We have a new wall oven/microwave combo and a new cooktop, both of which we scored for half price from Sears. Our microwave and oven has been in and out of its area of the wall multiple times. It has had power for some of our renovation days, which has helped break up the chore of eating out all the time. The problem we were challenged with these past couple of days has been running a new, higher grade wire to run both the cooktop and the oven off of from the oven to the breaker-box. This is no small task, since the wire had to run through a very narrow area between support beams in the ceiling. The final victory occurred, after many frustrating attempts, when Josh bought four Swiffer sweepers and attached them together to create a very long pole that carried the wire all the way to the hole in the wall by the oven. We were victorious over the wire. Thank you, God.

I also had another small incident just the other day. Our refrigerator is in the garage right now, since we needed it out the kitchen. The freezer on the fridge doesn’t seem powerful enough to keep anything frozen when the fridge itself is sitting in 100 degree weather. So I turned the freezer off. Unbeknownst to me at the time, turning the freezer off also turns the whole refrigerator off. So, all my new groceries got very warm before I realized my error. I will have to throw away a lot of food on Thursday for garbage day.

But we press on, and soon I will have a marvelous kitchen. I love my white cabinets. I adore my counter top. My new sink is enormous, and it sparkles when it is wet. I still need to pick out a back splash and flooring, but we are really, truly getting somewhere. Hopefully it will get finished before school starts and Josh gets busy with Football and Basketball. Otherwise, we may be taking an even longer time to finish our kitchen than we anticipated.

Here are some photos:

Before Pictures

Removing the wall paneling

Taking Out the Old Oven

Taking Out the Refrigerator

Primed Walls and Cabinets

Painted Walls and Cabinets

It’s harder to get the paint smooth than we anticipated. I’ve just been reading, and apparently when it is hot, paint drying time goes down. Perfect, since it’s bloody hot right now. Unfortunately, that means the paint starts drying before we’ve finished brushing it on and the brush marks were much more prominent than we hoped. We will probably spray the paint on the cabinets once we start the whole batch. Our test was just not enough to bother with the sprayer.

I am troubled because without my own ancestors leaving a trail of their words behind, all of their life’s stories vanish. Their lives are forgotten. There may be a stone in a graveyard with a name, but who was this man or woman? What made them laugh? What made them cry? When did they fall in love? Who was hurt when they died?

I wonder if my words will survive to my children and their children? Will they glimpse me through the letters organized on the pages I have strewn behind me thus far in my life? Will I eventually write something that will reach the greater masses; a beacon of light to the future of humanity: to light our way through the maze of life, to the love at the center of the universe? I hope.

We have a few pictures of it when we first got the house:

We have taken down the drop ceiling, installed recessed lighting and new light fixtures, removed some cabinets, and hung a new stainless steel cooktop hood so far, but this summer we plan on completely redoing everything else.

We will paint the cabinets white, change out the hardware, pull up the flooring and install stone or tile, paint the walls and ceiling, replace the sink and countertop and faucet, and install new appliances. Lots to do! I’m still trying to decide on what color to paint the walls. We finally decided white for sure for the cabinets. We will probably go with a black granite countertop (we need to visit the countertop stores some more). I have been playing with green for the kitchen walls, but I’m not completely sold on it yet. It won’t show much in the kitchen, but it will carry through to the breakfast nook, so I have to like it in both places. I have no idea yet about the floor. I think I need to pick the countertop for sure, first. I do know that I would like a farmhouse style sink.

Here’s some pictures I stole off the internet showing the style I really like:

It seems that creation is wired to show us how each any every part of our lives is unique. There are overarching patterns and themes, but every voice carries its own melody into the symphony.

The uniqueness of all creation fills me with awe. I am completely amazed when I think of all the infinite detail of everything. I appreciate the work of scientists who can focus on a specific small slice of the universe and spend their whole lives looking deeper and deeper into that one area. At the same time, I know I could not do it. I enjoy looking at the interactions and the big picture far too much.

