New Loves

As I continue to finish my Craft Nook, I have found some new things that I love.  First is spray paint for plastics.  This stuff is great because it is for those smooth, shiny, hard to get paint to stick to it surface.  I found a nice green color to coordinate with the greens I have already used.  I had some painted metal baskets that were green, but too yellow.  This paint made all the difference.  Then I looked at that laminate material craft caddy Mike gave me for my birthday - I liked it before, but now how I love it!!  I need another can, but then I am hitting those Sterlite plastic drawers too.

So many ideas coming in from Pinterest for organization/storage as well as for crafts. 

Hubby began getting a little grumpy last night.  I asked him to stop at the local RV surplus store for 3 cheap cabinet doors.  He only found one of the sizes I needed, and that cost him $20!!!!!  My cheap garage sale cabinet was getting expensive.  That door is now going back.  He will cut me a panel to replace the glass in the existing door I was going to replace.  I need to think on how to cover the final section without having to buy those doors too.

I am also inspired to get purging and organizing the rest of my house.  I have a garage sale scheduled for in a couple of weeks and am looking through everything that can go.  Simplification..... will add some income to buy the baskets and other tools I want to use for organizing.  More space for living.  Less clutter for peace in my soul.  Maybe I will finally have a place for everything.

Wish me luck..... this is the week of de-clutter!!!!

My New Nook

I can hear you all asking "Amy, What have you been doing this past week?"

Well, I am glad you asked.  My  big garage sale find was a sturdy, old, oak entertainment center in need of refinishing..... perfect since I wanted to paint it anyway.  My color scheme came from the six green storage boxes you see on the top left.  I painted the cabinet plus an old bookcase I had already a nice celery green.  Instead of painting the existing shelves and the 3 more shelves we cut and added, I covered them in fabric matching the celery paint- sage green on one side and an off white with rose colored flowers and sage leaves on the other side.  I love it!!  After the paint dried Mike helped me attach brackets to keep the book case from falling off and voi-la, my new Craft Nook.  I wish I had taken before pictures, I meant to, but on painting day I was so excited I forgot.  I found a great primer for shiny surfaces such as finished wood so I did not have to sand first- yeah!! I still need to paint the doors to the entertainment center part, but I looked in all my hidey-holes to round up all my craft supplies and now they are all together and organized!!!  Mason jars and other jars emptied as I cooked for the week have become a great organizational tool.  The Hobby Lobby gift card my sister gave me for a birthday gift has also come in handy for this project.  Yeah!!!

This past weekend I found another great garage sale item, a table the perfect size for the corner by the craft nook.  This will keep all but the large fabric cutting projects off the dinner table.  Now, can I keep everyone else off the craft table???  Next week I will also paint that in Celery Green with several coats of polyurethane on the top for protection.  And, based on a pinterest tip, my sewing scissors will both have a pad lock on the handles keeping children/husbands from using them to cut paper because they are now so handy!!!  See my white hexagon organizer caddy?  That was a birthday gift from the hubby.   Yes I have been planning this for that long!!!  I was just waiting to find the pieces of furniture I needed at the right price.   My patience finally paid off!!!  Once I get it completely done, I'll post the final picture.   Have I mentioned I LOVE my new craft nook???

My Happy Thought Of The Day

Pinterest

I have a new passion-- Pinterest.  My sister introduced me to this while we were planning Bob-Fest, since she had several ideas pinned on there she wanted me to look at.  One of the places I visit is the organization area... too small house + too much stuff = always looking for the better way to do things.  I have to say that many of the "I made a craft nook" "I made an office nook" etc areas involve taking a closet and transforming it into these areas...... Sorry, but if I had ENOUGH closet space, let alone EXTRA, I would not be looking for ideas to do it better.

This weekend I will begin Step 2 on the Craft Nook that I am building.  I forgot to take my "Before" picture, but I bought an old oak entertainment center (about 4x4 feet) at a garage sale.  I have painted it Celery green and covered the shelves in some green fabric I had left when I made Roman Shades in the Hampshire house.  I have to finish the doors and add doors to the TV part where there weren't any before.  I also brought a bookcase down from my bedroom to repaint the same Celery color to put on top the entertainment center to make a sort of hutch where I will have some things in jars to store on it. 

Meanwhile I have come up with several new ideas for my craft shows I have set up for fall and winter.  These will give me things to do to relax.

Time to start "Pinning" again......

