Yard Sale Masterpiece

I have never been one to buy something old and make it look new again but I thought I would give it a try. At the Hoffman rummage sale last Saturday I saw this corner cabinet for $20. I was amazed at the price and what good shape it was in. I walked around it and stared at it for a while, then I walked away deciding not to get it. Then after a little encouragement from a friend I changed my mind.Since today was my last day of summer I thought I would take some time to paint that old cabinet. I had no idea it would take me all day, but it was definitely worth it in the end and I enjoyed the experience. Here is the upper half of the cabinet and you can see that I had already started priming it. It was hot and sunny out and a perfect day to get a tan while I worked.

Here is the full view of the cabinet. You can also see all the furniture we still have in our garage just waiting to go back inside once everything gets done. When I bought this cabinet originally I had thought I would paint it white but last night I started thinking about painting it yellow. I thought about making a blog to ask you guys your opinion but I didn't want to wait that long. I ended up deciding to use the left over paint from our kitchen and paint it yellow.

I had just got about half way done with the priming when I started to hear thunder. I looked up to find this cloud rolling in. There went my shot at a tan plus I knew I needed to get the cabinet in the garage before it started to rain. So I scooted it in without too much trouble. Fortunately, it didn't rain so I took it back out again when it looked sunny. Apparently storms were scattered through out the area because I kept taking the cabinet in and out of the garage about every hour but it never rained.

I would like to introduce you to Gretta. She is the boxer across the street from us and no she is not dead, just sleeping. Obviously, she wasn't too interested in my cabinet renovation. Gretta is a scaredy cat and won't come near most people but she really enjoys watching Mickey and Marley when they are outside. There was actually a time when Gretta got loose and Mickey saved the day by chasing her back into the garage. It was pretty funny to see a little Shih tzu chasing a boxer.

If any of you were outside today before the storms hit you know that it was very toasty. I had only been out for about an hour when I was dripping with sweat. I thought I would take a picture of my sweaty legs to show you, but you can't really see all the sweat. Oh well...at least you get the point that it was hot.

But after working on this cabinet from about 9-4 with a few breaks and a lunch I finally got it done. Once Mr. G got home we were able to bring it into the house to see how it looked.

Well, it might not be a masterpiece but I will appreciate this cabinet a little more because of the hard work and sweat it took to get her looking like this. The most important thing is it only cost me $20.

Eating Healthy

It is amazing to think that Mr. G and I have already been married for 15 1/2 months. The time has just flown by, but there has been one thing on my mind for every one of those months and that is having a baby. I have wanted to start trying for kids the moment we said "I do," but looking back I am very thankful that Mr. G and I decided to wait a little while. We had a chance to spend some wonderful quality time together getting to know each other and that has been priceless. However, I am a bit antsy to start trying for that family, and surprisingly, so is Mr. G. He is as excited about it as I am. Every night before we go to bed he will pray that the good Lord will bless us with children and that he will help us to grow to be good parents for them. I think that is so sweet.
So since we are at the point where we are trying for kids I feel it is very important to be very cautious about what I put into my body. Eating healthy isn't always easy but if it is going to be better me while we are trying to conceive then I will give it my best shot.
So I thought that I would give you an example of one of my meals.

For supper tonight I had spinach noodles with sauteed vegetables on top and a few scallops mixed in. It was actually really good and really healthy for me. All the vegetables were organic including the tomatoes from our garden. Now I am sure you are wondering what Mr. G thinks about all this healthy food. Well, if you think that Mr. G is eating the same meals as me...

...You would be WRONG!!!! Let's take a gander at Mr. G's plate for this evening. You have a large pork steak, french fries, a huge glob of ketchup and mustard mixed together, and a large glass of peach tea. This is what some would call a heart attack on a plate, but my hubby enjoyed every bite.

I was afraid that I would be tempted by his french fries or luscious chunk of meat, but honestly I wasn't. I really enjoyed my meal and I felt great after eating it. Now I just have to stay focused and eat like that for every meal. I can do it. If it means a healthy baby then I most definitely can do it.

