Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  We are planning to go over to my sister-in-law's house for what I'm sure will be a wonderful dinner and a great time (along with a certain nephew's birthday celebration!).

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Even though this has been a tough year for many families, it's so important to remember that there are things we can always be thankful for - and not just on Thanksgiving. I encourage you all to remember these things and if some of these "things" are people, tell/show them!!

Some of the things I'm thankful for this year are:

My hard-working husband
My loving family
My wonderful friends
My crazy kitty
The sale of our old house
My sweet in-laws for allowing us to live in their basement for 3 months
The purchase of our new house
Negative medical test results
Our jobs
A fabulous Hawaiian vacation
And last but not least, a God who promises not that we will have a trouble-free life, but that He will be by our side through whatever this life brings; a God who loves, forgives, and cares; a God who gave His only Son so that we may know life, and know it to the fullest.

For these things I am SO thankful!

I think I've found the perfect...

...window covering material.

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Yes! I'm talking about burlap.  I did google this idea and I am not the first to have this particular lightbulb moment.

Here is a fancier burlap curtain:
http://patinagreen.typepad.com/patinagreen/2009/03/burlap-curtains-for-sale.html

Here is a no-sew burlap curtain:
http://vanillalavender.blogspot.com/2009/05/no-sewing-curtains.html

And more burlap ideas...the last curtains on this page will be what my lightbulb most closely resembles:
http://asoftplace.net/2009/03/linky-love-the-burlap-edition/

 I already have one "you're crazy!" vote. What do you think?

A New View

(From the corner of our front yard.)

Basement: Studio

As you all know (maybe...maybe not...but now you do!), I love pottery. Last year, I took the plunge and bought myself a used wheel and kiln. They were previously owned by a little old lady who bought them brand new, so needless to say, they were well taken care of.  I was able to start making things before we sold our house in Scappoose, but was never able to fire anything.  When we moved in with Dad and Mom H, they were stored away (along with all my unfired work).  It wasn't until recently that I claimed my part of the basement to set them up, clean them up, and get them ready for use again!  I'm super excited to start practicing again!!

I love making ("throwing") pots on my humble little wheel. Ain't she a cutie!! She is SO old-school, and not as fast as her brand-new brothers and sisters, but I love her!

Here's my other bestie, my kiln - Mr. Kilny. I haven't used him yet - and to be quite honest I'm a little bit afraid to use him. BUT I went to Georgies on Saturday and talked to the super nice experts there and feel a little better about the whole thing. My first firing will be quite an experience (and hopefully Mr. Kilny doesn't fail me), I am sure!

At Georgies, I bought some new pyrometric cones. I had to get junior cones (for the kiln-sitter) and senior (or "witness") cones. These bad boys help me monitor the temperature my kiln is at. If you REALLY want to know more about the whole cone/firing process, go here to get schooled.

I also bought 25 pounds of clay. Really, that is not a lot, even though it sounds like a lot.  Depending on what you make, you can make a lot or a little with 25 pounds. I buy a clay called "Trail Mix".  One of these days, I'm going to try out the red version of this clay - that will be fun!

Because I had to transport my work UNFIRED from our old house to Dad and Mom H's house, to our new house, I knew that I would lose some pieces...and I did.  When you make something out of clay and let it dry out completely, it's called "bone dry" - which is clay's most fragile state.  It is so brittle I'm surprised only these three things didn't make it.  One other bowl - the biggest one I've made yet - had a little piece of the rim broken off, but I'm keeping it. Here are my casualties:

But never fear! Here's everything else that is waiting for Mr. Kilny to be cleaned, plugged in, and fired! (Look at those sparkly counter tops!! I cleaned them up a bit. They don't sparkle, but they aren't as bad as they were!)

