The China Cabinet

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Happy Halloween!!!!

Did you all have fun trick or treating?

We sure did!

We got soooooo much candy.

Yesterday Wild Man reminded me about what we did last year with all our candy by asking if we will give him another toy if he turns in all his candy again this year.

I completely forgot what smart parents we were last year!

Gooo me!

So yep, tomorrow all the boys candy will go into the abyss of Mr. Genius' office and the boys will get a new toy...that I have hidden somewhere in my closet. Which is where I hid my bottom dollar clearanced toys.


Anywho, Remember this China Cabinet?

When I first got this FREE cabinet it was painted white a looooooong time ago and then they must have brushed polyurethane over the white. Because it had yellowed. It is hard to see in the picture, but when you got close to it. It looked like they had brushed a yellow glaze all over this beautiful cabinet..Yuck!

Then it was randomly painted black on two squares on the feet and between the two doors.

Cuz maybe that made you not notice the weird yellow glaze all over the cabinet.

Whatev..

Then of course there wasn't any glass in the doors.

Other then that, it was in great shape!

I loved the survey and seeing everyone's opinions! With 33% saying that I needed to paint it another color other then white and blue. I was looking forward to painting it black, or a mint green, or even a light yellow!

How fun would have that been?!

Then a girl named Julia found my blog...and she snagged it.

Smart girl. After she contacted me, not 5 other people contacted me wanting to buy the cabinet. But who can blame them...I wanted to keep it myself.

So thank you all for participating in my survey, but I do abide by one rule...

Whoever pays me the money gets to pick the color. ;)

Does that make me a sell out?

Probably.

Oh well.

Julia picked an antique white with glaze and then a fun paper on the back of the cabinet.

I LOOOOOVE this piece! Seriously, it was so much fun doing.

So here is the baby all finished.

Isn't she BEaUtiFUL?!

I was able to get glass in the doors for really cheap! Like cut and installed for $35! Sandra from Sawdust and paperscraps pointed me in the right direction for where to go for that. Thanks Sandra!

I love all the details of this cabinet. I sanded her down before painting, but it is really hard to make it smooth. But I actually like how chippy it make it!

Then of course there is the fun paper on the back of the cabinet.

Julia got these precious knobs from none other then anthroplogie. Does anything ugly come from that store?

Don't you like my messy garage and rotting pumpkin in the background?

Just keeping it realz people. But doesn't the pretty cabinet cancel out the ugly in the background?

I will be posting to these parties.

Cedar Chest and/or bench

I am so excited to show you the bench I just finished!

Sometimes I wish I could keep all this furniture I am painting. But the goal is to be debt free and have a lot in savings.

I just tell myself that one day I will find another one and I can keep it to make me feel better.

I have showed you all what the bench looked like when I got it, and here it is again.

I didn't have to sand it down much since it was already raw wood or really veneer on top.

Some of the veneer was peeling and I just used Gorilla wood glue to glue it.

The gorilla glue bottle is actually has a multi purpose to it. Not only does it hold great wood glue inside of it that holds the wood together great, but it also serves as a holder downer (yep, that is the technical term). Once you place the glue under the veneer and need something to hold it down. You just place your glue bottle on top. :)

Thanks Gorilla glue!

Once I glued the top then i painted it the lovely haylcon Green color.

Why not one of the other blues I just got for free?

I don't know. I just felt like this piece needed to a little more punch of color to make a statement. 

So here it is with the Halycon Green color.

Eeek. Isn't it so cute?

Then I glazed it to show off the details.

And here is the finished product!

How cute is that?!!!!

I would love to use this to sit on this winter while I am putting on my winter boots and it can hold all the jackets, coats, gloves, and scarves in its chest.

A perfect cedar chest inside.

Then beautiful details on the outside.

So Chicagolanders, if you want this bench you better decide quick or I am going to find a place in my house.

I am posting to these parties.

Birthday Party

A week ago today, we had the boys birthday party.

Boy I have gotten a little behind on blogging...sorry guys.

If you are fairly new to reading my blog you should know that I do my boys birthday party together. It is just easier. Their birthdays are a month apart with Romeo's the day after Halloween and Wild Man's 3 days before Christmas.

So yes, I realize we are two months away for Wild Man's birthday, but with all the presents and Christmas parties going around that time of year it is hard to squeeze in a party to celebrate Wild Man in the middle of it.

Last year we had the boys party the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It is a great last memory with dad.

Because the day that I posted about the boy's party last year was dad's last day here on earth.

