Refinished Night Stands

A couple months ago my mom gave my sister a dresser that we were no longer using. My sister no longer needed the two small dressers she had so I asked her if I could have them. She told me that my neices had colored on them with pen and marker but that I could take them off her hands.
I brought them home determined to get the ink out. I looked over each side table and went on pinterest to figure out how in the world I was going to get the ink out. It wasn't too long before I found a post suggesting bleach.
I grabbed a scotch brite sponge and diluted a small amount of bleach in some water. I dipped my sponge into the mixture and started scrubbing at the ink. To my surprise the ink started to come out no problem. Some areas were really easy to remove and others needed quite a bit of elbow grease.
Once I finished getting out most of the ink I washed the tables with soap and water and let them sit overnight. Okay that's not totally true. I actually let them sit in my garage for three months. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with them. Did I want to stain? Or take a different approach and do a fun bright color? It wasn't until my brother asked if I would paint them for him that I decided what to do. I had a black stain from a previous project and I knew that's what I would use.
I sanded each piece and wiped off. I did a light first coat and let it dry. After it was dry I took a sanding block and distressed some edges and made it look old. Once I had distressed it to my liking I used a polycrylic finish and was done. I loved the way they turned out but was kinda sad that they weren't going in my room.

My Mom and I

Inspired to Share

Today I felt inspired to share my story. Not my whole life's story but just what has been happening the last couple years of my life.
I'm going to start back in July 2013. To be exact it was my birthday and I was signing papers at an Assisted living community. My job was a day part time CNA and I was so excited. I loved my job. I loved who I worked with and I loved the residents. My maternal grandma and paternal grandpa passed away when I was 14 and I missed them greatly. Working with the elderly reminded me of my grandparents and the residents kind of became my grandparents. I learned so many lessons from these wise people who had lived through so much. I will be forever grateful for their advice and counsel. I will never forget the first time one of them passed away. My heart was broken but at the same time rejoicing because they were in a better place and they were happy. It was about April 2014 that I started working full time night shift. Night shift is hard to begin with. To make it even harder I became a Med Tech. I don't think at the time I fully understood the responsibility that was placed on my shoulders. Everything was great. By November I had gotten the hang of being in charge, or so I thought. I was called into my supervisors office and was told that I was being too bossy and that I needed to treat all the CNA's the same. After I got out of the office I bawled. I was hurt that no one had come to me and told me that I was being bossy. I had to be called in to an office to be told by my supervisor. I did my best to be as fair and kind as I could to the other employees. I moved on and was just grateful that I had a job and was making money.
After the new year, my best friend came home from her mission. I was unable to make it to the airport for her homecoming but said that I would come over before I went to work. I had an odd feeling when I woke up that day. It was the weirdest feeling one that I didn't understand. I went and visited my friend and then headed to work. That night I was only working half a shift so I got to leave at midnight. I was the med tech that night. That strange feeling came a couple times at work and I just ignored it. I finished passing meds at about 11:15. Between 11:15 and 12:00 I made a decision that changed my life.
 I decided that I was going to do something that I knew was against the rules. I thought to my self that just this one time wouldn't hurt. I'm not going to tell you what the rule was because it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that I ignored the feeling I had felt all day and justified something I knew was wrong. I've been told all my life that if you do things even just one time that one time is too many. As soon as I had broke the rule I knew what I had done was wrong. It wasn't until the next morning when I woke up and received a missed phone call from my work that I realized to the full extent that I had done wrong.
At the time I blamed my bad decision making on stress from moving to a new house. I know now that is not what it was. I made the decision fully knowing that I was ignoring the Spirit that was telling me to do what was right. That morning after seeing the missed phone call I went and told my mom everything. I don't think I have ever been so ashamed of myself or cried so hard. I composed myself and called my work and they said that they had looked at the cameras and wanted me to come in and talk. I was in no shape to drive myself so my wonderful mother took me over there. I walked through the doors and felt like everyone knew what I had done. I went to the managers office and I knew he was angry. He had me sit in a chair outside his office and wait. We were waiting for my supervisor and the other employee involved. We were brought into the office and sat down and there was silence. He showed us the video footage and it looked bad, we looked bad. My coworker started to cry and I had already cried all the tears that I had so I just hung my head and looked down.
I felt like the worst person ever. I felt even worse when my supervisor who I considered one of my friends told me that she was disappointed in me. I can't believe that I disappointed someone that I had the highest amount of respect for. She taught me so much and I threw it into her face.
They told us that they were still deciding if we got to keep our jobs and that they would call us. I ran out of that office and out the door. One of my sweet coworkers was out there and she showed me so much compassion. She gave me the biggest hug and I will be forever grateful for her kindness.
 I waited for my mom to come pick me up. I saw her car and as she got closer I cried even harder. I told her what my boss had said to me. She told me everything was going to be okay. We got home to our old house and I laid down on the couch and cried myself to sleep. About a week later I was informed that I was fired.
The months that followed were some of the hardest I have ever been through. I was too embarrassed to talk about what had happened and I was so hard on myself. I couldn't believe that I had done what I did. I have replayed over and over the things that happened that night and I have had the hardest time forgiving myself. The guilt that I felt was almost at times too much to bear. It wasn't until recently that I have been able to forgive myself. I wouldn't have been able to if it weren't for my Heavenly Father. It felt like He was distancing himself from but I was the one who was distancing myself from him. The peace that I have been able to feel because I have drawn near to him brings me greater joy that anything in this world. I have come to understand that we all make mistakes. Some mistakes are life altering and it takes a lot of hard work to get back on the right track. I am so grateful for those who reached out to me during those hard months. I am also grateful for such loving parents who were patient with me and loved me when I could not love myself. I am forever grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me even though I fail him everyday. I am also grateful for his Son who paid the price for my sins and loved me enough that he would die for me.

