It's Not Just For Swine Flu

Photo courtesy of SupplyLineDirect


Not only does this product help stop the spread of the dreaded swine flu h7ybn2 airborne communicable diseases, but do you know that you can hang around all day with your jaw wide open and no one will even know?! They'll just think you're either being productive or prophylactic.

Master Bedroom Renovation And Other Updates

*Safety Remarks* FYI - no cameras were harmed in the photoshoot of It's Fashion. We take the utmost care here at Southern Living to insure the safety and comfort of all of our cameras. There is no need to alert PETC. Thank you.

Update on Hubby's Arm - He has been on antibiotics since Sunday for the cellulitis in his arm. It has continued to spread out from his elbow in both directions and reached halfway to his shoulder and halfway to his wrist throughout the week. It now seems to be very slowly subsiding while still making him feel crummy and looking generally macabre.

Update on Master Bedroom renovations - Can we just make this about me for a second? Okay thank you. I am so beat! Holy Cats. Tired. Tired people! Also, please note that Jenster called me HAWT

Update on Master Bedroom renovations for real - Although this is taking way longer than we wanted it to, it is coming together. The wiring is finished, the walls are finished and painted with Cincinnati Hotel Carl Tan, the flooring is 9/10 installed. We have the baseboard, crown molding, trim around doors and windows, painting of the doors, installation of the new ceiling fan, installation of switch plates and outlet covers, and the finishing of the closet left to do, but I do believe we will be moving our bed back in today(If I can finish the touch-ups on the bed frame).



*all the walls are the same color. Some of the pictures were taken with flash, some without.

It's Fashion

Southern Living and other peeks into my psyche has always been a hub for style and fashion. I know that you all come here to gather wisdom and advice about steppin' out in style. Today I offer you fashion for home construction.






I recommend wearing dark shirts to sand drywall in because the effect is just stunning! Look how I managed to make this black t-shirt look gray. And one can never have too many do-rags. This beauty is actually a classic/retro from my hysterectomy days. I'm green like that.

I Hate Corners

Growing up in my house, "Time Out" consisted of standing with your nose in the corner until you realized the wrongness of what you had done, or until you fell asleep, or until your parents remembered that they had put you there. One time, one of us stepped away from the corner and the evidence that we were there were the tears streaming down the wall. (Must have been me - I don't remember my brother being a big crier) So needless to say that corners do not hold fond memories for me - unlike you millions of readers who probably love corners and are so glad I am posting about this now just so you can have a little fond time reminiscing. Also, please don't misconstrue aforementioned account of discipline as parent-bashing. I also have placed my children in time out with their noses to the corner (and even forgot they were there a time or two)(I have the therapy fund coming together just fine thank you)

This week I have reached a new level of despising corners while doing renovations. Every newly dry-walled corner must have joint compound applied to it, sanded, reapplied, and sanded some more until the corner is perfect. You have to do this to all joints, but corners are the WORST! My husband hangs the drywall and I do the mudding. There are 14 corners in our room and closet. I hate corners.


I am sad to have to report that we are not yet back in our room. This is partially due to all those corners, and partially because my husband has shown up with some bizarre infection in his elbow and I had to take him to the emergency room this morning where they immediately gave him some antibiotics, circled the red-hot-swollen-painful area of his elbow, and sent him home. As of this posting, the infection has spread about 2 inches outside the drawing. Hubby is supposed to go back to the doctor in the morning. Also I spent several hours with 2 of my daughters this afternoon shopping all around for our 16 year-old's Junior prom.

I will counter that sad report by sharing with you that I got a sweet deal on snap-together laminate flooring! Of course, we are not going to install it until I am finished sanding the drywall and painting the walls. In my dreams I will have that done tomorrow night.

Here's what our room looks like this evening....




More to come...

Now You See It...

There are certain things that you can know about the S4J household. One of them being that I am more often than not in some stage of some bizarre mishap or situation. But those are stories for another day I'm sure. Another one of them being that there is always some project going on. This week hubby took off of work in order to renovate our bedroom. Okay - his plan was probably more like; coat his 1989 Suburban in durabak bedliner, and maybe make our bedroom nice if he had time otherwise. Because he was home this week, I did my best to keep appointments to a minimum so I could be here too. Of the renovations left to do in this house, we have the master bedroom, 2 of the other bedrooms and the 2 bathrooms. In that order. The other 2 bedrooms we will do this summer when we have kids away at various places. Don't know if we'll get to the bathrooms before it is time to sell and move. A.K.A. RETIRE. *S4J excuses herself while she does the la la happy dance*

Here I am back and out of breath. Anyway, you may be asking, "Why the goofy title S4J?" All will be revealed momentarily (or as quickly as blogger will upload my pictures)

I took a few pictures of every room when we bought the house. This is what ours looked like when we bought it in 2005....
Yes that is wood paneling painted gray with darker gray trim. And Tan carpet.




