Money in the Banquette

We have a cute house – it once was an ugly house, but it is coming along. Steven built me a 13x13 dining room/craft room in place of the front porch last summer!! I LOVE it.  I  finally got the IKEA shelves I had longed for for so long.  But that’s not what I’m all excited about right now. (I’ll show you those another day, when they are better organized.)
I am excited about the banquette we made! I like my table. It’s been through a lot in the last 11 years I have had it.  I WANT a farm table and Steven has said we can build one, but not today. (I feel like a little girl being stalled at the grocery store candy isle.) The table is big – seats 12 pretty comfy – we have 8 chairs. The chairs are getting tired as well. 
We need more storage. And WHO on earth doesn’t need more storage?? SO we built a L-shaped banquette to use instead if these chairs.
I went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore near us. (LOVE that place!) They had just gotten in a HUGE bunch of cabinets. An apartment complex was changing them all out at the same time = lots = discounted right off the bat!
     75 percent off!
yay!! OK, I can be calm. {breathe}
I was able to get 2 6’ strings of upper cabinets (17 inches tall = perfect seating height)
(2) 6’ cabinets: 60 dollars each = 120
             75 percent off:  – 90
final cost for 12’ cabinets       30 !
amazing I know!

I got them home and cleaned up. They looked good to begin with.
I needed 8’ of seating on one wall and 4’ on the other. I had 2 6’ cabinet strings.  So, Steven cut them for me. Then we attached them together at the right lengths. (inserting inner boards where needed)


We grabbed some 2x4’s from the stash (free) and made a frame. I wanted the seat to be a certain depth so as to have pillows behind the back while seated. My sweet man made up the frame so fast I didn’t even have a chance to help. 


We bought a piece of hardboard at Home Depot 20ish dollars (I don’t remember, it’s been a few weeks in process) and we cut it to fit the top. LOVE the feel and the ability to router the edges. NICE.
Truffle approves of the bench, as does Steven. Doesn’t he look so pleased with himself?


before the router
(after the router and preparing to paint. I didn’t want the doors getting painted.)
The best part, I think, is the painting. (free paint – left over from craft night a year ago. So not actually free – probably 5 dollars worth of paint was used.) We did 2 coats on the edges and 3 coats on the ends and top.  I think it looks GREAT!

And I must add – NOT bad for (let’s add it up…)
12’ cabinets        30
2x4’s from stash    0
hardbaord         20
paint               5
TOTAL PROJECT COST 55
$ + $ + $ + $ + $

Technology How I love Thee

There are times that I can not drive for 10 minutes without the children bickering about something. Those times are not fun. But while driving all those 48 hrs., the children were MOSTLY good. There was that once in Kentucky that I threatened to strap the girls to the roof rack and let them fight it out up there and the other time while at the Goodwill that I said I might try to auction all three off on the door step. 
I assure you, I will neither strap then on top of the van nor sell them to the highest bidder, but the temptation is always there when they are bickering in the back seat.  Overall they were well behaved. But perhaps that has something to do with the DVDs playing through the trip! I was going to be thankful for my children this post, but I guess I'm ACTUALLY very grateful for technology.
Technology how I love thee, let me count the ways!
I am thankful for DVDs that entertain, for laptops to play them on, for the Redbox kiosks along the way at which to rent a new movie to catch the children’s interest, and the extra jack in the van to plug the computer into. I love how you can rent a movie in Michigan and return it in Kentucky!!
Note to self: Rent more than one in the actual towns…as the kiosk at the McDonalds at the exit off the highway had NO movies left in it!! Sad but true.
I am grateful for a phone smart enough to show us the way and tell me the turns to make AND play music at the same time! Gotta LOVE my WAZE GPS and Pandora! Both played through the radio - nice. Especially since I didn’t want to listen to RIO 3 more times as I drove. 

