Linking Up With Thrifty Nifty

Ok I know I'm supposed to be working but I am still on here. Procrastinating. I keep looking around at all of the projects and I sigh.  I am linking up to here today.





Stop by look around. Link up if you have something. And most of all have fun!

Plans Change Once You Find Something Else

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope you all are well and enjoying the holiday. We will be working today. Our family has never really been big on the holidays. We don't have big get togethers or do huge meals. Who knows since I have a big house now and the room for it that may change. The picture I have on My Family tab of all of us was pretty difficult to get. Putting  people in a tuna can and try to have room to move around, it was a hard thing to do. And that get together was a complete surprise. We all just happened to meet at the same time. Which was the best Christmas present I have ever gotten. I get surprised by visits from my family quite a bit now. And I am loving it. We moved closer to my daughter Ashlei and she stops by quite a bit now. My grandson Keegan has to come in and get his daily kiss and hug. I absolutely LOVE that and look forward to it every day.

Ok I am gonna vent for a minute here. Last night I go out with the dogs. It is dark. Shiloh pounces and Bella starts growling. Guess who is in my yard again. Yep the Rots from the house behind us! I started yelling for the dogs. The guy comes outside. Picture a sentence coming out of my mouth at the guy that is not fit to type. I was furious. He then asks "who was down there, just him" as he is pointing at the froggy huge male that took his attitude out on Dave just a few days ago. Ummmm hello who cares who it was. So again picture another sentence coming out of my mouth that is not fit to type. And another call to animal control. Now they were off duty with it being Saturday night. So the police showed up. He has now been told they have to be leashed at all times or build a fence. Yeah right. Whatever. I just keep picturing my grandkids being out there. They love to go out with me to let the dogs out. Grrr. I have them Monday through Friday until Midnight. It is highly possible that they could have been with me. And it was spooky going out into the dark and having this huge dog out there in the shadows with aggressive behavior. Now don't get me wrong. I have 2 rednose pitbull's I love dogs. I refuse to condemn a breed based on one dog's behavior. I have nothing against the dogs. I have no negative feelings simply because they are rot's. What I have a big problem with is the owner. He needs to be responsible. It's a male. We have 2 female's. Of course he is going to come down here. But if something happens ultimately the dog is going to pay the ultimate price. He is going to be sentenced for the owner's stupidity. And I hate stupidity. So I have a feeling that guy is going to see my wrath. Combine Cherokee with Italian and it is not a good mix LOL. Believe it or not there is a funny side to this though. Shiloh doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She is not protective of her yard or home at all. She even let a strange dog come into the trailer. Bella on the other hand, is going to be very protective. She is 6 months old and the runt of the litter. She isn't even knee high yet. But man was she growling and throwing a FIT about that dog being in her yard. Picture pip squeak going against Goliath. I giggled about that all night. It was almost like she was saying I got your back mom. While Shiloh is out there trying to make friends with him. We get into the house and I told Bella "look miss bad ass he would eat you" and teased Shiloh once again, "you are a disgrace to your breed, pit's all over America are shaking their heads" LOL. I am super happy she is like that though. She is such a good dog. She loves letting the grandkids sit on her back while they watch tv together. And she would move mountains for anyone in this family. She just like to socialize.

Since I found the page on Ehow.com about building a countertop from 2x4's I have been thinking about it. Kicking myself for all the work on the hardwood. I found this site and love what they did with the corners on their countertop. So we have changed plans and will be doing our countertop like this.    diy-new-kitchen-on-budget. I saw the article she is referring to and the negative comments. Come on people. What exactly do you think they make the wooden countertops out of in the factories. And even if they did have tons of money, maybe they just want to live frugally. Anyway ....I fell in love with the pattern on the corner. And I stink at the whole angle cut. And easy is the way to go along with beauty. I will update as we go and hopefully I remember pictures.

