Still Organizing My Basement!

I really should have taken pictures before and after my basement cleanup because you just cannot appreciate how much work I really accomplished down there this past month without the before pics.  oh well…let me share the “after” photos with you and you can guess on the “before”.  Just use your imagination and think CLUTTER!

  

tHE FIRST PICTURE ABOVE SHOWS THE AREA YOU COME UPON WHEN YOU FIRST COME DOWN THE BASEMENT STAIRS.  I DECIDED TO MAKE THIS MY SITTING AREA.  THERE ARE A COUPLE OF DIY PROJECTS HERE THAT I’LL MENTION BRIEFLY, AND IF YOU WANT MORE DETAILS, LET ME KNOW.

THE FIRST IS THE COFFEE TABLE.  THE TOP WAS PRETTY ROUGH WHEN I BOUGHT IT AT A YARDSALE.  I HAD TO DECIDE WHETHER TO DO SOME HEAVY DUTY REFINISHING ON IT, OR GO WITH THE DISTRESSED LOOK BY PAINTING IT.  I DIDN’T KNOW WHICH WHEN I STARTED.  I BEGAN BY USING A SHARP EDGED WOOD CHISEL TO TAKE THE TOP LAYER OF FINISH OFF.  THEN I SANDED THE ENTIRE SURFACE WITH A LOW GRIT SANDPAPER.  THERE WERE SOME DEEPER GOUGES IN THE WOOD THAT WOULD HAVE TAKEN A LOT OF WORK TO SAND DOWN, AND I REALLY LIKED THE CHARACTER THE MARKS LEFT IN THE SURFACE.  SO, I DECIDED TO TRY THE DISTRESSED LOOK ON THE TOP ONLY.  I APPLIED A COAT OF CREAMY OFF-WHITE PAINT, LET IT DRY, AND THEN SOFTLY SANDED IT AGAIN WITH THE LOW GRit SANDPAPER.  I APPLIED THE SECOND COAT AND AGAIN SANDED IT.  THIS REMOVES ANY BRUSH STROKES OR PAINT BUILDUP FROM TOO MUCH PAINT ON YOUR BRUSH.  aS YOU CAN SEE, I ALSO PAINTED THE SIDES OF THE TOP.  ONCE THE SECOND COAT WAS DRY, I TOOK THE SAND PAPER AND LIGHTLY WENT OVER THE CURVED CORNERS AND OTHER AREAS WHERE THE TOP AND SIDE MEET.  YOU CAN SEE THE WOOD UNDERNEATH WHERE I DID THAT.  I ALSO DID THAT IN A FEW PLACE ON THE TOP ITSELF.  IT’S KIND OF A TOUCHY FEELY PROCESS, BECAUSE YOU WANT IT TO LOOK WORN AND DISTRESSED BY USE RATHER THAN BY SANDPAPER.  IF YOU GO A LITTLE CRAZY WITH THE SANDPAPER, YOU CAN ALWAYS APPLY MORE PAINT AND THEN SAND AGAIN.  WHEN FINISHED, I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE END RESULT AND REALLY LIKE THE COMBINATION OF PAINT AND WOOD.

THE OTHER PROJECT WAS A QUICK FIX I DID TO COVER THE OTTOMAN.  MY DAUGHTER HAD A DOG THAT LIKED TO LIFT HIS LEG ON THE BOTTOM OF THE ORIGINAL OTTOMAN COVER….IF YOU GET MY DRIFT.  IT WAS ATTACHED TO THE OTTOMAN AND NO MATTER HOW I TRIED, I COULD NOT GET THE STAINS NOR THE SMELL OUT.  I DECIDED THE ONLY WAY TO GET RID OF IT WAS TO CUT IT OFF, WHICH I DID AND IT LOOKED AWFUL…SO I HAD TO COVER THE WHOLE THING SOMEHOW.  NOT SURE WHAT I WAS DOING, I GRABBED SOME FABRIC AND CUT OUT A PIECE FOR THE TOP OUT OF A HEAVIER, SOLID PINK MATERIAL.  I PINNED IT DOWN INTO THE SEAM AROUND THE EDGES.  I THEN TOOK A PIECE OF WHITE COTTON AND ANOTHER OF PINK COTTON AND DECIDED TO USE THEM TO GATHER AND PIN TO THE TOP OF THE FABRIC I PUT ON TOP.  ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME SO FAR?  MAYBE I SHOULD PUT A CLOSEUP PICTURE HERE.

