The Rabb's Farm Life Adventures

My latest project has taken me outside, in the heat.  This is Louisiana heat people.  It was really hot outside today, I worked in shifts and made a little progress. When I originally decided to work on this bench I was a little deceived.  There was obviously a lot of rust visible, however, there was a great deal of rust hiding under the paint. This project is going to take a lot more elbow grease than I originally anticipated.   I watched a video a while back showing the use of Coca Cola to remove rust.  I decided to give it a try, (even though I would have preferred pouring said soda into a glass filled with ice and enjoying a drink while I relaxed on the rusty bench).  I decided to stick with the original plan and poured the soda on the bench.  It was amazing to see the rust bubble in the fizz.   It wasn't instant, all the rust wasn't even removed on the first attempt, but with a little scrubbing with the wire brush, the rust ...

When we finished "phase one" of our renovations we weren't expecting to begin on phase two until later in the fall or early next year.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for us, we have moved up the start date.  We plan to begin work later this week.  This phase will be minimal in comparison to the previous project as we plan to work on the redo the remaining bathroom and add a front door and small porch.   As weird as it may sound we don't really have a front door.  When we moved into the house we turned the original living room into Zachary's bedroom.  We left that entrance accessible during phase one, but never intended for it to be a main entrance to the house.  We currently enter through the garage, where we don't park our cars, but we do collect a lot of building project materials.  The new front entrance will change the appearance of our home on the outside and provide the ability for us and our guests to avoid the garage or as I like ...

When our home was originally built (1954), people didn't own nearly the amount of stuff we own these days.  My grandparents built this home with two small closets in their bedroom and the room built for their daughter was a little larger and included one "larger" closet.  John and I call her room our "master" bedroom.  There isn't a large walk in closet, and there isn't a master bathroom.  John remodeled the bathroom in the hallway a couple of years ago and we now affectionately call it the "girls" bathroom.  The boys all use the bathroom in the front of the house.  This bathroom will be remodeled during phase II. I wanted to share with you the pictures of our newly completed master closet.  Since it isn't a large space it had to pack a punch with storage.  Before the renovation we had two bars across the entire length which kept me from being able to hang dresses in our closet.  I really wanted to be able to keep my dresses in our room,...

I realized recently I promised photos the kitchen long ago and never posted them.  I must tell you we are very happy with the kitchen renovation.  We purchased all the cabinets and the counter tops from Lowe's.  We ordered the faucets from a local plumbing store and the bar stools were purchased from Wal-mart. I wasn't really sure how I wanted to design the kitchen but the staff at Lowe's have the right software and we walked through the design painlessly.  Because we had the installation completed by their installer, we didn't have to pay tax on the purchase.  This made the installation much more affordable and we are so glad we did. We have decided we will make a few more alterations to the kitchen in "phase II," the next phase of our renovations.  We will removed the wall between the kitchen and what will become the dining room, move the current island to the opening between the kitchen and dining room and we will finally put permanent flooring down....

A panoramic view of the functional side of the laundry room.   I have often said you should live in a home for a while before you make decisions about design or renovation.  I am so glad we decided to do that with this house.  I am not sure how my grandparents lived in this small space for their entire marriage.  It is clear to me they didn't have storage space.  The fact they only had one child probably made it a little easier for them.  We have one living with us full time and we have the others over to visit and eat often. My granny didn't have a separate laundry room.  Her kitchen housed the washer and dryer.  It was a small kitchen so having the laundry space in there couldn't have been ideal, although, I never heard her complain.  In a previous post I detailed the renovation project to convert the dining room into the laundry room.  It never really got completely finished so during "phase I" we had the contractor compl...

We love Disney.  We aren't picky, we love Disney World, Disneyland, Disney movies, and we can even be found shopping in Disney stores if we find one in a mall.  I think it is more about the fun we have when we are together than anything else, but add to it the magic of Disney and the fun is multiplied.   I went to Disney World the first time in 1979.  Yes, I was a mere babe at the time.  I remember very little about the trip, but, I do remember the castle and Space Mountain.  I also clearly remember the Jungle Cruise.  I was asked to be the captain and steer the ship.  I was doing really well until the "head hunters" showed up and the person with the gun started shooting.  I took cover and was basically on the floor of the boat!  It was certainly a real experience in my mind.  I totally bought into the magic of Disney as a child and I have enjoyed sharing it with my husband, children, grandchildren and even my pare...

Let's face it.  When our children are little their presence fills our days.  At times, we think we will never recover from the long days and sleepless nights.  As they grow older, we become occupied with their activities and our days are still filled and busy.  As a mother of five, I know what full days are like.  Some days, I miss them.  With three of my children grown and married, one in college and one in Jr. High school, my days can still be full and busy, but, it is a much different busy.  I remember many Saturday mornings when we would call out the troops for cleaning duty.  Each child was given a room to clean or floors to vacuum and by the time we were finished, the house smelled better and the clutter was better under control.  The messes are much smaller these days and calling out the troops really isn't the same when there is only one child to call.  A teenager no less... Stephanie will be graduating from college in December...