I Started the Countertop

Ok so I went to the basement today and started the countertop. After about an hour and a serious headache I was about to give up. I guess I'm just not feeling good today at all. I don't know. The wood seemed off and  not fitting together and on and on. I think it was just my mood. I took a break, about an hour. I went back down and started again. I figure the parts that don't fit together perfectly can be filled with wood filler later. I took a piece of 1/4" mdf that was here when we moved in and layed it across some cabinets and started gluing the boards to that. I did about half way across and clamped them then layed cement blocks on top. With my MS my hands don't work so well so I am doing small areas at a time. Here is what I have so far.

I didn't go all the way to the end because that is the corner for the snack bar area and will be cut for the angle where they meet. This is the sink counter area. The snack bar will probably be next.

I found this today on making your countertops out of 2 x 4's Ehow.com Build Countertops from 2x4's. So if this doesn't work out I will be trying that. I really want wooden countertops and we do not live any where near an Ikea. So I will be trying the methods I read about online to do this. It has been interesting to say the least.

Today I'm Linking Up With Classy Clutter

So I decided to try this whole Link Up Thing and Linked my TV Stand that I just finished. Go check out  Classy Clutter. They have lots of things to check out and learn from. If you have something to share link up and have fun.



Other than that there isn't much going on today. We worked on the wood for the counter top yesterday. Oh my what a mess. They obviously used flooring from somewhere. Where I do not know. But they put it on the wall dirt and all. Yes I said dirt! We literally had to scrape it off. I told Dave no way is that going in my kitchen. Either we clean it or we scrap it. So 5 hours later we have enough done to do the sink area. Here are pictures of the basement and wood pile. What a mess.

See it looks like beadboard. Not a bad concept or idea just not very good execution. That is a duck border along the top. Kind of pretty too bad they had the flood down there.

Any way everyone have a great Easter!

A Kitchen Cupboard Repurposed

When we moved in there were cupboards already in the kitchen...kinda obvious huh. They were nice enough but we had recently replaced the cupboard's in the trailer with oak from Menards and we brought them with us. So I used the corner base cabinet that was here to make a tv stand for our room.

  First we put a 2 x 4 in the center for a brace

Then we added some 1 x 6 pine boards across the top. These were just scrap out of the scrap bin that I had for my stockpile at the trailer. They have lots of knots, dings and even some grooves on the edge for a rustic look. I used some wood filler to fill in screw holes and gaps. Then I used my electric hand sander with 80 grit and sanded down the top and sides. I also rounded the edges out a little bit.

I have been doing some research on chalk paint. Annie Sloan has a chalk paint line but at 30 something a can that is out of my budget. I found a recipe online that calls for baking soda. I went to Menards and bought sample pots of Pittsburgh Paint in White Chocolate and another blue green color. Sorry I can't find the card to tell the color. That happens alot to me. I sit something down and it walks away in this house. But no one touched it. Any way. 

I mixed the chalk paint at a 3 to 1 ratio. First I mixed the baking soda with water and mixed it really good. Adding just enough water to make it soupy. Then I added the paint and mixed it with a whip. 

I used a foam brush and brushed on 2 coats of the white and let it dry inbetween each for 24 hours. Then I dry brushed the blue over the top and also let it dry 24 hours. I literally just randomly slapped it on. Now the blue is not mixed with the baking soda yet. I did that later for the inside. Then I mixed a glaze with Minwax Dark Walnut and water. Using the wipe on wipe off I glazed over the paint and again waited 24 hours. With the glaze you want to wipe in on with a clean rag. Then using another clean rag wiping it off after about 30 seconds so work in small areas. This tied it all in.

Then I stained the top with the dark walnut stain. This made all of the rustic in the top pop out. Again waited 24 hours and brushed on one coat of Poly. One side of the cupboard did not have a door or drawer so I added some from the sink base that fell apart when we took it out. The left side has a drawer and the right is just a front glued on with wood glue. I put the glue around the edges and clamped it letting it also dry for 24 hours. Then I painted those without using the glaze. This made them stand out.

I finished with the paste wax again. Now the chalk paint has a rough finish so you want to use something to put over the top. Not only to smooth it out but for protection. I didn't want a shine on the body so I opted for the wax. This smoothed it out and gave it a dull sheen.

