Grams

EASTER DRESSES

2011-04-27T09:08:00.001-06:00

Although I am finding it increasingly hard to sew, I decided that this year I would go for it and make some dresses for the grand-girls to wear to church.

A couple of months ago I found some fabric at WalMart for $1.50 a yard so I gobbled it up and this is what I ended up with…

Very simple dresses…

With little crocheted shrugs…

Even one for the littlest one…

I didn’t get pictures yet of all of them in their dresses but here are a few…

And then of course things wouldn’t be normal without them being goofy…

That’s how we roll.

SPRING PART 2

2011-04-12T10:58:00.001-06:00

“I looked o’re the fence and what did I see?

One little horsie in the field behind me!”

(Sing it to “Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree”)

This little one was born yesterday morning in the field behind us….

Isn’t it cute?

It was this one’s turn for a sleep-over…

So I woke her up to come see…

We got some carrots from the fridge and tried to coax them over…

Didn’t work. I guess we’ll try taking them over there…

Here horsie, horsie, horsie….

I’ve got a treat for you…

Grams, they won’t come…

Come back Aubrey, I miss you…

That was fun…

Ooooops…

I think I stepped in something…

Better clean it off…

Well at least the other horse will eat them…

That’s cause for celebration…

Breakfast at our favorite “Star Cafe”…

I sent a text to tell my girls about the wondrous occasion and this was Emma’s response…

I’m a Gramsneigh!!!!

SPRING

2011-04-11T08:53:00.001-06:00

When it’s spring break and you are visiting Grams and this is happening…

You sew…

Pillow Cases…

You go and visit MIMI SUE at the store she works at and try on dresses without even taking off your levis and t-shirt….

Then your cousin comes over and you make a bunch of these…

And then you take them outside and do this…

It was fun and one can always dream of warm and sunny days….

HOW MANY THINGS CAN YOU FIND?

2011-04-09T12:57:00.002-06:00

It’s snowing and snowing and snowing and once again I have been told to do nothing but rest with my foot up so I am bored.
Want to play a game?
This is my coffee table that I am sitting in front of and wondering why there are so many different things on it…

I gave myself a good chuckle when I started to think about it. (Yes I am very bored!!)

Can you find all these things?
A cockroach, Barbie and accessories, instructions for Paintastics, notes I took from LDS conference, a Rubik’s cube, binoculars, a Church magazine, iPhone cord, thumb drive, wallet, book I wrote on my parent’s lives, Uu-Gi-Oh pinball game, stop sign, current crochet project, toy cannon my husband made while he is in Iraq, medical supplies for wound du jour, antibiotics for same wound du jour, receipt from Wal-Mart, iPad, iPhone, remote control, coupons for a cheap haircut, other coupons including ½ price entrée at Marie Callender’s (YUMMM), cub scout binder, bills , crochet magazine, hymn book, empty water bottle , bear bells bought in Glacier park many years ago, acute butterfly glass, an English 5 pence coin found in a taxi cab in Yemen, a watch, an egg cup, some Easter decorations, my Bible, cute note cards with the letter “J” on them given to me by my friend Sue, New Testament Study Guide, sewing pattern, Hymns I selected for this coming Sunday, scissors, ear jack extender, red pen, numerous fingerprints, lots of dust and bottom of the shoe scrapings from those of us who put our shoes up on it.
These pictures might help…

Oh and why, you may ask am I sitting here with nothing better to do? It is because of this…

A nice little sliver that I got in my leg when I was just innocently walking by my garden border. It just jumped out of the wood and imbedded itself deep in my leg. I tried to pull it out but I guess I didn’t get all of it because after two days the area around it got all red and hot. I went to the doctor and he had to cut it open and pull it out and it was full of puss and all sorts of yummy stuff.
So now I have to clean it twice a day and pack it and keep it up.
If you love to see gross and disgusting things you can go HERE to see it. I dare you not to do it!

THE PAINTIN’ O’ THE GREEN

2011-03-17T12:20:00.002-06:00

Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

From my Leprechauns…

Since it is “Green Day” I thought I would share a little painting I have done lately…
I had this…

So I did this…

Now it’s green…

And I like it much better.
A long time ago I got this…

Back in my “Black Days” I painted it and it looked like this…

I’m not into black anymore so now it looks like this…

Much better.

ITS NEVER TOO LATE FOR VALENTINES

2011-02-25T16:50:00.001-07:00

I’m still waiting for spring to happen so I can get outside a do something. It still looks like this outside…

Meanwhile I’m still crocheting.

For Valentines day I made these…

More leg warmers and head warmers…

For these gals…

Aren’t they cute?

Brother didn’t get any but he didn’t want any so that is fine. But the “Halves” kept asking for some?!?!?!

