My refinished dinning table

Back in November I started to refinish my dinning table.  I got the idea from this blog and I plan to also paint my chairs bright red once I find the time to fix them.

I think the overall lesson that I learned with the project was that sanding takes forever!!!  And you HAVE to sand it to make the stain stick!  My table had a glossy finish on it, so that made it a bit more difficult to sand, but it was worth it to spend the time on it.

Here are some of my in progress photos and some finished photos with the baby attached.  Again, I will never post photos about this if I were to wait until the table were perfectly staged... it's just not going to happen right now.

 1.  First you have to sand like crazy.  Plan on sanding for what seems like forever!  It will be worth it because then your stain will stick to the wood.  I used Minwax in Dark Walnut for my stain.

 2.  I applied my stain with a very expensive purdy brush and I wish that I had just used some paper towel or a rag because the clean up of the brush was so annoying!  I let the stain sit for a good 15 minutes before wiping the excess off and then I let it dry over night.  BTW, don't stain furniture inside in the winter...fumes all night long!  Like I said, I learned a lot from this project. :)

 3.  So, I wasn't happy with how my first coat of stain adhered, so I went back and sanded it some more and then applied more stain in my carport.  Don't forget to run a tack rag over the table before staining to get all of the dust off.  You don't want dust particles in your finish.

 Pretty!

 5. After the stain dried I lightly sanded it with 400 grit paper to smooth it out and then applied my varnish.  For the varnish you want a new or high quality brush to apply because this will be the finishing coat, or coats.  A few nice thin and even coats will do the trick with some light sanding in between and then you'll have a very pretty table!

 6.  I also painted the legs antique white just like on Katie Bower's blog and I love it!  It's more modern and fits my style and I think with my blue walls once I paint the chairs red everything will look amazing!

 
Do you think I should choose a different color for the chairs?  I'm looking for something to pop, but I'd be open to suggestions.  I'm not going to paint them until the summer when we have multiple sunny days in a row, so I still have some time to decide.

My Kitchen!!!

I've been waiting for months to post about our kitchen remodel, but I've been reluctant to post because: 1: my kitchen is never quite clean enough, 2: it's still a work in progress, and 3: the lighting is never quite right.  Enough is enough and I'm posting the progress that we've made on this once hideous 70's kitchen.

 Missing drawer and crusty cabinets.

 Microwave on counter which was almost always blocked by dirty dishes.

 Awesome wood paneling on the wall for an added rustic look.

 To bright and white and clean!  Oh so clean! (Except for the dishes that I just washed and all the junk on the counters, but I do have a solution for all that clutter and soon I will update you on what I've done.)

 Above range microwave and fan.  it looks bulky, but it's functional.  I'm hoping to balance out that wall with some open shelving on the left.

 Awesome contrast to the floors.

 This is the wall that will have the open shelving.  I'd like to put up three shelves, but I'll probably only do two that cover the length of the counter to the cabinet.

As a side note we also painted the insides of the cabinets and replaced all of the old hardware and hinges.  I'd like to add some pulls,but with how close some of the drawers are it wouldn't really work, but maybe I'll find something.  Would it be weird to have pulls just on the cabinets doors and skip the drawers?  I wonder.

It took forever to clean, sand, prime, and paint everything!  Oh and to make a new drawer.  It was so worth it though!  I'd still like to replace the counter tops, but we're going to leave them alone for now.  I'd like a black marble/ soap stone with a white subway tile on the walls if we were to do the counters.

Snow Daze

I took Asher out in the snow right before a nap...so, these are not an accurate account of how he really feels about the fluffy white stuff, but they are what I took and this is what he gave me.  Working the crabby baby with his penguin hat on.

Christmas Card 2011

Better late than never for those that didn't get one in the mail.  I think next year I'm not going to send any cards out...it just seems like people don't like to send them anymore.  We'll see.  I hate to see the tradition end because of modern technology.