But that isn't really what I wanted to talk about today.

I really wanted to talk about the party.

Wild Man asked for a party outside with his friends. Luckily Romeo doesn't care yet.

Due to Chicago's winter weather outside parties ruled out November and December.

So we decided on October.

And I think we had some of the best weather we could have asked for. It was a great fall afternoon.

We had the party at a farm where there was lots to entertain the kids. Wild Man wanted a super hero party. I didn't know how to plan that, so I just asked the kids to come in their Halloween costumes.

As much as I would love to have a party at home where I would have many activities for the kids....I am just too lazy to come up with all that. So I have a party at places where all I have to do is bring the cake, party favors, and the kids.

The boys were so excited about the party that when they first got up they wouldn't eat much breakfast.

Now for my boys that is VERY unusual. Romeo wakes up early every morning asking for cereal. Then he proceeds to eat 2 to 3 bowls of cereal.

On this morning he ate half a bowl of cereal.

Later on we got to see the effects off too much birthday happiness and not enough food in stomach.

We took a hay ride over to the pumpkin patch where we got the kids out to take a picture.

Look for Romeo...

He refused to turn around.

But I have to give the child credit for not throwing a fit or screaming. He just stood there with his back to us.

Even when he is being defiant...he makes me smile. :)


After all, that is the cutest little back of a head in the picture. :)

We got back on the hay ride and went back and had cake. Romeo ate 3 pieces of cake. Then all was right with the world and we were on a sugar high that lasted 2 days.

I also want to point out how good God has been to us.

Almost a year and a half ago we moved up here not knowing a single person here. Then at the party we had 33 people that I now consider pretty close friends. Thank you Lord!

We have fall decor!

My mom is here to visit because we had the boy's birthday party on Saturday. (I will tell you more about that tomorrow).

But I think a part of her reasoning to come up was because I was partaking in a family sin.

The you must always decorate for Fall or you will be struck by lightning sin.

The first free minute we have had, mom went down to my basement and pulled out my fall and halloween decorations.

Aren't mom's grand?


So here is my new mantel.

It is simple, but to the point.

I made the pumpkin topiaries about 2 years ago...pre blogging and when they were all over blog land.

They are really easy to make. Just 3 pumpkins. With the bottom two upside down and then tear apart a fall leaf garland and hot glue it any way your heart desires.

Got to use my chalkboard rocks.

And a haunted house that I got last year during an after Halloween sale.

Then mom just stuck fall leaves randomly through out the house.

Now I see I could have decorated for fall much earlier and it would have only taken 20 minutes.

Oh well I will need to remember that for next year.

Oops... I did it again

Apparently project "Clean out the garage so one can park away from the snow"....isn't going so well.

Guess what I picked up.

A antique china cabinet.

I know, I know. I have no self control. But I swear I have a very good excuse for getting it.

Well two good excuses.

It is gorgeous. And it was free!!!

I don't know what is going on around here. But people are giving away great stuff for free.

You know, now that I think about it. Maybe they are trying to clean out their garages so they can park in them.

Hum...sounds like a good idea.

Oh well.

But here is the cabinet.

I think my heart skipped a beat when I first saw it.

There isn't any glass, which is why they thought they needed to give it away for free.

What ever floats your boat man.

Well I am sure you can guess what I am going to do with the doors.

I figured I will also put beadboard wallpaper on the back of the inside of the cabinet too.

Since I have a sickness and think that all back of cabinets need beadboard on them.

But the color...I just can't make up my mind.

So I thought I would let you all decide.

After all I do have the best readers in blogland. :)

To get to the poll click here and it will take you right there.

My choices are a combination of white and the blue/grey that I just painted the dresser.

But please leave a comment if you have another color in mind!

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

A Blue/Grey Dresser

For those of you that love blue I will be having A LOT of blue projects coming up.

But I have to share with you why there will be some more blue projects.

Look at what I have...

To you, this may just seem like a lot of paint cans.

But to me it is my version of winning the lottery.

That is because I got all 7 of those cans of paint for.....FREE!!!!!!

Some couple that lives in my area couldn't make up their mind on paint colors and bought 3 gallons of two different colors of paint...and didn't like either one.

So they gave away all the cans and threw in a brand new gallon of white paint too!!!

There is a lesson here folks.

Never buy multiple gallons of paint until you are sure of the paint color.

But tell others to buy all the paint they want and then you may get some for free. ;)

The two colors I got are Misty Morn and Ozone from Behr.

Ozone is a blue color with a little grey and Misty Morn is a grey color with a little blue. Both are pretty colors.

