It's Gonna Be Great!!

You know how when you grab the vacuum, and go into the family room to run it and get distracted? Well, as I prepared to give the carpet a once over, I noticed that the grandchildren's train board was still in there. So, I picked it up and headed down to the storage area, and when I entered the basement, these little vinyl shelves caught my eye. 

I ran across them in a give away pile recently, and knew that I could put them to good use. Now was the time.

I measured them, and then measured the pantry to make sure they would fit, and decided they'd be perfect. The pantry is small, and any extra storage is amazing!

I was supposed to be vacuuming the family room, remember?

But as I measured the pantry, I realized that we had never painted it when we redid the kitchen a few years ago, and it was looking tired. Is it necessary to do cabinets and closets when you repaint a room? Not necessarily, but it's always such an "ahhh" moment when you open them up to find things looking fresh and organized.

We had painted the kitchen white simply because it had been decades since we had enjoyed a white kitchen, and it was a nice change. But this was how the pantry was left

Since I didn't really have anything pressing on the calendar today, I decided it was the perfect time to take care of this sad little cabinet. I had a bunch of paint in the basement, so I figured I could find something that would work. 

I had visions of greatness!!

My grandmother told me often as a kid that I had "St. Vidas Dance". You can read that whole story here. The way my days go sometimes proves her right! 

Remember that vacuum?

When I started looking at the selection of paint cans on the shelves, I didn't see anything that really caught my eye as a good color. So it was time for another distraction.

We plan on moving eventually and don't know exactly when, but someday we won't be in this house anymore. So, slowly, I've been cleaning out and using things up that won't be going with us. This would be a good day to take care of some random paint!

I pulled out everything that no longer resided on the walls in our house and started pouring it into a can. I'll be honest that some of it actually predated our purchase of this house nearly 15 years ago, but I figured it was going anyway, so why not give it a try?

I started with a little bit of very pale yellow in the bottom of a gallon can and started pouring everything in that I wanted to get rid of. 

This would either be amazing... or I could go back to that vacuum that still waited for me. 

And this is what I ended up with!!

The vacuuming could wait!! 

The little pantry only took a few minutes to empty and I got started.

I'm not kidding when I call it little. The shelves are only 24 1/2" wide. The exact width of the vinyl shelves I had squirreled away. Remember? That was on the front end of this distraction!

It didn't take long to get the paint up, as it's a small space. But it's still a workout, because....... yes. It's a SMALL SPACE!! Remember that 24 1/2" width I just referenced?!

The color ended up being perfect, as is the sheen. Not flat, but not shiny. The concoction included interior and exterior paint, flat, gloss, sample pots, random mis-tints... you get the idea.

And it turned out great! 

The shelves JUST fit. If they hadn't been a bit flexible, they wouldn't have gone in. Amazing how they multiplied the space!

I picked up these old fruit crates a couple of years ago. I sealed the labels and my handsome half fitted one with wheels. They've come in very handy for storage and its just another fun moment in the kitchen. Maybe in our next space they'll come out of the cabinet, but for now I like them here. 

It obviously doesn't take much to amuse me, and a few hours after I walked into the family room, I came full circle and finished with the vacuum. 

It's been a good day.

Older women likewise are to be reverent 

in their behavior,

not malicious gossips 

nor enslaved to much wine,

teaching what is good,

so that they may encourage the young women

to love their husbands,

to love their children,

to be sensible, pure, workers at home,

kind, being subject to their own husbands,

so that the Word of God will not be dishonored. 

Titus 2:3-5

*I love this passage*

Family Stuff

Unexpected Collection

Over the last 40+ years, our sweet family and friends have unknowingly collaborated to curate the most amazing collection. They're not things I would have set out to gather, but every single piece is such a special gift. 

They never communicated with each other about what they were doing, and quite honestly, I didn't even notice it until fairly recently. 

We're in the process of cleaning out in preparation to downsize and move. It's not something that's happening immediately, but we want to be ready when it does. 

So as I went through the sideboard in the dining room pulling out wedding gifts to "re-home", I noticed I had an impressive collection of silver spoons and serving pieces. 

 


They come from far and wide, including places like Ethiopia and Whales. Some of the things I can only guess at their purpose, and one in particular actually looks like a mid evil medical device! But I'm fairly certain it's for serving pickles or olives and has a plunger to push them off of the tines. Genius!

Many of these things are much older than we are, some are family heirlooms and others are from friends and loved ones who thoughtfully chose them because they thought I would love them. And I do. 

My folks carried these home from Belgium in 1953. I spent several hours of my childhood cleaning them.


 Several years ago when cleaning out our dresser, I gathered an impressive pile of pins and rank related to my husbands flying career. I had never done a shadow box, but was fairly certain I could pull it off, and along with my youngest daughter, created a beautiful display of his accomplishments. It made for a very special Christmas gift, and thankfully his parents were even with us that year to witness him receiving his gift. Needless to say, they had a HUGE part in his career and I was so glad they could see such a wonderful overview of his achievements from the last 40 years.

It was time to once again break out my shadow box game. 

The old spoon racks are no longer in vogue, and they're difficult to deal with; making things fit, keeping things clean... Shadow boxes would be perfect!

I started the process by gathering all that I had and spent some time at the sink cleaning all of that silver. There wasn't much cleaning OUT to do because quite honestly, every single piece had a story to it. They all deserved to stay!

Once they were clean, I sorted them into "categories" and decided what I would need in the way of frames. 

After doing some research online, and knowing that I didn't want to spend a bundle on custom frames, I visited my local Lobby of Hobbies and gathered these. They aren't exactly what I had envisioned, but I would have had to wait 10 days to get exactly what I thought I wanted. So since instant gratification is the name of my game...

Then I got to work with my hot glue gun. 

I found that an inexpensive chip brush was invaluable in cleaning out the "glue strings" that happen with glue guns. After I finished attaching them to the frames, I let them sit overnight, and then stood them vertical for another 24 hours to make sure they would hold before putting them in the frames. 

I'm so pleased with the finished product, and every time I look at them, I think of all the special people in our lives who have had a part in such a beautiful meaningful collection.

I know Marie Kondo is all the rage now, and "everyone" is cleaning out and throwing things away. But I think we have some responsibility to preserve the past. Keep some of those things that have value and hold meaning. And what better place to do so than in a place where others can enjoy them as well? Much better than piled in a drawer!

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 
Romans 15:4




Family Stuff