Can't We Just....

Three simple words. Words that can make my husband cringe. He tries to tell me that he really can't do everything (like I think). But he keeps proving himself wrong and proving me right. Because he really can do EVERYTHING!

Laura- Can't we (read you) just move this opening over?

Timothy- You mean that opening? The one that is 100+ years old and totally structural?

Laura- Yep!

Timothy- And log?

Laura- That's the one! Won't it be awesome! It'll solve all our problems! All you have to do....

Timothy- ........

Laura- It'll separate the men from the boys. I mean, who else do you know who has done this?

Timothy- .......... sigh........

And so it began.

See that little tiny doorway... Keep looking, it's pretty hard to see... Over there on the left side of the picture.

That doorway is what separated the dining room and kitchen from our new living room.

We started by measuring and using tape on the wall so we could see what our new opening would look like.

Then brought the chainsaw in. The best part of the chainsaw in the house was that our neighbor happened to be looking out his window and said to his wife, "I just saw Tim start up his chainsaw and walk into the house!". They came over a few days later...

He made a pulley system out of a ratchet strap. And cut. One. Log. At. A. Time.

Then... We brought the logs back into the house and started piecing them back together to fill in the old opening.

Then made some more cuts.

Aaaaannnnndddd the long awaited new opening was done!

First Impressions

This little red house has always had a bit of charm to it. The way it sits on its lot, the trees around, the mountain views. But if you look closely you will see that the charm is actually rag tag. Take the front door for instance. Seems ok, right? Until you notice that it is actually pretty small.... and metal... and boring. Replacing it certainly wasn't the first thing on out list, but we knew it was bound to happen.     

So when a solid wood large door came up for sale on our local online yard sale, we decided it was time. Of course it wasn't a simple job. Timothy had to reverse the way it swings and widen the opening. Don't forget that the house is over 100 years old, originally a log cabin and not even close to square. He is awesome though and figured it all out and I love it!

 Now just picture all the hardware black and the trim around the door painted white. Because... well... life happened. And this front door project has joined the very long list of Almost Done projects.

And Almost Done is way better than not done at all.

A Log Story

Those logs.

They sure threw me for a curveball.

We first met during The Flood. 

They are not my first choice of building material.

But once we saw them, we knew they would be staying exposed. I love history and I couldn't imagine covering something up that had been cut, drug and placed all by hand to build a little cabin all the way back in 1905. Regardless of my personal preference and taste.... the logs were staying.

And they thanked us.

British Colonial + Mid Century Modern =

This dresser.

Atleast, in my opinion. Especially when it was white. We have had the dresser for 5 years and since moving to the new house it no longer fit. We had the space, it just no longer looked quite right. This house is old and it likes old furniture. So my little Mid Mod dresser had to go.

After trying to sell it at both a yard sale and Craigslist with no luck I decided to spruce it up a bit to highlight its very cool detail. 

At a 3am breastfeeding/brainstorming session I decided on blue. It needed to be a dark in your face blue.

You can now see its character and original hardware.

Now this sweet little dresser has a new home.

What do you think of the color change?

Spring Has Sprung

I have finally accepted that Spring is here in Western Montana. I was in denial for quite awhile, because I never felt like we had a proper winter. Last year we had a fabulous winter filled with tons of snow and cold temperatures and it was perfect. This year it was mild and boring.

Since I can no longer deny the changing of the season, and my beloved winter is over, I have decided it is time to embrace it.

We currently have 8 baby chicks. By we I do mean the girls have baby chicks. They did chores through the winter to save up their money to buy their very own chickens. They have complete plans for an egg business.

Spring time flowers are popping up. Which I am extremely grateful for. Especially since I didn't follow any transplanting rules or guidelines.

AAAAANNNNNDDDDD BABY WILSON NUMBER 3 IS ON THE WAY!!!!!!! We are beyond excited!

Actually..... Baby is well on it's way....

We only have about 3 more weeks before the due date and can not wait to meet him or her.

Happy Thursday!

New Table

About two years ago we bought a large oak table and seven mismatched chairs off of Craigslist for $50. I then sold five of the chairs for $10 each. Now that is my kind of purchase.

