Jaxton

Oh Jax. I dont know that I even have words. Your mommy and daddy went through so much to bring you into our world. You came a little early and were a fighter even at that moment. Mommy wanted you so badly she risked it all. Nursing school and even life. You little man are worth every effort she put into you. The youngest of my crew and mommy's last. Set the world on fire like I know you will. I love you with everything I am. It's a bitter sweet moment to think that this very well could be my last grandchild. The close the line of legacy. I am in awe of this little guy. He looks exactly like Tristan. It is amazing how much. It's just like I am watching my first grandchild all over. But this is my last. Talk about mirror image. It is strange to say the least. Watching your kids bring kids into this world and watching\ it all spin around you. Oh the circle of life. I just thank God every day about 1000 times for all the wonderful blessings and giving me the opportunity to be here and see them.

Emma

Emma oh my spunky curly haired whirl wind. You came into our lives a little easier than your big sister but a little more stubborn. The doctor had to pull you out during the csection which was not very fun for mommy. But better than the awful issues mommy has had in the past. You are the 1 grandchild who doesnt miss a beat and lets us all know it. You are strong willed and full of compassion. Your empathy for others at your age astounds me. I love you with everything I am. Little did we know that you would be mommy's last baby. I think she ended with a grand finale. Life has a funny way about it. But in the end God has that plan. We do not know that plan. We do not like that plan sometimes. But in the end it always works out for the best.

Madelyn

Oh my Madelyn. You came into this world like a breeze on a world full of choas. Nice and easy without the issues of your brothers. Unfortunately I missed out on the first few years of your life. I watched you grow from afar. This beautiful spunky sparkle of a little girl who is going to be extremely strong. I love to hear you say "grama I love you". The look on your face when you are dumbfounded. You baby girl give me strength when my thoughts turn to you. I love you with everything I am. I see you in the thoughts and in my prayers. You have a strength that just shines baby girl. You have to to handle those brothers of yours. I can tell already you are going to achieve everything you set out to. You have the will drive and determination of a thousand warriors already. I am amazed by my granddaughters. But yet they do come from a long line of strong women.

It has been awhile

I did 'nt realize how long it has been since I've written in this blog. A ton has happened since.
Unfortunately Dave and I split after 9 years, We just simply gave up. Which is kind of strange for me. Considering I just simply don't usually give up. I think I just needed to be tired in one aspect of my life.
I have had 3 beautiful additions to my grandchildren. They make my life complete.  7 now. 7 beautiful babies. They are the reason I still function. They give me reason to go on. My legacy.
I am still trying to answer the question : Does my MS define me? I do not know. Maybe I never will.

Time to take a breath

I know I have said this before. We have been so busy I have not had the time to keep up on this blog. There are never enough hours in the day. Especially when you chase 2 little ones around all day.

We have had both sorrow and joy in these last few months. We lost our beloved Shiloh just a few days after Christmas. Some people do not realize how serious it is for your dog to eat chocolate. Depending on the chocolate and caffeine combination it can and will be deadly. I make a cookie bar every year for Christmas. The topping is a half of a bag of chocolate chips. Shiloh was 5 and for the last 5 years has never even attempted to get into the food on the tables or countertops. We left Christmas day to go to Dave's families house. When we got back she had gotten the cookie bars off the table and had some how gotten them open. We still do not know how she managed to unsnap the lid. A few days later we lost her to chocolate poisoning. Please everyone take this seriously. A dog at 30 pounds 3 oz of chocolate chips can be deadly. Combined with 16 mg of caffeine and it is deadly.

The joy we have had is the Grandkids. They are growing and getting so big. Every day they are learning something new. Sophie and Keegan started pre school this year. It was such a big step for Keegan. He actually started on time. And with every thing that he has, he should by all rights be far behind where a normal child his age is supposed to be. Tristan started first grade. Poor Bryson still has to stay home with Grama. But he will start pre school next year.

I have finished several furniture projects. We found a fabulous dining room set at the ReStore. I absolutely love that place.

A Simple Statement Turns Into Words of Wisdom

I love quotes. I do not have them all over the place or anything like that. But I do love them and think of them from time to time. I don't believe a quote is ever really intended to be a quote. I think most of the time they just become a quote because someone somewhere at some time read or heard it and held onto it. Then it gets passed down the line so to speak. A few days ago as I went through things on Facebook just to catch up, I caught something on my brother's page. And it stuck with me. I have been having a very trying and difficult time for the last few weeks. Apparently at the time he posted this he was also having a hard time. Now it was not meant to be inspiring to anyone else. Not meant for words of wisdom. Not meant to help someone else. Probably knowing my brother, it was a personal vent on top of being a personal reminder. But he helped me in a time of need. Without even knowing I would need that help. Here is the first part of his statement. "You know, days like today test my faith...very much so. I hope I pass the test. I try to remember to react with humility, put myself in other people's shoes, and to understand that it isn't about what others do or say. I can't control others, but I can control me and what I do." - James Davis. I am posting this here and on my Facebook page. Who knows, maybe just one other person could use this in a time of trouble and/or need.

Sleeping Beauty A Headboard Reborn

I received this little twin sized headboard when we picked up the old wooden windows. I fell in LOVE with this and immediately thought Bench!

She was broken and bruised but with wood glue and clamps I carefully put her back together.

I added 2 x 4's for the seat base. Pine boards for the seat. Mixed up chalk paint of course. Distressed and finished with Minwas Finishing Paste. Lovingly placed her in our entryway. And here she is with all the beauty that is her own.

She turned out better than I expected. 

I am linking up with

 

Wrapping Our Bed with White

The same couple who gave us the windows and doors also had some headboards they were throwing out. They had just purchased their house and the garage had to be taken down so everything inside was to go. I jumped all over all of this stuff.

