Sunday, June 29, 2014

Antiques, Immediate Gratification, and Sibling Togetherness...

The other day I had the kids helping me pick up and finish continue organizing the basement.
Danny found my Fisher Price record player and albums and tried to get it to work.
Luckily, I realized what he was messing with before he ruined the player or my BELOVED "Alvin and the Chipmunks:  Hollywood" Album.

The following observations struck me:

1.   They had no idea that music could come from something like this (a box with parts you can actually see and touch, or a boring old piece of black plastic).








2.    You might remember how record players work, you set the needle on the lane-thingy where the music is etched or whatever, and then you wait for the needle to hit the groove.  The kids couldn't understand why or how you could possibly be expected to wait for a few seconds for the music to start.  They were also baffled by how you had to read the album cover or the center of the record to figure out where to put the needle to get the song you wanted to hear play.  Couldn't you just push a button and zip through the song choices until you landed on what you wanted to hear?!?!?

3.   The kids genuinely liked hearing the music and about how much I enjoyed my record player and albums when I was a kid.  They poured over the albums with, "I know that song!", and "The Smurfs were invented when you were a kid?"  It was nice seeing them enjoy each other's company for a change!




Unfortunately, we still have some work to do in the basement...

Thursday, June 26, 2014

My new kitchen!

A friend recently asked me if I'm going to recreate my old kitchen "look" in my new kitchen.  She remembers how much I used to go on and on about how much I loved my old kitchen: the pretty robin's egg blue paint, the black & white checkerboard floor, my curtains that I made all by myself, and my collection of roosters and chickens.

Well, I have to say good bye (forever probably) to the checkerboard floor, our new kitchen has ceramic tile and I don't see us wearing that out anytime soon.  I'm pretty mych over my robin's egg blue obsession.  But, I still think chickens, especially the roosters, are really pretty.

We had a lady from Pec come out and paint the kitchen a lovely light brown, almost goldish, color--she did an AMAZING job! I painted the one little mantle wall a dark brown, the kids call it "chocolate".

I found the wall hanging at Hobby Lobby for ridiculously cheap.  I also bought the rooster on the left at Hobby Lobby (well, there's some robin's egg blue!), but the other chickens are from the old kitchen.

Here's the hutch I mentioned awhile ago.  I LOVE the way it turned out!  (Oh wait, there's more of that pretty blue!)

I have fabric to make some sort of valance or something.  I just love the plain, uncovered windows, though!  We are slowly getting birds to come back to the bird feeders.  We have a couple of pretty regular humming birds and a house finch (no yellow finches, yet...).  I think all the birds moved down the road with my folks.



















The kitchen is nice and spacious, we splurged and bought new appliances (ours were mismatched and various ages).  Including the appliances with our old house also helped to sell it.
 Over to the right is the fridge, a breakfast bar and more cupboards.  This area also leads to the mud room... more on that to follow!


Monday, June 23, 2014

Pallet Bike Rack

Here is the "before" picture:




Many people around Pecatonica refer to us as "the house with all the bikes out front".  Yes, we have 6 bikes.  There are 6 OF US.  Anyway, now that we live in the country, we still..... have 6 bikes.  

I found an idea for making a bike rack out of pallets on Pinterest (of course!) and put the hubbykins to work on Sunday.  

Total price:  $1.44 x 4 = $5.76 for the brackets.


We didn't exactly follow the pattern, it was more like, "How quickly can I get this project done so my wife will leave me alone?"  



Anyway, it works.  It's not beautiful, it could be bigger, like two pallets instead of just one.  We had to back some bikes in to accommodate the handlebars.  And, it really only fits the 4 bikes, two are leaning up against the ends.  

But, it serves the purpose:  All bikes are NOT laying on the ground (due to faulty kickstands), and all bikes will be stored here in one central location.  

I really wish we could keep the bikes in the garage, but we just have too many bikes for that. 

And the "after" picture:

Thursday, June 19, 2014

We've moved!

We did it!  We really did it!

We've moved!

Our new house!  (My parent's "old house", they built a lovely new house down the road a bit.)
We've unpacked!
Our empty boxes turned into some sort of fort yesterday.

We've made new friends!
This is Lola, one of 4 or 5 cats who -in theory- are mousers, but -in reality- get fed too well to be of much help in that department!

We're back to our old habits...

Seriously, boys, can you NOT pick up and make your beds?  I guess not.
  Stop by and visit anytime!