About Me

Last updated January 11, 2012
Hi, I'm gail from My Repurposed Life

As I say in my profile I am a mom, aunt, sister, cousin and friend to many. I am in the process of repurposing my life, after many life changing incidents. I love to look for trash to turn into treasures! It is what makes me happy, and keeps me busy. I was a pre-kindergarten teacher for 19 years. The only reason I am no longer teaching is because the school closed. That was a little over four years ago.  I am now unemployed and to make ends meet I work part time doing odd jobs.
My regular readers know I have one daughter, Jamie.  She is my best friend. Jamie moved to Nashville after she graduated from Depauw University.  I miss her terribly, but Nashville is the best place for her. It’s less than three hours from Louisville, so we make do.
I also have a great niece and nephew who are like my own children.

This is the three of them a couple of years ago at  Christmas.  Bubba, Missy and Jamie
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  This is Jamie and her new husband  Andy.
4.30.11

jamie and gail Christmas 2011

There have been two marriages this year! Bubba  married  Anna, a wonderful young lady I am happy to welcome to the family.

7.11.11 (Maui Hawaii)

Anna & Bubba

  The furbabies. That would be Kitty on the left, Louie in the middle and Matt on the right. Louie is the grand-dog.

My fish—who have been very busy producing offspring! These four fish have blessed me with about 10 babies this summer.

Here are four of the babies, many of them are still brown and difficult to see.

  

As you probably know, I live in Louisville, KY.  I’ve lived here all my life, and have lived in the same house for the last 36 years.


This is my house. Ignore the huge bushes please, in fact pretend they don’t exist, that’s what I do!  I would love to remove them, but if you’ve ever taken out bushes like this, you know what a job it is. I have been  removing a couple a year, but this year I haven’t removed any!  (we’ll blame it on the heat!)
The fish pond is right beyond the jockey, and tipsy pots.

I love that this is home. It’s my home. It’s not the best, nor the worst home, but it’s home to me!

It’s hard to say which room is my favorite. I suppose I would have to say the living room, because that is where I gather with the kids! I did a makeover on my living room and that included a  fireplace makeover  in early 2010.

Recently there were lots of posts about “where I blog”.  I didn’t join in because it wasn’t worth doing an entire post about my little corner of the couch.


My favorite thing to do DIY wise is to repurpose every day items that are headed for the garbage/landfill.

I love repurposing old windows.

I also like making benches out of headboards.

If you would like to see many more repurposed items you can check out my gallery year 1 2 or 3  It is the quickest way to tour my site.

I wish I knew how to tile so I could do a new backsplash when I do my mini makeover on my kitchen. I plan to paint the cabinets and possibly the vinyl floor.  Doing a new backsplash would make a huge difference. The reason it will be a mini makeover is because I will not be replacing my appliances.
Update:

I did a makeover on my kitchen from top to bottom--well except for the appliances. You can see all the details by viewing the label kitchen makeover.

Something you may not know about me is I used to DIY when Jamie was small. However, being a wife, mom and teacher, made my DIY  take a hiatus.

I made a Cookie Monster bean bag toss.  I ended up using this in my class until the very end.

I also made a Care Bear.

  Jamie had a playhouse in the back yard. I made a stove/sink piece. (note the window)

 The playhouse was a regular shed that we modified with a porch, a dutch door and a window.

Why I love to blog:
While surfing the internet for inspiration on some of my finds I ran across blogland. It really is a wonderful place. There are blogs on any and every subject you can imagine. In July 2009 I started writing this blog. It became a journal of all of my re-claimed, re-purposed treasures.
Blogging has become a huge part of my life. I am not sure whether I work on projects so that I can blog, or if I blog so I can work on my many projects. It's not a huge blog, with tons of followers, but it is MY blog. My life now has a purpose. I don't expect to blog for the rest of my life, but it has certainly helped me get through a very difficult time in my life. My readers are very supportive, although I don't know them personally, I feel an attachment toward them.  People who write blogs, or follow blogs will understand the kinship you feel toward these people who are total strangers. I have prayed for them, cried for their loss of loved ones, celebrated  graduations, weddings, and births.  That is why I blog.

You can check out my interview @ Working Writers

My 25 Things

So, there you have it, probably more information than you needed to know. But, if you still have “inquiring minds” feel free to ask me anything in a comment below.