the rest of the remodel...

Here's a shot of the center wall that runs from the kitchen into the family room... we have to keep it the same color in both rooms because we inadvertently pushed the door to our bedroom underneath the doorway from the kitchen to family room... there's nowhere to divide this wall.
One of the drawbacks of drawing up your own home plans, I guess, but we've learned to work with it over the years.

See?
In this shot you can see what I'm talking about... see how the door frame is just barely under the open doorway? *sigh* We didn't realize this until it was too late. Not that there was a lot we could have done about it anyway because there's no room to move the door back... ah well... this color is called Coffee With Cream. Quite appropriately named if you're like my hubby and drink what is more like "a little coffee with my creamer". ;)

And here he is, my sweet painting man. I wouldn't have such an awesomely colored home without him to run this huge roller for me.

Finally!!
Done with the center wall... now to get the real color pop going in here!! Woo!

Can't wait to see how it looks once all the rest is green!!

One wall down...two more & the family room is done::

Woo! I love it!
I really love it!!

This isn't exactly the shade of green I had hoped, but I do like it a lot...
Hang on & I'll show you what we did to the mantle...

Check it: we needed somewhere to put the boxes/electronics for the tv, so...
Pretty neat, huh? If you look at some of the earlier photos, you can see the way the mantle originally looked. I sanded it and hubby took a router to the edges of the brackets to give it a more polished look, then I painted and washed it with a dark brown, sort of like my end & coffee tables...

I really love the wall vinyls, too...

Here's the other end of the room after paint & replacing the furniture:

long time, no post...

Ah, yes. I'm back. My life got a little hectic during the holidays. I'm sure yours wasn't though, right? Mmhmm.. I didn't think so.

Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.

*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.

So, let me tell you what we did have...

We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.

The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.

I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!

During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!

So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!

We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.

She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.

For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!

God's so good, isn't He?? :)

I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.

Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.

Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!

hugs~

more craftiness...

Okay, so the blue room... it needs some help. Mom gave me a lamp that is very pretty. It's a brown metal, slender-ish with a couple of thin leaves, sort of like a flower. She has a octagon shaped shade on it in a damask type of fabric. It's too yellowy for the room, though.

I found a cool idea on, where else, Pinterest, taking fabric ruffle & wrapping it around the shade. Of course, having NO crafty store around town though, I have not been able to find any such ruffle. There is Sexton's that I didn't try, but it's a tad late now. *sheesh* My idea was to use blue and brown with maybe some green ribbon wound through it. But like I said, absolutely no luck finding ruffle.

And actually, it's about impossible to find fabric with my colors. See, my problem is that I've incorporated green into the room. Matter of fact, the bedspread is entirely green with a white floral outline on it. !! Remember I said I was trying to keep the room gender neutral to suit whatever purpose the Lord might have for the room... but that's about impossible too!! One of my sweet cousins had bought a comforter for in there... it was a bit darker blue than the walls with a large white flower outline and a bit of green leaves. It would have been great color-wise, but it looked entirely too feminine. And besides that, Tommy didn't like it at all. *sigh*

So, I took it back and found the green one. Originally we got the green comforter hoping to use the opposite side, which was a white background with little blue and green stripes. But once I got it on the bed, it just looked like pajamas!! Egads!!

The dust ruffle is dark brown & my thoughts were to find some fabric with blue, green & brown to make a couple extra throw pillows. But man, it's about impossible to find those colors together and of course, there are only fify bazillion shades of green and blue.

I was able to find a few pieces of fabric with these colors at Walmart in an entirely overpriced bundle. Seven bucks for 6 small sheets of fabric?!/ I'm still kicking myself, but what do you do when you get desperate? (You spend too much money, that's what!)

My materials: gel glue (Elmer's brand is what I used), mix the glue with water til you get something that's not too thin but brushable. A 1/2 inch brush, my lamp shade and fabric cut into approximately 1/2" strips.

Here's what I started with:


My original thought was to make a paper pattern of the panel, cut the fabric to fit & glue it to the shade, but I finally gave up on EVER being able to get an accurate pattern. Between the flare of the panel and the outward curve, it was impossible. So I thought I'd just cut my fabric into strips & glue it on vertically.