So I am sure you can guess that I painted this dresser with one of those colors.

So now the dresser looks like this.

Since I am not a pro at editing photos to show off the great color. You can't really see the awesome color. I actually painted this one with the Ozone color.

Do you know how much more fun it is to paint something with free paint?

May you experience it too.

I am linking to these parties.

I couldn't help myself

Remember how I told you that I am working really hard to clear out my garage before the impending winter?

After all it was just two days ago when I posted that.

When one is trying finish what is already started and not add anymore, one should really not look on Craigslist.

Because one will find a beautiful chest that will call one's name and one would not be able to do anything else until it is in one's possession.

Just take a look for yourself.

The top opens and inside is a perfect cedar chest!!!

I LOVE this piece.

But I actually have made some progress on the project "Be able to park in the garage again".

I am just about finished with this dresser.

This one has got a story too, but I will save it for when I show you the finished product.

On a side note I would like to give a little warning out to Southwest Airlines.

Dear Southwest,

There is a lady named JJ that is relying on you to get her up here to see her two grandsons. She hasn't seen them since the 4th of July. If you would not like your head bitten right off your body, it would be in your best interest to not delay her flight again.

Thank you

Why no Fall Y'all

There are some amazing and beautiful fall and Halloween projects out there in blogland right now.

I mean just look at this beautiful and simple mantel that the nester made.

And this candelabra that Sandra at sawdust and paperscraps made...

Aren't they just beautiful!

I love fall, it is my favorite season of the year. I love fall colors, fall decor, fall clothes, heck even fall food.

I was really planning on getting all decored out for fall this year.

But I have a problem...

It is like a big cloud of doom that is looming over me.

It is called winter.

But what does that have to do with fall? you may ask.

Well you see the problem is that this is my garage right now.

And that is my van out in the driveway that I would love to park in the garage.

I am really working on getting these furniture pieces painted and sold before my driveway looks like this again.

To all the readers that live more south then me. Mr. Genius is using a snowblower in the picture.

And contrary to my belief, it does not in any way resemble a leaf blower...and it is about double the cost.

So that is why the only fall decor in my house is this...

Next year I hope to be more on top of things and be able to actually do some fall decor around here.

Do you forgive me? :)

A red desk

I have told you before that I love red.

Yes, I do realize that there are some people out there in the world that do not love red as much as I do.

What can I say, not every one's perfect. ;)

I got so many emails about this table.

Which I ended up selling to a friend of mine. Thanks Michelle!

Michelle's daughter came home and saw the table then asked her mom where she got the rocking table.

I do realize that I am past the cool age, but still feels good when you get props from the little cool people.

Is props even a cool word anymore?

So anyways, with so many emails about the table, I decided to paint that desk I got for free on craigslist a red facelift too.

So remember it started by looking like this.

This sad desk has been sitting in my garage since July. I just couldn't put my finger on exactly what I wanted to do with it.

And here is what it looks like now!

I painted it the exact same way as the red accent table, but with the lighting it looks a little orangey red to me. Almost like a paprika color.

But promise in person it is red.

So just to recap, I painted it with the candy apple red spray paint, then I glazed it with Ralph Lauren glaze that was tinted tea stain but I added some graphite colored paint to the glaze.

I love the little button tops. They add a little detail that I like.

The hardware is actually from another desk I have. I just spray painted them black.

I also like that the wood is separated on the side. It gives it a little personality.

There you go people another red table.

To those that do not love red as much as me. I am moving away from the red I am already starting to work on some other pieces and red is not even on my radar. But if you are not a blue person either. Then... I am sorry.


I am selling the desk for $100.

I am linking to these parties.

It is good to be back

I made it back!

I got back on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. And I have pretty much been a sleepy zombie since I got home.

First of all I want to thank you all for your sweet comments and prayers with this trip. They really meant a lot to me.

As soon as I got back I wanted to update you all on how the trip went, but I was stuck.

I couldn't even tell Mr. Genius about the trip. I just didn't know what to say about it and when I did try to talk about it I would just cry.

I couldn't put into words how I felt about the trip.

Then it hit me today. I think I am mad. I didn't want to go on a trip like this to honor the life of my dad. I just want my dad back and keep enjoying life with him.

Also I am sad that this was our first trip with out dad. And dad LOVED missions. He would have eaten up every bit of this trip. I could just see him running around with the kids and completely embarrassing me by trying to pretend he knew Spanish.

