Tackle It Tuesday: The Beds

Anyone who has ever read my blog, old one and this one, knows that there has been an ongoing battle with the bedroom space in our little house. I went back and counted at least six different posts about different bedroom changes in the just over two years I have been blogging.


And yet, here's another. But I think (or at least, hope) that this may be the last one for quite awhile. Noah had been asking for a desk in his room for quite a long time but his room was way too tiny. The room upstairs is huge and runs the length of the house but for reasons I will not go into here, he will NOT sleep upstairs, so we couldn't move him up there. So a few weeks ago, Steve and I came up with the idea for a loft bed for him. Here is the set up of his bed before....a top of a bunk bed from my parents, which we love, but had lots of unused space underneath for such a small bedroom.

Knowing it was quite impossible to do himself, he enlisted the help of Ron, Deb's husband. Although he was not a willing participant at the beginning, you could tell after they got going that they found their stride.
The day became a flurry of activity, and not always in such a nice way.

As soon as we got home from church and lunch was done, the boys and I set to work with the initial preparation, which included moving ALL toys out of Noah's room and upstairs to Aaron's, which was already a MASSIVE pig sty. It became clear that rather than sorting through toys, it would be necessary to spill EVERY toy that we owned into a huge pile in the middle of the room and start from scratch.


At least one room was completely cleared.














Now let me just say that I have started having really bad PMS for the last few months lately(which I will be addressing at my annual in a couple of months) and this Saturday was the peak of this month. The poor kids didn't know what was coming :(

Add on top of that two little boys who really didn't want to spend the day cleaning their room. There was indeed screaming, crying, toy throwing, and other unpleasantness happening. But four hours later, Aaron's room was complete, with his new bed (Noah's old top bunk) in place.





Then, it was time to go see how progress was going on the actual construction of Noah's new loft.

It was pretty cold outside so I changed my mind about wanting Noah to be involved in some of the construction but that didn't stop the boys from wanting to go outside and watch a little of the construction before I brought them in to settle in for a movie after the trauma of cleaning we had endured.

After a pizza break for dinner, the big boys were finally ready to bring the pieces inside to begin to put it all together in the bedroom.

From that point on, it seemed as if things went pretty fast. Actually, to me, I felt that they cooked along at a pretty good pace all day.

Due to the time change, bed time came earlier than anyone expected and by 7:30 I was rounding kids up for bed, but having a small dilemma of where to put everyone to sleep. Aaron was SOOOO excited to go to bed in his new bed but Noah's loft was still a shell standing in his room.



So I put him to bed in our bed, knowing full well that it was pretty unlikely that he would be able to fall asleep with the drill going strong next to him and the saw going outside. And I'm still not sure if he actually fell asleep or not. But around 9:30 PM, about 7 hours after they started with a pile of wood and a sketch on paper, it was done! I still can't believe they got the whole thing done in seven hours.

And it is very sturdy. It even held me :)

And after waking (?) Noah up and moving him into his new bed, I waited for him to fall asleep before beginning the process of moving shelves, toys, etc, back into his room. It took Minnie (the cat) about 30 seconds to settle into a new home under the bed since she could no longer go lay next to her buddy anymore.

The next morning, both boys had to take turns posing from atop the bed. And Monday night, as I understand it, the boys were actually excited to go to bed in their new beds. One of the things that made me happy was that BOTH boys got new beds of sorts and Aaron loves his bed so much that he goes up during the day just to lie in it.














Of course, now MY part of the job starts. It will probably take me at least a month to sand it all down, fill in the screw holes with wood putty, and stain it, but I think I will wait until it gets warmer so I can have the windows open. Which means, folks, that there will most likely be even more posts in the future about this bed.

Wondering if anyone made it to the end of this post, but I'm at least glad that I have the event documented. Now to get off the computer and head out to buy balloons to stick on hubby's car to surprise him for his birthday today. See you all later :)

Tackle It Tuesday: Not Quite Done Yet

Although my tackle isn't completely done, I thought I would share with you my work in progress.





About 7 years ago, I was teaching piano to a family who was getting rid of several pieces of very high quality furniture. I bartered two months of piano for the items. The items were an oak dining room set complete with four chairs and leaf and also a beautiful hutch with display cabinet.


In the same seven years, we have managed to ruin the finish of the table and chairs, due to two young boys growing up, with spills, scrapes, etc. Because I was noticing the wood in the table also peeling, I was starting to worry about the sanitary health of the table as well.