The table is nothing special, but it is big. It was just your run of the mill oak, cheap table and I am your run of the mill oak furniture hater. Unless they are real wood floors or real oak beams I say there is no place for oak in my home.... I am a bit opinionated about this... wink. 

When we bought this table we already knew we would be painting it. It just took two years and a home purchase to make it happen.

But it did happen.

 After lots and lots of prep work aka sanding, priming, sanding again, then adding a few screws here and there to make it less saggy and more solid we finally got to put this beauty on the chairs!

 After three, yes three coats of paint with sanding in between each coat the chairs were done! The table got the same prep and three coat and sanding treatment as the chairs. Except we used a nice white paint for it.

 Let me tell you. I love, love, love this table. It is bright and I love it. Most everything in my house is white so a few bright blue chairs were just what this kitchen needed.

 So far I have been pleased that I can put my other favorite colors and table decorations with it without it clashing too much.

 I am planning on a dark brown table runner to get me through the fall and winter and to cozy it up a bit for those seasons.

A funny thing about the chair color is that a year ago I stopped by the house my husband was painting and loved the door color and told him that it was what I wanted for our chairs. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I walk into the paint store and three minutes later pick out the exact paint color that was used on that door without knowing it. Atleast, I know this color isn't just a phase;)

Double Standards

First off I would like to apologize to you, my 5 readers. Here you thought you were going to get to read about a nice little remodeling project...

Instead, I am daring to say the V word. Vaccination.

No, I am not trying to generate publicity for my blog or start a war. If I wanted war I would start ranting on Facebook. But I am choosing not to do that. It is your choice if you continue reading or not.

You see, my head feels like it is about to explode. I see, we all probably see, loads of vaccine info online whether we want to or not. Whether we have children or not. Whether you have ever actually looked into this or not.

I try not to see it and it still gets through and it makes me mad. I need to get some thoughts and problems out before I do something stupid and start calling people out and arguing with them over this.

Here are a couple things that keep coming to the top of my list that I wish people would ask themselves.

1. Do you have children?

Because if you do not than you have no idea the weight and responsibility that you will hopefully feel, that you should feel, when you have a child. One thing that happened to me when I became a mother was all my bias disappeared. I no longer cared which side of the political aisle my choices were on. I no longer cared which family member I agreed or disagreed with. All I care about is trying to make the best decisions, with the information I have for these amazing little people. Whom I love more than I ever thought possible. I don't care who says this or that. What is popular or not. All I care about Is. My. Children.

So, if you have never had the opportunity to be completely responsible for your child, I am saying this out of common courtesy. Please, for your own sake, keep these opinions to yourself. Because you never know, you may look back and realize you had no idea what you were talking about. You may even disagree with yourself, or be embarrassed, maybe have no regrets at all. Or you may be like me and wish you would have started using the gift of critical thinking earlier. Earlier, so that I could have better protected my child. I am not going to go into detail about what happened to one of my daughters... Maybe in another post. Whatever your opinion may be about vaccinations, lets all remember that most parents are trying to do and be the best they can be for their children. What is right for one family might be wrong for another. Let's show one another a little grace. I make decisions that I think are best, and I even think they are best for most people, but I will not shove that down your throat. I will not force you to eat like I do. Or exercise how I do. Treat sickness like I do. Or prevent sickness and vaccinate or not like I do. We are all or should all be given the choice. Even given the choice to make the wrong decision.

Which leads me to my next question.

2. What does pro choice mean to you?

Do you believe that a woman has the right to do with her body as she chooses?

With her unborn baby's body as she chooses? To choose wether that child is born or not?

If so, then I ask you, why does her getting to choose stop once the baby is born? Believe it or not but there is proposed legislation all over the U.S to make vaccination mandatory. Taking away the mothers choice. Some of these bills biggest supporters are also major supporters in the pro choice movement. Do you see the double standard here? It is like they are saying that they will let you have freedom of choice as long as your choice lines up with their thinking. I don't think I need to explain or go into how dangerous that line of thinking is.

If you have read this far thank you. I also want to encourage you to step back and look at this situation with as un biased of eyes that you can. Say no to all the hoopla and fear mongering that is going on from both sides of this debate. Say no to the blame game and finger pointing.

Because you never know why parents have chosen certain things for their family's.

You have never walked in their shoes.