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.

Radio Silence

We wanted to give you a little heads up on what is going on around here.

I know that I have some new readers that may not know that my dad passed away this past December.

It has been a rough 10 months.

You can read about it here, here, and here.

Actually, dad's death it is what got me the courage to start all these DIY projects. I haven't really been able to mourn since I have two crazy boys to take care of. The projects have giving me a chance to...escape reality.

Anyways, on Sunday I will be starting a trip to head toward the Dominican Republic. In LaRepresa my dad's church will be dedicating a wing of a school that they build in his honor.

Why a wing of a school in the Dominican Republic? Well on the day of dad's death the pastor and other ministers were at the school discussing adding a wing to the school. They wanted to do something to honor my dad and thought it appropriate to name the wing after him.

Here is a link from the church where I could find a little bit of info on the school.

I would appreciate your prayers. This will be an emotional trip for me, my mom, and brothers. Plus my Mother in law will be flying in to help Mr. Genius to hold down the fort. They will need your prayers too.

With all that said, I will be get back to making projects when I return.

That, you can definitely count on.

Before I sign off, I wanted to show you some pictures of the boys from today.

I bought their Halloween costumes and they are absolutely thrilled to be Batman and Robin.

So thrilled that they will not take the dern things off.

But then again, I can't really complain because they totally crack me up with them on.

But I do wonder if I should work on their manliness. Maybe it is a good thing that I will be leaving for a little while so they can learn to be a little more macho.

This is what I got when I said...Show me how tough and strong you are.

Then I said...Show me your muscles!

Well, atleast they are cute.