And, for a final parting shot, my pottery studio as I left it tonight. I am really excited to begin working again and firing and glazing and firing again! If I get REALLY good, I'm going to sell things on the Neatest Site ever in the HISTORY of the WHOLE WORLD - Etsy.  It's an all handmade goods site. There is tons of pottery, jewelry, knit goods, clothing, art, etc. - check it out!

It's pretty uninspiring right now, but I hope to change that soon!

Busy weekend

Sorry no posts this weekend! I took five 15 and 16 year olds to the Revolve Tour at the Rose Garden. It was a Friday night/Saturday event....and four of them spent the night at my house! Needless to say I didn't get much sleep or have time to tell you about our projects and how they are coming along.

Mark finished the rain drain thing at the back of the house (and the flashing too)- woo hoo!  So, we'll see how that works the next time the big rains come, which in Oregon will probably be pretty soon.

We did manage to go to Ikea on Sunday afternoon and bought a few things:

• Three 6ft long white Lack shelves
• 1 set of dishes (white)
• 1 set of white sheer curtains (to finish off the front living room windows)
• 1 lamp shade
• and some other small things

One mini DIY project I did recently was take a left-behind gold floor lamp with a swing arm and spray paint it black.  I needed a shade for it, so Ikea to the rescue, I scored this one for a few bucks.  Fun and fabulously functional!!

One of the things I wanted for my living room was shelves on the back wall - and I got them!  We put them up on Sunday evening.  Here's Mark working away...

We hung them sort of askew. We didn't really want them in one neat row.

So, now I have shelves!! And now I don't know how to arrange my stuff on them.  :o(  Any suggestions? Run across any blogs on how to make your shelves look cute?  I plan on getting prints of pictures I've taken over the years and having them on these along with books, but for now, it's just my books.

Now for my so-far budget breakdown:

My previous total for the recycling - living room - basement projects was $60.  This week, I'm adding to that $90 for the shelves, $9 for the curtains, and $10 for the lamp shade (even though this project isn't included in my living room, it is in my living room, so it'll count). That brings me to ... $169!!  My last big expense is going to be curtains for the living room. I haven't found any winners yet, but the search continues!

Side note: I bought a set of plain dishes at Ikea because the set we got for our wedding (which I love) has not fared so well. We only have three dinner plates left (out of 8 or 6), and one of those is cracked.  If I, like wanted to have people over for dinner, I was limited to one guest.  Now I have my three plates PLUS 6 more (6 salad plates and 6 cereal bowls too)!

 
Dinner party, anyone?

Rainy day woes & updates

As is usual for an Oregon November, it has been raining a lot lately.  The previous owners of our house told us that water seeps into the basement when the ground gets really saturated, and we have started to see that happen (basically, it looks like water runs down the walls, then dries up - we don't have standing water or anything like that, but it's still a problem, especially since we want to finish the basement someday).  So, today, on his day off, Mark is going to try and correct what is causing at least some of the problem - the gutter downspouts. He's got a plan - don't ask me to repeat what it is - but basically, the downspouts in the back of the house aren't directed anywhere, so water just seeps into the ground. I think that another part of his fix is going to be putting some "flashing" on the gutters, so the rain actually goes into the gutters, not careening over the edge of them, which is what is currently happening during heavy rains.  Hopefully that will fix part of our water-coming-through-the-basement-wall issue.

Updates:

I - a few posts ago - spelled out three projects that were fairly quick and monetarily painless, so here's where we stand on them:

#1 Living room - My goal was to paint, put shelves up, and buy window hangings for less than $150-200.

We've only tackled the painting and that cost us about $45. We bought two gallons of paint but only used one! I think I might use the other to paint our bedroom when it is finished because it would go well with our bedding.  So, technically, we spent only about $20 so far on the living room.  This weekend, we'll probably do an Ikea run and get the shelves. I will look at window hangings too, but I have been toying with the idea of making my own IF I find a CHEAP fabric that I like.

#2 New Recycling System - My goal was to have a nice easy recycling station, that would probably live in the basement, and possibly buy a food composter.

