Laundry Pedestal & Floor Sneak Peek

Mr. Right has been really busy lately (OK, I've been helping, too!).  I've meant to share this earlier, but I never got around to taking pictures before.  I have a front loading washer and dryer, but don't have the money or the want to spend money on the pedestal drawers.  Then I saw this great tutorial over at Stories of a House.  Boy, the drawings and measurements are phenomenal!  You should check it out.  

Anyway, I didn't have enough room to put that tall of one in, because I didn't want to move the cupboards and this is in a hallway.  Mr. Right had to make his own measurements to get it in there.  We were trying to put them as close to the bottom cupboard without changing the structure.

This last weekend, we started to put in new floors (here's your sneak peek!  I'll do a post on that with more details when we're done.), so everything had to come out and get cleaned, etc.  Some people do spring cleaning, but we paint and replace the floors.  I'll let you know if it ever gets put back, but Mr. Right is doing a really wonderful job!

That hole you see on the far back right, is for the dryer vent to go out the wall.  Again, we were trying to work with what we have there.

Here's a view with the appliances in.  I actually gained about 4 inches in my hallway, because the dryer vent goes straight out the bottom, rather than out the back, causing the whole set up to be moved out in the hall.

One word the wise, if you do this project, make sure to buy your baskets first!  This would have saved us several trips to different stores to find baskets that fit in the spot.  I thought that I could fit three of them down there, but because of the vent, only two fit.  The third basket, I put on the top of the washer under the hangers.  It fits there perfectly.

A view from the other side shows you that bar for the hangers.  At some point, I'd like to change that out for some sort of rack for drying things.  Still working on that concept though.

We had everything but the trim on hand from other projects, so it cost less than $10 to build.  Not bad!  Please visit all the blogs I love to link up to on the Right bar and also, leave me some comments, so I know what you think!

Spring Cards

I wanted to share with you some of the cards that I have been making for gifts!  I've been cutting butterflies out of scraps of paper that I have sitting around with my Butterfly Maker from Creative Memories.  You could do the same thing with a Cricut, but the advantage of using the Makers is that you can cut small scrap pieces.  I'm actually using scraps that the Cricut didn't get to (mostly because I'm not really good at getting it to use the whole sheet at a time!)After cutting up a bunch of the butterflies, I then sew a line through three of the butterflies at a time onto a blank card.  It literally takes just a few minutes to do.

I've done them side by side and then three vertically with just one stitch all the way down.

Here's a set of four that I made. 

A couple of things that I learned is to glue them down with a tiny bit of Precision Point Adhesive to keep them still while I am sewing.  They are so tiny that it was difficult to keep in place. 

Another think that I learned was to cut the string on the front first, then the string on the back, because it pulls the end of the string to the back of the card, instead a little tail on the front of the card.  Just a little detail.  It doesn't really matter, but I tend to like to perfect things.

I used a piece of raffia to bundle four cards up and then gave them away.  So far, I gave one set as a door prize at our MOPS group, one to my 100th Follower, Erin and I sent a set to my Mom for her birthday!  Did I mention that this gift cost me next to nothing to make?

Please let me know what you think in the comments and also, pay a visit to the many blogs that I love to link up to in the right bar!

Entertainment Center Redo

A few years ago, I was leaving my brother's house when I saw this baby on the curb.  It had an antique mirror attached to it in perfect condition!  I was so excited (my brother was mortified) I could hardly contain myself.  I've thought about painting, but can't really decide on the color and I kind of like the wood on the front too.  Well, I love it for my TV and my videos fit inside.  The only problem is my satellite and DVD player sits under there on the floor.  Well, the 7-month-old has discovered that!  So time to change it out.About 7 years ago, I found this bad boy on the curb, too!  It wasn't so pretty, but I painted it tan and redid the top, and my husband put up with it for awhile.  When I found the small one, Mr. Right couldn't wait to take it to the basement for me (OK - it weighs a ton and he wasn't that happy about it.  Really, Mr. Right wanted to put it on the curb!)  I got it with all but one of the drawers was there.  The front of the drawer was all that was left of the middle drawer.  I had a plan, though, and I'll tell you about that in a minute.

Mr. Right's workplace ripped out some bathroom tile that was beautiful and he had brought a bucket of it home for craft projects.  I used it to make a Mosaic on the top of the dresser.  It's not the perfect solution, but it was free at the time.

Well, this bigger dresser had to come out to get the TV out of reach of the the baby, so I had more plans for this dresser.  (It's been sitting in retirement in the basement.)  I got out my white paint to redo it and because of the shape of the dresser, it wasn't going on very smoothly.  Then I took some sand paper to it and added a touch of stain too.

Here's what I came up with.  It's great, because those drawers can hold all the videos and cords for the TV.

Here's a closer look at the top.  There are some gaps in it, but I may change the whole thing out soon.  Mr. Right re-attached the trim that we had all the way around the top edge.

Aren't the curves beautiful?  I just love the bones of this dresser.

Oh, we put hinges on that drawer front and added a piece of plywood inside to be a shelf for the DVD player and the satellite. It fits in there so nicely that I was able to put the Wii equipment in there too.  I got really creative and remembered the Mandarin orange crates that I just couldn't throw away, but didn't know what to do with in there to put all the Wii junk.

I'm really excited about this redo.  Please let me know what you think.  Also, be sure to check out all the great blogs that I love to link up to on the Right hand side of my blog!

