Thankful and Creative~ Was I successful?

Thankful and CrEaTiVe

Those were my words for 2009.  Was I successful?  Maybe. 

I am learning to be more thankful.  Every breath is a gift and I am not guaranteed anything in this life.  I am guaranteed heaven and I have eternal life because I know Jesus.  Everything else is simply a blessing from God. 

So, in light of that perspective, I am thankful.  I won't be perfect until heaven but I am learning and making progress, however slowly.

Now for creative.  Creative is a word I would not use to describe myself.  I can copy someone else's creativity but coming up with a creative idea on my own is not something I do on a regular basis. 

I want to be creative. {insert a great big whine here}  Creating fun ways to connect with each of my children individually is really important to me.  I don't want them to think of me as the boring task master.  This is so hard for me.  Being a task oriented person is hard to unlearn.  I want to put relationships before my to-do list, though.  The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!  Help me, Lord!

Decorating is not something I am good at either.  (What am I good at, I wonder??? )  In 2009 I  challenged myself to decorate the neglected areas (and there are many) in my small house and redecorate the areas that were decorated but not loved.  Most furniture in my house is either old and worn out or mismatched because it was a gift.  Nothing wrong with those things.  I just didn't know how to use them in ways that reflected my style (do I have a style??). 

This sounded like fun but there was this ever present problem of lack of $$$$$$$.  Nothing like the lack of funds to make a person get creative.  THANKFULLY, (did you catch that I was thankful ;) ) a local ministry opened a thrift store in our town in 2009.  It has been a gold mine for great finds.  Another thing that has been a help is reading all the decorating blogs in blogland.  I will have to do a separate post to list my favs someday.

So here is a list of some of the "creative projects" I completed:
1. painted the great room and hall (includes kitchen, dining, and living area)
2. new curtains for kitchen and living room (on sale)
3. new border for kitchen ($1 a roll clearance find~ jackpot since we only needed 2 rolls!!)
4. bought items from thrift store, ebay, and hobby lobby (with gift cards) to decorate tops of kitchen cabinets
5. painted light fixtures in dining and living room Lighting makeover
6. bought slip covers for my very worn out couldn't find any more threads to sew together sofas Slip Covers
7. completed a laundry room/pantry makeover Laundryroom/pantry makeover
8. new flooring and paint in hall bathroom (the kids did this project~ YES) I am including a link but it doesn't look this way now.  I redecorated the redecorated bathroom. LOL Hall Bathroom remodel
9. started yard sale shopping again and found some great stuff ~ I have used some of it but have some put away for later ~ I have a plan though. Trash to Treasure
10. learned to use spray paint and repurposed some things (the chalk board is no longer over my kitchen window and the little round chalkboard isn't in the girls' room.  I know I know.  So undecisive. projects
11. Repurposed some old frames for art for my bathroom frames
12. Learned to bake bread (thanks Mrs. Marie) Bread
13. Made Christmas ornaments for gifts homemade ornaments
14. learned to make laundry soap laundry soap
15. I almost forgot!  I made two wreaths like this.  One I gave to my mother in law at Christmas and the other is hanging on my wall.

How did I do?  Pretty good?  I think so.  I am thankful you have let me share this with you!