Bathroom Renovation Done!

by Granny Girl

I told you in an earlier post about my wonderfully frugal buys I found for my bathroom renovation. To be honest, the paint and wallpaper would probably still be sitting in my bedroom floor if I hadn't had a surprise visit from an old friend. Dorothy Lilley and I have been friends since college when we lived in the same duplex. We've not lived in close proximity since then, but she always comes to see me when she's in town, and I just love her. She's fun and talkative and full of energy. She and her husband were in the area visiting his family, and she called me on Sunday night to ask if she could spend Monday morning through Tuesday morning at my house. Of course I said yes! Then it worked out so that her husband didn't pick her up until Wednesday morning, and I had two entire days with my good friend!!

Being the energetic person that she is, she suggested that we do a project while she was here. We picked the bathroom. That girl worked. She dug around in my garage and found some drywall scraps and patched the hole in the wall under the vanity that had been there for three years! Then we painted, then we wallpapered. We did a lousy job on the wallpaper, so when we got back from my grandson's football game (they won!) we found it peeling off the wall. We made a late evening run to Super WalMart and looked at their 'oops' paint. I was gravitating toward a bluish tint, and she kept going back to one that I called beige and she called gold. Since she has a much better eye for color, we went with the gold. It's perfect!! I ended up liking it way better than the wallpaper. Dorothy very generously bought several things for the renovation, like the shower curtain and the towel rods. She even found brushed nickel switch plate covers! And she bought some hangy downy things to hang on the hooks that have always been screwed into the ceiling in there. They're the perfect touch! I absolutely could not have done this without her.

You can't tell from these pictures I took from my phone, but the wall behind the mirror is a light mocha, and the adjoining wall is the gold color. The gold matches the shower tiles and the countertop and pulls it all together.

Organizing my house: Back on track

by Mama Mabel

I'm almost caught up on my dishes.  Well, except for the box of them that we brought home from storage Monday.  I need to sort through those to see which I want to keep out and which will be sent to live on top of the refrigerator where they won't be in my way.  Then I get to clean out my fridge and wash the dishes holding all the food we didn't get around to eating before it went bad.  Fun.

The cooler weather we've been having is inspiring me to get things done.  That and no one in my house being sick for the first time in weeks.  Coondog is feeling it too.  He's the one hauling stuff from storage and helping me get things organized throughout the house.  He even burned all the branches cluttering up our yard that had blown off our trees in a recent storm.  Each of us staying busy helps the other one stay motivated.  However, I decided at 9:30 last night when Ladybug finally fell asleep after a late dinner that took a long time to cook (but we delicious and worth it!) that I would not be doing that day's dishes before bed.  One of my personal goals is to wash more dishes than we use each day until I'm caught up and then Leave No Dish Behind goes into effect where my kitchen is pristine(ish) before bed each night. My new caviat is that if I can't get into the kitchen before 9:30 on a Tuesday night, which is often my hardest night of the week, then I am free to put the dishes off for one day.  Sanity stays in check and we can survive one day.  Having the counter cleared off and enough clean plates, bowls and silverware to get through Wednesday takes the pressure off.  It's nice to get one step closer to living in a functional house.

Home improvement with very little money

by Granny Girl

Since I'm unemployed, I don't have any extra money to spend on home improvements. And since I'm unemployed, I'm spending waaaaaay more time at home. Plenty of time to look at all the things that need to be fixed, painted, cleaned or straightened. Today I finally touched up the white paint in my grandson's room, so tomorrow I just have to touch up the black paint and put on the new white outlet covers and light switch plate. Then his room will be officially done except for floors. I'm holding off on doing anything to the bare concrete (we pulled up the carpets, they were goners) until I can put new floors in the whole house. Anywho, I started on his room months ago, then just fizzled out instead of finishing it. Sheesh!

Next project is going to be the teeny tiny bathroom off my bedroom. It's horrendous. There's a big hole in the wall under the cabinet from someone trying to find the source of a leak about three years ago. The walls need to be painted. The light fixture, mirror, faucet and towel bars are all clashing styles. The tile on the floor and the tile on the shower wall are not coordinating. The countertop is dated, but it goes well with the shower tile. It's just a pitiful looking room. But it's small, and small means cheap when it comes to redecorating.

I went to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore today to see what bargains I could find. Most big towns have a ReStore where local construction companies donate materials both new and used for resale. There is one about five minutes from my house and I never know what I will find there. Today, I found a roll of prepasted wallpaper (original price tag said $39.99) for $3.99, a small can of paint for the cabinet for $1.00, a bottle of grout and tile sealer for $1.00 and a gallon of primer for $9.99.  I can use the primer for many projects, so I figured it was worth the splurge. Then I went to Lowe's and looked on their "oops" paint shelf and found a gallon of paint for the walls for $5.00. If you're keeping track, I've spent approximately $21.00 so far. 

Now I need a new light fixture, faucet, towel bars, medicine cabinet and shower curtain. Wonder how cheap I can find them? 

 Pinkish tan floor tiles & yellowish tan shower tiles. Hmmm.

