Before and After

While looking for another picture yesterday, I stumbled across this picture on the left.  I took it on May 23, the day of the first big rain.  I was sitting in my front doorway watching the rain.  I knew it had greened up since then but seeing the comparison side by side is almost shocking!  (FYI we haven't watered our yard ever!)  Praise the Lord for the rain! He truly is faithful!

FINALLY, a Laundry Room!!

So I haven't had a washer and dryer in our house since we moved.  We've used the laundry mat, borrowed a washer from Sara, got Gunnar's grandmothers set, and used our family's.  About a week after getting Gunnar's grandmothers, the washer broke… Its amazing just how many things I take for granted!  It really wasn't a big deal except for Gunnar's work clothes.  He has to wear FRs (fire resistant) and he only has so many of them and they get really dirty so that was a little difficult to keep up with.

The washer wasn't draining, so I ended up taking it apart and found the problem…not fixable….so on to Amazon… found the part I thought we needed and ordered it with free shipping for $23…figured it was worth the risk even if it needed up not working…  Finally got the part in Friday and got the washer put back together Saturday and proceeded to do about 47 loads of laundry!! ha not really but a lot!

Washer taken apart with a couple stowaways!!

It honestly was kinda fun taking the washer apart and fixing it.  I really do enjoy working with my hands and being "mechanical"!  Gunnar as going to do it but I asked if he would let me try first anyway… :)

Sara, Arielle, and I were recruited to decorate for Nic and Emily's baby shower at the McClellans, so I borrowed some of the paper scraps we had left over and made some cute letters for my washboards.  

Turned out pretty cute and now I finally have a laundry room that is functional, clean (for now haha), and cute!!  (this picture is terrible, makes the laundry room look yellow which it is, in fact, not at all!)

Oh and I just had to include this picture for the record.  Gunnar got to hold little Silas today and it was pretty adorable!! He has now officially held two babies…as an adult anyway! 

Project Fish Tank Table

FINALLY finished my latest project!! Its been bugging me because our fish tank has just been sitting on an ugly patio table, in our living room getting dirtier and dirtier until I could get this table redone!  We even had a plate inside it to make the water spilling from the filter quieter….people thought it was a frisbee.

This is the only picture I have of it, I should have taken a "before" pic but I was just so excited to get the living room DONE! So, notice that in this pic you can see how the water is semi clear…. yeah it wasn't like that by yesterday!  Our poor fish...

So here's the table before.  It used to be Gunnar's grandmothers and maybe great grandmothers, I'll have to ask again, and has been passed around the family.  Ann told me it used to be taller but somewhere along the way someone cut the legs off to make it shorter.  Gunnar had it when he was young for his fish tank, when he went to college, he gave it to my brother for his fish tank, then, when we moved back, Jonathan wasn't using it anymore so we got it back.  I love furniture with history!  It used to be white (and apparently blue at some point) but all the paint was peeling off and chipping, so it was time for a makeover! 

I thought I could maybe just sand it but it proved too big of a job so I asked my husband to pick me up  stripper to help me out.  This is the text I got from him later… funny husband...

Getting all bubbly from the stripper...

So here it is after A LOT of sanding, A LOT of stripping, and A LOT of sanding!  Those legs were rather a pain…so many grooves!  I also took it apart and reenforced the bottom of it, it was getting a little wobbly.  I want to stain it someday, the wood is really pretty, but because it will have water on it for a while I thought I'd paint it for now to protect it.

So it took me FOUR hours to get the fish tank cleaned, tables switched out, new water put in, and everything cleaned up!  Sheesh! The water's still really dirty in this picture but I was making progress!!

I had some left over paint from our bathroom in Leakey, who wants to buy new paint when you can just use some you already have?!  Plus this blue/grey works great in the living room and is more subtle so that the fish tank stands out and not the table itself.

All finished!  Now to buy some new fish to add to the shiny clean tank!! Ours need some new friends...

Before and after…

Another perk was that I finally got to hang up my cross from John and Jonathan!  :)

Happy Monday!

Gunnar periodically texts me pictures from work.  These are two of the recent ones.  I love that he appreciates the things in life that we often miss or gloss over.

This was a sunrise on the way to work yesterday.  So beautiful!  

A group of colts he passes regularly.  I love their curiosity!  "Hey there! Whatcha doing? Got anything for us?"  

Happy Monday everyone!