 2011 Teacher/Mommy Tattle Tales

Ruth:  This is has been a good year to me and I can’t really complain because of all the blessings I have received.  This will forever be marked as the year that I became a mother and boy what a change that has been!  I feel like one week I was going full-tilt at work and then a week later I was a mom.  What a welcomed change it has been as I have learned a lot about myself, what I can handle, and pretty much how to take care of a little ball of needs. J

            I’ve mostly been enjoying working on projects around the house lately and I recently finished refinishing our dining table.  I have plans to paint some Goodwill frames that I bought and then cut my own mat board to dress-up whatever I decide to put in the frames.  Then I hope to build some shelves for the kitchen, bathrooms, and our bedrooms.

            Aside from wood working I still love photography and I have plans to learn how to sew!

Shem:  I have been busy with work as always. It has been my first year being bribed by a student (or at least attempted bribing. He brought in Krispy Kreme donuts for me and it was so out of place I asked him jokingly if he was trying to bribe me which he admitted he was. Apparently it was his way of trying to get me to accept a late assignment. When I told him he could turn it in late anyways with a small point deduction he took back his donuts. What goes through these kids minds?

Even worse, apparently, is what goes through my mind. There is a kid in my rambunctious 7^th period class who has been writing anything I say that is really funny and randomly shares the quotes with the class.  Among them are the following:

“How fast did the brown guy go?”

“Who is faster the brown guy or the black guy?”

“Fatty McFatfat is on the table”

“There’s a fat kid and a skinny kid on identical skate boards First you push the fat kid *bloolooloo*(this is supposed to sound like you are pushing a giant jello blob).

There are others too all of which are taken out of context. I have just included the G rated ones here. The other ones when taken out of context sound REALLY bad but I promise you they are all physics related questions.

Asher: I may not be very old, but I’m old enough to know I got jipped this year because I was only born in early May. This means I missed a third of the year! Well, short of being stuck in a small confined space for the first part this year has been pretty darn good. I eat, I sleep (sometimes) and I poo. What more is there to life? No that’s an actual question, is there more to life, because truly I have no clue.

Well even though I spend most of my time eating, sleeping and pooing. I have learned a few skills. I have standing skills, I can stand on my own when holding onto a couch or something. I’ve got mad jumping skills.  I can jump for hours and get myself to swing back and forth in whatever direction I so choose. I got crawling skills and—      

Um this is Dad interrupting here. Asher is totally over exaggerating, cause his “crawling skills” is really a push himself backward skill—

 It’s Asher back. I just sucked on my Daddy’s knee until his pants became saturated with saliva so he just left to change.

 Daddy doesn’t know what he is talking about and I would erase what he wrote but I can’t reach the delete key. Oh well.

Last but not least have mad flirting skills. I can get out of trouble with the slightest little giggle and I have my own harem of women at church who fight over who gets to hold me. Yeah, I’m cute!

This is Asher saying:   

“4bvc C  ;/;’Zxd8p9rf0j8yjbvjcvvccxc v, w . 0020n”  

 Peace out Yo! Word!

An Ode to the Phone

Yes, I have converted and I now own an iphone.  You happy?  I sure am!  I love love love it and even though I don't have a data plan I still love it because I still have a cheap pay-as-you-go plan!  Love it!!!  It has actually saved my life as my computer after only 3 years has decided to die!  My phone has kept me connected, saved all of my outlook contacts and appointments and has made the transfer to only one computer a lot easier.

Moving on, since I'm not lyrical in anyway (just ask my son, I can't rhyme for the life of me when I make up dumb songs on they fly about eating, pooping, or crying all night long), here are some of my favorite photos from my phone.

Seven and Eight

So, Asher is eight months old now and I can't believe how much fun he is now!  I just love him and I'm getting baby hungry again because he so cute, but he won't stop growing and doing new things.  It's very confusing to me to want him to grow and do new things, and at the same time never want him to change and to just stay little forever.  I so get it now.  Actually a lot of things make sense to me now that I'm a mother that I never could have understood had I not pushed that little nugget of joy out. :) 

So, here is what my little man is up to these days...drum roll please..........

