*New floor!*

 Our summer project this year was to replace some of our downstairs flooring. We had set money aside for it. Earlier this summer, we spent some time clearing out my Mom's house, having estate sales, selling furniture, cleaning, etc., We got it ready to sell and now it is on the market.

We had put faux wood flooring in our front and school rooms two years ago, and we have really liked the floor. It hides dribbles and minor spills, and is pretty easy to maintain. We have never liked the tile in the kitchen and front hall because it shows everything and the grout is ALWAYS dirty. We decided to begin with the front entryway and hall and see how it went. 

We began on a Tuesday morning, and we quickly figured out that it was more difficult than we bargained for. There was tile and a subfloor beneath it, and it had a LOT of glue on it. Ugh! We got the tile off within 2-3 hours, but then spent the rest of the day trying to scrape off the subfloor with hammers, chisels and small power tools. We worked until 9:00 p.m. and still were not finished! We worked on it again Thursday afternoon. My hubby began putting the flooring in on Friday afternoon and finished it on Saturday afternoon. It was quite a chore and we were so sore on Wednesday from all of the squatting and bending.

I'm glad that we finished it, but we are not so eager to begin the kitchen tile removal too soon. We've been told that we can rent a jackhammer and we may have to try that. We don't have the funds to pay someone to do it right now, but we may save up for that.

Enjoy the pictures! 

How it started...

In process... the tile I'm holding was the biggest piece that we ripped out... 

more were like this cat/ Batman tile... see all the little pieces?!

It took us over an hour to cut the tile on the edge of the bathroom!

Putting the floor in...

It looks so pretty! We are very happy with the finished product!

If you have any ideas or tips, let us know!

Joel 2:24
The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

Micah 4:12
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

James 2:2-4
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

New flooring!

 For the past several years, we have wanted to replace the flooring in our front living room. We had a light-colored carpet in that room, and it connected to the carpet in the dining room, which we used as a homeschool room. when we got our tax return back, we decided this was the time! We looked at Lowe's for different kinds of wood vs. laminate flooring options. We liked the laminate options since they are easier to clean and water resistant, and there were some that already had padding attached to it. The padding attached took away an extra step. Eventually, we wanted to put more of the same flooring into the hallway, entryway, bathroom, and kitchen.

How it began... tacks in the ceiling where the lights were going to go...

Two lights were done, four holes cut...

The dirty carpet... ew!

Kids helped their Daddy...love it!

My husband also decided to add canned light fixtures to the same front room. He worked on it during the week before spring break. He had a hard time, called a friend, and got it going. He ended up finishing the lighting project at midnight on Friday night. Saturday morning, at about 10:00, we began to rip out the carpet. It was really easy and took about five minutes! The padding was next and that came up almost as easily. Then we pulled out staples, cleaned up the floor, and swept. We swept up a LOT of very fine sand under it all. I swept for much of the week. It seemed to be the best way for me to help.

We then went to Lowe's and purchased 19 boxes of flooring, as well as supplies to help US put it in. We worked a little on it on Sunday. My hubby worked on Monday morning, and I hung out with my mom and sister while he worked. My Dad was in the hospital at the same time, so the flooring was providing a nice distraction. My husband took the afternoon off and Monday. His normal day off is Tuesday. He completed the first room on Monday evening, and the second room was finished on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, we put the baseboards back on. I swept and mopped thoroughly, and then we began to move the furniture back into the room. By Saturday, everything was moved back in, including the books, files, stamps, desk supplies, and more.

Took it down to the sub flooring...

We have different woods/ stains in our home, so we chose a laminate floor that matches a variety of woods. We are really pleased with it. It will be much easier to clean. After it was all done, hubby asked me if I liked it. I said, "yes, of course! I had better!" 

It looks nice so far!

All done... furniture in, such a wonderful change!

What do you think? Have you ever replaced flooring on your own?

Mark 12:36
David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

James 2:2-4
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Spring Break 2022 #1

 For Spring break this year, I had a few goals. One was to paint our upstairs bathrooms. One was to hike in Arches, in Utah. The last one was to visit family on Thursday, besides relaxing. We got all of those things accomplished!

Joshua was eager to begin painting, so on Friday night before break, we took everything down from the bathroom walls and washed the walls. This was important because we could see dust stuck to the walls. After that, Joshua speckled some holes and begin trimming the edges. It is always interesting to take down a mirror or shelf that has always hung in your room and see what is behind it. We were not disappointed, it was a surprise!

These are before pictures... goodbye duckies, it's the end of an era. We've had a duck bathroom since Rebekah was a year old. I was a little sad about it, but my teenagers were done with them!

In the master bath, after we took down the mirror, we found a hole for a medicine cabinet!

When we took the mirror and shelf down, we found the walls had been light yellow at some point!

In addition to helping Joshua a little on Saturday, the girls helped me make homemade strawberry jam. Yum! Since the bathrooms are small, two of us couldn't really be in there at one time. But I helped when I could. Thanks to Joshua for doing the bulk of the work! I cleaned the shelves, and all of the fixtures, even the ceiling fans.

On Monday, Mallory and I painted a few things. She painted canvases to be hung in the kids' bathroom, and I painted this wooden piece that says, "It's so good to be home." I painted it blue since we have blue accents in our family room.

Here are some after pictures of the bathrooms, but we haven't gotten towel hangers for the kids' bathroom yet.

We decided not to hang a towel ring, since there is a towel bar on the cabinet. I like Mallory's paintings in there. We bought another hanging and a new toothbrush holder.