This cabinet has to go. It's pitiful.

My beautiful $3 wallpaper!

Home remedies for the common cold

My weekend did not go as planned.  Ladybug and I had a cold.  Well, two colds, one each.  Since she only wants her mama when she's sick, Coondog had to take her for a long drive Sunday just to give me a break so I could nap.  Man, I love a good nap.

Ladybug was feeling much better yesterday with just some congestion bothering her.  She thinks blowing her nose is a great fun so she used a lot of tissue.  I figured the more she gets out the better and let her go for it.  She was less excited about me digging out dried boogers that blocked her nasal passages but we got through it.  Oh, the joys of parenting.

I ended up home early from work yesterday which I rarely do.  I have a lot on my plate tax-wise this time of year so I threw every home remedy I could find at this cold.  I drank warm peppermint tea and held the steamy cup by my face for maximum benefit.  I ate cinnamon toast.  Isn't cinnamon toast the perfect comfort food?  Tasty and immune boosting  I rested like no one's business.  I ate a sandwich with mustard on it because the tumeric in it is supposed to help.  Mustard is supposed to be medicinal in some way too so I was hoping for any fringe benefit I could get.  I put children's vapo-rub on my feet because, really, what adult doesn't use treatments intended for kids?  I spent some time sitting in the warm sun to get some vitamin D flowing through me.  I watched a movie set in the early 1800's (this is a female specific cure-all).  I also made sure Ladybug took part in all these things to keep her on the road to recovery.

Today I'm back at work.  Who knows what it was that helped me?  Maybe it was everything.  Maybe it was time.  Either way, I'm not 100% but I feel much better and don't mind having an excuse to eat more cinnamon toast.  :)

Weekend happenings

by Mama Mabel

What will you be doing this weekend?  I for one intend to finish out my week's goal of washing my dishes and straightening up my countertop.  Then I'm going to bake cookies and get more dishes dirty.  Sounds fun doesn't it? 

I've been wanting to bake chocolate chip cookies all week but didn't have eggs until yesterday.  I've been holding off buying them on my many trips to the store this week because I wanted to stop at the house I pass so often with the sign advertising fresh eggs.  I finally worked up the nerve to have a new experience and I'm now the owner of a dozen eggs ranging in color from white to dark brown.  The man selling them was so nice that I may bring Ladybug by this weekend if the weather is good so she can meet the chickens.  I think she'd love chickens. 

Apparently a willingness to experience new things can lead to good experiences.  Who knew?

Ants, ants everywhere and not a drop to drink

by Mama Mabel

As I was trying to catch up on my dish washing last night, our water pressure became more of a water trickle.  This has happened before so Coondog suggested I try again later.  We thought the hot water tank needed to fill and was sapping all the flow from the cold water.

I went about the nightly business of getting Ladybug to bed which she was in no rush to do.  I watched a video with hunky hubby so we could have a few uninterrupted minutes of vegging together (aren't we romantic?).  I got my jammies on.  Finally, just before I went to bed, I tried to run the water so I could brush my teeth.  The trickle became a drip then became nothing.  I quickly called Coondog in to investigate.

By process of elimination, Coondog determined the problem had to be at the pump so he went out to the well house at the front of our property.  Ants had swarmed the electronics and gummed up the works.  He blew most of them off and returned to the house for bug spray so I followed him back out to help.  Sadly, he doesn't appreciate my flashlight holding skills so I ended up watching him work.  After another trip back to the house for paper towels, cotton swabs and what I think was carburetor cleaning spray, the pump was as clean as it was going to get.  We gave the spray a little time to dry then I stood in our laundry room with that door and the front door open while he went out to the well house and yelled for me to flip the breaker.  Our plan was the he would watch as it came back on and yell his head off if one of the many flammable sprays we'd used caught on fire so I could shut the breaker back off.  Brilliant, right?  Thankfully, everything went smoothly from that point on.  I could hear the water heater filling and the faucet we'd left on in the tub start to flow.

What relief!  After imagining that either our well had run dry or our pump was irreparably broken, running water felt like a miracle.  Growing up in the city, I had never before experienced water not coming out of the pipes.  Even when we have had power outages this last year that shut down our pump, we had enough left in the pipes to run for a few minutes in an emergency.  I'm learning that nothing should be taken for granted but that God is big enough to provide everything we need.  What a great God I serve.

Organizing my house day 1: A progress report

by Mama Mabel

I broke even on dishes last night.  I fully intended to wash a tub of dishes.  Instead, I washed 4 dishes.  I realized that I didn't have flour for biscuits or gravy and that's what I planned to have for supper.  My evening went downhill from there. 

We discovered that one of our multitude of cats has worms.  Very treatable but not cool.  They are currently banned from the house until all are proven to be uninfested.  After the discovery, I went around spraying all our furniture with a vinegar spray in hopes of killing any invisible unborn worms that might be lingering there.  They give me the total creeps. 