This is how it turned out. It looks like it has been sitting in a barn for years. This antiquing is pretty easy and lots of fun. 

Chalk paint is wonderful stuff. You can paint over anything with it with no sanding or primer. So we have a beautiful tv stand and best of all it cost a total of 4.00. Repurposing is the way to go. The uses are basically endless. Look around your house. What can you use to make something else?

I 

Brighten Up My China Cabinet

   My china cabinet used to be my mom's. She gave it to me about 20 years ago. I love this cabinet. It had seen better days though. Being shoved into the kitchen at the trailer it had gotten bumped and bruised.

Using the same technique as the table, I washed it, then used gel stain. This time I brushed it on lightly with a foam brush and let it dry 24 hours in between 3 coats. Then I finished it with the finishing paste wax. Look at this beauty now.

I absolutely love using the gel stain to brighten things up. It is so easy and doesn't change anything about the piece. We are having so much fun doing this. and it is a great filler project. Easy to do and fills in time while waiting for other things to dry. 

A Table Revived

  Wow have we ever been busy. Remember this table.....

Well just look at this beauty now.....

It doesn't look like the same table! I am absolutely in love with this table. Here it is in the sunroom. 

I left most of the imperfections. I think it gives it character. I love the ring and all of the dings on it. 

 

I found a website with refinishing tips. First I washed the table with the equivalent to dish water. Then I let it dry for 24 hours. The next day I used Minwax Gel Stain. I love that stuff. 

I just used a rag and wiped it on. Then I rubbed it off with another rag after 3 minutes. After another 24 hours I repeated the steps again on the center of the top to darken it to match the sides. The next day I used Minwax finishing paste wax. I forgot to take a picture of that stuff. But it is in the stain isle at Menards. I used a rag to wipe it on, waited 10 minutes and buffed it out to a shine with a clean rag. 

This is the first of the never ending list of projects. We have been working on the dining room floor. Remember all of the paint? Well 95% of it is now off. We will be renting a floor sander probably next weekend and start sanding away. I can't wait to show that off once it is done. It already look 100 times better. And the wood is absolutely beautiful under all that crud.

In a Perfect World....

  Ok this is a bit of a rant. In a perfect world......when a company says their product will do something it would be nice if they wouldn't LIE! LOL. Now I know I was not born into a perfect world. I know better than to read a label and think ok this will do just as it says. But come on people. At least tell me in fine print we said brush this stripper on like we say, wait the 30 minutes, and go out to completely evaporated product. And then we are going to take the 6 bucks you just wasted to buy our crap, pool it with all of the other fool's 6 bucks, and fly to the Bahama's.

  Menards only has 1 brand of stripper. Zinsser Stripfast. After wasting the first can because it even evaporated in the bowl, I bought another. Ok call me crazy but what else do I do. The paint ate right through the 50 grade sandpaper after 2 small areas. And at 4.00 a belt this could get really crazy. So I played around a bit. If i work in very small areas and start scraping immediately it takes most of it off. Yeah finally figured it out.

  Dave's brother in law is a contractor. He said use Strip Ease but alas Menard's doesn't have that one. In the mean time....Sorry if I offend anyone, if I could find the fool who painted this floor, I think I would shake my first living being. But after 3 hours I do have most of it off. Nothing worth anything is easy.

Dining Room Floors....Oh the Joy of Removing Paint

  In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that someone had started painting the dining room floor. Well we have started to redo the floor and oh boy........

What a mess huh. But the wood is beautiful once it is sanded. When we get all done I will share pictures. 

I know I said get the kitchen done first then go to another room but that plan has changed. I have all of my china in boxes still so we need to get the Dining Room done so I can get that out of the spare bedroom. I need to get the dresser out of the Living Room. This house is still a wreck because I do not want to take care of anything until the rooms are done. Or at least far enough I won't have to clear it out to do a little bit. 

I also found 2 fantastic tables at the ReStore yesterday. I LOVE them. 

The first is a drop leaf with a center 5th leg. The veneer was peeling very bad so that is being stripped off. It is mahagony and has beautiful detail.

