Another Crafty Idea

We've Started Our Garden Project!

2011-03-23T15:58:00.000-06:00

We have lived in our current home for nearly 9 years. For almost that long I've been trying to convince My Handyman that we should put in a garden. Needless to say, he has not been on board with the idea at all! He reasoned that, because of all the deer, geese, squirrels and other critters that frequent our property, it would be easier to just join a local CSA. So that is what we have done. And we have enjoyed being a part of Fresh Harvest, but I have still wanted a garden of our own.

For the past couple of years I've been reading all about "Square Foot Gardening", watching many shows about gardening and cooking with fresh veggies and herbs and being totally jealous of everyone who grows their own produce. We even built a compost bin out of pallets that I got from work and we faithfully added chicken poop from our two coops, veggie scraps and dried leaves to it for 2 years, until I hurt my back and could no longer turn the compost with a pitch fork. We took town the bins last Fall and spread the compost in the yard.

FINALLY I've convinced My Handyman that now is the time to become more self sufficient!! Or maybe he just got tired of hearing me talk about it? He does say that I should never say that I am "just a little spoiled!" Of course my thought was just to build wooden boxes, as suggested by Mel Bartholomew in his book, "All New Square Foot Gardening", but My Handyman does masonry for a living and he had 2 pallets of brick pavers stored on our property, so he decided they would be perfect for this project.

Here is how we spent our Sunday afternoon:

We chose our spot. This area was the original garden spot that the previous owners used, so there were no trees to remove and there is plenty of sun.

The Spot

We discussed the plan:

My Handyman and his helper.
Notice my brand new compost tumbler on the right.

We marked the spot with string and leveled the string to determine where to begin laying our pavers. It's a masonry thing!

The "helper" resting inside the marked off spot.

We leveled the spot and started building our raised bed. The interior measures 3 ft. x 5 ft. and it will allow me to reach all the way to the middle from all sides. Mel suggests 4 ft. x 4 ft. or 4 ft. x whatever length you want, and it did start out to be 4ft. wide, but somehow, when all was said and done, it was only 3 ft. wide. No worries, but I did seriously question the measuring skills that got us to this point.

After laying out the first couple of courses (that's masonry talk for "rows"), we used masonry adhesive instead of mortar to stick the pavers together.

And we added more courses until "we" were satisfied with the depth of the box. My Handyman leveled the soil on the inside of the box, we placed chicken wire in the bottom to keep out moles and other underground critters, then we placed one layer of weed cloth (purchased 2 yrs. ago at season end-cheap) from end to end, extending it up the sides to help keep any weeds from sneaking through the sides. And then another layer from side to side, also extending it up each side. Probably a little over kill, but that's how we roll at our house.

We placed additional pavers on top of the weed cloth to keep it from blowing away until we can add the soil.

The next step will be to purchase the correct soil mixture as suggested in Mel's book. My Handyman says we can now afford to buy exactly what I want because the raised bed structure cost us nothing. Well, maybe not nothing, but only the sale price of the weed cloth! The pavers were FREE! My favorite price. And there are plenty of pavers and more weed cloth so we can build several more. I'm thinking a total of 4 is a nice even number.

Come back next week to see how we progress.

Thatcher Got A New Liver-March 22, 2011

2011-03-22T19:49:00.001-06:00

Our little man and his Mom are recovering in their respective hospitals, just minutes away from each other. We were told that both surgeries went well. Thatcher's went so well, said Thatcher's Daddy, that the surgeons were patting themselves on the back!

We are thrilled! God is Great.

Let the healing begin!

Surgery Scheduled & Internet Connectivity

2011-03-02T10:38:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to let you know that Thatcher's transplant is scheduled for later this month! His Mom will have surgery first where the surgeons will remove approximately 1/3 of her liver. Her Mom will be with her at the hospital. The liver will then be transported to the children's hospital where Thatcher's liver will be completely removed and replaced with this portion of his Mom's liver! Dad will be at the children's hospital with Thatcher.

It is so amazing to me that this can be done. Scary too! All the what ifs keep trying to sneak into my mind, but I know that God is watching over them. So many prayers have already been answered and so many have been praying.

On another note, I live too far out in the country for "regular" cable connections for my computer. It seems the options I have are a dish and a router through Verizon, my current cell phone provider. Any of you have other ideas or opinions on the subject?

It's A Match

2011-02-24T11:30:00.000-06:00

My DIL, Thatcher's Mom, has been approved to donate a portion of her liver to Thatcher!! We have been waiting for this news for weeks and she finally got the call yesterday. Prayers are being answered.

What does this mean for Thatcher now?

1. Thatcher will receive approx. 1/3 of his Mom's liver, along with bile ducts, which will allow the bile to drain properly, not poison his system, and his coloring will become more normal.

2. Both Thatcher and his Mom will have major surgery at the same time, at different hospitals, within minutes of each other. This is going to be hard for Mom and Dad, but she will be able to see him via a monitor, while she recovers.

3. The possibility for rejection is GREATLY reduced.

4. Although Thatcher is currently a very sick little boy, he doesn't have to wait for an accident to occur to receive a liver from an expired donor (baby) and the possibility of him getting MUCH SICKER is reduced.. (This part REALLY makes me happy!)

5. Thatcher's Mom will have to quit her job, as she will have a fairly long recovery herself and then will be in hospital or near hospital for several months while Thatcher recovers.

6. Big sister will be staying with family during the surgeries and recoveries.

7. Daddy will be putting a lot of miles on his vehicle traveling back and forth between home and hospital(s). But his job has generously offered to consider this paid time off for him so that he is free to do what he needs to do for his family!
Isn't that amazing in this day and time?!

Unfortunately My Handy Man and I will not be able to see much of them while this is going on because the surgery will take place a few states away. We do, however, plan to spend some time with Big Sister when her other Grandparents will let her loose for a while and we will go to see them if/when possible.

So, as you can see there are a lot of mixed emotions going on right now. We feel blessed that this solution is even possible, but concerned, as you can imagine, that both Thatcher and his Mom will have to undergo surgery for all of this to be possible. The up side is that both surgeries are usually 95-98 percent successful, for both the donor and recipient and Thatcher will be able to live a pretty normal life after recovery.

What can you do? PRAY WITHOUT CEASING! for I believe in the power of prayer!

Update-Transplant Time Grows Near For Our Youngest Grandson

2011-02-14T15:21:00.001-06:00

Several months ago I did a brief post of what had been going on in our lives in 2010. It was a VERY challenging year. With God's blessing, this year will be better! I am asking for your prayers to make it so!

One of the items I mentioned in this post was the health of our youngest grandson, Thatcher, who was diagnosed with biliary atresia at the age of 2 months. This is a life threatening disease of the liver, which usually results in the patient having to have a liver transplant. I haven't done updates on his situation because everything was changing on a day to day basis. Thatcher is now almost 7 months old and the time for transplant is here.

I am asking for your continued prayers for this little man and the wonderful young couple that are his parents. I have known both parents since I first moved to Tennessee almost 22 yrs. ago. My daughter and son went to school with them and I was lucky enough to marry Thatcher's Granddaddy, My Handyman, 11 yrs. ago. They are a fine young Christian couple who are struggling to deal with everything that comes with having a very sick child, in addition to having a 2 yr. old daughter that needs their attention and whose life has been turned upside down.

Please feel free to read Thatcher's story and pass it along to your friends and fellow bloggers. Several funds are being set up to help with the expenses and I will post that information when it is available. In the meantime, please keep them in your prayers.

Edited to add link to Link 4 Life 5K. Proceeds will go to a fund to help with expenses for Thatcher's medical care.

There is nothing like the power of prayer!

Snow Bound Chickens

2011-01-27T05:00:00.051-06:00

This is what the chicken coops looked like yesterday morning.

The snow was so sticky that it didn't fall through the chicken wire on the top of the pens! It just collected there like a canopy. It kept most of the snow out of the pen, but it sure did weigh down the top of the pens!

The chickens still weren't real excited about being out in the weather. Those that did come out scurried up under the coop where it was relatively dry and out of the wind.

This is the bantam coop and pen. See how the snow was making the top of the pen sag! I opened the chicken door at 6:30 a.m. and they still had not made an appearance when I finally left for work about 10:15.

My Handy Man was home all day and kept a good watch over them.

I'm sure they will be just as happy as we will be when SPRING finally arrives! So they can get out and eat worms and bugs in the sunshine!

And I'll be able to get back to some of the projects on my list that include painting. I already tried to spray paint indoors and ended up with a fine mist of paint on my floor - even though I thought I had it covered with enough paper! Thankfully it's just the sub-floor!

And remember those negotiations I was making with the man in red about Christmas time? If all goes right, I'll be getting that new MacBook this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed. I CAN'T WAIT for so many reasons!

A Surprise In The Mail

2011-01-26T13:33:00.000-06:00

The other night I called My Handy Man as I was driving home from work. He told me a surprise had come for me via UPS. This is what was waiting for me when I got home:

When I opened it, look who was inside the box:

And look what she had for me:

Now I just hope I can do it justice!

Actually this is the gift I got to select as my "thank you" for working at my job for over 20 yrs. There were lots of other items that I could have selected, but since we are remodeling our kitchen and RED is the main color we are using, and since I REALLY needed new cookware, I thought this was a great choice!

Have you used this cookware AND do you like it?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY BOY

2011-01-24T10:56:00.000-06:00

Happy 28th Birthday to my son the Wildlife Specialist!

I'm so glad that he has found his calling.

Son, you make a Mom very proud.

So Cold Even The Chickens Won't Venture Out

2011-01-21T13:33:00.000-06:00

The chickens wouldn't even come out of their house this morning. It was 18 degrees. They just peeked out and pulled their little heads back inside. I put their water and feed inside so they didn't have to venture out into the cold to eat and drink.

Spoiled?

Yeah, absolutely!

Everybody at my house is spoiled rotten, but we like it that way.

Our little lake as you come in the driveway:

Those white spots on the picture above are snow flakes that were caught in the light of the flash.

These strange little "vein" formations were under the ice and all over the lake. We thought they looked really cool.

Here's another one. It looks like the shadow of a tree branch, but it is under the ice. Not a shadow at all.

The weatherman says we had 2-3 inches this time. It's melting off now, but it's still below freezing, so everything will turn to ice again. There's still more snow in the forecast for this weekend on into the first of next week.

From the looks of things in the blog-o-sphere, everyone is getting snow.

Is it snowing/snowy where you are?

This Is What We Woke Up To This Morning-January 10, 2011

2011-01-10T11:39:00.000-06:00

These were taken from our bedroom door at the front of the house. Just prior to taking these, 4 beautiful young doe ran across the front yard. They stopped in front of me (guess they saw me standing in the doorway), but not long enough for me to get a picture.

Can't even see the driveway, which is just beyond the tree in the foreground. The black circles you can see in the distance are areas where the ice on the lake has melted a little and then re-froze.

We didn't measure it, but it looks to be 4-5 inches, due to the way it's piled up around the trees.

I accidentally deleted the other 12 or so shots I took out the back and side of the house.

My Handy Man used his leaf blower to clear off the front porch and walkway to the chicken coop. Then he drove me down the driveway, up the hill in front of the house (that was a challenge), over the interstate to get gas, coffee and donuts and back to the end of our road, where he turned the car over to me so I could make my way SLOWLY to work as he walked back to the house! I tell ya, he is THE SWEETEST man I've ever known! That's why I keep him around! Well that and 'cause he IS pretty handy!

The weather man says we are expecting another couple of inches today/tonight. I'll try not to delete those pictures before I can post them here!

Stay Warm. I know I intend to.

The First White Christmas In The Nashville Area in 17 Years!

2011-01-07T14:48:00.000-06:00

This was our Christmas tree this year. The first Christmas tree we've had in this house and we've been here more than 8 years. That's because we've been going somewhere else to celebrate every year and I'd just been decorating our fireplace mantles. But I hope we've started a new tradition of having the family come to our house for Christmas. So I bought this tree on Black Friday and immediately set it up. That's my "cry baby" to the left of the tree. A friend from where I used to work made her for me years ago. Can you see the snow out the window to the right?

This was the first White Christmas that the Nashville Area has had in 17 years and it waited for this special year when all of my Grand babies, my Mom and my precious in-laws were at our home! This was also the first Christmas in 17 years that my in-laws were in Tennessee. In the past they were in Florida every year, volunteering at Big Cypress just outside of Naples. We were so glad to have them home this year and glad that we were blessed with a beautiful snow fall.

The picture above was taken outside of our front door and the one below from outside our back door. It was just beautiful, as you can see.

Sadly I got a call at 5 a.m. on the 26th that my brother's wife had passed away and we left at 3 p.m. to drive to Texas. She was in Tennessee with us on the 4th of July and started feeling sick after they returned to Texas. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 6-12 months. It was a shock that she was gone so soon, but a blessing that she did not have to suffer long. My brother is having a rough time, as you can imagine, but he is a strong person and he has a good support system of friends around him.

We are all looking forward to a much better year. 2010 was sure a doozy!

Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year

2010-12-17T10:34:00.000-06:00

Obviously I have not been posting on a regular basis this year. I'm hoping to change that soon. I'm in negotiations with this guy for a computer for home. Only problem is that I live so far out in the country there is no cable. I also can't get DSL and most other Internet services. The market across the interstate has WiFi though, so I may start spending my weekends in their lounge so I can log on! Guess I need to start developing a relationship with their management! I wouldn't go hungry while there. They have a Dunkin Donuts, a Backyard Burger and a soda fountain on site.

About the computer negotiations - I've never owned a Mac, but I'm leaning in that direction. I know several people that own Mac Books and they seem very pleased with them. I like the fact that they supposedly are only susceptible to a few viruses as compared to PCs. And that they don't become obsolete as quickly as a Dell, which I've always worked on. I love the photo program that comes with them, at least I loved it when the salesman demonstrated it to me. I've got a whole bookcase filled with photos from my family and that of My Handyman's - we are the "family historians", that he assured me I could scan into it from the scanner that he said he would make me a great deal on!

How about it? Any of you have/use a Mac? Do you know of any good deals on them that I should know about? How about photo scanner/printers? Help me make a good investment -PLEASE!

Maybe once the negotiations are final I can get everything together and post regularly AND open an Etsy shop!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. AND A WONDERFUL 2011!!!

This Is Our New Front Door

2010-11-12T08:37:00.000-06:00

Installed! Isn't it beautiful?

You can't tell from this picture, but the glass is beveled all around the edges. When we ordered it we ordered fir, but the fir doors were back-ordered for 3 months! So Lowe's offered us the same door in MAHOGANY FOR THE SAME PRICE!

And it was available immediately!

So My Handyman pulled off the siding and took out the old doors (left), covered the space with plywood and put the new door in place. I don't know how he did it by himself because, if you know anything about mahogany, IT IS HEAVY!

Getting a mahogany door instead of a fir door presented us with a new dilemma!

To paint or not to paint?

The original plan was to paint, that's why we ordered fir.

In the end, hard as it was, we decided to paint it. I LOVE a red door and felt like a stained door, as pretty as it would be, wouldn't be enough of a contrast for me.

Looks like we're getting ready for Christmas, doesn't it?! Won't it be pretty with a beautiful wreath!