What A Week

We wrapped up Bob-Fest with breakfast on Sunday morning.  By the time we cleaned up, sorted out the stuff that was to come back to our house and were ready to go, it was mid-afternoon.  I came home to begin checking Steven's suitcase to be sure he packed everything he needed for the Youth Rally in Seattle.  Monday morning Mike, Molly, and I got up at 3AM to have Steven to the airport at 5 to catch his plane.  Back home at 7 after dropping Mike off at work on the way home and Molly and I went back to bed for a while.  Then the fun began..... the car had been unloaded but NOTHING was taken care of.  Just how many Rubbermaid boxes and coolers had we TAKEN for Bob-Fest?   And the leftovers we brought home... let's just say I did not have to think about what was for lunch or dinner until Thursday. The unpacking and putting away took 2 days.....then we had to make sure the rest of the house was cleaned and ready for Thursday's social worker visit, it was time for the kids one year post-adoption home visit. By the time the kids and I finished the cleaning we had a half hour until her arrival.  Mike took an hour off work to spend some time home during the visit and the kids and I finished the visit.    Once she left, I was pooped and nothing had been started for dinner.  A call to Mike and it became "Date Night".  The kids stayed home and ate hot dogs and Mike and I went to Hacienda, Hobby Lobby, and then the hardware store.  Well, WE had a good time.  Back home before 9, because we were so tired and sadly, in bed before 10.  Today we get to relax a little - me getting ready for the craft projects I bought things for last night.  Mike has to work but tonight is a do-nothing night.  Tomorrow it begins again.  Steven's plane arrives about 8:45 PM, Sunday Mike leaves for the Coachmen rally- so Saturday will be doing laundry and packing for his time away, Monday Steven begins the first of two weeks of Band Camp.  School resumes in less than a month, so we need to fit school shopping in sometime soon.  I sure am glad I'm not working full time right now.

It's Official

Bob-Fest 2013 is officially over!!  Not that my dad's 70th birthday didn't deserve a big party.  But I am exhausted!!!!  Our 3 day celebration of everything Bob has been a year in the planning and the last month was crafts/ shopping/ and keeping my Mom sane as she was sitting on the couch following foot surgery and not able to get to doing the things she felt had to be done.  E-mail and phone calls flew between me, my mom, my sister, and a couple of mom's friends.... bouncing ideas off each other, clarifying instructions, and the party began taking on a life of it's own.  And just to add to the stress, this was all to be a surprise for  my dad.  The day before the party began, the port-a-potty people called to confirm delivery time and they were coming an hour early.  Ok, call to mom, get dad out of the house earlier than planned, 9 AM instead of 10.  We were driving most of the way, stopping at my Grandma's to wait for a call from my mom to tell us dad was gone and we could come down to begin decorating and setting up.  I called her a bit after 8:30 on my way up to remind her to have cash for the port-a-potty..... and she said to go ahead and come right to the house, the port-a-potty was early, dad knows there is a party, but not the details.  9 AM and dad goes out of the house for a "Guys Day" with one of his friends and we go to work.  Between my sis and myself we had TONS of decorations and games.  The Big Kids were a huge help, the husbands both took time off work to help, and Mom and her friend did lots of running.  We had beautiful weather and things came together.  5 PM saw guests begin to arrive and then dad got home.  We had dinner, a camp fire and a great time with their camping friends.  Saturday started with lunch with camping friends, then dinner added the family, a great slide show my sister's family put together, cake and ice cream and games.  This morning was breakfast to send the camping friends off.  Clean up went much faster than set up did, so we came home and while Molly went down for her nap, so did Mike and I.    Now I'm helping check Steven's suitcase- he leaves for camp tomorrow and we have to be up early for the airport.  Send prayers for my baby to fly alone to Seattle.  Now I'm exhausted and it's time to send the kids to bed.  I'm too tired to be witty tonight, so if anything didn't make sense, I will clarify it tomorrow.  Love you all, and Happy 70th Birthday, Dad!!!

Happy 4th!

Last night we took the kids into the "Big City" to watch fireworks.  We weren't sure how Molly was going to do- she cries when Mike just uses power tools because she the noise bothers her.  So, with hope we took her to watch fireworks.  We picked up Mike's mentally handicapped brother to go with us and off we went.  We got there about 2 hours early, so we got a GREAT parking spot and a good spot to wait.  The kids got blankets and the grown ups chairs and we waited........

Mom, I'm HUNGRY!!!!

Mom, I'm THIRSTY!!!!

Mom, I'm BOOORRREEEDDDDDDD!!!!!

Out came the snacks and drinks I packed.  Out came the glow sticks for everyone except Steven who decided he is too old for glow sticks-----  Good, more for ME!

Pete and Zach began playing a game of ring toss with their glow necklaces and the drink bottles.   Even Uncle Charlie (Mike's brother) liked his glow jewelry.   Molly wasn't too thrilled with hers.  It was still light when I got them out but when it got dark and she could see the glow, well that was a different story. 

Once the fireworks started, we waited for the crying to begin.  It never did.  Molly loved them.  She clapped, she pointed at them to make sure Daddy (whose lap she was on) was watching.  She even made happy OOOOOHHHHHH's.  There were other young children there screaming during the boomers, but little Molly was enchanted with the whole thing.

Fireworks were a great success.