Dad's building projects

It's funny living in a place like this. There is so much abundance and waste as well. People tend to throw things away that are perfectly fine. It's really a blessing to have something like DI around than can take stuff and get it to people who really need it, or know what to do with it. Around here, there is not many places close-by that you can take things to do donate. There is a good-will but it's up in Irvine and people don't want to head up there. I like to walk around and check the dumpster areas (Mom hates it when I do this) and check for things people are trying to get rid of. There are tables, chairs, various decorative items, lights, and all sorts of things that are in good shape (albeit a little old or worn, but in good shape nonetheless). This last week or so I found a desk in one of these dumpster areas (they're like little sheds where they keep the dumpsters). The garbage trucks won't take items such because they don't fit in the dumpster. We really didn't need another computer desk, but I though we might take it and see if we could use it. Mom didn't want it, no way. So we left it there and hoped someone would take it. It sat for a week and we finally agreed to take it and put it in Natalie's room for Mom's art work (she had been previously working on the kitchen table). so I took it to the garage, cleaned it up, sanded it down a bit and re-stained it and it looks as good as new. we moved it into Natalie's room where it resides today. But then we needed a chair, and we didn't want to buy an new one. I was looking on craigslist for cheap deals but found none. As a testament that the Lord knows our needs, the next day Mom found a couple of old kitchen chairs in the dumpster shed ready to be thrown out. They were old, and one was broken beyond repair. Luckily though the other was fit as a fiddle. It had a broken seat with a cushion you tie on. I took the cushion and took the foam out and removed the broken seat. Natalie helped me to sand and fix the chair. We then painted it to match the other furniture in Natalie's room, used the foam to upholster the seat with some dollar fabric from Walmart, and bolted it to the chair. It fit perfectly in the desk and now we have a new desk and chair for less than $5. I tell you, it feels good to take something broken and fix it up. (Maybe it's like how Heavenly Father feels when he can take someone who's "broken" and fix them up through the miracle of forgiveness) We also needed a shoe shelf by the door (there were shoes everywhere!) so I made on out of scraps we had left over from other projects. It's great daddy-daughter time as Natalie loves to come out to the garage and help me out with my projects.

Before

After

Chair and desk hard at work

Shoes!