Though most of our projects are food related (what can I say, we love food), self sufficiency is more than being able to make our own food. In fact, anything we learn to do for ourselves helps us to become more self sufficient.
For the last few months I have been getting itchy for a change. Our eventual goal is to purchase farmland, and in so doing have more resources for the lifestyle we choose to live. But for now we are where we are, a family of seven in a cute little three bedroom house. It's what we can afford, and though it is small, and in the suburbs, we love our home.
Over the years, as is the norm with small children, our home has been exposed to a lot of wear and tear. Having small children is basically a guarantee of floods, stained carpets, and writing on the walls. My current project has been to beautify our home with a fresh coat of paint.
Painting a home is something I've never done before. I grew up in military housing, (my dad worked on the base as a civilian) and we were not permitted to paint the homes we rented. I got so bored with the off-white walls, but it wasn't my place to paint. In my adult life we rented as well, until we were blessed with this house. Even here it has been difficult to convince Henry that we needed some color on our walls.
Finally I decided that I was going to take the work on myself, as I could see that I was on my own. I picked out a color, and got a reluctant agreement from Henry as he prefers the white. Over the next few months I have spent what little free time I could find prepping and painting. Yesterday with the help of a friend the last of the work was completed, at least in my kitchen.
I am so happy with the results, I feel like I'm in a whole new kitchen! I'm looking forward to my next color, and moving forward with improving my home!
(Note: the brownish stain on the cealing above the sink is the remnants of an apple beer experiment explosion a few years ago. Not everything is the kids fault... I still have more painting to do, but my wasabi green is done!)
