All Day today...

I Worked on THIS

Nasty isn't it?

You see, while I was busy building my fireplace surround and mantel,

NO ONE was cleaning up the kitchen!

Not the able bodied 44 year old man,

Not the able bodied 17 year old almost man,

Not the able bodied almost 15 year old man sized person,

Not the able bodied almost 13 year old man sized person,

NO ONE!

My parents came by last night while I was trying to clean it up a bit, and Mom had some good Ideas for organizing it a bit better, so I dug in, and tore it up a bit more.

Now all the baking stuff is together.

I weeded out and organized the spice cabinet. I don't remember when I bought half the spices, so out they went.

And this mess gained a few more shelves.

I USED THE CHOP SAW ALL BY MYSELF!

But, I let Cannyn do the actual construction, electric drills, nailing guns, and levels are his favorite toys.

Now it looks like this!

I used the pine board taken off of the first attempt at the mantel. and some bits and pieces of the trim my brother in law sent home with me that I didn't use for the mantel.

( I couldn't resist sticking the camera in the pantry with Cannyn and snapping a picture while he worked)

Darian came home from practice while I was washing the inside of the refridgerator, so he decided to pitch in and help me. He wiped the freezer, tossed last summers popsicles and turkey burgers, and vacummed the coils for me.

In short, if it has a surface, it was cleaned today.

I even decorated above the cabinets!

( After Darian stood on the counters and sprayed and wiped all the grime from up there.)

Hmm. Just how long do you think it will stay that way?

Shall I take bets?

Oh, every thing that was removed from the kitchen is sitting on the dining room table,

Tomorrow, I sort it, and toss, and donate whatever doesn't belong anymore.

Oh, and I guess I should pay the bills I found in that mess!

I guess today was a productive day, even though I almost spent the whole day in one room of the house!

Fireplace update

My Fireplace is ready to show off.!

It took awhile to finish this project, but finally, I have the after photos...

I never wanted to decorate my house in white because I have three grubby man sized children.

BUT I LOVE THE WAY THIS LOOKS!

I cannot wait to link this to some of the before and after parties.

The chair I reapholstered using dropcloth in the fall.

My father bought all the MDF when he remodeled the office, My husband dreagged it all home for some project or other, but since it stayed in the garage, that meant it was fair game. I bought the crown molding, two pieces at $16 each. I also bought the stencils, paint, and spackle for the emblem, so that was another $20 the stain was in our supplies, and I decorated using stuff from my house, so All together, Besides the time given by my beautiful Sister(s) and all the time I spent getting the stain / paint ratio right, this project came in just over $50.

YEAH!!!

Linking to : Between naps on the Front Porch.

And at Make it for Monday at Cottage Instincts...



And It is so very Creative at It's so very Cheri...

And for Tuesday, over at my frugal family,

Fireplace is finished.

But, I can't show it yet, I still have to stain it. instead, I am going to show you what Darian made  for his Jazzmine class.

Every year, they make a sign, either by themselves, or in small groups. Darian chose to make his by himself, and ended up doing it VERY last minute, he finished it this morning in time to take it to school and turn it in.

BUT

 His teacher liked it so much, he left it plugged in all day,

The lights behind the head melted the hot glue,

The head fell off.

I guess I had better pick up some gorilla glue or some epoxy this weekend.

We learn through our trials right?

Took this from my friends facebook page.

Photo: Catherines

RED FRIDAYS ----- Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing red every Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the 'silent majority'. We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers.




Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday - and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that.. Every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar will wear something red.



By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.



If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family. It will not be long before the USA is covered in RED.

The first thing a soldier says when asked 'What can we do to make things better for you?' is.....We need your support and your prayers.



Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity,

See the problem?

Work has halted on the fireplace. See that lovely piece of pine on top,?

It is NOT straight!

And of course, it is screwed on, puttied up, caulked in and primed.

I have to find the screws, cut the caulk, and take it off!

Dad said he has more MDF, and Bryan said the mantel needs to be two boards thick.

So, my next day off will be repairing this before I can move forward.

End of day 3...

The frame is built, holes are filled, and everything is sanded.I am using wall spackle to do a decorative treatment in the boxes. Using a stencil, I fill the voids with spackle, trowel it evenly, and remove the stencil.Jon came home from work in time to help Angie with the Crown Moulding. We made a few mistakes yesterday, and had to buy some new Crown today, But since that is the only thing I have bought for this project, *oops, I bought the spackle, and stencils too.*I think that is not a bad deal.

My sister, My Hero!

My fireplace, original to the house, 5 1/2 inches Drywall, surrounding the tile.

I Hate it. It is useless. You cannot display anything on it at all, well nothing interesting anyways...I have been asking for a more traditional mantel and surround for eight of the nine years we have owned this house, but for some reason, it gets pushed to the back burner year after year...

NO MORE!

Today, I tore off the trim, (with my handsome little helper!)

And My little sister came over to help me by running the big scary power tools. (I can use the little, less scary nailer gun.)Eight years ago, I bought this piece of dentil crown moulding, Now, it is finally getting used!

And this is where we stopped for the day. Notice, Darius did not clean up his tools either!

Tomorrow, we are going to my friends brothers funeral (December post) then coming back to work on it again,

Thank you Angie!!!

You are my HERO!!!