The Great Build

I have the best husband. His parents came to visit last week, to see their only grandchild and the new house. Hubby was on vacation. He and his dad spent the whole week building me a cabinet for my stash. Hubby is an artist and never did this stuff as a kid. Now that he has his own house, he's taken an interest in building stuff. He made plans for three projects and had the lumber delivered a couple weeks ago. His dad was only too happy to help him while they were here. I think they both had a great time building, sharing ideas, and doing the male bonding thing.
Hubby's mom helped, too. We must have spent a couple of hours at Lowe's getting hardware, tools, and extras. His mom picked up a few extra things she thought we could use. Turned out pretty well, the things she bought us came in handy. One of them was the long level. She had great fun using it to check on how the men were doing. She was also there to help any time they needed an extra pair of hands.
It was a great week. They were predicting thunder showers most of it, but the weather held out wonderfully. It only sprinkled a couple of times while they were building. Even then, it wasn't too much to make them stop. By the week's end, they had the framework done and the shelves cut and notched. At that point, it was getting pretty heavy. They were taking it out of the basement each morning to work on it and putting it away at night. Each night it was a bit heavier. After the frame was done, they decided it would be best to continue the cutting outside, but finish the building where the cabinet will be located. It's made to fit along part of a wall in the basement family room.
They weren't able to finish the cabinet before we took his parents to the airport Sunday. That morning, they cut all the paneling and doors. All that's left now is for my husband to cover the shelves with contact paper, sand a few rough spots, and install the paneling and doors. Actually, the trim for the doors may need to be cut still. It's slower going, now that he's back at work, but it's coming along. With any luck, it might even be finished this weekend. Oh wait, I still need to pick out handles for the doors. I didn't like anything they had at Lowe's and wanted to check another place, or maybe even pull out the polymer clay and make some. That could be fun.
I did get to help with the cabinet a couple of times, but mostly I was occupied with the baby or cooking. It was great having extra people to cook for. I think hubby and the kids enjoyed the extra variety in the meals. I may have to put more effort into menu planning for just us, too. We don't need the extra desserts and such on a regular basis, but some of the main dishes would be nice to have more often.
The baby and I had our own bit of fun while the men were building my cabinet. Hubby put together the table pieces we picked out and we painted it. It's not the neatest project to let a baby help with, but she had fun and knows that she helped make it. She dipped her brush and slopped the paint on. Then I spread it around and wiped off the excess. It's a nice pale pink. When the baby is sleeping, I may sponge on a bit of gold mixed with glaze, not to cover the pink, but just add a bit of shimmer. Then I want to paint butterflies and flowers around the edge for her, maybe a couple of fairies, too. I think she'll like that.