End of Week Recap

What a busy, hectic week this has been for our family!

Redo Jr. joined Boy Scouts a few weeks ago. He and Mr. Redo are getting ready for their first-ever camping trip this weekend. Honestly, I don't know how the pioneers survived without tents, sleeping bags, tarps, mess kits, insulated cups, a compass, flint ... well, you get the picture.

Are you getting the idea that we could have enjoyed a family vacation in Cancun for the cost of this one weekend campout?

But it's good. Redo Jr. is very excited about Scouts. He's such an active eleven year old, so Scouts is right up his alley. He loves making knots and rappelling at the local creek bank.

And Ms. E - fifteen and just got her first job. She's been waiting for this opportunity. Here we have a girl who needs her own spending money - really badly. That dream is about to come true.

But for me, it meant driving her to the interview. Driving her to the next interview with the higher level manager. Driving her to orientation. Driving her to "watch" how they do things.

I'm pretty proud of her, though. Through this whole thing we've seen God's hand at work, which we attribute to the fact that she started tithing her allowance and babysitting money a few months ago. God has opened up the floodgates of heaven and blessed her with this job at a Christian company. I'm more excited about the spiritual lesson than the money, but I guess that's how mothers are.

As you've seen on the blog, I've been redoing the hall bathroom. I'm nearly finished painting the walls. When I finish, I'll hang the new shower curtain and hang the new towel hooks. And that room will be finished.

We've been hunkering down all week, praying that the tornadoes won't pass through our neighborhood. One was spotted about three miles west of us last night. Again today we endured tornado warnings. The only good thing about tornado warnings is that it keeps us running to the Lord.

I have two elderly uncles in a nearby assisted living facility. Since neither has a family, my cousin and I have been looking out for them. The younger uncle has Parkinson's, and I've spent a lot of time this week trying to get him on hospice. Phone calls and trips to the doctor - hope by tomorrow I can start the ball rolling so that my sweet little uncle doesn't have to go out to see the doctor any longer - it's so exhausting for him.

Looking forward to Girls Weekend with my daughter - lots of yard sales on our radar. Will let you know if I find anything good - maybe something I can redo!

Bathroom Redo, Phase I

A few months ago, I redid our master bathroom. This week, I started work on its twin, the hall bath.

Paint played a huge part in this redo, as it does in most.

I can't believe how great it turned out! The black paint, the new brushed nickel knobs and those awesome pulls - I luuuuuuurve it!!!

Here's the before picture:

(you get the idea, we'd already removed the doors before I remembered the camera)

Painting this cabinet was easy, because I'd already painted the cabinets in the master bath so I knew the routine.

We removed the doors and drawers. Because we were using plain, ordinary black paint, there was no need to prime, and one coat of paint was enough.

Both bathrooms sported these modern 1980s mirrors, each ten feet long.

(Had started taping in preparation for painting...)

I did not like these loooooooong mirrors!

Today our new friend from a local glass shop came by and removed both mirrors. If I owned his cool "oil" cutter, I could have cut them myself and saved some money, but ...

(Hello nice glass man who agreed to the photo op for my blog)

This is what the master bathroom cabinets looked like after my redo there - now I'm wondering if I might paint them black as well. I'm really in luuuuurve with the black cabinets in the hall bath.

(Master bath)

What do you think? Vote in the comments section below - white or black cabinets, and I will do whichever version wins for the master bath!

Meanwhile, I'll be working on this. Stop by later to see the finished wall paint, and to find out what happened to those looooooong mirrors.

Mickey D's Sweet Tea Knockoff

My friend Pat was in from North Carolina over the Easter holiday. When she stopped by to see my new house Monday afternoon, I offered her a glass of sweet tea.

Pat, being a southern girl, accepted my offer. After a few sips, she asked the question everyone asks me: "How do you make this sweet tea? It is so good!"

I showed her, then decided to show you, too. Because, as Pat said, "This tastes exactly like McDonald's - I stop there every day for my sweet tea fix!" I did, too, for a long time, until my friend Amy taught me how to make sweet tea at home. Here are the ingredients:

You start with a saucepan and fill it with cold water about three-fourths full.

Top with a lid for faster cooking. Bring the water to a "full, rolling boil."

When it's fully boiling, turn off the heat and put in the tea bag. I use the large "Lipton Iced Tea" bags, but you could also use three of the regular size bags - and you could also use decaffeinated.

Set your kitchen timer for about seven minutes (I've forgotten about my tea brewing a few times and left it for up to thirty minutes, but Mr. Redo complains that the tea is quite strong when I do. He loves my sweet tea when I get it right!). As soon as it's through brewing, remove the tea bag and add sugar.

Please hold on to your hat while I admit that you add one and one-fourth cups of sugar. I'm serious. But remember, we're making a Mickey D's sweet tea knockoff, right? Of course you could use less, according to your family's taste. My family (and friends) like high test.

