More This and That

Do any of you remember the refrigerator "safe" that was in the basement at Mother and Dad's in Houstonia??? Ryan had his "eye" on this treasure so when we gathered up the last things we hauled this refrigerator home and it has been sitting in one of our buildings. Several weeks ago Ryan decided it was time to refinish this keepsake. He sanded it down to bare metal and painted it a 1940's pink. It has become quite a conversation piece.

Ryan painted the hardware with chrome paint. He'll have plenty of takers if he ever decides he doesn't want it!! It's pretty cool.

Happy Easter 2011. J K & T stayed with us the night before since their Mommy and Daddy were very busy with music Easter morning!

Happy #2 Birthday, Tyler.

Nothing like a new John Deere Tractor.

Nice fire engine cake, Lisa. I just now noticed the hose with water coming out!

More from the Varner's

Yesserie! It's time to have a Garage Sale and offer for sale the treasures we don't think we need anymore. Here's Lisa waiting for the next crowd of shoppers to arrive.

Just look at all those treasures! Let's just say that Rebecca and Lisa had more valuable merchandise than I.

Joshua had his spring kindergarten program and the theme was "When I grow up I want to be a....." Joshua wants to be a baseball player. He dressed in his ball uniform and had his glove. All of a sudden he was looking very grown up!

Happy Mother's Day. We had a visit last Sunday with Richard's parents. We went to church together, ate out for dinner, had a visit in the afternoon, then headed home.

Richard with his pastor, Bro Pefley.

What We've Been Up To!!

Well, the blue scooter has become a familiar fixture around here. Richard had surgery #2 April 20 and he is the proud owner of two more plates and screws to fix the toes that were missed the first time around. Ugh! This is cast #2 and I chose blue (Richard really didn't have a preference). The blue matches the scooter.....Yes?? He presently has cast #3 and hopefully will have the staples removed this next week.

Is this what it means to keep the foot elevated above his heart?

Or is this keeping the foot elevated??

Only in Kansas. Exactly one week ago today we had a freeze scare so I covered all my tomatoes with buckets.

And I covered the strawberries with plastic. The guys had just painted a van that day so that plastic worked great. Everything covered survived, but my green beans did get "nipped." Haven't decided if I'll need to replant. Today's temperature was 96 degrees. What a difference!

One More Bathroom Re-do Blog!

We are so thrilled and fortunate that Tyler assumed the role of "photo-journalist" while his mommy and auntie were slaving away scraping, sanding, and painting! So in case you are wondering, here are the children entertaining themselves! Yes, there were probably 15 or so pictures to choose from.

Joshua "might" have taken this picture. If you were in question whether Joshua's eyes were brown or blue......they're blue!

Oops. Camera is upside down!

I think Lisa was breaking open a can of grape soda at this point! Certainly worthy of a picture!

Explanation: This is an example of Dad's persistance and determination: a mopboard with eight, yes, 8, nails trying to hit the stud. It stayed securely in the wall these 10 years without turning loose one bit.

And Here It Is!

TaDa! Rebecca admiring the finished room!

The walls are a warm chocolate brown. It has a "close" resemblence to Lisa's basement walls! We have a new clock-----a necessity in every bathroom!

New wall decor, new towel holders new towels, new overhead light. I hear Bryan Nelson installed the towel holders. Yes, it became a very "involved" project!

New door and window trim and wallboard. Lisa painted the knobs on the vanity to match the curtain rod/towel holders.

New shower curtain and rod. Well, there you have it! The new and improved bathroom! You'll just have to come and see it for yourself!! :)

Extreme Makeover!

I have been talking about re-doing the bathrooms for a year, but I just hadn't gotten started! I had planned a trip to Mother and Dad's in February and the girls decided that while I was gone, they would re-do the main bathroom. They began asking specific questions when I was going, how long I was staying, etc. To complicate the issue my trip got delayed by one day, then they really started calling asking when I was leaving, how were Grandpa/Grandma doing, were Marilyn and Barry going on their trip...... On Monday morning Lisa showed up with children and Rebecca came and they informed me "the crew" had arrived!

I left as planned on Tuesday, but had no idea of paint colors or what the color scheme would be. I wasn't afraid, though, because Rebecca and Lisa are classy decorators! Here's Lisa pulling nails out of baseboard wood. Yes, the work was being done in the hallway, on the carpet :)

Ryan hadn't planned on being an "active" participant. In his words the girls looked at him with these sad "puppy dog" eyes so he helped with the drywall patching because.......

the wallpaper must have been put on with vinyl glue and it was a PAIN to get off. I'm sure the girls had planned on this being a one-day project. I think it took most of the week. Sorry, Girls! The wallpaper came off in tiny bits and of course, the drywall got gouged, so that had to be repaired. Ugh! They made me vow that I would never put up wallpaper again!

I'm sure Rebecca was thinking, "What did we get ourselves into!" My next blog will be the finished "makeover" pics. It turned out fabulous! Thanks, Kids.

Not Playing Around!!

Ryan decided he was DONE fighting the cold. From the picture you just can't feel how cold it really is today. He was decked out in his snowboarding goggles, mask and his "new" John Deere furry hat.

And this is how he looked when I got his attention!

Hey, Mr Tyler, how's it going?? A night at Grandma's.