My Handyman painted the plywood around the door to match the siding and to protect it from the weather until the replacement siding can be installed, which won't happen until the kitchen windows to the left of the door are replaced. And, as you can see, the trim was painted the same green as the trim on the rest of the house. Kinda reminds me of the old Lincoln Logs that my brother and I played with as kids.

Don't you just love how one project ALWAYS leads to another!?!

My New Front Deck

2010-11-03T08:09:00.000-06:00

I tried to find an actual BEFORE picture of this area, but it must be on my jump drive instead of my computer. Just picture some awkward, curved rock steps with a huge rock planter next to them, where nothing ever grew but weeds. WE (My sweet Handyman) knocked out the steps and planter and this is what it looked like before the building began. That pink string you can barely see is to help us keep everything nice and level. Please ignore the lounge chair you see sitting out in the sun to the left. That was my "taking a break" chair that I used while My Handyman was working on the details!

This is actually the side of our house, but we now use it as the "front door" because we closed in the front porch and eliminated the "real" front door. Besides, the driveway and garage are closer to this door and visitors can park on the drive and get to it without having to walk across the grass. Confession: We NEVER used the "real" front door anyway because you had to walk around the house, through the grass and up the porch steps to get to it.

This (below) is the view from the drive as you approach the garage. See that little square window to the left of the door? It's gone now, but that was the corner of my new pantry peeking out the window. If you are a professional building contractor, please look away!

Oh, and those red doors aren't there anymore either. We have a new, more beautiful door now. But that's for another post! (Dear Gail: Is that the type of teaser you were referring to?)

Please excuse the quality of the following picture. It was taken with my phone and it was still a little dark outside. However, this is the deck with the steps and flooring done and the support posts for the roof in place.

And here it is with the rafters and railing in place, but the roof wasn't on yet. That blue foot stool you see is for the king of the property. Our Jack Russell Terrorist - Buster Brown. He likes a nice soft place to rule over his territory! It doesn't get to stay, but it's good for now.

And here, from another angle. Can you see the little added "touch" that My Handyman added to the rafters? There on the first one?

Can you see it?

How about now?

That's My Handyman's interpretation of a fish head! He ended up cutting all of the rafters to look like this!

Sometimes I just HAVE to let him use his "creative talents" too!

I just realized I don't have a picture with the roof on that doesn't reveal my new front door! Guess you'll have to come back to see that one :)

A PEEK AT SOME OF THE PROJECTS WE'VE BEEN DOING

2010-10-29T13:46:00.002-05:00

For my kitchen:

For my entry:

At my front door:

For my Library/Den:

We've been busy. Come back to see what we've accomplished.

Just to Let You Know What's Up - A BIG PRAYER REQUEST

2010-10-21T07:29:00.020-05:00

As you probably have noticed, It's been a while since I've done a decent blog post. My heart just hasn't been in it. I've thought about closing down the blog, but rethought it and just decided to wait it out and see if I can get myself back to it. Here's what's up (it's been a "challenging year").

Daddy suffered multiple strokes beginning in January and we lost him in May. He was in and out of the hospital and nursing home, but we brought him home, where he wanted to be, and he died on May 12. He was just days shy of his 82nd birthday.

I had back surgery in February to repair a compression fracture. I'm doing fine for an old woman of 54. It's hard for me not to be able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Most of the time I do it anyway and just try to be careful. I pretty stubborn that way.

My Sister-In-Law was diagnosed with cancer when she and my brother returned to their home in Texas shortly after my Daddy's funeral. She's been going through chemo, chest tubes to drain fluid off of her lungs, blood clots, swollen legs, loss of her hair, draining fluid off of her abdomen multiple times, etc. My brother has been trying to take care of her and run a business. We haven't been able to be there to help, but all of her family live close by and have been doing all that they can. She has her third chemo treatment next week and then they will do surgery. Apparently she had cervical cancer and resulting treatments a few years ago that we were not aware of and the radiation caused massive scarring, so they can't tell from the outside exactly where the cancer is, but it doesn't sound good. I am concerned about my brother and can't stand the thought that we may loose my SIL sooner than later. It breaks my heart. But she is going to MD Anderson in Houston, for treatment. It has an AWESOME reputation, so she is in good hands.

On July 28th we welcomed a beautiful new grandson born to my husband's oldest son and his precious wife. I've known these "kids" since they were in Elementary school, even before my husband and I married 11 years ago on October 23rd, so even though they are not blood relatives, I love them just as much as if they were. They also have a beautiful little girl who is only 21 months old.

Several weeks ago, at the age of 9 weeks, this precious baby boy was diagnosed with Biliary Atrisia and has had the Kasai procedure that is mentioned in this article that I've linked to. He developed an infection and it has been determined that the Kasai was not successful. He has been put on the "short list" for a liver transplant. If he was a toddler he would be able to get a portion of an adult liver, but at this age he must have an infant liver. This means that another family's precious little baby will have to die before little Thatcher can get a liver. Not only are we broken hearted over Thatcher's health, but over the fact that he can only have an infant liver. As you can imagine, his Mommy and Daddy are taking this very hard, as is the entire family. My husband has broken down on multiple occasions at the thought of his only grandson being so ill with a life threatening condition.

Over the last week my husband as been wrestling with a kidney stone. Up until Tuesday he has been in terrible pain and on meds for pain and nausea. It started with virus like symptoms, last Wednesday, which I will not elaborate on here other than to say he was having severe abdominal and back pain. Since he had been laid off for a couple of months and had JUST gone back to work, he attempted to go without medication on Monday so he could work. MISTAKE. He showed up at my office looking green and in pain, so I took him for the second visit to the ER. He is not in pain now, but we think the stone has moved to his bladder, which the Dr. said would happen. Now we just wait for it to decide to pass. Selfishly I was REALLY glad it wasn't a virus because I would have caught it. However, I have been really concerned about him and neither of us has been getting much sleep. As I've said before, he also has a pacemaker/defibrillator and stress is NOT good for him. So of course I've been worried about that too.

While all of the above has been going on, we've caught my now 80 year old Mother climbing up on a ladder, trying to clean out the gutters on her two story home. We've also found out that she has climbed in her kitchen sink to reach the curtains at the window above it so that she could wash them. Then back up again to put them up. When I asked her, "what would have happened if you fell?!! We might not have found you for hours!" She simply said, "well, I didn't!"

So my daughter and her family decided that it might be a good idea to move in with Mom, both to help her out financially and to keep an eye on her. My daughter's husband is in construction, so he can fix all the little things that need to be fixed that my Daddy wasn't able to do the last 5 years of his life. They have rented their house to a teacher that my daughter works with and are in the process of moving in. We've cleaned out the attic and closets of Mom's house and had 2 weekends worth of yard sales. There is still LOTS of stuff left and it is all stored in 1/2 of Mom's garage. I took off work for a week to help with the cleaning and it was EXHAUSTING. But I did learn one BIG thing: I learned to be a pack rat from my parents! I don't think they ever threw ANYTHING away! As soon as things settle down I'm getting rid of everything I don't need except for everything related to my genealogy research and family heirlooms. And not my fabric and yarn stash - yet.

In the middle of the moving in with Mom, my daughter and her family went on a long planned trip to Disney World in Florida, for a week, and left all of their "stuff" scattered around my Mom's house. They've got A LOT OF ORGANIZING TO DO! Mom is used to having things in pretty good order and she was not happy!

I had a birthday on October 13th.

My daughter's oldest had her 5th birthday while they were at Disney - October 15th.

Mom had her 80th birthday on October 17th. We took her to lunch and spent most of the day with her. We wanted to have a big birthday party for her, but with everything else going on we just couldn't make it happen.

My 11th anniversary is October 23rd. I'm married to THE MOST WONDERFUL MAN I'VE EVER KNOWN! God truly blessed me when I found him. He spoils me rotten and loves me despite myself!

I've not put all this down to elicit pity. I'm pushing through, though weary of all the "drama" and could really use some decent sleep!! I know God is in control, not me. I do have to say that I have trouble with all of this being "God's will!" The God I know is a God of LOVE. I just think all of this "stuff" is just LIFE and that God loves us through it all and gives us the strength to deal with it all.

I'm asking you to pray for our family and keep praying. We've got some really tough stuff going on and it looks like it's gonna get tougher.

Pray for little Thatcher and for his Mommy and Daddy. They are not even 30 yet and having to deal with so much.

Pray for my SIL, Nancy and my brother, Christopher and their daughter Lauren, who has only recently graduated from college and started her first teaching job. CANCER SUCKS!!

Pray for my Mom, Chris, who is only 5 months past the loss of her husband of nearly 60 years.

Pray for my daughter, Amber and her husband, Vince and children Ava and Zoe as they adjust to their new living arrangements with my Mom.

Pray for my dear, sweet husband who is suffering, not only physically from his kidney stone, but emotionally as well, as he worries about his son and grandson and the rest of the family.

And pray too for my in-laws, Joe, who is 83, and Darlene who is 79. They are such loving people and this is all breaking their hearts as well. I love them like they were my own parents and Darlene thinks of me as the daughter she never had.

Thank you for "listening."

Cleaning Out the Attic

2010-09-22T09:12:00.002-05:00

I am spending this week cleaning out my parent's attic, closets, storage shed, etc. and we will be having a garage/yard sale. I will post the "better" stuff for sale on-line, either on etsy, ebay or craigslist. And maybe some here if I get a chance.

So far I have a vintage wicker doll/baby stroller, an antique wall phone, some scales, lots of Madame Alexander Baby Dolls and some old bed springs and other items good for those repurposers that are near by. No pictures yet, but I will get to that if/when I can. Post a comment if you have questions. I will only have periodic computer access, but will check when I can.

Back to cleaning!

A Tribute to My Daddy - Part 1

2010-05-20T08:03:00.005-05:00

I have gone back to work, which is currently the only place I have a computer. For this reason, I have not had sufficient time to sort through all of the pictures I want to post, so I have decided to do a series of posts in tribute to my Dad.

I am somewhat of a genealogy buff, so just in case someone out there in blogland does a search for the WEBSTER family of Robertson County, TN, I want to include information here that may help them find what they are looking for. Or, if a family member of one of the people that appear in the pictures I will be posting happens to do a search, I want them to find these as well. These pictures may not be posted in chronological order, but I will put dates on them when I know them.

I'll start with Daddy's obituary as it appeared in the Robertson County Times:

"George Dorris Webster, age 81, of Springfield, passed away Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at his home. Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010 in the chapel of the Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield at 11am with Brother Martin Babb and Christopher Webster officiating. Burial will follow in the Hillcrest Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers will be Zach Webster, Evan Webster, Michael Dickey, Steve Webster, Steven Wilson and Josh Miller. Honorary pallbearers are Wayne Webster, Joe Webster, Johnny Link, Vince Hester, Jim Roberts and the Unity Sunday School Class of Springfield Baptist Church. Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Friday, May 14, 2010 from 4-8pm. Mr. Webster was born June 4, 1928 in Robertson County, the second of four sons born to George W. and Mary Adeline Dorris Webster. He attended Mt. Pleasant School in grades 1-8 and graduated from White House High School in 1949, where he was a member of the first WHHS football team. Mr. Webster was a Veteran of the US Army serving as Staff Sergeant with the 452nd Armed Field Artillery Battalion in Munich and Neckarsulm, Germany during the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1956. Mr Webster retired from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline/Tenneco in February of 1989 after 41 years of service. He was a loving husband and father, devoted to his family and was a member of the Springfield Baptist Church. In addition to his parents, Mr. Webster is preceded in death by his brother, Samuel Estes Webster. He is survived by his wife, Christine Alsobrook Webster; son, Christopher (Nancy) Webster of Huntsville, TX; daughter, Kathy (Johnny) Link of Fairview, TN; brothers, Wayne Webster of White House and Joe (Verma) Webster of Dickson; grandchildren, Riley Dickey, Talynn Dickey, Ava Hester and Zoe Hester. Memorial contributions may be made to Willowbrook Hospice or the Springfield Baptist Church Building Fund. Both may be sent in c/o Austin & Bell."

The following picture appeared in "the Line Tennessee Gas Transmission Co., February, 1958" a publication that was (is?) put out by Tennessee Gas Transmission Company/Tennessee Gas Pipeline/Tenneco, which I think is now called El Paso Corporation. Daddy is second from left, leaning back, with his elbow resting on the table/desk behind him. The caption reads, "ON THE JOB during construction were TGT's Eddie Tarver, George Webster, Jack Overton, and Tony Richter. Not pictured are Dick Knesek, plant foreman, and Wes Saunders, Engineering."

Perhaps You've Wondered Where I've Been?

2010-05-17T16:47:00.003-05:00

I've been staying at my Mom & Dad's for the last couple of weeks. No computer access.

Daddy had a stroke in January and a worse one in March. The March stroke took out his whole left side. He'd been having a hard time getting around for the last 5 years or so because of the severe arthritis in his back and the spinal stenosis that was pinching off the nerves to the lower part of his body. Then the strokes. The trip to the hospital, rehab, the nursing home and then home. He finally got so bad that Hospice was called to help out. Taking care of an 81 year old man who can't do anything for himself is awfully hard for an 80 year old woman. It's been really tough.

Daddy died at 1:18 a.m. May 12, 2010. Mom, my daughter, a wonderful friend and I were with him. We buried him on Saturday. It's really, really, really hard.

This is my Daddy with my daughter at her wedding, June 2004.

I'm trying to put together a better tribute to him than this, but I thought you might have wondered where I've been.

Happy 60th Birthday My Handyman

2010-04-09T09:30:00.002-05:00

This is My Handyman.
The love of my life, though I've only known him for 11 years.

He has been such a blessing. Not only to me, as his lucky wife, but to my entire family as well.

He is the most caring man I've ever known.

He puts up with me and all my wacky ideas.

He shares in my joys as well as my sorrows.

He loves my daughter, who was 18 when we married and calls him Daddy, because he has been such a good one to her, in the absence of a "real" father.

He loves my son, who has sometimes been a challenge, but has grown and changed into a very good young man.

He loves to fish.

He loves being outdoors.

He loves his family-all of us, both blood and steps.

His Momma and Daddy did a REAL GOOD JOB raising this man!

He calls my children's children, his grand-punkins and he calls this little sweetie (his son's little girl), his button, 'cause she is, as he says, "cute as a button".

Her Mom & Dad are expecting a little boy at the end of July - he calls him "Beau" - as in "button & bow"!

I thank the Lord EVERY DAY for bringing him into my life.

We married after I had been a divorced, single Mom for 13 1/2 years. At our wedding, when the preacher asked if anyone had anything to say, he said, "today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world!"

Happy Birthday my darlin'. And may we share many, many, many more!

Another Finished Knitting Project

2010-04-07T16:51:00.003-05:00

My youngest granddaughter in the Confection Baby Shrug that I made for her. Don't you just love the model's pose!?! I had to ask her Mom to take some pictures of her wearing it 'cause the ones I took were no good.

Here it is from the back.

This was a really quick knit and I'm a SLOW knitter! I used Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn (Lavender) that I got at Michael's. It was actually the remainder of a skein that I used for another sweater. If you haven't tried this yarn, you should. It's soft and washes up really well. I've used it for many, many projects.

If I can just round up my other granddaughters long enough to get their pictures in the sweaters I've made for them I'd have more FO's to share!