Look at those legs and the curves on the edge. I forgot to get a complete before picture so this is in progress. 

And those legs. Oh the curves. I can't wait to finish. But the best of all....It was only 4.77. 

The second table is also a drop leaf. It has these old metal locking hinges on the bottom. Rollers on the bottom of beautiful carved legs. This table was 9.77. Gotta love the ReStore. 

It needs some work but it is going to be beautiful. My Big (little) helpers helped me clean it up and also helped with the veneer. They just crack me up. 

Coupons....Oh how I love to save money

  For the last few months I slacked off from the coupon world. I love saving money. Being on a limited monthly income I have to make it stretch as far as I can. And you gotta love the internet. I found a couple of sites I really like about couponing. They share the deals that they have found and break it out in easy terms to teach you how to save hundreds every month. The Krazy Coupon Lady is the first site I found. She has several helpful pages and breaks it down by store. Well yesterday I went to Kmart. I don't usually shop there but I really need to figure that store out! It is down the road from us now where before it was across town. There isn't any other store around it so it used to be out of the way. When we first moved in I needed the cordless screwdriver and some new bits for the power drill. My son went with me and we picked those things up there. I still am not sure how but I received a 5.00 gift card on that shopping trip. So yesterday I went down to use it. I got free coffee and filters with the card and some reward points I had that were going to expire. Hmm every little bit helps. I have watched extreme couponing in the past and wondered how they save so much at Kmart. Well I am definately going to have to figure this one out.

   I have never really had a big stock pile like they do on those shows, but I had enough to last us at least a month on several things for really cheap. Once I went to Walmart and after checkout they owed me .98! You can beat free but them owing me money was even better. I love going to the store and having the total come to 300.00 but only paying 100.00. It is such a rush.

  My computer is acting up so in a few weeks I am going to be buying a laptop. Then I will fire up the old printer and be printing away. I love living here in so many ways. One of the ways is that most of the stores I shop at for the deals are now within a 4 mile radius. And 4 miles is the farthest away. Most of them are within a mile and right around the same area or even in the same block. Not so much driving now. Double plus. And yes I shop at several different stores. Some people think that is a waste. Well if I shop those stores in the same day it isn't a waste at all. And with all of the free or next to free stuff I get it makes it even better.

  I got the grandkids those heavy Disney kids sippy cups at Rite Aid free and man did they love them. For my girls I have gotten so much of the Glade products free or next to free for their Birthdays and Christmas I don't think their houses should ever stink. At Christmas time I got Glade Candles for .29 a piece at Target. They typically sell for around 4.00 a piece. I could go on for hours about all of the stuff I have bought with coupons. Things that otherwise I could not afford. Does it take time and efforts. You bet. Is it worth it. You bet.

  Swagbucks....I love that site. I have also slacked off on that. I spent about 5 hours total on that site and earned 50.00 in Amazon.com gift cards. So that comes out to about 10 bucks an hour to sit on my butt. Woot Woot Lol. That is how I got the modem for ATT internet. If you haven't tried them you should. Click on the link to the right on my blog and have fun!

Barely Beginning the Counter Tops

We went downstairs today and pulled all of the hardwood off in my sons room. We put the carpet from the dining room down in his room also. I am still trying to decide if I want to panel or drywall the bottom of the walls down there. Paneling would probably be easier to change out if it gets wet. We still do not know what happened down there to cause the water damage. I am waiting to see a huge leak or something, but nothing yet.

Tomorrow we will be cutting the pieces and getting ready to start on the countertop. Lord knows we have enough wood. We probably have enough total from all of the walls to build 4 countertops for 4 different houses LOL. I am so excited about all of the new stuff. I need to pick priorities though. Finish one room at a time Kim. LOL As much as you want to no more quests to find new stuff until you get the kitchen done. Then pick one room and go from there. You can do this.....I think I can....I think I can.