*I had been informed that the link to the video of Mickey and his girlfriend wasn't working on the blog below so I went back through and fixed the problem. You should be able to see the video without any trouble. Thanks for your patience*

Mickey and his girlfriend

There isn't much to say about this video because it speaks for itself. If you are wondering what it is that Mickey is "playing" with it is a large doggie slipper. I had given these slippers to my mom many Christmas's ago but Mickey has gotten much more use out of them than she did. Unfortunately, we had to put the other one to sleep (aka: the trash) because Mickey got a little to rough with her causing a large whole that left the stuffing coming out. It was a hard day for the little guy. But don't feel bad for Mickey because he is still pluggin along with his last remaining girlfriend and is loving every minute of it.
You will probably notice that this video was taken before we put our floors in so you get to see our wonderful sub-floor that we lived on for about a month.
Also in the video you will see Marley chewing on his bone and Mr. G reading his book. Since we have gotten rid of our t.v. reading at night has become a pretty common thing and we both enjoy it very much...but probably not as much as Mickey enjoys his time with is girlfriend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHfHOE9K32k

Prayer

"Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." --Romans 5:5

Have you ever noticed how Satan seems to try and get your family down with a lot of trials all at once. Well, it seems like he has been working over time on our family, but thank goodness God has too.

As some of you know my mom has been battling with cancer off and on for the last couple years. She had received a clean bill of health about a year ago, but unfortunately the cancer came back at the beginning of the summer. It is crushing to know that she is having to go through everything again. Last Wednesday she had her first cancer treatment and she will continue to receive those treatments every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks. It is amazing how little things that used to be so important just aren't that important anymore when you know your mom is fighting for her life.
We live believing that my mom is going to be okay. We truly believe that God has much more for her to do and that he has blessed her with a doctor who has found the cancer early and will work his hardest to make her well again. Right now the doctors are a bit confused because they have tested my mom multiple times and know that her cancer cells are elevated, but they have been unable to find where the cancer cells are coming from. This is making everyone a bit more concerned because you don't know for sure if you are treating the right thing if you don't know where the cancer is at.
The reason for this blog is to ask you to take a little time to say a prayer for my mom. The Bible says multiple times that God hears our prayers and he will listen to them. We are so blessed to serve a God who cares so much.

"You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for mercy." --Psalm 86:5-6

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to pray for my mom. I know that it will make a life changing difference. We all will continue to believe and have faith in the Lord knowing he will always be with my mom giving her the strength she needs to make it through this battle. As you pray for my mom please also remember all those that you know who are battling cancer and pray for them too and I will do the same.

Thank you and God Bless You

Largest Puzzle

The day finally came when we could lay our floor. We were so excited to be living on something other than sub-floor, but we were unaware of how much work it would be to put the floor in. We have spent so much time gluing and cutting things just right, not to mention the measuring to line everything up. But more than anything I felt like we were putting a large puzzle together and the more we got done the more I was thrilled about this particular puzzle. The last month or so Mr. G and I have quit our Dish Network and have spent our evenings reading or working on a 1000 piece puzzle. This is our masterpiece. If you notice the only pieces really put together are the outside ones and the barn in the middle. We aren't making a whole lot of progress, but I am sure that this is the reason our floor reminded me of a puzzle. It also made putting the floor together even more exciting since it was like a game to me.

To start we first laid out some pieces of the floor and then worked on lining them up. We used a chalk line and were able to line up where the first piece should go. Many people through out the morning reminded us that being an 1/8 of an inch off to start could make us 2 inches off at the end which is a big deal. That was good advice but a bit scary to hear before we started.

Because of all the glue we were about to put on the floor we had to put the dogs up. Marley wasn't too upset about it, but Mickey had a fit...the ENTIRE time.

Marley seemed have some affects of the glue smell that was radiating through out our house. Poor guy ended up making himself sick. Doesn't he just look pitiful.

Finally, after starting at 9 in the morning we laid the first piece of flooring around 1:00pm. That was an exciting moment. At this point we thought for sure that we would be done laying the floor sometime next June.

But once we got the hang of things we were able to lay the pieces a lot quicker. Mr. G showed up after work and started helping out which made things go even faster.

You can't tell but we are both high on glue at this point. That left us with some nice headaches to end the evening. We ended up finishing most of the living room around 9:00 that night.

The next day my dad and I started on the hallway and entry way. We were able to get all of that done and a little more by the end of the day.