I didn’t make any so this one made his own…

He put on two of my coats. One as “leg warmers”. He also used his shorts for his “head warmer”…

Last year I made the skirts for the girls. This year I have a new little grand girl and I only had a little bit of fabric left so I squeezed a little skirt out of it…

And made some bloomers to match…

And some little slippers…

And here is the model… yes there are a lot of blurry pictures but my dear daughter used the excuse that 9 month old kids don’t sit still…

LEG WARMERS AND HEAD WARMERS

2011-01-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

I fell in love with this picture…

I found it on this BLOG she also has an ETSY SHOP. She makes the cutest stuff and has two adorable daughters that she uses as models. Anyway, I wrote her and asked if she would sell me her pattern and she emailed me back and said she really didn’t use a pattern but she took the time to write it all out in an email. So kind.

So this is what I did with her pattern…

I made them for this reluctant model…

We had to bribe her to put them on…

But of course she wanted her picture taken…

She is not thrilled with them but I had fun making them.

I also made these…

For this one…

With a hat to match…

She had a special winter activity with her school and when she got home she called me to tell me how many compliments she got from all the girls at school. Does a Grams heart good…

Oh and speaking of head warmers….

Those crazy halves of mine are up to their usual.

I JUST CAN’T STOP

2011-01-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

I made these…

and this….

And this…

Put them together and you get this…

for this…

She likes them.

THE HALVES ARE BACK

2011-01-19T08:31:00.002-07:00

These are my "Halves"

They are a funny bunch. Never a dull moment kind of guys.
More on them later...

The other day I wanted to try my hand at some legwarmers for this one…

So I made these…

They were way too big so I tried again and came up with these…

Her Mom took them home and promised me a photo shoot. Sooooo, I climbed into my bed last night and checked my email on my iPad and this is what I got…

So cute..

Quite the model don’t you think?

The bigger ones fit big sister…

Things are often upside down at their house…

I was thrilled at the results. Then I scrolled down a little further and this is what I saw….

Yes, I wet my pants!!! I laughed till I cried..

Never a dull moment when the halves are in the house.

MONKEYS AND DINOSAURS AND MOHAWKS OH MY

2011-01-17T09:58:00.003-07:00

I’ve started doing something that I haven’t done for probably 30 years…
Can you guess what it is?

I made these…

I think they like them.
And I made 4 of these…

And one of these…

He’s pretty cool don’t you think?

And I made a bunch of these…

Wait, where’s mine?

Oh, and I also made these…

I’ve had fun.

WHAT I DID ON MY BLOGGING VACATION

2011-01-12T10:13:00.001-07:00

Yes I know, I’ve been gone quite a while but when I had my surgery to have my big toe joint replaced it literally landed me on my butt. I was supposed to keep off it and rest it as much as possible so I did.

This is how I decorated my tree this Christmas…

That’s right, I sat there and watched my very talented daughter, Emma do it all for me…

It turned out beautifully and I sat and enjoyed it all season.

And I’m going to enjoy it all year. Too much work went into it to take it all down and then do it again next year so I just moved it into the kids room…

And here’s a peak at what else I did…

Dinosaur Wolverine guy????

And Punky Brewster at her best!

More to come, I promise…

THIS MORNING….

2010-11-12T17:40:00.001-07:00

My foot looked like this…

Very Sexy….

Now it looks like this….

Even sexier….

I’VE BEEN AWAY

2010-11-12T17:31:00.004-07:00

My honey came home from Iraq and we went here…

And here….

And here…

And saw lots of these….

Then we went here…

And rode lots of these…

But not these!!!

And fed this…

But not this…

And we played with these…

And these…

And we fed them…

And watched them play…

And they were so cute…

And we attended this very special occasion…

We laughed…

We were silly…

We were exhausted…

And we loved every minute of it.
Now he has gone back to get some rest!

I LOVE TRASHY NOVELS

2010-10-27T08:51:00.002-06:00

Not to read but to do this…

I got the idea from Craftberry Bush. I used my band saw instead of an exacto knife like she did for two reasons. First I am not allowed to use exacto knives since I almost cut my thumb off once and it required 5 surgeries and months of healing and it still doesn’t work anymore. The other reason is that I’m lazy and a band saw takes about 30 seconds to cut out the book.

They are so quick and easy to make and you can make them in all sizes…

Think of the possibilities…..

SOME TIME OFF

2010-10-07T11:24:00.000-06:00

My honey is home from Iraq for a few weeks so I'm not remodeling or redecorating or repainting or anything for a while.
We're being monsters...

So that's that!

LOOK NOW BECAUSE IT WON’T LAST

2010-10-06T14:44:00.001-06:00

So my sleep-over room is finished…

The beds are all made…

The decorations are all up…

These are some clothes my kids wore way back when…

A fun little vanity…

That used to look like this…

It was free. My daughter rescued it off her friend’s truck that was headed to the thrift store. The stool is one that I cut down to fit and I painted it to match.

Darling chair given to me by my dear friend MIMI SUE. I traded her for a Marie Callender’s pie…

I brought in my little crib…

The big doll was mine when I was little…

I loaded the shelves at the end of the bunk beds with toys and books…

Added lots of accessories…

The phone is a favorite toy. I found it at a thrift shop. The little cabinet on the wall I found at a habitat for humanity store and I painted it to match.

