Vintage Metal Chairs Redo

Two free vintage metal chairs + three cans of Valspar Indigo Streamer spray paint + two $13 chair cushions from Lowe's = a nice place to sit and chat or have my quiet time while sipping some coffee on our back deck.

Not exactly the wicker chairs I've been dreaming about, but an economical improvisation that does the job for the space. Now I just need to find a small, cheap table to put between the two chairs!

                                        Before:                                                        After:

Many blessings to you on this Thursday!

Bookcase Makeover

I'm a book collector. I'm pretty sure you all know that about me!

However, I've found myself needing more shelves for our books. Being a homeschooler who utilizes "living books" for the majority of my teaching, having books at our easy disposal is necessary.

I love using the library and we go every one or two weeks, but I always like to have good, solid books on hand in case we get a last minute urge to learn about "this or that." And I can honestly say that almost every single book I've bought for the kids and for our homeschool has been purchased at thrift stores or used. Our local thrift shop has days where you can fill a basket with books for $1.00. You better believe I take advantage of that!

We've had a bookcase in our basement since we built our house. I wish I would I would have taken a "before" picture but I was in "the zone" painting and didn't want to stop to go upstairs and get the camera.

So I took a pic of it later in the day, but I took a pic of the back to show you what it looked like. Only it had a dark colored wood stain on the front.


After some sanding, several coats of primer, and several more coats of white paint, we had this...


But I had those holes in the back. I needed a way to cover them up so I went to Michael's and picked up some fun, colorful scrapbooking paper and lined the back of the shelves with it. (I used hot glue to attach the paper; I wanted it to be temporary so I could change out the paper in the future if I wanted.)



But then there were the seams, so I ran ribbon down the seams.



I like it. And I like that some of my books are actually out where I use them the most. I still need to fill the shelves up a bit more. Actually I only put these books on to see how it would look. Right now, all the books and other things are piled in front of the bookcase because I want to make sure the paint loses all of its tackiness before I put things on it for good!

Unfortunately, my awesome antique dresser that belonged to my father-in-law and that we rescued from their basement had to be moved elsewhere to make room for the bookcase. So, I moved it out into the entryway, moved the bench that used to be in the entryway down into the hallway in the finished part of our basement, and now we have this in our entryway...

And it feels fresh and new so we're all enjoying the look!

Have a blessed day!


Linking up to...
Teach Me Tuesdays...
Raising Homemakers...

Just a Bit of Randomness ~ Welcome to My Life

Did I ever tell you gals how much I appreciate you all? Really I do! You all hold a place in my heart!

Thank you for participating in my summer giveaway! And thank you so much for all of your great ideas for future posts! It's great to have some direction in what my readers are interested in reading about! I wrote all of your ideas on sticky notes and they're posted inside my computer armoire waiting for God to give me the inspiration to write about them!

I'm still planting. I bought and potted some herbs for my mom a few days ago. Oregano, sweet basil and flat-leaf parsley. I have more than enough for her to get from my herb garden, but now she'll have her own on her back deck for easy access when she gets the itch to cook with them!


Speaking of cooking with herbs, here's a really easy, yummy way to use your chives and dill. Cut some potatoes up and layer them on foil. Sprinkle them with some olive oil, sea salt, and garlic powder. Top that off with some freshly cut chives and dill. Bunch the foil up around the potatoes and place on grill.

Grill until the potatoes are tender (probably took 1/2 hour or so.) This was so yummy and so easy to make! I served it with grilled BBQ'd chicken and homemade coleslaw (in which I also added a bunch of fresh dill; I LOVE dill) and it made for a great summery dinner!


Here's a peek at our garden (or at least as much as I could get in the camera frame.) I still have watermelons that we started from seed that I need to try to squeeze in here. Not sure if they'll fit or not. Unfortunately, it's been really hot and we haven't had much rain here so I've been having to water the garden every couple of days. Some of our plants are looking a little scorched. :(





I also got our cherry tomatoes planted in pots and put those on our back deck. We got our first red one last night which Lily stated was very yummy. I also moved our basil back there and it's doing so much better than when it was on our side, covered deck. I had heard that basil loves the heat so keep that in mind and keep it in a sunny place! Another little tidbit, basil and tomato are great "soil-mates". They supposedly grow better and have better flavor when planted next to one another.


I planted the sunflower plants that the kids and I started from seed. I put two rows in next to our old dog kennel so that I can tie them up when they start getting bigger. The rabbits have already been dining on some of them (as well as on our beans in our garden which we had to replant the other night) so I'm hoping that at least some of them survive. I'd really like to have enough to be able to roast them and I'd also like to have enough to hang out for the birds to enjoy. This is my first experience growing sunflowers so it's very experimental (as is most of my gardening!)



And that leads me to a bit of encouragment for you all. If you're feeling intimidated by gardening, don't! Just try it! Get your hands into that dirt and experiment! You'll eventually figure out what works best in your area and in your soil. And it also helps to have a couple of books on hand or use the internet to do a little research! Don't let lack of knowledge or experience hold you back from growing your own food!

Any if you don't have the yard to grow a garden in, then get your little tooshie to the store and buy some pots. Fill those pots up with veggies and herbs and grow them on your porch. There's no rule that says you have to have a big garden in your backyard. Sure that's wonderful and a huge blessing that I enjoy, but it's also wonderful to be willing to work with the area you have! Don't let lack of yard hinder you from gardening.

And oh, baby! I've been enjoying some of this wonderful summer fruit! It's been too long...

