Today’s post is from my friend and fellow blogger Kyle Wrather, of the eponymous website kylewrather.com. (Side note: I was pretty excited to get to use the word eponymous in real life.) Kyle recently completed a few home improvement projects, which I find is no small feat when you live in an apartment with no outside space. Without further ado, here’s what he did.

During a weekend when my wife was out of town visiting family, I took the opportunity to tackle a few household projects I’ve been putting off – mostly concerning IKEA furniture.

When we moved to Atlanta from Mississippi one of the major furniture pieces we left was a dining room table, but thankfully we quickly found a replacement with the relatively inexpensive INGO/IVAR solid pine table and chairs from IKEA. It’s small set, only about 48” long, but for the two of us in our relatively small Midtown apartment, it’s been a good fit. When we got them I promised, “I’ll paint these in no time!” But after nine months of procrastination, it was time to jump into action. I did some research about staining and painting IKEA furniture and found a lot of helpful forums and posts including this one by AJ at Handjobs for the Home.

The first challenge for painting furniture in a 3rd floor walk-up is finding a place to work. I bought a 9x12 plastic drop-cloth which fit perfectly in our dining room (which has lots of windows for ventilation).

With the wood floors protected (our landlord would be proud) and our two dogs watching from the other room, I started by tapping nails into each of the table’s legs so I could paint the legs while the table was right-side up since I was staining the top at the same time.

For paint I hoped to get some self-leveling paint to hide the wood-grain of the pine, but the paint guy at Home Depot looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language when I asked for it, so I got some white satin finish paint/primer instead. To finish the top, I settled on non-tinted Danish Oil,  which is a finishing oil that impregnates the wood and hardens, but is pre-thinned so it’s not quite as heavy-duty as something like Tung oil. (When comparing the directions, the Danish oil also seemed like the simplest to apply and fastest to dry, which made the choice easy.)

I tested the paint and oil on the underside of the table and everything seemed good so I started painting and finishing in earnest. I taped the underside of the tabletop so I wouldn’t get too much paint run-over. I applied about 4 layers of the white paint throughout the day waiting about an hour between layers. I think two would have done fine, but without self-leveling paint I wanted to make sure I had a thick and even coat to hide the grain as much possible. I applied the oil finish at the same throughout the day by pouring a healthy amount of oil on the surface of the table and using a rag to spread it evenly and then about 30 minutes later using the cloth to wipe away oil that hadn’t been absorbed. The table legs and sides were completely dry by the next day, but I continued to apply and dry the top for the next two days to ensure a thick, deep coat that would look good and also create a thick enough coat to protect the table from spills, food and normal wear. When my wife got back from her trip, we suffered through a few days of coffee table dining, but finally we’re done with the plain pine!

Is there a home improvement project you keep putting off? What is it or what do you need to do to finish that project?

Kyle has one more trick up his sleeve…check back next week for the second installment of Workin’ Wednesday!

I’ve been on a pretty major spring organizing kick lately, to the tune of all of this going to the thrift store:

(Actually, there ended up being even more than that: a file box that was too big for our bookshelf, a bag of Andy’s t-shirts, and a bag of miscellaneous picture frames and decor.)

I honestly have no idea where all of this was hiding in our little one-bedroom apartment. It ended up filling the entire trunk of my car! I say good riddance…the next time we move I will be glad not to have that trunkful.

As I sifted through our stuff, one major clutter element I had to confront was my magazines:

I love getting magazines. I get excited every month when they come in the mail, and I enjoy clipping recipes and coupons. Most of these subscriptions I’ve gotten either as gifts or for very cheap during a promotional sale. I always save them thinking, “Well, I might need or want to look back at that later.” But if I’m honest with myself, I never, ever do. Even if something piqued my interest, I probably forget about it and never try to find it again. I’ve taken to marking pages for action immediately and just clipping/scanning/pinning right away. So really this giant stack was unnecessary.

I tried to find someone to give them too, but alas, most of my friends are reasonable and admitted that they had their own stash of magazine clutter! I took a few to work, as we have a small pile of magazines that people will sometimes flip through as they eat lunch. Someone on Facebook suggested that I donate them to a salon or doctor’s office. We have several of each of those right around our apartment, but I just honestly felt like it wasn’t worth the effort. And plus, they might want 1 or 5, but probably not all of these! So, even though it hurt my heart, I walked them down to the recycling bin. It felt like I was throwing away money. But I rationalized it by telling myself that if I clipped one good recipe or got one good piece of advice from each of them, then it was not a total loss.

My solution to keep the stack from getting this crazy in the future was to buy a fun colored magazine holder. It conveniently fits right between our end table and the couch!

(Yes, the floor underneath our end table has become a de facto bookshelf. Hey, it works!)

My rule is that I can keep this holder’s worth of magazines and no more. So, when it’s full, I have to decide which ones go. I feel like I might be more likely to find people who want 1 or 2 than to find people who want my giant stacks. Plus, even if I do end up recycling them, it will feel less wasteful to get rid of a few than to get rid of all the ones I just did.