Finished and Nearly Finished Projects

2010-04-06T08:15:00.010-05:00

I was lucky enough to have a 3 day weekend off so that My Handyman and I could get some projects finished. Fortunately the weather partially cooperated-it was nice and warm and sunny, but the wind refused to quit blowing. Blowing wind, as you know if you've ever tried to paint outside, is no friend to the painting process. That is, unless you LIKE little bits of grass and dust clinging to your beautiful painted finish!

My Handyman worked on this project. This is the 1923 footed tub that I bought off of Craigslist last year. Here it is when I first bought it. My Handyman got it out of the living room, by himself (don't ask how), and set it up on blocks, bottom up, so he could clean it up and get it painted. After a LOT of cleaning with sandpaper and a wire brush, he was able to paint on a beautiful new white, oil based coat of paint. He used what we thought was supposed to be a chrome spray paint on the feet, but it came out looking more like pewter. Here it is all painted with it's tennis ball shoes in place (they will make it easier to slide across the floor when we get ready to put it in the currently being remodeled bathroom). The inside is in pretty amazing shape. Not pristine, but good enough that I don't feel the need to go to the expense of having it refinished. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the inside.

And these are the finished chairs from my previous post. We got them all sanded and primed and put on a pretty new coat of black spray paint. Then I wiped on some polyurethane and let it dry really well. I recovered the seats with the latest and greatest fabric that is sweeping the Internet blog world - a canvas drop cloth from Lowe's. I paid a little over $4 for it and I still have enough to cover a couple more chairs or use for other projects. My Handyman is working on sanding and painting the triple dresser. One of the advantages of having a husband who is currently "laid off" is that he is home to do projects and he is actually willing to do them, with little or no grumbling! Love that Handyman!

More finished projects to follow.

New Old Chairs - For the Front Entry

2010-04-01T15:38:00.002-06:00

I've been looking for a pair of chairs to use on either side of the triple dresser that I've put in our new front entry. I found this pair (actually there were 6, but I only needed 2) at the Habitat Home Store in Nashville. They aren't the exact, perfect chairs that I was looking for, but I liked them well enough to go ahead and buy them. However, when I first spotted them I realized that the price was only a week away from being slashed to 1/2.

If you aren't familiar with the pricing practices at Habitat, when an item first comes in it is given an "original" price. Then several weeks later it is marked down, then marked down again in another few weeks. If the item hasn't sold within 30 days of the last mark down, you can buy it for half of the last marked down price!

So I waited, hoping I would get to them before someone else, but knowing I wouldn't be really upset if I didn't. Well - I got lucky and bought them for half of the last price on this tag: That's $12.50 each. More than some would pay, but a good price for me. They are sturdy chairs, now that My Handyman has put the old wood glue to work on the wobbly backs.

They will be part of the project that me and My Handyman will work on over the 3 day weekend.

Come back and see how they turn out.

A $12 Picture Frame

2010-03-23T07:06:00.002-06:00

This is the 6 foot by 6 foot wood window that I bought at the Habitat Home Store for $12 a few months ago. You should have seen the look on My Handyman's face the day I brought THIS home!

After I explained to him what I had in mind, he decided it was a great idea. So one day, while I was at work he cleaned it up and put a good coat of primer on it.

The next day he painted it a nice glossy black and hung it on the wall in our new front entry, which is another work in progress. It is really heavy so he screwed in some heavy duty screw in hooks at the top of the wall and into the wall studs and attached the screw eyes into the top of the frame. I was really thrilled when I came home from work and there it was - EXACTLY like I had pictured it (pun intended)!

And here it is hanging above the FREE tripple dresser I got from my Mom - Thanks Mom! It needs some work too, but we'll get to that eventually. At first I thought I'd paint the whole thing black, but we live WAY out in the country and get A LOT of dust, so I'm not sure thats the way to go. Feel free to offer your suggestions.

My Handyman just propped some family pictures in the openings so that you could see how the plan is coming together. Now I need to make a trip to Michael's for some mat board to put in the openings and mount the pictures. I will be able to swing the frame away from the wall to change out the pictures as all the grandbabies grow and change. I think I'll add something about FAMILY using some of those great vinyl letters that you can get from so many sources these days.

What do you think? How have you used old window frames in your crafting?

The Chicks Have Arrived!

2010-03-18T06:58:00.005-06:00

These 6 were the first to arrive. They were about 3 days old when we first brought them home. In this picture they are 2-3 wks. old. The lighter colored ones are Buff Orpingtons. The darker ones are Rhode Island Reds. All are supposed to be pullets (female).

This little cutie is one of the Buff Orpingtons. They are said to be good Moms and good egg-layers. They are also supposed to be a friendly breed. We currently have a Buff Orpington mix hen that is NOT friendly at all, she is the head hen of the current flock. Hopefully these 3 new BOs will be much sweeter. They will lay brown eggs as will the Rhode Island Reds.A week later the second 6 arrived. This little girl is a Barred Rock. She is about 1 wk old in this picture. She is currently the most friendly and least flighty of the 12 new babies. We bought 2 of these little ones and I look forward to seeing how they change as they grow and feather out. They will lay brown eggs.We bought 4 of these little ones. She is a Americauna and will lay BLUE eggs. Doesn't she look precious with her little puffy cheeks and the coloring of a chipmunk?! I can't wait for the BLUE eggs to start coming. The grand babies and my coworkers will be really surprised. They are growing and changing so fast it is amazing! I'll take new pictures of them this weekend and post them next week. The 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Rhode Island Reds have moved into a fenced off are in the "Big House" (Chicken Coop). The Barred Rocks and Americaunas are still living in my house in a large dog kennel. They will be there for another week or so and will then join the others in the "Big House".

That will make room for the other 12 that are coming in the next few weeks! We should end up with a very colorful flock.

Finished Objects 1, 2 & 3

2010-03-16T15:53:00.007-06:00

I promised I'd show you some of the knitting I've been doing the last couple of months, and here is the first of several.

I had to wait to post these until they were off in the mail to the recipient. I sent them by UPS on Friday, so they should have them by now - so I think I'm safe.

My former co-worker, ZD and wife K had a beautiful baby girl a couple of weeks ago. When I first found out that they were expecting I started on these knitted items for her. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas came along, as did the knitting of 15 pr of fingerless gloves, and this project was put aside.

I pulled it out again in January, that was in the dead of winter, with snow all around! And finished them. Now we are into daylight saving time and the weather is getting warmer, so I'm not sure they will get much use, but off they went anyway, with a note promising to send some more summery gifts in the future.

These are made with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick in one of my favorite colorways - Oatmeal - which their website describes as "natural beige with strands of chocolate and black". I like it because it looks "earthy" to me. And the Thick & Quick made the project move along pretty quickly. I also like it because it comes in worsted weight as well.

First is the precious little cocoon made using this pattern, which I found for free on Ravelry. I'd seen some photos from photographers using these and thought they were adorable. And so practical IMO:

I added the pink ribbon to make it a little more girly, by just weaving the ribbon in and out of the stitches, tying a knot on the end and bringing the other end to the "V" and tying in a bow.

I had enough yarn left over to make the cute hat on the left using this pattern, also found on Ravelry for free. Then I decided it was too big for the new babe, so I found this pattern, and made one out of the worsted weight version of the Oatmeal Wool Ease yarn. My Handy Man thought it was the cutest little hat he had ever seen. Plus I have lots of yarn left to make at least one more tiny hat.

I put all 3 items in a zippered pillow cover and washed them in my washing machine using Woolite and Downey. Then I rolled them up in a bath towel and pressed the excess water out of them and laid them out on some towels until they were dry. They came out really soft and I loved the way they all looked together.

Z & K and big brother B and baby Z should have the gifts by now. I really hope they like them!

If you haven't checked out Ravelry, be sure and do it. There are lots of great free patterns and lots of great patterns that you can download for almost no $$! You do have to sign up to use the site, but it's FREE too!

I still haven't bee able to round up my little models to show you the cute little Spring sweaters I made for them. Soon as I do I'll post those pictures as well.

A Valentine's Day Surprise

2010-02-15T16:32:00.003-06:00

Yesterday My Handy Man and I made a trip to see my Daddy. It had been 6 days since I'd seen him. When we got to his room he wasn't in it, but we looked down the hall and there he sat, all by himself in the rehab room. I was FURIOUS that they left him there by himself! He could have fallen out of the chair. There were no restraints at all.

My Handy Man and I rolled him back to his room and we met my Mom coming down the hall. She didn't seem as concerned as I was. When the therapist FINALLY came in the room, I questioned her about it. She basically blew it off as no big deal!

But, to my surprise, Daddy was sitting up straight in the chair (a new occurrence), holding his head up (new too) and full of conversation. He knew who I was, knew who My Handy Man was and then, when my daughter and her 2 girls came in, he knew them AND he knew who my daughter's BF and her husband and kids were! That was the best Valentine's surprise I could have had.

We visited with Daddy for about an hour while Mom helped him eat. We brought him his favorite DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE and he ate 2 pieces for dessert. Unfortunately, he is down to 149lbs., which is less than I weigh. And he is 6'3" - so he really is a tall drink of water! We have to figure out how to get his weight back up because his appetite isn't much good. We are trying to make sure he gets at least one Ensure every day. We have asked the staff at the nursing home to please make sure he gets some if he doesn't eat well. My appetite wouldn't be much good either if I had to eat ground up meat and veggies at every meal!

After our visit we all went to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. It was almost 3 before we were seated and ate, but it was worth the wait. My steak was delish! I love steak - I'm a Texas girl (raised there, not born there, but I call my self a Texan) and was raised on steak at least once a week. My Handy Man doesn't like red meat, so I don't usually fix it at home.

It was a good day. And I got more knitting done! I PROMISE TO GET PICS UP OF ALL THE KNITTING!!! SOON!!!!

My Daddy & Me

2010-02-10T16:23:00.002-06:00

Well, I ended up having surgery on my back on February 4th. Now My Handy Man says I'm glued and screwed and he's wired! That's a reference to the screws in my hip and the glue they fixed my fracture with and the defibrillator/pacemaker that he has now. Excuse the "french", but it's HELL getting older!!!

I'm doing fine. I went back to work on Monday for half a day and was really worn out by the end of the day. Tuesday I was feeling more like myself, but still sore from the surgery. Today I'm feeling even better, but still a bit sore. The Dr. said it would be about a week before the soreness went away, so I'm not worried. I've got a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm anxious to see what they say.

BUT - I did manage to get quite a lot of knitting done while I was recouping - pictures to follow soon - I hope. Gotta get my little models rounded up.

My Daddy was moved from the hospital to a "Skilled Care Facility" aka Nursing Home, on the day of my surgery. It was quite a shock that they moved him when they did. We thought he had until the 12th to stay in the hospital, but apparently NOT! Lord how I love how the insurance companies have more to say about what goes on than the doctors do! He is about the same as he was. The doctors say he probably won't get much better because of the number of strokes that he's had and the other health issues that he has. At least now he is closer to home so Mom can have an easier time getting to him and so can other members of my family. I'm an hour and 15 min. away and it seems like so very far! They say he has 100 days of coverage, so we hope to make arrangements to care for him at home before the end of that time. For those of you who have or have had aging parents, you know how hard it is to see your loved ones go down hill. I think my brother said it best - "It's hard to see him die in pieces!" AMEN TO THAT! My Daddy has always been such a sweet and loving man, I hate to see him in such awful shape.

I'm going through old pictures and looking for a place to have them scanned so that I can post them on this blog. I thought I was somewhat organized - guess not as much as I should be. I've been going to do that for a long time. Guess now is the time to follow through.

Please keep my Daddy and Mom and all the rest of us in your prayers. Pray for God's will. Although we hate to loose him, we hate it more to see him and Mom this way.

Blessings.

January 2010 Snow Fall

2010-02-02T14:11:00.002-06:00

I took these pictures while walking around our property, checking things out. I'm not much of a photographer, but I hope you enjoy them.

It's Catch Up Time

2010-01-21T10:00:00.006-06:00

It's been too long since my last post and a LOT has happened.

We had a really nice Christmas. My brother and his wife and daughter came from Texas, my nephew and his bride came from New York and my youngest nephew came from the Carolina's (I can never remember if it's North or South Carolina!). They all stayed at my Mom & Dad's house because it is more centrally located and easier for the rest of the gang to get to, plus it's almost twice the size of my house. My daughter and son and their families live closer to my parent's than we do, so all the holiday festivities took place at Mom & Dad's. It was great to have the whole family together AND everyone got along!

How great is that?!

I ended up knitting 15 pair of fingerless gloves before it was all said and done. All of them were similar, but I did make a few changes to accommodate the type of yarn I was using and to better suit the recipient. Most of them were made from yarn I already had, but I did purchase a few new skeins for others.

Originally I made the gloves to fit the females of the family and my female co-workers and friends. Then my brother and my oldest nephew decided they would like a pair. They put in their request for the color they wanted. I checked my yarn stash and found what I needed to make a pair for my brother (camouflage of course!).

but my nephew wanted dark grey, so I had to buy some yarn for his.

No worries though, my local Michael's was having a big sale and I got some Vanna's Choice yarn for $2.50 a skein. Plus it was a good opportunity to plump up my stash!

I rarely make myself anything, but I made a pair for me too! They have really come in handy during our latest cold spell.

So here we are already to January 21, 2010. I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown by.

January 5th was our youngest Granddaughter's first birthday. There was a party at her house on the 10th and LOTS of little ones and their Mommies and Daddies came. I think she really enjoyed her cake!

My sweet 81 year old Daddy had a stroke on January 15th. It seems to have affected both sides of his brain, hist left more than his right, but his speech doesn't seem to have been affected, thankfully. His long term memory is pretty good, but his short term memory is barely there. He is in a certified stroke center rehab hospital and seemed to be getting a little better. However, my daughter just called to let me know that the hospital called my Mother to let her know that they think he has had another one. I'll leave in a few minutes to go see how he is. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Mom too.

And as an update on the fall I took in the chicken coop back on November 17th - I had an MRI and they discovered that I have a compression fracture in my T12 vertebrae! Great - I've been walking around with a fractured spine for 2 months! No wonder my back keeps hurting!!!

I'm doing OK. Pain medicine works wonders! I'm working as usual and now sporting a fancy new back brace that makes me look like the hunch back of Notre Dame! I was given a choice of wearing the brace or having a special type of bone cement injected into the fracture to fix it - I think I made the wrong choice! This thing is driving me crazy(er) - so I've called the Dr.'s office to see about scheduling the other procedure. Wish me luck!

You know what they say - "When it rains, it pours"! I'll keep you posted on my Daddy's progress! Pray for a miracle.

More Christmas Knitting

2009-12-17T16:50:00.003-06:00

I've been knitting away for Christmas. Sometimes a financial situation requires resourcefulness when it comes to gifts. Since most people really like hand made items, I don't know why I don't do it more often!