However after getting a few strips on, I realized that wasn't going to work. *sigh* That daggone flare was going to make it impossible!!


So, I took all that back off, and started winding it around the same way the ruffle deal was supposed to be.


That seemed to work lots better til I got to that curve where the shade starts flaring out at the bottom. Then I ended up with little poochy puckery sticky-ups... see?

Everywhere the fabric crossed the wire frame, I had one of those poochies sticking out.

At this point, I was brushing the glue over the fabric as well as underneath. I took the tip of my scissors & cut the fold down to where the fabric laid down correctly. Then I brushed the two flaps created down one over the other. That seemed to work fine.

Here's what I ended up with:


I tucked the edges of the fabric underneath the ...whatever you call it.. the binding at the top and bottom of the shade. I didn't cover those, but if it still doesn't suit me, I will probably use flat grossgrain ribbon to cover that.
Here's the lamp on the nightstand... still wet, so it's darker than it will be when dry, but I'm pretty pleased with it!

If you decide to try this, one thing I would recommend is starting at the bottom. That way, you can cover your puckers a lot easier, I believe. Also, if you're looking for a shade to start with, keep in mind that the more curve, the more puckering you'll have. This technique would work flawlessly for a mostly straight shade.

same room, different project
I have these two gorgeous pictures Mom gave me, but the frames are too glitzy to suit me. I wanted to tone them down a bit. So I did a little paint job on them.

Before:

After:


I used a "dry brush" brush... I dunno the technical name for it, but that's what it's used for. This brush is probably at least 30 years old. It came from Mom's ceramic shop eons ago. Tip of the day: take care of your brushes!! :) You'll need one with short, fairly stiff bristles. And you'll want to get some scrap paper or cardboard to "rub" most of the paint out of your brush.


I will probably regret not taking the glass out of these and doing them "right" but I was being lazy & trying to fill time in between studying on what to do with my lamp shade. To properly do this to your frames, you should definitely at least spray them with some satin sealer so you have a better finish for underneath your paint. Seriously, there's a sheen to these frames to begin with & the paint basically just pushed around on the surface. I'm just hoping it doesn't rub off while I'm trying to hang them. I originally was going to base coat them a cream color, but I didn't totally hate the gold... but if I'd used the spray. I'd have had something to hold the paint on. This is call do as I say, not as I do... and yes, if the paint all rubs off while I'm hanging the pictures, I'll tell you. *sigh*

Have fun & let me know if you try any of my ideas. :D

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Not so much HERE, but I'm trying. I had some fall colored template on here that is one of the standard issue from Blogger, but thought, as I'm thinking for the house too, once I finally can see the floor again, that I'd just go ahead & decorate for Christmas since between Thanksgiving and then it gets to be so hectic and this year it'll be doubly so! After thinking we'd forego our trip to the cabin this year, we have reserved a four bedroom in Gatlingburg for the first week of December. We started going in 2009 after talking it over with the rest of the family, in lieu of making several gatherings and exchanging gifts. We spend about a week at a cabin with grandparents and all, so it ends up being three generations together. Hopefully, the next trip we make, we'll have a fourth generation with us, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. ;) Last year somehow wasn't nearly as fun. My sister, who comes down on Mom and Dad's dime and sleeps in the main living area on a sleeper sofa, was pretty whiny/complaining last year. She must have got the hint from everyone avoiding her or else Mom told her she'd need to keep the griping to herself or stay home this year. Anyhow, we each chip in a portion, depending on how long we stay (Tommy and I and the kids all stay the entire week, while my parents and Tommy's split the week) and whether or not we have our own bedroom, so it makes it much more affordable. We mostly just hang out in the cabin, watching movies, playing games, cooking/eating and soaking in the hot tub. Last year, it snowed a LOT and was just gorgeous! Anyhow, since everyone but us and my sister will be in the process of moving, it's going to be chaotic before long, so we thought we'd need to just skip going to the cabin, but Casey pointed out that would be a big reason to go! To destress and relax some. So... we're going! Yay. Now to save up enough money to afford our part of the cabin, our part of the food and enough to go out to eat at least once and hopefully shop a little. *sigh* I don't know how that's gonna work out, but Lord willing, we'll be able to scratch up some extra for that. Gotta get... time for evening services! God bless... G~

miscellaneous & sundry...

