In with the New! --Keeping most of the Old

Lots of new things in the last 3 weeks!

New decade, (I should write what I learned in the last few years)

New Grandbaby. (He's super cute)

And in the near future - a new daughter           in-law (don't get worked up, we're not adopting again)
 (gotta get permission to post her pic sometime)

And now new paint and new kitchen floor. Our floor and walls are over ten years old- I know that a "good" floor should last longer than that- but we never seem to have the money laying around to buy a good floor AND have it installed.  I've always wanted a black and white tile kitchen floor and before this we couldn't find it in the kind that was DIY friendly, but after looking at the options out there my husband has decided that he will try laying commercial vinyl tile for me!  For those that are as uninformed as I was, that is the type of tile that you put down on a classroom floor--it will need to be waxed. I'm banking on the fact that schools do theirs once a year - at least ours did- and we don't have 150 kids running through our kitchen. So maybe I'll be ok doing the waxing every two years? But the color shouldn't wear off because of a chair scraping across it a few times a day.

The black one and the white in the row above.

Shekinah was sure she needed to help with the painting, so....

After we settled on the floor colors, I wasn't sure what color to put on the walls, I really didn't want white. So we went with a light gray and I'm going to put up a red border at about chair-rail height with a sturdy wallpaper below that- wiping walls isn't one of my favorite things to do.  The lady at the paint and wallpaper store also gave me the idea of painting our countertop too. I think we are going to do that too. You coat it with 3 layers of polyurethane after the paint? I think hubby is convinced it will work- it sure should be easier than replacing the counter top on our own.

I think I'm gonna paint the black rim of the clock red.

This is the red wallpaper I'm going to cut for the border.

Let's see, what else was I doing since I posted the last time? Oh-- I made some swim suits for the girls, today one of them put hers on and stood in the shower, I was pleased with the results. I don't think they cost less than the $10 ones on the clearance rack at   W-mart but they sure cover more! (There are shorts under the skirt)

Once again I realize how thankful I am for my overlock machine--and I'm glad I went for the $200 Brother model that I found on Am*zon instead of saving for the next few years for the more expensive model that is "air threaded". It was a huge help with sewing the swim suit fabric. In my research I was reminded again and again that you need to get the right fabric. You want polyester and Lycra  or nylon and Lycra  four-way stretch.  I was very happy to find that we have Fabric Mart just a few miles away and they have all kinds of fabric, but you can buy their stuff online as well.

We also helped clean Ben and Jana's  house in the city. I do love old houses.

New dresses for the spring program. There is a free online pattern called "play all day", it's basically two pieces- front and back. You can add elastic in the waist or wear a sweater like Faith did. I did decide to dress it up with a flared piece at the bottom, but it is so simple! Wonder if I could get away with wearing that style?