Bloggers Day of Silence

I just stumbled across this in my feed, and feel like it's an admirable thing, and a good cause. I don't know how much my joining in will really help, but I like to think of all the people participating, and hopefully all of us are praying for and donating to help the people in Japan in any way we can.

Go to Ever Ours for more information on this event.
I'll post what were planned as tomorrow's updates on Saturday.

Pray for Japan. Pray for their people. Pray for their country. Pray that our world would unite together to help one another. Pray for healing. Pray that love and compassion would overcome all other obstacles...and that we would all be reminded that, despite political, religious, cultural, geographical, and social divisions, we're all human sharing the same small, blue planet.

EEeeeee!

So, I've been busy today :)

I started the day off by going to the location of Habitat for Humanity ReStore that I hadn't been to yet - with the fabulous Sarah and her sweet baby girl!

I was hoping to find various things, and got sidetracked by the drawer knobs for a bit too long ;)
When all was said and done, and we had meandered through the entire store at a lovely, leisurely pace, I came out with some excellent spoils:

3 brass, 2-light bathroom vanity fixtures
2 brass/chrome, 3-light bathroom vanity fixtures
5 assorted drawer knobs

Are you ready for this?
For a grand total of: $41.95

Is your face like this right now? O.o

Mine was. Okay, it was really like this :D but whatever

I've been looking for bathroom lights for our soon to be house for what seems like forever. For the first time, craigslist has failed me :( I couldn't find anything close to what I wanted, for anywhere near a price that I wanted to pay. I looked at Lowe's, at Home Depot, and on amazon.com - I couldn't find a good enough bargain to motivate me to get the wallet out.
Not only that, but there were hardly any fixtures with two lights in existence for under $30 - so 5 for just over the cost of 1? Yes please!

So, today, as I said, we journeyed to the even more magical ReStore, and beheld amazing treasures. Insane though I may be, after I got home from our excursion, I totally wanted to go back to BOTH ReStore stores- I did not do this. I'm sure My Love is thankful.

I have been working instead! The mirror is finally (almost) done! I've primed it, painted it, and glazed it - I'm going to let it dry for a bit longer, then add a clear coat to protect it, and get it posted tomorrow.

Tomorrow...tomorrow...why does it seem like something else is happening tomorrow???
OH! I know, that's because WE'RE CLOSING ON OUR HOUSE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! I simply cannot wait!

I've got our main paint color picked out, a plan for majority of the rooms/spaces, I'll have new light fixtures (to reveal to you tomorrow), I'll need to decide where the mirror will go (and I am afraid the filing cabinets are going to have to wait a little longer - there are bigger fish to fry at present - namely deciding what on earth I'm going to do about the carpet!), and I'll start posting progress pictures like crazy!

Here's a little teaser for ya - the before pictures of the light fixtures!

I got two of these - I plan to have these installed above our sinks in the master bathroom!

And I got three of these monstrosities - two will go upstairs in the guest bathroom, and one will go in the downstairs guest bathroom. I promise, they're looking prettier already! :D

I can't wait to show you guys the final pictures!!!

40 Bags in 40 Days?

So, I was scrolling through my reading list, and stumbled upon House of Grace's post for today. She mentioned a challenge that she and her sister-in-law was doing called 40 Bags in 40 Days. I don't even know where it really started, but I'm thinking about hopping on the bandwagon.

My participation in this challenge would be slightly different, since I don't currently have a house to call my own. I do, however, have two storage units that are primarily filled with stuff that I should be able to get rid of, miscellaneous hodge-podge in my MIL's garage, and random boxes in the room in which I currently reside. So, I should be able to get a substantial amount of stuff...albeit not necessarily in bags...outta here!

Because I don't have a home at present, I have a great opportunity that I've neglected to take advantage of in the past (even the recent 2 1/2 months that I have been homeless). I need to sort through as much stuff as I can...we're closing on our house sometime next week, and then I'll only have a small amount of time while we get the house together before we move in. Granted, some of that time will be spent on projects, but certainly some of that time can be spent de-cluttering, so I can move in the least amount of clutter and crap into our new home as possible.

So, here we go...maybe if I try to post pictures of all the crap I've gotten rid of, and write about my progress, I'll finally stick to it. It's worth a try, eh? ;)

Feel free to join me, if you wish! I know my SIL has been working on getting her house organized and decluttered - I suppose it is time for a li'l Spring Cleaning! :)

If you aren't feeling motivated, check out the progress that was shown off at The DIY Show Off. That ought to inspire you!