... just to forewarn you that this post has no discernible direction as yet. ;) Just wanted to update you, you being me, because best I can tell, not a soul has looked at this blog. *shrugs* And that's okay. As much as I'd love some interaction, some comments, some VIEW numbers besides my own (LOL!) I'm content to just ease back into a sorta journaling with a blog again. It's amazing how rusty I am after years of NOT keeping up a blog! ANYhow... for the update...

I been sick. *cough cough* No, really. I have. I finally got sick of waiting for this awful yeast infection to go away. I'm not talking "internal" here, y'all, lest you get all uncomfortable & squirmy. ;) As bad as that kind is, this is outside, right where my legs attach to my *whispering* groin.... Awful, bumpy, stinging, itchy rash. ARGH! I thought it was probably from my sugars going up and down since I'd been painting & stuff. Any time I do something like that, especially after being a spud for so long, my sugars will drop, then I'll end up bouncing it too high. The lows I've had lately have been in the 30's, and they've been the panicky, sweaty, shaky kind that I don't realize are coming on til, *BAM*, there it is, full on hypoglycemia! So when I have a low like that, I always get ravenous afterward and the panicky part makes me overreact and "over correct", which then bounces me up too high. Too-high sugars can trigger a yeast infection, since yeast loves sugar & all. *sigh*

I had been using Nystatin cream, which should have cleared it up, but it didn't. Plus I had had that awful, hacking asthma-cough thing I get occasionally. It had hung on, coming in spells, for about 2 weeks. I finally broke down & went to the doctor.

Besides, it's time I get my flu shot AND I needed to have him write me a prescription for brand name Wellbutrin. Long story there, maybe in another post... So he asks if I've had a fever, sore throat, etc... nope. Just the cough & my albuterol inhaler wasn't helping at all. He asked if my ears were hurting. Nope. Just the cough, okay?! Then he looks in my ears and in that strange Indian way he has of making faces and comments says, "Odd." Well, I KNEW that wasn't good. He says, "I can't believe your ears aren't hurting."..*trails off* Um... uhkay. WHY? "Because you have a bad infection in both of them." Hmph! Who knew? I told him it was probably because I'd had a constant headache for several weeks and couldn't feel the ear pain because of that. Ha.

So, that was probably why I had the yeast infection because infection can jack up my sugars, which then feeds the yeast, et cetera, et cetera... No wonder I've been feeling like crap! But instead of giving me Diflucan, which is what I normally take when I have a mega-yeast infection that doesn't respond to OTC remedies, he gave me a powder form of the Nystatin saying that way the yeast doesn't also have moisture to thrive in. Urgh. I didn't know this is what he'd done til I got to the pharmacy since he sent the prescriptions via computer and I didn't get to look at them. Otherwise I'd have asked for the Diflucan right then. Any time I take antibiotics, I end up with a yeast infection, too, so starting out with one just wasn't good.

But I waited. That was last Friday, so I tried the powder all weekend, not really seeing any signs of improvement. Needless to say, Monday, I called and asked for the Diflucan. He ordered me seven of them. (Normal dose is one and for "normal" people, that usually wipes the infection out.) ... (of course, you realize by now, *I* am decidedly NOT normal..)

I got the stuff yesterday, have now taken three doses and have yet to see any improvement. I should have called him back Friday for the Diflucan, but by the time he was done with my appointment, the office was already closed. GAH!

And so, I've never had the first bit of pain in my ears, either. Which I find extremely weird, although when I had the SJS in 1994 it started with an ear infection, fiddling around for a couple weeks with about 4 antibiotics trying to cure it and then I had the reaction. *sigh*

So anyhow, I go back for a recheck day after tomorrow. Lord willing, that'll all be better and I can go ahead & get my flu shot over with.

I'm still not done with the small bedroom. Matter of fact, I haven't even touched it since I went to the doctor last week! I think I may go in there and get back to painting that trim. I wish Tommy would go ahead and take the carpet out so that I can get to the very bottom of the trim. He's talking about doing wood flooring in there, since he got so much practice doing it at his friend's house. I don't want to have to sand & repaint because there are carpet marks all over the trim! NOTE TO SELF: MAKE Tommy take the carpet up tonight! *heh*

Alrighty, I need to get busy, so take care & God bless!!

