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July 29, 2006
What have I been doing?
I've been cleaning and organizing. Purging and purging. Making a trip to the thrift store to get rid of stuff, and going to Walmart to get more stuff for the beach. I mean who knew that all the swimmie arm floats would be gone by the end of July? I guess I'm not in the "Back to School" groove anymore. I have had a mental datebook and checklist going on for the past week, or ever since I got back from Chattanooga.
Get tires for the Prev, check. Freecycle stroller, baby back pack, ceramic tile, baby gate, jewelry stands...check. Clean...entire...house for real estate agent meeting, ohhhhh check. But let me tell you I had some happy finds in all my cleaning ventures. First of all, my fellow mommy and library goer Tracie blessed me with a super find. She happened to go into a random Marietta Closeout and found this wonderful lavender surface spray from The Good Home. It Rocks! I mean you have to like lavender oil thats the catch I guess, but it's not like this fake lavender smell, its the real deal. It doesn't feel alcohol based at all, it's smooth and the scent lasts a long time. It made cleaning a lot of nastiness so much better. Another great find was the Kroger version of those Mr. Clean Eraser Pads. I mean, these things must have been a reject from some NASA project because they contain no cleaner yet they remove any mark off my walls! Sweet. Crayon, pencil, ladybug trails, chair scuff marks, shoe sole dings, I was erasing kid marks with glee!
My children have not had a fun week, but they were troopers and were mostly kind to me. Although going through Walmart more than once this week is enough to make any kid freak out in any kinda way. They will be graciously rewarded with beach and pool and cherries and hamburgers straight from the grill. Shovelling and splashing, fireworks and bike rides. Relatives, elevators, board walks and a kiddie music show. The Beach THE BEACH! We are all ready to hit the road. Now, all that's left is packing and....oh yeah RYAN ADAMS! It's worth the wait for the beach to have a date, a concert none the less! With all the business I have had less than 24 hours to let it sink in. But I truly feel that I deserve it.
Met with a real estate agent today and it was Ok. There are the obvious points like, the stain on our ceiling and our screen porch. Then there are the no ways, like the fact that our kitchen is "dated". Ya know, that's just not something we can do anything about. And the 'what the hecks', like our garage. She suggested we leave it alone, cuz even she was stumped. But we'll need serious prayer. Its a slow season this summer, interest rates are up, we're zoned for a bad school. Our house is priced at 160K or a little less. One around the block with a very similar floorplan sold quickly for 164,9 so we can hope. But what we have that no market has is that God is with us and will sell our house for us. Obviously we need to pray and have faith that no matter what we'll be ok. I mean, we can afford this house. Our family needs to persue Joel's career more fully and we feel the move is on. Our hearts have moved on already. So put us on your prayer list. God, sell this house!!
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July 26, 2006
Happy family
For all those interested, I finally got around to finding my SIL's blog. If you want to see more cute squishy baby faces check out my nephew Kaden on the Knutson Chronicles.
family | By | 10:04 AM | TrackBack
July 25, 2006
Self Portrait Tuesday
July's theme is "Me As..."
This is Me As Non-Skid. We spent a long lovely day with goodfriends splashing in the newest Chattanooga wonder The Passage. I highly recommend this adventure, especially for little ones. Eden and Josiah had a blast! And if I had been wearing less, I would have been wet too! Check out the whole set on my flickr.
Here's my WIP. I've been enjoying my mom's Bernina and whipped up some baby shoes. They just need some embellishment. I also am trying a new design by Heather Bailey. Her pattern is also free and a little more unisex!
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July 22, 2006
Commission Collection
I haven't been doing that much art lately, but what I have had is a commission from Amy and Greg Bagby to paint the New City Fellowship emblem in a Chuck Close style. Honestly, I was feeling a bit strange about it because Chuck Close's style lends itself better to 3D objects, which this is not. But after doing this one, and after all the kudos I've gotten from the public for Jana, I think I should try to do this again. If for no other reason than to sell stuff. Chuck's style is also really really big, like wall size. Jana is about 56"x 45" and it worked quite well for the style. This painting was squeezed into a mere 24"x28" (I think). And wow were those squares little. They were like 1 inch square! Yikes! I was like one brushstroke a square! But the subject was super easy, except for the oval that surrounds the cross, I know it's still crooked, so what, it's gridded and chunky. There are about 4 layers at least on each square. At one point the arms were shades of blue and yellow, and Joel sang,"Purple orange blue and green, strangest things you've ever seen, Jesus loves the little martians of the world!" Yeah, so even though it was truer to Chuck's style that way, I knew it must be changed.