My daughter Ashlei stopped by with her roommate Heather to show her the house. What a nice surprise. They thought my happy dance was pretty funny too. But they know I lost my mind along time ago. We called my mom and told her about the ceiling. She is just as tickled pink as I am. She keeps saying she is going to move in here with me. She has some lamps she is sending to me that she says will match the house. I also found one at a local thrift shop the other day that fits in here. It looks so nice on my end table. And best of all it was only 8 bucks. Gotta love cheap cute stuff.

While looking around at different blogs and things today I found the desk I want to make for my computer.
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2012/08/diy-desk-for-bedroom-farmhouse-style.html
I already have most of the wood. I had a different idea in mind but once I saw this desk I changed my mind. My to do list is growing bigger every day. And time grows smaller it seems. Since I watch the grandkids during the week I really only have the weekends. But that is ok I love having the kids here. And besides I also get to see Keegan every day. Matthew takes Tareh to work and Keegan has to give me a hug and kiss. I just love that to pieces.

My Living Room Ceiling

Ok so I have been searching online for planked ceilings and how to do them. I LOVE those ceilings. They give so much rustic appearance. Well as I am reading some of the blogs talk about using wood repurposed from other houses or barns. Well I really don't know why it hit me. Dave has been spending a lot of time nosing around in the attic. He told me a few days ago that we have a space between the floors upstairs and the ceiling downstairs. So I sent him on a small quest. Look and see if by chance there are planks on the ceiling downstairs. And GUESS WHAT....THERE ARE!!! YEAH!!! Can you tell I am past excited? 

There is a spot in the living room that is cracked and starting to come down. Dad pointed that out and we couldn't figure out at that time if it is water damaged or not. Well it isn't. I poked at it this morning and look what I found...... 

I am so excited. It is a good thing my mind still works because there is no way my body could do the cartwheels I am doing in my head. Planked ceilings in the living room for FREE. Dave keeps laughing and shaking his head saying

"you are a dork". I am singing and dancing around the house " I love my house, we have planked ceiling and wood floors". LOL 

  We are thinking that gravity and time are the culprits in the cracking and sinking. I am really trying to do one room at a time, but curiosity not only killed the cat, it got me right along with it. 

A Big Thank you

  I have been meaning to write this and have no excuse for not doing so before now. I need to give a big thank you to a few people. First my parents. Without them we would not have our home. Second to my son in law Matthew and my son J. Without them we would never have been able to move everything. With my MS and Dave has nerve and disc issues in his shoulders and neck, the heavy things like my china cabinet would have been almost impossible to move. Matthew and J busted their butts, literally on Matthew's part, to get us into this house in basically one day. It was the 16th anniversary to the day of us moving into the trailer. Matthew said "oh no it is the anniversary today we are getting you into this house TODAY" LOL. He meant it and he did it. Thank you so much. It was so appreciated. And we love you all for everything you have done for us.

  We had so much fun that day! This family is crazy sometimes. You name it, we joke about it, and turn almost anything into a party. Poor Matthew. He scared me to death twice in 5 minutes. We rented an appliance dolly for the move. We were hoping the refrigerator would go into the basement for my son but unfortunately it was too big. Well Matthew had shoes on that were slippery on the ceramic tile. While trying to back the fridge out of the basement doorway, he fell. The fridge started coming down right on top of him! Oh my. Then while trying to bring it up the 3 stairs to the sun room and kitchen, he fell again. Same thing that darn fridge started coming down. I thought this is it he is gonna be a pancake. And leave it to Matthew to sit on the floor, declare "my butt hurts" and laugh. Oh my. That was NOT a time to be funny or make me laugh darn him. But Matthew just fits into this family. Always laughing, joking and teasing.

  Everyone worked together and had a great time. It was nice to have Ashlei and Keegan at the trailer with us for a while. Ash walked through the trailer to her old room and said "mom this is kind of sad, I spent so much time in here". And she did. She fought battles within herself in that room. And she won. She came out strong, it just took her time to realize how strong she is. She spent a lot of time with our first Pit Jade. Jade brought her through a lot also. As she cried, Jade licked her face. What a great and special relationship those two had. Keegan was thrilled to be at Grama's new house. He kept saying "I am gonna come here and sleep upstairs with Grama" LOL. There are already so many memories and it has only been 2 weeks. I am so excited to create many more.