G~

bleh...

I hate it when I get like this. *sigh*

How is "this"? Well, it's a totally overwhelmed, anti-focus, hurts-to-think-about-all-the-stuff-I-need-to-get-done kinda thing. And of course, I would get a bad case of it when my house is in utter chaos.

I was working on sanding some of the holes Tommy had patched up in the little bedroom yesterday, and getting started on painting the trim in there when Mom called. She had been really sick all day with that whatever-it-is she gets that keeps her running to the bathroom all day til she basically has nothing of substance in her body. ANYway...my aunt had called to tell her she had a bunch of greens for us. Of course, Mom didn't want any in her condition and she didn't feel like driving out to pick them up either. So I stopped what I was doing, cleaned up a bit and drove out there.

Sis (that's what we've always called my mom's oldest sister) had a black garbage bag FULL of the most huge 'greens' I'd ever seen! I came home, divvied some out for my sister to take & set about the washing process and heating up a huge pot of water to parboil them in. Needless to say, I didn't get back to my painting, but boy, those green WERE really delicious.

I think I must have eaten more than I should have because today, my intestines are not so happy. Still, it was worth it. I could LIVE on greens if they weren't so much trouble AND if they didn't cause me so much intestinal distress. *urgh*

Woke up today with a major sinus headache to add to my lower-body chaos, so I haven't got anything done except brewing up a pot of coffee and catching up with my peeps online. *sigh* Besides, I won't be doing much in the bedroom today anyhow... I HAVE to do laundry. The guys are fishing socks out of the laundry basket piled up on the couch and this morning, I had to dig to find what was probably the last clean pair of underwear Tommy has. *sheesh!* So... it's laundry today... and the family room is SUCH a mess, I hate to take the stuff in there to fold & sort.... Maybe I'll make up the bed, which is always semi-piled at the footboard. What a mess! And with the holidays approaching, as they ALWAYS are anytime we try to do any "gussy-ing" up of the house, I'm getting frantic.... but then again, I'm kinda too tired to be TOO frantic, ya know?

I'm supposed to go with some friends from high school to Lexington to see an Etta Mae show Friday. I've never seen her in person, but two of the girls who live in Lexington now go see her often. They say she's even funnier in person. A couple of London gals are driving up there, so I'm going to ride with them if I go.

Part of the time I'm all like, "YAY! What a fun thing to do! Yesss!" then other times I'm like, "Nah. I don't feel like it and what's the use of going anyway.." Ick. I hate when I feel that way. I probably NEED to go. I SHOULD go, seeing as Tommy has gone on numerous fun-with-buddies things over the years. Eh... I dunno. We'll see what happens, I guess.

Okie doke, I gotta get busy on this laundry.

Blessings...

G~

Lost...unfortunately, not in Hawaii...

Okay, so the title makes no sense unless you're a "Lostie" like me and love all the scenery in that no-longer-running TV series. My life doesn't make a lotta sense right now either. I'm just sorta "lost" in all the chaos, I guess!!

We're remodeling, people. And everything is in total disarray! I HATE it when things are like this! Not that it wasn't bad before because I'd let two rooms in my house get COMPLETELY out of hand... Corey's old bedroom had become a pile of STUFF. Tommy's aunt had come down for a couple weeks and decided to get in there and "organize" for me, bless her heart. She can work circles around me, but after she had been in there, I couldn't find a daggone thing!! Argh! Add to that the way people would just toss stuff in there, or tell me, "Put it in the back room & I'll take it up to the attic later." Yeah, whatever! *sigh*

And the living room?? Oh. My. Goo'niss!! It was a gom, too, only not quite to the extent of the bedroom. I'd originally started using it as a sort of 'craft room', but that soon got overwhelmed by piles. My arch enemy, Piles. I hate 'em, but my life can sometimes revolve around them, too. I use Piles to organize sometimes... sort of. *shrugs* There was my big computer desk that fell out of use after getting my laptop a couple years ago. There was the small computer desk that we'd bought after Tommy brought home an old junky computer from work and trying desperately to use it. There were the two bookcases full of miscellaneous books...reference books, Bible study books, readers the kids had used or planned to, some textbooks that had never found a new home after homeschooling was over. *sigh* Then there was the tall 4-drawer file cabinet that holds a TON of recipes printed from the internet, various "office" type supplies, a drawer full of information from an almost-business Tommy had for awhile and the drawer with all my insulin pump supplies.

