a tale of two washing machines.

A week ago last Friday, our washing machine stopped spinning out.  Since it was just a rusty old machine that we picked up for $40 a few years ago, we figured it wasn't worth trying to get the parts and fix it.

So began the quest for a "new" machine...

• Craig's List, our normal source for appliances, was the first place we looked, but the cheapest I could find was $125 for an old machine.  (Not sure why, but it seems lots of people think they can get that much for a 90s era washer.)
• We saw a washer on the website for an auction company that (conveniently for us) has auctions every Friday night.  Of course, it was nearly the end of the auction before they got to that item, and it ended up that both the washer & dryer went together, putting the price higher than our $50 target.
• Saturday was Joshua's birthday, but we had to get a washer, so Matt & I went out on our mission.  Garage sales, estate sales, Goodwill (half-off day!), the Habitat for Humanity Re-store were all on the list.  We were coming back home with a working washer, one way or another!

So after seeing one for $350 at a garage sale, we decided to stop in at the closest Goodwill.  It was half-off day, and you never know what you might find.  Matt dropped me off at the front of the store while he got in line to donate a few items.  I quickly scanned the store, found nothing, came back out, hopped in the van with Matt, and as we pulled out of the donation line, we saw a man in a pickup truck driving in with a washer & dryer set!!  Matt pulled up behind him, asked if the washer worked and if he could buy it from him.  

So for $50 we got our "new" washing machine!  Yay, God! :)

And, to top it all off, it matches our dryer.  Just like a matching set.  Can't beat that, eh? :)

a goal.

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there who has a problem with procrastinating.  

Okay, so I have this project I'm hoping to get done this weekend.  This project is the culmination of so many layers of procrastination, it's not even funny.  It all starts back in... oh, about 1999, I think.  We had moved back into our Marquette house the year before, after being gone for about 4 years. 

The room (and windows) that will be the recipient of my project, once it's done. :)

So after living in the house for a year, we decided it was time to upgrade the curtains that my sister-in-law had made in the early 80s.  We special ordered a beautiful off-white damask fabric during a sale at JoAnn's.  I did indeed sew one (huge, I might add) curtain, but got overwhelmed (primarily by the pleats at the top) and stopped there. 

Our living room, up in Marquette... still no curtains on the windows!

Fast forward to more than a decade later, after living in Arizona for four years.  The windows in the living room up there *still* are without curtains.  But we actually like it that way, because the great Lake Superior views would be blocked by curtains.  (...or so I tell myself, trying not to feel guilty that I never sewed those curtains...)

Okay, a little more of the story, on the Arizona end of things... two years ago, we bought some beautiful curtain rods for our bedroom windows.  The plan was that I would sew some heavier curtains for better privacy and light blocking qualities (the cheap ones I picked up on Craig's List when we bought the house are pretty thin).

About the same time, a man in our neighborhood sold us, for a great deal, enough 2" faux wood blinds for our whole house.  (His house & ours have the same size and number of windows, having been built by the same builder.)  We installed most of the blinds, but the drywall finishers didn't get the window openings *exactly* the same size, so some of the blinds are a touch too big to fit.  Two years later, we still haven't gotten the blinds trimmed & up in the remaining windows.

Back to Marquette... so we were up there last fall and I was eyeing up that special-ordered damask fabric, tucked away in the storage room.  I pulled it all off the roll, got a wheeled carry-on suitcase at Goodwill and brought it back to Arizona so I could use it for our bedroom curtains in this house.  (Slightly crazy, no?)  Right after we got back from our trip, I cut out the fabric and it has sat here without being sewn since then.

A close-up of the fabric, next to one of the cool curtain rods we bought two years ago.

In light of our upcoming trip to Michigan, I have this silly little goal for myself.  Which is to sew the curtains and hang them (and hopefully those stubborn blinds) before we go back up there again.  I guess it's sort of my way of redeeming myself after all the years of procrastinating.

And I'm sharing it here today (even though I'm not sure anybody out there really cares) as a way of holding myself accountable to that goal. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this sort of thing...  :)

made for each other.

You may remember that earlier this year we bought a couple of couches at auction.  A brand new, beautiful black sofa for only $80.  And the other, my especial favorite, a vintage sofa for only $35.  (On a side note, so far, in all our online searches, Matt & I have been unable to determine its exact age and/or style.  The closest we've come is mid-century modern, though it's a little more ornate than that.  But not quite ornate enough to be something older than that.  Or so we think.)

Anyway, on Saturday we were in Goodyear and stopped in at the Habitat Re-Store there.  This is the place where we got our "new" microwave and dishwasher a few months ago.  Awesome store. :)

So as we stepped into the store, this is what we saw...!

This is what it's saying... "Look at me... I match your sofa.  We were made to be together.  You know you want me... please buy me."

A vintage sofa of the *same* hard-to-define style and era as the one we already had!  This is the sort of thing you just don't see every day.  But... when I saw that $250 price tag, I thought that while that was a good price for a sofa like that, we just couldn't manage that.  Someone mentioned that sofas were 50% off, so suddenly this beautiful sofa was in a more reasonable price range.  