I painted a couple of galvanized outdoor lights that I added pull chain switches to and hung them over the beds for reading…

I made little curtains for the bunk beds for some fun hiding and privacy…

I put in a new window and framed it in. I just haven’t made the curtains yet.

The kids are all coming over this evening to christen it. Wahooo

Their Grandpa is home from Iraq for a visit.

MORE FREE STUPID STUFF

2010-09-27T18:28:00.003-06:00

I love waterbed drawers and when they are free I love them even more…

So when I found these on our local classifieds I grabbed my “Half's’” Mom and her truck and off we went…

We loaded them up and since the dump was on the way home we had to stop and check their “Give and Take” area…

And we found more free stuff. She got a couple of exercise machines that were practically brand new and I got a new slide for my swing set…

It’s brand new! Never been used.
Anyway I finally got home with my loot…

And I took them apart and started painting…

Then I took them inside to my new “Sleep-Over” room…

I put one set under the bunk beds I built into the closet…

And the others under a couple of beds I made…

I haven’t gotten the knobs put on yet but you get the idea…

It’s all coming together.

THE FLOOR IS UNTAPED

2010-09-24T08:44:00.001-06:00

I’m so excited I could do this…

Or this…

I could just flip…

I’m jumping for joy…

TA-DA…

It turned out so fun…

I sanded it a little…

Then urethaned it which gave it a nice aged look…

I’m so happy…

I’VE BEEN STRIPPING AGAIN

2010-09-23T07:19:00.002-06:00

I just can’t help myself. I still had a few FREE DOORS "STUPID" left over so of course I had to do something with them.
So I took them apart and cut them into strips and put them up in my old sewing/craft room…

I was really sad to these old walls go…

My Dad and I did them together about 13 years ago. We took brown paper bags and cut them up and got them wet and wrinkled and then put them on the wall with wallpaper paste. Then we sponged different colors all over. It used to look really good but after years of hanging things on the wall and little fingers finding loose corners and ripping it off, it was time for a change…

So my new walls look much better. I had one of my “Halves" help me paint them…

(I know, it’s not a very good picture) And they turned out like this…

Then the floor that used to look like this…

Got some strips and paint and now it looks like this…

Then out came the tape…

And some paint left over from this…

Green tape and red paint make a Christmas floor…

Oh and speaking of red… I had a little accident with my table saw…

It’s pretty nasty so I won’t post a picture here but if you like the sight of blood and raw flesh, go HERE.
OUCH!

MY SEWING/CRAFT ROOM IS IN THE FAMILY ROOM

2010-09-21T10:34:00.001-06:00

Warning… very messy pictures ahead…

Okay so I never claimed to be a neat freak and when I am creating, the fur and feathers fly…

Yup this is how it used to look…

I’m not proud but a lot of things have been produced from this room over the years…

Soo, I grabbed my toothless wonder and got to work…

We cleaned and filled tub after tub of stuff and went digging for more…

Santa Claus really does come if you are being a good girl and helping your Grams…

Anyway, we got most of it out and into the living room…

Not very organized yet…

And into the dining room…

Here’s some before and afters…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Then we had a party one day with my “Halves” and their Mom and moved it all downstairs to the family room…

Just a little more organized…

But not much…

Wow, I have a lot of stuff.

By the way, I’ve started “stripping” again so stay tuned for pictures.

I’VE BEEN INTERRUPTED

2010-09-20T10:47:00.001-06:00

I had to stop my remodeling lunacy to do some sewing.

Sewing used to be my lunacy. I sewed everything for my kids except for their socks and shoes. I made matching Christmas jammies…

Every year…

Even for visitors…

It was total lunacy. Just ask my husband.

I always made them matching outfits…

I even made my twins matching outfits for their 10th birthday.

Poor kids!

Anyway, My sweet granddaughter, Brooklyn is turning 8 and that is a very important time in the LDS (Mormon) church. That is when we baptize our kids. We also bless or christen our babies.

My husband will be home from Iraq in a few weeks so will have a special family day and baptize Brooklyn and bless London.

I’ve made most of my grandkids’ blessing and baptism outfits so the tradition must carry on…

We had a fun photo session last night…

Brooklyn Lily…..

London Rose….

Then we had some fun.

We pulled out my jewelry box…

We couldn’t get London to look at us for anything. She was so engrossed in all the pretties…

Then came Great-Grandpa’s (my dad’s) hat. When Brooklyn was little I got some really cute shots of her one day playing with it…

Six years ago…

Today….

I just thought this one was funny…

Even London tried it on…

Now it’s back to my remodeling lunacy.

