KatieOlthoff.com participates in affiliate marketing and other forms of advertising. We only recommend products and services we believe in and think they will be of use to you. As such, posts on this website may contain affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy. Thank you for your support of this website and our family.

Musee d’Art

I cannot believe the amount of “art” Adam is bringing home from daycare now that he gets to be a part of the preschool program.  Many days, it’s just scribbles, but other times, he brings something home that he has cut, or glued, or painted.  He carries his art around saying, “I made dis fo you, mom!” and I can’t bear to part with it.  But the stack has been growing, and growing, and growing, and I wanted to display it somehow.
img_4479
Enter this old screen door.  Hubby found it in a shed at his grandparents a few years ago.  They thought we were nuts for taking it home.  I love it.  It came off one of the old family farmhouses, so it has even more meaning to me.  In our old house, it lived in this corner of the spare bedroom.  See the rusty screen?  Love it.
P1020976
In this house, it’s spent most of its life in the garage, and a couple months propped behind my rocking chair in the living room. But the black didn’t work so well there, and I wanted to make it a more prominent display piece.
So I spent a few minutes today stapling some ribbon to it, and Voila!  Une musee d’art!

img_4474
I was going to put the ribbon all willy-nilly random-like, but if you know me in person, I’m sure you’re not surprised that the Type A won out.  I ran out of ribbon though – I think it needs one more x at the top and bottom.
 img_4477
But my new motto is “done is better than perfect” so I’ll probably leave it as is.  Here it is, featuring Baby Brudder.
  img_4480
And  it works really well for its intended purpose, too!  It could also be a great place for Christmas cards and all the random notes and such that currently live on our fridge.

Now, what should I put at the bottom?



Furniture Feature Fridays
Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special
UndertheTableandDreaming

Copy Me Challenge

Pregnant Party #3

img_4467  img_4470 img_4471 img_4473
Someday I want a girl, but we’re not done yet, and I’m so excited that Adam will get to have a baby brother.  He is already talking about how he will teach him to do puzzles, and play tractors, and take care of the turkeys.  He’s also excited that “Baby Brudder” will sleep in his old “cribby.”  And having a boy has taken some pressure off of us.  Instead of rushing to finish the 3rd bedroom this winter, the boys will just share a room.
More than anything else, we were just happy to see that he was healthy.  I’ve heard a ton of women say that, but it really means more to me this time around.  There’s so much heartache out there.

 

(Okay, I think I got my button fixed so it will actually link back here.  I put a new code in the scrolly box.)


(And here is a new, sidebar sized button, too!)

Pregnancy Party #2

I’m not really in a partying mood.  I have had a crazy-busy week and I am grieving the loss of three friends’ babies right now.  One had a miscarriage late in her first trimester, after hearing the heartbeat and being assured that the baby was just fine.  Two have found out recently (at around 20 weeks) that their babies have trisomy 18 and will probably not make it.
Trisomy 18 is a rare, random genetic mutation where there are 3 chromosome 18s instead of 2.  It causes a myriad of problems, and a baby would be considered a long term survivor if it made it to its first birthday.  Most babies with trisomy 18 are miscarried in the first trimester, but occasionally, like in the cases of my friends, the baby makes it farther.  Please pray for these women, their babies, and everyone else involved.  They have both decided to continue the pregnancy, but they do not know whether the babies will make it to term, or what their life will be like if they do.  The Perinatal Center in Des Moines sees 2-3 cases of trisomy 18 PER YEAR and I happen to know two women going through it at the same time.  It is unbelievable and heartbreaking.  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about them.
I wasn’t sure whether to do another linky this week or wait another week, but I decided to go for it. :)  Please link up any pregnancy related post, and make sure to put the button on your post, so others can find us!  I will work on making a narrower button that you can put in your sidebar, too.
On the Banks of Squaw Creek
(To put this awesome button featuring my pregnant-with-Adam-belly on your post, copy and paste the html code in the scrolly box into the html or source tab when you are writing your post.  I noticed last week that my button didn’t actually “work” when it was on your pages, and I’m not sure if there’s something I need to fix or not.  So make sure you copy the code in the scrolly box.)