I do have to say that after over a week of hauling stuff... almost everything... out to the shop to be sorted, and lots of cleaning, painting, cleaning, touch up, cleaning... the living room is once again a living room!! Mom gave me her "formal" living room furniture. A nice cherry set of Queen Ann style stuff and it now looks so nice. I've never had a full room of furniture that all went together! :D

See?



After moving the furniture around a bazillion times, we finally got it to fit and look decent, though we had to send the sofa/hall table back to Mom's because there was simply no room for it. *sigh* She wanted to use it anyway, so it's all good. I'm really thrilled with it. Just gotta get some decor going on and it'll be perfect! :)
Now we've moved on to Corey's old room. We moved the big computer desk and file cabinet in there because, well the file cabinet has my medical stuff in it and the desk has our current files in it, so... and we're keeping them in the house anyway... just had to get them out of the family room! I wish I'd taken a picture of how stuffed it was, but that was just totally terrifying! But here's where we are now:



We're replacing three windows since the seal is broken and there's constant condensation in them... resulting in messes like THIS! GROSS!! That black spot is actually a hole that's rotted away! This room had a lot of mold in it, too. GASP!!! o.O
So today, I'm gonna work on painting all the trim and hopefully get around to cutting in the wall. I can't wait to see how the soft mossy green color looks. Really, this was the most uniquely decorated room in the house at one time. I SO wish I'd taken a pic of it before we demolished the beautiful border. It had lots of blue, both for sky (the color of the top of walls) and a darker blue trimmed top & bottom with primitive 'gold' stars. The motif was a New England sea side village, but in a more primitive style... not at all "polished" looking, but a bit more blocky. It was adorable, but not childish, ya know? Anyhow, I was thrilled with the way it turned out & even after it was dingy and there were MANY "boo boos" in the walls from years of a boy growing up in it, Corey didn't want me to paint it when I offered about five years ago. *sigh* So... we'll see.

I'm not sure yet if I want to use this as my craft room/office or as the spare bedroom. Mom has a twin bed with a chest she is giving me, but we'd rather have a full sized bed for guests.

Mom's first reaction to this was to ask when we'd ever had any guests.

Well, for her information *hands on hips* we DID have a couple of Tommy's cousins stay here back when his grandma died. The boys bunked together in Corey's room and we gave them Casey's full sized bed for the night.

And besides, once we "get Casey outta here" *deep shuddering breath* and all this painting done, we just might have us a guest or two! Hmph!

Anyhow, we're unsure of how this room will be used just yet, but either way, the walls will be fixed and it'll have a fresh coat of paint, top to bottom! We're going to try to see how well the carpet will clean, but if it doesn't clean up enough, we'll replace the flooring, too.

So, that's what I've been up to. We still have three more rooms to tackle. The family room is getting a major overhaul, and the kitchen is getting new paint because, well, it just needs it, plus when they were putting on the roof for the new porch, they damaged the wall board, so might as well paint, right!? *rolls eyes* Then, finally, when Casey gets moved out, we'll redo his room, carpet and all.

I can't wait for all this stuff to be done so we can enjoy all the work we've put in this year. Hopefully, the recovery time won't be awful... we've both done a number on our backs and stuff. We are definitely getting TOO OLD for this stuff!!

Hang tight... more pix to come! :):

Blessings,

G~

.ch-ch-ch-changes...

Well, here we go again. I love autumn. It's my favorite season of all, I think. Although I also love the spring, autumn just seems to put some sort of electricity in the air. A sort of excitement somehow. Maybe it's because my birthday is in the fall? I dunno, but the colors, the smells, the change of temperatures.. they all work together to make me feel a little bit energized.

And maybe it's because of it that seems like every time we make big changes around the house, it'll be in the fall. Tommy says that's because it's hunting season and I want to keep him busy (so he can't go!) But I swear, that's not it! ;) It just somehow always happens that way.

