mid-century modern redo

I always forget to take 'before' pictures, until I've already started.  I found this dresser at Goodwill for $30 about a year ago.  I'd seen a few mid-century modern dressers for sale/road-side-junk, but none were real wood, they were plastic that 'looked' like wood.  This one is all wood-veneered MDF, can't tell when it was made, but it was good enough for me!  So I got rid of Axel's plastic drawers I got at Walmart, and ignored Paul's comments about how we're moving in a year and did I really need to purchase such a BIG piece of furniture?

I couldn't decide how to redo it for a long time.  But in the end decided to paint the case black, and refinish the drawers wood.  The tricky part was finding black hardware that was the exact right size for the existing holes in the drawers.

After sanding it, I spray primed it.  Then I first did a coat of satin oil based paint with the roller.  WOW, roller marks!  I sanded for 3 hours - seriously.  Then brushed on satin oil based paint with foam brush.  WOW, brush strokes!  I sanded for 2 hours.  The paint was free, my neighbor had extra.  I did use a lot of my sandpaper, which was ok because I don't want to move it, but if we weren't moving I'd feel like I wasted a lot of money on sandpaper.  I decided that I had to bite the bullet and purchase spray paint.  Because I couldn't stand the paint strokes and when I sanded them out, and I inevitably sanded down to the grey primer.

(aren't my hardwood floors gorgeous!  I'll miss them in the bedrooms)

When I've spray painted in the past I can't seem to get the paint to go on flawlessly.  I can get it to go on without any drips, but it doesn't look even.  I don't know how to describe it, you can see my spray strokes.  So, I tried to be brave and not pessimistic, went to the store, and found spray paint, that was so dark brown it was almost black.  Which was perfect, since after getting it on, I decided that black was a smidge too harsh.  I did pretty good on the sides and was super pleased, but the top still showed the pattern of my spraying, and I couldn't undo it, even with three coats.  But never fear, I put on two coats of polyurethane, and that took away the evidence of spray pattern.  I am very pleased about how it turned out, which I am surprised about considering that in the middle of painting and sanding for 3 days, I was resigned to it probably looking dumb.

Then the beautiful drawers.  I sanded off the old finish (I think it was a tinted polyurethane because the wood seemed dull and hazy), to reveal the naked stained wood.  It was pretty easy for the flat drawers, but the top three with that little decorative perimeter gave me a lot of work.  But then I just did 3 coats of poly, waited 24 hours, put it all together with hardware, gave Axel a lecture on how he couldn't touch it for at least three days, and after that, not allowed to put papers all over the top and make it look messy, and I was done.

I love it.  Paul loves it too.  He always likes it when I'm done.  Maybe that's more because I'm not working on it anymore, than that he loves the finished product.

But isn't that wood delicious.  I know you're trying to touch it through the computer.  It feels luxurious.

I recently had a procedure done

At the hospital.  Doesn't that sound like plastic surgery?  It wasn't.  I got the bill for it today.  They charge me by the 30 minutes.  Really.

My two 30 minutes in the OR cost $7227.  There's $3000 more which I can't tell what it's for.  This is not what I pay the doctor.  This is what I pay the hospital.  Can't wait for the doctor bill.

Paul and I have been talking about not having insurance, because we'll be paying for it ourselves, his new job won't pay for it.  So a regular policy for our family would be $14,000 a year.  And we thought, we never spend that much money in a year on our kids yearly visits and our every other year baby.

This last trip to the hospital has made me convinced that we need insurance.  A few trips to the ER (like 2010) and we'd way overspend.

And all this griping is coming from a doctor's wife.  I probably should be happy to see that I was charged $2051 for anesthesia.  But all I can think is, it can't really have cost THAT much.  This seems ridiculous.

Is healthcare this expensive everywhere?

About a year ago, while in a check-out line, I struck up a conversation with the cashier.  She was 8 months pregnant, laughed with me, a bit of a tough-girl self-presentation, very beautiful, and I guessed has probably lived in the projects at some point in her life.  I liked her, a lot.

A week later, I was in the same store and as I got closer to the front of the line, realized it was the same cashier.  But her belly was flat.  She must've had her baby!  But, why would she be at work when she had a tiny baby at home?  A premature baby that needed her.  And I saw it on her face.  Dark puffy circles under her eyes.  Only speaking when absolutely necessary and barely audible.  A look of guarded anger in her eyes that never met anyone elses.

My heart broke for her.  I actually started crying in the store.  I wanted to offer some kind of comfort.  What could I say?  She wouldn't even remember me.  And if she did, she wouldn't believe that I cared, or that it was my place to care, and my 5 minutes of sadness was not going to help her through at least 5 years of grief.  So I made myself stop crying.  But when it was my turn, I tried to make eye contact with her.  She would not look at my face.  I left the store, giving her nothing.

I hoped that she had people who loved her around, who could make her sadness not envelope her completely.  And I prayed for her.  I prayed for her with my eyes squeezing tears and white knuckles forcing my way to heaven.  And I felt pretty sure that that my pleading couldn't begin to soothe her ocean of grief.

