My wife Sweetie likes to create.  Surprised? Actually it is much more than that.  She loves noticing beauty, making beautiful to be specific. She has a God given gift of seeing how to combine things into a rich tapestry of visual experience.  The problem? She doesn’t physically see well.  After an ocular injury a few years ago, fumes of paint and thinners now are painful for her, in the past she did all the refinish work herself…and LOVED doing it.  That’s where I come in. Sweetie has an uncanny ability to see the depth of beauty someone or something is before the rest of us see it.  We regularly go to yard sales together, auctions and sales….after all as Gallager would say ” It’s ON SALE” gives people permission to buy right? Wrong. We have four teen to adult children, we believe in good stewardship, so Sweetie makes a game of it.  How to find what she so envisions for less than 85% of what retail would be….

We’re working on the latest project…she wanted a French Provincial dining set that would go from a 48 inch round to 96″ oval…it took her 5 years to find it, but she did it again…$10 for the chairs, $20 for the table and ALL the leaves…just waiting for me to restore them to her vision of perfect…

It’s kinda handy to have a wife think you’re amazing because you’re willing to paint…refinish…and after all, it saves money for the really important purchases, like hunting guns and bow making materials…right?

Making do is more than a money thing….it’s a shared vision of a life we believe in living out…one where giving and working for values we believe in matter more than high budget furniture that isn’t what she wanted in the first place.  I’ve come to understand that Sweetie takes the it is more blessed to give than receive concept to harvest…and I love seeing her smile…so just call me…willing….

to make do….