Since I hadn't eaten dinner yet, the worm thing sent me into an emotional tailspin so I cut myself some slack.  I shared a plate of peanut butter graham crackers with Ladybug for dinner.  We dipped them in a glass of milk and felt pretty special.  Then we watched episode after episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog since Coondog discovered a dvd of it in a previously unpacked box of kids books.  The night was salvaged.  I went to bed early and didn't have to get up more than the standard 2 times to get Ladybug back to sleep in her big girl bed.

Thanks to our throw together dinner with Coondog eating chili, we only used 4 dishes.  This morning, I put up the 4 dishes I washed yesterday.  Breaking even beats getting further behind.  The week isn't over and even a rough evening didn't make me regress completely.  At this point, that's progress and I'm thankful for it. 

Organizing my house one step at a time

by Mama Mabel

I'm getting overwhelmed by how far behind I am on housework.  I've been working late and last week was all about getting Ladybug over being sick.  She's teething big time and requires lots of mommy attention when I'm home.  Not that I wasn't behind before all this happened, I'm just not making progress.  Coondog and I are tired of living in a disorganized mess.  We've both taken small steps but easily fall into thinking that we'll do things "later."  You know, on that magical day when we've had enough sleep and there are no distractions or other obligations.

This morning I did some research on different methods of getting your house organized.  They tend to be geared toward stay at home moms, though not all of them.  They also tend to include things that I don't need (we have no basement for extra storage, no washer and dryer to throw a load in each morning).  However, what resonates most with me is the idea of building good habits, one habit at a time.  Most of the methods I found start with the kitchen which is convenient since that's where I want to start.  While I desperately want my house all cleaned and organized at once, that's unrealistic and wouldn't be maintained since we aren't in the habit of maintaining.  So to get on track, each week I'm going to pick a task or two that I have to get done each day before I go to bed.  Once that's become part of my routine, I'll add another.  That way I can manage it.  Additionally, I will pick one project (not 5!) to get done each weekend.  I've learned that I max out at one thing each weekend and then get really stressed that the rest isn't done.  Now, anything more than my one basic goal is a bonus and I can feel good about it.

This week I am going to get all my dishes washed and clean off my countertops.  Since every dish I own is dirty right now, it'll probably take me a few nights to catch up.  So each evening, I will wash one plastic tub full of dishes and have them put away before I go to work the next morning.  That way, they can dry overnight if needed.  Once they're caught up, I will keep them caught up.  As I'm putting dishes up, I will clear off my countertops and keep it that way.  That's all I will expect of myself.  By Friday, I'll know what my weekend goal should be.  And since I will enter the weekend with a sense of accomplishment over having clean dishes and a clear countertop, I'll be much more likely to meet my weekend goal.  The positive cycle is about to begin!

A friend in need

by Mama Mabel

I have a friend in town that I adore.  Her name is Trisha.  We just click when we're together and I admire her determination to make life better in difficult circumstances.  She would do anything for anyone but doesn't sugar coat reality so her bluntness is refreshing.  Despite not being a Christian, she exemplifies Christ's love for the often overlooked segments of society. 

My friend is struggling with health issues right now.  Her husband has applied all over town for a second job so they can afford to get whatever treatment she needs.  Her teenage step-son is looking for after school work also.  At this point, despite having insurance, she's not even going to the doctor because they can't afford the copay.  Even if I had the funds to pay for all her medical care, she wouldn't accept it.  Her grown daughter has a great job and would help but Trisha won't even tell her daughter what is going on because she doesn't want her worrying or trying to pay for everything.  She's not being a melodramatic martyr, she just believes it's not the kid's responsibility to care for the parent and really, truly hates to be a burden.

In some ways, I think it's good for her to have to rely on other people because she has a hard time trusting that others will come through for her.  She's had some pretty bad experiences with people she should have been able to trust.  This circumstance lets her see that her husband and step-son will do anything to take care of her.  It will show her that I will stick around as her friend even when things are difficult.  My deepest hope is that this trial will show her that God will be there for her when she needs Him.

I have been praying that God does something good for Trisha and her family and that they put their faith in Him.  Their truck getting fixed was one good thing but how much more amazing would it be for them to discover God's love?  Until that happens, I'll encourage her however I can and try to be an instrument of God's will for their lives.

My car won't start

by Granny Girl

Sunday morning I got in my car to go to church and it wouldn't start. What was I to do? Praise God, that's what! He had worked it out beautifully. I didn't have any grandkids with me - a very rare Sunday morning occurrence. I had a friend who could pick me up for church and bring me back home. I had another friend who could take me to a church social that evening. Our church has a men's volunteer group who will come and fix the car for me, so I put in my request for a repair on their web page and they'll get back to me in God's good timing.

And last, but not least, God is giving me more time to rest! More time to get my house in order and to enjoy the respite of not having a job. More days of being able to be home when my grandson gets home from school and to bake fresh cookies for him and his friends. More time to read God's word and seek His will for my future.

I was starting to get a little antsy about not earning an income, but the car issue reminded me that God is in charge of provision, I'm not. My job is to follow His leading. And right now He's leading me to lie down in green pastures beside the still waters. I'm a contented sheep with a very good Shepherd!