Then on the other hand, I feel that I am a grown woman...why am I so emotional about my dad? After all, I haven't lived under the same roof as him in 14 years.

With that said. I don't really know how to explain how the trip went.

Both my brothers and I felt weird that we were on a "mission trip" yet we weren't doing any missions...i.e. building a house, painting, doing bible school. The stuff we are use to doing when we go on mission trips.

There was a group from the church that was doing a mission work.

They helped the community of LaRepresa build a tilapia pond. For them to eat from and sell to make money.

They also helped paint the church that a previous group helped to build.

painting the primer

So we felt a little awkward being with the people that are working...and we didn't bring the clothes to work. My brothers did help a little with the painting, but since 90% of my clothes have paint on them and I only brought the 10% that do not have paint on them. I was being a little protective of the clothes that I was wearing to not actually ruin my last bit of "good" clothes.

The first thing that I noticed about the Dominican was how crazy hot it is there. I am talking 90 degrees with 90-100% humidity.

STEAMY AND HOT!

The next thing I noticed after we got in contact with our Dominican guide is how crazy they drive there.

Nelson (our guide) said this about Dominican drivers:

 We know that they put lines on the road to try and keep us organized...

but we just look at them as a suggestion...

along with stop lights.

You would not believe how fast they would turn a two lane road into a four lane road.

I meant to take more pictures of the crazy drivers there, but I was too busy trying to cover my eyes so I wouldn't scream.

I will say that we didn't see one accident while we were there. So what ever they are doing, it works...for them.

Oh and they can fit a whole family on a motorcycle.

Yes that is a baby on a motorcycle. 

The most we saw on one motorcycle was 4 people. Nelson, our guide, says that he has seen 6 on one before. 

These people are very resourceful.

Another thing I noticed about this country is that they are very colorful. I LOVED this.

Just look at these houses.

  a market in LaRepresa

Aren't the colors just so fun.

The colors are amazing but I can't look past the fact that we are so blessed in America. 

We have running water in our homes, we have refrigerators, goodness we have air conditioners!!!

Later on in the day the school had the celebration of dedicating the new wing of the building to dad. 

It was really sweet and I was so glad to be there. 

Here are some pictures of the school.

To the right, is the school.

The blue wall is the barrier of the school, the big black barrel is the water. 

I will tell you more about the water there in a minute.

When you walk through the gate, here is the mural that you see.

The picture of the house that is on top of the mural is what the school looked like before. That little one room house, for all these kids. 

Again with the colorfulness.

The ceremony was a big deal for the little town. They even closed school for the day for the preparations.

These are teachers that are making the cake in a classroom.

The room where they held the ceremony had us packed like sardines.

But the kids sat so good.

You can just tell at even there tender ages that they are just so thankful to be able to go to school.

Here is the plague that will be hung up for my dad.

I think you can click on any of these pictures and it will blow up so you can read it. Oh and for those of us that slept through Spanish class (guilty as charged) ...it is in English on the bottom half. 

During the ceremony, the kids were so cute. With each passing minute the kids would inch themselves closer and closer to the cake that was awaiting them at the end.

But who could blame them, the cake was HUGE.

The bottom consisted of 6 half sheets of a cake and the of course the two top layers.

All the flowers were sugar. They did such a great job.

Afterwards everyone played outside while they were waiting for their cake.

Since this was hurricane season, they would get a little relief from the heat when a rain storm would come through. 

And because these wonderful people are so resourceful, even at a young age. 

Two kids just took off their clothes and took a shower in the rain.

LaRepresa is in the mountains just outside of Santo Domingo.

We stayed in Santo Domingo. 

On Wednesday morning we walked around one of the communities there.

Amazing! That is all I can say. Amazing!

I could not believe how many people can live in such a small area.

This man is filling his washing machine up with water.

See what things we take for granted here?

That is a broom that they made. See? Blessed.

Now I want to show you the water. Here is a stream that runs through the city of Santo Domingo. When it rains the stream gets really big and is rushing down between the houses. So the people through their trash into the water to get it out of their house.

Now I see why we were told to not drink the water. 

And I felt totally gross about taking a shower with this water. 

One thing that I am glad about it that my mom, my brothers, and I had a great time together. It was fun to get away from our kids and it be just us.

But we really did have a great time together.

Aren't they cute?

There was a lot of turtles outside our hotel

I know that this is a really long post and there were a lot of pictures. Thank you for letting me share this experience with you all. 

Hug your dads for me.

Disclaimer: All the pictures that you see that are actually good pictures were taken by my brother Andrew.

He is the photographer of the family.