I originally had the idea to make my own "recycling station", but after determining how much it would cost to make it (not a whole lot, but also my time), we decided to pick up three of these stackable bins with awesome flip up tops from The Home Depot:

They are big enough, plastic (so they are easy to clean) and take up less room than my original idea would.  Plus, I like that even though they are stacked, you just flip up the lid (it's on a hinge) and toss in your recyclables!  Three cost a little under $30 total, so we're doing good so far!  I didn't buy a kitchen composter yet. I want to compost, I really do, but I need to have the outside composter first. 'Cause once that little kitchen bin is full - then what?  I was putting the cart before the horse. So, I'm holding off on this for now.

#3 Cleaning up the basement - My goal here was to organize this beast and to have virtually no $$ leave my pocket.

On Sunday afternoon, we rolled up our sleeves and began this big task and we did pretty good!  I've taken pictures, but haven't posted them yet (sorry). We managed to move things around, broke down a billion moving boxes, swept the floor, and organized a bit.  Mark still needs to organize his tools and work bench and I need to organize my pottery area! (I'm very exited.) We did buy two plastic totes at the Home Depot ($4.88 a piece), so the only $$ we've spent was just under $10. Not bad!

So far, these projects have cost us....

...a whopping...

...$60!!!

I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.

Ta-da!!

We officially have paint! We ended up choosing Glidden's Wood Smoke (Eggshell finish).

Mark and I spent yesterday painting our living room and then cleaning up after ourselves. There are still some touch ups to do (and painting the trim), but everything else is done!

I even unloaded some of my books to the mantle; they are happy in their temporary home. Also, the TV is not on that ugly desk anymore...I put it on the vanity (sans mirror) I got from Mark's dad (I still need to buy drawer pulls for it). This is not the final arrangement for our living room, but it works for now!

We also put up our curtain rods and some of the sheers I had from our old house.  I need to find the perfect panel curtains to go in here (in front of the sheers). As you can see from the top picture, I also hung some curtains I had on one of the back windows. We haven't put up all of the rods yet, though we have had most of them for awhile.

Remember that ugly desk the TV was on? Well, I painted it and it is a computer desk (see above pic). Once the "wood room" is organized a little, it and our computer will go in there. Mark thinks it is so ugly out here, and I agree, but I don't really want to be holed up in a storage room when I want to go on the internet.

Here's a few shots I took while painting:

On this back wall, I plan to put up 5 or 6 Lack shelves from Ikea:

Ikea

They are floating shelves, so you don't see any hardware, which I really like. And I think the white ones will look good...I think I'm going to have a lot of white accents in this room to brighten it up.  I still haven't figured out what configuration to do. They come in three lengths - 6 ft, 3.5 ft, and 1 ft - and I'm not sure exactly what I want...my books and pictures and pottery will live on them. I think I'm going to cut out some cardboard on lengths and tape them to the wall to see what I like. The blank wall itself is 13'x8'...so it's a big blank slate.

Today, we start the basement clean out! If I have time I'll give you an update on our progress today.

The Chosen One ... Maybe

So, this is the color we might be painting our living room walls.  It's Glidden's Wood Smoke - kind of a greyish-taupey-brown. I'm not sure if you can really tell from the picture, but it goes really well with the slate, and with our chocolate brown couches. My concern is that it will be a smidge too dark. (It looks really grey in the pictures, but there is taupey-brown in it, too. And, actually, the slate looks really blue, which it isn't at all.)

What do you think?

Bring it on, rain

I'll be ready.

And cute!

Heading inside

The weather has officially turned, as have our clocks (daylight savings time has begun), so my focus has been on the inside of our house since it is dark by the time I get home from work. The inside of our house, as you know, needs a lot of help, so when I look around and think, "What can I do here?", I have visions of sledgehammering through walls, tearing out cabinets, ripping up floors, etc., but then I have to take a deep breath because we are not yet ready for major construction. So, I've tried to shift my focus to not-so-grandiose (and costly) projects that still make me feel like I'm accomplishing something inside. I have three ideas floating around my head right now that can be done inside and make me feel like my house is a bit more organized and prettier (if that is actually possible without the major construction).