I’m all about having a place for everything and keeping everything in its place, so I think this system will work well for me. It has felt SO GOOD getting rid of all this stuff and figuring out ways to tame it in the future. Sometimes it just takes being a bit brutally honest with yourself about what you use and how you actually use it.

Have you done any spring cleaning lately? Do you have any ingenious storage tricks that you’re particularly proud of?

I recently signed up to review books for Bethany House Publishers, a well-respected publisher of Christian fiction and other Christian titles, through their blogger review program. I selected what categories of books I was interested in, and they send me an email when they have a title available for review on one of those categories. If I have time and it sounds good, I can tell them, and they’ll mail me a copy. I thought it would be a fun way to discover new books and have fodder for some blog posts! I just finished my first book, a Christian historical novel called Prize of My Heart by Lisa Norato.

I pretty much expected to be reviewing books by as-yet unknown authors, so this was no surprise. The book takes place in the early 1800s in New England, with the War of 1812 still fresh on everyone’s minds. A young man named Brogan Talvis experienced great success as a privateer (called pirate by some) during the war but at the expense of his family. He had married a wealthy older woman and thought his dreams were coming true when she gave birth to a son, but with him away so often she couldn’t find a maternal streak within her to raise their son alone. She gave him away to a rich family before dying in a house fire, leaving Brogan to pursue him. He finds his son, but also manages to fall in love with the daughter of the rich merchant who had been raising him. He also finds out some secrets about his own and his son’s pasts that rattle him to the core, shattering the peace he thought he had found. He is forced to decide between forgiveness and bitterness, love and hate, and choose whether he will move on to have a happy life. I won’t tell you the ending, but if you’re clever you can probably hazard a guess at the plot’s trajectory.

When I saw the cover of the book, I was skeptical that I’d like it.

It looked like a “trashy” romance novel that I’d be embarrassed to be seen reading by the pool. However, I do love a good cheesy Christian romance every now and then, and this one satisfied that urge. Until the plot got going, I found the writing to be a bit stilted in places. This passage is a good example:

Lorena's breath caught. George frightened her with his insistence on a marriage between them. She took insult at his ridiculous arrogance that he could continue to press his suit after she'd explained the deep emotion that accompanies marriage she had not to give him.

I seriously had to read that last sentence three times to parse its meaning. BUT, once things got rolling, I was swept up enough in the plot that I didn’t notice the writing as much.

Norato was a bit heavy-handed throughout as she indicated that everyone had a secret. Several chapters ended with dramatic declarative sentences about his secret or hers. But to her credit, I never did get an inkling of what those secrets might be, so I was genuinely surprised when the past was revealed. I also thought she handled the Christian aspect of the romance deftly. It was not heavy-handed at all, which pleased me. Lorena’s faith seemed genuine, especially in the ways that it inspired concern for Brogan. And there was never an overwrought profession of faith by the male protagonist, just a more realistic, quiet acceptance of Truth. Rather than a dramatic altar scene (literal or figurative), you simply saw characters making changes in their lives based on shifts in their internal beliefs. The ending was a bit pat, but I expect that of books in this genre.

All in all, this was a fun read that kept me interested. I read it in about 3 days, and in between reading sessions I found myself thinking about the characters, which I think is a good thing. I felt happy when it ended and found it to be a believable outcome–no fairy tale ending, no knights in shining armor, just love and faith. I can’t say this was great literature, or that it will have much of an impact on my life, but if you’re in the market for a light, satisfying read, I can recommend Prize of My Heart.

Last summer I read a book by Shauna Niequist called Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way. It came at a time when I really needed to hear parts of its message. I follow Shauna’s blog now, and I’ve enjoyed hearing about her life in real time, but certain thoughts from her book have stuck with me. One was her discussion of things she doesn’t do. In fact, she has an entire chapter on the topic. She writes,

I love the illusion of being able to do it all, and I'm fascinated with people who seem to do that, who have challenging careers and beautiful homes and vibrant minds, and well-tended abs. Throw in polite children and a garden, and I'm coming over for lessons.

She, like me, keeps a running to-do list, and as her list grew and grew, she found herself one day frantically writing, “DO EVERYTHING BETTER.” Oh, sister, I know that feeling. But she had a moment of clarity one day when a friend told her “it’s not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What’s hard is figuring out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about.” So she made another list (of course) not of things to do but of things not to do. Hers included major home improvement projects, making the bed, baking, scrapbooking, and blowdrying her hair on a regular basis. It also included deeper elements such as not spending time with people who make her feel small or who complain a lot. Her list of what she does do included beautiful things like making her marriage stronger, raising her son well, and entertaining.

