Teacher Turned Handyman

My kitchen is finally starting to come together and by the end of the month we will be mostly finished with the renovations we I want to make to the house.  We have majorly over-improved our house and will never get back what we put into it, but if we are going to live here for a long time, I want to love the space.  Next week our floors are getting installed.  We are tearing up all the carpeting and laminate wood on the first floor and putting down bamboo.  I am so excited to be rid of the carpet!  This weekend we put up "new" lighting in the kitchen as well.  My sister- and brother-in-law replaced the light fixtures in their house, so we took a few of them off their hands, and they look perfect with the rest of the kitchen decor.  The one thing that I'm most proud of is that I hung the one over the table by myself. Okay, Doug held it up long enough for me to fastened it up, but I did the electrical connections myself. And yes, it works!  One thing that might surprise a lot of people about me is that I am pretty handy.  I have replaced bathtub fixtures, fixed leaky pipes and angry garbage disposals, and I am the painter in the family; now I can add "light installer" to my resume of handiness.  I have had people ask me why I don't have Doug do it, as if my doing things is due to his not knowing how (okay, so maybe that is part of it).  But honestly, it has to do with me wanting to be independent and not having to rely on someone else to solve my problems.  I have to thank my dad for this.  He is also very handy, much more than I, but I learn everything from him. Even when I was very little, I loved watching him fix things.  If I'm not exactly sure what I am doing, I call him and he'll walk me through it.  If all else fails, I wait for him to come rescue me.  I hope I am able to teach my girls this same lesson: they don't NEED a man in their lives, other than their daddy.  I want them to see men as partners and confidants, not someone who comes to rescue them.

Our old kitchen table was also in need of replacement, but rather than buy a new one we moved our dining room table into the kitchen.  Again, it fits perfectly with the style of the cabinets.  It almost feels like a modern country farmhouse kitchen.  Sometime in July we are having my piano moved from my parents house, so my useless dining room will now have a purpose.  The girls are super thrilled, as am I because I truly miss playing.  Bonus: I sold the table and chairs for $50 in our garage sale yesterday along with our entryway bench for $30 and a few other random items, which will go to buying a new storage something-or-other to put in the entryway.

My tip for the day?  If you are tired of the way a room is looking, look around your house and find a few things you can move to different rooms to change it up along with a repositioning of furniture.  I find that this usually makes me feel better and allows me to resist the urge to go buy something new...at least for a while :)