I :heart: ReStore!

I went to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore today for the first time.

It was...in a word...magical.

I cannot WAIT to go back.

I looked around for almost an hour, and was proud of myself when I was getting ready to leave without having purchased anything.

But then, I saw a shelf by the door, and I found something I've been looking for for weeks:

I got a two pairs of Delta porcelain Hot & Cold knobs, for $15 each! (that's easily $30 off what they usually are) I'm practically on cloud nine. Although, now that I have those, I'm trying to figure out what sort of faucet to get. I think I want something like this (only, of course, I'll switch out the knobs):



And then, I realized I could also switch out the tub faucet and knobs to match!!!
ANNNND, the ReStore had all of these things, I just didn't know that I wanted them all! :)
So, hooray for good deals, bargain shopping, and soon-to-be-home-ownership :D

Almost There!

So, I haven't stained the filing cabinets yet...still. But they're almost completely ready to be stained. There were some um...colorful warnings on the back of the stain that indicated that, if I didn't dispose properly of all my staining materials, they could spontaneously burst into flames. O.o
Seriously have no desire to experiment with combustibles. So, until I acquire what I need to make sure that I don't blow up myself, my filing cabinets, or my MIL's house, I'm going to hold off just a bit longer.

I also decided not to try to strip the mirror further. Maybe, someday, when I'm better at wood-working, I'll strip it down and stain it properly. But, for now, I've removed the mirror, cleaned the frame up, primed it, sanded it with super fine steel wool, and have spray painted it with one coat of RustOleum Leather Brown. I'm about to add the second coat, then I'll have to spray the back, and then once that's all dry, I'll apply my black glaze to the details. I'm loving it so far, and can't wait until it's finished!

Blerg!

So, it's too cold tonight to stain the filing cabinets. And too late, for that matter.

I went to a hockey game tonight, got back late, finished my lesson plan for Sunday school in the morning, and piddled around while My Love played Call of Duty: Black Ops.

I then realized that, with my "spare" time, I could apply the first coat of stripper to my lovely mirror, and get a jump-start on it. I really wanted to add it to House of Hepworths' hook-up party before the deadline, but I'm not sure it's going to happen.

Especially since it's currently 44 degrees in my place of residence. Well, not IN my place of residence, but outside my place of residence. I didn't think this would be a problem. I was incorrect. After I had already slathered the mirror in stripper, I realized that the back of the stripper said something along the lines of "for optimal use, use in temperatures ranging from 65 to 85 degrees." Oops!

So, some of the paint came off, but not very much. I'm going to give it one more go tomorrow, then we'll see what happens. I'm hoping Klean Strip will come through for me again.

I'm also thinking, because of the intricate detail of the mirror frame, I might not be able to do what I had originally intended, which was to stain the frame. I might have to get a spray paint color similar to the stain I had selected, then use my handy-dandy glaze to make the detail pop, and possibly give the illusion of wood grain. We'll just have to see :)
Thoughts?

Time Goes By So Slowly...

Good grief, guys.

This is taking FOREVER! Thank goodness for Klean Strip, or I wouldn't have made it this far. So far, I have stripped and sanded both pieces. Sanding the piece I didn't use Klean Strip on was much harder. Sanding the first piece (the one on the left, that I did use KS on) only used one sheet of sandpaper.

This is them, side-by-side, after I'd sanded the one on the left, and before I'd sanded the one on the right:


The one on the right took three sheets of sandpaper!
After sanding them down, Klean Strip had recommended using Odorless Mineral Spirits...I'm not sure why, but it didn't remove the excess paint that was leftover from the stripping and sanding processes.

So, the filing cabinets have been wiped down with the OMS, and are air-drying on the patio. Once they're done drying, I'm going to pour some stripper on a rag, then wipe off the excess paint wherever it shows. I will then let it dry some more, and hopefully then apply my stain!!!!

I can't wait!

Oh, and I found yet another reason to love eBay - like you need any more, right? Remember when I showed you these pulls I wanted?


I found them on a website, for $3.85/each. Not a bad price, but it was a website I was unfamiliar with, and would have required me to create an account that I would rather not. I found the same pulls on eBay, for $3.79/each (a bit cheaper, yay!), and ordered four of them! Once they're here, I'll just spray a coat or two of RustOleum Metallic Satin Nickel, some Krylon Clear Satin Finish, and they'll be ready to match the other hardware, while sprucing the filing cabinets up a bit!

Also, because there are some substantial wait times between coats of both stain and polyacrylic, I think I'm going to work on my mirror, as well as my MIL's rocking chair for her front porch.

