Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have a house full of people for this Thanksgiving holiday. Relatives came up from Florida and our house is full. The weather was in the 30's and 40's this morning but it warmed up to the 50's and the breeze died down. We made a really good dinner and ate outside. My brother-in-law wanted to have a real Thanksgiving outdoors just like the Pilgrims did. I think we got the correct weather down here. We had 3 portable heaters outside in our pavilion so we could eat comfortably. It was a great day! Good food! Good people! New friends were made!

Our little nephew wanted to collect chicken eggs from our hens. Our hens aren't laying and they haven't been laying for a long while. We didn't have the heart to let him come back empty-handed so we planted a few for him. He was so ecstatic to get the eggs. It was too cute to watch him. He's the kind of kid that talks in exclamation points. "I got four eggs in one nest!"

I  hope all of you had a really great day, too!

Take care.

Curtains

Here is a pic of the curtains mentioned in a previous post that I made for the kitchen. I love the pattern. It is the same as the set I made for the guest room but it is in light green.

Kitchen Curtains

The green is very light. Some time in the near future, I'll be painting the walls a light green like this. I plan to split the wall with a chair rail and paint white on one side and green on the other.

Take care.

Before & After - Project Completed

Here is the project I mentioned a couple of posts ago. We started with this coffee table which we rescued from the swap shop.

Rescued Coffee Table - Before

This shows the extensive water damage and messed up veneer. We sanded this then I remembered to take a picture. Hubby sanded it again then fixed the chipped veneer with Bondo.

Bondo on Coffee Table - Before

Here is the Bondo job hubby did and he finished it beautifully. First of all, I wanted to stain each section of the design in different colors of stain. After seeing how bad the veneer was messed and chipped, I decided to paint it instead. Hubby put long legs on the table and replaced the apron under the table with solid wood. It was previously particle board that had moisture damage. Paint would definitely take care of all of the problems. Angel, our oldest, is under the table. She loves to be under things.

Rescued Coffee Table - After

Here is the table. Using the design from the original veneer, I taped and painted the brown. Then, I taped and painted the almond white. Then, I measured and taped off for the pinstripe. Then, I put on 4 coats of satin polyurethane. Then, I waxed and buffed the whole thing. Now we have a pretty darn nice breakfast table that we can sit at when we eat. It's more of a bar-style and we'll have a view of our back yard in all seasons. As you can see, it took about a week of after-work work to finish this project. Worth it!

A lot of project planning will take place around this table.

Take care.

Baking

Here are a couple of things I baked for us this weekend. Baking is one of my most favorite things to do.

A is for Apple Pie

I had some left over apples which weren't good enough to eat nor were they bad enough to throw out. Yum!

Then, for our company coming in a couple of weeks...

Coconut Butterscotch Cookies

This is one of my most favorite cookies in the world. It is butterscotch chips and coconut. What a combo!!! Yum!

Take care.

Weekend Work - Hardie Board Pics

As I mentioned a few posts ago, we had a problem with Hardie Board. It was rotting and coming off of the fascia on the house. Here are some pics I took of the process. Sorry they are late in coming, but I wanted to show you what I was talking about.

Hardie Board Joint Rotting

This pic is of the front of the house where the Hardie Board was soaking up water and growing mold. This is rotting because of the water wicking and the mold growing.

Hardie Board Rotting in General

This pic is of the Hardie Board after it soaked up water and the paint was peeling off. We've had a few pieces laying around the yard from other projects and it does soak up and hold water. It takes a few years to rot, as this has done. The next pic will show you how the Hardie Board did not protect the backer board.

Hubby Working

Hubby was pulling off sections of the OSB backer board a little bit at a time. He was working in about 12 foot sections so we could replace the OSB board with pine lumber and cover it with vinyl. Personally, if I was the manufacturer, I wouldn't have used the OSB board anywhere on a house. I'm also betting that the roof wasn't finished properly so I can't blame all of this solely on the Hardie Board. I still don't like the stuff nor do I like OSB board. I don't think I'll ever pay to buy this stuff again.

Extra Framing

Since the roof joists are 2" x 2", Hubby made blocks which wrap around the 2" x 2"s so we can nail a solid backer in place. I would never have made a roof with 2" x 2"s. In SC, we have hurricanes and I don't know how this kind of building passed the requirements for strong winds. We are now concerned that the walls and the rest of the house will have to be repaired little by little.

Vinyl Fascia

Here is a picture of the vinyl clad board we put up. It's not the best job in the world but it should keep water out. We used construction adhesive on the board to attach the vinyl. Then we stapled the vinyl onto the new backer board. Then we caulked all of the seams and the dents the stapler made. It may be overkill, but it should last until we can replace the whole roof, which looks like it will be in the near future.

While we were up on the ladders, we noticed some of the shingles were lifting. Not good! I hope it was lifting because of the heat, but I think I know better.

Oh well. I guess you live and learn and do a lot of work.

Take care.

Work Weekend

This work weekend is a pretty good one. Hubby and I have been revamping a table to use in our kitchen for meals. We have a really nice and huge dinner table, which is posted on a previous blog around last Thanksgiving. However, it is too huge for just two people to eat at. This one will be taller and I'll put it near my kitchen window so we can look outside and enjoy the view of our backyard. The only thing is, we've Frankensteined a coffee table and it is probably going to be heck trying to get chairs to match. If worst comes to worst, I'll cut down a pair of bar stools and rehab them, too.

The weather is getting a bit cooler, which is a really welcome relief from the hot weather we have in the summer. The leaves are falling and the yard looks fluffy in spots. The pine needles are dropping by the basketfuls. I'll need to pick them up for the flower gardens. Down here, they use these for mulch. People actually buy them in bales to use. I have a free supply for the raking.

I put in a small flower garden and used some of the pine needles for mulch. Let me tell you about the plants I scored at Lowe's this weekend. I've been looking to get some crotons and pansies for color. The crotons grow outside all year long. They are expensive! The pansies, not so expensive. So I decided I'd get a couple of large pots of croton and a flat or two of pansies. Then I saw my favorite clearance cart in an aisle. So, I drug hubby and his buggy to the clearance rack for a browse. SCORE! Small crotons, like I wanted...cheap! Pansies, like I wanted...really cheap! Mind you, the crotons are weepy, but I think they'll pull through. The pansies are really in good shape, but most of the flowers are gone.

Now, the fun part comes. I have a small flower garden near our fire pit. Hubby pulled weeds from it last week. This week I'm planting these flowers in it before they decide to croak. I spread some compost over the soil and started turning over the soil. WRONG! There were roots galore from spreading vines that we've been killing and pulling out. The roots are still spreading. They are poison ivy roots. Oh, yeah! They are thick and kept me from turning the soil. So I had to cut each shovelful of dirt before I turned it over. Then I pulled out the roots and filled two 5-gallon buckets with the roots. So far, I haven't got a rash. It would show by now. I planted the garden and it's going well after only two days.

Busy weekend!

Take care.