What I didn't know is while Greg was on his way to pick up the painting here in Chattanooga (where I am right now). He told me that he had a collection of different artists renderings of this emblem. He had a banner by Doreen Kellogg (who created the design), a stained glass piece, a wood inlay piece that my grandfather made, and now "a Katie Ward Knutson original!" he exclaimed. That makes this piece more important to me. Greg and Amy are an interacial couple and this emblem means more than just the symbol for their home church, it symbolizes thier family. That makes me a little bit proud, I'm glad I've accomplished another commission that I am proud of and that fills a space in an important collection.
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July 19, 2006
The Big Blue
Our house is getting painted! Yeah! Our chimney is getting fixed! The hole in the side of our garage is gone! My front door is a bright shiny new red. YEAH!
As we pay for people to come and fix what has long needed care, we just kick ourselves that we didn't do this sooner. What a rush it is to see your house that is your baby, the house you have tended and mended to the best of your ability fully restored by trained professionals. We found good people to paint. They are not the cheapest, but with the cheapest, you get cheap work. This family owned company is clean, quick, friendly and very caring about our situation. I've only taken a few pictures of the out side, when they're done I'll post some more details. I don't want to get in anyone's way this morning. Steve Brockman, the owner and operator hobbles around my house on his bad knee and bonds with me talking about when his girls were small and how parenting is hard. He asks me about my art and tells his men that I'm an artist and I know my colors. Well, Steve, my artistic skill didn't go into the decision for this house's colors. He's a dad type, so he gave us some great price breaks and drove out of his way to match the siding that needed replacing. He has good carpenters that fix stuff in a split second it seems. I just know I'll turn around and they'll be done!
Our chimney on the inside is A-OK!! We could have been having big roaring fires in this house we just always thought it wasn't smart, seeing that the house was abandoned for up to 2 years before we bought it. There was no evidence of little Fifi, the bat, he must have found a better home. Good luck Fifi! May your new home annoy the next person to have their chimney inspected!
house | By | 10:09 AM | TrackBack
Pods, the next generation
Diptych pods?
Originally uploaded by katiek2.
So I've combined my freezer paper enjoyment, with my next series of pods. I also am pondering the diptych thing. I like it, but I'm so hooked on how sweet my little pieces look in the IKEA Ribba frame.
But the bird, I love this bird, I wish that the stencil worked over and over. This one isn't done yet. I need to lift my lazy butt off the couch a few feet into the chair, under the table, where my paints are resting. Waiting for me to. Act.
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July 15, 2006
Pepperings
Here's a bunch of things I've been wanting to post about, but haven't had pictures or time. Mostly they don't flow together very well. First, Josiah and my tower at the High, we finally made it back and oh baby, it was a hot hot ride. But my Sit N Stand Stroller made the trip much safer. Strolling down Peachtree with Josiah safely strapped made the humid walk worth while.
Although I do not have the opinion of a professional, yet (I say this for my husbands benefit, because he hates when I self-diagnose). I'm pretty sure we have a bat in our chimney. The other night while hearing scratching straight out of a horror movie, I grabbed a lamp and waited staring up at the flu. I just had to wait a moment or so when I saw a CLAW! Yes, a claw. I told my library buddy, Tracie, that I had a bat in my chimney and she said, "Awwwww! But they're so cute!"
I guess if they were all like this, they'd be cute. I named him 'Fifi', that's a cute name. It could be much worse. It could be many many bats! But as of last night I have heard no scratching, I hope the little guy left and didn't die. If he did, poor Fifi, it's not our fault. I did nothing to harm him, but any critters that live in this house that I did not give birth to are kinda not welcome.
I told you my dryer was kaput, and it kinda was. I did one load of laundry and then took all the random pieces of lattice, curtain rods, quarter-round and balanced them on desks and the pack n play. The clothes dried faster than in my hand-me-down dryer! The towels were a bit too crispy though. It was nice, I didn't have to go down stairs to get clean underwear, it was across the hall. It also made my office/guest smell so nice. My dryer s now fixed, and I'm glad too, the outlet was shady and God, once again, protected our family from electrocution. yikes, that's scary to think about.
