Kids "Entertainment" Center

Our house has an upstairs loft area that when we moved in designated as the kids play room.  We put an old couch that we had, put a small TV and the X-Box in the room, then dropped off all of the boxes that had been labeled with the kids toys from the last 2 moves.  

This was an unorganized mess that was uninviting, and just an eye sore.  I got tired of it and started thinking about ways to make the room more inviting.  I turned the couch, and realized the room needed an "entertainment" center of sorts.  Off to Pinterest I went.  I found this Pintrest storage idea

I stared at this for a couple weeks and decided that I didn't like the tote look at all.  I had recently built a couple cabinet drawers for my workbench that I was very happy with the way they turned out so I decided to use the same principle for those drawers to replace the totes.  I printed out some papers, made a cut list, decided that I wanted it to be deeper since I was building my own drawers and off I went to the local big box lumber store to grab some wood.  

I got back to my garage and started working.   

It didn't take me long to realize that I wanted it different.  Here is a video from the early stage where I completely went off script. 

                                

As you can see my rebellious ways of not following the directions started coming together.  I decided to go with hardwood on hardwood for the drawer sliders.  I have a rather large assortment of milled mesquite and pecan at my disposal so fabricated some mesquite slides for the drawers to sit on.  I then took the underside of the drawers where they would rest on the mesquite and sanded them down smooth, and added a little wax to make them as smooth as butter on a bald monkey.  

Going off no plans meant I needed to do some clean up.  As you can see from this photo the drawers fit, but there is zero clearance.  Not what you want, so out came the belt sander to remove some excess wood.  

I decided that this project would be great with chalkboard paint.  After all it is an "entertainment" center for the kids, and they love chalk.  A run back to the hardware store and some guidance from the warden on the color the cabinet became this color.  But it needed some trim so I went to Facebook for an informal poll asking should the trim be pink or yellow.  Yellow overwhelmingly won, and its good because it was probably going to be yellow regardless, cause well, I like yellow.  

My oldest daughter loves to paint and do crafts so I enlisted (she wanted to) her assistance on picking out trim and painting.  

The drawers are so big.  Perfect for stashing toys, and keeping the playroom tidy.  

Check out the amazing drawer pulls that I grabbed from my favorite online shopping site with free 2 day shipping.  Came in a package of 12 (exactly what I needed) for about $10. 

 The finished project sat in the garage for a couple days till Christmas Eve (cause thats when I was able to get Chris to come over and help me carry it upstairs :-)  

I am so happy with the way it all came out.  The upstairs loft is really coming together.  

        

Now I need to build an actual desk to give them a study area, and replace the little table behind the couch.  But thats another project, and maybe another post.

10/8/2016 Another flight

Here I sit on another flight.  This time it is D.C. For the Chauffeur Driven trade show.  Should be a great show, lots of promising appointments, and I have even been able to generate a little pre-show buzz.  Hoping that my presentation will help, as well as the email campaign that I have been running the last couple weeks.  Received over a 1000 targeted views and reactions on Facebook so that is all promising.  

Took the family back to Texas last week, and that was great.  Made both trips straight through and really enjoyed the trip.  Tacos, golf, family, and 2 birthday party's for Rebecca.  She was treated like royalty :-).  It was good to see family, and I know that all of the girls really needed the trip.  I only wish that it could have been a little longer but had to get back to make this flight to DC.  The life of a business owner :-0.  

Here are some random pics from TX (I also added some from DC, and the road trip back)

One Year in AZ

It's been one year since I woke up for the last time in my house.  It's a unreal what has transpired since that time.  We have moved twice, been on no less than 3 vacations, made friends, said goodbye to new friends, and making friends again.  

When we packed up a year a go we had our sites set on Laveen, AZ.  What a bad area that turned out to be.  The house we rented was horrible, and the area was less than we had hoped for.  A couple months into living there Chris suggested that he was moving to Queen Creek, and asked me to check it out.  I did, and God placed the area on my heart, so we began to set our goals on moving an hour back the other direction.  We have done it 2 months early, and I am so relieved.   I feel that even though the house is rented, we have a home in this area.   Lisa says the school is so much better, since the kids aren't jumping off of tables everyday, and she really likes it.  I am just so thankful it is less diverse (she actually has other white girls in her class, maybe it's actually more diverse).  

Amy and I have been through a world of emotions, and heart break.  We thought God was calling me to be the pastor of a little church out here, but that was revealed to us a couple days ago not to be the case.  I long to use my gifts and energy for God's purpose again.  I am going to continue to network with people and build relationships, and see what happens.   I know I make a big splash everywhere I go, and this isn't exactly a huge pond.   This area is about 140,000 people in a suburb of the greater PHX area.  We are as far out on the SE side of PHX as you can be, and still call yourself (Phoenix).  I'm happy here.  

Grandad called me up about 6 months ago and stated that he was getting rid of all his woodworking stuff, and if I wanted it, come and get it.  This new house has the garage space, so I finally have a wood working shop.  So far I built a cabinet of drawers, and am blown away by how they function.  I need to add a face to them for aesthetics, but they are beautiful to me.  Chris and I are going to build a hallway table for Sam, and then I am going to start on probably some type of kitchen island, and then onto a dining room table out of mesquite.  

I am now fully self employed, and it is an incredible experience.  Some days I have the burden of the world on me, and then the thrill and excitement of solving a broken puzzle, and building something better.  Usually this all happens before my second cup of coffee ;-) anyone that has ever been a business owner knows exactly what that means.  

I am loving the opportunity, and while I'm not making 6 figures yet, my income has gone up, and the projections are huge.  Looking forward to see where the business is in another year.  I took $400, an idea, and an opportunity and turned it into $100,000 in a little over a year.  I've created software out of nothing but a passing thought, and I know that all of this has been done so that I will be able to focus on God and be able to give greatly to His purpose.  It's exciting!!!

Amy is doing remarkably better.  She feels as though she can somewhat function now.  She has started baking bread, and working out.  I think that even though not everything the way we would have hoped, she is really enjoying this new life, and I am happy that I am able to provide for her. 

Giving the last gift of the 3 year commitment.

Greetings Baptist Temple Family, 

As we enter into 2016 we also enter into the 3rd year of a journey that we entered into together, Heart Strong for Christ.  During the time of prayer for our commitment to the capital campaign I truly struggled and wrestled with what my commitment would be.  I am so blessed that I allowed God to have his way in that decision because today I get to realize the true gift in my pledge.  You see I don't see this final check to mean that I am free of a commitment that I made to God, but as witness to God fulfilling a promise that He made me to provide a way for me to be able to fulfill my promise to Him.  

We thought as a church we were asked to commit to God, but the truth is we were being asked to allow God to show us Himself.  

I know it's been a struggle, but I would like to encourage you to stay strong to the commitment, and allow God to show Himself to you in ways that perhaps you've never witnessed before.  Remember God doesn't need what we have, but allows us the opportunity to receive a blessing when we trust Him.  I am so blessed to have gotten to see that through Heart Strong for Christ, and pray that you all will also be blessed in the way that I have been.