Things I Painted Last Week

Kitchen Door



Return Air Vent

Josie's Bottom

My Fingernails

Mom's Bedroom Ceiling

Blue Desk, Now Pink

Blue Desk

Wow, I must be really tired. "Yes, I am". I painted and painted and painted last week. It all started when mom went out of town. I decided to finally paint her bedroom ceiling which was a very old gray/brown tile. It actually started out as white with gold veining that I think my Dad thought would help hide spider webs. That was over 30 years ago, and yep it did hide them. Anyway, I had been telling her I would paint it for about 5 years at least, so I finally did it. It turned out great. Then, I got inspired and decided to paint my sewing desk that I have been intending to paint ever since I bought it at a garage sale about 8 years ago. I painted it pink to match my sewing room and it turned out great. Then, there it was, the old dirty, half paint scrapped off return air vent in the farmhouse we are currently restoring. (restoring sounds better than fixin up). That led to the back door of the kitchen and that's when Josie curled up in the drop cloth and got kilz on her behind. After all that, of course I needed to do my nails. So, that is how one project can get you into trouble. I finally ran out of paint and rested. Wow, I don't even like to paint and am not good at it at all. I make huge messes and waste a lot of paint, but for some reason it all turned out well. This week I am resting, unless of course I decide to ......

Garage Sale Fun

Melissa came up early for our Spa Girl presentation in Bossier City, LA and helped me with my first garage sale since I moved. It was held on Hwy 69 in Huntington, Tx. There were supposed to be a lot of other people selling stuff that day, but only 2 "vendors" showed up. Me and my mom's next door neighbor. We had lots of stuff to get rid of and we actually sold most of it. At the end of the day we were so hot and tired that we gave a lot of things away. We had so much fun giving stuff away that we might just have a "free" garage sale next time. I spend the entire day before cleaning out the barn (and taking Josie to the vet for injury incurred as I was cleaning barn) getting ready for the sale and then getting husband to haul everything to Huntington for us very early on Saturday morning. We stayed about 7 hours, got rid of almost everything and called the day a success. Here is the final tally of our days efforts:



Vet bill for pet injury 250.00

Booth rental 30.00

cold drinks 10.00

taking friend to eat

for helping 7.00

total cost 297.00

proceeds of sale 140.00



Cleaned out barn PRICELESS!!



Ok, I won't go into the garage sale business any time soon, but I did make some pocket money to support my garage sale vice. Sew long for now!

Morning View

This is the first thing I see when I wake up in the mornings. If you look closely, you can see the back of the rocking chair and then a sweet meadow in the background (sorry for poor pic quality. Hard to take shot of open window, it looks like a lake out there but it is just a meadow). The empty pillow beside me means that hubby has already gotten up to make the coffee. Sweet!

How Many Boxes...

....does it take to pack up 28 years of living? A lot as you can see. Maybe 200 or more? And I pride myself on regular purging of stuff. Problem seems that the more I purge the more I replace or something like that. Anyway, I am wondering why I have so much stuff. How do you decide to not acquire things that you love? When we were early married and still in school it was because we just couldn't afford to buy stuff. But look at us now, we seemed to have progressed enough in our professions that we can buy most any stuff we want.... So, how do you stop wanting? I think one big answer is that you need to move more. That really puts all this into perspective for me. It is hard to decide what to keep, store or give away. What if I need something and have to re-buy it?? So anyway, that is my big concern right now along with, of course, who is going to pack the rest of this stuff and most importantly who is going to unpack it and where is it going to go? I have a strong feeling that by the time it is packed, loaded and unloaded I am going to be questioning if I really want it enough to unpack and find space. The big lesson here has been taught since Bible times. ...lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust do easily decay, instead build up treasures in heaven. I am asking God to show me what that means for me and my hobby of shopping and accumulating. I think maybe He has better things to occupy my time. The Spa Girls say that these days we tend to have so much stuff that our stuff has us! Do you know what I mean?

Tom Sawyer Look-a-Like???

She does look like she is having fun doesn't she. This is Melissa hard at work on the living room primer job. We painted and sang old Christian songs at the top of our lungs, just that one day. The next day Melissa had to have some relaxation therapy for her pulled muscles in her back. I'm sure it was all the singing, not the painting and cleaning! Anyway, we got so much more done with the two extra hands. The house is almost ready for move day, just have a few things that need to be done, but they will have to wait until after the move. We are back home for the weekend to get everything packed up and ready for the movers on Tuesday.

Dream Kitchen? Not!

This is my old/new kitchen. Hopefully by the time I move in (week after next) the floor will be
updated and the drop cloths will be gone. My son spent several hours scrubbing the cabinets clean. I don't know how they became so dirty, but it appears that they had been deep fried in grease. Anyway, he was determined and he did a great job. Anyone notice that the dishwasher is missing. I think this kitchen was built way before dishwashers. I am not willing to sacrifice space for a portable dishwasher so I guess we go back to hand washing. The floor is getting placed in today so I will follow later with an "after" picture.

COME AND LISTEN TO A STORY.....

This is the house where I and my family have happily lived for the last five years. Last October, we decided to sell this house and move to a rural area to begin a slower, simplier life. Yea, right!

We have begun an adventure that should take us a least through our son's high school graduation in about 3 more years. Our new home is located back in rural east Texas where I actually grew up and graduated from high school. We have had a small house there on about 20+ acres and we are going to relocate there with all the stuff from the big house. I have been telling my friends that we are downsizing and downgrading.... however, we couldn't be more excited. Even our 16 year old son is excited. We haven't moved yet and already one neighbor has invited him to ride his horse anytime he wants and the other neighbor has invited him to fish in his catfish pond anytime. He thinks he is actually moving to his "dream home". He may never want to grow up and leave! YIKES!

Anyway, please be reminded that this blog is really about my sewing and craft adventures, but as of right now I will be throwing in a lot of home improvement projects as well. I will be living in a virtual gold mine of DIY projects. So, keep checking back in for the progress on the move and the "fixin" up of the old homeplace. Check out the pics over on the side as well. See you soon!