The long, long silence is broken at last!

or

Best Friday Ever!!

This year I decided that I am soooo tired of not moving my body. I mean, yeah, I walk around cleaning the house and grocery shopping, but that is just not fun. At all. So I decided to splurge on myself and get a mini-trampoline (now called a "rebounder" by all the trendy exercise people).* 

I really debated about doing this for quite a while because I just don't spend that kind of money (anything more than $5) on myself. But I finally held my breath and ordered an $85 (yep! eighty. five. dollars) rebounder. It got here on Wednesday. Tuesday? No, it was Monday! It got here on Monday.

My 48-inch "rebounder" that can hold up to...
I think it was 550 lbs. 
Which means Bruce and I could jump
at the same time if only we both fit. 😂

But I had to wait to set it up because I still hadn't put away any of the Christmas stuff. 😕

And it took me a few days to put all of that away. (Actually, there's still a couple of things waiting to be boxed up and hauled to the crawl-space.)

Anyway... Friday.

I woke up at 6:30 on Friday (which was not the good part, in case you were wondering) and went to work at 7:00 so that I could be sure to be finished in time for my 9:00 hair appointment. (That part was good!) I just went in for a trim (and a complimentary wash—I love to have someone else wash my hair!) ...and I am feeling much happier about my coiffure now.

After my haircut I had to go to Walmart for a few groceries, which is not too exciting except... I came across a whole bunch of plus-size T-shirts on clearance for $1 each and some for $3 each. Now, I do not wear a size 3XL, 4XL, or 5XL, but I can sure cut them up and make them into things that do fit me. So... Yay; super inexpensive fabrics!  (I guess once I decided to splurge on myself, I just couldn't be stopped— just as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb!)

I went home with my new hair and my new purchases and an idea for a yummy lunch —to be made with stuff we already had at home! —which is also a novelty around here. But before lunch I went to visit my new grandbaby! (I always want to call him my baby...) I had a nice visit with Kaylie, and snuggled Jonathan for about 45 minutes, until Thomas got home for his lunch break.

Then, home for my nice lunch (fish tacos!) with Bruce. 😋

Bruce and I have heard that it's good for you to take a ten-minute walk after lunch, so we did. And maybe a little longer. It's pretty nice to get away from everyone and talk about whatever pops into our heads.

And then, when we got back home ...

(Fanfare here...) 

...we set up the trampoline!!

And I jumped and jumped until I was totally winded from bouncing and laughing at the same time. Bruce was right at my face level, grinning at me the whole time, so I couldn't help laughing... which I also need to do more. 

But that wasn't the end of the Fun Friday. Nope!

Our most popular local dance teacher is offering free tap classes in preparation for the local theater's upcoming production of Kiss Me, Kate. I know almost nothing about the show, and don't know if I will audition, but I will certainly take free tap classes! And since there's an intermediate class and a beginning class, Bruce is learning to tap too. His class would be at 5:30 that very Friday evening, so we went into our room to search for his tap shoes (which we bought the last time free classes were offered). And while we were in our room we had a snowball fight! That is not a euphemism, or a secret code for anything. 

We really did have a "snowball" fight. And we laughed and laughed!

Then I showed Bruce how to do some basic tap steps for 45 minutes or so; he is catching on really quickly. And then we went to our class, where he did pretty darn well. And I had fun too, despite being terribly out of shape. I am delighted to report that although my posture is terrible most of the time, the dancer in me steps out when I'm in a class; my posture, my knowledge and my style still shine through. Which makes me very happy. (If my dancer body stepped out, that would be beyond amazing, but... Maybe with time.)

After class we came home to a fried chicken dinner that Brandon and Lindsey made (so much for the dancer body!). Kaylie, Thomas, and Jonathan came to dinner and we had another nice visit. And by bedtime I was so worn out that I fell asleep really fast. Aahhh! 😴

So, yes, Friday was a fun, lovely, giggly day for me!

 *p.s. It's funny that the second I decided I was going to do something for exercise, then a whole lot of things opened up: Tap classes on Monday and Friday, a ballet class at the Rec Center on Thursday, teaching Bruce to tap and practicing with him a few times a week, and friends from the tap classes asking me to do extra practice sessions with them. Plus the trampolining.

By the end of last week I felt like I'd been beaten up all week long.  Hopefully I will get stronger and better at all of these things. But, even with the exhaustion, I still love it!

2021 Wish List

Well. I usually put out my wish list by November 1. But November was pretty overwhelming. So was October.
In fact, most of this year has been overwhelming;
I haven't really thought much about my Christmas wish list. 