Steven

Today I am grateful for my sweet Husband. Steven is eternally mine. And that brings me joy. He works so hard for our family. He is kind and generous and one of the best people I know!! I love how he loves me! The love and support he shows in wanting me to be the best ME I can be. Here, let me show you…keep reading!
We just returned from a week long trip south to see my in laws and to try and see Mickey. (we saw him dancing, does that count?)
Like I said, we just returned from a trip to Florida and back. 23 1/2 hrs. of driving down and back...ugh!! My back always kills me when I sit for long periods of time. And during this trip my feet and legs swelled up like water balloons. (it took 2 days to go down after we got there.  And another 2 days after we returned home.
This morning Steven woke at 5:45 to take Sariah to early morning seminary so that I would not have to get up. I got up to get Tallen around and then crawled back in bed...why not??  The next time I woke up, it was to Steven massaging my feet with warm lotion.  ahhhhh. BLISS.  Then he massaged my aching back. More luxury.  But wait...there is more! He took me to lunch as well!! It was a lovely treat. It was like an extension of vacation.  You know what they say "You need a vacation to recover from vacation." This was JUST what I needed today.  Soooo grateful to have Steven as part of my life.

Gratitude - Day 23

Today I am grateful for heat.

We have been fighting with the furnace since we moved in. The electrical was not up to date and there was actually no power even hooked up to run the fan on the furnace. Oh, and someone before us took the blower. (took it away with them) It is impossible to run the furnace under these conditions.

A friend came in and got our electrical all set up for us. He is wonderful! Then, we were given permission to "shop" in the other empty units they are tearing down. Yipee! We picked up a new furnace! Also a few windows, a window air conditioner, a porch light, single cabinet for the kitchen (to hold the spices, microwave & toaster oven), a vent for the bathroom, small shelves for the wall and a complete line of cabinets I may incorporate into the living room with shelves above. Fun! holiday time = project completing time.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

Gratitude - Day 22

I am thankful for "bath cars." Tallen will only take a bath if he can have a few cars in with him. My sister gave him these two plastic cars. They don't rust, or leak afterward or anything. Love this.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.4

Gratitude - day 21

Today I am thankful for medicine. I know. SILLY.
Tallen has a cold and had an earache. The doctor didn't give anibiotics for the earache and it went away by itself. THANK YOU!!!!
Steven has also been sick - hacking and coughing - for about 10 days now and the end is not yet in sight. I am ever grateful for the cough meds he takes. So I can sleep...in a seperate room. 

I will be happier when he is cough free and able to come back to our room. I don't sleep as soundly when he's not there.  I look to the day when all are germ and sickness free.

Gratitude–Day 20

I am thankful for technological advances.

My day went something like this:

- 6:00am – Awakened by Tallen squishing in

- 6:30am – Can’t sleep, turned on TV

- 7:00am – 1st call with my cell phone to the Laundromat(I had more to dry than time to do it in) This call was followed by 3 others at 7:15, 7:30 & 7:45.

- 8:00am – dressed for the day and breakfast (pastry in the microwave and tea on the stove)

- 8:05am – load the van with wet clothes drive to Laundromat

- 8:12am – put clothes for the children in ALL the dryers (I didn’t even get to knit,  it went so fast)

- 8:35-9:23am – fold clothes and drive home

- 9:45am – drive quickly to the airport

- 11:05am – girls board plane bound for GA

- 11:55am – giant plane- made of metal takes to the air (impossible!!)

A day full of technology!!

Cell phones-so I could call for hours and to calm the girls stress from afar

TV-to fill the empty too quiet times

microwave-to quickly heat my donut to make it soft and warm-like new again

gas stove-instant heat is wonderful. I didn’t have to chop wood, light a fire and wait for the heat to build.

And don’t forget the heated air to sit comfy in, the hot water just waiting by, ready to use.

vans-that carry my family and our stuff everywhere

dryers-to dry my clothes quickly-it no longer takes all day to hang and dry clothes.

airplanes- that takes the time it takes to get to Atlanta. GA from an long and hard trip of 12 hours down to 2hrs.  Amazing!

Gratitude–Day 19

Today, what I am grateful for the most is my home. It may not be big, it may not be fancy, but it is mine.