Pizza Burgers

We got a call one evening this last week asking if we'd like some leftover food from a church meeting.  It was catered from Famous Dave's.  We got this huge pan of baked beans, one of potato salad and two flats of buns.  Well, believe me, we felt like this was a true blessing, but we realized that we couldn't get rid of that much potato salad before it spoiled, so we took out an ice cream pail full of salad and several containers of the beans (to freeze for later) and then half the buns.  We then called some friends that have 8 kids and asked if they would take the rest. 

Well, then, I needed to deal with all the buns.  Our family was given these for a meal just after having a baby by a good friend and loved them so much!  Better yet, included in the bag was the recipe!  I thought I would share these pizza burgers with you because when you get a good deal on buns (we have a Warehouse Grocery in town that had packages of buns for $.25 once!  Believe me, I bought a whole bunch!)  Anyway, the recipe calls for English muffins, but we received them with buns and have made them that way since.  We also have tweaked it a little. 

Pizza Burgers

• 9 Hamburger Buns
• Jar of Cheese Whiz
• 1 1/2 pounds of Ground Turkey
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 Tbsp. dry minced onion
• 15 oz. can pizza sauce (I substitute spaghetti sauce for this)
• 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook the meat with the garlic salt and onion.  When fully cooked, add the pizza or spaghetti sauce.

Spread the cheese whiz on each half of the buns.  We do this pretty thinly to make it last.  It is the most expensive item for this recipe, but we love the taste!

Next spoon the burger over the top and smash it flat on the bun.

Finally, sprinkle cheese on top.  We probably use a little less than the recipe - it just depends.  Freeze all the burgers on cookie sheets until solid.

Once the burgers are frozen bag up and keep in the freezer.  You can wrap them individually in foil to bake as needed, but with 7 in the family, we find that it's easier to just put them in bags and pull out a bunch at a time. 

When you want to use them, just bake at 350 until hot and cheese is melted. 

These are great when you are in a rush between activities or can't decide what to make for a meal.  The kids can hardly wait to eat these!  By the way, we made 52 of them with the free buns!  For those on Weight Watchers - three burgers are 15 points.  I eat 2 for 10.  I know, kind of high, but I LOVE them!

Don't forget to check out all those great blogs to the right that I like to link up to!

100th Follower!

I finally made it!  I made it to 100 Followers!  I am so excited that Erin from Stillwater Story decided to follow my blog and put me into the triple digits! I went over to Erin's blog right away and checked her out.  She is so adorable and I love what she's done to her kitchen!!  I am trying to work up the guts to paint over my oak cabinets (that we paid extra to upgrade to) and get rid of the country look around here, but I just haven't quite gotten there.  I am definitely a new follower of hers.  I plan to send her a gift as a special thank you for taking the plunge!  (Note to follower number 200! lol)

Shelf Redo

I had been thinking for a long time about taking my bathroom towel rod down and putting up hooks.  After all, with 5 kids, it was impossible to hang up every one's towels at one time!  I was washing new towels every time that the kids bathed, because they never dried.  I was in Goodwill one day, and I got this shelf with hooks on it for the half price ticket of $3.50!  I was so excited and felt that I had hit the jackpot, except for the very ugly stenciling on it!Well, a fresh coat of white paint and it looked brand new!

I then decided to label the hooks so no one gets confused.  I used the Creative Memories Creative Cuts to cut out numbers 1-5 out of brown-toned papers (to match my bathroom).   Then, to the Mod Podge!!!  You gotta love that stuff!

Yes, I know, I'm not quite sure how to decorate this thing.  That shelf is so short, that I can't figure out what to put there, and yet not really care about what the kids do to it.  Any ideas???  Please?

A closer look at those numbers.  I think that when I get new towels, chocolate brown ones, I am going to sew a ribbon loop on each of them, so they don't slip off.

And while I am asking for help, I was wondering if any of you  know what this is.  It is ceramic and the two little boys are separate pieces.  My Grandmother had it in her china cabinet when I was a child.  She had nothing else like it really in that cabinet.  I was fascinated with it, and when she passed away, it was given to me.  I was just curious.   I would never get rid of it, but was wondering where it might have come from.

"The Bridge of Peace" Book Review

It truly has been a long time since I have stayed up late at night trying to finish a book, but this was one of those books that you just can't put down!  The "Bridge of Peace" by Cindy Woodsmall is an Ada's House Novel.  It captured my attention from beginning to end.  Woodsmall does a wonderful job of giving the reader a peek into the life of the Amish in a positive light.

Lena Kaufman is an Amish school teacher, that has a love for teaching and for her students.  The trouble for Lena lies in her birthmark that is across her cheek.  Lena believes she hasn't been courted or found a husband because she people can't see beyond her birthmark.  As most Amish teachers experience, Lena has troubles with  one of the older, bigger students in her class, which in turn creates a community-wide crisis.  Lena finds herself being unsubmissive to the school board with her  unconventional ways of dealing with the crisis and, in turn, loses her job.

One of the school board members, Grey Graber feels trapped in an unfulfilled marriage.  He and his wife, Elsie keep up appearances in the community, but behind closed doors,  Elsie has closed herself off from Grey.  In desperation, Grey and Elsie finally begin to work out their differences when tragedy occurs.  

Both Lena and Grey work to overcome their own insecurities and secrets and learn to literally build a "Bridge of Peace."  This book really shows how God  can heal hurts and broken hearts and build bridges in relationships.

This book is believable and will put you on the edge of your seat to figure out the ending.  Living in an Amish community, I did question the daily showers and running water, throughout the story.  I'm not sure if some communities allow running water with showers, but our community doesn't.  That aside, I find this book to be a wonderful read and would highly recommend it to my family and friends.  I can't wait to get my hands on another Cindy Woodsmall novel!  Thanks to Water Brook Multnomah for this book in exchange for this review!