It certainly seemed that it was that day or not at all, being the last day of 50% off sofas week.  We went back & forth on whether or not we should buy it.  We shot a *bunch* of photos on the iPod Touch, went & looked at the rest of the store, snatched a few more photos, endured a bunch of good-hearted ribbing from the staff about how we should buy it... and decided to go home and compare the photos with our current sofa to see if they'd look good together.

A couple hours later when we came home (after a 1/2-off day visit to Goodwill), we decided that they would look great together.  I called to have them hold it for us and Matt & I zipped back and brought it home. 

Like they were made for each other.  ("Old" sofa on left, "new" sofa on right.)

I *love* it!  :)  

Oh, and later that night, Matt found a *very* similar couch on ebay for $1399!!

room to breathe.

We've been badly in need of new couches for some time... the one couch had a hole in the seat cushion, and the other was just kind of worn out and grungy.  But whenever we looked in the stores, the prices were more than we could manage right now, and nothing on Craigslist was the right thing for the right price. 

So.  Matt has a hobby, I guess you could call it, of looking for auctions.  Which is no surprise if you know us well, since we've bought (among many other things) several vehicles, a camper, and our current home at auction.  In the Phoenix area, it's really quite amazing how many auctions there are.  So a few weeks ago, Matt went to one on a Friday evening and bought a couple lamps that he needed for his office.  And a week ago Friday, he took me to this same auction (kinda like a date) so I could check it out, too.

Well, long story short, we ended up with two couches: a brand new black couch for only $80 and a cool, vintage sofa for $35.  I was very excited about the vintage couch, but not so sure how it would look with this brand new, very contemporary couch in the same living room.

So, the next order of business was getting the old couches out of the living room and the new ones in.  One couch moved into the garage, and the two new ones moved in.  Our living room was *crowded*.  And we couldn't park the minivan in the garage.  I was *so* ready to get rid of those old couches!  

I am happy to say that after a couple ads on Craigslist and a post on FreeCycle (and numerous emails, texts, and phone calls), this weekend we finally cleared our room down to our auction finds.  Yea!! :)

view from the dining area

view from the vintage sofa, looking toward the front door

It feels so much more spacious to me now... like we added several square feet to our downstairs.  I feel ready to start in on school for the week! :)

it's been a while.

I've been rather quiet on here of late, but it's not because things are bad or that anything is wrong right now.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  I've been working on being more disciplined in the areas of the kids' school, household odds & ends, and vacation rental and art business-related things.  The last two weeks have been rather pleasant that way.  

Here's a random sampling of photos from life around here lately...

My breakfast a week or so ago

Spinach & chickpea curry with chapati bread

Whose feet are whose??

David & Matt volunteering at a Jars of Clay concert on Saturday night.

Went to see our friend Sarah in a horse show.  She let Naomi ride Bravo back to the trailer.

We have been badly in need of better couches for a while.  Matt & I found this great vintage one at an auction a few days ago for $35!  Here, Naomi takes a nap on it... guess it's pretty comfy. :)

Marissa made this beautiful bookmark for her poetry book the other day.

Roses in January.  Simply amazing. :)

My latest painting, and what I was painting.

I'm quite pleased with it. :)

An idea I've had in my mind for several months for a painting, finally put down on paper.

We're currently battling a bit of the "blahs" around here as Matt is a bit sick but still off to work, and I feel slightly "off" but not quite full-on "sick".  I'm just blah enough to not get much done, and just well enough to feel guilty about it.  Not such a great place to be, so today I'm trying to get a few things done and get some rest, too.  We'll see how that goes...

problem solved.

When I was growing up, we had a couple of those cool "Grandma's house" sorts of metal chairs for kids to sit on.  I always thought it would be really cool to have one, if we ever had another child and/or for future grandkids.  So a year or two ago, I found one at a garage sale and gave it a quick spray of green paint to match our kitchen/living room area.

Over time, look what happened to the corner of the wall behind it!  :(

You can't see it very well here, but the drywall is nicked by the back of the stool.

The close-up shows it better.

I thought what it needed was a cover to protect the wall, so I crocheted one for it.  Today I finished, and here it is.  :)  So now, we have to repair that drywall but at least the problem won't be getting worse.  And it kind of adds a little bit of style to the area, too.  :)

I've never seen anything like this before, but here it is.  :)

The lighting's not so great but if you click on the photo, it will get larger.

saturday projects.

We had a great weekend!  On Friday evening, we got together with friends we hadn't seen in almost twenty years.  And on Saturday, we went for a hike and a picnic with several friends from church.  It was just beautiful out and so fun to share it with friends.  :)

After we got home from our hike on Saturday, we completed two projects, both of which are in this photo.  Such a satisfying feeling! :)

Our "new" screen door & patio blinds, installed on Saturday.  :)

Some friends from church gave us this beautiful Hunter-Douglas blind last week when they upgraded their broken patio door to French doors.  And we got a "new" screen door this past week because Zoe ran into the original one and totally bent it beyond repair.  