I haven't posted much at all about the mega changes we're making in the house, but we are doing TONS of work around here. First, we're FINALLY putting a porch on the end of the house. It faces due east and is the door we use most often as it comes into the kitchen and is where the drive ends. We have a metal half-glass door there with one of those plastic grids and then a storm door. The heat from the direct sunlight cause all the paint on the door to peel and that plastic grid to warp, crack and finally break. We've replaced it about three times in the 17 or so years it's been there. I've put dark sheets over the storm door (a real lovely look -- not) to try and keep the heat off the door and we contemplated buying special tint but the heat is relentless. So, we're finally putting on the porch, or rather the roof on the porch. I'll try to post some pictures because the change it makes in the look of the place is awesome. We're thrilled with it so far.

Keep in mind when I say "we're putting on the porch" or painting or remodeling, I mean WE, as in my super-handy husband and myself!! Actually, a good friend of his has been helping him with the porch, but the majority of the work is done by Tommy. I'm SO thankful he's so knowledgeable & able to do all this stuff!

Since the porch deal meant extending the roof on one side, they had to get to the actual beams of the house, which means there's a couple of places in my kitchen and utility room walls that have been cracked. Which yes, means we have to repair those... and paint.

Painting. I hate it. But there's NOTHING that can change the look of a room more... and therefore, we've done TONS of it in this house. The inside of our windows are wood. And that means I have to paint them too if I change the trim color... which I almost always do. *sigh* I detest those daggone windows! But paint them I will if it means getting a fresh new kitchen. ;)

You see, we aren't the only ones making major changes in our living space. My mom & dad are building a new house on the hill behind us. Yeah, I know... lovely, so they can watch our every move even closer, but ... ANYway... when they move out, my boys + daughter-in-law, are buying their old house, plus dad's business, so they'll be moving too!

Mom is giving me some furniture, which is another reason we have to paint. She's giving me a really nice cherry living room set that is lots "fancier" than the rest of my furniture, so the super-pile o' stuff that has been my living room, containing my piano, the now-since-a-laptop unused computer desk, a couple of packed bookshelves, and stuff that had no other place to live, will become a nice "formal" living room!! Yep, that means getting all that crap out of here!

She's also giving me a set of bedroom furniture that I'll put in Corey's old room, which has been piled even worse than the living room; a jam-packed bookshelf, his old dresser piled with tons of stuff from his wedding (3 yrs ago!), a cabinet full of old school stuff, a microwave cart full of craft stuff, a couple of plastic bin/drawers full of more craft stuff... and the floor piled high with just STUFF!

We've decided we have too much stuff. And we've moved almost ALL of it out to the shop where Tommy put the two ramps of his lift together and raised them to table-height so I can go out there and sort. We moved the shelves & cabinets out there, too and I plan to toss & give away or sell SO much stuff!!!

Casey's room, when he moves into his basement "apartment" with Corey and Mel in the upstairs of the house, will become my craft room, where I plan to scrapbook to my heart's content!! :) I've collected scrapping stuff for YEARS and never once put a page together... because every time I tried, I was just overwhelmed and so unsure of exactly how to do it.

My dear cousin Lorna was in from Texas a couple weeks ago, and she is an avid scrapper, so she walked me through putting together a couple of pages and so I feel like I can actually DO this now... and once I have the space, I want to FINALLY do the boys' books and a wedding book for Corey and Melissa. I cannot WAIT!! :)

I'm now in the process of painting that future "formal" living room a deep chocolate brown color. Over a very light beige? It looks so crappy with the first coat, but the second covers very well. We're using an off white trim color and it makes the doors & windows really pop against the brown. I'm having a horrid time trying to cut in the walls against the ceiling though. Gah! It's cathedral in there, so it's all at an angle, which makes it hard to see where the wall stops & ceiling starts, plus it's all popcorn finish.. I'm gonna have to spend A LOT of time touching up the white. Lord willing, it won't take three coats to cover. *sigh* I'm gonna get me some THICK white paint! :)

Okay, so I'm going now. I keep running in here to finish this up between painting-on-the-ladder sessions. I get so fed up with how it's going, I have to have a break! *sigh* Oh well... the sooner I get that done, the sooner Tommy can use that huge 18" roller & get the rest of the paint done. With four doors & two windows, there's a ton of trimming, so I really have to get my butt in gear!!

Til next time....

Blessings,
G~