He's crawling!!!!!!!  As of last Saturday and boy is he fast.  Like he won't stop moving!  I put him on the changing table and he rolls faster than a caterpillar being squished between my niece's two little fingers (oh yes she did... she rolled it and pinched it and said it was her friend until the little guy stopped moving).  I can't help but give a shout out to Bryn because she and Asher lovingly share the same crooked butt crack...it's so cute and uniquely a Thompson trait.  Now we just have to figure out who else in the fam has the crooked crack gene. 

Okay, moving on.  Asher also has amazingly become an expert stander and can pull himself up onto most anything that is within his reach.  I've saved him from a few near painful experiences as he has tried to stand up on things that were not so sturdy.  For example, the boxes at the top of the stairs that I used as a make-shift barricade to keep him from falling...yeah, he tipped one box over, but I caught him in mid fall and saved his life!  He also likes to follow me around the house now and will pull himself up by grabbing onto my pants. 

He eats so much food!!!  My homemade sweet potatoes are with out a doubt his favorite food!  I need to learn how to make more homemade baby food to freeze. 

He hates carrots.

He gets constipated very easily and yogurt doesn't seem to agree with him either.

Bath time is fun time.

He sits in the shopping cart now and charms everyone who passes by.  I'm not exaggerating either...he catches every one's eye and if they are lucky he'll flash them his cute gummy smile.  One crazy lady in Costco took his photo the other day...it was kind of creepy, but it made her day.

He sleeps in his crib and after reading "Solve your Child's Sleep Problems" and only one bad night and nap time he is totally used to falling asleep on his own!!!  I should have read that book a long time ago!!!  Sleep is sooooo awesome!  And so is my kid for sleeping!  I feel like a new woman and have gained about 5 hours of productive-I-can-get-things-done-time each day!

He plays well with toys and likes to study them.

He enjoys story time before bed.

For a while he would only sleep on his changing pad placed inside the crib.

He seems to be a bit of a mamma's boy.

He loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders!

He is fascinated with all electrical cords, ipod cords, wii remotes, and outlets.  Pretty much anything that could zap him.  Typical.

He likes other kids.

He still stinks at nursing...I'm in a bit of pain, but whatever.  He nurses how he does and will never be nice to me.

The Holidays Part 1 (of like a thousand posts because I'm way behind and have a child that doesn't sleep anymore. :))

We have definitely been busy over here lately, but I think it's just the nature of the holidays.  Thanksgiving came and went, but boy, was it a fun and fabulous Thankgiving!  Not only did I turn the big 30 before turkey day, but the Thompsons decided to go to the mountains and celebrate in nothing but the most beautiful cabin ever!  And there was snow...lots. of. soft. fluffy. snow!  Sledding was a blast and it created the most magical atmosphere ever.

All of the Thompsons at the top of the most amazing sledding hill.

Xander and Asher.  Xander is probably the most loving of all of the nephews in the family and he can't get enough of Asher.  He is constantly kissing him and hugging him and we frequently have to remind him to give the baby some space. :)  It's so cute and luckily nobody has gotten sick from the love swapping.

The girls looking at the magical winter wonderland outside!  Inside I felt just like they look; full of wonder and giddiness at all of the snow. :)

Shem and I (with the help of his Mom) saved ourselves from ruining a Thompson tradition by making the best rolls ever!  I was going to make them a head of time, but my freezing the dough method didn't turn out, so last minute we packed the Kitchenaid and made them on Thanksgiving morning.  They were a big hit with the kids like always and I'm happy they turned out...really happy.

 Our little snow angel!  He loved the snow and I was so excited to take him out in it.  Wednesday night when everyone arrived we had some trouble getting up the long and steep driveway with all of the snow and ice, so I hiked Asher up to the house in his car seat with Corom and as Corom carried him up the hill Asher couldn't stop laughing!  He loved the sound of the snow crunching under our feet and thought it was the best thing ever!  The next day we took him out, plopped him in a snow bank and the cousins and I danced around him crunching the snow beneath our feet.

This wasn't the amazing hill, but a good pic of Shem enjoying the ride.  We had fun with all of the nieces and nephews and I loved screaming my head off going down the hill for some added drama. :)