Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore

DSC_0208

I had heard about Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore… it’s a community shop where builders and remodelers and stores will donate perfectly useful extras and overstocks of building materials for people to use. It’s a fabulous way to find building materials on the “cheap” and it’s awesome because it keeps unwanted material out of the landfill. Many larger communities have one, check with your local HfH and see if there is one in your area.

I’ve never been and I wish I had gone there a lot sooner, I would have definately saved a ton of cash. But now that I know about it, I’m sure to make it a destination often as I continue to improve and upgrade my little Moby.

Jessy and I went over to look for a couple old windows for my two cold frames that Tim is building for me!!! (I got to see them today and they look fantastic, but I’m jumping ahead a bit.) I needed the glass to cover the tops of the frames and we had checked with new glass and other options and they just weren’t working out. I had gotten some very old glass windows from a neat guy here in town, but the frames were a little too rough to use. They were just too brittle and old and we broke a couple trying to get it to work.

When we first walked in, I just knew we were in a wonderful place. It was like the ultimate builders thrift store!
DSC_0209

Tons of windows, doors, tiles, sinks, cabinets, appliances, furniture, hardware, and just whatever else.
DSC_0214

Beautiful left over tiles in all sorts of sizes! I bought six big 13 x 13 inch wide tiles to glue on the top of this old desk that I’m making into a garden table! 70 cents each. Just for fun, I checked at Lowes later on and they were selling the same tiles for over $8 each!!! I need a few more to finish the table, and I know where I’m going to get them!
DSC_0215
SHUTTERS!!!! Oh my! TONS OF SHUTTERS! I couldn’t believe it. I wish I had known, I would have saved at LEAST $100 on shutters! I do know where I’m going to get the shutters for the last windows in the Moby! I have four more windows to shutter, and they had lots of the same green shutters that I am using!!! WOW!
DSC_0216

Just oodles of windows. And resonably priced. These are decent double hung, energy saving windows. Most with screens and all. They don’t take in the old single pane windows anymore, because of how awful they are with heat loss and all that. I think when the time comes to upgrade some of the windows in my Moby, I will be going there to snoop around with my measurements!
DSC_0217

They had a whole bunch of these thin, bi-fold doors. And I believe they would make awesome raised beds! Some have neat raised panel details! They have to be at least 6 feet tall, and I would suspect they are closer to 7 or 8 feet. Some were composite plastic, but many were good old wood. I am definitely going to revisit that idea when we get to making some more of the raised beds.
DSC_0218

But this find was so exciting I almost couldn’t breath! Whole cabinets for $10! Nice solid cabinet frames. Some even had the doors to all the cupboards! And drawers! Since I only need 110 inches of counters for the bottom of my kitchen row, I could EASILY make do nicely with some of these cabinets. When the time comes to redo my kitchen, I am SO going to be coming here first. They had quite a few. The fellow there said they get a lot of kitchen cabinets from remodels. People with too much money and all, go and get these $10,000+ kitchen remodels and very often ditch perfectly nice cabinets in the reworking. Since I don’t need a lot of cabinets, I just might be able to really save a TON of money.
DSC_0219

In the end, I was a good girl and only got the windows I needed for the cold frames and 6 of the big pretty tiles. I have a ton of other ideas that I can’t wait to try out and get parts and pieces from the ReStore! We are absolutely going to try using some of those closet doors if the price is right. I’m going to price out lumber and then check the ReStore for doors. But if it’s close, I’m still going to consider ReStore because I love that it’s good materials being reused as well as helping out a great charity!

Oh, it’s going to be a FUN spring here at the Moby!!! So many plans!!! Just have to remember to do them one at a time!

Pin It

A Special Day

DSC_0001

We packed a lunch.

Grabbed our cameras and got in the car and drove off for a fun afternoon away from the Moby.

We went to Deshler, Ohio. Home of a bunch of train traffic. We like trains.
DSC_0010

It was cheap and fun. And I got to play with my new camera, and that was a blast. And to be outside in the near-spring air and overcast, almost sunny, nearly springlike outdoors was wonderful.

Deshler, as it is told, has some of the highest concentrations of train traffic in one little area. It’s a big CSX line crossroads and there are tracks all over the place. In Deshler, I believe that telling your boss you were late in the morning because of a train, is something that they believe. I think it’s a way of life there. I’ve never seen so many crossing gates and those big flashing lights and all that.
DSC_0002

I read on the internet that at some point, a train jumped the tracks there and slammed into the side of the old depot. Right into the wall! That must have been a bit of a fright. Apparently they never fixed it, just boarded it up. Apparently it happened in 2002 and the train derailed, and some of the cars slammed into the old depot.

That fresh in my mind of course, we had to get some video of a train going by us very close. We were sitting on a big pile of rocks about 10 feet from the tracks. I have to tell you, it was a little frightening at first, but then it was thrilling. The wind from the cars was blowing us around and Jessy said our hair was all silly. I could hardly hear, Maggie and I just sat together and watched the big beast go by. Thank goodness, that was a short one.

Well, enjoy a few pictures that I snapped with the new camera… it’s just a bunch of trains and various shots at the Crossroads Park, while waiting for more trains!
DSC_0014
DSC_0021DSC_0026
DSC_0030
DSC_0039
DSC_0050DSC_0059
DSC_0060
DSC_0066
DSC_0070
DSC_0081
DSC_0091
DSC_0100
DSC_0126
DSC_0137
DSC_0138
DSC_0166

Pin It

Guess what came in the mail today?

DSC07953

I’ve been wanting one now for at least a good year or more.

I’ve been saving up gig money and windfall cash for it.

I finally got to order one off eBay over the weekend…

And it’s here.
DSC07955

Can you guess?

It’s going to make my blogs and websites look simply smashing…
DSC07958

Yes! My new (display model used) Nikon d40 DSLR camera!!!!

All I can say is watch out Pioneer Woman… Mobile Home Woman has finally got her fancy schamcy camera!!! And I just can’t wait to get shooting!!!!

Good bye little funky Sony camera!!! Sorry, you get sent off to the old equipment drawer for when I need a cheapy little camera and don’t want to risk the new fancy one!!!

DSC_0086

How exciting! Jessy, of course, has been telling me all about it, and showing me this and that and turning this feature on and testing that out and all. At first I couldn’t get it to auto-focus and of course, she figured out that it was on manual focus for me from the box.

Now that we are sisters in the Nikon camerawomanhood, she’s very excited to go on a shoot with Maggie and I. So hopefully, tomorrow, we’re going on our first big outing to Deshler, Ohio and watch trains. We’ll pack a picnic lunch, enjoy some sunshine and watch trains. Deshler is supposed to be one of the heaviest intersections of cargo trains in Ohio and it’s only about an hour from here. We’ve wanted to go for the longest time!

But in the meanwhile… I had to start playing around with the new camera! It’s soooo nice. It’s not as fancy as Jessy’s as she has a pro D80 and all, but this is one super nice camera. We realized that our lenses are interchangeable, that is good. Now we can get a stable of extra lenses together and share them. (Those things are expensive!) I do need to get a UV filter for mine to protect the lens from any damage and I need to scrounge up a suitable little carry bag. I might have something that would work nicely, and that would be good.

Well, sit back and enjoy a few shots off the new camera! Mind you, the operator still has a little learning curve and I’m definitely going to have to get used to the weight and heft of the camera. But I was getting better as the afternoon went on!
DSC_0016
DSC_0021
DSC_0035
DSC_0040
DSC_0054
DSC_0058
DSC_0059
DSC_0063
DSC_0070
DSC_0071
DSC_0082
DSC_0084

Related Posts with ThumbnailsPin It