1 dresser = 2 projects…

…and a terrible tutorial (if you can even call it that!)
I had a couple questions about the shelves on my living room wall in my Shimmery Fall post, so I decided to do a post about them.
In our first house, we needed a pretty TV stand.  This was before the days of huge flat screens, so we decided to make an antique dresser into a TV armoire.  What does that have to do with my shelves?  Just follow me for a second…

Dresser 001
Basically, we took this dresser, and made it into this:
P1010098
(Yeah, and we had bunny ears, too.)  This was a pretty easy project.  We took out the top four drawers, and just threw a piece of 3/4 inch plywood on the 2nd drawer support. Then, we took a piece of trim that divided the drawers and put that on the front of the plywood.  I hope that made sense.  Apparently I didn’t take pictures when we did this 3 years ago.
P1010417
The TV stand lives at my parents’ house now.  I looked for a picture, but the only one I could find was an embarrassing one of my sister from last Christmas that shows the TV stand in the background.  I decided not to post it, out of respect for her. :)
So then we had 4 drawers left.  We had the idea to make them into shelves, but the logistics were hard to figure out.
P1020912Here are some vague step by step directions.  Again, no pictures, so I’m relying on my terrible memory.
Step 1:  We used the jigsaw to cut the shelves down to 8 or 10 inches deep (can’t remember now.)
Step 2:  We put teeny, tiny supports along the insides to hold up the top shelf.  I can’t remember how we did this…must have glued them because I don’t see any nails on the outside.
Step 3:  Put a thin piece of plywood on top of the supports and nailed it to them.  At this point, we basically had the shelves.  Then we had to hang them.
To hang:
Step 4:  Screw a 1x2 to the wall where you want to hang the shelves.  After it is fastened securely, position your shelf on top of it, and screw it to the ends of the 1x2 so there is now a screw towards the upper-back corner of the shelves.  This is what supports the shelves.  IF we ever take them down again, I’ll take pictures because it’s really hard to explain!
     
 P1020925
That was our old house.  Sometimes I miss it.  Especially the white trim, bamboo shades, and simplicity of life pre-farm and pre-baby.  But anyway…here they are today.
img_4345
I don’t have a mantel, so I rearrange accessories on these shelves like everyone else does on their mantle.  Here’s late last winter’s version (See the turkey?)
P1070361
If you my tutorial didn’t make sense (I don’t know why it wouldn’t!) just comment and leave me your questions!
I still have 2 more drawers in a shed somewhere…maybe someday I’ll make another set.


Copy Me Challenge

Shimmery Fall

Adam’s out picking corn with grandpa, so I had some time to play this afternoon!  (Yeah, I know I should have been cleaning. Whatev.)
diy fall decor
I’ve fallen in love with all the metallic spray painted fall decor, so I decided to dress up some leaves (from Kmart for $1.49 per bunch!) and mini pumpkins/gourds, and re-accessorize my living room shelves for fall!

fall decor
img_4357

shimmery fall pumpkins
I love the way that the spray paint both muted the colors AND made the decorations shimmery, at the same time!
white turkey
It’s okay that my turkeys stay out year round, right? :)

white pumpkins

img_4363

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special
UndertheTableandDreaming
The Girl Creative

60,000 turkeys

Twenty thousand poults, hatched Tuesday morning, arrived here around 6:30 Tuesday night! 
Add that to the 18,000ish that will go to market next week, and the 19,000ish that are about 8 weeks old, and we have almost 60,000 turkeys on our farm right now.  We are full!
As usual, I got to help unload.
I managed to bring my camera out while we unloaded, but there are only pictures of the beginning and end of the process because I had to work in the middle!