HANGIN’

2010-09-13T08:22:00.001-06:00

Take a piece of this…

And a piece of this…

Put them together with this…

Use some of this…

Rough it up with this…

Add some of these…

And you get this…

To hang these on…

My children’s blessing outfits. The girls…

The boys… The first 3 used the same outfit but the last little guy had his own…

He’s 24 now…

It goes well in my new bedroom…

And speaking of HANGIN’, this is my oldest grandson. He was my favorite grandson for six years but then I had 5 more so now I tell him he is my favorite oldest grandson…

Keep on HANGIN’

Linking up with Make it 4 Monday at Cottage Instincts and The DIY Show Off and Made by You Monday

GOING INTO THE CLOSET

2010-09-10T11:23:00.001-06:00

I had some of my FREE DOORS "STUPID" left over so I decided to make a desk in my closet…

And some shelves…

I used a door for the desk top and an old file cabinet I found sitting in the basement …

I printed out some pictures of the G-kids. WOW there’s a lot!…

This is my new favorite saying…

I also made some curtains to cover the other closet. Why would I ever use doors? DUH. Doors are for floors and walls and shelves and desks…

A couple other views…

The whole view…

I also rearranged my "MY WONDER WALL" a little. I got some great advise after I posted about it so I started playing a little. I don’t know if this is any better though…

And speaking of “The Closet”… my halves thought it would be fun to try on their sister’s swim suits…

Soooo pretty!?!?…

Should we be worried?

DRESS(er)ING

2010-09-03T21:04:00.003-06:00

See this old dresser…

It’s a good sturdy piece but not fit for my new bedroom so…

I painted it…

And sanded it…

Too bright…

So I added a little stain…

Getting there….

Then it went in my bathroom while I painted the floor…

All done…

And speaking of dressing, this is what my daughters do in dressing rooms…

linking to http://www.justagirlblog.com/2010/09/show-and-share-day.html

THE END OF MY STRIPPING

2010-09-02T09:13:00.003-06:00

I’ve always wanted an old house but I know that it will never happen. So I am doing what I can to make my home look old.
I fell in love with Layla and Kevin's “WONDER WALL” at “The Lettered Cottage”. They have an old house they are redoing and they uncovered the wall in their dining room and found this behind it.…

These kids are so cute and talented. I love visiting their blog and have gotten lots of inspiration from them. They too are remodeling their bedroom so they moved their bed into their dining room and put it in front of their Wonder Wall.

Well, can you see the wheels turning? That’s right! I took THESE…

Made from these FREE DOORS "STUPID"

And started to make my own WONDER WALL…

Of course I needed the help of one of my halves…

We got it all up….

I wanted to make sure that when I painted it, you could see the spaces so I used some old brown paint, I did this…

Then I painted it all white…

Then up went some 2 x 3’s. I’ve had these laying around since last summer when I was given a load of wood from a friend’s old deck. (Remember, I’m not spending any money on this room)…

I painted the 2 x 3’s before I put them up just to make it a little easier. I left a big spot in the middle because I wanted to hang my most favorite painting there….

My dear friend, Dede is a very talented artist and she painted this for me for my birthday over 22 years ago and it has held a very special part in my heart ever since. I wanted it to be the focal point of the whole wall…

I also had these cute frames that I have pictures of my babies in. (Yes they are all mine). These frames were the inspiration of the color I wanted to do my room in…

My bed made it’s way out of the living room thanks to this son…

And voilà….

I’m still tweaking and playing around with it but I love it. Thanks Layla and Kevin.

FREE FOOTAGE

2010-09-01T17:41:00.001-06:00

My room is gradually coming together. My bed is no longer in the living room.

I took this old set of waterbed drawers….

And sanded and stained them a little and put them under my bed…

But my bed looked a little plain.

It needed a footboard. So out I went to my pile of free doors and found a set of bi-fold ones. Did you know that the height of closet doors is the same as the width of a king size bed?

Remember all those ends and sides I cut off the other doors?

I used them to frame the bi-folds and ta-da… a footboard…

Just a little too plain for me so I cut up some more ends and sides…

Then I took the finials off a curtain rod I found at a thrift store ages ago and screwed them on….

I sanded and painted…

Looks nice but I wanted a more aged look so I sanded and stained it a little…

Much better….

I’m tired, I think I’ll go soak in the tub…

That’s better.

STILL STRIPPING

2010-08-31T10:49:00.001-06:00

See my old ugly wall….

Well, I started nailing more of my strips to it…..

And ended up with this….

I like it.

“STRIPPING”

2010-08-29T17:10:00.001-06:00

Hah! Let’s see how many hits that gets. Remember the STRIPS I cut from my FREE DOORS STUPID?

Well, I used them. It all started with this…

That’s right, I knocked over an almost full gallon of paint on my bedroom floor. So I scooped up as much as I could and grabbed a roller and started spreading it around. Fortunately it was on the sub-floor which I was planning on painting anyway, but I didn’t like the way it looked so I thought, and thought and thunked and came up with this….

That’s right, I started nailing down my strips to the floor. The doors that I cut the strips from were made of masonite so it’s pretty tuff stuff. I cut my strips into different lengths and used popsicle sticks as spacers.

