More Weekend Work

More work for us this weekend! We saw that the fascia on our house is rotting and falling off, as I mentioned in a previous post. Hubby took down part of the fascia, which is Hardie Board, and saw a whole bunch of new problems. The backer board is OSB board and that is rotten. The Hardie Board wicked the water into the OSB backer and it is like a sponge. One more headache with this Hardee Board saga. So, not only is the Hardie Board falling off, the backer board is rotting AND...the roof was made with 2" x 2" joists. Guess what? The ends of the 2 x 2's are rotting! Go figure. Yesterday we made a trip to Lowe's to get our supplies for this mess. Hubby is making supports to wrap around the 2 x 2's so we can nail a new backer board on and clad it with vinyl. He did about 24' of replacing today. I helped where I could. I was a holder and a nailer and a climber. We will be at this a while. Moral of the story, if you see Hardie Board on a structure you're thinking of buying...RUN! That's my opinion and only MY opinion.

I made another set of curtains. This time it was for the kitchen. I'll be getting some pics in here as soon as I move the other project I'm working on. That is polyurethaning an old entertainment center. I have the shelves done and now I'll need to do the body. The entertainment center is in my kitchen between the wall and the windows where the new curtains are. This is going to be  pretty tight. I'll have to take down the curtains so they don't get anything on them.

Take care.

Zentangle

I've found another project to do in my spare time...whatever that is. Actually, it only takes a few minutes here and there during the day to make something so interesting. At least, I think it's interesting. Have you ever heard of Zentangle? I didn't until I saw it featured on Squidoo (the only other place I like to blog). What it is is structured doodling. Here are my first couple of attempts at it.

Zentangles

I have NO artistic talent whatsoever. I wouldn't call what I did here artistic. To me, it's actually like Dr. Seuss stuff and it's all from the depths of the mind. Whatever is in the imagination you put on paper. Fill up the paper and you're done. This has been going on for a few years and I've only just heard of it. Hmmm. It's a little addictive, too. You can find patterns all over the web and that's where I got most of the center and righthand piece drawings. The one rule I love is that nothing is wrong. Every line and mistake is correct. You can mess with your mistakes more to make it more interesting or you can leave it be and fill in around it. It is a bit addictive. I find myself wondering what the next doodle will look like and what can I do different.

Oh, yes. There are 'official' papers to doodle on for Zentangling. My pieces are not those. My practice paper is a one-pound bag of scrap paper for scrapbooking. It is heavyweight paper cardstock. My pen is a fine-point Sharpie I use when I send postcards. Yes. There are 'certain' types of markers you can use to color in. I'm not going to color anything until I like something really well. My markers will be Sharpies. I've seen a pack of 24 really cool 80's Glam colors that I like. I'll go after those in a little while. For now, I'm enjoying creating. There is a 'philosophy' behind it, too. I don't know about that yet. I'm having fun playing!

The left piece is before I went web searching for patterns. The middle and right are after web searching. Like I said. I have NO artistic bone in my body. So, for me, doodling is the way to go!

Maybe you'll give it a try?

Take care.

Weekend Work

This weekend we didn't do much work to prepare the house for company. This weekend was mainly focused on, for me, inside work. Cooking, cleaning, laundry. For hubby, he spent his time in the barn working on a small Case tractor we inherited from a neighbor before he passed. He was a really good man and we miss him.

Today we went to Wal Mart and picked up some more fabric for curtains.More pictures will be coming soon as they will be for a bedroom and kitchen. I got an extra piece of fabric for 'just because'. I don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe make an extra set for the kitchen or maybe our bedroom. I enjoy collecting fabric I like. I always find something to make with it. Right now, I have a lot of fabric for quilts. I guess I better get a move on those. Quilting isn't one of my most favorite things to do, but I like doing it, nevertheless.

Food-wise, I made kielbasa and kraut on Saturday. Sunday I made a beef pot pie. We'll be eating well this week! I've also promised Hubby to make a sugar-free dessert that I'm sure he'll like. I've never made it before, but it has bananas in it. That makes it a sure-fire winner. Actually, I had it when I was a kid and it was my favorite then.