I've been wanting to make fingerless gloves since the first time I saw them on some of the knitting websites and in some of the knitting books I have. As of today I officially have 3 pr. completed and 3 pr. in various stages of completion. I've done each pair a little differently, but all of them are variations on the same theme. I just combined all of the information from a number of different patterns and made adjustments according to the yarn I had on hand. Except that this particular pair required that I purchase some purple yarn, since I didn't already have purple in my stash. But purple is my co-worker Vicki's favorite color, so whats a knitter to do?!I've also knitted a few of these pretty washcloths to gift and I ordered some handmade soap from Angie over at Maple Valley Off Grid Farm. to give with them. She and her family are living on a beautiful Amish farm and really getting back to the old way of doing things. When you're through reading this post, be sure and jump on over to her blog and take a look. They have a great love for God and a much more simple, if busy life.And then I was inspired to make some home made body scrub/bath salts, which I'll post about later.

As I was going trough some of the knitting that I'd done a few years ago, I came across some of the felted bags I made and forgot about. I thought they would make great gift containers, so I put the gloves, a knitted washcloth, the soap and a jar of body scrub in this one (it's red and purple, but the picture looks a little off color), and gifted it all to Vicki. She was thrilled and I was thrilled that she was thrilled!

Vicki is on her way home to Ohio (wearing the fingerless gloves I'm sure) and I'm off to continue knitting.

Have a Merry Christmas.

My next post will be after Christmas because I'm off work until then and I won't have access to a computer!

Repurposed Front Door

2009-12-16T11:33:00.003-06:00

You may remember this picture from when DH was removing the old front door to gain access to our newly enclosed front porch. As you will see below, it now has a new purpose.Since the newly enclosed front porch connects to the dining room and kitchen area and since the wall between said rooms was removed, we have had to rearrange our kitchen. Tee Hee Hee! Ain't it ashamed?!!!

So, since DH has time off from work until after the first of the year, I've made him a list, errr, I mean we've come to an agreement on the projects that he can work on, using materials that we've already purchased. One of the projects is MY NEW PANTRY!

We borrowed some space from our side entry that we are now using as our main entry door. He bumped out about 3 feet and built a new enclosure that runs the full length of the current kitchen. I'll post more pictures of that part later. It's completely huge and completely awesome, or will be when we get it all finished.

So far we've put in a few shelves to accommodate some of the lesser used items and some narrow shelves to store canned goods, etc. That has only used up about 1/3 of the total space so far. The plan is to get a small, chest type freezer to put at one end. Above the freezer will be a shelf or two for items needed for the freezing process: bags, containers, butcher paper, etc. In addition, I plan to place some hangers for wrapping paper and ribbon, scissors, gift bags, etc. so that I have a place to wrap gifts. I will be able to use the top of the freezer as a work surface! It will be wonderful to have a designated place for that!

There is also a plan for pegs to hang my reusable shopping bags, bins for my recyclables, shelves for my wine glasses and perhaps a few bottles of wine, baskets for my veggies and who knows what else. I'll just have to see what I can squeeze in there.

So, yesterday DH took the old front door and installed it in the entry to my new pantry! Once he gets it all trimmed in it will be painted, I'll order a "PANTRY" sign from Upper Case Living and put it on the horizontal piece just below the windows and I'll frost the windows with either some paint or some cool paper I found.

I REALLY need to consult Layla at The Lettered Cottage for some suggestions. I think I'll purchase one of her consultations for myself for Christmas! If you haven't already, you need to check her out. She has amazing talent! Any suggestions for pantry design are welcome.

Christmas Knitting

2009-12-09T07:33:00.005-06:00

It's been a good while, maybe 2 years, since I last picked up my knitting needles. There's been so much other "stuff" going on that I just had not had the time. But,that all changed when my DD saw some self striping sock yarn in Hobby Lobby and said that she thought it would make cute hats for her girls. So I bought a few skeins of sock yarn and that's all it took.

Coincidentally, at work we have started a new program with The Circle Center, which I will explain at a later date, and one of the first things we had to do was choose something that we needed to work on. I decided to work on "focusing", which I often have a problem with, as you will see. And I always wondered where my DS got his ADD!?!

If you are a knitter, you know that knitting is a good thing to help with focus. In fact, with many patterns, focus is an essential part of completing a project successfully.

Well, sock yarn is what is called "fingering weight", which means it requires small needles. And I needed circular needles to keep me from having to sew seams, which I always try to avoid. So I made a trip to Haus of Yarn, my local yarn store and bought some size 2 circular needles. Well, OK, 2 size 2 circular needles. One is 16" and one is 12". Who knew that there were 12" circulars out there?! I HAD to have them.

Then I decided I needed a good book for knitting with sock yarn and I remembered seeing this book the last time I was in a yarn store?!

So I asked if there was a similar book with patterns just for kids, and this is what they showed me:

Well of course I had to buy BOTH of them, you know, just in case I decide to make some things for me too. And I HAD to buy 2 skeins of Lana Grossa sock yarn because you CAN'T go to a yarn store and not buy yarn!

So I knit up 2 precious hats from the yarn I bought at Hobby Lobby, which I of course didn't take pictures of, for my DD's 2 girls. THEY LOVED THEM!

Then a big light went off in my head - hey - I could knit Christmas presents for other people too!

I know, sometimes I'm a little slow.

So I pulled out the Lana Gross and started knitting a scarf, in the round. But knitting a scarf on size 2 needles takes a LONG time, and I quickly got bored with it. But I had gotten far enough that what I had already knit was about the right length for a child's hat, so I made it into this cute little hat for one of the smaller members of my family (shh, don't tell). Then I decided little people need little leg warmers too, so I winged the pattern for the tiny little leg warmers to go with it.

Then I realized that I had LOTS of yarn left over because these two things only took part of one skein and I have 2. So I've started these leg warmers in a slightly larger size for another one of the smaller members of my family. They are working up great on my new 12" circular needles. They are just knit in a K2 P2 pattern, which goes pretty quickly and I just found out that they only have to be about 7" long - so that should take just a few nights of after work TV knitting!

But if you think that's all I've been knitting - remember the focus thing? Yeah, well, just maybe I've worked on a few other knitting projects too. You know, because I get bored doing the same thing all the time and need options!

Nothing Crafty Happening Here

2009-12-02T10:40:00.004-06:00

I've been neglecting my poor little blog the last few weeks. Truth is, I've been on the injured reserve list, after slipping in the mud and landing on my fanny in the process of feeding the chickens. The fall sent me to the emergency room for a large number of xrays because I heard cracking as I hit the hard ground.

I had a fall at work a few years ago and broke my left hip. Ended up with 3-4" screws in my hip. Not fun. But, I found out that I have osteoporosis, so the cracking sound really scared me. Luckily nothing was broken and I didn't knock my screws loose - although some would say that I've always had a few screws loose!

So, since there hasn't been any craftiness happening, I thought I'd post a few pictures of our property after a big snow, to get you in the winter mood.

These were taken a couple of years ago from our bedroom, looking through the French doors. The snow only lasted a few hours. As soon as the sun came out it all melted away. A friend of mine who is an artist used the first photo to paint me a beautiful picture for my birthday, which is now hanging in a special spot in my house so we can enjoy the memory of the beautiful snowfall.

I hope you enjoy them.

Now that Christmas is just a few weeks away, I've started knitting again. I'll post pictures soon.

Halloween 2009 Comes to an End

2009-11-03T08:56:00.003-06:00

I hoped to have a bunch of cute pics of little Trick-or-Treaters, but I couldn't get them to stand still long enough to get good pictures. With one exception - this cute young flower fairy. She and her sister had matching costumes, but in opposite colors.My daughter and I made these costumes for her girls. We bought the fairy wings at Wal Mart and hot-glued the flowers to them, to the skirt and to the headband. Then we pinned flowers to their shirts and leggings. If I had it to do over again I would choose lighter weight flowers. The centers of these were hard plastic and way too heavy. But I thought they looked precious. This was the last time she stood still for the rest of the night. Do ya think it might have been the candy!?!

A Halloween Guest Post by My Daughter

2009-10-29T15:34:00.017-06:00

Hello. My name is Amber and this is my very first guest blog. I am excited to show you the cute Halloween overalls that I made for my oldest daughter.

It all started with a trip to a consignment sale where I found a cute pair of Halloween overalls to fit my youngest daughter. But . . . there were none to be found to fit my 4 year old. So, as all good crafty Moms do, I looked around and decided, "Hey, I can make some that are just as cute, and probably for much less!"

So, I looked through her closet and found some overalls that still fit. I have a thing for ribbon and I have collected a good size box (or 2) of really cute ribbon that I found at 50% (or less) of it's original price. I gathered together several different patterns of ribbon that, when put together, had a similar color scheme as that of candy corn. For my specific design I had a wide orange ribbon (about 2" wide), a medium yellow polka-dot ribbon (1/2" wide) and a small gingham and small orange and black polka-dot ribbon (1/4" wide).

I cut a foot long strip of each of the ribbons, two of the yellow polka-dot. I placed one of the yellow ribbon strips right up against the bottom of the wide orange strip. I used a piece of scotch tape at one end to hold the pieces together temporarily. Not overlapping. Just touching each other. Then I hot glued, with a very thin layer of hot glue, the gingham ribbon strip over the top of the orange and yellow ribbons, covering where their edges met. Then I did the same thing on the opposite side of the wide orange ribbon using the other strip of yellow and white polka-dot and the orange and black polka-dot ribbon.

To get the shape of candy corn, I cut a 3" triangle template out of a piece of paper. Then I traced the triangles onto the back side of some Stitch Witchery and ironed the Stitch Witchery onto the back of the ribbon strips. Then I cut the triangles out, rounded the edges of the triangles to look like candy corn, and ironed the candy corn onto the leg of the overalls.I found this skull and the letters that spell out "sweet" as pre-made iron ons. As you can see, I applied the letters to the front of the other leg of the overalls and the skull to the back pocket, adding the ribbon to indicate that it is a girl skull!

The word "BOO" was made by just free-hand cutting the letters out of fabric that I fused to some more Stitch Witchery.

A friend embroidered the spider down the back seam on her fancy sewing machine and I finished them off by outlining the candy corn with black paint.

It was quick and easy project and my girls loved having Halloween overalls to wear to school.

Three Generations-Three October Birthdays

2009-10-15T15:19:00.003-05:00

Three generations of women in my family have October birthdays. Tuesday, October 13 was my 35th birthday! Really! I wouldn't kid you! Just ask me? :)

Today, October 15th, is my oldest Granddaughter's birthday. Isn't she precious?! She is 4 and quite something. Just ask me - I'm her favorite Granny! She loves flowers so that will be the theme of her party on Saturday. I LOVE spending time with this child and her Mom and her baby sister. She is one of the happiest children I know. Every where we go she sings. Most of the time she makes up her own songs. I'm sure she is destined to be a famous singer one day! My Mom's birthday is Saturday, October 17th. She won't be 4 or 35. I wish I had a scanner so I could scan a picture of her and show you her picture, but alas, I don't (Oh SANTA!). Everyone says I look just like her so imagine me, but just a little shorter and a little older. She was quite something in "her day" too.

So - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND GP#2 (Grandpunkin). I'll see you both on Saturday!

FINALLY! FINISHED PROJECT FOTOS

2009-10-01T07:52:00.009-05:00

Remember WAY BACK IN JULY! when I showed you this sneak peak of a project that my daughter and I had been working on?Well - I FINALLY have pictures of the finished project!

Its a toddler bed for Zoe, my daughter's youngest, that we made out of an old 1950's baby crib. After we got through with the mod podge portion of the project, my daughter decided to send it off to a friend who has the equipment to do spray on polyurethane. It took him FOREVER to finally get the bed back to her! She has now decided that she could do just as good a job, or better, with wipe on poly!

Once she got it back, she hot glued the red trim around the edges of the toile fabric and set the bed up in Zoe's room. Zoe promptly doned her PJs, climbed in the bed and went to sleep! Apparently she was happy to have her new bed!

What started out as an old, cream & gold, 1950's crib (sorry, the original picture got lost when my computer crashed), then morphed into a REALLY PINK toddler bed that didn't fit in the spare room at my house,Then, much to the dismay of other family members, got a new coat of glossy black spray paint,and then morphed into a precious toddler bed for princess Zoe!

We couldn't have done this project without the wonderful tips we received from Amy over at Mod Podge Rocks! If you haven't visited her blog, go do it NOW! She has wonderful projects that are so much fun, and anyone can do them!

THANKS AMY! YOU ROCK!

Front Porch Update-The AC goes in

2009-09-22T16:57:00.002-05:00

Friday night my #1 Step Son and his family came for a visit. The purpose was for #1 Step Son to run the AC duct under the floor and out to the new room.

The bonus was that I got to play with this little doll baby!

Last time we saw her she was just starting to crawl. This time she is cruising around furniture. Next thing you know she'll be walking. Then there will be no stopping her! She's gotten new upper teeth and learned how to wave since the last time too!

Oh, and the sub floor is now down and we've started to put up the wall treatment. Check back, I'll have new pictures soon.

County Fair Poultry Show & Remodel Update

2009-09-14T07:07:00.005-05:00

On Saturday my handyman and I went to the Dickson County Fair Poultry Show & Sale. This is the first time I've been to this event and it was a lot of fun. We met some really nice people, saw some beautiful chickens from teenintsy to huge. And, much to my handyman's surprise, I didn't buy anything!

We really enjoyed watching the 4H kids in their Fairest of the Fowl contest. In this contest the kids choose a theme and they dress themselves and their chicken according to the theme. Here is the line up: (Left to Right) #1. A chef: he had on an apron and was carrying a HUGE knife and clippers in one hand and his chicken in the other. If I'd been the chicken I'd have been concerned! #2 was a vet in her blue scrubs and white coat. Then there was #3, her sister, the magician. She was carrying her chicken inside a top hat. #4, for you Vanderbilt basketball fans, a basket ball player and his chicken cheerleader. Someone had made stocking arms for the chicken and had sewn little pom poms into the hands. It was really cute. #5 was a Cop and Jail Bird. The young lady was dressed as a cop and had her chicken in a cage in the paddy wagon (red wagon). Cute, cute, cute. This young lady also won the Grand Champion ribbon for her 6 Barred Plymouth Rock chicks that she raised for 4H. They sold for $45 each! #6 was Colonel Sanders. This was so cute. She had her chicken in the KFC bucket with it's feet sticking out of the bottom. The chicken was calm through the entire show! #7 was a precious pirate and her companion. #8 was a 1950's Poodle Skirted girl. Her chicken also had on a Poodle Skirt and even had a pink bow in it's hair, I mean feathers! and #9 was The Cat in the Hat with Thing 1. I met this young lady and her parents prior to the show. She was adorable. Her chicken is a Polish with a big white top knot. So cute!

And here are the winners:

Because of the Labor Day Holiday and having a house full of people, we didn't get to work on the remodel until Sunday. Here is a picture of the floor joists going in. My handyman got all 13 of them in, but it was dark when he finished and I couldn't get a good picture. It is really starting to look like a room! My handyman's oldest son is coming on Friday to run the duct work for the air conditioning. Then the sub floor goes on and it WILL look like a for real and true room! Awesome!

Post Weekend Kitchen Wall Demolition Update

2009-09-01T16:07:00.005-05:00

Window wall before (top) & after (bottom). Now even the frame that was around the window is gone as well, but I didn't get that picture yet.

Wall behind the refrigerator before (top) & after (bottom).

Don't ya just love the smell of sheet rock dust in the morning?!!

Next step - floor joists to bring the floor up to the same level as the rest of the house, air conditioning duct work and sub floor. Whooo Hoooo!