Kitchen and Back Yard Progress

  Well I hung the new curtains in the sun room today. I am not big on curtains. I am also very picky. It is rare I see curtains and think oh man do I like those. But these curtains are very pretty and have the perfect green that will match the cabinets.

   The back yard has a fence on both sides. The one side had fallen down on the ground. And with the frost and snow this last week we couldn't get out there to fix it. And we always go out with the dogs when we let them out any way. Well this morning our oldest dog decided to take off after a cat. Yes people she hates cats. She hasn't hurt one but she refuses to let them stay in her yard. She didn't really go out of the yard just on the end of the fence laying down, but I didn't like it any way. She is so well behaved and listens so well she stopped as soon as she heard her name. But considering we just called animal control on the guy behind us because his huge Rot's were in our yard and growling at Dave the other day.... Dave went out this afternoon and fixed it. Sorry Shiloh no more chasing cats LOL. Bella could really care less yet but she is starting to follow lead and looking at them like ok Shiloh doesn't like you so I don't think I will either. We still have to replace the fence along the back and add a piece to the driveway area but i can't wait to be able to let the dogs out and let them run around without being out there. I mean come on people. Why in the world someone would let any dog out without watching them is just beyond me. I don't care how nice they are at home you just never know. We have 2 pitbull female's. I love them. They are both big babies. But I would never just let them out. This guy behind us would just open the door and out the Rot's would go. Then come into our yard and growl at us. I don't think so. Then the idiot says to Dave "our property line ends at that fence". Um first I don't think the dogs care where your property line is and second they went over it and came over here. Shaking my head...which is something I have been doing alot of this last week and a half. I think I am getting shaken baby syndrome from it all.

Another Day

  We almost finished hanging the kitchen cabinets yesterday. This is really coming together. And it is faster than I expected. We have been here a week and a half and have almost all of the kitchen done. We need a new refrigerator so until I have time to go pick one out we have the last 2 cabinets sitting in the middle of the kitchen. They will go in between the stove and refrigerator. We took 2 of the wall cabinets and put them in the sun room area for a built in shelf unit. I took the doors off the front and will be adding a top to the bottom cabinet later. We plan on building a corner window seat under the windows next to the shelf unit.

  We have done a lot of head scratching so far and I am sure will be doing more. We can't figure out why they did some of the things around here but ok to each his own. At one point the previous owners had put the 220 for the dryer and a vent in the sun room.  My dad came over last week and disconnected the 220 upstairs. He reconnected the 220 in the basement and looked at the regular outlets to see why they were not working. Wow...they had a fire. They had to have been standing right there when it happened. The wires were absolutely fried on the one outlet for the washing machine. They built a half wall that doesn't even begin to go to the top of the ceiling. That made it difficult to have enough wire to redo the outlet. More head scratching. Another thing to add to the massive remodel list. Build a real wall for the laundry area.

  I am keeping one of the corner base cabinets and will be making a tv stand for our bedroom out of it. Some of the extra wall cabinets will be used to make various cupboards and stands throughout the house. I have some other tables I will also be refinishing. I figure with all of the things on my list I will be busy even from the grave LOL.

 

 

Busy Beavers

  Wow have we ever been busy. Between moving and watching the grandkids I am completely worn out. We started on the kitchen and dining room this last week. We brought the oak kitchen cabinets from the trailer that we had purchased a few years back. The cabinets here were nice but the kitchen just seemed closed off. With the sunroom on the back it should feel more open. They had the refrigerator right in front of the door from the dining room. That made it feel like you needed to pull your shoulders in to get into the kitchen. So far we have the sink side all installed except for the new counter tops. We will be making butcher block counters. I can not wait. The improvement so far is amazing and it will be just awesome once we get done. I picked my paint colors at Menards the other day. A sage green for the cabinets and a beige for the walls.