This headboard was the one that caught Dave's eye first.

Oh the beautiful detail and curves.

Here she is all dressed in white and ready to wrap our bed in all her glory.

Of course I used white chalk paint on her. She argued with me so much to the point that I finally gave in to her. She is not a true white. More of an antique white. And would not stay smooth. After 4 coats of chalk paint I finally said Ok fine wear what you want. LOL. But the crackled look fits. Evidentally she did know better than I. 

I also mixed some Minwax Ebony Stain in with the finishing paste to make dark wax. I used it around the center design. I am not sure I like it at this point. Maybe I will decide on future projects. Who knows. I do like that it brought the detail out a little bit more though.

Old Wooden Windows Oh the Possibilities

I am loving this whole garage sale group thing on Facebook. I love to go and find good deals but in the heat it is just getting to hard with my MS. On top of watching the grandkids. On top of all of the projects I have going on. On top of the house. Wow when it is typed out, no wonder I am so tired!

Any way, A wonderful younger couple posted some old wooden windows for free on one of the boards. I jumped all over that. Here are a few of them.

The first thing I did was start breaking glass. The neighbors across the street thought someone over here was very mad about something. LOL. Dave had a lot of fun with that one. I googled some ideas with wooden window crafts and went from there. Here is the first project.

I simply screwed the window frames into each other. Easy as pie. I used some of the hardwood from the basement and made a shelf which I still need to cut. In the spring I will be putting flowers in containers inside. I am debating adding a "door" to the front. 

Here is another window that I have hung on the wall of our staircase going upstairs.

I hung pictures of my kids by white lace ribbon. I am still looking for the other pictures to hang on the bottom. But you get the general idea. 

Oh and did you see the doors in the background of the pictures of the windows? They also gave us those and I can't wait to get those beautiful babies in place. Dave and the neighbor put the screen door up I will post on that later.

The Transformation Of A Crib

My mom helped us out so much with the purchase of our house, the least I could do is to build her a bench.
I found an old crib on one of the Facebook garage sale groups I belong to for 1.00. Even better, cheap! I have seen so many posts on blogs and Pinterest about using a crib to build a bench. I thought this should be pretty easy. That is what I get for thinking. .....

The side rail was used for the back of the bench. The ends of the side rail are open so I screwed a 1 x 2 to each end to close it off.  I took one of the ends and cut it in half. Then screwed each side to the back rail. Using 2 x 4's I built  the seat base.And I used 2 x 4 pieces for the back legs. The first cabinet I made unfortunately fell apart when we moved it out of the bedroom so I used the pine boards from the top of that for the seat. Mixed up white chalk paint. Distressed it and finished with poly. The poly is because she isn't sure if she wants to put it outside or inside. 

It brought back several happy memories building this. My kids all used the same crib and it was just like this one. But I think this bench turned out beautifully and my Mom loves it.

Updating with Rustoleum Hammered Spray Paint

I love this spray paint. Rustoleum has a spray paint called Hammered. Kmart had it in 3 colors. I chose the dark brown. So far I have done an awful lot with it. We found these things at the Habitat ReStore. Have a mentioned I LOVE that place.....

Brass light switch covers.... .49 a piece!

Silver cupboard pulls..... .49 a piece!

The light fixtures were on sale. One was 2.50 the other was 4.99. I don't remember which was which. 

A few coats of spray paint and this is the result.

The do not look the same do they?

Here are the new pulls installed. The more we do to this house, the more I love it.

Handmade and Dressed in White

This little table was at the same little pawn shop down the road. Very pretty and just saying dress me in white. I forgot to get a before picture. I really wish I had too. Someone hand made this table. There is a sticker on the bottom with his name on it. But they painted a checker board on the top. Very nice idea but I had something else in mind.

I used the basic Menards white paint again. Only because I am trying to get rid of it. Distressed it. Finished it with the paste wax. I am in love with those legs. And what a pretty table. Once again we don't have the room so this also has to go. I am going to have a hard time doing this furniture thing at times. I would love to keep it all. But I also would like to have room to move in my house.

Beautifully Dressed up in Grey

We found this little table on one of our outings at a little pawn shop we didn't even know about. And it's just down the road.

See those beautiful curves. Well we had a light grey paint so again I mixed up chalk paint and had at it. This one I gave the normal 2 coats. It's from Valspar Summer Collection. Sorry before I thought about it we threw the container away. 

Dave has been thinking about trying this furniture painting. He started it and gave it the first coat. But with his shoulders and neck he had a really hard time with it. So I finished it up.

My family keeps laughing at me. I don't know that the house is big enough for all of this stuff. So alas she must go. But man am I having fun with this. The search and find are the best parts.

Kitchen Cabinet Repurposed Into a TV Stand

When we bought the house the kitchen cabinets were nice just not what we wanted. We bought oak cabinets from Menards a few years ago and brought them with us. So when we took them down I thought I would use them for other things. Here is one of the cupboards before I revised it.

Our bedroom is kind of small but just the right size for just the 2 of us. I wanted something to match the dresser for the tv. So I took white paint and mixed up some chalk paint. The white is just a Menards brand that was premixed. Definately not a paint I recommend. I have had such a hard time with it. 

Any way. I removed the door and took the center panel out. My grandson Bryson helped me. He is so funny. He said "aww grama broke that". Then I put chicken wire in the center of the doors. 

I painted the cupboard with the white chalk paint. Added a shelf to the top door. Turned the doors around. And here is the finished product. I think it is so cute.

Here it is in the bedroom next to the dresser I redid a few weeks ago.

I am still looking for the baskets to put in the top drawer area of the dresser. But they look so good together. The house is really coming along. We have been having so much fun putting it together. Now to decide on paint colors.