The first project is sprucing up my living room. Three things need to happen here: I need to paint, buy window hangings, and get some shelves up on the walls so my sad books will be able to get out of their dusty boxes and breathe again. Paint, window hangings, and shelves won't cost that much...and it will really make that room feel warmer, more comfy, and more like home. (More furnishings, decorations, and rugs will have to come later.) It's basically the only room in the house that is not having its walls touched, moved or redone in any way, and I already know my color scheme, so I need to - in the words of Phil Knight - just do it. It shouldn't cost me any more than $150-$200 to do all three things.

Cheap-o project #2 is creating a better system for dealing with my recycling. I need some kind of permanent sorting doo-dah; these paper bags just aren't working for me. Look how gross this looks; I mean, come on.

Here's my solution: I'm thinking about building a four cubbyhole shelf (think square box with a cross in the middle) out of plywood or mdf, painting it white, and having one of these totes in each hole (probably with no lid...I will just make sure it fits nice and snug in its cubbyhole):

Lowes

These totes hold around 14 gallons, so they'll hold a lot of recyclables, and at Lowes they are only about $7 each!  I would somehow fix a cute label to each of them saying what belongs in each (glass, plastic, tin, paper), so there is no confusion as to where your empty pop can or salsa jar goes. Awesome plastic fact: if they happen to get gross because we (Mark) forget to wash out a green bean can, we can just hose them out! The only problem I'm having is determining where I put it. In my dining nook for now? In the basement? On the covered side porch? What do you think?

In addition to my new recycling center, I plan on buying a small kitchen composter, like this 2 gallon one at The Home Depot for only $19:

The Home Depot

We will eventually need to build an exterior compost bin out of wood, but I need someplace to keep scraps that won't smell up the entire kitchen for now. This one's filter is said to last 3 months (and replacement filters are only $7).

This project would cost me no more than $75 and I would feel SO organized and lose those nasty overflowing paper bags!

Last but not least, the "big kahuna" of the three project that will take a lot of man/woman-power and not a lot of bucks: organizing my 1,600 square foot basement. This is what the disaster that is my basement currently looks like:

And, yes, in case you were wondering, that is sawdust on the floor.  *Sigh* We sure have our work cut out for us on this project.  For now, we won't be able to deal with the exposed beam ceilings, cement floors and general grossness of this basement (that's a future project), but this space can be so much better and more usable if it were organized in a way that made sense and cleaned up. I want there to be four areas of the basement: a laundry area, a nicely organized storage area (hiking gear, Christmas decorations, etc.), a nice workspace for Mark, and a pottery studio for me.

Oh how I wish our basement would look something like this with minimal effort on my part:

Country Living

Ah, to have all those antiques! I'd die! Seriously, it will never look like that. But it can definitely look better than it does right now! The only monetary costs that I can think of that might be associated with cleaning up/organizing our basement are new light bulbs and some more of those Rubbermaid Roughneck Totes from Lowes, so maybe a total of $30? Not too bad!

There you have it - my next three projects that I hope to have done before Christmas...which is only 7 weeks away!! I better get moving!

Just for fun, let's see how close I come to my estimated budget:

Living room: $150-$200
Recycling center: $75
Basement organization: $30
Estimated Grand Total: $300


Wish me luck and lots of good deals!

Bummer

Our house used to set on a big lot, more than a double lot. However, before the previous owners sold, they divided it into two lots - one with the house (what we bought) and one without a house (which someone else bought). So, in buying our house, we knew that someone would soon be building what would have to be a skinny, long house on the lot next to us. Yesterday, the surveyors appeared...then the backhoe. Work has officially begun. Sad.