Shopping & trolling ...

Dave will be gone a lot this summer ~ for weeks at a time. So, I've started getting projects lined up to keep my busy ...

The futon in the office needs to be replaced for when we have overnight guests (or Dave has a cold). I figured a sofa bed would be the best solution. I found one at the Habitat for Humanity Liquidation store for $85. The fabric, although on sale, was more expensive than the sofa bed! But, since I saved so much on the sofa, I rationalized the fabric. In truth, I'll probably replace the mattress too ($200) ~ there's something creepy about sleeping on a used mattress, esp. when you don't know where it came from. (All together now, "ewwww"!) Here's the funny thing about the sofa bed ~ all three of our sons remember my folks having one exactly like it when they lived here (5 yrs ago) ~ even the same fabric.

There are a few rooms plus the stair well & upstairs hall that need to be re-painted. I found 3 gallons of "oops" paint at a couple different stores paying $2 to $5 per gallon. Even if I need more than one gallon to finish a room, it will still have been a significant savings.

I want to organize my tools in a small (19" x 40") space in the garage, so I made a work table from scraps from the shop. I neglected to measure the space before I made the table, so I had to borrow the circular saw from the shop to cut it down. Oh well, at least the legs were far enough from the edges that I could cut from each side to make it fit! I'll use leftover floor tiles on the top & paint the rest of it. It's about 32" tall, so I can actually work at the table. I also want peg board & hooks to hang my tools. A full sheet costs $16 at Home Depot, but there was a damaged sheet (cut off 5+"!), so I only had to pay $4. I won't even use all that I have ~ well, I may get dowels to cut & insert in the holes to make a board to hold my sewing thread spools (just thought of that!).

Once a year, our city allows the residents to put out "junk" to be picked up by city trucks ~ broken fence posts, mattresses, old lawn chairs, etc. People have been trolling the neighborhoods, picking up what they want from the various piles ~ "one man's junk is another man's treasure". Well, I wasn't really trolling ~ I had to drive past the pile taking Dave to/from work. I found a chair ~ it has great "bones"! It will be the new desk chair in the office. All I need to do is recover it & put on new wheels. Today, I found fabric that was 50% off the sale price, which was 50% the retail price (do the math ~ that's really 75% off the retail price!). It's beautiful & was about $5 a yard.

I also need to clean, etch & stain the garage floor, fix a couple of steps I started last summer (may sub that out ~ depending on if I go for cement or paving stones), plant some shrubs & 4 trees (will need help digging the holes), fix the screen door (needs new screening, which I now have), & hopefully, Dave will help me install an evaporative cooler when he's off for a week this month. Oh wait! He just called & may have to make a trip to Dallas for a job. Rats! That means I'll have to spend more money to sub that out.

Busy days ahead! I am grateful Father has provided time, energy, finances & creativity to get it done. I will need to be steadfast to get each one done, rather than almost done (which is my norm).

Now, if I can just get my pulled muscles to heal ... (don't ask!)