Stir the sugar thoroughly into the tea - use a metal spoon and be sure to bring all the sugar off the bottom of the pan so that it mixes into the tea. Otherwise, it will settle onto the bottom and your tea will not be so Mickey D good.

Next we pour our tea into the pitcher, then add water til the pitcher is full. I hold a spoon over the flow to avoid the bubbles that fill up the pitcher before the tea can.

Are you ready to taste your first glass of Mickey D's knockoff Sweet Tea? Enjoy!

How do you like your tea? Does your car automatically swerve into McDonald's for tea? I'm training mine to break that habit!

Weekend Crafty Organization

Hope you enjoyed your Easter weekend as much as we did. Good visits with family and friends + Good food = Good times!

I carved out a few minutes on Saturday to organize my craft area.

Before I organized all my craft items, everything was thrown into a large basket. You can imagine the frustration of digging through all that stuff to find one small item!

Goodwill came through for me, as it often does. I happened upon the plastic containers and had the idea of some crafty organization. The Cricut and Vinyl churned out the letters needed to label each container.

It's been one of the best organizations I've achieved in our new house. I especially love being able to find the glue when I need it, which is often.

Here's one last shot of my crafty organization:

Have you organized anything recently? A towel cabinet, perhaps? Speaking of towels reminds me of bathrooms, and speaking of bathrooms remind me of ... you'll have to wait but it's going to be exciting!

Social Parades

Social Parades I joined this weekend:






Welcome to my new blog, Redo 101. I am focused on making my home more beautiful using thrift store, yard sale, and DIY methods - and having lots of fun at it!

Hope you enjoy looking around, and if you have time, leave a comment and we'll connect.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Visit with our Blogging Buddies

One of my favorite parts of blogging is visiting other bloggers. Here are some highlights from my visits this week:

This is Joanne from The Simple Wife. Joanne is a 38-year-old wife and homeschooling mother. Without warning, she suffered a major stroke about three months ago.

It's been a long road for Joanne - a month in the hospital, another month in a step-down facility, and now in rehab. Something wonderful happened for Joanne last weekend. She got to go home for a few hours. For those of us who have followed and prayed, this was a big, huge praise.

Next stop at Her Wits End, where Amy revealed her new homeschool organization.

Amy lives at Hunter's Grove in a c. 1790 house which has been in her family for most of its 220 year history. She plans to begin homeschooling kindergartener Eden in the fall, and this is the totally organized homeschool cupboard. Fun!

Christa at Brown Sugar Toast made this delish salad. Can't wait to make one for my family:

Kate from Centsational Girl shares some blog inspiration jump-starting ideas  - ideas like visiting a flea market or antique fair:

I think I could get seriously inspired there! She also suggests taking a class, reading other blogs, and - you're going to love this one - retail therapy.

Well, that's my visit around blogland for the week. Where did you visit? Tell us about the blogs you loved this week in a comment below!

1-2-3 Brush!

I've been playing with the new Cricut I got for my early April birthday, and it is
f-u-n.

Using vinyl to create words and numbers is, so far, my favorite.

I decided to number the containers in my bathroom:

So, you know, you can do things in the proper order. Use your cotton balls, use your Q-tip, use your toothbrush.

Or if you're really in a hurry, skip Steps 1 and 2 and jump right over to Step 3:

This way you can get to your next stop on time, right?

I'm loving my Cricut and the things it can make.

Leave a comment about your most horrible dentist visit ever. We can commiserate.

I'm linking up at:

Pottery Barn Knockoff Lantern

Good Monday morning at ya! What did you do this weekend?

I did this:

A year ago, I bought a lantern from Richmond's Plow and Hearth Store with a $10 coupon. It was originally $30, on sale for $13. So I paid $3.

I know, you're looking at it and saying, honey, it wasn't worth even $3!

I never liked it either.

I put it by the fireplace. Didn't like it.

I put it on a bench. Didn't like it.

I set it in the foyer floor. Nope.

I gave up and forgot about the lantern that I didn't like.

Until I saw these in the Pottery Barn catalog:

(Pottery Barn)

And then I knew that my long forgotten lantern might have a chance at a normal life after all.

The lantern was easy to take apart. Remove the handle, lift off the lid. I bent back the hooks which held the glass and slipped them out.

Now I was ready for several coats of Rustoleum Primer/Paint In One. (Why didn't somebody come up with this primer/paint combination 35 years ago?).

This was my first successful spray paint project. Spray paint and I do not have a good history - my efforts, in the past, resulted in runs, streaks, missed spots, and general failure.

Rustoleum must be really great because it didn't run. Rustoleum is my new BFF.

Next I painted the lid and handle with Valspar's Brilliant Metal spray - and even this went on smoothly!

Then inserted a jar and candle.

Before and after - amazing!

I luuuuuuuuurve the new version - it even has seashells, just like the Pottery Barn lantern:

So, what do you think? Pottery Barn, move over?! Leave a comment below and we'll discuss all things Pottery Barn knock off!


I'm linking up at:

Making the World Cuter