But that will have to wait. Lots of company coming at the end of the week and lots of other things to do between now and then. Don't forget to check back.

A View From the Inside

2009-08-25T16:36:00.003-05:00

As promised, a view of what things look like from the inside. This view is looking out to the right side of the property. Since this picture was taken the wiring is now in place and so is the insulation. This is my handyman removing the window between the new room and the old dining room.And here he is removing the door between the rooms. This was the really exciting part because now we don't have to open the door to step out into the new space! Yay!!!

And this is the beginning of the wall demolition. On the right of the picture is where the window 2 pictures up used to live. When I got home last night this whole wall was gone, except for the studs that are necessary to hold up the wall until we get the new support beam.

Tonight I think my handyman is going to take out this wall between the kitchen and the new room! It's my night out with the ladies that I work with, so I won't get to enjoy the noise!

I'll have more progress pictures in the next few days - I promise!

Front Porch Remodel Progress

2009-08-20T15:58:00.005-05:00

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. This is what arrived at our house at 9:00 last Friday morning:Our 7 new windows to close in the front porch.

The installation began bright and early on Saturday morning. Like 7:00 a.m., so that it could be done before it got too hot and muggy.

This is the first one being installed by my oldest step-son and our awesome "neighbor across the lake". These windows are 6ft. x 6 ft., aluminum clad windows made by Peach Tree. Let me just tell you how awesome they are and how great they are going to make our new "overlook" as my husband is calling it!

This is what they look like (at least this side) with the trim installed, but not painted:

I'll post pictures of what's happening on the inside later. Do come back and check. It's going to be GREAT!

The Camera Died

2009-08-11T08:04:00.003-05:00

It just quit. I thought it was the batteries, but I put in new ones and I took some out of another item that I knew was working and still nothing. GRRRRRR! Now I've got to find time to go get it fixed. It might be quicker to just buy another one. GRRRRRR! There's so much going on and no camera.

The black & cream toile project is finished - no pics yet.

The guest bathroom is coming along beautifully, if slowly-no pics yet.

And the big news is that the windows that we've ordered to close in our front porch have arrived - almost a week early! The framework has been ready for decades-well maybe not decades, but a long time. They will convert this into an actual room!

I can't wait!

Then the wall comes out, the duct work and electric goes in, the floor joists, the lights, the new ceiling, then the dining room cabinets and the kitchen cabinets, . . . ya know, one project ALWAYS leads to another.

Maybe I can borrow a camera before Friday, which is when the windows get to the house from Lowes. I think I now officially owe them more than I owe on my mortgage.

Happy 29th Birthday & a sneak peek

2009-07-16T07:09:00.006-05:00

Tuesday was my daughter's 29th (gulp! where did time go?) birthday. This picture of her is one of my favorite, besides her Sr. pictures from high school, and she took it herself-with her cell phone! I love it because it shows her beautiful blue eyes and bright smile so well. I am so proud of her. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but she is also beautiful on the inside. My Mother always told me that "pretty is as pretty does" and I, for one, happen to think that this young woman does pretty great!When most of the other girls in high school were talking about who they slept with over the weekend, this child was witnessing to her classmates. She is a wonderful Christian young woman, a great Mom to her two beautiful girls, an awesome daughter and a thoughtful granddaughter.

So, for her birthday, I took the day off to spend some time with her and the girls. I told her we would do whatever she wanted to do and she decided she wanted to work on a project that we had started, but hadn't had time to finish.

I arrived at her house about 8 a.m. Her husband had taken the day off to help watch the girls so that we could work on the project. He was cooking pancakes when I arrived so I got to enjoy a delicious and fun breakfast with all of them. Then he took charge of the girls and my daughter took me outside to show me the garden that they had put in. We picked some of the squash and chatted about her garden. Then we went in and went to work on this: I have a BAD habit of trying to do projects for her rather than letting her do them herself, so I tried really hard to supervise instead of do. It was a great learning experience for both of us.

My Mom & Dad came by for lunch, then we put my Dad and the girls down for a nap and three generations of women went shopping for a couple of hours.

We had a WONDERFUL day. And my daughter and I both got new clothes.

My daughter says this was her LAST birthday, and she was glad to get to spend it with her family! Next year she'll be 29 AGAIN! Does that mean I don't have to get older either?

Check back for the finished project. It's SO CUTE! I think you'll love it.

An Emotional Start to the Day

2009-07-10T11:53:00.002-05:00

This is Dandy, my precious and beautiful Silver Laced Bantam Cochin rooster. My handyman found him dead in his chicken coop this morning. He was still warm when he found him. We have no idea why he died. There were no wounds, no signs of parasites, nothing. He was just laying lifeless on the floor.

I held him and cried! Yes, I'm that crazy lady who cries over a dead rooster!

Dandy liked to jump in my lap and let me stroke his beautiful, soft feathers. I had plans to breed him and raise his babies to keep and to sell. He was just starting to crow and sounded like a boy whose voice was starting to change. It made me smile every time I heard him.

I never thought I could be so attached to a rooster, but there ya go!

Beachy Nesting Boxes

2009-07-06T15:23:00.008-05:00

As I said in the previous post, we moved our little bantam chickens into the old, re-worked coop. Why, you ask? I thought you would never ask!

First-to get them away from the standard chickens that were picking on them relentlessly and Second-to give them a place where they could breed in peace. But, because we moved the original nesting boxes into the new coop, we had to come up with a new set of boxes for the bantams.

Since Lowe's already gets a disproportionate share of our income, my handyman decided to take a look around the garage to see what we already had that could be made into nesting boxes. Over in the corner, behind the door, he had stashed the bi fold doors that were originally on all of the closets inside the house. We had already used some of them on the 2008 coop for the doors that you see opened to the inside of the coop in the previous post, and for the little pop door that lets the chickens in and out of the coop. We had also used one to make a door from the pen out into the yard, but that one was removed during the remodel of the pen.

So, my handyman took one bi fold door, one piece of plywood that was already the right size, a few scraps of furring strips, a bunch of screws, a good helper (me) and went to work:

The plywood just happened to be the size we needed to make 2 nesting boxes, so no energy was needed to cut it to size.

The nesting boxes needed to have a sloping roof so that the chickens won't (supposedly) roost on top and do what chickens do when they are roosting (poop!) and make a mess of the nests. My handyman took a good look at the bi fold doors and decided that the lower, solid portion of the door would make perfect end panels.

He cut the panels 14" in the back and 12" in the front. Then he made a center divider by cutting a portion of the louver section to the same size, cutting in between the louvers to make life easier (and to keep the louver from falling out). Then he centered the panels on the plywood and screwed them together from the bottom, into the thickest part of the door sections.Then he laid the remaining portion of the door across the top to see if it fit and it did! All he had to do was cut off 2 louvers to make it the right size. Then he added 2 pieces of furring strip to the front of the box. These are to keep the straw bedding and the eggs from falling out of the nesting box.I found the left over spray paint from my co-workers office re-do, took the nesting boxes outside and covered them with beautiful, beachy blue paint.We screwed them into place in the coop and filled them with straw bedding. Now we just have to wait for the bantams to get a little bit older and discover that egg laying is what those big blue boxes are for!

Just between you and me, I've already seen one of them checking them out! I'll keep you updated.

A Birthday Party & A Sneek Peek

2009-06-29T12:53:00.006-05:00

It's been REALLY hot and sticky here in Middle Tennessee. Too hot and sticky to do a lot of outdoor things, but perfect for a swimming party for this cute guy! This is my oldest grandchild and the only boy of the group of 5 (so far). He turned 7!-I can't believe it! and had his party at his "other" grandmother's house because she has a nice big pool and her house isn't "WAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY" like mine!

This is the awesome cake that his mother made for him. It's hard to tell from this picture, but its a sand castle. Some little hands and a lot of heat got to it before I was able to get the picture. It had shells on either side of the popsicle stick draw bridge before the little hands found them. The "sand" was actually brown sugar and yes, those are real shells, which were removed before serving. It was delish! I was really impressed that his Mom made it. Clever girl, that daughter-in-law of mine!

We really enjoyed sitting by the pool and watching the children swim and jump and splash. I don't own a swim suit, so I just dangled my legs in the water and watched the birthday boy, his cute little sister and his cousins have a big ole time! Even my 22 month old granddaughter got in on the action. I think she is part fish!

My handyman found himself a chair in the shade and got as many wet hugs as the grand kids would allow. It was a great way to spend a HOT Saturday afternoon.

Despite the heat we got the bantam chickens moved to their own new-to-them coop. Here's a sneak peek of what my clever handyman built for them:

Tennessee's Most Spoiled Chickens

2009-06-18T15:45:00.008-05:00

Last year (2008) was the beginning of our effort to populate our "farm" with some barn yard animals. Our (my) thought was that we have 11 1/2 acres of beautiful, Middle Tennessee land that we need to do something with, other than just keep it mowed and look at it. Of course we have enjoyed watching the wildlife as it passes through and there has been a fair share of that to enjoy.

Keep in mind that approximately 2 acres of our property is water. What my husband and I call a "our lake" and others refer to as "the pond" (See the photo on the right of the blog). It is what actually sold us on buying the property 7 years ago. By definition, it is a lake because it is fed by several springs and a pond is technically fed only by run-off. At least that's how my handyman explained it to me. We have enjoyed many hours of fishing from it and many meals provided by it. My handyman says it's his "fish farm"!

And, about an acre of it is located across the creek and near the interstate, on a rocky slope. So we don't even mow that part and hardly ever go over there, except in the Fall when there isn't much undergrowth to contend with. It's really kinda cool and gives a whole different perspective on the overall look of the place.

So, back to 2008, when we (I) decided to start with chickens, we investigated chicken coops and building plans and opted to build our own. We built the cute little brown log coop that can be seen at the end of my previous post, built the pen in front and set up to locate some potential residents.

After checking around we found a young lady who raises chickens for 4H. She was recommended to us by the man who owns the Farm Depot in our community. So in late September/October I called her up and told her what we wanted. She named her price, gave us directions to her house and we were off - dog kennel in hand, or should I say in vehicle, to put them in. I negotiated for 5 young hens that she said were all born in April or May. She told me that 3 were already laying, with the last 2 on course to start in about a month. I'm sure she and her mother laughed about the whole experience after we left.

Long story short - yeah, I guess it's a little late for that! Allow me to introduce the girls we purchased in 2008:

This is Barbara. She is usually a pretty sweet girl and will let me pick her up and pet her most days. This picture was taken on June 17th. She is a little over a year old.
This is what she looked like when we first brought her home:Notice the difference in her comb and wattles (the red things on her head and face). She has really matured into a beautiful bird. I was told when I bought her that she was a Barred Plymouth Rock. I have a great suspicion that she is a mix. But, I don't care. She lays beautiful brown, delicious eggs and that's what I wanted her for.

This is Goldie. Named because of the golden feathers around her neck. She is a black sex-link. She is also usually sweet and will let me pick her up and pet her. She lays brown eggs too.

This is one of the "twins". I think this is "Regular". Her "twins" name is "Extra Crispy". I'd show her picture too, but they look just alike. My handyman gave them their names. I call them Reggie and Crispy. This one has some scaring on her head that I haven't been able to figure out. I don't know if she has gotten her head stuck in the fence at some point or if the other chickens have picked on her. I have a feeling she got her head stuck and then pulled it out because she has sort of a ring around her whole head. She and her twin are also black sex-links.And this fat chic is Buffy. She is at least part Buff Orpington. She is the B____h of the group. She has always been a little "off". My handyman says she is a bit psychotic! I tend to agree.

The first picture is what she looked like when we first brought her home. Sweet and cute and shy.

This is what she looks like now. She is fat and sassy and b---tchy and looks like an old fashioned lady with a bunch of petticoats on when she runs. She is also the one who is terrorizing my new babies. I'm gonna give her a little while to settle down, but if she continues to give them a hard time, she may become dinner!

That's the 5 one year olds. I'll introduce you to the new babies next time. They are a little harder to get pictures of.

The 2009 Chicken Coop is Done

2009-06-18T07:52:00.014-05:00

Well, almost! I still have a little painting of trim to do, but that will have to wait until it quits raining for longer than a minute. And speaking of all the rain, we have had an abundance of mushrooms and fungi because of all the moisture. Case in point:

This is growing out back. It started off really white and is now turning sort of golden colored. I kid you not, it is at least 18" from left to right! and stands about 10" tall. It could feed a family of 4 easily, if it were edible. And it may be, but I'M NOT GONNA TRY IT!

Here are the latest pictures of the coop:

Front with new pop door and ramp. I need to paint the trim around the door. We added 3 foot tall, 2x4 welded wire to the bottom of the pen to help deter any would be predators. After doing a lot of reading on my favorite chicken sites, Backyard Chickens, I decided chicken wire wasn't enough protection.

This is the back side from one angle:

And from the other. Notice the ramp and pop door and the white door between the two sides of the pen. This was done so that we can eventually rotate the chickens from one side of the pen to the other, to allow grass and clover to grow so they can have some greens to eat. I'll let you know how that works out.

So far we've had to put the little ones on one side and the big girls on the other to keep the peace. You see, the big girls were keeping the little ones from getting to their food and water, chasing them around and generally terrorizing the whole group. It was REALLY STRESSFUL. And the chickens didn't like it either! So I had to seperate them. I even strung some chicken wire up on the inside to maintain the separation. You can see it in the picture of the inside roost.

I'll give them a few weeks and try it again. By that time the little ones will be a bit bigger and better able to protect themselves. I HOPE!

We added some 2x4s to the top of a couple of saw-horses to give the girls (and boys) a place to roost outside and away from the edges of the pen. I'm worried that something will sneak up and grab them from outside the pen if they sleep too close to the edges. I use the yellow crate to sit and commune with the girls (and boys). The little ones like to jump up in my lap. The big ones, not so much.

These are the nesting boxes where the older girls can lay their eggs. The younger ones too, when they are old enough.We moved these from the old coop instead of building new ones in hopes that the older girls would feel more comfortable. They were originally given to my son by one of his teachers when he was little and had a few chickens of his own. We retrieved them from my father's shed, fixed them up and painted them and put them to use. They are mounted about 18" off the floor. We added the little step up in the front so the heavier girls would have an easier time getting in and out.

This is the inside roost that my handyman built to make sure everyone had a roomy place to roost at night. See the chicken wire I told you about? The little ones stay on the roost side and the big girls stay on the nesting box side. We moved another saw-horse in for the big girls to roost on. So far it's working out.

This is Bonnie Blue demonstrating the proper use of the front ramp. I think she is a Blue Old English Game Bird. She and her mate, Blue Roo aka Baby Blue, only stand about 5" tall. They will eventually move into the old coop and be allowed to reproduce. I haven't told them that yet. They are a little too young for that sort of news.

And here is a picture of the new coop next to the old one. As you can see, we are framing out the addition to the pen on the old one. Raising the roof, so to speak, so I can get in to keep it clean.

I'll post pictures of that project as it moves along. And . . . I'm gonna introduce you to the rest of the chickens. Aren't you excited?!

Chicken Coop Update - As promised yesterday!

2009-06-04T07:22:00.005-05:00

These pictures were taken at about 6 this morning, so they are a little dark and there are some water spots on them. It was raining - AGAIN!

