Fun finds at the ReStore

I was hoping that by now, I'd be able to post finished pictures of the trunk I've been slowly building for the last few weeks.  I'm really close to being done with it, but last night I stuck an electric screwdriver bit straight through my thumb and now my power-tool privileges have been revoked.  [And no, I do not have photos of the injury.  Sorry, creeper.]

So, no impressive pics of big projects.  But I do have a couple of smaller things!  I've really been getting a kick out of refinishing things and building things lately.  I guess as long as I have the space to keep it all, there are definitely worse hobbies to have.  (And if we get this new house that we've put an offer on, I'll have TONS of space!)

Mom and I spent some time in the ReStore a couple of weeks ago, and I found this funky old box.  I think it is an old wooden toolbox.  It was filthy and kind of smelly but otherwise in good condition, so I bought it for $8 and decided to spruce it up a bit.

 All I really had to do was stain the outside of the whole thing a nice darker color, and then I painted the inside with some leftover paint I already had.  I figure it'll look cool on a bathroom countertop with some colorful bottles inside, or even just on the floor with some small paperbacks in it.  I haven't decided yet if I'll replace the cheesy red plastic handle or not.  Either way, for only $8 and the amount of time it took me to paint while watching two episodes of Nip/Tuck, I consider it a good find!

Also at the ReStore, I picked up this little old piano bench for $5.

It was also pretty filthy and smelly.  The first thing I did was remove the padded seat and throw it away.  It had been recovered numerous times and was disgusting.  Then I stripped as much of the stain off of it as I could, and painted it turquoise.  Then I sanded down some of the turquoise paint, and stained the whole thing with a dark wood stain so that it would look 'distressed'.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

For the top of the bench, I just took some pallet boards that I had in the garage and had Josh cut them to size for me.  I painted them all grey, and did the paint-sand-stain process on them as well, and then connected everything together.  Viola!

It seems like pretty soon my home is going to be nothing but distressed wood furniture and bright colors and southwestern designs.  And I think I'm ok with that.

PIE!!

We've discovered that in New Mexico, every tiny little town has their own special festival of some kind.  Deming has the Duck Races.  Hatch has the Chile Festival.  Roswell has the UFO Festival.  And Pie Town, of course, has the Pie Festival.

Some of our cycling friends attend the annual Pie Festival every year, and convinced us to join them.  The area around Pie Town is really pretty, and there are some rock climbing spots that our friends are familiar with and have camped at before.  We decided to camp in one of these places the night before the festivities. We got rained on.  All night.

The population of Pie Town is supposedly over 2,000, but driving through town you'd swear that there couldn't be more than 30 people there.  Along the main road, the town basically consists of two pie shops.  Nothing else.  The Pie Festival in Pie Town has been going on for over 30 years, and from I gather, it's pretty much the most important day of the year.  I can't say I had huge expectations going into the weekend, so I also can't say that I was underwhelmed by anything.  It was pretty much as I expected.  There was some great people-watching, there were silly arts and crafts, and there was lots and lots of pie.  I may or may not have splurged to buy a Pie Town tshirt.

The pie-eating contests were definitely the highlight of the day.  I laughed so hard during the children's contest that my sides hurt afterwards.

And then Josh and Brianne found out that they are never likely to become competitive eating champions.  I can't say I'm sad that I didn't give it a shot... I just don't like pie that much.  Give me a mac'n cheese eating contest, and then we'll talk.  Overall though, the festival was a fun time.  Not sure I'll be itching to go back again next year, but in terms of broadening our New Mexican-experience horizons, I'm definitely glad we attended.  And the pie was pretty tasty.

Tanlines

I have a few unusual (and year-round) tan lines.  They don't go away, ever.  Not surprisingly, I get some pretty funny stares when I wear a bathing suit.  (I tell myself the stares are from the tan lines, anyway.)

See that?  That's the difference between my brown arm and my white stomach.

This lovely brown stripe of skin is from spending many hours squatting down and bending over during excavation.  We call this the Archaeology Tramp Stamp.  I've had this tan line for multiple years now. (Also note the many various tank-top tan lines. )

As a cyclist, I have a strange pride in my biking tan.  

And this, my favorite.