For some reason lately I was thinking about this chapter. As we settle into Atlanta, more things are pulling at my time, and I’m even starting to wonder how I used to do everything I did in Huntsville while working a full-time job! I love working part-time and STILL sometimes feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. As I wrote last week, I want to be more intentional about blogging and reading blogs to make sure I fit in that pleasure. And I’m making exercise a priority, as well as cooking dinner and having people over as often as possible. Andy and I are continuing our quest to find things we like to do together, and I want to start hiking more. I still want to volunteer somewhere and maybe have a touchstone with kids again. These are all good things, but I love that reading Shauna’s book gave me to freedom to admit that I don’t do some things (although I do make the bed every day, and I take great pleasure in it).

I haven’t fully fleshed out my list, but here are a couple that came to me off the top of my head.

I don’t…

1.  iron. In fact, I just put a shirt and a pair of shorts in my thrift store bag that I realized I never wore because they need to be ironed and I never remembered ahead of time to do that. And I don't want to.
2. garden. Sure, we only have 2 small planters on our balcony, but I thought this one counted. I want to have plants, but I can't say that taking care of them or planning for them brings me much pleasure. (Sorry to break your heart, Mama, but I think you knew this about me!) They need to be replanted for this summer and every time I think about doing it I feel overwhelmed. So maybe I can ask Andy to do it.
3. buy the most organic or local food to cook with. I love the idea of using the healthiest ingredients, but really, there are SO MANY elements to take into account. I shop how I shop, and I'm okay with that right now.

Those are all I can come up with today, but I’m going to keep mulling this over because I think it’s an important conversation to have with yourself. There’s freedom in admitting you can’t do it all, and when you’re free from trying to force yourself to do small things like iron, you can truly embrace and enjoy the things that make you come alive, be they big or small.

So what don’t YOU do, or what should you stop doing?

I’ve read a lot of places that it’s good to mix up your workout routine every now and then. Apparently our muscles can become complacent with the same old moves, and the workout stops being as effective. I’ve pretty much given up on running since I finished my 5K. It hasn’t necessarily been on purpose; as much as I decided I don’t love to run, I grew to appreciate its efficiency in calorie burning and covering distance. But without the structure of the training program I just really haven’t been able to make myself do it. I tried to go for a run with Andy one Saturday and only made it about half a mile before I had to call it quits. I was so frustrated with myself that I haven’t attempted it since then. I know if I eased my way back in I could do it, and I probably will eventually. But for now I’m enjoying doing whatever kind of workout I feel like doing.

A typical week has looked something like this:

• Monday: gym in the morning, usually 35 minutes on the elliptical
• Tuesday: Pilates on Netflix in the morning
• Wednesday: swim in the afternoon
• Thursday: usually nothing, if I'm honest!
• Friday: gym in the morning, sometimes a walk/run on the treadmill with hills, or elliptical again
• Saturday/Sunday: walking to run errands or going hiking; this is purely for fun but has the happy side effect of being exercise, too!

I’m enjoying swimming again. I’m definitely slower and have less stamina than I used to, but I swam 3-5 miles A DAY back then, so I can’t complain about that. I’ve been doing around 2000 yards each time I go (a little over a mile), broken down into whatever time and distance intervals feel nice. It’s great to have an activity where I’m not hard on myself because I know it’s good no matter what and I enjoy it so much. I might look into getting some workouts off of a website or from an acquaintance who is a swim coach…or I might just keep doing what I’m doing!

In the spirit of mixing things up, I recently checked this bad boy out from the library:

I’ve heard a lot about the 30 Day Shred and was intrigued enough to want to try it, but not intrigued enough to buy it. It wasn’t available to stream on any of my usual outlets, but the library came to my rescue! This workout absolutely Kicked. My. Butt. The DVD includes 3 20 minute workouts: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Each one includes 2 minutes of warmup followed by 3 6 minute circuits consisting of 3 minutes strength, 2 minutes cardio, and 1 minute of abs. The strength included pushups and other various movements using light handweights. The cardio was stuff like punching, jumping jacks, butt kicks, and jumping with an invisible jump rope. The abs were mostly run of the mill crunches. Jillian Michaels is one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser, and her modus operandi is to constantly work multiple muscle groups at once. So every arm movement using weights was done in tandem with a leg movement. For example, rowing was done while doing side lunges and chest raises were done while doing squats. She says if you want to lose weight in just a series of 20 minutes workouts you can’t take any rest!

Even though I work out fairly regularly, Level 1 was ridiculously tough, which I think is a testament to the need to mix your workouts up. This mixture of strength and cardio is different from anything I do, and it worked different muscles. I was sore for several days after doing the workout. And by sore I mean, every time I got up from a chair it took me a few tottering steps to convince my legs they wanted to move. I have the DVD for one more week and want to try it again, but I had to recover first! I’m terrified of Level 2, though I might take a  look at it just for curiosity’s sake.

All that to say, I’m not necessarily a 30 Day Shred convert, and I wouldn’t want to use it for my routine workout, but it’s great to have in my pocket to throw something different into the mix occasionally. I won’t be committing to it enough to lose the 20 pounds it claims you can lose in 30 days, but it was a fun experiment. Though ask me how I feel about it again after I try out Level 2…