This is the front of the coop and pen (in progress). I am really pleased with how it is turning out. The pen is large enough that we will probably divide it up to allow us to move the chickens from one side to the other and hopefully keep it from becoming a mud pit. We still need to dig the trench around the pen to bury the 12 plus inches of wire that we left on the bottom. This should help prevent any digging predators from getting to my babies.

This is the back. The door on the building leads to the storage area where we keep the feed, straw and other items that we need to care for the chickens. The storage area is divided from the chicken area by a wall of chicken wire with a screen door, so that we can get in to clean, change the feed and water and collect eggs. We may still alter the plan and make the nesting boxes accessible from the outside of the coop, but we have a little while before we have to make that decision. The door into the pen is made from a wooden pallet covered with chicken wire.

All of the windows have hardware cloth over the openings with old window sashes attached on the inside so that we can open and close them as the weather allows. The small rectangles are automatic foundation vents that my handyman said would help with ventilation.

This is the pop door, or chicken door where the chickens can get from the coop into the outside pen via the clever ramp/ladder that my handy man built. I still have to paint the trim and the chickens are going to have to get used to using it. The last 2 nights we've had to pick some of them up and put them through the door. It may take a few days before they get the idea.
I'll get some pictures of the inside in the next few days. If the weather clears up for the weekend we should get the thing finished so we can move on to the next project. It has been a lot of work, but well worth it.

Now to check on the cute little pygmy goats I saw on Craigslist for $10 each!

This last picture is of the gate we have had to put up across our driveway to keep out sight seers. Our driveway runs between 2 other houses and we have a small lake, which can be seen from the street. The house is through the gate, around the corner and up the hill. Every year we have people drive up the driveway to "see what is back here", even though we have had a PRIVATE PROPERTY sign posted next to the driveway. It can be quite unnerving because our house is right smack in the middle of our property and no neighbors can see the house and immediately surrounding area without a lot of effort. Which means that we are not always ready to receive visitors! One day we came home to a group of construction workers who were building homes in the subdivision down the street, having a picnic and fishing (yes-there is a NO FISHING sign too). It's not that we mind sharing our blessings, we invite friends, family and co-workers out all the time. But we do have a dog and animals that wander the property and the dog is pretty good at guarding the place, so we really don't want anyone to get bitten and we really don't want to be caught unprepared. Would you really want someone driving all over your property checking things out?!? (Sorry for the rant)!

Come back and check on the completed coop next week-I'm sure it will be that long until we get it finished!

I Was Tagged!

2009-06-03T10:13:00.008-05:00

Teresa over at Cherry Checkers tagged me more than a few days ago! If you haven't checked out her amazing creative talents, you MUST check out her blog!

But, I'm not sure about this tagging thing - my understanding is that I have to tell you 6 things about myself (that's scary) and pick several others to tag, who then have to do the same thing. I'm just a simple country girl, so I'm not sure I can come up with anything too interesting, but here goes:

1. I was born in Louisiana, raised in Texas and now live in Tennessee. I guess that makes me a Southern girl!

2. I was a tomboy. I climbed trees, played army and kick-ball and walked the top rail of an 8 foot, wooden privacy fence and sometimes played outside without a shirt, just like the boys - until a neighbor dragged me by the arm and told me I was a girl and girls aren't supposed to act that way!

3. When I was in Junior High School (middle school), the boy I had a crush on humiliated me by pointing out that he knew I wasn't wearing a slip because he could see straight through my skirt! To this day I always check by standing in the light, to make sure that it doesn't happen again, and that was over 40 years ago.

4. I used to be absolutely OCD about the way my house looked, to the point where I could be in the middle of conversation with someone, notice dust on something, and have to get up and take care of it RIGHT THEN! If you saw my house now, you'd know that is no longer the case.

5. We have been in the process of remodeling our home for the last 7 years! I'm not kidding-I'm not sure we will EVER be through. We do all of the work ourselves, well most of it, so we only really have the weekends to get much done. I enjoy the process, but I am SO READY TO BE DONE! See #4 above.

6. I love Mexican food. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner 24/7/365. I think I'll go eat some for lunch today.

Well, that about does it. Whew! Glad that's over with!

This is where I get to be a spoil-sport! My blogging time has become very limited and I am unable to keep up with all of my favorite blogs to tell if they have been through the tagging process already. I don't want to tag someone who has already been tagged. Sorry. While some of you may think me a scrooge, others will thank me. You know who you are.

Updated pics of the 2009 Chicken Coop coming soon!

Chicken Coop & Chicken Update

2009-05-26T07:49:00.009-05:00

A sweet note from Marilyn reminded me that I haven't given a recent update on the chicks and their new home. Here is the most recent photo I have. There has been more work done, but I haven't taken any more pics-bad me!

The picture above is a picture of the 2 coops that now live side-by-side in the back of our property. The brown one on the right is where our 5 original hens currently live. We built it out of some of the log siding that we took off of the front of our house in preparation for closing in the front porch and knocking down a wall. It was our chicken project last year, 2008, and has served very well. The only problem is that the pen that we put in the front, and built out of old pallets, is WAY TOO LOW for me to get in and clean. And believe me, after all the rain we've had lately, whew! It needs to be cleaned but good! The plan for it is to raise the roof on the pen so that I can get inside. Then we are going to move the precious, silver laced bantam Cochins that the Easter Bunny brought, into it and let them breed.

This is Dandy, a rooster, I hope:

This is either Daisy or Delilah. I have a hard time telling them apart:

The white coop on the left is the new, 2009 coop. Since this pic was taken, my handy man has added another window on the front, painted all the trim black and set 20 posts for the pen. This has all been a challenge, trying to do what we can between rain storms! I promise to get a new picture this week so you can see how great it looks.

Here are a couple of the new residents enjoying their new roost. That's a White Leghorn on the left and a Rhode Island Red on the right. We hope they are both girls! Roosters aren't too good at laying eggs! This is the chic we call #1. We have NO IDEA what she is. Poor thing, she is not very attractive now, but maybe she will get prettier as she feathers out.

One week old:7 weeks old:
And these are my beautiful blues. We don't know yet what they are. Some have suggested Old English Game Birds. Again, I'll know more as they get older.

One week old:

Blue hen (Bonnie Blue), 7 weeks old and still very small and sweet:

Blue rooster (Baby Blue or Blue Roo):

If you are familiar with breeds of chickens and think you know what these are, PLEASE, let me know! And unless you want to get REALLY addicted to a fun hobby - don't get chickens!

You'd never think that chickens could be SO MUCH FUN!

The Chicks Move Out

2009-05-04T08:43:00.003-05:00

This is what the coop looked like on Saturday morning. All wrapped up in plastic to try to keep the rain out. It didn't work. The floor got soaked and the vinyl floor now has ripples. But, not to worry. As soon as the sun comes out we will cut it out and try to dry it out. Then we will glue it back down to the plywood sub-floor. We will see if that works out. If not, I can always give the sub-floor a good coat of slick paint.

Meanwhile, we got the siding and the roof up and the insulation installed in the roof. Pictures will come later. There was so much moisture in the air my camera lens kept fogging up. It rained and rained all weekend, making for very poor building conditions. But. . . we ventured forward.

Sunday night we moved the chicks into their new home. As you can see they were not so sure about it. They huddled together in the corner for a while. Eventually they spread out and tried out their wings in their newer, larger space. When I left for work this morning they were running about happily and eating and drinking like nothing was new.

Can you believe how big they have gotten in just a few weeks?!?

Coop Update - As of April 30

2009-05-01T10:29:00.004-05:00

This is what the coop looked like at 7:30 p.m. last night.

The exterior door has been installed and all of the exterior and interior walls have been framed. The door leads in to what will be the feed/straw storage area. There will be a screen door on the interior partition that leads from the storage area into the actual coop area. Windows and chicken doors will go in as soon as the weather allows.

The tarp on top was put there to help keep it dry during the rain we are scheduled to have over the next few days. It wasn't very effective during last nights down pour. There was water standing on the floor when I left for work this morning and I didn't have time to deal with it. We are hoping that there will be some periods of no rain over the weekend that will allow us to get the siding and the roof on. Then we can work inside in the dry to finish it enough to move the chicks in. The are really getting big quickly and crowding their current living quarters!

I will post the weekend's progress next week.

No Project Updates

2009-04-30T08:06:00.002-05:00

I know I owe you updates on the bathroom and the chicken coop projects, but I don't have them yet. The bathroom project has gotten put off in order to finish the chicken coop before the chickens get too big for their current residence. We've worked on it after work the last few evenings, but by the time we finished it was too dark to take pictures.

So, I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the beautiful clematis that is blooming out by our mailbox. I planted this thing 3 years ago and this is the first year it has had more than 1 or 2 blooms. Isn't it beautiful! Only problem is that it is growing in a big cluster at the base of the mailbox rather than climbing like it is supposed too. Oh well, it is still beautiful, don't you think?

My Weekend In Pictures

2009-04-27T11:27:00.004-05:00

Since the Easter Bunny brought me some new chick babies, we have to build them a place to live. They just can't go on staying in my living room, they are not good house guests. So, we chose a spot in the back of the house:

It's right next to the old chicken coop, so if we end up with roosters and need to separate them, we can put them in the older, smaller coop.

Then we started putting together the deck of the coop in the garage. It was over 90 degrees in there, so we worked as fast as we could.

Then we moved the framework to the new location. We attached one end to the lawn mower and lifted it up with a chain. My handy man put a concrete block on the furniture dolly and put it under the other end. My in-laws helped to keep it balanced and off we went.

We set it at the new site and got it all leveled up. That's the old coop on the left.

Put plywood on the top and a piece of sheet vinyl (for easier clean up),

And started framing it up.

That's about as much as we could get done this weekend. We hope to work on it some in the evenings this week. I'll keep you posted.

Look What the Easter Bunny Brought to My House!

2009-04-16T07:33:00.004-05:00

Six of the cutest, week old, Rhode Island Red chicks of unknown sex.

And six of the tiniest little bantam chicks you've ever seen. I haven't measured them, but I'd bet they are only about 1 1/2" tall, if that. I don't know what sex or breed these are, but I'll know when all of their feathers come in.

This one DH calls Number 1 because it is the only yellow one we got.

I call these two Baby Blue (George Strait Song) and Bonnie Blue (Gone With The Wind).

And then there are 2 like the one on the right, and this dark one. As you can see, they have feathers on their feet. Sooooooo cute!

Here is a picture of DH holding the little dark one.

All 12 are currently living in my living room in a dog kennel that we wrapped with chicken wire to keep them from getting out. We placed a heat lamp over the top to keep them warm until all of their feathers come in. I can't tell you how much time I've spent just watching them.

Now we have to build a bigger chicken coop and enclose a bigger run for them. Our other 5 hens have no idea their territory is getting ready to be invaded!

Just What I Always Wanted - Really!

2009-03-31T11:41:00.003-06:00

For some CRAZY reason, I have always wanted an antique, claw foot tub. Most of the people I've told about this think I am NUTS! And I may be, but I have waited and waited and now I have one.

When we decided to remodel the "guest" bathroom, which will usually be used by me, I decided that I was going to find one come hell or high water! Yesterday I was searching on Craig'slist, one of my favorite junking sites, and found this beauty:

It was just what I wanted. It was a reasonable price and the interior is in great shape, it doesn't need to be re-glazed. That alone saves me major $$! I have priced some refurbished ones in some of my local shops and they were running $700 or more, just for the tub. Then I'd have to buy the faucets and all to go with it. So I've already saved more than $400!

Just a quick cleaning with some baking soda and a good polish with some paste wax for cars and the inside will be ready to go. The outside, on the other hand, will have to be stripped and repainted, but DH has promised to help me with it. I've found instructions on several websites and think it is a pretty straight forward process, but it will take more than one weekend to complete. The claw feet will also have to be stripped and either painted or plated. I'm probably opting for painting them. There are lots of good quality metallic spray paints that I can try. If they don't work or last, I can always have them plated.

The bonus, all of the hardware - faucets, etc. were included - even the overhead frame for the shower curtain!

As my kids say - I'M STOKED!

Hello Spring

2009-03-23T15:56:00.004-06:00

We have lived in our current home for almost 7 years. Just off of the main street to our home is an abandoned business. Sometime in the past someone had the creative idea to plant daffodils so that everyone who passes can enjoy the hope of the upcoming season. As sometimes happens, flower bulbs either die off or become too deep set to bloom again. This is what has happened with this Spring message, but we still enjoy watching for it's message. I hope you enjoy it too!

Toile Tuesday

2009-03-13T12:34:00.011-06:00

Pretty Organized Palace is hosting Toile Tuesday today. Here is my contribution to the party.

This is one of my grand-daughter's room. When my daughter was expecting her, my then 77 year old mother, my daughter and I had a Baby Room Workshop and put together these items for her room.

The valance for her window. No pattern. We just winged it.

Her diaper stacker. We used a pattern, but I couldn't find it in time to post it. The pattern didn't show the red trim that we put at the opening, but we thought it really added a little zing to the look.

We combined the toile, with black & white dots, a solid red and a solid white to make this Rail Fence quilt for her crib. Daughter uses a solid red crib sheet to pull out the red in the quilt.

Then we purchased these letters to spell out the baby's name and painted them to match. Her Daddy nailed the moulding "frame" to the wall above her crib and daughter put the baby's name inside. We used a pencil eraser dipped in white paint to add the dots and hot glued ribbon between the colors for a smoother transition. I've since found toile scrapbook paper and have thought about replacing the black & white dots with it, but I have so many other projects to do, it may not happen.

We found a nice curvy dresser on Craig'slist and painted it red. It is just the right height to use as a changing table.

And here is another toile project I've done recently.

Remember the book ends I was doing for my co-workers office?

Here is the before:

And the after:

It's amazing what a little black spray paint, some scrapbook paper and Mod Podge can do!

Wasn't this fun?!?! Now I'm off to find more things to do with toile. Don't forget to jump on over to Pretty Organized Palace and check out what all of the other crafty ladies have done.

"Guest" Bathroom Remodel Is Underway

2009-03-13T08:49:00.005-06:00

We have been slowly getting back into our ever-on-going remodel. It was really hard to get too motivated during the winter months, but now that the weather is starting to warm up we are at it again. And yes, these are actually "during" pictures. You already know the story on the "befores".

This bathroom is only 9 ft. wide and about 11 feet long. Within the bathroom is the closet where our washer and dryer are located. When we were looking for a new house I told the realtor that I wanted my new house to have either a separate laundry room or a bathroom with the washer and dryer in it. In our previous house the closet for the washer and dryer was in the kitchen/dining room. I don't know who had that brilliant idea, but it didn't work for me. Nothing like dryer lint in the kitchen and piles of laundry on the dining room table!

So, I got my wish and the closet for the washer and dryer is in the "guest" bathroom.

Also located in this closet is the hot water heater. This means that on the end of the closet where the hot water heater is there was about 18" of space between the wall and the hot water heater. So, because I didn't have a linen closet (I was using a pine cupboard that was taking up a LOT of room) I had the idea to build one. So, while DH was not paying attention, I got his trusty "saws all" and went to work.

First I checked to make sure there were no pipes or electrical wiring running through the wall. Then I knocked a hole in the wall and cut out the drywall.

