The Yankee Workshop? How about the Redneck Workshop!

Thankfully he was done lacquering before he stopped breathing!!  The cloud in the garage got very thick indeed.  Where is his mask, you say?  Hmm... good question - I don't think rednecks use those :-)

Full Moon on a Tuesday Night (Reno #3)

What happens at our place on a full moon?  That's what the neighbours want to know, too.  They hear screeching, whining, swishing & voices coming from our garage... what could it be?

Ah!  We're working on Faith's bed - that's all!

Here is the next step completed.  The head board still needs it's cross slats put in place but we primed the area we're going to paint so that it will show up behind the clear wood slats.

It'll all be finished tonight!

Renos No. 2

So yeah, Faith's Bedroom and the Schoolroom are now painted!  It was a big job.  So many patches to do and the doors and some casing needed to be replaced.  Brian also built a couple new window frames too.  But it looks awesome. 

It's hard to take pictures of tiny rooms but here is Faith's room - the mattress is on the floor right now because we were measuring for space.

The otherside just has an empty shelving unit... waiting for me to get to work and sort things out.  Brian built this unit for Faith's room in Three Hills but it also fits in very nicely here.

Faith asked me not to put anything back in her room because she wants to sort out stuff and get rid of things.  It'll be interesting to say the least; I will get started tomorrow.  Here are the piles to be sorted:

YIKES!  (I see her dresser in there)

Here's some more stuff stored in our bedroom.  It's a virtual obstacle course for me to climb into bed right now so I'm motivated to get this all cleared out!

Some of this stuff has to go into the schoolroom.  One of the shelving units from Faith's room is now in the schoolroom and that will come in very handy.

Tonight we will finish building her bed - Brian started it last night out in the garage but it gets dark by 9:30 already!!  And we don't have any lights or heat out there.  This is how far he is:

It's going to be wonderful when it's all done.  But that will be in another posting.

a - MAZE - ing!

good·will: a kindly feeling of approval and support

I need something on my dresser to hold my jewelry that's always flying around (because you know, I can never seem to figure out that I need to put things away!) and also for my hairbrush, face cream, and other products.  I thought: "baskets!" so I went to the Goodwill store to see what I could find.  Well, I found some nifty things to use - not baskets but these wonderful handpainted trays.

Handpainted in Vancouver $2.99 - what a sweet deal

Then I also found this one:

$1.99  - love it!

Once I get the room all set up I'll take another picture - hope it's going to look as great in real life as it does in my mind right now!

Getting a Bigger Bed = Full Upstairs Renovations... PART 1

So Faith mentioned to us one day that she needed a bigger bed - sure no problem we'll see what's available at Ikea.  But then Brian pointed out that a Double bed would not fit in Faith's bedroom.  Well let's see if we can move her shelving out of there into her school room.  But that won't fit unless we move our full size dresser out of the school room into our bedroom.  But that would mean switching our bedroom around.  OKAY!!!  So we switched our bedroom around and made the full size dresser fit.  We had to take the mirror off of it though, because otherwise it would cover the window.  So we put the mirror half way on the dresser and angled it around the corner so the rest of the mirror is on the other wall... looks not too bad. 

Now that we're doing that maybe we should paint the school room and Faith's room.  Off to town for paint we go.  Oh! Remember all those passage doors we bought when they were on sale? - we can put those in now too, and replace the damaged and kicked in doors that are upstairs.

Our house was a wreck when we bought it as a foreclosure but we keep thinking we'll either fix it up and make it livable or just tear it down or maybe just sell it again.... so we waffled around for 4 years and now we decided to get a few things done.

Today I completely emptied out the school room and got it ready for paint - or at least as ready as we're going to get it.  The drywall nails are popped all over the place, the tape is rippling in the corners - but hey, we're just going to make it look nice.... stop yourself from going any further, Brian.  STOP!! Otherwise we're back to having to tear down the whole house again. 

There is a lot of banging going on upstairs as Brian is now figuring out a way to level the new doors he's trying to put in.  How can walls be out of level by an inch in 4 feet??  Oh yeah - this is a cabin - don't think, just make it look pretty.

Antiques and Flowers.... my Mom's Yard

So many pretty places to just take a break and enjoy the beauty.

The bird bath which is so much fun when the Robins come for their bath.

This is up where we park the vehicles.

 Such a fantastic way to finish off the side of a car garage!

Pause... for a smile :-)

Mountain Ash

Poppy

Ah... summer is the season to love!

Mom's yard always gives me hope for my yard!  There is so much to see and enjoy and you must go slowly or you might miss something she tucked away for the seeker to find!

Does A Heart Stretch 1000 Kilometres?

We made the 1000 km trip to 100 Mile House, BC to bring our daughter to Lake of the Trees Bible Camp.

She is going to be there until August 21st working in the Work Crew Program and going through a leadership training program.

I'm thankful that on the way there I saw this sign and took a picture of it... little did I know that that would be my journey for the next little while:

I feel like that beat up old truck now that I'm back home and Faith is 1000 km away - but I'm reminded to Praise God and let Him be my refuge!

We had a beautiful trip there and enjoyed a stop at the Jasper Tramway - we went to the top and did some hiking there... what beauty!

A worthwhile venture for anyone!  The town you see in the background is Jasper - we were so high we felt level with the mountain tops... amazing!

We finally got to Lake of the Trees - the area was filled with smoke because of all of the Forest Fires in the Province but still the beauty compares to none I have ever seen... such a beautiful, beautiful place.

We had a relaxing time doing some of the activities the camp has to offer - the Kayaks are a new addition to the camp and are thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Here is a lovely view from the Dining Hall Lodge:

But eventually the real reason we were there became obvious and we had to leave... without our daughter.  Wow!  That was and is a very hard thing to do - we feel so far away from her but yet we know she'll be having a life-changing experience.  It was neat to be there for a few days and see her get settled in with 22 other Teen Workers... she has to really pull her weight and do many, many tasks and chores and physical labour, too!  But they also have lots of time down at the waterfront and also doing team-building games and spiritual growth lessons.... what an adventure.  When we left she was on kitchen duty and I snapped this picture of her:

So now I'm here at home and she's WAY over there... wish I could give her a hug!  But I'm learning a 'Heart Stretching' lesson.... one I don't think I'll ever forget!