We've been enjoying bike riding. It's so nice that all of our kids are now able to ride independently. We ride along the river at our local Rails-to-Trails. It's such a nice, shady ride. And it's flat which really is helpful when you're riding with young children. Do you all have Rails-to-Trails in your area or is that just a PA thing? In case you don't know what it is, the trails are old railroad lines that the government has repurposed into walking/bike trails. It's such a nice commodity to have nearby!

My kids are big flower-pickers! I always seem to have either a handful or pocketful of flowers when we're outside...

We took a ride down to the creek on Monday. Want a great, free, fun activity for your kids this summer? Do you have a creek nearby? Utilize it! My parents (who live right next door) have an inground pool, but my kids have just as much, if not more, fun in the creek!

My sister has one of those big, multiple-passenger quad thingies (can't remember what they're called) and so we all jumped in and rode down to the creek.

This is my cousin's son with Ian and I, who informed me on our way down that he was my fourth son since he had been at our house every day for the last five days since he had finished school. I informed him that he was my fourth child (I only have two sons), my third honorary-adopted son. I love this kid! Him and Ian are such close buddies, and I really do enjoy having him around! He lives next door so I foresee him and Ian spending a lot of time together this summer!

I just absolutely love the area we live in. I grew up here, and I used to find it just ordinary. There was a time in my life when I desired to move away and experience something different. I used to wish that I lived in a suburban subdivision. And although there is absolutely nothing wrong with suburban subdivisions, I am so over that phase of my life and so grateful for my country-living life! It's really beautiful out here. Something I tend to overlook until I really force myself to slow down and look around. We really are blessed! (And I have really grown to appreciate living out in the "boonies!")

Here are some pics from our creek time...

And do you remember that old playhouse we confiscated from my sister-in-law's property? Oh, boy was she in a sorry state!

Well, here she is in all her girly glory...

Well, I'm off to start the day!

Have a blessed Thursday!

Getting ready for advent...

The Jesse Tree. I've had every intention of using one in our advent activities for the last three years. Never happened. Until now.

The last week involved several hours of coloring, cutting, and gluing. (Much fun was had. How can one not experience joy when using grown-up watercolor pencils? No waxy crayons for this coloring project!) Yesterday brought the finish of this project. And I'm happy. So very happy.

I used this link for the ornament templates. This link also provides a very brief devotional or you can find more detailed devotionals on Amazon.com.

God's gift often becomes second-rate because we become so wrapped up in the commercialism of Christmas. The to-do lists. The decorating. The gifts. What are some ways we can reel ourselves back in to the roots? To refocus? To think? To understand? To embrace?

This is the season of God's greatest provision. May we experience it fully.

P.S. - I plan on posting some more Christ-centered activities for the coming Christmas season. But first I'm going to enjoy my most favorite holiday of all, Thanksgiving. However, if you're planning on incorporating any daily advent activities such as the Jesse Tree or an advent wreath, the first official day of advent this year is this coming Sunday, November 28th.

Pure Satisfaction...

...comes with crossing things off my to-do list. I always write my to-do list on a white board on my fridge. Instead of just erasing each task after it's completed, I instead draw a line through it. That way I can look at not only what needs done but what I've already accomplished.

Anyone else do that? I find myself giggling every time I cross another task off, simply because I know I should rather erase it and declutter the white board. Brad pokes fun at me for it too. But I find it so satisfying to be able to look at it and see all the things crossed off. It motivates me to keep going. Then when I have the whole group of things crossed off, I erase all of them.

I did get the bathroom painted on Tuesday. Yay! It felt soooo good to get that task completed because I'm really not a big fan of painting. The actual painting process isn't too bad, and I've gotten good enough that I don't have to use painting tape, but it's all the prep work - wiping down walls, removing all the switch plates and wall decor, and then having everything from the bathroom on my kitchen table for a few days while the paint sets. But it's done.

I also finished ordering my homeschool materials for next year, which is also a big relief. The only thing I'll have to do is order Sergei's materials after we have him evaluated and figure out where he is academically. But at least I have Ian and Lily's stuff ordered and on the way. I found a GREAT website that has awesome prices and the lowest prices for most of the things I need~ Nest Learning.

And while I was on the computer for two hours yesterday scouring the Internet for the CHEAPEST prices I could get on the curriculum I wanted, the kids brought boxes up from the basement and turned our living room into a playhouse. I love to see them playing imaginatively and TOGETHER.





Today, my mother-in-law and I are going shopping to get everything we need for my sister-in-law's bridal shower this Saturday. Tomorrow is cooking/baking day. My mother-in-law is coming over and we're going to attempt to whip everything out in one day. We're having a soup/salad/breadstick lunch. The challenge: figuring out where I'm going to store two roasters-full of soup plus all the other goodies until Saturday!

Have a blessed day!

Some Recent Projects

Thought I'd share a few projects I've been working on over the past several months.

The first one is actually something my wonderful husband did for me. My parents remodeled their kitchen/living room last fall and in the process removed their fireplace and mantel. I had been wanting an old structure to use as a headboard for several years, so I jumped at the opportunity. So Brad stripped down the mantel (which was a very dark stain) and painted it with this off-white paint. I love it now! So pretty. And free, except for the cost of paint which I got a gallon on clearance for $5 because they had mixed it wrong. Yay!

I also finally got my chalkboard finished. I found a painting in an ugly old gold frame at our local thrift store for $3 last fall. I painted over the painting with several layers of chalkboard paint and painted the frame an off-white color. Now I have the perfect place to display Scripture and inspirational quotes.

I got the rub-on Scriptures last year for my birthday. I got four of them; I hung two of them up earlier this week. I love having these wonderful reminders displayed around our home...

Well, it's a beautiful day here! Sun's out and the sky is a wonderful clear blue! We're having some friends over for dinner tonight. Looking forward to that! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!