The I pulled out the stud in the middle of the opening.

Then DH came in and saw what I was doing and asked me "What in the he double hockey sticks" I was doing NOW! OK, maybe he didn't say double hockey sticks, but I'm trying to keep this a "family" blog.

So, as he knew would happen, he had to get involved. He framed in the top of the opening that you see above and we went to Lowe's . . . where I told the guy in the kitchen department what I was doing and he became a great enabler. I told him I wanted 2 cabinets 12" deep. One to put on the top and one to put on the bottom. He explained that only upper cabinets are 12" deep, so he dug through the cabinets they had on the shelf and found me 2 "damaged" cabinets and marked them down to half price. (See, I told you he was a GOOD enabler!) The actual "damage" consisted of black marks on the doors of the oak front cabinets that he said rendered them unusable for someone who wanted to stain them. Well, I was going to paint them, so no problem. And home we went with 2 oak front upper cabinets for less than $100.

I am using beaded board in this bathroom, so we took the back off of the upper cabinet and removed the door. We cut a piece of beaded board that was left over from the bedroom we did for our granddaughters and added it to the back of the cabinet. He took the door to the garage and cut out the center panel. We are going to put glass in it instead. Then we installed the cabinets in the opening, one above the other. There is 17" of space between them, which we filled in with another piece of beaded board. We will add a "counter top" to the top of the bottom shelf and I will add some decorative touches.

It will all be painted white and trim will be added around the opening to complete the installation. I'll post those pictures when that part is done.

DH got busy yesterday and did this:

And pulled this away from the wall:

Two happy Freecycler's are coming to claim them tonight. I know, I know, I could have re-purposed the vanity, but sometimes it's best just to move something on to someone else.

A re-purposed dresser will become the new vanity and I'm looking for a great deal on an old one of these to replace the tub:

Come back in a few days and check out how much we get done.

Results of My Weekend Junking

2009-03-09T15:23:00.002-06:00

The weather here in Middle TN was pretty good this weekend. It was warm, but breezy and overcast. However, it was still good weather for getting out and about.

This is what I found on the side of the road. I had seen it laying there for a couple of days, but thought someone would get to it before I did. It was in a bad location, traffic wise, so I was hesitant. But, I finally decided to pull in one of the side streets, park and run around the fence that is between the sub-division and the off ramp at Rosa Parks Blvd., which is where it was. People must have thought I was NUTS! But I got it.

As you can see, one side of the table is not usable. But the other side is. It just so happens that this is one of those tables that you can open up to add an extension, so I just took the two sides apart, saved the good one and trashed the bad. I have plans. Also, the apron from the bad side survived. I'll have to figure out something for it as well.

On Friday night I went to a consignment sale where my daughter was working. It was the Encores and More North sale that I mentioned a few posts ago. Along with the great deal I got on a whole summer wardrobe for my son's daughter, I got this cool metal planter for $4.

I also found this old ironstone bowl at a nearby yard sale for $3. It was filthy and smelled of cigarette smoke, as did everything at that yard sale! A little Efferdent and water and it cleaned right up.

And last, but not least - the FREE twin size bed I got from a wonderful lady on Freecycle.org. My daughter is going to see if she can clean it up to use for her 3 year old daughter. If she doesn't use it, I will paint it up and use it myself.

What good deals did you find?

I WON!

2009-03-06T07:34:00.002-06:00

Teresa over at Cherry Checkers just notified me that I won an awesome, just for me gift from her just by posting a comment and taking a challenge. Actually, the posting a comment part was a problem - I was having computer problems, so I shot her an email to let her know I was up for the challenge. And she chose me as one of the winners!

She took the challenge from Malisa at Moonlight Hollow! who took the challenge from Laurie at 2Chippys who took the challenge from, well, you get the idea. Go check out their blogs. Talk about some crafty ladies!

Now I will pass the challenge on to three of you!

The first 3 people that respond to this post will get something made by me, it will be my choice, but made especially for you.

*However...this offer does have some restrictions and limitations (the fine print!!)

****What I create will be just for you.
****You will receive this item before the end of the year (or sooner).
****You will have no idea of what the item is going to be or when you will receive it.
****The catch is that you have to repost this "MEME" and put together something to be sent out as 3 surprises of your own.***

This should be fun.
I guess I'd better get busy getting creative!

Our Master Bedroom - The Tour

2009-03-05T11:37:00.015-06:00

Still no "before" pictures, so I thought I'd post the "afters" of our master bedroom. This and the master bathroom were the 2nd and 3rd rooms that we have redone so far. The first was the room we fixed up for our only (so far) grandson. For some reason I don't have pictures of it on my computer. I'll have to remedy that soon too. He really likes it too! Pictures soon, I promise!

Anyway, back to the Master Bedroom.

When we first moved into this house, this room was considered one of the guest rooms. Our house is 1600 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a l... o... n... g narrow entry/living room (den) combo, a kitchen and a dining room. As I said before, there are only 2 of us, so the other 2 bedrooms are the "guest" bedrooms. However, because the original Master Bedroom was located on the back of the house, away from the beautiful view of the small lake that we have on our property, we decided to make this "guest room" the master bedroom.

When we started, there were 2 very small windows in the room. By small, I mean they were only about 24" wide and 36" tall. Besides not letting in much light, you had to duck down or sit in a chair to see out. Really strange! Most of the windows in the house were like that. Some still are, but they are destined for a change. One window was located on the front of the house, facing the lake and the other was on the adjoining wall facing the side of the property. In addition, there was a clothes closet on the right hand wall as you came into the room, right at the doorway. This meant that as you entered the room you had to make a quick left or you'd run into the closet's side wall. This is also the wall that was between the master bathroom and this bedroom. So here is what we did.

We tore out the clothes closet, cut in a doorway and installed a pocket door leading into the new master bathroom that is in the previous post.

We are installing pocket doors in all of the interior doorways to avoid wasted wall space where a regular door would swing open. DH has become quite the door installer! In fact, he has installed 4 so far.

So, as you come down the hall from the rest of the house this is what you see.

This wardrobe was built by Great-Great Grandfather. My Grandmother had it in her barn when we found it. It was a mess. But my sweet Father took it completely apart and put it back together and refinished it. That was in the 1980's. I have moved it with me every where I go. At one time it held a small TV and my doll collection. Now it holds my quilts and blankets and misc. clothing. It is my most favorite piece.

The first picture of the doorway into the bathroom shows a smidge of this wardrobe on the left. The little square picture on the left is one of my granddaughters. The large picture on the right is a print I've had for years, one of my husband's favorites. It wasn't my first choice for that spot, but it was his.

As you swing around to the left you will see our bed. It belonged to my husband's Grandmother. It needs some wooden side rails and other repairs. Again, I would like to use something different, or paint it, but that probably won't happen. Or it might, just depends on how convincing I can be. The little black shelf at the bedside holds our clock-radio and my husband's favorite picture of me. There was a small round table there, but it got in the way of DH's dresser drawers. The window that looked out on the side yard was just about where the top of the head board is now.

As you swing around to the left wall, you will see these great French doors that DH and my son-in-law put in where the other window was.

DH got out his trusty chain saw (see picture in right column of blog) and started cutting the big 'ole hole. That was AFTER we took out the window and checked for any electrical lines. The French doors didn't come in when they were supposed to so we went 3 weeks with nothing but plastic taped over the hole. Thank heavens we live in the country! DH calls these the French Window because we haven't built the deck/porch yet and if you step through the doors you'll step down about 4 feet!

This is DH's dresser.It matches the bed. I love it, but I have issues with it AND the bed.

And on the wall at the foot of the bed is this electric fireplace that we got at Lowe's for 1/2 off. It was too short so DH built a small brick hearth to put it on and raise it to regular mantle height. That's the foot board of the bed that you see in the foreground of the picture. You can tell the room is not very big.

When we close the bedroom door, this keeps the room nice and cozy. It even looks almost like a real fireplace.

Here is another view. The tri-fold screen is waiting to be filled with lots of pictures. I've got to dig them out of the box they've been in FOREVER!

So that's the tour.

Yes, the room needs more stuff on the walls and MORE COLOR! I love the wall treatment, it looks like old leather, which I'll tell you about in my next post, but the furniture blends in too much. I am not happy with it, but don't want to paint the wall. Solution: DO SOMETHING WITH THE FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES.

If you've got suggestions, PLEASE THROW THEM MY WAY!

Check out V & Co. - Giveaway

2009-03-02T12:19:00.002-06:00

Go check out Vanessa's awesome blog, V & Co. She has some great ideas, cute stuff at her Etsy store and is having a great giveaway.

And did I mention, she is one talented lady?!?

Go check it out.

The Master Bathroom

2009-02-26T16:18:00.004-06:00

Yes fellow bloggers, it's been 16 days since my last post. Please forgive me, but I do have a good excuse.

The weather hasn't cooperated and I haven't been able to get outside to spray paint and finish Catherine's office furniture yet. She came in the office on Monday afternoon to see everyone and was THRILLED about the furniture re-do. It looks like it will still be awhile before the weather and I can schedule another outside work day. But, I promise, as soon as I get it all finished I'll post more pictures.

I also STILL have not gotten my "before" pictures of our remodelling scanned so that I can post them. I really haven't been lazy. It's just that DH has had to be at work at 4:30 AM the last few days which has required me to get up with him at 3:30 to get him off to work. And when he worked all last weekend, I spent the days really cleaning and straightening the house and trying to organize the "stuff" that we are using to remodel the guest bathroom. So, since I'm not as young as I once was, my mattress calls my name quite early each night.

So, enough EXCUSES! I decided to post some pictures of our Master Bathroom redo.

We started by completely gutting the old bathroom, taking out the closet in what WAS one of the extra bedrooms (we have 3, but there are only 2 of us, so 2 extra bedrooms!) and knocking out the wall to open it up to the bathroom.

DH and I decided that we could live without the usual bathtub/shower combo in both bathrooms, so we took out the tiny little stand alone shower, and I do mean tiny. You couldn't bathe without bumping your elbows on the walls when lathering up! And the bathtub that was in the opposite corner and DH built this awesome, glass block, walk-in, door less shower.

I don't have a picture of the inside, but there is a granite seat in the corner so that when we get too old to stand and shower, we'll have a place to sit. There are also 2 shower heads, one on the far wall and one on the left wall. The one on the far wall is stationary, the one on the left wall has a pull down, hand held attachment that does a great job when bathing grand babies who aren't tall enough for the regular shower head to do anything other than drown them.

We also put in the tile you see on the floor at a 45 degree angle, as recommended by a friend of mine. This is to make the room look larger, and I think it really does. I wanted Mexican tile, but couldn't find it here in Nashville, so we chose this "look alike" ceramic tile that just happened to be on sale at our local Home Depot for $.99 a square foot, which is per tile!

I purchased this antique oak dresser for a steal at $175 in an antique store not far from home. All I had to do was clean it up with a little 0000 steel wool, put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it and add some new knobs. Oh, and the hardest part was watching DH cut the hole in the top for the sink! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Unfortunately there wasn't a mirror with the dresser and I haven't found one that looks like it "matches", so I opted for this antique medicine cabinet that I found at a salvage store. DH says I could have gotten the same look with a new one, but hey, I wanted an old one!

I'll go into more detail when I get all of the pictures together. And, I'll tell you how I did the finish on the wall. You should have seen DH's face when he came home to that one!

The Big Bookcase & Baskets

2009-02-10T08:34:00.006-06:00

Here is the almost finished, large bookcase. I say almost finished because I don't have the shelves back in it yet. Can you see the wall paper in the back? Just like I did in the small book shelf? I just love the texture that it adds.

And, can you see the curvy legs that we added to the bottom to lift it up off the floor? Here's a closer look.The bottom used to be the green coffee table, but we cut it down to fit on the bottom of the bookcase, added a piece of quarter round in the front where the bookcase joins the table, attached a pair of "L" brackets in the back for stability and stepped back to admire the result.

What do you think?

And the baskets? Catherine needed somewhere to put all of the tools of her trade. So I found 2 sets of these baskets at Lowe's. There were just under $20 a set.

Grabbed a can of spray paint as close to Robin's Egg Blue as I could find and they went from this:

To this:

What would I do without a good can of spray paint?

My handy man and I brought it all to the office on Sunday afternoon and put it in Catherine's office. I'm thrilled with the result.

Did you notice the "HOPE" sign on top of the bookcase?

Got that at Dollar General for $3. It was plain black, so I misted it with the blue spray paint and it gives it sort of a textured, granite look. Hard to tell here, but it really looks good.

HOPE is for the Dispensary of Hope, which is where Catherine and I work. And for HOPE for Cain.

Stay tuned for more updates. And can somebody tell me why some of my pictures will enlarge when clicked and some won't?

Encores North Consignment Sale

2009-02-09T15:37:00.003-06:00

I just found out that my daughter's friend, Brea, is having another consignment sale in Rivergate (Madison, TN). The name of the sale is Encores North. Here is the website for more information and location. She always has some really great deals on children's clothes and toys. Just about anything you can imagine for a child! Last year my daughter got a beautiful Laura Ashley wool coat for her 3 year old for $5. She's also gotten $2 bathing suits, $1 shoes, etc. You've got to check it out.

She is giving away three $25 gift certificates too. Don't forget to sign up for that.

Go check out both sites and pick up some REALLY GREAT DEALS!

Update on Catherine's Office - A Sneek Peek

2009-02-09T12:55:00.008-06:00

The most wonderful husband in the whole world spent his weekend helping me work on things for Catherine's office. I almost think he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Fortunately the weather cooperated. It was a beautiful and sunny weekend, so we were outside on the driveway and in the garage working the whole time.

Remember this little rickety bookshelf that was sitting by Catherine's desk?

We took some scrap pieces of MDF, left over from the Dress Up Closets that we made for our 2 oldest granddaughters, and covered them with this great wallpaper using spray adhesive.

DH tightened up the bookshelf with a few well placed screws and I went to work on the wall-papered MDF with black spray paint.

After the paint dried, we attached the MDF to the back of the bookshelf.

Didn't it turn out great??!?!

Here are the before and after shots, side by side so you can see the difference a little spray paint and some wallpaper made.

It's just a small bookshelf. I haven't decided where to put it in her office, but that will have to wait.

I'll post pictures of the big bookshelf tomorrow.

You'll have to come back and check it out.

Shabby Chic Files Chapter 11

2009-02-06T09:34:00.004-06:00

I just read that Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic has filed Chapter 11. I have been a long time fan and have decorated a room in my home, for my granddaughters, with her bedding.

I own 3 of her books and my love for all things old was rekindled when I discovered her Shabby Chic style.

I am heart broken for her, but wish her the best in regrouping and starting over.

The Base of The Bookcase

2009-02-03T16:18:00.004-06:00

As I ran out this morning, headed for work, I got a quick photo of the curvy legs that I am planning on using for the bottom of the bookcase. As you can see, they are currently green, but when I get the whole thing together I will paint everything black. This picture is the side of the base. I've put it back together with Gorilla Glue and my handy nail gun. It may require additional support, but I understand that Gorilla Glue is pretty darn tough!

The scalloped piece at the bottom of the picture will go across the bottom front. The piece to the left will become a shelf. Nothing will be wasted, and that's how I like it.

