Dresser Redo

 I found this dresser at a yard sale earlier this fall & bought it for $20. It's solid wood & the drawers slide well, it just needed a facelift.

I roughed it up with a little sandpaper and took off the hardware. Then I used some Colonial Red glossy paint to give it a new brighter look. It took 2 coats. After this, I distressed it with some light sanding mostly on the edges. Next, I used a dark walnut stain and an old dried out paint brush to give it the antique look. You just paint on a coat, let it dry a few minutes and then wipe it off. It leaves some darker spots in the corners & edges and darkens the whole dresser slightly. This took 2 coats also. I found some neat spray paint called "Hammered" which gives a hammered metal look to whatever you spray it on. I used this on the hardware. The paint was $7 and spray paint was $6. I had the stain, brushes and sandpaper already, so for about $33 Wessie has this cute "new" dresser for his room!

Don't you enjoy the model in these photos? She was a big helper with this project--good thing I wasn't going for a really precise finish because my helper is better at brushing paint the wrong way and dripping it everywhere! You just can't complain about help though!

Getting Closer

As I approach week 26, I'm reminding myself just how close it's getting to our baby boy's arrival. I have been working on clearing out the guest room/office to turn into his room, but I have lots of sewing projects I want to finish before I can clean out too much stuff. Although I've been making tons of blankets and bump clothes, this is my most recent completed project:

It's a car seat cover for the infant car seat to keep the baby all snuggled up warm. I hadn't ever made one before and didn't have a pattern, but I figured it out and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's lined with fleece and the little flap opens & closes so you can peek in on the baby. One project checked off the to-do list!

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas

We finally got our house all decorated for Christmas Tuesday night:

And with the lights off:



Among the Christmas decorations we found Kelly's reindeer antlers--she was thrilled--can't you tell??

Different Kind of Apple

So, I've noticed the focus of this blog has shifted from "what's different about Missouri compared to Montana" to all about baby Molly! I think it's great (and it reflects how the focus of our lives has changed), but here is something educational about Missouri to get me back on track.

In Montana we don't have hedge apples & in Missouri we do. Hedge apples are round, green fruit that fall from hedge trees this time of year. They're about the size of a softball or maybe slightly bigger and aren't edible for people. Horses and cows do eat them occasionally, but they can be a choking hazard. The wonderful thing about them is they are rumored to scare away spiders. If there is any chance of this being true and working, I'm all about it. I HATE SPIDERS!

While I was driving to town the other day I noticed a large pile of hedge apples all over the gravel road. Since I wasn't in too much of a hurry, I stopped and threw a bunch of them in the back of the pickup. Once I got home I spread them all along the sides of the house--by the window wells, next to the doorways, etc., in hopes of warding off spiders. Here's my loot:

I also decided to try something new this year, and gave a few hedge apples a different purpose:

I turned them into festive fall votives by carving out a place in the top to hold a pumpkin scented candle. With several of them together, I came up with a table centerpiece:


Spending more time at home has allowed me to get crafty and I'm lovin' it!

Another Busy Weekend

As the due date gets closer and closer and closer we continue to be very busy on the weekends trying to get everything prepped for the baby's arrival while still just keeping up with the typical stuff around here. I'm now at 37 weeks:

My main goal for the weekend was to get the baby's dresser & changing table painted. A girl that I work with gave me a free changing table and we decided to use Luke's old dresser for the baby. Both needed a little paint job and I've been waiting until we had a weekend without rain so that I could paint outdoors and not have to worry about fumes or anything. Well, I would not recommend painting at 37 weeks pregnant, but I did get it done & they look SO much better. I wish I would of taken some "before" pictures, but I will post some later of the final result.

Something else that has really been bothering me is that my strawberries are producing like crazy (and they're so delicious) but it's really hard to pick strawberries at 37 weeks. If you don't pick them daily something either eats them or they mold...so it's kind of a daily task. After painting all morning I took a break and picked strawberries Saturday afternoon. These babies are now in our freezer until I have a little more time to do something with them:

Although I did get alot done Saturday I paid for it that night and today. I think I might of pulled a muscle because every time I move my left leg I have horrible shooting pains in my belly. This includes every time I try to walk, turn, get dressed, get out of bed, pretty much every movement hurts and hurts bad. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning so I'll have to see what they say.

Other than that, the only news I have is that Luke sold his old horse trailer today. A family from Nebraska saw it on Craig's List and drove on over and bought it! Although we had to meet them and there was some confusion as to where we were supposed to meet them, it all worked out and Luke actually sold the trailer for more than he paid for it. Success.

Oh--and Bella--my cow finally calved, the cat had kittens (in the chicken coop of all places), now it's my turn to have a baby!

Productive Weekend!

Luke & I were very busy this weekend & we are feeling much more prepared for the next 9 weeks and whatever they bring!

Saturday we went to Columbia to look at baby stuff & registered at Target. We also got a new ceiling fan & some other "home improvement" stuff at Menards, spring maternity clothes for me & some new fishing lures--what a day! We were very shopped out by the time we got home Saturday night.

Sunday I woke up very tired, but Luke was very ambitious and was on a mission to get some stuff done. He got the office cleaned out & another coat of paint on, the crib put together & pork burgers bbq'ed without me asking him to do a thing. I got our stoller put together--we got an awesome BOB stroller on Ebay for half price and tried it out in the yard. We also re-arranged our bedroom and then spent the afternoon burning the road ditches from our house North along the property line.

Spring is definitely here and we are enjoying being able to enjoy the outdoors more--although I already am getting hot, very easily. Oh-and about the baby-we went back to the Dr. on Friday and the baby has flipped into position. Yay--I was so nervous that it would still be breech! We also went to the hospital and pre-registered so when I go into labor we wont have to waste any time filling out paperwork. Things are good!

Oh Christmas Tree

We are spending Christmas in Montana this year, so we wanted to make sure to get our Christmas tree up early so we would have some time to enjoy it! The Sunday after Thanksgiving we headed out to our favorite tree farm in the middle of nowhere and picked out a good (and very bushy) tree!

That's the one! Luke came prepared with the chainsaw.

It took me about a week to finally decorate the tree and the rest of the house, but it's now looking very festive around here!

I had to throw this one in there--Luke and his "baby":

Last Weekend

Last weekend seemed like we were going non-stop with working on all our projects that we hadn't been able to do because of all the rain. Now that the nice weather is here (and it's gorgeous, I must say) we were very busy!

One of our projects was to work all our cows & calves. The fall calves finally got weaned and the spring calves got shots. We set the cows up on a synchronization protocal so that we can start AI this coming weekend. Well, not all the cows. Apparently our pain in the butt bull that kept getting out last fall did a pretty good job of getting some cows bred. We were hoping to have everything switched over to spring calving for next year, but now about a third of the cows are bred to calve this fall. Not much we can do now. Here's some of the spring calves. They were very curious:


After the cows were all taken care of, Luke spent a good portion of the weekend working on the lawnmower. He really had a good time, if you can imagine. But, we were finally able to mow the yard and it looks so much better!! I've been working on adding a new flower bed to the front of our house and finally got it finished. The big pink rosebush was all that was there before. I put in the blocks, weed mat, mulch and planted 4 new shrubs. I think it looks so much better!! Now Luke wants me to do this around the whole house...we'll see.

So far the chickens haven't been bothering it too much and they better not! I'm sure this weekend will bring many more projects so I will try to take more pictures.

Bathroom Make-Over

Here is what "Luke's" bathroom looked like until a few days ago....
It wasn't too manly, or really attractive in any way so I re-painted it:

And decorated it with a fishing/pond theme:

What do you think?