Form Meets Function

Last night was loooooong. Little Bit is sick. She threw up so many times we finally moved a chair into the shower. I sat there and held her and leaned over each time she vomited. 

I think we showered four times before she was completely finished. I heard her about six this morning...this time it wasn't thrown up...and it was everywhere...all over her sheets, the crib rails, her arms and face. It was bad. I had to pray and ask God to help me not throw up. Oh these days. 

So I'm really thankful we built some extra days into our school year. We're taking one today. Because I am just about worthless and the house smells like lysol and clorox and I just hope we don't pass this bug around. I heard two more children from the church nursery are down with the same thing. Nice. Share the love, baby!

A few weeks ago I tip toed into Sister's room long after she'd fallen asleep. Do you see what I saw? A full moon, perfectly framed.

And my sweet baby girl...

snuggled in and sleeping soundly. 

Good night moon.

A little wagon action on the driveway.

The Engineer and I are attempting to teach ourselves guitar. It's been fun. I can't feel my fingertips which is really weird. He's catching on much faster than I am. Muscle memory. It's coming.

She so wants to be part of the action!

School has been going really well. We've read Joni Eareckson Tada's biography - the kids ATE this one up! Like - Sister woke me at 6:45 on a Saturday morning begging me to read more of it. Next we read The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. I know this one is a classic - it just didn't hold my interest. Sister enjoyed it. Little Man could take it or leave it. I was glad when we finished it. Yesterday we started Bruchko. I may have to edit this one a bit, but thus far, the children are enamored.

The suckers were a gift from a babysitter...ahhhh...the perks of homeschooling!

Sister is rocking the calendar. Little Man is catching on. 

We're counting by twos and tens. Exciting stuff.

Hope your Tuesday is great! And here's to containing this virus!

Frame Magic

Well, he did it again. The Engineer went off and built me something grand! 

This is the first piece of art we ever purchased. We were so poor, living on barely anything. But we both loved it. It was the semester before we graduated. We went to see the graduating seniors' theses exhibits...and a set of five larger than life charcoal drawings caught our eye, this one, being our favorite. I knew the artist, Rencher Walker, and a deal was made. 

She (the drawing) spent that summer and fall semester CAREFULLY rolled and protected in our tiny cinder block wall married student housing apartment. The end of fall semester brought graduation and a move to our current local. That's when we began pricing frames. And what we were quoted was OUTRAGEOUS! $1000+! And that was without glass...because a piece of glass that large would break...or we'd have to purchase some kind of crazy commercial grade glass - the numbers were just astronomical. We considered plexiglass - but the static build up would likely pull the charcoal onto the plexiglass. So...she lived tacked to our wall. I did use brass upholstery tacks and we were very careful to ONLY tack in the holes the artist had originally used to fasten the piece to the wall.

I kept rolling ideas around in my mind and finally, for the sake of cost, suggested we use crown. I explained what I had in mind. The Engineer and I loaded up the fam and headed to Lowes. Together we picked out all the needed supplies. The Engineer built and puttied the frame over the course of two afternoons. I spent three afternoons painting/finishing it.

I could not be happier with the end result. All said, $116 out of pocket. (I had the paint and nails on hand.) That's roughly one tenth of the lowest quoted price. (And no, we've never spent that much on a single frame, but this thing is HUGE!)

Want to make one? Here's how...

You'll need:

• 1/4" plywood (number of sheets depends on the frame size, we needed two because our frame is over 55"x72" and plywood is only 48" wide)
• 1x4 poplar boards (again the length depends on your frame size)
• Crown molding in the style of your choice (we went with pre-primed MDF)
• Some wood putty to fill in the nail holes
• Wood glue 
• air powered brad nailer
• miter saw
• table saw
• router with a bead routing bit

The first step was to cut a groove in the poplar boards just big enough for the plywood to fit in it. We used the table saw for this, but a router would do just as well.

The Engineer had to take two passes on the saw to get the right width. Also notice that the teeth of our saw blade do not leave a flat-bottomed groove. In this case it is no big deal because no one will see it. After cutting the grooves he measured for the final length and mitered the end of each board.

Next The Engineer routed a bead on the edge of the board with a bit similar to this. If you don't have a router, then there are plenty of small, decorative mouldings available that could be applied to the frame edge.

These are the two pieces of plywood he cut to be the back of the frame (we used luan plywood).

The Engineer spread the wood glue in the grooves and slid in the plywood. This took a lot more work just due to the sheer size of the frame. As you can see the two pieces of plywood did not naturally want to sit flush. He had to attach a backer board at the seam to keep both edges flush. He also had to use a ratchet strap in the middle to apply some clamping pressure and pull everything together.

Next came the crown. It is hard enough cutting crown for a ceiling (upside down and backwards), try visualizing the frame as a ceiling laying on the floor. Just think about each cut, and we highly recommend a jig like this, just so you have a handy reference.

If you are really handy you may want to cope the crown moulding joints. The Engineer chose to use a mitered joint because we intended this to be a weekend project and his coping skills do not include speedy execution. (He said that, not me! I think his skills ROCK!)

Once the nail holes and cracks were filled with wood putty and sanded smooth, I primed the raw wood. An hour or so later, I came back with the first coat of black paint. We used an eggshell finish. 

