Fun at the Cutlers

This last weekend we made a trip to Pella to visit Grandma Evenhouse, and then stayed to hang out with Dad and Jim. While the boys worked on moving the dirt pile from the front of the house to the side, Kendall and I went over to the Cutler house to play on their playground (even though no one was home there).



Kendall had a blast! She is moving around so well now, it's incredible. Last Wednesday she decided she was going to walk from now on, and she hasn't stopped!

At the SyWassinks

Kendall loves babies! Especially her little cousins Paisley and Adelyn! She’s not very good at being gentle yet though. She starts out patting gently, but then gets excited and starts whacking a little too hard. But I love to see her give her cousins hugs. How sweet! Here’s a video of her talking to Adelyn. Just wait until the other 2 girls start talking! It’ll be a mad house when we all get together!



Kendall also loves the zebra toy the SyWassinks have at their house. She has learned how to get on and off by herself and how to spin the toy to make the music start. Then it’s time to dance and bounce! I still can’t fathom how a person can love something so small so much, but I do! There’s nothing like the love parents have for their children!

Sorry!

I was reminded today by my sisters Laura and Bethany about how incredibly long its been since I've blogged! Way, way too long. So I'll give you a quick rundown of what's been going on in the life of the Gladbrook Klinges.

1. I found out that I have hypothyroidism. I've been taking pills for a little over a week now, and I am definitely seeing a difference. I have more energy, my mind doesn't get fuzzy at certain times in the day, and I've lost 3 pounds without even trying! As much as I hate having yet ANOTHER thing wrong with me, at least there is a fix.

2. I've sold 5 hats in the last 3 weeks! AH! I'm so excited about that, but have so little time to knit, it's also almost been a little stressful. I still have one more to complete. It's been so fun! I love making things that people like and appreciate and can even make us some extra money. :)

3. Tim (with the help of Josh) has been working a lot more in the barn again. They have all the wiring run and he has most of the outlets done. It's looking great!

4. I've been getting more used to my job, and enjoying it more. It's not my dream job, but I also don't dread going to work everyday. I really enjoy the people I work with, so that makes things pretty good!

5. We are working on getting Kendall to sleep through the night. So far the score is Kendall: 4 Parents: 0 So not going as well as I was hoping, but I haven't lost all hope yet. I also haven't been very good at setting the routine as I was hoping, so really, its my fault.

6. Kendall is so close to walking! She can take 5 or 6 steps by herself now and is getting braver every day. Pretty soon she's just going to just take off and be walking/running everywhere. I love watching her grow and learn!

7. We just got our pictures taken for the church directory. It went ok. We got a couple pictures of Kendall kind of smiling, so that's better than what we expected. Here's her outfit:


And that's been life lately. Busy, busy, busy. Hopefully I'll find some more time to blog this month. Sorry to leave everyone hanging! :)

New dining room part 2

Back to the dining room!

I decided to tape before painting this time. I haven't taped off before painting in a long time and thought I'd try it again.



It took a long time and in the end, it wasn't really worth it. I even followed the instructions of the paint guy in Holmes on Homes on HGTV. He says to do the first coat around the tape really light so that it just sticks to the tape and forms a good barrier. The second coat then should be full coverage, and then you need to pull the tape off when the paint is still wet. My paint still bled through and the lines are not nice and crisp. Don't look too closely at my paint job when you come visit--it's definitely not perfect! :)

Another word of advice--don't use Glidden paint! It was horrible! The darker grey/black went on decently in 2 coats, but the light grey did not go well. It went on clumpy, runny, and with very splotchy coverage. It truly looked horrible. So for the second coat, we used Tim's Fisher discount and bought Diamond Vogel paint. They were able to match the color perfectly and it looks wonderful! I believe this will be our paint brand of choice from now on.

And here are a couple pictures of the almost finished dining room.





More to come again--hopefully soon :)

New dining room part 1

I finally got fed up with the less than beautiful (to put it nicely) wallpaper in our dining room a couple weeks ago. I vow to never put wallpaper up on any walls in my house ever! This wallpaper and backing came off very nicely compared to what I've been told, but it was still a unpleasant, long, tedious process. Never again if I can help it! :)


A little glimpse of the wallpaper. Not so bad once you get used to it, but definitely in need of a change!




Scraping the backing off... luckily it came off pretty well by just wetting it down with water. Still hated the whole process!


Finally, with a little help from Mom and Dad Klinge one day, the room was completely stripped of all wallpaper. You might not be able to see from the pictures, but the walls are in rough shape. Definitely not smooth! We are going to need to tear the walls down to put in insulation someday soon, so I decided not to worry about imperfections and just go with it!





My blank slate--and yes, it's a mess. Sorry about that!

More to come...

Reading

Kendall “reads” books all the time. Well, she mostly chews on them honestly, but she is also very good at flipping pages. This last weekend Tim read Kendall a couple of his favorite books from when he was growing up. Kendall didn’t have enough patience for the whole story, but she turned those pages! She loves her Daddy so much! It warms my heart to watch, and I can't help but smile (and sometimes get a little teary-eyed, I admit) :)

Satan's Lies

I have decided to pour out my heart this morning. That always brings such a feeling of relief and calm, doesn’t it? Anyway, about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I realized something that had been going on in me for a few weeks before that. I had been listening and believing lies that the devil had been putting in my mind and my heart. There was an increasingly loud voice in my mind that kept telling me things like, “you’re a terrible wife. If Tim isn’t completely happy and satisfied in all areas of your marriage, you are the only one to blame.” Or “you’re a horrible mother. Kendall can’t even crawl yet like all babies her age can. You must not know how to raise a child.” Or “you have no friends. No one wants to talk to you, invite you over, be with you at all. And no wonder—look at yourself.” Or “you are incredibly fat and ugly. You have become a complete and utter failure in life because of it too.”

And the sad thing is, I was believing all of these things unquestioningly. I have never hated myself so much or been so low. One night, as I was rocking Kendall to sleep, I heard another voice speak to me—well, shout at me really. It said, “Carrie, you’re believing lies. Satan has a strong hold in your life in this area right now. You are my child, I love you, and I made you exactly who you are, and my creation is GOOD.” I started to cry. After laying Kendall down, I confessed everything I had been feeling and hearing to Tim. And my life took a 180 starting that night. I started believing God’s truths. I admit, I still did and do find myself falling into thinking negatively about myself, but as soon as I catch myself, I pray. And God helps me to turn around again. I’m not perfect. I’m not a perfect mother, a perfect wife, or a perfect friend. I struggle with my weight and am not the most gorgeous girl around. But I’m God’s perfect creation. And through Him I can get closer to being perfect. No more lies.