I Did NOT fall off the Planet!

I know you've figured that I fell off the planet right? I've had a few of those weeks where life takes over and blogging has to go on the back burner for awhile.

One of the things I've been doing is massive Spring Cleaning!!! I've also been totally inspired by Thrifty Decor Chick (Sarah) and have done a bit of updating with some paint. I only found her blog awhile ago and I love her ideas.




















Here is an item that I have been working on during the past few weeks. I show you the wonderful new look in a few days. This in an old cabinet that we found in the barn of our first home, it was so dirty and old that it looked like it should go into the trash! I gave it this paint job MANY years ago and am now tired of the look. We use it to hold videos inside and our VCR goes on the top.

Below are some of the pictures that got me motivated to give it an update.

These pictures are from the Thrifty Decor Chick's website and are projects that Sarah did. I LOVE the coffee table. In fact, I bought a coffee table this past week at Goodwill for under $20 and did a redo on it! I'll show you that soon too - I think it looks great!

Thanks Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick for the inspiration!

































































The paint color that is used here is called Black Suede from Behr (Home Depot).

Stop back in a few days and I will have the finished project for you to see!

Do -it - Yourself!

We have had several repairs needed around our place lately.  On the way home from Florida, the cover on the back driver's side tail light decided to just fall off.  

It was very strange!  We are just driving down the road and my husband looked in the side view mirror and saw it hanging and then it was gone.

We were traveling rather fast up I-75 or I-65,  I can't remember which, but it was too fast to stop and go back for a light cover that was probably smashed by now.

And then there was the toilet,  if you are at all closely familiar with the lovely inside of your family's "Throne" as it is lovingly known in these parts, you will know that the handle is attached to a do-hickey and that is attached to a thing-a-ma-bobber and that is then attached to a chain and a flipper-flapper.

Well our do-hickey broke right off the thing-a ma-bobber and the flipper-flapper went flop!

Well, back to the van - when we got home we got home we called the car dealership and we were told that they had to replace the whole tail light and the part was $200!!!!!! OUCH!

We have never done any of our own do-it-yourself car repair before,  but we decided it was time to take some things into our own hands - literally!  So, my hubby got the phone book and started calling parts companies and salvage yards.

We also went out to the van and tried to disassemble the light ourselves - we got it almost apart, but couldn't get the actual assembly off the car - so we called a friend for help, but he was unable to get it off either.

We were able to find a junk yard that you could scour around and if you found the part it would be $16 - a savings of $184.  Unfortunately, they did not have what we needed, but we did finally get the part at a salvage yard, already off it's previous ride for $54 - a savings of $146.

My hubby's next step was to go to Pep-Boys, they were willing to install the light for only $25, since we couldn't figure out how to get the old one off.  We knew we were missing something simple, but try as we might we couldn't get it off!

When he went to Pep-Boys, then mechanic was very nice and popped the old one off with a pick (we were trying a flat head screw driver).  He had it back together in a few minutes and didn't even charge my husband anything!

Well, now that we were safe from being pulled over for a broken light it was on to the toilet.  I was able to get a repair kit for Meijer for less than $3.00.  It was quick and easy to remove the old parts and replace it with the new ones.

I did have to bend the new do-hickey a bit to get it to fit our toilet - so I'm glad I bought the metal one instead of the plastic kind.  This was my first toilet repair, but it gave me the confidence to try a bit more in the way of DIY repairs.

Does anyone have a manual on fixing microwave ovens?