So last Fall, when Steve was making overtime for a little while, we purchased a new table with five matching chairs (4 for the table and one for the computer desk). They were beautiful and we loved them.



Until we discovered that the new chairs were quite a bit less sturdy than our old ones and so far two of them have become so loose that they are virtually unable to be used.

Last weekend, we had some friends from our old church over for dinner, requiring us to bring up the old chairs in order to have enough seating for nine people. Both Steve and I noticed how nice it was to sit in the old chairs, because they were so steady.

But they looked horrible with the new table.


So while pondering this dilemma, I wondered if it would be possible to paint (yup, here we go again) the oak chairs black. So I went to Home Depot and started asking the employees about what they thought. They all agreed it was a bad idea, and although they suggested it, they also thought that sanding down the chairs and restaining them would be difficult too, since it would be so hard to match woods.

The old chairs were covered with nasty stains and different colors of paint from standing on them during various painting projects (which I've learned from and no longer use those chairs). It has been kind of fun to sand off all the nastiness and get a fresh start.







The staining has actually been pretty easy, although the fumes in the house (since there are sub zero temps outside) have become unbearable for us (especially Steve) at times and I only have two out of four chairs done.

And yeah, we're all getting tired of half of the kitchen being covered by Momma's Workshop. It's just too cold in the basement to do this project down there right now.




Here's a comparison of the new one (left) and the old one (right).




And here they are with the computer table. The color matched pretty well, I think.

Please disregard the mess ON the computer table. Whenever I am in the middle of one of my projects, all other areas of the house tend to get ignored...another reason that this project feels like it's gone on too long






And here are the two chars that are done at the table. A pretty good match I think. One challenge is that they are still really rough feeling. I got some spray on enamel but they are still really rough so if you have any suggestions of coating to smooth them out, I'm all ears.

(the picture makes them look a little more orangy than in real life)






I am pretty excited to have tackled this project, even though it's not quite done yet. I can;t believe how much sturdier these chairs are I am also VERY anxious for it to be over so our house can smell normal again and Aaron is very anxious to have his puzzle table back in the kitchen too.








So here's my half-tackle of the week. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it and start on the carpet in the bedroom. No rest for the weary. Have a good Tuesday.

Tackle It Tuesday: Hubby's Tackle

This week's Tackle It Tuesday is actually Steve's. One of the things we noticed about our house seven years ago when we first looked at it was the MAJOR lack of closet space. We have made do the best we could, but it still remains a challenge. I have to use the front hall closet as my clothes closet and Aaron does not have a closet in his room at all.

About three years ago, we solved the no-closet problem in Aaron's room (I think it was Noah's room at the time. I don't know, they have changed so many times) by adding a second rod in the closet in Noah's room. Now each of the boys' clothes have a rod.

So this weekend, as clothes had created a mound beyond all comprehension on our bedroom floor, Steve decided to do something about it.

Here is the closet before the reconstruction. Notice we have tried to solve the problem with a set of hooks on the wall for his work clothes. That did help a little, but there are still things spilling out into the bedroom.











So while we were trying to find other things to do all weekend, hubby hung out in the closet. At this point, he was actually still smiling. That was not to last :(














The mound of stuff was temporarily moved to the bed during demolition and construction.












As with everything we try to do in our old house, this project had some hidden obstacles. After Steve was done tearing out the shelf and the rod that was already there, he noticed plaster starting to fall out. As he progressed to trying to drill holes for the new rods, entire chunks of plaster came out, creating big holes in the wall. He finally figured out a way to jerry rig some wood to hold up the second rod and it seems to be holding for now. Hopefully we won't have he whole thing come crashing down in the middle of the night and scare us to pieces at some point.



Here is the final product. Pretty good, huh? Next weekend, we will be attacking the huge carpet remnant in our basement and making it fit into this bedroom so we have some semblance of decent carpet in this room. It should make quite an interesting Tackle It post next week.










Stay tuned...






Have a good Tuesday!

Weekend Top Five 5/26/09

It's been an emotional weekend for my family members and I appreciate all of the prayers sent our way. Please continue those prayers...they are needed and appreciated.

As for the weekend adventures for our family, we stayed pretty busy. It's hard to believe that we even need to head back to school tomorrow. It seems to me that summer should start now. But nevertheless, we are heading back for 8 more days of school. The kids are very grumpy and we put them both to bed super early Monday night, hoping for better behavior this week.