Because I didn't want the wood on the back of the frame to be painted, I used pieces of card stock along the edges to protect the wood. That way I could get a good coat on all desired surfaces.

Once the second coat was on, I let her dry 24 hours...

And then I broke out a tube of my favorite stuff, this time in "gold leaf."

I got an old rag, folded it over and wrapped it around my index finger and began.

I squeezed a tiny bit on the rag and began rubbing it on the frame and then buffing it. This stuff is NOT forgiving. Once it's on a surface, it's there to stay. Ain't no gettin' it off.

Slowly, I worked my way around the frame...

You don't have to get it perfect. The variances in thickness create character. We placed the drawing in the frame and secured it with steel tacks. We wanted the texture and finish on the edges of paper to be seen, so The Engineer secured the back to the front of the frame so it doesn't come off, like a traditional frame would.

Once she was "finished," The Engineer hung her using a "French cleat."

For the French cleat The Engineer cut a solid piece of 1x pine lengthwise at a 45 degree angle. He attached one piece to the back of the frame at the top with wood glue. He used some brad nails and clamps to hold the cleat in place while the glue dried. He attached the other piece of the cleat to the wall with deck screws making sure it was level (we have solid wood paneling behind our drywall so he didn’t have to look for wall studs, if your house is newer then you will have to attach the cleat to studs to support any significant weight). The French cleat is a nice system because the wall piece is light-weight, easily attached, and easily located (i.e. centered and leveled). 

Once the wall cleat is in place all you have to do is lift up the frame and set the frame cleat onto the wall cleat.

My lens distorted the frame a bit. She really is square.

I am LOVING the end result. So dramatic. 

Hope you're inspired!

Oh the DRAMA!

Thank y'all...thank you so much...for your sweet comments, your emails, your phone calls...and a few of you approached me in person. Thank you. As I read each comment, I smiled, I laughed, I cried. I feel so loved and encouraged and bathed in prayer. It was a little bit scary...sharing something like that - that's so close to our hearts. Your loving response makes me so thankful to the Lord for you. What a blessing and encouragement during a hard season of our lives! I don't say it well enough. You encourage me. You make me seek His face. You remind me that His plan is good and that that is where we want to be. Even when it hurts. Thank you, sweet friends. I really, really appreciate you.

Back to the daily grind. Made this chicken the other night. It's a staple at our house and has been for a few years. Anna forever changed our lives when she posted that recipe! And Publix kicked things up a notch with these colorful baby taters. 

Little Man really wants to shave his head, so he can be "like a army man and Mr. Josh." Mr. Josh is a friend who is rather bald and shaves what little remains. Because his (Little Man's) mother won't let him shave his head, he spiked it, like a certain male cousin of ours. Nice. 

Since the island entered our lives, dinner prep...lunch prep too, look a little bit like this.

I keep a basket stocked with the girls' cooking supplies. I say the girls...really, it's mostly just Little Bit these days. It's funny, about the time Sister stopped "cooking," Little Bit started.

Anyhow, it's stocked with play foods...some cloth and some plastic, dishes, pots and pans...a little of this, a little of that...

And a fantastic three tiered cake stand filled with colorful wooden pastries with toppings that swap out!

And so as I prepare our meals, Little Bit takes her place along the bottom shelf of the island and she too, prepares hers. She still isn't talking much, for instance, today she would point to her leg and authoritatively tell you "doo-doo" (which makes the children giggle), but really she means "boo boo," but she'll often bring me a pot of something, and with a proud smile on her face, tell me, "Hot!" 

It makes me so happy to have her little self cooking alongside me. And the arrangement is quite pleasing.

Oh the drama this morning held! All before 9:30, too!

We began breakfast and school outside a little after 7:30. Sister had a very loose tooth...hanging on by a thread very loose tooth. And loose teeth cause a LOT of drama. Tears. Long debates that go like this: "Should I pull it? But I'm not sure. Here, you pull it, but if I start saying 'ow!' then you have to stop. No wait, just wiggle it first. Ok, no, I don't want you to pull it. Do you think it will hurt? I'm just not sure what I should do. This is SO hard!" All interspersed with tears.

Little Man came out a little late and cried because there wasn't time left for him to eat outside.

On a side note, I did notice the light changing in the house...a welcome sign that fall is coming!

Little Bit woke early this morning. Sister helped Little Bit into her high chair and in the process, Sister's loose tooth got knocked out. She made quite a production of coughing and spitting blood. Like I said. Drama.

Little Bit was out of sorts. And defiant. And when corrected, cried and cried and cried. (Above photo is just a temper tantrum she threw...) She cried so much in fact, that she threw up all over her adorable smocked dress and the chair she was sitting on...which happened to be the chair Little Man normally uses for homeschool. Since I wasn't sure if the vomit was cry-induced, I left her in her diaper for the morning.

Trying to do school, loosing teeth, throwing up, lots of temper tantrums and tears...and did I mention we were keeping a friend's two year old? She plastered her sweet self against the wall and stared. She's an only child. I think the drama was a bit much for her. (I smile.) 

Yesterday Little Man told Sister, "since I'm the third (as in, not a Junior, but a III), I deserve everything in the world." 

She set him straight. 

Happy Thursday to you!