Project 2 & decorating for Christmas

We have a tradition that the tree is decorated by everyone in the family.

Over the years I've received resistance and declarations of observing instead of participating.

But even though there is grumbling (by those who've out gown it), I continue to hand an ornament with a hook to the nearest body.  I love that we do it as a family and at least are in the same room together while creating such an iconic symbol of the season.  Eventually though, I'm usually left to put on those last remaining decorations.   Now, the tree has become a finishing touch to all the work I've done in our formal living room: project 2.

Remember project 1 was putting light in the garage.

The next step was to bring the books from the garage into the house, thus the need for bookcases.  The idea came after our trip to Lake Arrowhead.  I wanted the room to feel more cozy like the ones we saw there.  It's such a large room with lots of wall space.  

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  

The process made for quite the mess for a few days.  There was stuff everywhere.

Although I swore off particle board, there aren't any solid wood shelves to be had.
So I found some with wood veneer at Ikea, the Billy bookcase.
It's much more sturdy than those at the other big box stores.
I did it all myself with the help of Matthew.

I read a blog where the Billy was made to look like a built-in.
I would love to do it, but we are just renting.
See how they did it here.

I actually feel grown up to have bookcases that aren't crammed with every book in the house.
With so many people in the house, we have collected a lot but have usually stored them  for efficiency not beauty.
To make them look better, I took the book jacket off each book.  I love the bindings and the gold lettering.
It's got a good start.

On the opposite wall, I finally put up the tapestry that my mother gave us many years ago.

I got this pretty little table recently from my friend who didn't want it anymore.

This lovely angel was made by my sister Julie many years ago.
She goes up every year.

My sister-in-law, Tammy, made the sign with changeable holidays, I painted the cardboard "W" from JoAnn's, the star's from Home Goods and the angel from Good Will.  I love a good find.

 

More projects to come . . .

adding inexpensive lights to the garage

The last couple of weeks, I've kinda slowed on my blogging.

I needed to shift gears a little to focus a little more on my home and family.

During this time I was able to get a few projects done that I've been mulling over in my mind

for a long time now.  The time and means were available 

so I jumped at the opportunity.

The first project was small and simple but it was necessary to complete for the 

rest of the projects depended on it.  You know, one room overlaps into the next kind of thing.

It all started in the garage.  

We need room in the garage for food storage and our queen mattress because we were getting a king!

The problem is that all our books were taking up space in the garage waiting for a bookcase.

Plus the fact that everything else is being stored in there but we can't see a thing.

There is only one light right next to the door.

This light.

It's not much. As a matter of fact, it lights so little that the kids are scared to go in there.

They just toss things in the general direction they are supposed to be in or they leave the refrigerator door open to light their way back to the exit, thus ruining the food inside.

This is how it looks.

We actually had an electrician price what a new outlet would be and it was like $500.

Really?!

So I read somewhere that you can turn a socket into a plug with this cool gadget.  It allows you to use a plug and a lightbulb at the same time.

But it has two holes and I needed it to fit an extension cord that has three prongs 

(two prong has two holes, three prong has three, logical).

That's where this came in.

Put together, you get this:

Plug in the extensions . . .

then hook them up to inexpensive  shop lights from Lowe's for $15 each.

Now we can see our mess that needs to be cleaned and organized.

Comparison: $500+ or $35

We've got a good start! 

On to the next project, bookshelves . . .

My smile makers

Forsythias are in bloom.  The one on the left is my bush in partial shade.  The leaves are turning green already.  The one on the right is my neighbor's (notice fence) in full sun.  Gorgeous!

 Out with the old and in the with the new.  For those of you who have been to our house in the last several months, you'll remember that our front porch light didn't work.  It kept shorting out so we stopped bothering changing the bulbs.  Enough's enough.  I picked out quaint new lights that Joseph liked much better once they were on the house.  Now if you come to see us, we can see you!



Found a cute little "wreath vase" made of small little glass vases attached in
a circle at the antique store.  Don't know if it's old but sure is interesting.



Our "popcorn" wreath vase.

A week in a blur

Okay, I'm determined to get a blog done.  Every night I read my emails and blogs that I follow thru blurry eyes, then I go to my blog to write about the day and my brain is blurry.  So I'm doing this morning before the day gets really busy.  Since I have a lot of events to cover, I'll just skim.

• Mon--New kitchen counters!!  The pictures are all I need to say. 

Before: 70's red, I made the island myself.  That's plywood for the counter.

Cast iron and uneven sides, hated it!

The deepest I could find, new faucet, and even!

After:  Lost my island overhang but I love the changes!

• Thurs--Opened the door to let in a young girl who was going to mutual with us that night, when a bird flew in the house.  As I started to yell for Jacob to come and catch it before it got too far, the cat came charging thru the front door, up the stairs and caught the bird in its mouth.  I was really yelling at this point, imagining blood and feathers all over the house.  Kitty politely walked back outside.  I entered the kitchen to find the kids laughing and Abi with a horrified look on her face.
• Fri--cleaning for parents arrival and plumber finishing week long repairs on our three 70's bathrooms.  Great man, very thorough.  Finally, we are fully functioning!!  Mom and Dad arrive just as he finishes! Yea! :)
• Sat--fully loaded day (what's new?) : piano recital, robotics club, boy scouts camp out, cross country banquet, school play 
  

  

  Jacob is one of the captains of the team.

  



After the recital (no flashes allowed during performance)  Did a beautiful job!




Jacob's the old conniving butler.  Very convincing!

• Sunday--day of rest! and a beautiful musical fireside about the Savior
• Mon-Mine and hubby's 24th anniversary!!  When I'm with him, it's just like it was yesterday that we were married.  The kids in the room remind us differently.  We gave each other our favorite candy.  We just laughed since we are both trying to each healthy.  We actually celebrated our anniversary in Ashville a few weeks ago.  FHE that night was fiasco.  Dad was at a board meeting and Sarah at work, the others were full of sarcasm towards each other which made teaching friendship all the harder.  I lost the Spirit so I just ended the lesson (not the best end of the day).

• Tues--Molly had surgery on her knee and decided she didn't like the kennel the doc kept her in.  She tore up every towel they gave her.  Instead of staying overnight, we had to pick her up early.  She has to stay somewhat immobile for about a month, ugh!  Mom and Dad helped me make some lighting changes in the house.  The girls are thrilled they will actually have light in their room.

The girls' airplane fan & grandma (Mom).

Much better!

Grandpa helping with our new sensor lights.

Yuck!

Yea!!

Now I'm off to go shopping.  I hope the crowds haven't started yet!