Thankfully there was a used screen door on Craig's List for only $20... *way* cheaper than buying a new one!  Only problem was, it didn't fit exactly right so we had to trim the top to make it fit.  It isn't *quite* perfect yet, but it does slide back & forth.  We also like that the screen is actually a sunscreen, so it blocks a bit of the brightness from the sun.  :)

Ta-dah!! :)

Ta-dah, you ask? Well, all Marissa's birthday presents have been made and/or arrived.  YEA!!  :)

The birthday girl standing next to the shelves she & her dad built on Saturday.   Last year, Matt's brother & his wife had a new closet system put in and they gave us their old shelving.  Notice Marissa is wearing her swirly twirly scarf and her wrist warmers (and pointing at her crafty basket).

Made:

• Wrist Warmers
• Swirly Twirly Scarf
• Cover for knitting needle/crochet hook holder (I got the idea here, although the one I made has a bottom to it, rather than just being a sleeve.  Well, and I used single crochet, rather than double crochet.)
• Shelves in the other half of the girls' closet (a gift from Matt)

Arrived:

• Knee-high toe socks  (finally!)

A couple closer shots...

The crocheted cover I made for the cardboard tube we put Marissa's needle/hook collection in.  I used the yarns from her wrist warmers, plus she had a couple other yarns she wanted included so it would all match her color scheme.  I crocheted this the other day while the kids narrated their school to me, and I am really pleased with how it turned out!  :)

Marissa's crafty basket, with new crocheted cover for the needle/hook holder, and all her other yarns added neatly to the mixture.

And a fun shot Marissa took of herself wearing the toe socks the other day.  :)

Life :)

Just some photos of life around here lately....

We had two arrivals of fall leaves from Michigan!  My parents sent us some, and my sister Rachel sent a whole box!  Here are some from Rachel.  I love having them to display around the house.  Makes it seem more like fall.  :)

More of Rachel & family's leaves.  :)

The oak leaves are from my parents, and the maples from my sister Rachel & family.  :)

Me with our "lap dog"... ha ha!  She actually likes this.  :)

Key Lime cheesecake I made in my pressure cooker for David's birthday... it only took 20 minutes to cook, and it tastes just like a cheesecake that baked in the oven for *way* longer!

The Oreo cheesecake I made in the pressure cooker.  Not as pretty as the Key Lime one, but very tasty also! :)

A headband Marissa made on Saturday.  She's planning to sell these on her etsy shop.  That's my painting behind her.  :)

All the kids were excited to give David gifts. You'd have thought it was their own birthday, by the level of excitement here on Tuesday.  :)

Marissa's gift was *very* original... "What you may find on Galaxar... and what to do if you do".  Galaxar is the name of the planet that she made up... it's kind of a joke between the two of them.  :)

A page that Jesse contributed to the aforementioned "Guide".

The card Naomi wrote for David, and that Jesse corrected (most of) the spelling mistakes.   I love how Naomi is constantly trying to write things, figuring out how they're spelled.  Soon she will be an *excellent* reader... this is a good sign that she's really getting it. :)

And this is the closest we could get to having David wear the special "Baby's 1st Birthday" bib he wore on his first birthday.  He *really* did not want to be photographed anywhere near it! :)

And a fun shot of all the kids after sharing their things with him.  :)

Our new Freecycle treasures

On Monday this week, I picked up these great tables for our living room. They are exactly what we'd been keeping our eyes open for, since I love wrought iron and have acquired quite a lot of it for our home. The tables have wrought iron legs & shelves underneath, and a rustic-looking wooden top.


Now, our more contemporary-styled chair & lamps from Ikea look a bit out of place! In time, when we find some great wrought iron lamps, we'll move those contemporary things upstairs, where I put the Ikea coffee table we got at the same time.

So, here's the scoop on our living room decor:

• Sectional (with sofa bed): $50 at a garage sale
• Wood with black trim decorations: $0 (inherited from Matt's mom)
• Wrought iron wall sconces: $3.99 at Goodwill, repainted with $.99 black spray paint from Wal-Mart (the candles are some I'd bought on clearance at Wal-Mart some years back)
• Framed Monet print: $19.99 at Goodwill
• Coffee table: $0 from Freecycle
• End table: $0 from Freecycle
• Leather couch: $0 (someone else's castaway found in our wanderings around)
• Nothing is impossible with God plaque: $0 (a housewarming gift from friends)
• Candle/decorations on tables: $0 (a gift from a friend)
• Wrought iron candle holder on coffee table: $1 at a garage sale
• Couch pillows: $0 (a gift from sister-in-law Anita when she got back from her father's funeral in the Philippines)

Now that we have the great shelf space underneath the coffee table, our books that we're using for school can be displayed more attractively. I like the look a lot!