Extreme Makeover: The Dresser

I finished my first homeowner project... refinishing and repainting a little dresser that I use as a sofa table. I definitely learned some lessons. :) Who doesn't on their first project?

Here is the before picture (sorry it's not a good one - I was too excited to get started to take time to take a before picture): 

And here are the after pictures:

 

 

What do you think? I think I like it. It's growing on me. 
So here is what I learned: 

• You'll definitely want to do any future projects outside or in a garage/work room because stuff gets everywhere - especially when you are spray-painting your primer on
• Semi-gloss paint looks much different/lighter than the paint sample you picked out
• Paint doesn't stick to edges and corners very well so when you are distressing them with sandpaper... be careful to not go all the way down to the wood but if you do that's okay! cuz you want it to look distressed.
• Adding layers of paint that weren't there orginally might cause your drawers to not work quite as well as before
• You need some serious sandpaper to remove some serious glossy finish
• No drips! Even where you don't think it matters because it does matter... especially when you have a Norm Abrams wanna-be over to help you put the drawer pulls on and he's critiquing your work
• Latex paint takes a LONG time to dry
• Did I miss anything?

Visiting Dad in the Rural Idaho Farmlands

This weekend I went up to Idaho to visit my dad and his wife, Joan. It is so wild having dad live in the rural, farmlands of eastern Idaho now! All my life, my parents have lived in Boise. 

It was a very nice get-a-way weekend. And they treated me to some very cool antiques. Look for a future post of them all placed up on my kitchen cabinets. :) And then I treated them to some little computer lessons that evening. Ha ha! Thanks for the wonderful time Dad and Joan!

Sliced Apples & Thumbs

Tuesday morning, I sliced the tip of my thumb off with my excellent kitchen knives that Teri suggested I buy... ha ha! Just kidding, Teri - it's not your fault. :) But I did it so cleanly that I didn't even feel it initially. And it wasn't a ton of my thumb just a little. But enough to get this lightweight pansy into full lightweight action. I laughed initially, grabbed a rag to stop the bleeding and then immediately started feeling light-headed. I called David (my resident instacare taxi) to see if he could take me to the instacare. Good thing he did. I was so out of it. I couldn't remember my social security number! And I couldn't comprehend half the questions I was suppose to answer on their form - and by the time I needed to pay my co-pay (all before they would take me in) I needed to sit on the floor because I was feeling light-headed again. I didn't even bleed that much! David ended up getting my credit card out of my purse and signing my receipt for me.

The doctor had to numb my thumb - and that actually hurt more than the slice - and then he ended up gluing my thumb back together again. It is NOT pretty. I won't put a picture of it on here. Too gross... although still fascinating... I like to look at it every now and then, but then I get light-headed again. Good grief! 

We decided the instacares need to issue me a punch-card so that my tenth visit is free - and it would be really cool if they could build a little underground high-speed pod that would carry me from my house to the instacare! Maybe it really is providential that I live right next to it. But you are probably wondering why I had David take me... I was too scared to drive so out of it, and it would have taken me an hour to walk over there because I would have had to lay down on the sidewalk every few steps to get my head back. 

So I'm now a regular at two Springville institutions: Yummies Frozen Custard and the IHC Instacare! Yummies has the yummiest frozen custard and I have been going there several times a week... mmm.... 

Post Script: I have an exhibitionist bra. I rarely wear it and so when I wash it I leave it on my washer to dry and forget about it. Twice now, I have forgotten about it being on my washer when a guy has walked into my laundry room and seen it there! First was when Rob was getting the tour of my place back in December and now David saw it yesterday when he put my bloody thumb rag on my washer after the visit to the instacare. Nice.

Birthday Festivities

Oh man. I looooved my birthday. Every so often my birthday falls on Martin Luther King Jr. day and when it does, it rocks! I love it! 

I slept in, ate breakfast in bed and basically just lounged. 

Lindsey and I went snowshoeing up at Tibble Fork with Potter. It was beautiful and super fun. And we discovered the best ever sledding hill. 

 

 

 

And then I topped it off with dinner with some friends that evening. Sadly, I forgot my camera otherwise I would have taken a picture. And then the cherry on top was the 4-wheeling with David on the dirt roads above the Canyon Meadows neighborhood.

Bigger, Older, Wiser and Better

Today. Today. Today I am now 30 years old. It's so crazy! To think: I have lived on this earth for three decades, I've known my family for three decades, I have three decades of memories, knowledge, wisdom, and three decades of trying new things.... only to spend at least another five decades doing more things and gaining more wisdom. Even my body has been functioning nearly perfectly for THREE DECADES! 30 years! That's more than what can be said about my car.... I just plunked $550 into it earlier this week.... or anything else.... but I guess some things do last 30 years along with me... family photos, books, journals, the gospel of Jesus Christ, relationships.... and the rest of my family members and friends - they've all lived for the past 30 years along with me. The important things really do last and endure forever.  

30! It's a big number. And a daunting one when you are still in the realm of singularity. But you know.... I'm cool with it. So far, my birthdays have only proven to bring new, exciting, and meaningful things into my life. My health only continues to get better and hold strong. I make more lasting memories with my family and strengthen those relationships. I make new friends and keep old ones, thus broadening my circle. I learn new, fun things to do. I make new goals and strive to achieve them. And I think I get wiser with each new year. Yeah.... 30 isn't going to be so bad... I might venture to even say, I'm thirty, flirty and thriving! :) Totally flirty. And definitely thriving. I've got a good job.... and now I've got my own place! That was a nice little birthday present to myself - a place to call my own. I've got family and friends to be thankful for and all the blessing one could dream of from a loving Heavenly Father. 

Yeah. 30 is gonna be a good year.

My Knight in Shining Armor

This is my official shout-out for the kindness and generosity of my knight in shining armor, David. Allow me to list off all the things he's done for me in the past month: 

• Cleaned off my battery when my car was giving me starting troubles
• Hung my big nasty mirror (it's beautiful - it's just nasty to hang)
• Fixed my ridiculously and incredibly slow wireless internet
• Replaced my windshield washer fluid nozzle on my car's hood that has been broken for years - now I can wash and see out the passenger side of my windshield!
• Hung my ski holder in my storage closet
• Fixed the drawer under my stove so it will actually pull out and work properly
• Drilled the holes in my newly refinished chest of drawers for the new drawer pulls.... and then discovered that we needed to sand down the sides so the drawers would slide more easily
• Hung my magnet board and cute little pail holder over my quilting workstation
• Helped put together my quilting workstation
• Fixed my car's trunk latch so it will actually stay closed when I shut it - okay, that fix was actually several months ago, but I still appreciate it so much!
• Attached my clothes dryer duct
• Helped me move in to my new place and unpack
• Took me to the Urgent Care when I had my big mountain biking spill back in July - again that one took place a while ago, but it was so appreciated and still is! 

Thanks David! (and thank you to everyone else that has helped me as well.) :)

New Years 2010

Did I make New Year's Resolutions this year? No. But did I play in the snow on New Year's Day? YES! And I won.