Also, there's the weirdness of almost never writing on my blog anymore (you can also attribute that to Overwhelm), and then suddenly, out of nowhere, posting a wish list. Hmmm...

But here's what I've finally come up with:

I'd like a Tap-Dance Floor. Here are the instructions to build one. (And I already have the mats for it...)

Character Tap Shoes. Although you'd probably have to take me to try them on. (I do have flat tap-shoes that could go with the new floor for a while...)

Drawers for my living room shelves. I really want these to be done. It is about time for that project to be all finished—I mean, I need a tidy place for all my Christmas wrapping paper!

I had some drawers built, but they don't fit right.
So I need new ones. With nice drawer-glides installed.

A Custom Dress Form. Or at least the stuff to make one—and then some time with Bruce to start building it. I've found lots of different instructions for making them, and I've finally decided that this five-part "how-to" looks pretty good.

(Although I'd use pour and mix insulation foam instead of the spray stuff, so there wouldn't be any air pockets inside the form.)

Well, I'm pretty sure I think of new little things almost daily, but I don't even remember them.

Mostly I want us all to have a Happy Christmas.

My baby is eighteen!

 I know this post is a week and a half late...

Aww! What a cute, smiley baby she was!

But Jessica turned eighteen years old! (Now I can officially kick all of my kids out of the house. ;-) )

We had a really fun day for her birthday! First of all, Jessica had been wanting to get a haircut, so we took her to do that. I was a little skeptical of her getting a pixie cut, but...

Before...
Look at how long her hair has gotten!
(That's her stylist, Hailey, in the background.)

Jessica had saved some pictures of styles
that she liked  to show Hailey.

And the first cuts have been made!
(Hailey swept away all that pretty blond hair
from the floor before I thought to get a picture.)

A bit of a blow-dry to determine if it's just right. This time you can see a bunch of blond hair on the floor.

Trimming off just a little bit more...
And it's looking oh, so cute!

Here's the finished cut!

Jessica was really happy with her haircut. Next on the list was clothes-shopping. Yay!

I didn't get pics of her trying on clothes (my bad), but we had a lot of fun, and she got a couple of really cute things. Maybe one day we will have a picture of her in her favorites.

Then out to lunch with Dad and Lindsey, and then home for a rest—and maybe a movie.

That night we had chicken & broccoli casserole for dinner (as per Jessica's request). Then we all went and played Jackbox games for a while. She got a lot of birthday presents (the benefits of being the youngest and having lots of siblings with jobs). 

And then it was time for dessert: Pumpkin Cheescake (yum!). When it was time for the birthday singing, we decided we had to recreate the photo from Jessica's first birthday.

It took a few tries, but they did a pretty good job of it. Jessica got the look about right. (By the way, she's wearing one of her new shirts.)

Bruce promised her he wouldn't blow out all her candles, but in the end he laughed so hard that he did blow them out...all but one.

I don't think Jessica minded, though.

Cake and more games. It was a fun, fun day.

Happy Birthday, Jessica—you adult, you! Love you!!

It's time for an update!

 Well, it's almost time for an update... of my kitchen!

First I have to do all my canning. But it's kind of fun to think about anyway, so I've been thinking about it.

Bruce helped to stimulate the economy (??) by getting new appliances as they went on clearance at Lowes. The appliances are now in my garage, waiting for us to get our act together. I would love to have this all done before Thanksgiving. So we're not rearranging everything—although I did come up with one design that included moving the kitchen sink. I discarded that idea.

I thought I had a drawing of the kitchen as it currently is, but I can't find it. So here's the remodel idea:
 At the top of the pic, you can see a closet on the left; this is currently the weird, unused kitchen bathroom. We are removing everything that has to do with water, then making it about 18-inches smaller (as shown);
this will become a coat closet. With the closet a bit smaller, the ovens can move to the left about 18 inches, which will allow us to move the cooktop to the left so that it's not smack against the corner. Yay!
The refrigerator currently sits directly across from
the bathroom/closet. We will move the fridge diagonally down and to the right, as in the picture.
The plant shelf will go live next to the fridge.
Now we can put a floor-to-ceiling pantry on most
of that left wall. At the end of the pantry, on the bottom-left, you see a closet that will hold my
vacuum, broom, mop, etc. (right now they
live in the weird, unused kitchen bathroom).
And, in the center, we'll add an island.
This will give me 1. an open work-space and,
2. a lighted work-space. How would that be?