The truck backed up to the building.  It left Wilmer, Minnesota at 1:30 and made it to our place almost 5 hours later.

turkey truck
Inside the building, the skidloader and two of my favorite, tall, long-armed boys waited for the poults.  My 17 year old brother (the skinny, gangly, monkey armed, blondie) and hubby loaded them into the bucket of the Bobcat.

waiting to unload turkeys
They come in these crates, which hold 100 poults.  The crates are divided into fourths, so the people who pack them only have to count to 25 at a time.  It’s really hard to count all those wiggly little poults!
unloading turkey poults
The skid loader backed down the building to where I was waiting with Beth, the Brooder Lady.

baby turkeys in barn

The boys unloaded the skidloader for us, and Beth and I “dumped” the poults into their new homes.  It’s not a terribly hard job, but it is 90 degrees in the barn, which makes it about 3x harder than it would be if it were 60 degrees like it was outside!  The boys got to go back to the front of the building to reload the skidloader in the cool, fresh air, so I don’t think they understand how hot it really gets!  (This is what Beth and I do the whole time we’re unloading…complain about the heat.)

turkey poults

Within ONE HOUR, we had the poults in their new homes, and the door to the barn closed.  They found their food and water right away, and I went inside to find my own. :)

baby turkeys

Pregnant Party!!!

Okay, friends, the time is finally here!  The Pregnant Party is on!

I don’t have much new to report…still feeling kind of sick in the evenings.  At 16w 3d, I should be feeling better soon!!!  I take 1/2 dose of children’s benadryl when I start to feel yucky (around 5 or 6PM) and it helps me get some supper down.
I think I felt the baby move the other night.  It was 3 AM and I’d been up to go to the bathroom.  When I went back to bed, I couldn’t fall asleep and then I noticed the little flutters.  I haven’t felt it again, though, so I might just be nuts. :)
My wrist has been bothering me lately.  Did you know that carpal tunnel syndrome is more common in pregnant women?  I think my wrist pain (left wrist) comes from carrying Adam around.  I tend to bend my wrist funny and his weight puts a lot of pressure on it.  I don’t carry him a lot, but on our quest for a firefighter costume last week, I carried him across the entire mall when he was too tired to walk back to the car.  And that’s when it started hurting.  So I got a brace and wore it for most of a day and overnight, and it was better for several days until I set my hand down funny while playing on the floor with Adam.  So I’m wearing it again, today.  For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be helping chore the baby turkeys, which involves carrying around a plastic coffee can full of feed and dumping it carefully onto the feeders…I’ll be wearing the brace again for that, as that is hard on my wrists even when I’m not knocked up!
Here’s an article from Baby Center on carpal tunnel during pregnancy.  http://www.babycenter.com/0_carpal-tunnel-syndrome-during-pregnancy_234.bc?page=2

Okay, now it’s your turn!  Please link up any pregnancy related post, and make sure to put the button on your post, so others can find us!  I will work on making a narrower button that you can put in your sidebar, too.
On the Banks of Squaw Creek
(To put this awesome button featuring my pregnant-with-Adam-belly on your post, copy and paste the html code in the scrolly box into the html or source tab when you are writing your post.)


Get ready! I’m hosting a party!

Our first Pregnant Party will be next Thursday, Oct. 14th!

Any of you preggeronis out there can link up, and we can all get to know each other, and share the joys and miseries of pregnancy!  Any pregnancy related post will do, including regular ol’ pregnancy updates, ultrasounds, gender reveals, questions, etc. etc.  I just ask that you put my button on your blog post, so other preggos can find us!

Tell your friends!

Can’t wait to see you there!

On the Banks of Squaw Creek

(To put this awesome button featuring my pregnant-with-Adam-belly on your post, copy and paste the html code in the scrolly box into the html or source tab when you are writing your post.)

Corny

 

It seems a farm boy accidentally overturned his wagon load of corn. The farmer who lived nearby heard the noise.
"Hey Adam!!" the farmer yelled. "Forget your troubles. Come in with us.  Then I'll help you get the wagon up."
"That's mighty nice of you, " Adam answered, "but I don't think Pa would like me to."
"Aw, come on," the farmer insisted.
"Well okay," the boy finally agreed, and added, "But Pa won't like it."
After a hearty dinner, Adam thanked his host. "I feel a lot better now, but I know Pa is going to be real upset."
"Don't be foolish !" the neighbor said with a smile. "By the way, where is he?"
"Under the wagon."

img_4246img_4194 img_4203 img_4211 img_4225 img_4242  

(joke from here)

(And don’t worry – it was a corn pool made for playing, not an overturned wagon, regular wagon, or grain bin.)