Curb-Side Find and Halloween Costume

I love to find good curb-side finds.  Nothing beats free, can't get any better than that.  Since we moved here, I have been wanting to purchase a little island for the kitchen.  I have very limited counter tops and preparing dinner was a bit of a challenge.  I couldn't justify spending the money on something, but I had my eye out for anything that could be transformed into the extra space I needed.  I had heard about transforming old dressers into islands, but I couldn't find one.  Then, last Monday on trash day, the clouds parted and the angels sang as a ray of sunshine fell upon a hard wood little island that was placed there on the trash pile just for me. 

It was in bad shape.  And, actually, that's the reason why I don't have a before picture of it.  It was in such bad shape that I didn't think I'd end up being able to keep it.  I couldn't walk away from it, however, it was HARD WOOD people!  I have a love affair with solid wood.  I just can't believe people would throw it away.  MDF, particle board, plywood... I can understand that.  But, something made of solid wood has good bones and can almost always be salvaged.  

My little island was covered in black tarry stuff, cobwebs, and crayon drawings.  It was missing a wheel, and it looked pathetic.  My kids looked at me strangely as I hoisted into the back of the van, and Joshua asked me more than once why I was taking someones garbage home.  

First, it needed a good wash-down.  I scrubbed and soaped it up, rinsed it off, and scrubbed some more.  It was looking better.  Then, I sanded it all by hand (the power sander I used before is in AZ at my parents house).  It took forever.  Then, I re-scrubbed and rinsed it all.  After she was good and dry, I applied some stain that I had leftover in a nice walnut finish.  She was looking mighty purdy at this point and I was getting giddy.  Finally, just to make sure she could withstand the daily use, I applied a thin coat of leftover polyurethane on her.  Once again that clouds parted and the angels sang as a ray of sunshine fell upon her.  My neighbor, bless her soul, gave me four new wheels to put on her, and that made her good as new!  She is beautiful, and she cost me absolutely nothing!  That's the best part!  Here she is in all her glory.  

Now onto the business of Halloween.  This year, I wanted Joshua to be a roughed-up football player (because we already have a BYU jersey for him) and I wanted Mercedes to go as a BYU cheerleader.  Jon Mark and I would then be the fans and maybe we would paint our faces or something.  Well, my son insisted that he wanted to be a train... Edward actually, from Thomas and Friends.  He was so persistent that I eventually gave in.  After all, I do remember what Halloween costumes meant to me when I was a kid.  I carefully decided my costume in September and was devastated if it didn't happen.  Anyway, so I obliged and below is his train costume.  Behold: Edward!

 Joshua loves it and wished he could wear it all the time.  Maybe I will still make him wear his football costume under his train box (uh, I mean engine). 

 Alright, kind of out of order, but I couldn't figure out how to move this picture closer to the other island picture.  Here is my beautiful rock/acorn collection.  I love rocks.  I adore them.  Someday, I will take some more geology classes at a community college just for fun.  I find geology fascinating and would love to learn more about it.  Jon Mark thinks this is my inner nerd coming out, because I can go through and tell you why each of these rocks are beautiful to me.  Each one has a different characteristic and someday if you're truly bored, I can tell you everything about them too!