Birthday Projects

My birthday was a few days ago, and my request was to spend the day working in the barn. I wanted to do some cleaning/organizing in there, and Josh said he could spend time on the new work table he's been building for the center of the work room.

The table base is made from salvaged metal legs found at the dump a few months back. When I spotted them in the metal dumpster I immediately knew they would be great for a work table, but they were pretty far down and too heavy for me to pull out on my own. When I want something in the dumpster, 95% of the time I pull it out myself while Josh pretends he doesn't know me. He still has some vestiges of pride and does not want to be seen "scavenging". That's understandable, but this time I really wanted those table legs so I begged for help until he relented. As he pulled each leg out, he announced loudly for all in earshot to hear, "Are you sure you really want these? OK, if you insist..."

The table is not done yet, but here's a little peek...

The table making was cut short when our load of gravel for the front of the house arrived.

Josh borrowed the neighbor's tractor to spread the gravel, and suddenly it was the best day of his life. If I had an extra $25,000 lying around I'd buy that guy a tractor just to see the huge grin on his face every time he turned the key in the ignition.

And the rest of the day was spent making piles of gravel with the tractor, which I then spread by hand.

Right now the front of our house looks like a black sand beach with lumps and bumps everywhere, but later this week a local guy with a grader is coming over to even it out and pack it down. After a week or two the color will fade out and it won't look like asphalt. Can't wait to have these last projects done so we can get at least one day to regroup before the wedding!