Joel put up our backsplash and in the process moved the stove. When we moved it back. Beeeeeeooooooerrrrrrpppp. No more power for the stove. This was 11:30 pm. I just about lost it. Joel was just like, "Well, we'll call an electrician." I did the next morning. It's one thing to have a dryer that doesn't work, it's another thing to have a broken dryer and stove. Called the electrician and the stove was fixed before dinner.
My daughter is so funny. I have a few videos I dunno if they'll all work, but enjoy what I do have for you. Silliness for all.
Eden eating a chicken nugget. I promise I wasn't filming this while driving.
Enjoying the Deck take one. Enjoying the Deck take two.
Eden's little dance
mommy time | By | 5:20 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 12, 2006
Good is the Enemy of the Best
I don't feel like I'm in a bad place, I'm in a good place, but I want to be someplace better.
For many years now I have loved to gobble up morsles from Graham Cooke, a great teacher. He talks about God, ho he is, how he speaks to us. He wrote a book about the prophetic gifting, how to use it, most importantly what the Bible says about it. If you're interested in the prophetic and don't know much about it, I highly recommend his book. Graham is highly entertaining, has wonderful stories of how God works, and best of all he's from the UK so his witty phrases and accent make everything sound better. One phrase he uses quite often is "Good is the enemy of the Best". Most of the time we settle for what turns out to be good, not the best. The Best is that thing that God has shown us about our life, our purpose. Now whether you've heard it just in your heart and spirit or whether you've had counsel from mentors, teachers, friends or parents, or if you've had someone with a known prophetic gifting give you a word during a ministry time or conference, that promise is from God and it is the Best thing.
I know that's a meaty statement, but I felt things since I was an active Christian that I want to accomplish in this world. At first they were selfish, so I denied the fact that they needed to be one at all. Then, I realized that they could be accomplished because God needed me, a spirit filled Christian, to do something for him. It means that I have to work beyond my physical situation, my circumstances. So as I think about the future, and deal with the present I can't help but remember what I have been promised.
I want to encourage anyone out there who needs to remember their promises. Look past your circumstances, take a deep breath, and know that God, the God of the universe will always care for you and has a plan for you. He wants you to remember. Spend some time listening to Him. He wants you to keep going.
the spirit within | By | 5:24 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 10, 2006
As for me and my house...
That verse just keeps popping up in my head as we plug away at the chores of making this house more restored. It is fascinating though, as we start again after 2 years of living here, to work on it how things come up, things that I wonder would have happened at all if we were not working on the house.
Now I really don't care how spiritual you are about things. But I believe that there are things from God that cover, protect, bless your life and then there are things from the Enemy, the ruler of this world, that make things break, make things sick, make things happen. Cuz after all as Jesus said (in so many words), "In this world you will have trouble, but I have overcome the world" and then there's "He that is in you is greater than he who is in the world". These things go through my head when something breaks, gets sick, etc.
We found some great guys to come and restore our deck. I love that word "Restore". It kinda means, I mean in the deck-fixing business, that your deck is bad, but not bad enough to be destroyed. To restore it means to give it another chance, to repair so it can continue to exist, continue to bring joy. So now our deck is restored and we have the safety and joy of a deck on our house!
When the workers were done, all of a sudden my dryer stopped working. Now, I dunno if what they did with the porch lights had anything to do with the dryer not working, but the guy who was in charge said that the switch they turned off was not the one hooked up to the dryer, and the outlet the dryer was plugged into had a charge, in fact the guy personally shocked himself a few times trying to reset the outlet. So I guess we'll try to call an electrician. *sigh*.
And as Joel and I rested last night I heard some scuffling sounds coming from our chimney, who knows what that is. We have a chimney guy coming next week. I hope it's just water, or maybe just waterbugs (which I am too familiar) I guess those creepy suckers are big enough to hear scratching.
Our new Previa is quite a blessing, costing us only 3500 but has had to need about 800 bucks repair, it will need new tires and the sliding door has seen too many swings. BUT it is a blessing and will run run run all the day long!
Our printer has decided not to work as well, it'll just take some trouble-shooting and new, non-generic cartridges. Maybe a call to HP.
I believe that speaking positively is the way to live. I have not been known to be a positive person most of my life (and Joel will testify to that). I am learning that the words of my mouth are more than important, they are life altering. If I speak good things about my house, my property, my children, God will honor my words. The blessings I speak over what I have authority over will be stored up and will happen. I believe that. It increases my faith.