Friday we had a birthday at work. I made a Pretzel Jello Salad. Check it out. This was another one of my favorites when I was a kid. I remember having some at a neighbor's house and I fell in love with it. My mother never made it and I almost forgot about it. I never made this before and it was a HUGE hit at work. Hubby liked his sugar-less version. It wasn't sugarless, it just had less sugar than the original recipe called for. It was also pretty easy to make. Hubby already had a request for it for Thanksgiving dessert. He's already mentioned a bunch of pies he'd like. LOL! He's my big kid.

We had a little bit of rain last night. The weather is getting cooler here. It was in the 60's this morning and probably in the 70's the rest of the day. I didn't look at the thermometer outside to see.Autumn is coming! I LOVE autumn!!! It's in the 60's again at 10 pm. Nice!

That's all the excitement we've had this weekend. So, all of you, take care.

Until next time.

Before and After Project Completed

This is one of my 'before and after' posts. Here is a project I completed last weekend. I finally have a picture to show as I mentioned this in a previous post.

Before

When I found thid, I had no idea what this thing was. It looked like it was an end table and a coffee table. There were cup marks on the short and long sides. That hole in the back makes it seem like it was a TV stand. Someone made it. The wood is good and the craftsmanship is pretty good. So I decided to make it into something I've wanted for a while.

Bench in the Bathroom

I've wanted a seat in the bathroom which will hold magazines, towels and supplies. The area between the toilet and the sink is a weird size. So when I saw this, I had to bring it home. I painted it white and distressed it. I made a cushion from the curtain fabric. I put legs on it and put a few coats of polyurethane all over. Now, when company comes, they can put on their shoes here, sit down to do something else or put clothes here while they shower.

Take care.

Curtains

Here are pictures of the curtains I made last weekend.

Bathroom Curtains

I wanted something different for the bathroom. If you look back in my posts a while ago, you'll see there were beige curtains in here. Now there's a little bit of country color. That's my whole idea is to get this room a little bit in the country style. Paint chip on the wall to the right of the picture. Planning to paint the room this color soon.

Den Curtains

I ended up putting these in the den. It really brightens up the whole room. On the rocking chair is a bit of the material that was left over. I made a small cushion with a bit of stuff I had in my sewing supplies. I have two more cushions ready to stuff which will go in this room. One more similar to this one and one plain beige one. Yes, we cover our chairs because of the dogs. Trixie is the only one who gets up on the furniture and this is her favorite chair (on the left). Her other favorite place is on the linoleum bathroom floor, which is the bathroom picture above. It's cool in there and she can lay flat and not be bothered.

That's my curtains for this go-round. I'll be sewing some for other rooms soon.


Take care.

Today's Work

Today Hubby and I worked on our den. We took out the furniture, cleaned blinds and windows, swept and rinse 'n vac'd the floor, cleaned the lampshades. We've just moved stuff back into there a little while ago. Now we're figuring out what to do next. This room will need only a good sweeping when company comes. Maybe we'll rinse 'n vac again. Oh! I just remembered. I have to clean the fireplace and oil the woodwork, clean the oil lamps and clean the mirror above the mantel.

I guess I'd better get going.

Take care.

Work This Weekend

Once again, we've been busy with yard work. Here are some pics of our porch and pavilion that we've been working on. I can say that we're done except for picking up the supplies and moving them to the barn.

Revamped Porch

Here's the porch we've updated a bit. Made new steps and made them wider. New handrails. New top rail on the bannisters around the deck. Used Restore on the deck. Added solar lights to the stairs. One more thing about Restore: the white stuff is sand on the kick plate. If Restore clumps, the sand will wash off with the color. What's left is white sand sticking to the porch. I'll have to knock it off and repaint that area again.

Solar Lights on Stairs

We bought some solar lights from Lowe's. A two-pack is $11 bucks. These throw off a lot of light and is well worth the money. Also, I'm glad we didn't have to run a wire. I LOVE solar powered stuff!

