October 25th, 2015

Yesterday, we traveled to my mom's to help her with a few things and just to enjoy our visit.  While we were there, we managed to help her rearrange an office into a french cottage style bedroom/office.  With zero dollars spent, the transformation was amazing.  Previous to this visit, we had talked her into moving the bookcases out of this small space and turning her laundry room into a mudroom/library.  This time we helped her put together a trundle bed for that room for free.  We had an old oak captain's bed minus the drawers.  A friend had given us a twin bed with mattress/box springs and a metal bedframe on wheels, along with a Mary Jane bedspread and pillow.  We put the mattress on the captain's bed (that had a small box spring already).  We put the bedframe on wheels under the bed and my husband used a piece of 3/4" plywood she had laying around to put a platform on it to house a mattress in a roll out trundle style.  The Mary Jane bedspread had a skirt on it that concealed the trundle.  We moved a huge desk down to the corner (that was blocking the door) and we re-housed her file cabinet in the closet that we cleaned out.  It was amazing how much larger that room felt.  We then went shopping at Lowes for an extension cord as we rearranged the paper shredder, a battery tap on light that can light up her file cabinet so she can see to file in the closet as the closet had no light, batteries for the light and a replacement door bell, which spent $20.  The doorbell was not used in the room, but at the front door as hers was broken.  My mom, as gracious as always, was a great hostess.  She made us tacos for lunch and a yummy cake.  She sent us home with a throw for cold evenings, as well as a chicken planter.  I brought the planter home and painted it with some paints I had on hand, as I am working on a French country front porch.  Stay tuned for that.  Today we worked on the photovoltaics again.  Finished insulating the battery shed while my husband worked on the wiring, tried to fix some panels that were not working properly, and tested out the new pressure washer.  We also went to purchase three flats of pansies (I just love flowers that bloom during the winter, don't you?)  Now is definitely the time to put in your pansies.  They were on sale at a nearby nursery for $12 per flat.