After it was all down I primed it with some of my free primer…

At this point I was pretty much doing the happy dance all over because I have always wanted painted floors but never have lived in a home that had a wood floor.

Next I painted it it all with a coat of antique white. Then I started marking off squares with a pencil…

It’s kind of hard to see but you don’t want it to be too dark…

Then the fun begins. Making tape...

You have to tape each square separately. Remember I am doing this bedroom without spending any money so I found several part-rolls of different tape.

Then I painted alternating squares a very light aqua…

Now I am really doing the happy dance. I begin calling strangers in off the street to see it. I send pictures to my kids and friends. I want to do this…

I have to force myself to let it dry overnight. Then I took off the tape…

And Voilà…

Well word began to travel and before you know it I had a house full of family to see it and since by bed is in the living room…

They all piled on to help me do the happy dance. (This is only a third of my brood.) Anyway we had to christen it with a sleep-over…

My daughter’s Mother-in-Law who is Haitian say’s that if your youngest sleeps with it’s butt in the air, then it is time for another one…

So get busy Bekah!

Anyway, back to the floor. After removing the tape and having a spontaneous party I sanded it to make it look a little more aged…

Then I very lightly rubbed some stain around the edges of each square…

And the final step… Pour a whole gallon of Spar Urethane on it and spread it around evenly and work backwards towards the door…

It has to cure for twenty four hours before you walk on it so you may as well give up any hope of talking on your phone if you leave it on the windowsill across the room…

Clear across the room!!!

PS… I posted my plight on Facebook and my knight in shining armor (my youngest son, Caleb) dropped what he was doing as soon as he read it and came over to get it for me from the outside.

I HAVE BED BUGS!

2010-08-26T09:53:00.004-06:00

Oops! There's another one.

They have totally taken over my bed…My bed that is in the living room…

Why you may ask is my bed in the living room? Well because of my quest to redo my bedroom without spending any money I thought it was best to take it out while I paint the walls and do the floor so I don’t ruin it and have to buy a new one.
And speaking of not spending any $. Remember MY FREE DOORS STUPID?...

Well, if you cut the ends off…

And take them apart you get 2 of these…

Then you let one of your halves knock off the spacers…

And you get this…

And then you cut them into strips…

I’m soooo excited…

I’m giddy!

I’ve got big plans for these strips!

MY BEDROOM’S IN THE DINING ROOM

2010-08-22T08:26:00.001-06:00

I’m on a quest. I want to redo my bedroom and I’m trying to see if I can do it without SPENDING ANY MONEY!

This room looked good 5 years ago but not anymore. I forgot as usual to take before pictures but I used to love this red wall…

And the gold walls, but not the ugly window and broken blinds…

I bought new windows a while back so it doesn’t count as spending any money now. I took the old one out…

I had birds singing away and one almost flew in the room. I considered leaving it this way for a while but then I remembered about mosquitoes and quickly put in the new one…

Now for the walls. I have a couple of sons that are painters so I am blessed with lots of paint…

So I’ve been experimenting and playing around…

And speaking of playing around…

Need I say more.

BECAUSE THEY’RE FREE “STUPID”

2010-08-19T18:42:00.007-06:00

This unfortunately is kind of a family saying around here. It started many years ago when we took our daughter and son-in-law to dinner one night and on the way home we stopped at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts because the red light was on. Now if you don’t live near a Krispy Kremes, I feel so bad for you. They turn a red sign on in front that means that there are fresh doughnuts ready and if you go in you get a free one.

Any way, long story short, my SIL asked why we needed to stop for doughnuts when we just finished eating a huge dinner and for no reason that I can figure out I just blurted out, “Because they’re free, stupid”

Now my son-in-law is the least stupid man I know. He is very well educated and well spoken and is a lot of fun so where that came from I will never know. It just came out and now it’s pretty funny whenever anyone says it.

Anywhoooo, I was perusing our local online ads yesterday and came upon this…

So I called and ended up with this…

Yes, I needed a few closet doors to replace broken ones but this? Of course, “Because they're free stupid”. I do have plans floating around in the back of my little head though so look out.

I also saw this…

And got this…

It’s for my bedroom. Wahooo!

And, I just had to add this picture of my two halves helping with the laundry. Their Mom took this with her phone so it’s not the best picture but it’s hilarious.

She might be giving them away for free, stupid!

I SLEEP WITH MY TOOLS AND A MACHINE GUN…

2010-08-17T10:03:00.001-06:00

With my husband working over in Iraq, I usually have the bed to myself. (Except for 2 dogs and a cat and 4 or 5 grandkids). I often have things on the “other side” of the bed.. I am currently painting my bedroom so right now I have some tools there.

This morning I was making my bed and saw something that just made me chuckle….

My current tool stash and this….

One of my little visitors must have thought it belonged there. Probably this one…

Or this one…

Or this sweet princess…

Or this one…

I could go on and on…

WHEN YOU HAVE A BIG SISTER

2010-08-15T08:21:00.003-06:00

They do funny things to you, like paint your toes….