AS YOU CAN SEE, I ALTERNATED MY FABRIC PINK, WHITE, PINK, WHITE.  I DID THIS BECAUSE I DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH ON HAND OF THE PINK AND WHEN I WANT TO DO SOMETHING, I WANT TO DO IT RIGHT NOW, WITH WHAT I HAVE ON HAND.  AFTER CAREFULLY USING LONG UPHOLSTERY PINS TO PIN IN PLACE, I THEN TOOK A PIECE OF BRAIDED TRIM AND HOT GLUED IT TO THE FABRIC TO COVER UP THE PINS.  WHOO-LA!  INSTANT OTTOMAN COVER!  KEEP IN MIND, THIS WOULD NOT HOLD UP TO A LOT OF WEAR AND TEAR!  I CAN SIT ON IT WITHOUT DISLODGLING THE PINS, BUT I WOULD NOT TRUST IT IF I HAD SMALL CHILDREN ABOUT.  BUT IN A QUICK FIX SITUATION, THIS WORKS GREAT AND I HAD IT DONE IN ABOUT 1 1/2 HOURS.

NEXT IS A PICTURE OF THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THIS SITTING AREA, WHERE THE FIREPLACE IS.  THE FUTON ABOVE FACES THE FIREPLACE.

I SEE A FEW THINGS IN THIS AREA THAT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN, BUT I’LL SAVE THOSE FOR ANOTHER DAY.  TOMORROW I’LL TRY TO POST MORE PICTURES OF MY “CREATIVE SPACES” IN THE BASEMENT.  HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS LITTLE LOOK-SEE AND PROJECT BRIEFING.  I’M REALLY GOING TO TRY TO FOCUS MORE ON THIS TYPE OF POSTING IN THE FUTURE.  I’M STILL FINDING MY WAY ON THIS BLOGGING VENTURE….SisterBrendy

 

 

CHRISTMAS ANGEL

The holiday season of 1977 was magical in every aspect.  I was in love with my husband of two years, living in my dream home for the past year, working at a job that I loved, my life was right on track.  Christmas decorating was done, shopping completed, presents wrapped and placed under our tree, and we were counting down…… not for Christmas, but for the birth of our first child.  The due date had come and gone, and finally on December 22, I decided to start my maternity leave, baby or not.  I was so ready to be a Mommy. 

As Christmas morning dawned, so did the first twinges of labor pains.  We gathered everything together and left, not for the hospital…..I had to go to my Mom and Dad’s first….it was Christmas morning after all!  It was early afternoon when we finally left their house to go to the hospital.  Everyone hugged, and I promised to call as soon as the baby arrived.  But it was a long wait.  I thought I was in “hard labor” when we arrived at the hospital, sure the baby would soon be making it’s appearance, only to find out that I was dilated 1/2 centimeter!  It didn’t get any better and Christmas Day came and went.  But finally at 2:20 a.m. December 26th, which was also my baby sister’s birthday, Megan Elizabeth made her way into the world.  My angel……from the minute I first held her.

Before I knew it, we were celebrating her first birthday.

She was the happiest baby ever.  Every time you looked at her, she was smiling.  My life was complete.  The next thing I knew, she turned two!

She only grew more beautiful and still kept smiling…until late March, 1980.  She started getting such bad headaches and was admitted to Children’s Hospital to have the experts figure out why.  At first, they could only say that maybe she was suffering from migraines, even though that was unusual for someone so young, and they sent us home.  A month later, she was still having the headaches and she would thump her left eye and cry.

This is a picture of her taken around Easter.

One night at 11:00 p.m., I called her pediatrician and told her, “there is something wrong with my baby”, and she said, “that’s all I have to hear, we’re getting her back up to Children’s Hospital tomorrow”.  That is when the CT Scan showed she had a brain tumor.  That was in May, 1980.  The tumor was on her pituitary gland and although it wasn’t malignant, there were many complications over the next several months as we found out her pituitary gland wasn’t producing any hormones.  We had to give her very painful growth hormone shots every other day, in addition to a whole days schedule of medications…..but she never complained.  She bounced back into being the happy, smiling little girl she was before.  While she was in ICU, she told us that Jesus had come to visit her.  She was only 2 1/2 then.  How could you not believe that he had not? 

