Paint Booth and Organized Workshop

Hello, all. 

I think I am back for some blogging.  School is out for the summer in our school district. I have spent the last two months substituting for a math teacher on maternity leave.  I'm happy to be able to sleep in. (Of course I still awake at 5:30 every morning and the sun is streaming in so it's difficult to get back to sleep.  I need blackout curtains!)

Now that we are moved in to our new house (rental) we have spent some time cleaning the garage.  The property we are on has ten acres, but Farmer John rents that so we don't have to deal with that, except for the dust when he plows.  

There is a four tractor farm garage on the property and we do have one section of that. We've turned it into a storage unit for our sons belongings (he is currently serving in Operation Enduring Freedom) and a workshop for me to refinish garage sale furniture.

Husband made a painting booth for me!

I finally got a chance to use the paint sprayer Husband gave me for Christmas!  I'll show that later when I get those black chairs finished. And the dining table they go with.

Here's a view down the length of the room.

Paint supplies on the right, Christmas in the middle, and yard care stuff on the left.  You can see our huge stack of used boxes in the back.  We saved those for the next move. We are only here for a year or two.

Stack of Son's belongings plus more furniture to refinish. 

Thanks for taking a quick look at our new digs.  I have been having fun painting chairs and a table and bedside tables.

Blessings, 

Jeannine

Super Busy the Last Three Months

I have been extremely busy the last three months! We spent February and March packing and moving into our new rental home.  Then we spent all of April unpacking. All the while Husband was coaching baseball and doing his missionary job and teaching, and I was teaching as well.

We were also spending time driving to southern California to see our future son-in-law play his last year of college ball.  While we were at the last game of the year, our son walked up and surprised us!  He was home on leave from his deployment and we had no clue.  We were so surprised!

Daughter's birthday is this week.

This week is graduation for Son-in-Law and Daughter, two different colleges.

And we have put a ton of miles on my poor little Jeep!  I love this vehicle.

Tomorrow we pick up Daughter's stuff from college. Next week is high school finals and then I am out for the summer.  I promise to get back to blogging.  I have lots of pictures of the new house.

And did I mention the wedding rushing toward us in September?

Have a blessed Memorial Day and please pray for our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, and Airmen serving in Afghanistan.

Blessings,

Jeannine

Still in Moving Process

I have not posted in a month!

Sorry.

I've been busy working, packing, planning my daughter's wedding.

This will be the new guest room/craft room.

Backside, former tenant hasn't removed all her things.

Kitchen.

Here's a dilemma: All of my stuff is black and white or green.

This kitchen has pale blue tile counters and back splash! I don't do blue!

What am I to do?  Any suggestions?  Keep to the black and white theme?  The floor looks tan but is actually toward the pink side.

Blessings,

Jeannine

Packing Assembled Lego Sets

Since we are moving in three months, I decided to continue the process in my son's room.  He is 23 but currently deployed so he is not in any need of these items, just yet!

He loves putting together the Lego sets. They have been sitting around collecting dust but since I have the time I took special care with them.

After Christmas I purchased 30  10-sheet packs of tissue paper for ten cents each. I scrunched up sheets to pad between any spaces between sections. On Mater I placed a scrunched sheet between the cab and bed of the piece, wrapped the tow hitch area and smooshed a piece between the tires underneath.  Then I completely wrapped up the entire piece in three or four sheets.

The Millenium Falcon took even more special care.  I first removed its four tiny, little, spindly feet. They would have snapped off or broken.

I then nestled it down into a box filled with packing material left from a gift.  I removed the lid as the box wasn't tall enough to close its lid safely.

This box went down inside a toter type box. More packing material was placed over the top.

I then cut cardboard and created a shelf over this. The rest of the Legos were also padded and wrapped in the tissue paper. They were placed on top. Lots of tissue paper was used.

This ship (Rebel Blockade Runner?) had to have a lot of extra tissue paper throughout.  It also went into its very own box.  The large box from large dog size Milkbone Dog Biscuits worked perfectly.  And more tissue was stuffed down inside that as well.

I hope this helps in guiding you through your own Lego packing logistics.  I'll let you know in several months if I was completely successful.

May the Force be with You,

Jeannine

Published Aprons!

I am published again in Stampington's Apron*ology Magazine!  It comes out February First and should be available the whole year. I find copies at Joann's and at Barnes & Noble. It should be at craft stores as well.

My son is deployed with the Army as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. We were going to a "Yellow Ribbon" event before he deployed and they gave us all little flag pins and yellow ribbons.  It reminded me of all the yellow ribbons we sold at Fabricland-way back in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm.

At that time my son was three.  I had no idea he would be involved in an ongoing version of the same war.

However, he has chosen this as his career.

And because of it, he has had several pairs of trousers completely wear out.  I couldn't sew up the crotch again! So I took them and made aprons.

This one with the two layers is called "Duty". That is one of the US Army values.  I used cotton for the yellow and the lower part of the trousers.

This half apron is the upper part of the same leg. I call it "Loyalty."  I like to use the pieces just as they are to preserve the entire look. I used the yellow to completely bind the three edges. The waist tie is threaded through the belt loops and I re-purposed the buttons at the edges.

Do you remember the John Wayne Movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon? Love the cavalry!  Anyway, this apron is "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." I used the upper and lower part of the second leg. 

These aprons do have some stains as they have been in use for five years. Authentic! But they will last through many washings.

Check these out in the magazine and in my etsy shop.

Ombre Pink Dresser

This adorable little dresser is one we found at a citywide garage sale.  I wrote about it here.

Husband finished it about two weeks ago but I haven't had the chance to post about it yet.

It is only 25 inches tall.  It has three drawers in the middle and two on each side.  He wanted to paint the dresser because it was a blah color.

It is solid wood and very heavy.  It only cost us $15.

He did some stripping but ultimately just used the deglosser.

 We bought two sample size paints and one quart.  We had white on hand.  The pinks are, from lightest to darkest, Primrose Garden, Bridesmaid, and Dragon Fruit. They are Behr is eggshell finish.

The white is Marshmallow.

He tried the original handles but didn't like them, too old fashioned.  These were $3.49 each and look much brighter and cheerier!

This little dresser is for sale! As are these two.  I have gotten tons of repins of these on Pinterest!

I still have both of these dressers and they are for sale.

Blessings, 

Jeannine

Packing and Moving

Big News!  

Husband and I have decided to move! We are tired of the two story tract house we have been in for the past 8 years.  It is time to move on. We have even lived in the same town for 21 years (I include the 3 years we lived in the Middle East, as we had our "roots" here.)

We will be moving to a one story house in the next town over, about a ten mile drive East.

So in the meantime, I have started packing.  We started with the china cabinet and the close to 100 tea cup sets as we want to paint the china cabinet before we move in March or April.

This is one of my favorites.  I will be posting pics of tea cups randomly because I photographed all of them!

Wish me luck!

Blessings,

Jeannine