Schoolhouse Remodel In Progress Pictures

As promised, I wanted to share some of the pictures of our schoolhouse remodel in progress. You can see the before pictures here. These pictures are of some of the work that has been done over the last 2 months.

Lathe and plaster were torn off all exterior walls and wood floors were sanded down:

This wall paper was a fun surprise:

The exterior walls and the new walls were all framed and all new electrical was added:

Spray-in insulation was added to all exterior walls:

All of the plumbing was replaced, which meant digging up the concrete in the basement:

New drywall on walls and ceilings throughout the house:

Bedrooms, bathroom and hallway were built into one of the classrooms:

The staircase was sanded down (this picture was taken when only the bottom set of stairs had been sanded):

My husband has accomplished a lot in two months, and there's still a lot more to do. I will be posting more on individual rooms soon.

A gift for my favorite Valentine

Happy Valentines Day to you all!!

 My husband is an electrical contractor, so when I saw this idea for a Valentine lightbulb over at Design Sponge, I knew it would be the perfect gift for him. I decided to add a little picture of us, which was much more challenging than I imagined, but I'm glad I did.

Here's how it turned out:

Old Schoolhouse

In my post yesterday, I mentioned the old schoolhouse that my husband and I recently purchased. We have decided that we would like to rid ourselves of mortgage debt within the next few years. That really isn't a possibility for us with the size of our current mortgage. So, we started looking around at some properties with one main requirement in mind, it had to be *cheap*. That's when I stumbled upon this amazing property that was being sold for next to nothing. We were able to purchase it last month and we hope to move into it in a couple more months. It was a WPA building built in the 1930's. It hasn't been used as a school since the 1950's, so there is A LOT of work to be done. Fortunately, I have a totally amazing husband who is more than capable of taking on a big project on a small budget. Our goal is to make this a nice home for our family while spending as little money as possible. :)

Here's a few before pictures of the house:

 The stairs:

 Large Classroom:

 Closet in Classroom:

 2nd Large Classroom:

 The basement:

 The back of the building:

Remodel in progress pictures coming soon.

I'm Back (I think)..... and Some Felt Food

Hello! I don't know if anyone is still reading this blog, considering I haven't posted anything on here for more than a year. Where have I been? That's a great question. I don't really have any reason for not posting, I guess I've just been caught up in the important job of raising a family. :) Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to start posting a little more regularly. I plan on posting a few of the projects I've done over this last year. Also, I'm hoping to share some pictures and projects from the old schoolhouse my husband and I recently purchased and we're remodeling for our home. In the meantime, here's some felt food for you.

This felt food was a lot of fun to make for our niece's birthday.

PIZZA

Would anyone be interested in a tutorial for the pizza or the tacos?

TACOS: With meat, cheese, salsa, and sour cream

QUESADILLA:

Juice Pouch, Bag of Chips, and Banana:

Pancakes with syrup and butter and Eggs:

PASTA:

Sugar cookie baking set:

Blog Design Giveaway

Have you seen the amazing giveaway happening over at Designer Blogs? Head over there for your chance to win a blog makeover!

Oatmeal Apple Coffee Cake

Wow! It's been a long time since I joined Tempt my Tummy Tuesday. I made this yummy coffee cake this morning and thought others might enjoy the recipe.

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup sugar

1cup oats

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped

Mix dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients. It will be very thick! Bake in a greased 8"x8" pan or a large, deep pie dish at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Enjoy! This really is delicious!!

Don't forget to head over to Blessed With Grace for other wonderful recipes.

Vinyl Record Bowls

This is hardly an original idea, but I thought it would be fun to share with you how I made bowls out of old vinyl records. They make great gifts and they're super simple and easy.

You will need:

A vinyl record (check your local thrift store)

An oven safe bowl and cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Turn bowl upside down and place on cookie sheet. Place record on top of bowl and heat in oven for about ten minutes.

The record will get really droopy around the bowl. Remove from the oven (don't forget the oven mitts!).

Turn the bowl right side up and put the record inside, gently shaping it.

Let it cool. Now you have a fun bowl!

That was so easy, you should make a few for your friends or that hard to buy for teenager.

Just a note: It's probably not a good idea to place food in these bowls, unless it's wrapped (such as candy).