I'd like to replace all of the main-floor flooring: the living room, the entry hall, and the kitchen/dining area. If the price is right, I will do this; we'll see. Eventually I will replace the countertops, but for now I will most likely paint them (just like I did in our old house ten or so years ago). And, of course, I will paint the cabinets, too.

Because our kitchen gets so little natural light, I want to paint at least the upper cabinets white (or an off-white that makes you think "white".) I've been toying with making the lower cabinets a super dark—almost black—blue. Or making upper and lower cabinets white and the pantry dark blue...  I don't know yet. The only thing, color-wise, that I'm completely determined on is my blue wall in the dining room, which I love, and light-colored upper cabinets.

So here are some color ideas I've been tossing around, and I would love your opinions! Keep in mind that the kitchen flooring will also extend to the living room. 

Of the flooring choices I've seen, I like these two best.
I do lean toward the Eucalyptus... I think.
It might stay cleaner looking.

1.  Here you see the Hickory flooring, Chocolate countertop, white cabinets, and super dark blue as the maybe-maybe color. (Really undecided on that.)
I scanned the paint-chip for the dining room wall; that is the color.

2. Hickory floor, black countertops—
all the rest remains the same.

3. Hickory floor, Sand countertops.

4. Eucalyptus floor, Chocolate countertops.

5. Eucalyptus floor, Black countertops.

6. Eucalyptus Floor, Sand countertops.

So, these are my current thoughts. Mostly. I've also toyed with adding a little brown to the Sand counters to make an in-between kind of color. Or making the pantry some kind of complementary color to the blue—or the cabinets under the island. Or... I don't know what!

What do you think?

Shelved

I like to study my scriptures in our great room. It's just a nice, pretty, quiet place for that. But, unfortunately, it didn't have a place for me to store my scriptures between times. So I just stacked them up neatly under the coffee table. And that was fine until everyone else decided to do the same. You can only fit so many sets of scriptures underneath a forty-inch round table. Pretty soon they were overflowing all over the room. This would never do. I needed a small bookshelf.

Well, lucky me! (I guess. Is it lucky that I got a shelf from Mom's house because she died? Let's not handle that sword...)

I brought home a little bookshelf that's been in our house forever. In fact, I'm told it's a shelf that Dad made, which makes it even better. When I said that I needed a shelf to put our scriptures on, Heidi felt that a shelf made by Dad would be perfect. And she's right, I think.

Anyway, it had a lot of scratches and dings in it, so of course I decided to refinish it. And, of course, I forgot the "before" pictures. But here's the whole progression of work:

At this point I realized I hadn't taken a "before" picture.
So I've already sanded quite a bit of it down to the
bare pine. But you can still see what color it was.

I removed the back before I started sanding it down. Then I spent a lot of time sanding, to get rid of as many scratches as I could. When I started, I was thinking the shelf had been stained, and even as I got down to obviously bare pine it didn't occur to me that it had actually been painted. But for it to come that clean, it had to have been paint.

Sanding the underside. Dad did a lot of tricky piecing to make the rounded base of this shelf.

Sanded to bare wood. It has a very defined grain.

Once it was all sanded, it was ready to be stained! I wanted to do it the color of my kitchen table, but I grabbed the wrong can of stain. It was walnut. Hm.

I was instantly unhappy.
Bruce and my boys liked it, but I had wanted it
to be more like it was originally—not this zebra/tiger-stripey thing. Some parts of the wood grain absorb stain better than others; I should have realized it
would turn out like this.

So then it sat out in my patio while I brooded over what to do. Finally I went and bought a stain that has better coverage. Another light sanding, another brushing of stain, and here's what I got:

Ahhh. Much Better!
(This color is close, but the camera
didn't get it exactly right.)

Now for the back. I knew I wanted to do something fancy, so I decided to cover it with lace or some kind of fabric.

Here's the inside-back.

Here it is again, and the fabric I chose.

And here it is with the fabric glued to it.

Fortunately, when I was nailing the back in place again I was able to use the very same nail-holes that Dad had made long, long ago. (This is fortunate because I am terrible at driving a nail straight into where I want it.)

Even pounding the nails into the exact same places, there was still one that I couldn't get in straight.
I figure the shelf will be able to live with that.

Here it is, all put together:

Awww. It's so pretty!

And here it is in its new home, in the corner of the great room:

Scriptures and gospel-study books in place.
The "Flight into Egypt" figure that Melanie and I bought for Mom (and that Melanie graciously let me keep) stands on top. 

I'm very happy with it!