When Hubby was deployed, I painted the bedroom this brownish color; Fawn something or other, and for whatever reason I only took a picture of this mural of love *aww*



So now you've seen it.

And now you don't...




Always did seem like the kids were SO LOUD when they were taking a shower. I guess that could be because THERE WAS NO WALL BEHIND IT.



We started the renovations on Monday and were hoping to be back in our room this weekend.
Stay tuned....

The Color of Money And Hoarding

This is the color of money. The color of fear. The color of hoarding. The color of loving things. The color of my Father's love for me.

Anxiety over getting rid of stuff. This is what I have been struggling with since we have begun putting the newly renovated rooms back together in our house. God has been prompting me for several months to simplify. And I was even able to make an agreement with my husband that if I purge now and a project or a need came up, I could purchase the supplies I needed ~even at full price ~ at the time I need them. So what is the problem? I know that my Father loves me and wants only good for me. I know that my husband loves me and will keep his word. WHY am I having stress over getting rid of embroidery floss? I don't know all of the psychology of it. I do know that God has made me to be a person who thinks to the future and prepares. He intends me to be preparing for the return of Jesus, and preparing for situations here on earth. . Satan has been working to twist this into a fear of being found lacking and into stockpiling things I haven't touched in three years(or - gross truth - longer)until there is no room to walk .
"But S4J, you are being too harsh on yourself. Don't you still do cross-stitch? Why get rid of that box of embroidery floss?? It's SOOO pretty!"

Because. I also have this





And I also have this


It has to stop. Even if we were in a fallout shelter for 17 years, I could not possibly use all of that floss for the projects that I am inclined to do. Yes, perhaps, I could use it for my whole family to floss their teeth with - but seriously - I will have enough of actual dental floss in the fallout shelter to handle that too.
After going through my crafting supplies, ONLY the cross-stitch related items, I found that I had 3 bins of floss. Approximately 8 pieces of AIDA/Linen fabric. TWENTY-SIX complete and unopened kits. And EIGHT opened and begun projects. I cannot possibly fit all of my stuff into the new space allotted to crafting by our renovations. I figured out that I had somewhere around $200.00(at full price) worth of unopened kits.

I have now Nine unopened kits (2 of which are specifically gifts for others)(Plus 9 that are going to the forever house in Texas that are the sweetest garden markers for herbs ~ which I can work on when I am visiting there), Five started projects, 1 bin of floss (which is the bin that my Aunt and my Cousin gave me as a Christmas gift many years ago where they meticulously wound and labeled the floss themselves) 1 gallon size Ziploc bag with whatever fabric would fit in it, and various hoops.
That was a really really difficult process(although it shouldn't have been) (I was actually physically shaking last night while going through my things), made easier by prayer, tough talk and sometimes patient and encouraging decision assistance from HisGirl.

I'm still working on going through my craft supplies and figuring what I really want to keep and how to fit it into the newer, prettier-but-smaller space we have allotted for it. And just thinking of that is making me breathe harder and tense up. Chill out girl! Look at this promise and claim it!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11

Kitchen Renovations Second Attempt

The slideshow starts with the delivery of our new kitchen cabinets! We purchased stock, ready to finish cabinets from Lowe's. They aren't really ready to finish. They have to be sanded. I coated them with shellac (smelled like it anyway) This is the short version of the work. It's actually a fairly involved job, but saved us oodles and oodles of dollars. We did all work ourselves.(sometimes it shows)

Keep going...

Kitchen Renovations Third Attempt

*I guess I forgot to mention that we bought the house three years ago. The initial paint job and some cabinetry removal happened right away. The hole to what is now the dining room was put in maybe a year ago, and when my husband came home from Iraq this May, is when we got into the major broohawhaw. *
I was pretty pleased with the Nutmeg Brown. Until we got the cabinets up. The more work we finished, the less we liked the color. SOOOOO, we changed it. This is as current as the renovations get. We still have finish work to do. It's actually a lot more tasks, but they won't be as noticeable as the major de-and-re-construction we have done thus far.
Things really slowed way down when my husband went back to work and the children stopped going to school for the summer. When they start back up again, hopefully, I will be motivated to finish up the tasks that are mine.

Off Or On?

Should I store the storage containers with the lids off

or should I store them with the lids on

Something to consider: I have more containers. These are just the ones that have been cleaned so they could be placed back in the cabinet.