* a bed room and bunk bed = a very happy boy

* a large bedroom for the girls to share = must “communication” over the sharing of space, clothes, and things

* a bedroom for Steven and me = a cozy place to hide away from the children and try to knit and find peace

* the washer and dryer are in the bathroom, so as winter comes on, I’ll be able to put my socks and towel in the dryer to be toasty warm as I emerge from the shower = VERY COOL idea

* a space over in the corner, for my crafts & sewing machine = yippee!!!

 

* a 3-butt-kitchen = happy cooks and prep kids. (I know our kitchen in the apartment we rented before Tallen was born was a 1-butt kitchen) a small table fits, it seats 4.

* a new gas stove to cook on, and bake in = a relief after a few months of NOT having a stove at all.  How Creative with food can I be??

* a fridge with a water and ice dispenser = I don’t have to remind the children to refill the water pitcher or the ice trays = less stress for Mama 

* a living room just big enough to seat 8 for a cozy  and intimate conversation

* a dining room big enough to have our table opened to seat 8 = still able to host the D&D party.

* a deck large enough to have picnics and cookouts on = family time is great

* a playground and pool in our neighborhood = fun

* the girls are able to be in the same school with friends = happy girls

Like I said, today, I am grateful for my home. It may not be big, it may not be fancy, but it is mine. And we are able to be a family together within it’s walls.

Thank you Heavenly Father, for the blessing that is our home. I appreciate it.

Gratitude: Day 18

I am grateful today for knitting! (my one true passion, along with sewing, and baking and card making and...well, you get the idea.) I like knitting best, it's portable.

Knitting brings me such a sense of peace and solitude. And I am able to make beautiful things for the people who mean the most to me.  

  Those who know me best, know that I carry a project with me all the time EVERYWHERE.

LOVE IT!!!!


I was talking to Beth; a friend and owner of the coolest spinning shop in Michigan, The Spinning Loft; yesterday. I stopped in to check things out and check in with her as she just returned from Peru.

So, we were sitting there talking as she unpacked her treasures. She brought back the most amazing and beautifully worked bags and scarves.  Alpaca that is cleaned, dyed, spun and then woven into beautiful bags, scarves and clothes. Truly renewable products = alpaca and llama and sheep wool.

Beth was telling me how The people of Peru do beautiful work and the real shame is that they work SO hard and make so little money doing it, because people now-a-days do no treasure handmade textiles (or handmade anything) as they should.  She commented that the MACHINES that make sweaters were invented to imitate what HUMAN HANDS have been doing for hundreds of years. And she is right. 

She also commented that that same mass marketed sweater (or shirt, or anything) is disposable. We go to the store, buy it wear it, it wears out and we throw it away in the trash. Then she told me about a bag from Peru, she has been carrying for three years and it isn’t worn at all, because it is made to last and last.

The whole conversation came to a fun conclusion. Beth unfolded a weaving loom that is typically used by the people of Peru. If you “Google” LOOM,

you will see pictures of a large and boxy thing that takes up LOTS of space on the floor.

 
This is NOT what Beth brought back.

THIS is what the people she learned about use to make amazing products. THIS is what Beth brought back. 

It’s called a back strap loom
(Do you SEE the woven goods hanging there!  They are made on what is essentially a few sticks. I have tears in my eyes.)  AMAZING!!!! (If you happen to be near the shop, stop in. and of course, Beth is posting the bags online as well, go check it out!.)


What a gift it is that we, as sons and daughters of God, can learn such things as knitting and weaving and sewing.

Gratitude: Day 17

I am ever thankful for the beauty of the Earth and skies.
This was an Amazing Sunset from July 2010.  Can you even imagine how beautiful the colors were in real life?
AWESOME!!
God is so good.

Gratitude - Day 16

You know what I am grateful tonite? I am very happy to have my hot water bottle. Love it!

On a chilly, cold night in Michigan...warm toes are wonderful!

I am even going to knit a cover for it...eventually. Right now it wears a onsie. We all have them. Tallen's wears a onsie with trucks on it, Mirnada has a onsie that says "party at my crib" (funny), Sariah's is less fun...it is just white. We were going to paint it.

Anyway, I am so happy to have this little bit of warmth to cuddle up to in my bed as I sit knitting until I am tired and then I push it down to my feet. I sleep so much better when my feet are cozy.