My life hinges on a series of wonders. I’m talking about spiritually, but as I typed that I know that physically it is also true. My spirit, though, seeks wonder. When I travel, I much prefer spending time in nature than in cities. Although humans have built and done great things, our achievements can be seen around the world, while animals, plants, mountains, ocean floors, they are all unique to each place. Most of all, the natural world fills me with wonder. In that wonder is my worship and adoration to my God.

When I traveled to Bolivia as a teenager, the most striking thing in that entire trip was a night that our bus broke down in the middle of nothing. We had to get out of the bus. When we did, I saw the most awe inspiring sight of my life. The stars. Not the stars like I have ever seen anywhere else in the world. We were far far away from the lights of any city. It was the middle of a dark night, and the middle of a desert area. It was incredible. There were millions, millions, of stars. We are missing so much of wonder in our cities, for all of our civilization and technology. I have never seen a new gadget and been awed by it. But looking at a single leaf, or an ant, or another person: those can create awe and wonder.

The last couple of months has been extremely busy. I don’t know where they went, but they are gone and it’s January already. I’ve begun to think about some new resolutions because it is always good to set goals. Last year my resolutions included buying more locally, buying more organic foods, and using as few things containing harmful chemicals as possible. As for those goals, I have made improvements. I joined a local organic co-op and have been getting groceries there during this past year. Unfortunately, the branch nearest me is closing, so I may modify my plan for this coming year. Buying locally is difficult, and I will continue to try to improve on this aspect. Most stores only sell items that are made outside our state and country. I will continue to work towards this goal. As for chemicals, I feel I have done a great job. I don’t make my own cleaners yet, but Josh is fine with my buying the natural cleaners. In fact, I love them. They work just as well, if not better than the chemical ones, and the smell is so much more pleasant. I can actually breath and clean at the same time!

So, for this upcoming year: *trumpet fanfare*

• Get back into shape, and have fun with Josh while doing it.
  • Plan of action: Use Wii Fit Plus to get us going in the right direction. If it doesn’t work out, at least we’re not stuck with a 2 year membership to a gym that will end up costing us a lot more than the Wii Fit set-up. And it’s more likely to be fun than jogging on a treadmill. Haha.
• Become a certified teacher.
  • Plan of action: Finish paperwork that is needed. Interview with the board. Find a job teaching somewhere. Take 6 hours of education classes.
• Remodel our kitchen
  • Plan of action: During the summer, as long as we budget correctly we should have enough saved up to finish our kitchen remodel. It will be a lot of work, but the projects we’ve done so far are so nice, that I can’t wait to see the whole thing finished.
• Join a Community Group at church
  • Plan of action: Find a group this next semester and actually join it. We’ve meant to do this for a long time now, and we just need to do it.

Hoorah. They don’t sound too traumatizing. I think it’s possible and probable to get all of these accomplished.

As an end note, the last few months have been difficult, since I have been involved in three funerals, including the mom of some of my best friends. 2009 has been a year of loss to many, and I want to encourage all of you: God will provide you will all that you need. Strength. Comfort. Provision. Vision. Love. Grace. Forgiveness.

Let our faithful God be your source and your hope this coming year.

This issue of Money Saving Marketing is highlighting three sources for free stock photography. It can be very expensive to buy professional photography to use in marketing campaigns. Sometimes it is necessary when you have a unique idea, or when you would like a specific model in the picture. But it is not always important or cost effective to spend a lot of money on every photograph. The following three websites can help when you are looking for an easy, free solution.

iStockphoto.com
If you ever look at buying stock photography online, you have probably heard of iStockphoto. This website has an amazing variety of photo, illustration, video, and even audio stock files. For regular photographs on this site, you can pay anywhere from $0.95 to over $100. There is a great way to build up a stock photography library at no cost at all though, using their Free Photo of the Week. To reach this area, you must sign in to iStockphoto first. On the front page is a photograph captioned, “Free Photo of the Week”. Click on it to download it in one of several sizes. There are also 2 weeks of previous Free Photo of the Week images, still free for download.