5. Bad Mommy Again
While I was making lunch on Friday, Aaron called from the basement (where he was playing our piano) that his foot was bloody. He came upstairs and I saw a little blood streak on the top of his foot. I went to go wipe it and the saw IT...gushing blood from the bottom of his other foot. His foot had found a small piece of glass from a glass that had broken down there ages ago.

Slight panic...I couldn't get it to stop bleeding, even after almost a half hour of constant pressure. It was too small for stitches and I didn't have any liquid bandage. After a little while longer, and a VERY impatient four year old begging me to leave his foot alone, I cut regular band aid lengthwise and stretched it super tight across his foot.

It was fine until close to bedtime when I took the band aid off to check it out. Sure enough, eight hours later it started to bleed again. This time Steve was home and I was able to run and get some liquid bandage.

New rule in our home...no going in the basement barefoot again.

4. Playworld
Yup. We ended up at Playworld for a few hours again Saturday night. It is just such a nice place for them to be able to run wild, which they really needed.


Noah got a little tired of running around and took over camera duty for me. Steve and I were his favorite targets.





3. Afternoon at the In-Laws
After early church on Sunday, we headed up north to spend the day with Steve's parents. There are always stories from theses visits, and this was no different. The kids did have fun swimming in the community pool.

But the highlight of the day for Steve AND the boys was something that apparently Steve and his older brothers spent every weekend doing while camping when he was growing up.

Steve took Noah and Aaron into the woods and searched for dead trees. Then, with various amounts of energy exerted, they pushed them over. I didn't really get the fascination...it must be a boy thing.



2. Chore Bucket
This idea stemmed from a discussion I had with my MIL. Beginning the first day school gets out, and for the entire summer, the boys will be picking out a chore to do each morning. Some of them are along the lines of "pick up library books" or vacuum the living room" but others are fun like "write a letter to grandma and grandpa".

When I made the list Monday morning and showed it to the boys, they were so excited they wanted to start right away. I hope that enthusiasm continues come middle of July.

1. Memorial Day Service
Steve's patriotic singing group had to sing for a memorial service on Monday so I took the boys. It was good for several reasons. I was able to have a discussion with them about veterans and those who have died in wars. We sat out on the grass for the 45 minute service. The boys' favorite parts were the 21 gun salute and the release of the 21 doves at the end of the service.


My hubby is the tall one in back with sunglasses



We were supposed to go to a cookout at the director's home later Monday afternoon, but instead, Steve found a different job to keep himself busy.

Two hours later, he had replaced all of the plumbing under our sink, thanks to a clog of spaghettio's, straws, and paintbrushes caught down in the pipes.





The week ahead:
Major activity filled week ahead. Tuesday is the performance of my hand bell group at a local nursing home. I am not feeling super prepared at the moment, but hopefully the residents will be pleased. On Wednesday, Noah has a grandparent's tea in school and baseball game at night (80 percent chance of rain). I still need to make a treat for Noah to take to school on Thursday to celebrate his birthday (it falls in the summer) and on Saturday I will turn 36.

Weekend Top Five 5/18/09

Pretty good weekend. I am finding myself more and more scatter brained and short tempered than I was. I think it is time to break down and get to the doctor. Now I just have to figure out when I can do so without kiddies tagging along...yuck!

Here are my top five for the weekend:


5. Student Recital
I have a much smaller piano student load than I used to, thanks to Michigan's wonderful economy. But I still had enough to hold my annual recital on Saturday. Unfortunately, three of my students never made it, but it was still a pretty nice little event. My wonderful hubby, Steve, was gracious enough to play "hostess" for me, greeting people as they came in and setting out the snacks for the reception afterward while the recital was going on.



4. Beginning of a big tackle
It is going to take awhile before I can present a finished product on this one. During the reception after my recital, I started to talking to quite a few parents who are interested in morning lessons in my home this summer, so I have A LOT of work to do get my entry way and basement presentable for the public. I got restless when we got home from church and searched my basement for left over paint. I found some and went to work, only to discover that it had solidified on the bottom after I have gotten half of one wall done. So now I will have to go purchase more to finish it off and redo the sections I already did.

Noah was VERY sad that I didn't let him help paint. I guess I have to figure out a way for him to help me when I start up again. I only have three weeks to get this done.

BTW: If you want to help me be able to get new paint for my yucky house, PLEASE go to this site and vote for me as the stinkiest room contest. When you vote for me, you can be entered into a drawing for free paint for yourself.

