Our anniversary day trip and organizing around home~by Beth

I have been wanting to do a day trip with Jon for a while.  When our anniversary landed on a Saturday this year, we took advantage of it.  We rarely go away together so it was a really fun thing to look forward to.  There is an IKEA two hours away in Tampa, so that was our destination.  We had our cow calendar cards to use for the month so we began our day with breakfast at Chick-fil-a. 

Our first selfie of the day

We got up to IKEA and began walking through the showroom.  We love to take our time, but some how we did it too quickly.  We sat down, grabbed a drink and talked for a while.  Then we went through the show room again! 

I love this kitchen

and this one too

After that we shopped on the lower level.  Fun. 

loading up the van 

After IKEA we drove down to Venice (Florida that is) to go out to dinner for our anniversary.  We had a gift card which made it so much more enjoyable!  For some reason we didn't snap a photo.

Here are the girls putting together one of the book shelves that we got.  This one did not hold a lot of weight so we are returning it in a few weeks when we head up there again.
I spent the following week putting together the shelves, moving bookshelves around, vacuuming up dust, and organizing books,etc.  In the end we got rid of one large (old) bookshelf and two shorter ones, and moving around 4 other shelves.  Jon also found a white shelf unit that is much sturdier than the Hemnes one we got from IKEA (the one we are returning) which I also put to use.  It was used and going out of a house.  It needed a toe kick, which Jon cut, painted and installed.  Eventually we will put some sort of a back on it (luan?).  But for now it is working beautifully.  I love getting organized.  We were able to purge some books, and also Christiana took her books and packed them up for her move to Texas in about a month.  These are the after pics.  Love them.

New Billy Bookcase is on the right, the others were moved and rearranged

The used unit Jon got that matches the Billy one

This was in the family room and is now used for school stuff

This was moved to the living room

This is the cabinet I put together with help from Charity and Stephen.  It cuts down on the clutter at the front door.  The tray was a new purchase too, but the rest we already had around home.

Love this

My DIY Rain Chain~by Beth

The internet is full of projects and ideas for just about anything you may want to do.  Since our downspouts are not all connected, I have been scanning a number of posts for rain chains.  The rain pours here and makes holes in the ground where it runs off the roof on two corners of the house.  I finally made a rain chain and am happy with how it turned out.  Here is my version.
I found some bright colored flower shaped cookie cutters at Walmart on clearance for 67 cents each.  I got two packages of chains at Dollar General, and also used small zip ties that I had on hand.

 After measuring out the final length, I decided to use 7 of the 8 cookie cutters I had.  Every eighth chain I opened, separated the chain, then closed the open link.  I attached the cookie cutter with the zip ties between the openings.

Opening chain links

Initially I decided to hang it in the front.  We don't have gutters on the that side of the house, so I decided to try and see how it worked without one.  It didn't work too well since the water just sheets off the roof even though it pours off that corner.  I used a pan we had and filled with it with rocks after I secured the chain with two bamboo sticks through the bottom link of the chain.

Securing chain in pan with rocks.  I added more rocks later

 So, a few days later I moved the rain chain to the back corner of the house where the water pours out of the gutter with no down spout creating a big hole.  I filled in the hole with dirt and place a  couple of stepping stones on top to make a level place for the rock pan.

 I secured the chain at the top with a gutter bolt inside and more zip ties.  As you can see the chain hangs at the outside of the down spout.  Then I waited for the next down pour to see how it performed.  The water missed most of the chain as it shot out on the side by the house.

My pan collects water too, so I will have to drill some drainage holes.
Can you see there are more rocks?  I got the river rocks at Dollar Tree for a buck a bag.

Redirecting the water.

Today I attached the last cookie cutter that I had right where the down spout ends to the chain above, and then to the chain below it.  I think that will redirect the water down the chain.  We will see when the rain comes.  Here in the semi-tropics it rains nearly every day.
UPDATE:  A couple hours later the rain came and I was able to see if it worked.  It is working to redirect the water for the most part.   I used a bin lid to protect the camera.  Just as I was snapping the photo the wind gusted and pushed the edge of the lid into the picture, covering the view to the top of the gutter.  But, you can still see the rain chain.  Now to plug up the end of the gutter so it doesn't also run off there.  I have a bucket collecting water from the end until I can get it plugged up.