It pays to be married to a handyman

There's nothing like having a baby that makes you want to check some things off your to do list.

In fact, having a baby even made me make a new to do list entitled, "Things to do before the baby comes".  (Really creative, huh.)

With this little one's due date slowly creeping up on us, we've started scheduling which of Dan's days off we will work on certain projects. 

First up.  Build shelves in the garage.  We thought we would start out by just doing one section of the wall to see how we really liked it.

Once I saw how nice they were and how much stuff would fit on them, I sweet talked my incredibly amazing and understanding husband to make more.

 And he did.

There is something about organization that just makes my heart sing.  I seriously am SO excited to have our garage somewhat organized.  There are a few little projects here and there that need to be done (such as reorganizing some of the totes and labeling them) but the BIG project is done, thanks to my handyman.

Not only did he build all these shelves and organize the garage, but he also made himself this awesome work bench.  I'd say he's pretty amazing. 

Thanks babe, for sacrificing some of your precious days off to check some items off my I mean our to do list!

An attempt to keep her entertained

As any mother of children knows, sometimes it is, shall we say, a bit of a challenge keeping kids entertained during church. 

I have especially learned that when you are by yourself, and out of patience, it can be really hard to keep your cool with a certain attitude filled three year old. 

So, I took matters into my own hands and decided to finish a project that I started over a year ago. 

Yep.  A YEAR ago. 

And here is the finished product after countless hours of coloring, cutting, gluing and cutting again:

File folder games. For church.

For any of you not familiar with these, they are basically activities in a file folder.  Each file folder has pieces that are attached (velcroed) on to the folder to complete a game. 

This specific game is about the Armor of God.  They are supposed to dress each man in their appropriate clothes (aka: suit for the missionary and armor for the warrior).

The pieces are kept in a Ziploc bag stapled to the folder.

This one is a color matching game.  You have to match the child being reverent to the chair that's the same color as their outfit.

I made ten games in all and let me tell you it was a lot of work.  But SO worth it when my child was entertained during Sacrament meeting.  Now, thanks to some suggestions from friends and family, I have a few other purchases/projects up my sleeve in hopes to keep Miss Layna better entertained during church.

Beware: When bringing file folder games to church, every kid within a few rows will want to join in on the fun.  It might be a good idea to bring enough to share.  :)

From desk to end table

Remember that old computer desk?  The one we got rid of?  Well, we didn't get rid of all of it. 

Remember the table legs I ordered for this?  And remember how they ended up in New York and then Washington?  Well because of that mishap, I got some table legs for free.  Yes.  FREE.

Now combine the desk and the legs and you get this:

 

You like?  

I LOVE.

I would describe this color as SO me.  The whole time I was painting.  I just kept saying how much I loved this color.  And even after it's dried, assembled and in my house.  I still love it.

A close-up of the loveliness.



It's a good thing I like this color because I have LOTS left over.

But don't worry.  I have already made myself a list of things that need to be painted this color.

Starting with some picture frames....

What do you do when your husband has a week off?

You refinish your kitchen table.

Of course.

This project has been on my to do list for quite sometime, but it required a couple of major things, such as:

a week of no school for the hubby

and a place to complete the project. (aka my parents' garage).

Here is the before pic (scratches and all) :
The chairs:

And the after:

Now, I have a disclaimer. I am thoroughly disappointed with the way the pictures turned out. No matter what I did (flash on, flash off, etc) the color of the red is quite a bit brighter in the pictures than in real life. Seriously. It's not just me being picky. Dan even agreed with me. Imagine if you will, a deep barn red instead of the color it shows.

And if you really don't believe me. Come on over for a visit and see for yourself. :)

Despite the pictures not doing the finished product justice, I am in LOVE with my new table and chairs!

I will admit, red was a bold choice and there was more than once that I (along with some of my family members) questioned whether I made the right decision . But it worked out. And it looks awesome in my kitchen!

A BIG thank you goes to my wonderful, fabulous, understanding husband who gave up his week off to help me check off a huge project on my someday-I-really-want-to-do-this list. He earned MAJOR brownie points.

And by the way, I don't think I ever want to sand anything ever again. Just thought I would let you know.