I'll post progress pictures as I go along!
Wahoo!


P.S. And as for the night stand/dresser, I'm going to have to get pretty creative with it. The top is not repairable. I was just going to try to sand it down originally, but the water damage is too severe, and I made the stupid mistake of setting the bag containing my paint remains (whatever you call the stuff you strip off) on top of the dresser...and it started removing the paint off the top. I tried to remove the rest of the paint, but it's just a lost cause. So, I think I'm going to try to remove the whole top portion of the dresser, and replace the top. So, we'll see.

Best Stripper Ever!

Oh my goodness gracious.

I have tried two types of stripper before. The first one was environmentally friendly, but unfortunately not as effective as I had hoped.

Wanting desperately to achieve more in less time, and after having read this post, I went to the home improvement store to find Klean Strip. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that Lowe's didn't carry the brand, and assumed that perhaps it was only sold in certain regions of the country.

Then, wonder of wonders, miracles of miracles, I had to stop by Home Depot one fateful day, and what did I discover? Klean Strip.

I just started using it today, and I am IN LOVE! It's brilliantly easy, it doesn't smell very strongly at all, and it's even taking some of the stain off of the filing cabinet! Woohoo!

Can't wait to post pictures later!

I Have Decided...

"...to follow Jesus" - I can't help it. I started to write the title for my post, and I immediately was transported back to Bible college, when an elderly missionary couple came to visit and share their story. They had to be at least in their 80s, and they stood in front of my class and sang, "I have decided, to follow Jesus, No turning back, No turning back." They were so adorable, and had lived such full lives...and, all these years later, that is one of the strongest memories I have of college. Weird, huh? I find it interesting the things my brain chooses to retain.

Seriously, though, I have decided that tomorrow is the day. Tomorrow, I will at least finish stripping and sanding the filing cabinets, although I'd love to be completely done with them, I'm just not sure that's a realistic goal to set...but we'll see.
My Love went out to let the dogs in this evening, and said, "Uh, do you still have poison out here?"
My answer wasn't very encouraging, "Why?!?"
Apparently, the two fence jumpers like the taste of filing cabinets in the middle of a transformation. Fortunately, it's been a while since I've used chemicals on the filing cabinets, and they weren't outside very long, but still. I don't want my doggies to get sick from licking my unfinished (or otherwise) projects.

So, hopefully, I'll have some new photos to post tomorrow :)

Hair Treatment Review

Alrighty - I'm going to try to give a review on this Keratin Hair Treatment I got recently. Let me try to summarize the basics:

- It worked, but not like I expected
- I am glad I got to try it out
- I am unbelievably grateful that I didn't have to spend $300 on it
- I do not think I would do it again

Even though I realized I was being foolish, I had a mental image of what my hair would look like once this "transformation" was complete...
...enter me, surrounded by lens flares, glitter, rainbows, and doing one of those head shakes like they do on the shampoo commercials ^_^

I fervently hoped that I would get this treatment, and magically be able to take a shower, let my hair air-dry, and have it be perfectly styled, without the styling.
Again, I knew going into it that this was a highly unlikely outcome, but a girl can still dream, right?

So far, I haven't gotten the chance to let it air dry to see what would happen.
My hair, in general, is noticeably less frizzy; it's more manageable when I do straighten it (especially that weird patch on the back of my head, right near the top -- you folks with wild and crazy hair know the one I mean -- that is usually the hardest part for me to straighten), and I can actually blow-dry my hair in a reasonable amount of time without catastrophic results. However, it still gets poofy after being blow-dried (albeit less poofy, it's still a substantial amount of poof compared to others'), I still have to flat-iron it/style it, and while it is an improvement that may save me time and hassle, it's not as drastic of a change as I was expecting/hoping for. Also, as much as this may gross those of you who don't have weird hair like I do out, I used to be able to go without washing my hair for easily a couple of days. Thus far, I've washed my hair Sunday (the first time after the 72 hours following the treatment), and I should have washed it yesterday, but I fell asleep before I got around to that. So, it's looking like I'm going to have to wash my hair at the very least every other day, or possibly every day. :sigh:
So, what I'm saving in time not used to style my hair, I'm losing to daily/every other day showering+blow-drying+straightening. :big sigh:

Still, I feel a little bit more like a grown-up, having to worry about making time to style my hair so frequently ;) Lame, isn't it?

So, I'm glad I did it, but if I'd had to pay full price for it, I would not be a happy camper right now.