  We are using all of the materials we can from here. I guess you can call it a "Green" remodel. Not to mention the money it will save us. Which is a double plus. I have been reading up on making a butcher block counter from recycled wood flooring. Someone put hardwood flooring on the bottom half of the basement walls. I thought "what" when my son started taking it down. At first glance it looked like some kind of beadboard panel. Then it hit me. After looking at hardwood flooring at Menards I thought hey we have a ton of it in the basement. We will just cut off the bad parts.

  When the previous owners remodeled the kitchen they put linoleum down. Well lets just say oh my. They put a ton of glue and i mean a puddle in some spots then no glue at all in others. The bigger pieces we pulled up I am saving just in case we can use them in other places. I am thinking one place will be the bathroom in the basement.

  We pulled the carpet up in the dining room the other night. Woot Woot the hardwood floor is still there. But oh my does it need a ton of work. They started to paint it in one corner then must have changed their minds. Oh my. It was easy enough to pull the carpet up. My granddaugher Sophie helped us. She is grama's big helper. The tack strips along the edge kept "biting" us. She would say "Grama" "Grampa" you be careful don't get booboo's. It was the cutest thing. She is so observant it is amazing sometimes. She watched me take the flat head screw driver with the hammer and tap the tack strip off the floor. I layed them down to go into the other room and heard a tapping noise. When I got back into the dining room she had the screw driver with the hammer just a tapping away. Now she isn't big enough to hold the hammer up and tap the screw driver, so she improvised. She layed the hammer on the floor and using the end of the handle slid the hammer along the floor to hit the screw driver. Dave and I giggled over this one and thinking to ourselves that she wouldn't get too far that way we watched. Well to our surprise we were wrong. I should have known not to underestimate that child. She comes from a long line of strong stubborn women. She managed to get a whole wall of strip off. Woot Woot go girl. My grandson Bryson helped a little too just before taking his nap. He used the power drill to put a screw into a piece of flooring for me. Here is this little guy with a power drill almost as big as he is holding it up and drilling. I laughed and laughed. He did a really good job too. That screw was straighter than mine. LOL.

  We have had a lot of fun and laughs while doing this. And it is making me love this house even more. Knowing that as a family we are building our home and putting our own imprints on the history of this place. I can look at that wall and smile knowing that Sophie helped in that small area. And every time I walk into the kitchen I can smile as I walk over that area that Bryson held a power drill for the first time. Who knows.....maybe they will grow up to be a famous decorator or architect.

Our New Home

 Well finally after 16 years in a mobile home I bought my first house. I absolutely LOVE it. I didn't have to move, I could take my time and find a home I loved. Sure the trailer needed work but just normal cosmetic stuff and some subflooring work. But all in all it was a nice little place. That was my first home. That was the place I "saved" my kids. But that is a whole different story all on it's own, better reserved for another time. For whatever reason this home just did not sell. It was on the market for just under a year. I don't really understand why. It isn't the best neighborhood in the city but it isn't the worse either. My mom keeps saying it is because it was meant to be mine, which I think just may be the case. 

  Now  most people want modern and new. Me....I wanted old and antique. I love the old wooden staircases, trim and floors. My boyfriend has the same taste and he agreed so the search began. We have limited income with both of us being disabled so price was obviously top on the list. Dave (my boyfriend) kept saying I don't know....which basically means I have faith in ya babe but this one I gotta see for myself lol. 

 We had kind of a hard time finding a realtor. Mostly because they wouldn't call back. One actually set up an appointment to look at a house then called a few hours before to say "look I had an unexpected and eventful evening and would have to come back into town to show you the house" HUH. Wow, ok, well we will find another realtor. Sorry to bother you as I scratched my head. We found a realtor that we liked and the search began. 

 I kept telling Dave that I was going to find us a home cheap that we loved but even I started to doubt that after looking at about 10 houses. I just can't believe how some of the houses are set up. It was important to have wheelchair access to the major rooms in the house for me. God willing I won't go to my chair but in reality I probably will. I wanted the original woodworking that hopefully wouldn't be painted. A basement and garage. The original wooden staircase that hopefully wouldn't be painted. And hardwood floors. Ok so far this list seemed almost impossible. 

