What did Kara and I do to keep busy while the trio was off playing with their father and grandparents in Mexico? We weren't left all on our own, of course. We had the very busy Lincoln and the I-need-to-be-fed-every-two-hours newborn Evan. My mom had doctor and dentist appointments that Kara took her to. And then there were our individual projects lists. Projects we'd like to get done around the house, but never have time to do. Between homeschooling the older three and taking care of the younger two, we don’t have any large chunks of free time, just a half hour here or there. It's hard to accomplish major projects working in half hour segments.
What was on Kara's Projects List? She wanted to look at carpet because I've been begging to get new carpet since we moved in four years ago. She's finally said maybe. The first Monday after the trio left to Mexico we went to a carpet store and then to Home Depot. Two days later we went to another carpet store and then to Lowe's. Evan slept through both trips. Lincoln was a very good sport, but I had to carry him asleep out of Home Depot. Do we have our carpet picked out? No. It's a tough decision. We have to consider price, color, durability, and stain resistance. We have to weed through the carpet manufacturers' hype to figure out which carpet lines truly are durable and stain resistant. Kara also helped me schedule the painter to come and paint the walls before we get new carpet. I'm beyond thrilled with the plan to repaint the walls and get new carpet. !!!
Next on Kara's project list was changing the formal dining room into a school room. I took the china and glassware out of the china hutch and washed it. Then we called a friend up to come and help Mark move the hutch. Finally I put the china and glassware back into the hutch. Meanwhile Kara scoured Craig's list for a different table for the dining room, one that was more kid friendly than our current table. There are lots of tables for sale, so Kara made many trips to look at them, sometimes I went with her. She wanted a solid wood table, so she looked at tables ranging from $100 to $700.
There were some beautiful tables for sale, but being secondhand tables most of them had a flaw or two. Either the table had significant dents or mars in the finish or the leaves when added were not flush or attractive. On older wood tables the leaves are often a distinctly different color than the main table because they have been stored in a closet safe from the sun and everyday wear. Once or twice the table was not solid wood as advertised, but had a veneer top. Other times the chairs that came with the table were hideous. (Truly hideous.)
It seemed as though Kara was not going to find a table, but late Wednesday evening she hit pay dirt. Twice! First she purchased a heavy, solid oak table with four chairs. She didn't like the chairs, so we went and checked out another oak table and chairs for sale. The four chairs were perfect, but the table was a little odd. The top was a very, very different color than the legs and chairs. We may keep the table for our craft room or when we have too many guest to fit at our dinner table. The first table was $100 and Kara will recoup most of that from selling the chairs--AWESOME deal! The second table was $200, but since four nice wood chairs cost a lot more than that, it was a major score, too. It took Kara a lot of looking, but she found two treasures in the end. Great job! (Next we want to replace our main dining room table.)
In between shopping for a table Kara purchased a second shelving unit to store school materials on. It matches the first shelving unit she bought last year. She was lucky to get it because the store has discontinued that color and she got the last unit still in stock at their stores. Likewise with the white board she purchased. It was the last one in town and they won't be getting more like it. It's a good thing she decided to work on her project this week! Mark was a good sport and installed the white board Thursday evening while the children and Matt were flying home from Mexico. The new schoolroom looks awesome! I'll post a few photos soon.
What was on my projects list? I wanted to make jam and jelly. However, when I was digging in my freezer for the berries and rhubarb, I decided that I should IMMEDIATELY clean the freezer, so I did. It hadn't been defrosted since we moved it. I hoped to inspire Kara to defrost her freezer, but she was not so moved. Once the freezer was clean, I moved on to juicing and jelly making. I made seven batches of jam and jelly most of them while Lincoln was napping.
Next on my list was reorganizing the spare bedroom and its annex closet. It's going to be our craft room. I purchased book shelves and storage shelves a couple of months ago. Mark started building the shelves, but then I told him to stop until I determined if I needed them all. With the older children on vacation, I didn't have to do math and reading with the twins, so I had time to put my reorganization plan into effect. It's a fun challenge to fit everything into the space available and the end product is always a beautiful sight to behold. I love putting chaos into order.
Most of the stuff in the annex has sat there untouched since we moved in. It can't be very critical to our happiness if we haven't accessed it in four years. I threw away a lot of paperwork and donated quite a few things. I reorganized some of my mom's boxes and all of my boxes. It's hard letting go of "precious" possessions, but sometimes it's harder still to find space to store them! With ten people in the house, storage space is at a premium.
Mark put two rods up for coats in the back of the annex. I transferred the out-of-season coats from the room's closet to the annex, so I could put craft supplies in the closet. Once I had the annex area emptied as much as possible, Mark and I hauled the new shelving units in. Then it was time to move the craft supplies from Lincoln's closet on the third floor to the new craft room on the first floor. It was a lot more work than I anticipated. The closet upstairs just would not empty. There was load after load after load of craft supplies plus the odd item like a lava lamp or guest bedding. Kara wasn't much help because she's still restricted to light lifting because of her C-section. And Lincoln, well he took advantage of my distracted state, but that's another post topic.
I thought moving the supplies downstairs was hard, but organizing it was worse. I combined Kara's and my craft supplies. I have a lot of supplies because I used to sell craft items at bazaars and I was a Girl Scout leader for five years. Kara has a lot because she has my crafting gene and she reads crafting blogs. I tried to downsize, but with three young artists in the house almost every craft item had potential value for future projects. We have buttons, pipe cleaners, stickers, yarn, pony beads (regular, mini, heart, star, butterfly, & glow-in-the dark), felt, paint, 1000s of sequins and rhinestones, craft sticks (10 types, some colored), clothespins, glue (15-20 types), embroidery floss, plastic beads (tri, cartwheel, & faceted in opaque and translucent), candlewicking supplies, > 40 yds of flannel, wiggle eyes (lost, but now found!), specialty scissors, punches, 200+ spools of ribbon (plus a file box of unspooled ribbon), a box of lace, sand, flat rocks, 2 feet of scrapbook paper, craft kits, wire, wood beads, dominoes (for craft projects), silk flowers, boondoggle cord (500+ yards), glitter (way too much), jewelry findings, old crayons (to melt), glass beads, collage materials, rubber stamps & pads, wood hearts, Friendly Plastic (bazaar leftover), 10 pads of watercolor paper, tulle, pens, floral tape, brads, scrap fabric, scrap paper, and scrap scraps. Our craft supplies take up a lot of space. I'm pretty sure that they breed in the dark, so I'm keeping the light on in the craft room.
The transformation from guest room to craft room was not complete when the children returned home last night at 3AM, but I'm in the final stretch. I should finish it this weekend. It was good to get some projects done while the children were off frolicking, but I'm glad to have them back home. I need a break from all this hard work. My playmates are back. YEAH!
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