I hope anyone who reads this can know that what ever mistake you make, whatever sorrows you feel that you can overcome any obstacle or trial. God lives. He hears and answers your prayers and he will help you if you will only ask and obey.  

A little about me

When meeting new people I seem to always start off with I am the youngest of 8 kids. There are four boys and four girls. Some people are like oh my gosh your poor mom. I can't imagine giving birth to eight kids. Then I start my little story and explain it to them like this. My Mom was previously married and had 2 girls and 2 boys with her first husband. My Dad was also previously married and had 1 girl and 1 boy. They each got divorced to their spouses and then found each other. They got married and had my brother and I. Seriously the cutest little story ever. I love my family so much, they mean everything to me.

 I love doing crafts and creating things from scratch. When I was 12 instead of asking for make up or clothes for Christmas I asked for a sewing machine. Yeah I was the kind of girl who still played Barbies, had braces and instead of being social I would sew in my room and watch movies. Don't worry i'm sure I will tell you some more detailed stories of that period of my life but for now that's all you get. So back to the sewing machine. When I started sewing I wasn't very good at all. My lines weren't straight, and the ''squares'' I would cut out to make a blanket didn't look anything close to a square. After sewing for a few years I finally got the hang of it and I got pretty good. I took sewing classes in middle school and loved them so much. I just love sewing until I need to rip out some seams and then i'm done for a little while. I am so grateful though that I got a sewing machine and that I know how to sew. This skill will definitely help me when I have a family of my own and need to sew on a button or repair some pants. 

Also within the last year I have developed a love for refinishing furniture. I've done a couple of dressers and recently refinished some night stands for my brother. I think it's so cool that you can take an ugly piece of fake wood furniture and turn it into such a beautiful piece. You can probably find me at a thrift store a couple times a week looking for a potentially beautiful piece. I have a wood pallet that I haven't decided what to do with yet but when I know I will let you know how it turned out. 

Another thing about me is that I love the colors hot pink and black. My room is hot pink and black and so is the inside of my car. I tend to paint a lot of things black just because I love how clean and sharp it looks. I do have to remind myself that everything can't be black and that I can't wear black all the time.    

Getting Started

So first things first. I apologize for slacking and only posting one thing on my blog. I thought that I would create a blog and post something everyday. Well obviously that didn't happen. I promise I will blog more often and really get this thing going. Bear with me i'm new to blogging and things might look plain for a while. I'm learning and so hopefully soon I will have a cute page set up. Love you guys and thanks for following.

~Madi