 Most of the older homes were in the not so nice neighborhoods. My dad cracked me up. He kept saying it doesn't matter where you live any more, any where can be bad. Ok dad well the difference is in getting shot or not lol. I would get online every day and search the house listings, call the realtor and off we would go. We had so much fun looking at houses. My parents would meet us and my mom and I would ohhh and ahhh together. She loves the older homes as much if not more than I do. I had this idea in my head and just couldn't shake it. I really wanted what I call the short door going to the attic. That is the little door you walk through that leads out to that cool attic space you can stand up in. That door that leads out to a whole little world all in it's own in your house. We found a house that I really loved, made an offer, they accepted, but the paperwork they sent to us just seemed shady. They wanted the money before closing. Ummm ....no. So that deal fell through. I really became discouraged at that point. But we had only been looking for a few weeks. Patience is a virtue. I kept repeating that to myself. When the right house comes along it will all fall into place. And that proved true. 

 Now this house listing kept drawing me back. I would go every few days and look at this listing. The pictures were horrible. They didn't show much detail. But something about it kept pulling me back. I mentioned it to Dave and my dad a few times but I really don't know why I didn't put it on the list of houses to look at. 

 Then another bump in the road. Our realtor called. She lost her license because she didn't have the money to pay her realtor fees. And the search for a realtor begins again. We found Pat Smith. An older woman who was very helpful and just the sweetest thing. So after only 2 months of searching I added this house to the list of houses to look at. We fell in love with this place once we walked through it. It has everything except the garage that I wanted. Plus one thing I didn't have on the list. A dishwasher. Yeah! I forgot to put that on the list. That is a good idea. With my MS I may not be able to wash dishes later. How could I miss that one. Lol. 

  The house originally started out at a price of 24,000. After a few months they dropped it to 19,900. After several months at that price we came along and walked through. My dad had surgery on his foot and couldn't make it to look at the house with us. We told Pat that we would be getting in touch with her probably the next week to look at this house and another again once dad got back on his feet. 

  Jump forward a week. We meet my parents and Pat at both houses. Dad gives the go on this house. Picture me doing cartwheels inside my head. Woot Woot. I LOVE this house. Now comes the teeth clenching. They had in just a few days dropped the price to 17,400. Now mind you this house has been on the market for almost a year. Right around 11 months. It was a repo. Banks do not like to hang onto houses. Lets put in a ridiculously low offer maybe they will bite. The worse they can do is say no. So I say ok lets offer 12,000. Dad adds that they also need to fix the window in the back door. Sitting on pins and needles on Friday we send the offer. On Monday they accept! Double Woot Woot. I found the house we love for major cheap. I am on cloud nine.

  Ok now Pat also added that the bank turn on the utilities to save us the turn on costs. Doing more cartwheels in my head because this deal is just getting better and better for us. The Lord is watching out for us on this one. Then the phone rings. They turned the gas on and the furnace is broken. A short moment of oh man. Then mom says and by the way the bank is fixing the furnace for you. More cartwheels! Thank you Lord. And more cartwheels. 

  The day before closing Pat wanted us to meet at the house to do a walk through. We get here and the bank did so many extras for us. Instead of fixing the glass in the back door, they replaced the whole door. They also replaced the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. They fixed the furnace. And they accepted our crazy low offer. 

  So I found us a house that we love. It has the original woodwork that has a few paint splatters but that is from them probably using a paint gun and not taping. No big deal with a little work I can get that off. The original wooden staircase with a closet underneath. The short door that leads to that dreamy attic space. We pulled carpet up in the dining room and the hardwood is there! Wooden columns leading into the living room. 10 ft. ceilings. A sunroom on the back off the kitchen seperated by a snack bar. 3 bedrooms. A full basement with a bedroom and living area. The funniest part is the basement. There is a hole in the middle of the floor for a toilet. That just cracked me up. At some point they must have had a flood down there because the bottom of the walls are gone. I wonder if the plumbing maybe cause the problem because the toilet is gone. I don't know but man did we laugh when we saw that hole. So I did get the second bathroom I wanted I just have to build it. 

 Thank you Lord for all of the blessings and everything you have given us with this house.