them a great story from his mission in Sweden about the blessings coming after the trial of his faith. He bore testimony that their being here in seminary was part of their testimony, by DOING, they are showing they know it is true.

I feel blessed and thankful for this home, for my family. Thankful for a good husband who is trying so hard. Thankful for good friends, for technology. For doctors. I am going to get my ear looked at today while we still have insurance...

Labor Day Project

I know, some people think red can be oppressive. I crave red in green GREEN Maryland. It helps me feel balanced. We had a tomato red bedroom in our old house and I've missed it. The dining room here was red here for a year. Our bathroom is red, black and white. Now the bedroom matches!
This is painted at eye level, six feet wide words across from the foot of our bed. Big and bold.

It is possible to change a room in a day. Recovering from that one day takes awhile...