Catherine's New Office

2009-02-02T13:50:00.013-06:00

One of my co-workers is out on maternity leave. Her sweet baby boy was born on January 29th with a number of heart conditions. You can follow her story here. Please keep the family in your prayers.

I had an idea to fix-up her office while she is gone, in hopes of raising her spirits a little. I have been given permission, but I will only be reimbursed $100 by the company, so I have to get creative. I may need your input so feel free to make suggestions.

There are some limitations to what I am allowed to do. I cannot paint or paper the walls or change the carpet. I can paint the furniture and hang things on the wall, provide some organizing strategies, etc. So . . . here we go!

This is the way her office looked today as I walked in the door. Isn't it lovely!?!?! Just so you know, all of the furniture in our offices is second/third hand furniture gleaned from the warehouse of our parent company. In other words, furniture that no one else wanted or that had been pushed aside for newer, prettier furniture.

On the left wall:

On the right wall:

On the front wall, the view from where she will be sitting. As you can see, I've already started taking things apart.

This little set of shelves is to the right of her chair. It is small and rickety, but I think I can find a use for it. And that box top to the right - it's her recycle box.

This is what her side of her desk looks like. I couldn't get far enough away from it to take a full shot. The wall was in my way. But, as you can see it needs some lovin' care.

And this is the front of the desk. Notice the little octagon shapes on the left and right. I have an idea for them.

And this octagon shape on the end panels. Hmmm. I think this may work.

So I've already taken the bookcase apart and put wood putty in some of the gouges. I've also done a little sanding, but I couldn't do too much until I get it to a more suitable workspace. Here is a close up:

I bought this set of book ends at The Salvation Army for $2.17.

And these are some of the things I've gathered together to help with the transformation. A little black spray paint and a little spray handle so my fingers don't cramp; some sand paper; wood putty & putty knife; razor knife; paint brush and some textured wallpaper. I don't think the pattern on the wallpaper is noticeable in this picture, but it should show up better later.

My plan is to use a black, white & red color scheme. Baskets on the shelves for storage lined with some black & white toile, if I can find it for a reasonable price. I'm also in search of black & white toile scrapbook paper, but I didn't find any at Michael's or WalMart over the weekend. I'll have to try Hobby Lobby next weekend.

Catherine is from Louisiana, so I thought about tossing in some Fleur de lis patterns, but I've since found out that she isn't so fond of Fleur de lis. So maybe just a little French influence. To that point, I have a garage sale coffee table with curved legs and cute ball and claw feet that I've been trying to find a home for. I think it would make a cute base for the bookcase. You know, raise it up off of the floor a little. So I've already started cutting it up and gluing it back together for this purpose. I hope it turns out as cute as it is in my head!

Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know. I can always use creative input.

Life Is All About Changes

2009-01-22T16:34:00.002-06:00

Due to some concerns expressed by certain family members regarding posting personal information and photos, I have deleted my other blog, "Life on Link Lake". That means that the content of this blog is changing from just craft ideas to craft ideas, pictures of our home and property, the journey through our on-going remodel, our life with chickens and any other things that please me.

It may, on occasion, contain photos and anecdotes of my 5 beautiful grandpunkins and other family members, depending on how it relates to the topic about which I am posting. With their permission of course!

I am currently on a search for all of the "before" pictures of our home so that I can post them, along with the "after" pictures, and share with you all of the work we have done and will be doing to make our home a more beautiful place to live. They were not taken on a digital camera, so I will have to get them scanned to disc before I can post them.

In the meantime, please enjoy the photos on the right of the blog. The snow picture was taken from our bedroom door, looking out toward the lake in January or February of 2008. The picture of the water was taken in the Fall of 2008. The picture of Buster Brown, ruler of Link Lake, was taken Christmas, 2008.

I hope you enjoy this blog and come back often.

Dress Up Closets - Part Two

2008-12-22T15:48:00.027-06:00

You have completed the back panel of your dress up closet.

The next step is to make and attach the the 2 side panels to the back panel.

STEP ONE - Side Panels

Place one of your 18" x 4' side panel pieces face down (shiny side down) on your work surface.

Cut one of your 8' furring strips in half to make 2-4' lengths.

Run a bead of glue down one of the 4' sides (and on the furring strip if using wood glue) and place the furring strip down the side with the edges and ends aligned with the edges of the MDF.

You will only do this on one of the 4' sides of each side panel as the other 4' side will attach to the framework of the back panel that is already in place.

Flip the side panel over the the right side and staple/nail through the MDF into the furring strip, all the way down the side.

Place the side panel with the 4' piece of furring against the 4' edge of the back panel, making sure that you place the MDF over the furring strip and the corners of the back panel and side panel meet. Measure the distance from the inside edge of the furring strip on the side panel to the edge of the furring strip on the back. It will probably take two people to do this.

This is the length that you will cut your furring strip for the top and bottom (18" sides) of the side panels.

Cut your furring strips to fit and attach with glue and staples/nails as before.

Prepare your second side panel as above. Now you are ready to attach the sides to the back.

STEP TWO - Attaching Side Panels to Back Panel

Apply a bead of glue down the 4' side of your side panel where it will attach to the back panel.

Have your helper stand the back panel up so that one 3' side is on the floor or the top of your work surface and one 4' side is convenient to you.

Stand one side panel up against one 4' side of the back panel, with the edge of the MDF on the back and the edge of the MDF on the side panel making a 90 degree angle and staple/nail the side panel to the framework of the back panel, all the way down the side. You have now attached one side panel.

Repeat for the other side panel.

STEP THREE - Closet Pole Support

On the inside of the side panels that are now attached, measure the space between the furring strips and approximately 5" down from the top furring strip. This is where you will place the supports for the closet bar (going from front to back).

Cut a piece of your 3/4" board to this length and attach it to the inside of the side panels by applying glue to the back and ends of the 3/4" board and placing it between the front and back furring strips so that the top of the board is approximately 5" from the top and level. You may also want to staple/nail the support bar to the framework for extra strength, from the outside of the closet into the support. This will be painted so will not be noticeable.

Once you have the supports in place on both side panels, attach one piece (with screws) of the closet pole bracket on each support, approximately in the center of the supports. Make sure that the bracket with the opening is placed with the opening up. This will allow you to insert the closet pole into position and will support it once it is in place. I'm sorry, I did not take a picture of this step.

Measure the space between the closet pole brackets and cut your closet pole to this length. Please be sure that you measure to the inside of the bracket so that the closet pole fits securely into the brackets.

STEP FOUR - Corner Braces & Top

This is where you check to see if the closet is square.

You will need to place a square in each of the bottom corners of the closet to make sure that the sides are at 90 degree angles to the back.

If you've never used one of these handy items, simply place one of the outside, straight edges up against the inside edge of the back framework, on the bottom, with the corner of the tool in the corner of the closet. Then gently pull the side panel in until the sides of the closet are squared with the tool.

At this point you will need to cut 2 corner braces from the furring strips. These will be nailed into place as shown below and will hold the closet square. They will also keep the sides from being easily pulled away from the rest of the closet.

Have someone hold the corner of the closet in square as noted above and measure the length of the brace that you need. There is not correct distance out from the corner. Anywhere will work, but we put ours close to the inside to prevent stepping on it when hanging up the clothes.

Cut the ends off at 45 degree angles as shown and staple/nail them into the corners.

TOP: Run a bead of glue around the framework at the top of the closet and place the 3' x 18" piece of MDF that was cut for the top on the framework with all edges lined up with the outside edges of the closet. Staple/nail into place.

STEP FIVE - FINISHING

Attach the 6" x 3' front panel to the front of the closet by applying glue and then staple/nail it into place as in the picture below.

Now paint your closet in the color/colors you have chosen and apply your lettering to the front panel. As I stated in part one, I ordered my lettering from my daughter's Upper Case Living site. Feel free to order from her or find a representative close to you.

After painting we decided to add hooks to the outside of both side panels so that our girls would have a place to hang their beads and other accessories.

Those of you who have more carpentry skills that we do may want to add some finishing touches such as corner molding, etc. Fix it up any way you like and enjoy the process.

Here is the finished product with dress-up clothes hanging and ready to go. Our grandpunkins loved them.

I hope you enjoyed this, my second tutorial. Please let me know if you did and what I can do to improve my instructions. Also, please send me pictures of your finished product.

Have a Happy New Year.

Dress Up Closets - Part One (because this is a long one)

2008-12-15T15:33:00.037-06:00

We have two 3 year old granddaughters, not twins, but cousins that were born 7 weeks apart. Both of them are "girly girls" and love to play dress up. So we, OK - I, decided to make them dress up closets for Christmas. But I think my dear sweet husband has had as much fun with this project as I have.

Materials:

10 - 8' lengths of furring strips (framework)

2 - 4' x 8' sheets of 1/8" MDF for shell of closet

2 - 3' closet poles (dowels)

2 sets closet pole brackets

1 - 8' length of lumber approx. 3/4" thick and wide enough to hold
closet pole brackets

Glue - we used wood glue, but next time I'd use faster bonding glue.

Hammer and nails/nail gun/staple gun, your choice

Saw, measuring tape, pencil, screw driver, screws

A sturdy work surface

Paint in your choice of color - we chose white, I always seem to.

Uppercase Living lettering (DD's web-site) or paint and brushes for hand lettering.

Paint roller – I used one designed for trim work

Painter’s tray

We purchased our materials at our local home store and had them cut the MDF to the size we needed. This allowed us to carry the materials home in our car rather than having to bring a truck. The size of the sheets of MDF was one of the determining factors in deciding the size we made the closets. You know, a better use of our resources!

Remember, we are NOT carpenters. You may have more experience in such things and find a better/easier way to do this. This is how we did it.

For closets 4' tall, 3' wide and 18" deep.

STEP ONE - Cutting out the “skin” of the closet
Cut the following from each sheet of MDF:

For the Back, cut 1 piece 4' x 3'
For the 2 sides cut 2 pieces 18" x 4'
For the top cut 1 piece 18" x 3’
For the front panel (where we placed the lettering) cut one piece 6" x 3'.

STEP TWO - Adding the frame work.
Place the piece that will be the back on your work surface, with the shiny side, which will be the outside of the closet, face down.

Cut your frame work from the furring strips:
Cut 1 - 8' piece of furring strip in half to make two 4' pieces. These will be attached to the 4’ sides of the back by running a bead of glue down the 4' sides

of the back piece and laying the 4’ lengths of furring so they are even with the edges of the MDF.

The instructions on our glue said to apply glue to both surfaces, so we put glue on the MDF and on the wood frame.

On the first closet we placed the furring strip laying on its side, on the second, we laid it down flat. It worked both ways. But we preferred laying it down flat. It looked better and it seemed a little sturdier as well.

If you've used quick bond glue you can flip the back over to the right side again without too much trouble, but if you use wood glue it will take 2 people to turn it over and hold the framing in place. So, flip it over and place it on a sturdy surface, right side (shiny side) side up.

Make sure your framework is aligned with the edges and ends of the MDF and staple or nail the MDF to the frame.

Flip it back over so that you are again looking at the wrong side with the 2 pieces of framework on your left and right and the 3’ side nearest you.

Measure the space between the pieces of framework that you have already stapled into place.

Cut your second 8' piece of wood framing to fit this space. I would suggest cutting only one piece at a time. It will measure 3’, minus the width of the 2 furring strips and should be the same for both ends, but measure each side before cutting to be sure. There always seems to be a difference.

Apply glue as before. Be sure that you apply glue to the ends where furring strip meets furring strip. Flip the back over once again and staple into place.

Repeat on the other 3’ side.

You should end up with something that looks like this.

The back is now complete.

Pat yourself on the back and take a break.

End of Part One.

Christmas Ball Ornament Wreath

2008-12-08T15:09:00.004-06:00

This is not an original idea. I wish I could claim it as such, but the first time I saw this design was in Martha Stewart Living. I have been wanting to make one since then and I finally had the opportunity when I was asked to decorate my new office for Christmas.
Materials:
1 MDF/hardwood wreath base
1 length of green (or other color) garland in a quantity enough to cover the base
Hot Glue gun and glue sticks
Ball ornaments in various sizes and colors from tiny to large
Florist wire or other appropriate hanger

I purchased my wreath base at Michael's for $1.99. It is a 12" wreath base. I found it in the floral section near the styrofoam. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it and I can't seem to find a picture on their website. It is just a 12" circle about 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" wide with small holes spaced evenly around the diameter of the circle.

Place of dot of hot glue anywhere on the wreath base and attach one end of the garland. Wrap the garland around the wreath base until it is completely covered. Go through the hole in the center with each wrap so that you maintain the shape of the wreath. Cut the garland and hot glue the end to the wreath base to secure it.

The ornaments I used are glass, but I have seen many perfectly suitable plastic ornaments that would work just as well. I chose blue, gold and silver because these colors coincide with the colors in our company logo. You can choose any color scheme you wish, but be sure to choose various sizes to make it interesting. I was able to find both shiny and satin finishes, plain and covered with glittery designs. Just mix it up as you see fit.

Before you begin to attach the ornaments, remove the cap and wire at the top of each ornament. Discard the wire and reattach the cap with a small dab of hot glue. Be careful, the metal gets very hot. Allow the cap to cool so that the cap will be secure.

Begin by attaching the larger ornaments around the inner and outer diameter of the wreath in random color order with dabs of hot glue sufficient to hold it securely. Distribute the ornaments in a pleasing arrangement. Do not fill the entire wreath. You will want to leave spaces in which to place the other sizes and colors of ornaments. It is best if you can attach the ornaments directly onto the MDF rather than attaching to the garland. It will be much more secure if you do.

Next, begin attaching the next smaller sized ornaments in a pattern that pleases your eyes. Alternate sizes as you see fit. Then fill in the empty spaces with the smaller ornaments. You can attach ornaments to the wreath base or ornament to ornament. Be sure to hold each ornament long enough for the glue to harden or the ornament will slide out of its position. The garland will help fill in any small empty spaces. Refer to the above photo for placement ideas.

There is no incorrect order in which to place your ornaments, except that you want to place them so that the cap end is hidden as much as possible and the sizes that are next to one another vary. If your design pleases you, it is perfect.

Allow your wreath to dry overnight so that the glue is dry and your ornaments are secure.

Locate one of the small holes in the wreath base at what you choose to be the top of your finished wreath. Place a length of floral wire or a sturdy string/twine/fishing line, through the hole and long enough to hang on a hook of your choosing. If you want to use a wreath hanger that fits over the top of the door, just leave a space on the inside opening of the wreath large enough to accomodate the hook. If you choose to mount your wreath on the door, I suggest that you use plastic ornaments rather than glass as the glass ornaments may shatter if the door is slammed shut.

Alternate ideas: Use a styrofoam base, wire base, straw base or vine base.
Spray paint the base in a color that matches your color scheme rather than covering it with garland.
Use ornaments of various sizes and shapes. I have seen some very cute ornaments in the shape of Santa, angels, bells, etc.
I have also seen antique glass ornaments used, but I would hesitate to do so as the ornaments cannot be removed intact from the hot glue and the value of the ornaments would be lost.

Get creative. Enjoy the process. Send me pictures of your creations. I'd love to see them.

Let me know if these instructions have been helpful and/or if you have suggestions as to how to I might make changes that would make projects more easily understood.