Automotive Room--Luke's Room

Luke's room was the first room we started and the last room we finished. Go figure! Luke is not a huge car fan but we thought it would be a fun theme for him as he grows up. His Grandpa Olson was big into cars as a teenager and knows everything about them. We got the basic ideas for his room from a book. We, however, tweaked them and made them all WAY better.

Let's start with the walls. The idea in the book suggested using roofing tin for the walls. We absolutely LOVED that idea...but couldn't think of a way to made it actually work. And if Matt can't think of a way to make it work, it ain't gonna happen! We had reached a stand still for the whole room because we thought the whole concept was lacking without the metal on the walls. Then, we went and helped out with an Eagle Scout project. The project was painting fire hydrates with aluminum paint. Bingo! It hit me near the end...use aluminum paint and paint wainscot. And we were back!!!

All in all, the wainscot was more difficult than in Ali's bedroom. We were using an oil based paint and hanging it horizontally. Who does that? I painted it with two coats of paint and then Matt hung it. Then Matt pulled it down. Hung it again. Then I gave it one more coat. In Ali's room, we could hide the uneven baseboards with the chair rail. In Luke's room, the adjustment had to be made to the bottom of the wainscot pieces. Yeah, learned that the hard way. But, doesn't it just rock? It looks like chrome. It is an amazing look.

We painted his trim, bed and dresser with red paint. Then we placed license plates on the footboard and dresser. The license plates started out on the headboard but were covered by his bedding. Why did we have to figure out so many things the hard way?!?!

The side table is probably the coolest item in the whole room. We found the wheels at a swap meet. $15. I asked Matt to weld them on top of each other. He created this great design and I painted them with the aluminum paint to match the wall treatment. We wanted to top it with tempered glass. But, that was going to cost us $150. Ugg. So, we got a piece of plexiglass for $10. It came in a square and Matt cut it into a circle.

Nana and Papa gave Luke this stop light bank a few years ago for Christmas. Perfect, right?

The picture that is hanging above his bed is an original drawn by Grandpa Paine. It totally completes the room and is a true treasure.

The reflectiveness of the plates can always guide him to bed :)

Love you, Luke!

Sleep tight.

Excuses

I realized earlier this week that it has been five long weeks since I blogged. I think about it everyday. I have great stuff to share. I have just been so busy with school ending and working on the house. The kids are currently off visiting their first dad. Matt and I have been feverishly working on the house while the house is so very empty and sad.

My personal goal: catch Thrice Blessed up before the 4th of July when our angels return to us. Here is to hoping they return the angels we sent out!

Jack

I signed up to help at the Cub Scout Day Camp that was held last week. I was due to take the noon to 4 o'clock shift. At 11:50 am, I walked out the door and saw our neighbor's dog, Jack. He is a black lab with a white patch on his chest. He came right over to me and bid me hello.

Jack and I walked over to his house and rang his doorbell. His family has both parents that work and a couple older boys. As I stood waiting for them to answer the door, Jack ran around the corner. When no one answered the door, and Jack around the corner, I decided to just not worry about Jack. I was getting late for day camp. But, then I thought about if my dog (or kitty) were out, and ran away, how sad I would be. So, I turned around and called after him.

By this time, it was neigh on noon. I decided the easiest thing to be would be to put Jack in his backyard and call it good. So, like a good neighbor, I slipped their beloved dog in their backyard.

Friends and family, I wish the story ended there. But, just as I got Jack returned to his backyard and began closing the gate behind me, I saw another black lab with white on his chest already in the backyard. Yes, take a moment to process the fact that I just returned a lost dog to someone's yard that had NOT lost one! Imagine my horror of wondering if the dogs were going to fight. Imagine my horror of wondering if the teenage boys were really in their house laughing at me. Imagine my over all horror of the whole situation!

Well, the other dog, NOT Jack, liked running circles in this new place he had been introduced to. He liked eating Jack's food. And the real Jack was so excited to see me he almost knocked me over time after time. My arms were covered with scratches from him jumping on me. The other dog had no collar and I had no idea how far I could push him to leave the yard without him possibly biting me. Honestly, by this point I was near tears. I had no idea what to do to get this dog out of the yard without accidentally letting the real Jack out. And, don't forget: I was now late for Cub Scout camp! I finally said a prayer and had some loud words for Heavenly Father.

The Fake Jack finally ate all off Jack's food and decided it might be fun to chase me out of the yard.

The moral of the day: Find out if your neighbor needs help before you offer it!

