A change is as good as a holiday?

I love that phrase, I like to try to believe it.  This week it is true too!  Yesterday I was all inspired to rearrange my home theatre room... it's the only true adult room in the house, although there is a box of toys for Darby and two gorgeous white leather beanie chairs for the boys... it's the room where no toys (except Darby's) are allowed, the room where it's kept clean all the time... that's what we anticipated anyway lol.  I've been trying to stick to the rules, but it's currently the only room with a set top box on the tv (so we can get HD tv), and the boys looooove watching ABC2 in the afternoons, and if it keeps them happy while I'm cooking dinner, who am I to complain?  Until it's 8pm and I want to relax and the room is filled with toys, bowls from afternoon tea, crumbs from afternoon tea, dirty socks from school... ew!

So yes, yesterday I got in there and vacuumed.  Then rolled up the rug, rearranged the furniture.  Vacuumed again. Rearranged the furniture again.  Vacuumed yet again.  Decided it was good, and sat down, hot, sweaty, but very happy with the result.  I was all inspired to vacuum and mop the hard floors today, then rearrange the living area... but I've met with some opposition.  There's a pile of clothes & miscellaneous in the front hallway... abandoned by my husband when he was cleaning out his part of the wardrobe the other night.  Oh well, time to sit back and enjoy my "holiday" in the theatre :)

Now back to my challenge for the week, to wake before the family and prepare breakfast... how did I go?  Well the first day I beaten to it, as Big M had baked muffins the night before, and the kids had ravenously devoured them while I was still trying to clear my foggy head... I still managed to get weetbix for Little D though :)  I can't say I have succeeded for the remainder of the week, although the early mornings (even when the kids have woken before me), are serving me well.  I've been achieving far more in the home than usual, and have been feeling more accomplished as a wife.  So I might continue this challenge for another week to see where we end up!

Can you ever be too inspired? Um.. yes

Well it has been a while hasn't it?  We've been unwell if you didn't know... for the past 3.5 weeks we've been inundated with gastro, colds and lucky for me an ear infection resulting in a perforated ear drum, oh yay!  So please excuse my lack of energy to blog :(

Today has been the first in many that I have felt the energy to get things done, to get out there and make things, to buy things, to bake things, to clean things, to organise things, to build things, to photograph things, to print things... oh dear... I think I have become over inspired!  I've been catching up on other friend's blogs, thinking, ooh I love this that they've made, I wonder if I could... ohh I love that photo, maybe I should get my camera out... ooh I love what they made for dinner, I'll have to break the budget this week to try it... argh!  So yes, I do think it is possible to become too inspired.  I realised that I cannot do everything.  Honestly, I cannot.  What I need to do is focus on my family, what our needs are first, and then when I have spare time to let my creativity blossom (within budget lol).

So, I did allow myself to make some candles yesterday, I've had feathering palm wax just sitting in my laundry at home, taking up space, and of course it needed to be cleared... so I made a couple of pillar candles. These are the first pillar candles I've made, I normally make soy container candles (and usually in quite quirky containers found at the local salvo store). I have to admit, I'm surprised at how well they turned out...

Now I'm inspired to make lots for Christmas gifts... so my loved ones, you know what to expect :)  Until the budget allows me to purchase further supplies, I must put my hand to something else... curtain making? No budget again... I have it!  Mr R's birthday cupcakes for school!  Not so budget dependent, yay!

So, how's my life application of the "wife of noble character" going?  (silence lol) I'm glad you asked!  I've been trying to support Big M in all his decisions, but it's rather easy to do so when one is lying on the couch unwell.  So this week there is a new task... here's the scripture

¹³ She finds wool and flax
      and busily spins it.
 ¹⁴ She is like a merchant’s ship,
      bringing her food from afar.
 ¹⁵ She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
      and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.

Oh dear... is this part of my "too much inspiration" issue?  No, not really. I do purchase items to make things from at home... (and in the following scriptures there is more detail about handling money)... I love to try new dishes, food styles from other lands, although I do try to buy local, supporting our local farmers & businesses :)  

It's the next part of the scripture I'm having trouble with... getting up before dawn to prepare breakfast for my household?  Hmm... at the moment, Big M leaves the home at 6am to get to work... do I need to get up before him to make him breakfast?  I have no worries in making breakky for the kids, although they usually get up before I do, I just went over the rule this morning actually, "mummy does not get up until 7, do not make loud noise until after the clock says 7"... the boys usually pop a dvd on, they like to wake at 6am now that the sun is up then thanks to all those people who voted against daylight saving, grrr, lol, just kidding, I don't blame you.  As for planning the day's work for my servant girls, well that's non existent... I'm the servant girl!  I already know what I need to get done... maybe that can by my inspiration this week... search out a couple of servant girls lol!

No, I guess the first part of verse 15 is my challenge for the week, my "inspiration"?  Yeah... ok... YEAH... YES!!! Alright, I'm actually excited about it now... aiming to get up even before hubby, and prepare breakfast for the whole family!  It is indeed a challenge.  I'll let you know how we go!

I just need a friend who's a millionaire...

Lol... how many times have we said that?  I'd love this, I'd love that, oh I want to go here or there... if only I had a very generous friend with lots of excess cash to give out!  I even began to pray for such a friend, "oh Lord, please send me a friend who has the capacity to bless my family with holidays at the beach, with plants in the backyard, with nice clothes and a huge tv"... not too much is it?

Then I hear a voice (not audibly, but you know what I mean)... very calmly saying "Lee, I am that friend" ... oh, you God?  Oh, yes!  Of course!  Have you ever read that scripture "every tree of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills" (Ps 50:10)... hmmm... yes.... everything in the world is His.  Are his hands not big enough to gather what I need?  AND if all I need is Him, then how much more am I actually blessed!  God is the friend who wants to bless, and adorn, and pour his love upon us.  Don't look elsewhere for your source of anything, go to Him!

My brother in law used to print up scriptures for me to memorise, then test me on them every week, I found it so annoying as a teenager, but now I love it, because they always spring to my mind, and today such a scripture is "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear" (Is 59:1).  Awesome isn't it?  God always hears, and he always saves... we need to acknowledge & trust him!

It's Big M's birthday today, 28 years old... ooh!  The kids & I went shopping this morning for him, I bought him the practical gift, a wall mounted guitar hook, two actually.  While the boys, armed with money from the grandparents, ran wild through Bunnings in search for something ridiculous, but of course something they thought Daddy would love... we came to a compromise and walked away with a torch, an organiser tool box (for all the little screws, nuts & bolts randomly rolling around his big toolbox), a gardening tool set with knee pad and of course a shooting star Christmas light for the front window!  Hee hee.  As stated in the previous post, greatly enriching Big M's life in all aspects :)