When I clean Joel's office on the weekends I have started listening to sermons. Usually ones from Trinity Vineyard, I really like Kris' preaching style. They are having a Spiritual Disciplines course right now and it's awesome to hear how our physical actions are not just physical but spiritual as well. Our words, our loving actions, the way our bodies were made are all spiritual as well as physical. They give praise to our God and glory to what we are, in His image. This isn't news to me as I work on this house, change diapers, wipe noses, cook food, make art, even type on my computer, these acts are influencing my relationship with the Holy Spirit. Cleaning my house shows I care for it. Loved things ooze love! My kids are the tested example. If I tend to my children, and their every need these acts give glory to God. Even if my mind is sour, my loving faithful hands give glory. Interesting to think about. It's still sinking into me.
So if you think of me, pray for my house. It's a part of me still as I work on it. Pray for my laundry, hey at least it's the dryer and not the washer!! Close line here I come!
house | By | 4:59 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
July 6, 2006
Big Steps, finally
The first day of deck restoration took place yesterday. It's kinda drizzlely today, so we'll see if they come today. No, we're not going to have an awesome fancy new deck, we're going to have a safe deck. BUT, no more ugly blue lattice! Yeah! I've put a set of picture's up on my flickr of some more home improvement. Everything from curtains, to new linoleum, to deck pics. And the fruit of my hard labor, no more ugly rocks! Well, now they're in a useful place. Rejoice with us!
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July 3, 2006
Pods on SALE! Discounted Prices!
These pods are on sale in my etsy shop. They were $25-$30 now only $17-$18. Get them before the next set pops up!
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Therapeutic Vacuuming
Yesterday Joel let me sleep in waaay too long, when I woke up Joel was putting down pine straw around our tiny little boxwoods while Josiah skipped back and forth from inside to outside. I put on my rock shovelling clothes and readied myself for the last leg of my back breaking labor. Well, after tending kiddies, meeting with a contractor about our deck, making lunch and putting kids down for naps, we finally got to the last part of making our front yard much prettier. I'm happy that this got done before my parents get back from Spain/Africa so they can oooo and ahhhh about our yard. I know how badly Mom wanted to help make it awesome. I don't know if it will be awesome, but our home will slowly be attractive like the other houses on our block. After our neighbors sell their boat and beat up truck we'll have a lot more curb appeal!
We spent Saturday night with the Worrell's at Willy's and East Cobb Park. It was nice to see Kaitlyn and Josiah giggle and romp around the restaurant and the playground. It's so fun to see our kids grow up together. Jennie had a cool new Ergo kid-carrier, she's selling them if anyones interested. I tried it with Eden, and I gotta say it's really comfy. About the same price as a Bjorn, but you can use it as long as you want. Jennie puts 30+ lb Kaitlyn in it occasionally.
The dads got bored and started playing with the kids toys. John and Joel had a log-rolling contest and then attacked the merry-go-round. So much so that other dads were pointing, chuckling and secretly wishing they were on their instead.
We went to pick up our Previa from Toyo Techs today and then stop at Lowes on the way home to pick up a couple bushes and panelling. We were expecting to pay about twice as much for the repairs on the Previa than what the receipt said. As awesome as that sounds, it seems that they didn't fix the air conditioning problem. UGH. Are you kidding ME?!! It's July, 100 degrees outside, why, why wouldn't you fix the AC.
The only logical reason is that there was a misunderstanding. We didn't want to pay for the transmission flush, we DID want the AC fixed. *sigh* I was hoping I could go straight from my dads zippy Honda CRV to my freshly fixed Prev. Well, I am thankful. I have a regular used car parking lot for a driveway. We can't figure out which car to sell, the Camry or the Corolla. The Volvo/yard art just needs to be towed and written off on our taxes.
Needless to say I was really disappointed, and I took it out on everybody. Change is hard, the process is hard, the payments, the work to be done, and then there's the nurturing. It is not fair for my little ones to feel the stress too. How can I shut it off? It's waaaay hard. Turning off my frustration, oh man, I have to escape and lay down for 15 minutes. I feel like something is really wrong with me, then I spend 2 hours vacuuming and cleaning toilets and I come home a better woman. I can't say a new woman, but a better one. A woman who can embrace my son and browse through You Tube for the latest funny guitar video. A woman who can make dinner, in it's entirety with my daughter on my hip. A woman who can put off the need for keeping up her diet in order to have peace to get things done.
the spirit within | By | 12:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack