house fun

So my next big project was not this, haha. But I finished this right about the same time. There was a hideous orange (notice a theme?) lamp outside. We moved the light inside and I redecorated it.

The before



and the after




This was my first time, and I'll probably end up redoing it, but it works for now.

And my BIG project was turning this


(this was after I painted the legs, forgot to get one before!)
into an ottoman.

I saw a how to online and was so impressed. So I tried my own!

Well, it ended up being WAY more expensive then hers, I think cause it was bigger and I used thicker foam -that stuff is EXPENSIVE!! But I really like it and I'm glad I did it. I can just see the girls as teenagers hanging out in the sun room sitting on it. They love it already.

Since last time we got pictures of me using my first power tool (a sander), I had to get pictures of me drilling holes. Again, surprisingly fun! I was so excited after every one. I think my girlish squills kinda ruined the manly-ness of the power tools, haha.






After the holes Jace cut the foam and I glued it on. And then a week later I had to re-glue it! This was the first time using a spray adhesive, and I'm not a huge fan. Should have worn gloves, my hands stung for days!




Next was the fabric. To attach to the bottom we used a nail gun! And no, that wasn't surprisingly fun! I was having a heart attack the whole time, and I made Ryan do any weird angles! Forgot to take pictures, mostly I was just trying to remember to breathe!

The last step was the buttons and the how to online made it sound EASY. Just attach the buttons. Well, this was actually the HARDEST thing. After a trip to all the stores around here, I still was unable to find a needle anywhere close to long enough! I don't know if it's cause we live in podunk Wisconsin or they just don't make'em that long. Either way, the only thing I could think of was a crochet hook. I got the thinnest one and used that to push the needle though the thick foam! Here's the final thing!

Motorcycle

I just found more pictures of Ryan giving the kids a ride on his motorcycle. These are mostly for me. -I do miss this though, the kids loved it!

Em loved it, she just hates getting her picture taken!






Katie Fe'






Mya



Jakie



Logan

New experiences

So in between working on the chair and watching the children and general housewife stuff I managed to try a few other new things! (Don't be too impressed, I only blog the interesting things because I am way behind!)

First off was I organized our food storage!! I'm so excited! I love it. At our apartment there was place to store it, but I couldn't get to it verry easily. Now in our kitchen there is a door down to the basement, when you open it it looks like this!!!



I wish I had a picture of the before. There were 20-30 (I really don't know, but A LOT!) of these VERY heavy boxes just outside our kitchen sitting on the porch. I would carry them in one at a time and then organize them in there. I was so sore, but proud of myself when I finished! -The kids really wanted to help. Logan wanted to throw himself down the stairs that I was standing at the top of and Kaitlyn and Em wanted to carry the heavy cans. I eventually decided it was best to let them help (except for Logan of coarse!!) and the kids really enjoyed bring the cans to me! After I emptied a box I'd break it down for recycling, but one time the kids got to it before me. They had a BLAST playing in there!



The next new thing I tried was a clothesline!! Before I moved here, I hadn't ever seen one in real life. Just, in like movies. I was so excited to have one at our house!! This is the first time I used it, I was ridiculously excited, seriously!



Other happenings. One weekend just as we were headed out to go camping with some family friends it started to HAIL, in JULY!!! It was really a pretty crazy storm. Did A LOT of damage, I know there were some farmers that were hit especially hard, their corn was ruined, and a lot of people have a lot of car and roof damage. Anyway, we didn't end up going camping (obviously!) Since we had all the ingredients we had hot dogs and somores (which I was CRAVING!!! (NO I'm not pregnant!)) on a blanket in the living room that was fun. And the kids enjoyed watching the crazy hail -goofball size in JULY!! -still can't get over that! The next morning Kaitlyn and Emmy went out into the war zone to see the after effects. It looked pretty bad outside. They were with our sweet neighbor and came to show us what they found:



That would be a butterfly that didn't make it through the storm. Kaitlyn was sad for it, but I don't think Em's realized what happened.

The Chair!!

So I have been surfing the web reading all sorts of craft/homemaking blogs, and boy oh boy is there a TON of great ideas!!! This is the first one I tried out, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!

Here's the before:




My brother Jace removed the skirt, and baby Logan sitting on it to give you an idea of how HIDEOUSLY orange it was!



The first step was to clean it. I googled that on line and made some soap and SCRUBBED!! That chair was DIRTY! Next I bought a gallon of latex satin paint. The sales lady saw me coming a mile away and I bought the expensive kind with out knowing it. Now I know better though! The first coat took the ENTIRE gallon of paint!! Not even kidding! After it dried I got to sand it. This was my first time using a power sander, and I gotta say- I liked it! That totally took me by surprise. Now I see why Ryan always wants power tools!




I painted 4 coats and sanded after coats 1,2, and 4. After that I painted the wooden parts a chocolate brown. Here's the after!





I love my chair!
Every once in a while I can smell the paint, but that's rare. Someone asked me if it was going to chip off, and I really don't think so. It's like that for good. I'm really glad I did it. It was fun to see what I can do and make something so pretty!

I got my idea from this website:

http://twiceremembered.blogspot.com/2009/03/cottage-chair-makeover-story-yes-you.html

she goes into better details on the directions if you want to make one too. You should, cause it's really cool!

We have had a lot of fun this summer! I can't believe that it is already the middle of August! Time sure does fly. For my birthday, July 3, we went to Dubuque Iowa and watched the airshow. We went with the Midtovne's and had a blast! I think this will have to be a tradition! There were parachuters, a guy standing on top of an airplane zooming by, jets, all sorts of really cool stuff. It was so much fun and I'm glad we went! After all that there was a fireworks show too, with more parachuters! We found out where the good seats are so we know where to sit next year, oh and this is all done over the Mississippi River, it's really beautiful and fun. I brought my camera, but left it in the van, of coarse! Here's a few pictures Coreina took:




Amanda got a group of the girls here in town together and we took the kids to a petting zoo and a picnic. It was so fun to spend the day with a bunch of friends, we need to do it more often!


Me and Amanda



Loking at the animals


The kids chowing down on lunch!

So I finally caved. It was hard to do, but it made my husband SOOO happy. I let him get a motorcycle! The kids love it and he is in HEAVEN with it! Kaitlyn calls it a mooter-cycle. I love it. Ryan enjoys giving the kids a ride around the block, or any excuse he can thin of to ride it!









Unfortunately 3 weeks after he got it, he wrecked it. He is 100% ok. Thanks to mercy from God, there is noway he could have come out just fine with out God's help. I'm so glad that he is ok, and a little happy that the bike is out of commission for a little while! That scared me so badly. Accidents were one of the main reasons I didn't want him to get one in the first place! He of corse wishes he could get it fixed RIGHT NOW and ride all the time again. lol.

And the main reason for not blogging much is my new passion! I have been doing lots of projects!!! The next post will show you some of what I've been up too!