I've since changed my mind.

Every bit of grief shared, helps.

It spreads out, it becomes more manageable.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father made the world and ourselves that way.

It is a miracle.

And I am so glad I prayed for her.

Where to go to school

I've been really doing my homework about elementary, middle and high schools.  I'm comparing some high schools side by side, here's my table, just in case you're curious.  If you live in Las Vegas you should be.

	Centennial	Palo Verde	Clark	Sierra Vista	Desert Oasis	Bonanza
Number of Students	3010	2804	2671	2107	1956	2184
Violence to other Students	28	38	54	61	28	64
Violence to staff	3	0	0	0	0	1
Possession of a weapon	3	7	2	4	2	7
Distribution of controlled substance	3	2	3	3	2	3
Possession/use of a controlled substance	17	40	36	41	27	36
Possession/use of Alcohol	2	9	10	3	7	2
Great Schools rating	8	10	6	7	6	7

So it seems to me that Centennial is my best option, unless of course they just aren't dealing with all their violence and drugs.  Palo Verde has the highest test scores (10, students I've talked to who went there said there were a lot of cliques and snobs and community comments agree), Centennial (8, may have racism issues), Clark (all community ratings say it's the best school in Las Vegas, but the test scores are lower and look at all the drugs and violence!)  I guess Desert Oasis is lower on drugs and violence, but their test scores aren't great and the community doesn't like them much either.

I think I might have to let go of my dream of my favorite neighborhood where the trees are taller than the houses and they were all built with a specific family in mind.  That's Clark high school, and magnet schools that are really difficult to get in to.  900 applications and 100 spots.  Subpar zoned elementary school.  A neighborhood that makes my heart sing, but the schools don't match.

I may move to the untamed desert.  The mountains sure are pretty.

But I love alive earth.

I love Nashville.

This afternoon, while I was eating my lunch, looking out the window, I was struck by how beautiful the scene was.  Then I opened the window, and heard birds singing to me.  I will miss the view of my neighbors house.  Do Dogwoods grow in Las Vegas?

Every spring I am overwhelmed by the beauty, 

 and the perfume.

I always say to myself that I must live in heaven.

I should take pictures. 

The trees bloom for so short.

I should capture them in photo.

So after school, we went on a walk down our street.

Naming flowers to each other.

flying helicopters,

smelling everything.

I was pleased by that my children love the flowers just as much as I do.

And I couldn't help but think, 

that God loves us, to give us such beauty

to make us cheerful.

He could've made all the birds sound like crows.

The fact that they sing joyfully to us, 

makes me know God loves to spoil us.

And hopefully, when the blooming time is over,

I will remember the flowers

and be patient for the next season,

and be thankful that I can remember them.

Old jars

I love old jars.  I use them as cups.  A few years ago, we were running low on cups and I was feeling like I didn't want to buy more, and I was emptying a spaghetti jar, and thought, 'well that looks like a cup'.  So I started saving them.  When my family came at Christmas, my mom saw what I was doing, and decided that I needed REAL cups, so she went out and bought 8.  There are 2 left.  They broke.  We drop cups a lot.  When you drop a jar that was made to withstand boiling, and transport across the country, that jar doesn't break.  I've only had one break, and it was when the kids put it full of water in the freezer.

 I use them to organize my art supplies, they're perfect for colored pencils, markers, paintbrushes, tubes of paint, I even put little office supplies in jars.  It's clear, so you can see what you're looking for.  

I store soup, salad dressing, smoothies, fruit toppings in them.  I love them for giving food away in.  Especially soup, I love to give soup, but it is a beast to transport.  But not if you put it in a few free jars!

I hope to collect enough Walmart brand salsa jars to create this:

Wouldn't that look beautiful over an outdoor farm table?

Don't tell Paul.  He doesn't want me to pack any jars in the move.  I might have to pack a few of those, without him knowing.  They're made to withstand transport!

Imagine Dragons

came to Nashville.  They even stayed with us.  They were so nice to my super eager children.  One showed Maggie how to write his name.  They anxiously watched as Maggie showed how high she could throw her pillow pet in the air.  It went on for hours.  I tried to distract her, but she LOVED them being around.  The band was so kind to their tiny little fans.  Truly impressive people.

Before we left the house I was feeling tired and wondering if I would be able to fully appreciate the music.  We got there, we chatted during the opener, who had a lovely voice.  But when the band took the stage, I got a little zing of energy.  I do love their music.  They are so good live.  

See that enormous drum?  That drum is so booming, your heart wants to stop its own rhythm and adopt what it's feeling.

When they played radioactive, it was more than I hoped for.  Let's leave it at that.  It was an excellent 3 minutes.  To be remembered for much longer.

Do you see the passion?  The music makes you feel very alive.

The crowd cheered so loud and relentlessly for the encore, it made me proud of Nashville.

Seriously, you should see them in a town near you.  You will be so pleased with your choice.