Signs of the times…

Things have been pretty quiet at the Red Hen Home lately (that’s not a bad thing).  It’s still too cold here to do any big furniture painting, so I’ve been keeping busy with a few signs!

At least…that’s what I do when I’m not reading or eating Valentine cookies…

Here are a few samples of what I’ve accomplished over the last few days…

The discussions for future “in-home” projects are commencing!  Hope to begin work on some changes for my long-neglected front room (it’s only been empty since August!) soon, and figure out what to do with my poorly planned laundry room!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	My Simple Home Life
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

25 Things

1. I’m typing this while my kids eat breakfast, so I can eat breakfast after they leave the table.  I prefer to eat in peace!
2. We did NOT get an offer on our house after showing it for the 3rd time Monday night. 
3. I’m miffed at these people who came and ate my cinnamon rolls and then didn’t have the courtesy to say, “You know, we changed our mind.”
4. So we’re staying here.  That means I have a nearly uncontrollable urge to buy new furniture.
5. Or renovate my laundry room.  Which shall it be?
6. We had six people come down with Strep throat in the last two weeks.  Then I got it again.  Sometimes life isn’t fair!
7. My favorite vintage-y consignment store closed in December.  I am still in mourning.
8. I have a masters degree in Chemical Engineering.  There are days when I think, “For this I went to college??”
9. But I wouldn’t trade being a wife and a mother for anything!
10. One of my dreams is to have fresh flowers in my house all the time.  Normally I’m too cheap frugal to buy them, though.
11. I stole my husband away from the girl he was on a date with.  But then, he stole me from the guy I was on a date with.  Worked out well, don’t you think??
12. My last two babies were born at home.  Yes, I am one of those women.
13. Frosted Mini Wheats is my breakfast cereal of choice.
14. I didn’t plant my garden last year.  Still feel guilty over that one.
15. I think I want to buy my husband a smoker for his birthday.  Because I want one.
16. I don’t drink soda pop.  Not because I think it’s bad for you (although I do), but because I can’t stand carbonation!
17. I really want to build furniture.  But I’m scared to try.
18. I love to get mail.  I think it’s a leftover from my pre-e-mail college days.
19. I think fuzzy socks are one of the greatest inventions ever.
20. Right along with electric mattress pads!
21. Three years ago I was in a car accident that shattered my right wrist.  I am grateful for the use of my hand every day.
22. My favorite people in the world are my brothers and sisters.  I hope that will be true for my kids when they grow up!
23. I want to travel someday.  But I’d prefer if someone else did all the planning for me.
24. I’ve lived outside of Montana for longer than I lived in Montana now, but it will always be home to me.
25. I think “capable” is a beautiful word.  I hope people think I am.

Another Cedar Chest

One of my sisters lives about 45 minutes away from me.  It’s not too far…except that it’s TOO FAR too much of the time!  We both like to watch the on-line classified ads, and the funny thing is that everything I want seems to be near her, and everything SHE wants seems to be near me!
Anyway, my sister loves cedar chests as much (if not more) than I do!  Last summer I finished this one for her:

She is an amazing seamstress, and she needed somewhere to store her vast collection of fabric.

The hunt didn’t end there…next there was this one which she wanted to have refinished for her oldest daughter.

I painted the base in a soft gray “oops” paint that I transformed into homemade chalk paint.

I used a black glaze to highlight the pretty moldings…

…and I painted the handles with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.

I used “ebony” Minwax stain (for the first time) on the top of the chest, and I really liked it!  I think it took three coats to get the color as dark as I wanted, but I like that you can still see the wood grain through it.

The bottom drawer had originally been felt-lined, but the felt had—shall we say—“decomposed” over time!  I sanded out the fuzzy remains, and then lined the drawer with a fun pink fabric (I used Mod Podge under and over the fabric to seal it in there).  I think it is my favorite feature of the whole chest!

Just yesterday I picked up another cedar chest for my other niece…so I need to get motivated to paint some more furniture!

…and…the weather needs to warm up!

Unfortunately (but predictably), the groundhog saw his shadow, so there’s six more weeks of winter for Utah!

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Linking up here:

Coastal Charm’s Nifty Thrifty Tuesday	Elizabeth & Co.
Domestically Speaking’s Power of Paint	Stylish Once Again
	No Minimalist Here’s Open House Thursday
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Primitive & Proper	I Heart Naptime
Beyond the Picket Fence’s Under $100 Party	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Simply Klassic Sundays	My Repurposed Life
	It’s So Very Cheri
Common Ground

More Musings

First of all, I promise there will be a furniture project posted tomorrow!

But for tonight, I thought I’d whine a little fill you in on the latest bump in our roller-coaster house ride!

As I mentioned on Wednesday, we decided to take our house off the market on Tuesday.  Tuesday night we got a call from an agent wanting to show our house the next day, and we said, “no.”  That was hard!   …but it was also probably a good thing, as I have continued to have sick kids!

Thursday morning, I get a call from our real estate agent.  Three weeks ago, there was a couple who made an offer on our house, but we weren’t able to come to an agreement.  Apparently, they were having second thoughts.  Were we still willing to talk?

Well…OK…I guess….maybe…

After thinking about it for a while, we told them we would be willing…but that the price we had originally countered with wasn’t going to work for us.  We had actually offered to sell for $2000 less than what I thought our “bottom line” should be…so I moved the price back UP to that line!

And so we waited.

When I didn’t hear anything back by noon on Friday, I figured it was a dead deal.  OK, fine.

You know where this is going, right?

Friday afternoon our agent calls as says they are willing to consider it, but would we be willing to include any home furnishings for that price?

Well…OK…I guess….maybe…

We thought about it some more, and offered to include the couch and loveseat in our family room.  Quite honestly, I have wanted to replace them, and it would be nice NOT to have to haul them back up the basement stairs!

And so we waited some more!

Today our agent calls and says they want to come look at the house one more time, Monday evening.  We agreed.

So…what do you think?  Do you think we’re going to sell our house after all, AFTER pulling it from the market?  I don’t know what to think at this point!

My husband and I spent some in a quiet, peaceful place this afternoon, thinking and praying.  And the thought that came to my mind was this one:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)

And so…I will try to do just that!

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Thanks for letting me vent!

A Beautiful Place

If you’ve been following along with me for the last couple of months, you know that I have been searching for a beautiful place…

(You can read more about it here, here, and here.)

…but the search is over.

No, we did not sell our house.  We have taken it off the market.

I won’t lie to you--it is difficult for me to let go of the dream of a newer, bigger, better home.

NOT that I don’t love the home we are in.  I am grateful for it every day!  But I finally had to decide that there were other things more important that “newer, bigger, better.”

In four short years, my little chicklets will start leaving the nest…what do we really need more space for? 

And at the same time, we’ll have college and missions to worry about…do we really want to have more of a mortgage to pay? 

We love our neighbors, and the kids are doing well in school…do we really want to start over?

Well, I can bet you can guess the way we answered all those questions!

No, our home isn’t perfect.  And the garage certainly isn’t perfect! (We still can’t fit both cars in along with the freezer and extra refrigerator!) 

But it is our  home, and it is beautiful to us.

(And I certainly won’t stop trying to make it more beautiful!)

You will never know how much your comments, advice, and encouragement have meant to me as we struggled to decide what was best for our family.

So much more I want to say, so much appreciation I wish I could convey, but I can’t type through the tears…

…so I will just say thank you.