The walls are so crisp and white! We decided not to hang a clock in the master bathroom again. It's taking some getting used to! I've had this bluebells painting for a long time. A college friend gave it to us for our wedding. It's nice to have it hung up again!

Since this post is getting long, I will make another post about our trip to Arches National Park. It was a lovely day to hike around!

You'll have to stop by our house and see the bright and shiny paint in our upstairs bathrooms!

Isaiah 40:8
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

2 Thessalonians 1:11
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

Hallway painting fixer-upper

I know all of our friends and family were surprised that we haven't painted yet this summer! Our project this year wasn't too difficult... it only took a few hours! We took down all of the pictures in our stairwell and upstairs hallway. My hubby spackled all of the holes and did the cutting around the edges. The next day he did the rolling, and didn't even need to use a ladder!

 He did a great job, and it looks so nice, all shiny and new! Our next objective is to get rid of the ugly light fixtures. We are saving our money to be able to do this soon!

It's fun to watch paint dry...

The hallway...

I know it's hard to see, so you'll just have to stop by and visit!

We rearranged the pictures that were on the wall too... we do love our family photo wall!

What about you? Have you done any home improvements this summer?

UPDATE- AUGUST 25

WE GOT A NEW LIGHT FIXTURE! We went to the Habitat for Humanity store and we were pleasantly surprised with the variety to choose from! We found one we liked and Joshua installed it before dinner! It is so much nicer!

Numbers 22:24
Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path through the vineyards, with walls on both sides.

Joshua 6:5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Joshua 6:20
When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

March crafts

 This past weekend, my hubby was out of town and I had some free time on my hands. Several weeks ago my daughters and I were shopping at Target (one of my favorite stores!), and we found some canvases on sale for just over a dollar. We bought four. Two of the canvases my hubby and I used for Valentine's Day weekend when we painted together. I had two more left and decided to use them for March crafts.

I do not have many St. Patrick's Day decorations. I have a few shamrocks and green candle holders that I put out, but I've never spent time creating much until this year. I was inspired looking at Pinterest for ideas. I decided to try some things. I was also inspired by a friend who decorated her home and posted pictures on Facebook of her decorations. I also went to the Dollar Tree and bought a balsa wood shamrock wreath there. The photos below are what I came up with.

I painted this canvas several colors of green acrylic paints. It was fun to just "free style." It has gold and burlap piece stapled on the back, with a felt shamrock on the front. I have several green candle holders on this ledge between our TV room and dining room/ kitchen table area.

I need to buy more small, detail paint brushes... it was hard to paint the letters.

This was one that I saw on Pinterest and I painted this canvas to look like what I saw. It's not perfect either, but I'm happy with the way that it turned out. I staple gunned a piece of twine to that back so that I could hang it on my porch. Years ago, I bought green ribbon that has white shamrocks on it, so I put a piece of that ribbon on the twine too. It was a fun weekend painting and creating. I have another piece that I printed on card stock and used mod-podge to glue it onto a piece of wood. I like that one too, but there is no picture of it. It says, "Let the shamrock serve as a reminder to thee, of God's perfect presence in His Holy Trinity."

Last year I printed this Irish blessing and framed it. I like having it out during March.

I'll keep these decorations out for most of March. Toward the end of the month, I may switch some things out for spring and Palm Sunday/ Easter decorations.

What about you-- do you have any St. Patrick's Day decorations that you have made? Or where did you buy them?  

Matthew 5:1-12
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

The Beatitudes

He said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

House painting update! (part 2)

 This post is the 2nd post of 2. To see the first post, click here.

My hubby recently finished painting the outside of our house! We are really pleased with it. It took about 6 weeks, of us (mostly him) working on Saturday, or his day off. Sometimes he worked a little on Sunday afternoons too. 

Here are the rest of the pictures... enjoy!

Some pictures of my dear hubby hard at work...

I helped tape and paint the detail on our posts...

They turned out so nicely! Extra thanks to my youngest brother who gave us lots of tips and tricks... he is a journeyman painter and so helpful!

This front window trim was painted twice... we didn't like the first color, it was too light...

Painting the posts...

This was an extra thing... we got new lights for the front, side, and back of the house. And when your hubby tells you that the new ones are very similar to what you already have... you should believe him! (Because I didn't!)

I even got ONTO the roof and helped my hubby paint the upper trim brown... I'd never been up there before!

Hitting the high parts with a pole from my sister-in-law... it worked great! Our teenage son even got onto the roof and helped paint some of that upper trim... but he didn't like laying down up there!

Since we had to take our house numbers down, we decided to replace them. I had seen some neat ways to make numbers stand out against brick, using a board and making a little planter. My hubby put it all together one afternoon, and I painted it. I love it! It matches our house so nicely. The numbers were from Lowe's, but we had to special order the 1 since it was never in stock!

The end results... this is the back...

...the side... (I don't know why it looks dirty!)

The other side...which was harder because of all of the boxes, lines, and the carport! We also had some minor handyman work done, one part which was to replace some boards on the fireplace outside...it turned out great! We also replaced some high fascia in the back and caulked the gutters. Our handyman even took the gutters down so we could paint under them!

...and the front... ta-da! We did not paint the garage door.

I'm so glad that my hubby was able to paint it all! It looks wonderful! I'm glad we won't be painting like that again for many years!

Now my awesome hubby can get back to his other hobbies of making kombucha, roasting garlic, and maybe even roasting coffee again!

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,  because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.  For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.