BelleArtMom

Time alone

It only happens once a year, but I love the break.  My dh plays in a praise band at a church where I used to attend, and the kids all go to VBS with him for 4 nights in a row.  And I stay home. 
Tonight I made some Ginger Peach iced tea, started to read a book but then the dogs started fighting on my bed.  We have a 1yo Papillon named Coco, a 6yo one-eyed Pekingnese/Chihuahua mix named Peanut, and a 3yo Tibetan Terrier named Gandalf.  The last two were adopted recently from our local shelter.  They are the good dogs.  The bad dog who needs obedience class is the girl we have had since she was a puppy, Coco.  We are thinking of renaming her Pippin.  If you aren't a Lord of the Rings fan, you have no idea what I am talking about.
Anyway, I think one night this week I will make a purse.  I have material, handles, a book with some ideas.
Meantime, here are some pics of the kids at VBS.

new project

Have decided to make blankets for an organization called Afghans for Afghans.
Website is www.afghansforafghans.org.
Hoping this will de-stress for the winter months stuck in the house homeschooling.
Son with developmental disabilities is increasingly irritable.

Moved!

Well, I'm back again.  We moved about 3 miles over the state line to the big city in a nice older neighborhood in a 4BR house!  God sent the perfect buyer for our old house, a young single guy
looking for a fixer upper.  We sold it at the end of July and moved right after Labor Day.  A few
short weeks later the whole economy fell apart.  God's will that we were able to move, I am
quite sure.
We started a new homeschooling curriculum last month, and stopped it this month!
Oh, well, my online Looper friends understand...
Also received my Christmas present early yesterday, The Treasury of Daily Prayer published by CPH.
My dh said it was OK to open it.

I'm baaaacckk

Got busy and let my account get behind, now I am back.  Housing market not so good, average about 1 showing a week.  The Victorian we wanted to buy in my hometown has been sold, so I have lost interest in keeping the house clean for showings!  We put all of our bookcases and books in a rental storage unit out in the driveway to clean up the clutter.  Guess we will go back to homeschool normal clutter next month when we don't sell the house and have the storage POD picked up.

Feeling better

Was a little emotional earlier today, but feeling better after my art class.  I am taking a four week class at a local gallery where we use a different medium every week.  Last week we did charcoal drawings, today was watercolor, one of my favorite. 

Next week will be pastel, followed by acrylics.
Made a stop by the local art supply store after class and bought some supplies, specifically Caran d'Ache Neocolor II water soluble wax pastels, some watercolor paper on sale, a book called "Watercolor by Design" and a set of oil pastels for the kids to play with.

Update on the Victorian house

Yesterday I checked the real estate web site and the house we want has been lowered in price by about $11K. 
Emailed our realtor to let her know we are ready to put our house on the market.
Praying for God's will.

Aha moment: dream revealed

Last night I had my recurring dream again.  It happens about once or twice a month, I would say.  There are various scenarios, but last night's was typical.  I come home to some apartment on a campus and find my husband with another woman, the assumption is always that she is an ex-girlfriend.  Then he avoids me, acts shocked that I am even angry, while I am crying over and over, "Why do you hate me?  Why do you hate me?!"  He never answers, just kind of smirks and leaves.
I have been having this dream for several years now.  It just occurred to me what might be a reasonable interpretation.  About 3 1/2 years ago I started attending a Lutheran church that I love, leaving a Methodist church that was way liberal.  My husband still attends there, and as a matter of fact accepted a part time job in charge of the contemporary music service.  He joined the Lutheran church with me 3 years ago, at my request.  Only my adult son with developmental disabilities attends regularly with me.  Sometimes one of my daughters will go.  The service is about 90 minutes long and very traditional.  I
guess I feel like he is continuing to go to the  Methodist church just to spite me.
Last night on the way home from my circle meeting I was listening to Family Life Today and their guest was the lady who wrote "For Women Only", Shaunti Feldhaun.  *Warning* sex discussion next.  They were talking about how men feel when they have sex with their wives, that they feel "she wants me", and that is the same thing that entices them to pornography.
Well, I guess I feel that my husband's choice to continue working part time at the Methodist church makes me wonder, "Why do you hate me?"  I feel very rejected, and to make it worse our 8 year old son refuses to go to church with me, either.
Last Sunday we had the same meltdown we have every week with the kids about who is riding in which car.  I ended up not going to church because Thing 1 refused to move her 6yo butt and the fight wore me out emotionally; this happens frequently.
The End

Leased an art studio space

Well, 2008 is starting out well. Late last week I signed a lease for an office space in the town I grew up in. 
Yes, it is about a 25 minute drive from my current house.  But wait.  I decided to drive around town just for old times sake, and yes, to drive by the house my grandma lived when I was growing up.  And then the unbelievable happened.  My favorite house from my childhood, an old Victorian built in 1895 with a wraparound porch, was for sale!  I stopped to pick up a flier; the current asking price was about 10% higher than we can afford.  But I made an appointment anyway for the whole family to go look at it yesterday.  My husband fell in love with it.  It has 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, and a garden cottage that used to be a tea room.  And it is 3 stories with room to grow in an attic space that is partially finished. 
I am not going to obsess about this, but have already turned it over to God. 
After living for the past 10 years in a house with our 3 youngest kids sharing a bedroom, I am praying for a house where they can be so far away that I can't hear them!

Snow day!!

Hey, it's snowing today!  The kids all got new mittens at the Children's Place.  Here are some pics.

At the bottom is one girl throwing snowballs at the other one.  And then being chased.

I originally wrote this post before Christmas and have just now found the time to upload the pictures!

The 7 weird things about me post

About a month or so ago someone from my homeschool list "tagged" me and I never had time to post my "7 things".  Guess I will attempt this now:
1.  Met my husband at a bar where his band was playing in 1984; friends for the next 10 years; dated for a few years, then got married in 1998.
2.  I *have* to wear socks to bed in the fall and winter months or I can't relax enough to sleep.
3.  I dream of being a fabric designer.
4.  I had such severe post partum depression after having my twins that I was close to suicidal.  Didn't help that my son was only 17 months old when the twins were born.  And I have a teenager with autism.
I'll never get off Lexapro.
5.   I am very right brained and visualize things a lot, especially in the morning when I first wake up
6.  Reading the book "Three Cups of Tea" has really changed my life and made me appreciate the abundance of my life.
7.  As a child I never pretended or thought about getting married like other girls because I knew I was so different; thank you public school.