Picket Underpinning

Instead of cheap lattice or plastic stuff, we went with fence pickets for around the base of the deck. It was very inexpensive. Took little work and went up fast. We got three 24" slats out of each board. I repainted all of this today. It was two different shades of Canyon Brown stain. Now it's closer.

Picket Privacy Fencing

We put this on one side of the picnic pavilion to keep the setting sun from getting in our eyes. Works great! Cheap fix! If you look to the left, I've scrubbed the eaves on this pavilion. If you enlarge the photo, then you'll see the mold I was removing from the eaves. One side is white and the other is blackish. Mold grows everywhere down here.

Picnic Table Revamp

Hubby worked hard on this one. A couple of years ago, he made this picnic table. It only weighs about a hundred pounds. No joke! He cut off part of the legs and added wheels this week. He sanded the top and added the white apron. I put four coats of polyurethane on the top and stained the legs. Hubby is so handy with stuff!

Well, that's some of the stuff we did to prepare for our company in November.

I hope you had a productive day, too!

Take care.

More Work

We're getting some more work done to prep for the company coming in November. Hubby put the final touches on the deck. He painted the stair treads with Restore and I came home from work and stained the railing. The only problem we have is that the stain is 2 different colors even though it has the same name on the can. I HATE THAT! Our first 2 cans of Canyon Brown is a reddish brown. It looks really nice. The last can of Canyon Brown is really a dark brown. Totally different from the other cans. Must've been from a different lot or a different plant. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend? I can't stand all of the different shades on one project. I can handle 2 shades, but not three or more. Also, the wood we just bought (still from Lowe's) is taking the stain differently. How lovely is that?! If I restain the wood, all will be well.

A few years ago, I got Hubby into solar lighting. I love the fact that there's no wiring to it. We've bought a bunch of sets for the yard flower beds. I just bought 4 for the deck stair treads so we can see where we're going. It'll help our little one, too. She's supposed to be going blind, but she sure doesn't act like it. Her eyes are just starting to get milky. Also, the people coming in will need to see our steps to get in at night. They're supposed to arrive at midnight so we'll need this lighting for their safety.

Today I'm working on the curtains I wanted to make. I'm almost done with one set. I don't know whether to put this set in the one guest bedroom or the dining room. It's a brown/green/blue flowered print with a beige-y background. Whichever room I choose, they will brighten things up a bit. The bedroom has a crocheted yellow bedspread (thanks Yuri) and beige and white walls. The dining room has the same walls but the furniture is very dark brown and rustic. Either way, I'll blog about it later.

Next sewing project will be the curtains for our company bathroom. That is a medium dusty blue background with dark pink, blue and white/cream flowers. I'm hoping to have enough to make a cushion for the project I have in this bathroom. I can't wait to get it done so I can show you.

I'll have more projects going this weekend, I'm sure.

Take care.

RIP...Lulu

Well...my last Barred Rock chicken passed away today. She was about 6 years old or so. Probably 'or so'. I can't remember when we got her and her sisters. 6 years is pretty old for a chicken. Especially since most people eat theirs after about 2 years of laying. I have 4 hens and 1 roo left. These will live their last days in retirement. I have one still laying. I think it's my Salmon Leghorn. She's looking a bit sluggish, too. I haven't gotten an egg in a while, so it may be her who's laying.

At this time, mine are just layers. I'm considering raising the next batch for the freezer. I'd be doing the 'chicken tractor' thing to make it worthwhile to raise for meat. I need to get in touch with the abattoir to see what they charge to 'do them in' and prep for the freezer as I'm too much of a softie.

Now, if we're talking rats...that's a different story. I CAN 'do in' rats. ; )  Speaking of that, I haven't seen any rats for most of the summer. I haven't heard them in the coop nor seen them in the yard nor smelled them peeing anywhere nor seen them in the compost heap. I consider that a pretty good summer!

So long, Lulu. R.I.P.

Take care.