AVADIJ-E4 - June 22

But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

1 Corinthians 14:40

Friends, this may possibly be my favorite part of our new (in progress) kitchen....

The message center!

Where Does It Go?

Okay Internet - it occurred to me this morning that I am getting a new kitchen and everything has to be put back into that kitchen. But where does it go? Do I put everything back where it was before we completely stripped the entire room of its contents down to the studs? OR, do I get some advice from Canadians, Romanians, the Amish and such on where is the most useful place to put things in the kitchen? I say, "Get help!" (possibly I will need to do this in the psychological sense if my house does not get back in order soon)
The basic configuration of the kitchen will be the "work triangle". The refrigerator will be on one wall with some cabinetry to the right of it. The sink will be on another wall with cabinetry on both sides. The dishwasher will be directly to the right of that. The stove/oven/microwave will be on the third wall with cabinetry on both sides of that.
So - what's the word? Do you keep the plates next to the stove, or closest to the dining table? Spices on top of the fridge - or next to the stove? (NO - we did not get the fancy spice cart-roller-cabinet-thingy). Also note that I am going to IKEA on Saturday and will have the opportunity to pick up beautiful organizer helper things. Tell all your bloggy friends to swing by and advise me too. Will you? Please?

Ah, Back to work.

Here's another tidbit....a picture of my grouting tools...

DIY - Why?

The next time you have the inclination to Do It Yourself, throw out your palm and yell, "Get thee behind me Satan!!" Just kidding. If Satan wants to help you lay tile - you should let him. He's probably better at it than you. Nah. Just kidding. But seriously. We wives at home were discussing what we were going to do when our men came home from war. One said, "We're going to Greece." One said, "We're going Mexico." I said, "We're going to Lowe's." And THAT my friends is what we did. No cruising for us. Unless you count cruising the aisles of the local Lowe's with the big blue cart. The possibilities are endless and the sites are different around every corner. Some day I'd like to take my camera there just so you can experience the beauty of it with me. Trying to order kitchen cabinets with your man fresh back from war - not the best activity. However, if you get smart and send him to oogle tools while YOU work out the cabinets. Now THAT's inspired. So - poor Suzanne has been looking for something new to read and here it is. Hubby returned on Saturday. Sunday we attended both services at church and hubby was honored. At first service our 12 year old daughter sang, "I'm Proud To Be An American". *sniff* Monday evening, many many women descended upon our home. Hubby took the kids out to dinner and a movie, and I had the entire western hemisphere over for dinner. Minus the men. The funnest part of the night - in my opinion - was when we had about 14 women and 2 toddlers crammed into my dining room, and our incoming president banged the cowbell and yelled, "Musical Chairs! Time to pick up your plates and find a new seat." I stood in the doorway and laughed HARD and took pictures. Who knew she would actually MAKE them move when I suggested it flippantly??

The timing of my husband's return happened to coincide with the week that our local chapter of PWOC was having a trainer in to train us on next year's theme and how to lead women. Our trainer Melinda is a good friend of mine who was stationed here a few years ago (and got to leave) and is also a blogging maniac - you've read her stuff before here. She blogged about her time here which is really cool, cause that means I am free to fast forward. Anyway, she stayed with us while she was here and we had a great time! I titled the time - Driving Miss Melinda. That was good junk. On Wednesday morning, I had the Praise Team over for one last hurrah. My husband grilled up steaks and other delicious meats - and once again - the Western Hemisphere was here. There were SIXTEEN children here! And do you know, that is not ALL of our children?? Lordy Mercy. Anyway, this was a wonderful time for us to be together. I gave them the appreciation gifts I had worked on for them and we sang a few songs too. Including the new PWOC theme song - THE MORE I SEEK YOU (I'll post the video later). It was really cool to have Melinda add another beautiful tenor sound to our group. I also received a couple of special gifts. Then it was time to send the team on their various ways, and to send Melinda back on home. We sang together our farewell song THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU. I'll try to post the video of that sometime too. After dinner - the demolition started! And we have been going non-stop (well, except to shop) ever since. I will probably be scarce for a while still as the projects that we are working on, we are trying to complete before my husband has to go back to work on the 9th. These include - completely re-doing the laundry room. Tiling and wall re-configuration in the music/craft room. Completely and I mean COMPLETELY re-doing the kitchen. This will be the final goodbye to the 70's faux brick flooring. The last vestiges of it will be replaced with ceramic tile. All clean and bright and simple. Ahhh. Here's a sampling of the work thus far. OF COURSE I will be doing collages when the dust clears and the man is away. Until then ~ think twice about DIY. I'm kidding. It's FUN! Okay - I'm half kidding.