3. Sunday Church: 3 out of 4 parts
Since Steve was gone singing all afternoon, evening and into the wee hours of Sunday morning, he was very tired and wasn't in any shape to go to church Sunday morning. So I packed the boys up and headed out to double duty alone.

The first service we were scheduled to sing but there weren't enough ladies so I ended up singing soprano (I am normally an alto). For the second service, I resumed my alto part for the anthem, and then since a certain unnamed tenor (STEVE) wasn't in church, the tenors needed help and the directors asked me to step in as a tenor. Very strange singing that low but it was definitely a good move...I didn't realize how lost they are when Steve isn't there to guide them. It was the first time ever that I sang three different parts in one Sunday...and it was kind of fun.





2. Sunday Afternoon Frequent Plan Changes
What started out as a trip to the little church carnival by our house, changed into a trip to the zoo.

Kind of strange, but so are we.

After taking a quick walk through, we realized that there was no way we were going to pay the kind of money they wanted to ride these rides so we settled on letting the boys play a few games and then headed over to the park. After about ten minutes, we realized we needed to extend our outside activities for the afternoon, and asked the boys if they wanted to head to the zoo.





The zoo membership we got for Christmas has paid for itself tenfold by now, and it was fun to sit above and watch the monkey in the new exhibit that opened this weekend.

Of course, the boys' favorite part...when the monkeys peed from the high ropes. It was easily the highlight of the day for little boys ages six and four.












1. A Man And A Saw
After getting home from the zoo, it was still beautiful outside so we started playing in the backyard. I, for one, am unable to sit in the backyard without wanting to perform yard work. It is by far my favorite chore and I have been so frustrated that I can't afford to get what we need this spring, so I have been doing my best making any improvements that I can.

One of the things that has bothered me since we moved the little cherry to the backyard is this big useless tree that hangs over everything. Each year it bugs me, but now that I have put down some new grass seed and planted a new tree, I REALLY want it gone.

After attempting to cut back the branches with neighbor's clippers, Steve broke out the saw and started slicing. I was so excited to see how much he got rid of. After asking him to put the wheelbarrow and fire pit in the garage, the backyard looks much better.

Now if I can just find the stupid dog that keeps slipping into our backyard and pooping in the same place over and over again, I would be happy. It's making me really angry.

The Week Ahead:
Noah's last full week of school, two baseball games, figuring out a time for Noah to celebrate his July birthday in school, and the biggie, getting a doctor appointment for me. I will also be doing some research on the best way to get a handrail installed on our stairs leading to the basement, and it would be good for us to find Steve's phone which he lost on Saturday and has been panicked about ever since.

Let me know below of you posted about your weekend.
Have a great Monday.

Tackle It Tuesday: The Animal Zoo

I haven't actually posted a REAL Tackle It Tuesday in awhile, probably because most of my tackles lately have been personal, not house related. But I tackled several real projects around the house last week.

I have tried so many different ideas to try to corral the growing stuffed animal population in our household.

I have tried to sell them in garage sales, but most of them seem to find their way back into our house before the three day sale is over.

I have tried hanging them, but it doesn't work because the kids love to actually play with the animals, not just look at them.


I also tried a huge hamper. THAT didn't work because they were just overflowing the bin and I still needed another spot.

















Then I saw an article in the family fun magazine last month. I usually see these great ideas in that magazine, but never get around to actually following through on the ideas.

Then I went upstairs to try to start sorting Aaron's room, preparing for our garage sale in a few weeks. Want to know what the first thing I saw was?



















I am thrilled that my boys love to sit and look at books for a long time, but they NEVER seem to make it back on the shelf.

So I wondered if it might be time to try that idea I saw to corral the stuffed animal in one spot and figure out a new solution for the books.

Aaron was fascinated when I headed upstairs with a hammer, nails, and the glue gun (of course).

I started by nailing piece of elastic to make "bars" for the cage.




Here is Aaron "helping" with the nailing process














Then I used the glue gun to cover the nails with beads that I got out of our craft cabinet.














Next came time to start piling the animals into their new home.














And I even sent a picture of the finished product to the magazine.



















I still need to figure out a solution to the book problem. For now, they are in baskets on the floor, making them accessible to the kids, but easily picked up off the floor.














I am quite proud of this tackle. I would love to hear any suggestions you have for the book dilemma. What a great problem to have, huh?

Have a great Tuesday.