This is our beautiful girl in August of 1980, just a few months after her surgery, still happy and still smiling!

 

We cherished each day as she continued to grow and get well.  She soon turned 3 years old, this little angel of ours.  By the following Easter, her hair had grown back and you would never guess she’d had surgery a year before.  That smile was brighter than ever!

 

In late spring or early summer, our dear friend, Agnes Leasure,  who was Megan’s babysitter,  let her sit outside on the porch swing while she watched her from the window.  She could see that Megan was looking up, talking to someone and as she couldn’t see anyone, she went outside to see who she was talking to.  There was no one there.  Agnes asked her, “Megan who were you talking to?”  Megan replied, “My friend,  Jesus.  He’s with me all the time”.  Agnes asked what they were talking about.  “He was telling me about heaven.  Have you been to heaven?” 

On July 27th, 1981, Megan went to heaven.  Suffering from complications from a virus that her body couldn’t fight off, she went into a coma.  She had been in a coma for 11 days.   I sat alone one night after the doctors had told us that Megan’s EEG (a test which measures electrical activity in the brain) had shown no brain activity.  They would, of course, repeat this test, along with other tests, but they wanted to let us know they did not expect any change.  We should expect that she was brain dead.  After pleading with God to not take her from me, then threatening God if he did, Jesus came to visit me, in the form of a nameless, faceless, woman .  At 2:00 in the morning… in the lobby area near the hospital chapel.  This woman came in and sat down beside me and started talking.  I didn’t even look at her.  In fact, it made me angry that she was intruding upon my self imposed isolation, but she did not expect any conversation or compassion from me.  Softly, she told me that she visited the chapel every night, to pray that God take her son home to heaven.  He had to be fed through tubes, wore diapers, didn’t know her or even that he was alive and had been like that for 12 years.  She wanted so badly for his soul to be released so he could be an angel in heaven, rather than have his body chained to earth, where there was no joy for him.  As soon as I realized that she had just just portrayed the kind of life that I might have been threatening God for Megan to have, I looked up, but she was no where within my sight.  Did I imagine her?  No, I believe, as Megan did, that Jesus came to visit me that night.  I ran back to the chapel, took back my threats and turned my precious Megan over to him.  I know she dances with the other angels now.  I hope that she dances with the son of the woman who came to me as Megan’s Jesus.  Sometimes, when I’m sleeping, I can almost feel her light footsteps dancing right over my heart.

I still wake up each morning grateful for the many gifts that God has blessed me with.  So if your holiday gets stressed and you wonder why we go through the glitz, the pressure, and the headaches that goes with the holidays, take a moment and think of all that you have to be grateful for and why and who we are really celebrating this Christmas season.  All my love, SisterBrendy

I'm Still Here...Just Busy!

Taylor "stroller cool" at Great Grandma Thompson's recently. Can you believe she 6 months old already?

I don't want you to think I've given up on my blog, it's just that things have been a little busy around here lately. First, my hubby got sick with the flu and ended up in the hospital, then a kidney stone hit me and knocked me off my feet for a couple of weeks, (boy do I hate those things!) I've been watching my precious little granddaughter several days a week, trying to spend a couple of days up at my Mom's every couple of weeks, still trying to organize my basement, working on making fall and Christmas wreaths, picking up my paintbrush here and now, working with Jenna on her wedding plans, trying to get in some Christmas shopping when time allows.....and the list just seems to go on and on. So much for being retired, right? Life is good and I continue to be blessed by the love of family and friends. Tomorrow is hubby's birthday, and twice a year, there is a huge flea market held at the Scioto County fairgrounds, which just so happens to coincide with his birthday this year. That's where we'll be tomorrow (well I guess I should say today, since it is 2:00 a.m.) It is so huge, we never get to see everything before we poop out. We don't often do things together, so I'm looking forward to our outing. I'll let you know what kind of goodies I find and bring back with me.......until then, look for the small joys in your life and be thankful for them!

Jenna is Engaged!

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary and it appears that next spring we may be “empty nesters”! 

Our daughter Jenna, was vacationing in Myrtle Beach with my sister Trisha and her family last week and one of them suggested going to a local fire department to buy a tee-shirt for her boyfriend of three years,  Jon David, who is a firefighter and paramedic in Ohio.  When they got there, they were told they did not sell tee shirts, but they were giving tours of the firehouse that day.  So, they enjoyed a tour throughout the building and at the end, they asked if the girls would like to pose for a picture with one of the firemen who was dressed in full fire gear, for their website.  Jenna and her cousin Marci jumped right in for the picture.