And put their bracelets on you…

But you’re cool anyway…

And a very handsome, chubby, dude…

With big brown eyes…

Not like this cousin who has big blue eyes…

And your other cousin, thinks this….

But she’s a girl so we will let her…

She likes to show off…

In true girly fashion…

But she’s okay so I guess we’ll keep her…

MASTERING THE “MASTER”

2010-08-13T10:19:00.003-06:00

Our house was built in the 70’s. I don’t know, but I guess having a nice spacious bathroom back then didn’t seem to matter. It measures 4ft. x 5ft. with a 3ft. x 3ft. shower. Both of my daughter’s master bathrooms are bigger than my bedroom. Of course they have nice new homes.
Anyway, we moved into our house 18 years ago and with 7 kids, you don’t do a lot of renovating when all you are worrying about is feeding and clothing them.
The time has come and gone for some major renovation and during the last couple of years I have been working on it bit by bit. I’ve done my Living Room, Kitchen, Dining Room, Front Bathroom and now my Teeny, Tiny Master Bathroom.
Of course I needed a little help so I called over 1/2 of the matched set and put him to work…

We had nasty cold tile on the floor that I hated so my little plumber and his crack helped me pull it up…

I worked him hard…

At this point he stops and says to me, “Gwams, can we take a bwake? My back hurts!” (His Mom has been having back problems lately)…
So we stop for Popsicles and Ding Dongs and then carry on…

All done…

Now let me back up. I forgot to take before pictures as usual but here is the old vanity we took out…

It’s on it’s way to the basement bathroom because even if it is ugly it is way better than the one down there and basement dwellers who live for free really don’t care.
Here is the old mirror…

It’s going to the dump! (So I can exchange it for something way more fun!)
I put in a new window…

New vanity and floor…

New sink…

New towel holder…

Old towel rack. I’ve had it for a few years now…

New artwork and mirror…

All done…

So there you have it, my teeny tiny master bathroom dressed to the nines.

I LOVE MY FRIENDS!

2010-08-08T09:21:00.003-06:00

See this?…

You can buy it at IKEA for $355.00
I’ve had this picture on my computer for years.
See this?….

It’s been sitting in my garage for several years now. I have a dear friend, Mearritta, who had it sitting in her garage and was tired of it taking up space so she gave it to me so it could take up my space.
She often asked me if I had done anything with it and I always told her I was thinking about it.

Well, I’ve finished thinking about it. I’ve always wanted to put it in my front bathroom but it would take up too much room. Since I have remodeled and put in my new vanity, I have more room but still not quite enough.
Sooooo, I did this…

That’s right, I cut some of the back off to make it narrower…

Then I put a new back on it, cut the middle of the doors out and put glass in, painted it and….

There I have it, my IKEA knock-off for pretty much free. I had the paint already and the glass cost me $10.00

I kept the original hardware and I’m still thinking whether or not I want to make drawers for the top spaces.

I’m loving it! Thanks Mearritta.
PS. Mearritta just called me and wants her cabinet back. I don't think I am as good a friend as she is.

I LOVE TURQUOISE

2010-08-04T06:54:00.001-06:00

As a child it was probably my favorite color. I am not alone. I even found several blogs that are just dedicated to turquoise.

I’ve been wanting to paint something turquoise for a long time and I finally did it. When I got this old buffet a few years ago it was all beat up and ugly. So during my “black” phase, I painted it.

I even did this with it…

But I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to use it for a vanity.

Soooo… I combined my two thoughts and came up with this…

That’s right, my buffet turned vanity turned turquoise…

And the mirror… it has lived in the basement storeroom for several years now…

With a little paint and love, it now looks like this…

I like it.

WHAT ME? COPY?

2010-08-03T08:59:00.007-06:00

See this?

I’ve wanted one forever. You can buy them HERE for anywhere from $89.00 to $219.00 Or you can make one for about $12.00
I bought primed MDF boards and I got the backing in the cull pile at Home Depot for 50 cents.
I made the frame…

I used 7/8'” dowels for the rack…

Then I painted them white…

And did a turquoise wash all over…

Then hung it up in my bathroom..

I like it.

EVER HAD ONE OF THOSE FRIENDS?

2010-07-31T08:32:00.001-06:00

You know, the kind that you don’t see for 20 years but you just pick up where you left off and have the best time ever.

Back in High School I had a best friend. Her name was Elaine. She was tall and I was short. We were known as Mutt and Jeff. (You probably have to be at least as old as I am to know who the are.)

We did the things best friend do. Our hair was the same, we dressed the same and we took the same classes.

Here we are in I think 8th grade…

Elaine..

Me…

I think these are 12th grade…

She moved away the summer before 12th grade so needless to say we were both pretty lost for that last year of high school but we survived. She went on to become a school teacher and had 4 children. I went on to become and Mom of 7.

I ended up in Utah and she stayed in Canada. They visited us once 17 years ago and that was a fun visit with all our kids together.