If you are looking for other types of media, on the sidebar click on Vector illustrations, Video, or Audio. Each of these sections has a free file of the month. Although you are not at liberty to pick whatever you want at the time for free, if you take time to download the files that you might need in the future you can save a lot of money in the long run.

stock.xchng
This site is a large collection of free stock photography and illustrations. Depending on what you are looking for, you could probably find something here. Some of the images are lower quality, which is why they are offered for free instead of being on a paid stock photography site, but you can’t beat the price. Pay attention to the restrictions listed under Availability when using these photos, as some have more restrictions than others for their use.

Flickr
You might wonder about my listing Flickr as a stock photography source. A lot of photographs on Flickr are not available as stock for use in any manner. There is a great way to search for the photographs that are available though, and I will explain how.

1. Type in your search criteria, and go to the results page.
2. Once at the results page, click Advanced Search, beside the search box.
3. At the bottom of the Advanced Search options, there is a Creative Commons section. Click the checkbox for “Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content” and any other options in that area that apply to the project you need the photograph for.
4. Click search and find your free image!

Each of these sites has a lot of content that I hope you find useful in your endeavors! Have a very merry Christmas, and when you need a designer, please remember to call Meira Design.

God bless,
Charlotte Glaze
Owner, Meira Design

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Now that’s a fine statement, but what can it do for you? I use WordPress in nearly all of my website designs because it is both easy to use and the websites are still entirely customizable. It is laid out to be used for blogging, but there is no need to be limited to blogging in the use of it.

WordPress is based on PHP coding, and interaction with a mySQL database. Don’t worry if that doesn’t make sense to you. You don’t need to know how to use either of them to make use of WordPress.

WordPress offers very easy-to-follow instructions for getting the system installed on your web server. Some website hosts even have WordPress as a feature that they will install for you. Once you are up and running, the fun really begins. To modify the look of your site, all you need is a new theme. WordPress has a large selection of free themes, you can also buy themes or have one designed by a professional (like Meira Design).

Adding content is very simple. Once you log-in to your WordPress account, you will arrive at the Dashboard. On the left side of the screen is a menu. You will add content to your site through either “Posts” or “Pages.” Each has a specific role to play in your site layout.

There are also plug-ins available to further expand the capabilities of WordPress. I like to think of WordPress as an easily organized filing cabinet for my websites. I can modify the whole site, or tweak individual areas of the site, all through the tool of WordPress.

Thankfully, since it is such a large and expansive tool, WordPress also has a huge amount of explanations available, to help with the learning curve. And if the original set-up or maintenance of your own WordPress site is too much for you, call Meira Design, and I will help you get up and running before you know it.

Happy marketing!

Charlotte Glaze
Owner, Meira Design

PS – Here are some examples of sites designed by Meira Design, and running on WordPress:

• Meira Design
• Smoldering Wick Ministries
• Oral Roberts Ministries
• TheGlaze.com

This article is from the November issue of my newsletter: Money-Saving Marketing. If you would like to subscribe to future issues, please visit meiradesign.com and click on “Free Newsletter”. You may also subscribe here.

These were taken during our inspection in the summer. It’s a really large house, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom. The backyard is also very large, and Timbit loves to run around in it.

These are obviously before we moved anything in, so I’ll need to take more photos later (once I clear out the unpacking piles in several of the rooms).

We didn’t believe we would get our house. We had to be out of our apartment by October 1st, and so we packed everything into a moving truck and stayed with a friend for the night after scrubbing our apartment down. The next day we had our apartment inspection, signed the last papers, and turned in our keys. We were now homeless. We were planning on looking at apartments. Then, miraculously, our realtor called and we were closing. We barely believed it. When we finally got those keys and moved into our house, it was very surreal.

But here we are. We’re ready to start renovating as we get the money to do so, and it’s so nice to have more room than our apartment. It’s nice to have an office that is not the living room.

I must say though, the previous owners were nail-fiends. There are so many nails stuck into every surface that its almost funny. The ceiling even has nails in it. Forget the moon… our house is made of Swiss cheese.