Here is my crazy husband, up a tree, with a chain saw. I had to threaten someone to turn the picture over to me. You can assume I was NOT present for this little situation. After I found out about it, the kids asked me why I was not happy with Matt. He told them it was cause he climbed a tree. I waited for the rest of it. The kids told me that wasn't so bad. So, I had to add the rest of the story...with a chainsaw. Then they weren't happy with him either. But, we are happy he is so willing to help people. And, yes, he has a lot of experience with his chainsaw and relief efforts.

Further Aftermath

These pictures were taken Monday. The water is receding nicely. Might was well be nice after all it did here!

Spent the day yesterday helping in a house that got about 18" of water inside the house. The older couple didn't really think it would come into their house and didn't realize they were in any danger until the National Guard evacuated them Sunday afternoon. So much damage. And so much stinky smell. The whole city smells terrible right now. I told Matt the smell would NEVER go away. He asked me if I could smell the terrible smell in Rexburg when I moved there a year after the Teton Dam Flood. I told him if I had lived through it I would still be able to smell it. He doesn't always follow my logic. But that is ok. He loves me :)

Yesterday, these big trucks were going up and down the streets collecting anything and everything that people put out on their curb.

It was a huge help to us as we needed SO much stuff hauled away. But it was so heart breaking at the same time. I think it is easier for those of us, not the owners, to get the stuff thrown out. Monday, when we were helping people, they were in total shock at some of the damage. When we started the day, we would walk up and ask people if we could help them. About an hour into the day, we had switched to telling them what we were going to do. Only one person was a little concerned that she had just been helped by the Mormons! Too funny. The Mormons will be back out from 6-9 tonight. If you need help, just give us a holler!!!

For the rest of the school year, the kids at Luke's school have to have recess on a small section of the front parking lot. They won't be able to get the toys cleaned well enough before school ends. He was a good sport and he said it was kind of fun. He is excited to go back out tonight and help.

I just finished mowing the lawn. Now it is off to the grocery store. I guess the family needs to eat some homemade meals sometime this week. Thanx for your prayers and thanx for checking on us. It means a lot.

Evidence of Franklin Flooding

Ok. Here it is folks. Proof of the stressful hours and days we have had. Again, our family stayed completely dry inside our home. Some of our neighbors, friends and schools didn't get so lucky.

When we woke up today, the sun was shining and the birds were singing. After the past 48 hours of stress we have had, I thought the birds were mocking us. But, Matt won't buy me a any sort of gun to encourage them to be quiet!

Saturday--Day 1

We ran to Home Depot to look at blinds and pick up a drain for one of our down spouts. We had NO idea what we were in for or we would have never left the house.

The above two pictures are of the tunnel by Walgreens on Saturday afternoon.

Below is Monday evening.

Sunday--Day 2

This day church was cancelled. We had hours and hours of watching the rain and watching the radar. We also watched some of the Monk I haven't shipped back to my sister. I was so thankful we had them! We got a call in the early afternoon that school was cancelled.

Monday--The Clean-up Begins

Those of you have been thru flooding like this know that a camera cannot capture the devastation it causes. We spent four hours helping strangers clear out their garages. Many people saw what was coming and moved stuff out of their garages and off the bottom level. Others were out of town and were left with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of damage. Some items are irreplaceable.

Above is a view of a tunnel back in September.

Below is a picture taken Monday evening.

Above is last September.

Below is Monday night of the exact same path.

Below are pictures of Luke's school. Oh, yeah. We just got a call...Field Day is cancelled tomorrow. Ya think? Why not just change it to water activities? We have school tomorrow. How in the world can they guantee that a child won't slip away and drown?

Below is Kat crossing some red tape...the first of her life!

The water was ABOVE the basket ball standards last night.

The playground at Luke's school.

Below is the top of the swings at Luke's school.

Today was a very long day. Physically and emotionally exhausting. It will take Franklin days and months to recover. The smell alone will take that long to get out of my nose.

Franklin Flooding

This past weekend, our little state has received unprecedented amounts of rainfall. I am sure other places of TN have received more rain than we have in Franklin, but ours seems so much worse because it is our little town. Families mere streets away are being evacuated by the National Guard and local emergency crews. Friends a half a block away have 6 inches of water in their garage. So far, we are dry inside. The river is expected to crest Tuesday morning. If the radar is to be believed, the worst is over. But, there is the clean-up of it all.

To see some crazy pictures, go to The Tennessean and search the flood photos. We live in Fieldstone Farms in Franklin, TN.

We are off to bed. No school tomorrow due to the fact that 35 street in Franklin are closed. We have a canoe. I thought the kids could get to school that way.