The “tour guide” then said the firemen would remove his gear so they could see that he was just a regular guy, since many people thought the mask made firemen look scary.  As he removed his hat, he started walking towards Jenna and she thought, what in the world?  Does he think I’m going to help him take his gear off?  As she started to back up a bit, he removed his mask, got down on one knee, opened up a ring box, and said, “ Will you please marry me?”  It took her a few seconds to realize that it was Jon David, who she thought was back in Ohio before she could answer, “Yes! Yes!”

 

When it was over with, Jon David finally got to enjoy the beach with his fiancée and I get to help plan a wedding!

It should be noted that Jon David could not have pulled this off without the help of Jenna’s cousin, Micah and later on, her Aunt Trisha and cousin Marci.  Of course, her Uncle Steve will be the pastor who will officiate the wedding next March, so as usual, it’s “all in the family”!

Marci, Micah and Jenna, and I think that is Caleb squashed beneath his older brother!

Collections

I’m thinking I need to cut down on the number of things I collect.  I was just going through some pictures and it made me realize that maybe my collecting craze is getting a bit out of hand.  Give me your thoughts on this.  Here are a few pictures of just a few of the things I like to collect.

#1  I LOVE Buttons

I have buttons of every color.  ……and every type….

such as pottery buttons

and jeweled buttons

all grouped by color or shape or type and placed on a shelf where I can play with them!

#2  And then there are my Marbles….

I sort of have them everywhere….

You can’t really tell by the picture above, but the drawer pulled out is my collection of vintage trims and ribbons and on top, among various other things, you’ll see a box lid filled with more marbles!

I don’t have any rhyme or reason to what I collect.  If it brings pleasure to my eye or my heart, it is worthy.  Such as these small oil cans.

And this collection of Vintage Hats…..These things “speak to me”, oh whatever!, but I end up dragging them home and the next thing I know, I have a collection going on.

Sometimes I don’t get carried away, I just like one or two of something and then I can fit several “collections” into a neat and tidy space, like this.

These are just a few of the many collections I have.  I just happened to already have pictures of these.  I’ll share others as I take more pictures.  (I still have that new camera on my wishlist!)

Sweet Dreams

I downloaded a new program tonight, Paint.NET, and spent hours trying to figure it out.  I’ve never worked with Photoshop or other like programs, so this is all very foreign to me.  I picked an image from my garden pictures and played with it so much that I can’t tell you what all I did to it within this program.  This first picture is what I started off with and the second is my creation after I decided to save it.

 

As for the poem, the picture made me think of stars and galaxies and thus, the words.  Has anyone else worked with one of these programs and completely changed an image into something completely different?  If so, I would love to see what you have done!  Leave a comment and a link to see your creation!  Sweet Dreams!

July 4th Family Celebration

(note:  this was in draft form and should have been posted last Saturday, but as usual, I got distracted and didn’t post it until today…sorry for the dates being mixed up!)

Image by lizkdc via Flickr

This is one of my favorite holidays.  Good food, great companionship, and the whole patriotic theme warms my heart.  I love to see flags hanging from porch posts and would love to have those red, white and blue banners hanging from my porch posts.  It stirs in my heart a deep sense of pride that no matter that our country is in a economic crisis and the politicians and CEO’s seem greedier everyday, that we, the people, are still proud to be an American.  How grateful I am to those brave young men and women who have  served, or currently serving our country. 

Well, I’m sitting in the backseat of my little Honda Civic, along with a big car seat holding my precious 3 month old granddaughter, a big cooler (on wheels no less!), two diaper bags and other various picnic items.  The bad thing is, the family picnic started two hours ago!  My daughter-in-law and daughter took the baby to the 4th of July parade in her hometown, then tended to a yard sale at her Mother’s house.  I thought they would be back round noon, but it was closer to 1:30 before the baby arrived.  Both young women have to work the afternoon shift at the hospital and aren’t able to come with us today.  My son, who has been working such long hours is getting a little break and is spending the weekend with his high school buddies on the Ohio River. 

I hope everyone has a safe, happy,  Fourth of July weekend!