This time just Elaine and her husband Richard came to visit. We had the best time ever just reminiscing and talking about our families.

Look at us now…

Still Mutt and Jeff.

I loved her so much that I named my second daughter Rebekah Elaine.

Elaine had a daughter, Janina who was the same age as my Rebekah but unfortunately she died at the age of 4 from leukemia.

My Rebekah named her daughter, Hailey Elaine and we were finally able to get the three Elaines together…

My two had been camping in the dirt all weekend but they still look beautiful.

It was a wonderful visit. Next time I hope it isn’t 17 years.

You can follow their whole trip on Elaine's blog.

I FINALLY HAVE PROOF

2010-07-29T07:15:00.001-06:00

I’ve often thought that living by an Air Force base and having jets fly right over the house all the time was the cause of my constant strange behavior.

Actually I’m quite normal. It’s the rest of you that I worry about.

I blame my poor misshapen body on it as well and my tomatoes are total proof…

I mean really. Look at these things…

Yes they are tomatoes, not peppers…

They actually taste really good …

The poor things…

But I love them, warts and all…

I HAVE A TUB!

2010-07-28T10:21:00.002-06:00

I’ve been busy…
I had to figure out what to do with all this stuff…

To make it work with this…

But I did it….

I got it in there…

At this point I stopped and took a bath.
(Warning, very sexy picture!)

Then the surround went up. Wait, where’d my window go?

Ah, there it is…

Now to add the toilet…

Now for the vanity… (I’m tired of washing my hands in the tub…
I’m loving it so far.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG

2010-07-17T07:53:00.001-06:00

I have made lots of progress since Darryl and Darryl visited me.

New flooring…

New window inside…

And out… (Note the beautiful brick colors!)

New light over the bathtub so I can read and soak…. (Thanks Troy)

New switch to run the lights…

New vapor barrier…

New green board…

New bead board on the walls…

New grandson…

New granddaughter…

I’m having so much fun!

HOW TO GET A 350 LB CAST IRON BATHTUB OUT OF YOUR HOUSE.

2010-07-12T17:56:00.003-06:00

I have been wanting to redo our front Bath forever. I put a new toilet in last month and it just made everything else look really bad. So I went camping and left a note for my basement dweller…

And came home to this…

The tile was off the wall and yes, in the bathtub. I guess I should have been a little more specific.
So I grabbed my little red wagon and …

Filled it up load after load and dumped it into the trailer out back.

Ahhh, nice a clean…

Okay, so now how do you get it out of there? You place an add in your local online classifieds for a free bathtub and next thing you know, you have Darryl and his other brother Darryl there within 20 minutes to take it out for you.

I took these pictures with my phone because I didn’t want to be too obvious…

They loaded it up in their truck and took it away for free! I was happy and they were happy.
So now I have an empty spot…

No more bathtub and this vanity which was a thing of beauty to behold…

Is gone!!!

And my new toilet is in the hallway…

Now what should I do?

THIS LOOKS LIKE “SHED”

2010-07-01T08:02:00.003-06:00

UGLY, UGLY SHED!!! (Cute Kid though)

I’ve been wanting to paint it forever. I even posted about it HERE.
Well, I DID IT!!!

No more procrastinating…

No more waiting for one of my “professional painter” sons to do it…

I grabbed a wired brush and two gallons of paint and went to work…

And then I “OVER DID IT” until it was just right…

I LOVE IT…

# 14

2010-06-27T08:38:00.001-06:00

Solomon Conrad Etter

7 lb. 6 oz. 20 inches long.

Happy Moma

Cute boy!

We’ll keep him!

I LOVE OUR DUMP!

2010-06-09T07:36:00.003-06:00

No I am not talking about our house. I’m talking about our landfill.
My sweet friend Mimi Sue posted about her trip to our dump HERE.
She was smart and took pictures while she was there. I just took pictures of my loot from the give and take area.

Pretty cool huh? People sure get rid of some fun stuff. I’ve been needing a shop vac forever and one guy was unloading it from his truck and I asked him if it worked and he said, ”Yes but it’s missing a wheel”. Gee Bummer!

I also needed a new ladder for the trampoline so I grabbed this swimming pool ladder and will modify it to make it work.
How about this painting? It is not just a print but a real painting. I love it and it will go great in my basement which is done in the outdoor-lodge look….

Then some fun drawers from an old sewing machine table…

And this thing….

Does anyone know what it is? I did this with it…

Also this …

Love it!…

And these…

The wheel assembly is shot but can you say PLANTER?

And this…

Oh the possibilities…

And all this…

Some of these spoons are really old. This one says 1933 from Chicago…

I cleaned it up and also one from South Dakota…

And best of all, this….

Why this? Because it is the same pattern as my Mom’s Silver and all I got from the set was the gravy ladle and I have cherished it and use it every time I make gravy. Now I have two!!!

Seriously, my parents got their set when they were married back in 1940 up in Canada. What are the odds that I would find another one in our little old Utah landfill?
Amazing!