We aren't finished yet but it is looking amazing. We believe that we will always remember the wonderful days of laying our floor puzzle piece by puzzle piece.

Right now Mr. G and I are sitting on our new floor in our bare living room watching the DVD of The Little House on the Prairie Season 1. It might be a bit hard on the rear but we are completely happy because at least we have a floor to sit on. Funny how we have come to appreciate something as simple as a floor. We are so thankful for God in allowing us to do this renovation to spruce up our house and for all that we have learned along the way. Renovating can change someone, and I feel God has used it to change me. If only I could keep this appreciation I have for all the many blessings that God gives us. That will be my goal.

Now I am off to work on my puzzle...wish me luck!!

"Oh Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way."

--1 Kings 8:23

New Floor

Our new floors are finally in. We have done all the work to prepare for them. We have been living on sub-floor for months now and we are really excited to see these boxes in our house. As I was bringing in the boxes of our future floor one at a time my mind started drifting. I started to realize just how important these floors will be.
This will be the floor that our children will grow up on. This floor will be there for them through it all. This will be the floor that will hold the car seat that sits a newborn baby. This floor will probably catch the first throw up and probably some other bodily functions. This floor is where our children will learn to crawl and learn to fall and eventually learn to walk. All through out our house we will hear the pitter-patter of little feet coming from this floor. This floor is where children will sleep when they have a sleep over. This floor will hold many board games and will be where many puzzles are put together. This floor will hold many Thanksgiving dinners, birthday parties, Easter egg hunts, and the opening of presents on Christmas morning. It will be where we gather together for our family devotions and where we kneel when we say our prayers at night.
Have I mentioned just how excited I am to be getting this floor put in. I talked to my grandma the other day and she mentioned how much more special the accomplishment of this renovation will be for us because it has taken so much hard work and time. Well, I believe she is right because I know that if we had put the floors in within the first week of renovating I probably wouldn't be making such a big deal of them. This floor will always be special to me.


This is not hardwood and its not laminate. It is actually a new kind of wood that is basically plastic, but feels like authentic wood. It is suppose to hold up better than laminate and wood and shouldn't show scratches. We chose the vintage cherry color and believe that it will look wonderful next to our white trim and freshly painted walls. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Tomorrow we will start installing......OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!! It feels like Christmas in August.

Vanity

It was another hot summer day and Mr. G and I decided to go walk around Lowe's for some renovation ideas. We knew there were some things that we are going to need to purchase in the future when the money comes in, so we thought we would go look around. It was going to be like window shopping. But apparently God uses window shopping to bring a blessing into our lives. Sitting out in the aisle was a vanity that was perfect for my bathroom. This fit our country cottage theme exactly. The more looked at this vanity the more I forgot that we didn't have the money to bring it home with us. Mr. G reminded me that maybe it will still be here when we have the money to get it. Just as we were about to walk away a sweet worker from Lowe's says to us, "I will give that vanity to you for $100." And 30 minutes later we were driving home with our new vanity in the back of the truck.

Now, I thought the hard part was done. Finding a deal like this doesn't just happen all the time, but apparently putting a 21st century vanity into a 1970s house brings much more work than anticipated. Here is my dad working with the plumbing on my ex-vanity. He is realizing at this point that those who built this house decided to put the plumbing through the floor instead of through the wall. And wouldn't you know it, our new vanity has a perfect spot for the plumbing to come in through the wall not the floor. Dad's trying to figure out how he is going to do this without messing up the new vanity. Lucky for us...he figured it out.

Bye Bye ex-sink. You were nice to have around the last year, despite the fact that it took you an hour just to drain after I washed my face at night. And despite the fact that you were about 3 inches too short and you had very little storage underneath you. Yes, despite all that, you were very good to me.

WHAT?!?! More wallpaper? I thought we were through with the wallpaper nightmare. It must be a reoccurring nightmare.

Oh, my....I just realized the plunger in the picture....Whoops.

And there she is...my new vanity. She even has a granite counter top. Now this is before the mirror , but isn't she great. I will be proud to show her off, especially since she only cost $100.

Sitting next to it is an old magazine rack that I painted white today and a new rug that we got a couple days ago at the Target in Marion. Hopefully, the vertigo floor will be delivered tomorrow.

Slowly but surely we are putting this house back together again.