More Sneak Peeks! In Progress!

Things are SLOW going here.  My husband has been working insanely long hours in the intense heat and its wearing him out.  I'm dealing with physical and emotional issues that have me just drained.  Add to that financial strain, and its really hard to get things done!

SCROLL DOWN FOR NEW HOUSE PICS!

My oldest daughter and her fiance moved out, so we were able to finish unpacking some more, and start using our front room for games and art projects like it was intended!  That was very nice, to get all of that unpacked and set up!

 Paris has gotten back into making artwork as well.  She loves blending several different techniques and mediums:)

 

 The girls and I had fun at the park for a girl's night out...

But at HOME....

Patrick found a bunch of free pallets on Craigslist, then he and the boys took them apart for free lumber!

Which came in handy for lots of building!

We got started on Paris' bunk using free pallets! The cabinet is under her bed for her clothes, then the top part will be built in with doors that she can leave open or closed!

The AVENGERS Bathroom!!!

We got started on the Avengers bathroom... and that is looking AWE-MAZING!

The gray part that you see is actually our bathroom wall leaning up against the living room wall so that Paris can trace the characters on it... the finished product is turning out SO INCREDIBLY COOL!!!

Here's a HINT:

In the Near Future:

We have an "Avon Kick Off Party" scheduled for next weekend (the 8th) to help Paris get her Avon business going... and the week after that, on September 15th, we're having a Big Birthday Bash for Bean the Monkey Puppet Show.  If you're local to us and would like an invite for the Avon party OR if you have a little child who enjoys monkeys or puppets, let me know by facebook message on our fan page, and I'll send you an invite!

Oh, speaking of my AMAZING daughter, who is doing such AWESOME things with our Avenger's Bathroom... here is  http://www.youtube.com/user/msfashionablychic/videos :

Our "New" Vintage Roper Stove Install & Deep Cleaning

This is not a terribly interesting or entertaining blog post... mostly just pretty photos of my beautiful "new" vintage stove & double oven!:)

We have a Habitat for Humanity "ReStore" in Tulsa.  We have found some GREAT deals there, including this 1950's Roper double oven for $75.00!

We also bought a single oven that was cuter, but less useful for a family of 6-8.  Besides which, when Matt and Kainan were trying to get it into the house, it fell and all of the front knobs and handles bent or broke off completely.  I will say there was one very unhappy little girl in this house.  Our vintage loving 14 year old daughter was planning on that being her stove some day:(

Patrick helped with this stove and they got it inside with no big drama.

We had to move some cabinets because this thing is HUGE!

Thank goodness my husband is a genius, because this was in pieces when we brought it in.

We're planning on removing those cabinets above the stove and getting a different hood vent that will be a better "fit" at some point.  I'm not sure when we'll be able to afford that one (unless we find a perfect hood vent at the ReStore!)

This chrome piece was a mess of rust and crud.

The oven was remarkably clean for being nearly 60 years old... but it still took some elbow grease and creativity.

 I used a knife with a washcloth with "It Works" cleaner on it to get down into the creases.  This little line of silver trim?  I thought it had some black trim on the top half... until I started cleaning and it was just black crud build up.

I don't know if you've seen all of the "Clean ALL THE THINGS WITH AMMONIA" thing on Pinterest... but listen to me.  Do NOT do this INSIDE.  Ammonia is the most vile smelling stuff I can imagine.  I don't understand how there isn't a warning on the blogs.  I poured that stuff in our last house and we pretty much had to leave for a few hours until the smell dissipated AFTER I'd removed all of it that I could.

I just put the parts of the oven that came off in ziplock or trash bags and set them outside with Ammonia in the sealed bags for a few hours.  Then they just wipe clean!

I sat the bags with ammonia on the back deck and moved on to the inside.

Easy Off Oven cleaner got my stove to shiny and clean.

Speaking of which, they tell you not to get it on your skin.  They mean it. I got some on my arm and didn't notice... that stuff BURNS.  OUCH.

The Ammonia stinks to high heaven, but it works!

I cheated on the rusty chrome.  I can't afford to have it re-chromed, so I just used metallic spray paint for now.  It looks a little tacky, but it still looks better than the rusty thing that it was before.

Yay! Nice Weather!!

After nearly a month of 100+ and at least a week of 110+... We got to enjoy the back yard today!

It has been SO freaking hot since we moved that I honestly haven't even walked into the backyard more than a couple of times, and then only long enough to take a couple of photos. Today it only got into the 90's and it was AWESOME.

Most of our backyard is shaded, and a couple of the trees have lost most of their leave from the drought:( The boys raked up a huge pile of leaves today. HUGE. Patrick is a little freaked out that those trees are going to die if we don't get some rain. He's been watering them a lot (I do NOT look forward to seeing our water bill), but they are looking pretty peaked.

The view from our backdoor to one area of our yard.  Jaedin is out there raking leaves.

Yet another view from that same doorway!  Kainan is raking up leaves as well.

And Paris, who just did her job inside is on the phone with our Avon representative, since she just signed up to sell Avon yesterday!

And that is the back door I was just standing at:)

We brought our few house plants outside for some nice sunshine.  I got the plants off of the discount rack and they were looking pretty... sick.  They perked up by this evening, though, after being repotted and sprayed liberally throughout the day.

We got these Mahogany shelves from one of Patrick's customers because they were just throwing them out.  They work perfectly for our bulk goods, and there is room for the laundry baskets and our 50# tub of coconut oil AND our 35# bucket of all natural peanut butter underneath!  Patrick got the nifty little broom holder at a garage sale.  I would feel really decadent... IF there wasn't duct tape over the doorknob hole, since that particular doorknob didn't work when we moved in:)

And today, we begin with putting in the old vintage stove!

The final pile of leaves.  Remember, people.  Its the beginning of August!  This is just most of the pile mainly from ONE tree:(

My amazing view from my kitchen, through the back patio doors!

I love my new house!

Have you been doing any home repair/updates to your house this summer... or just taking a break?  I love redecorating... or rather, I love planning redecorating projects.  I don't actually care much for all of the ACTUAL work.  

SNEAK PEEK:  The Kitchen!