WE’RE A SWINGIN’ GROUP

2010-06-04T07:55:00.001-06:00

I made a new toy this week. I don’t know who has more fun with my toys… The kids playing on them or me watching them.

Take an ordinary tire…

Paint it red…

Add some hardware and chain…

Then get a little creative…

And hang it from the tree house…

Add a kid…

Or two…

And just have fun…

I think they like it.

NO CHILD LABOR LAWS HERE

2010-06-03T07:57:00.002-06:00

When you wear out one set of grandkids…..

You move on to the next…
A couple of years ago when this happened…

I salvaged some bricks…

Then I had these great-nephews…

Help me clean them off and we did this with them…

Kind of crooked and funky but it served its purpose for a while.
This year I finally got around to doing what I wanted with them so…
It was brick moving day at Grams…

We are so strong…

There sure are a lot of bricks…

Lets have a meeting a figure out the best way to do this…

I think we should make the boys do it and we will just look cute…

Ahh… Break time…

Let’s make Uncle Zac help too…

See what we did…
A nice little spot for Grams favorite chair..

A spot it front of the “Grammy Swing”…

Where the old pathway was…

Lots of hard work. Time for another break…

It was a good day.

A “TIRE”ing ACHIEVEMENT

2010-05-30T11:02:00.003-06:00

For years I’ve wanted to make a planter out of an old tire….

So I gathered my helper Zac…

Just a warning to all you grown children. If you plan on moving back into your parents basement when times get tough, don’t think it will be an easy ride. We will put you to work!

I drew scallops on the tires with chalk and we (Zac) cut them out.

Then I took them down to the local tire store and had them remove the unwanted piece. Next I got the neighbor boy who is strong beyond belief to turn them inside out. (Sorry I forgot to take pictures of this process because it was really funny and I was too busy standing on the rim and being jostled around and laughing to be able to take pictures anyway).
Once they are inside out, I started painting…

I used spray paint on the rims and exterior paint I had laying around for the tire…

I painted the “petals” with the opposite colors of each other’s base…

When they were dry, I moved them out front and filled them with dirt…

And plants….

I think they turned out pretty good.

“GWAMS” DUTY PART TWO

2010-05-22T09:47:00.003-06:00

These guys are a set…

This one’s big brothers…

Mom is still recovering so it was Fischer’s turn to help me for the day…

I was tired of my bathroom looking like this…

Not really, but I was tired of my old toilet not flushing properly and the inards broke so it was time to take serious action…

He has the official “Plumbers Crack”…

YUCK!

“It’s too heavy Gwams”

Nice new toilet…

“Doesn’t work anymore”…

What should we do with it now?…

Maybe this?…..

That was a lot of work, we need to take a break and soak our sore muscles…

Something’s down there….

I’ll go get it…

Found it…

Time to jump…

And slide…

And be “King of the Castle”…

Next project…
The kids love to get on top of the old shed and being the good Grams that I am, I thought I would help them out a little. So, we got our tools…

Stick your tongue out, it helps….

All done, time to try it out…

Up…

Up..

Made it…

JUMP…

WAHOOO…The cousins showed up. Let’s play in the new toilet box…

It’s more fun that any old toilet…

Oh look, the horses came to visit…
“Hello”…

“How are you today?”….

Let’s feed em….

“YUM”…

Monkey Bar break…

I can go the whole way by myself…

There’s that tongue again…

Lets jump!…

GERONIMO!…

Let’s swing…

“Wheeee”….

Lets climb…

“Hi Gwams”…

The cousins left, time to get back to work…

“I can do it by myself”…

What a long busy day… Wore me out…

I’M ON “GWAMS “ DUTY

2010-05-19T07:43:00.005-06:00

Because of this….

I get to tend these…

And this…

And yesterday, while Mom went to the dentist I got to tend this…

London Rose…

When the boys came in and said, “Gwams, we’re coloring your house!” I got a little concerned.
They were so proud of themselves that I just had to go see…

I love sidewalk chalk!
They got a little help from their big cousin…

Very artistic….

After lunch one went home and one stayed. We went to Lowes to get some 2x4’s ….

And some stain. I love “OOPS PAINT”

Then we went home and got to work. We built a grow box and got Uncle Zac to help paint it.

Zac was assigned to paint the outside and Cooper the inside…

“I am “vewy” good at painting”

“See how good I do?”

So far so good….

One side done…

Now an end…

“Here Zac, let me help you on your side.”…

Finishing up….

“See, I only got a little bit on me!”…

Good job buddy. We used some WD-40 to clean him up and sent him home.
Then I filled the box with some dirt and a few plants…

It was a good day.

SHE’S HERE!

2010-05-13T07:41:00.001-06:00

I’ve been one busy Grams for the last few days but I just wanted to post a few quick pictures…

Her name is London (can’t settle on a middle name yet) Grant. Born around 3 AM, Tuesday morning.

She’s a keeper!

Big sister thinks so…

She loves her binky already

I made her a flower for her hat…

Yup, we’ll keep her.