Weekend project finished!

This was my 'weekend' project.


This desk used to belong to hubby's dad. Around here it is referred to as 'Granddad's desk'. Anyway - as you can see, it has been used and abused.

It lived in middle son's room for awhile and he used it for his computer desk. In that time he took out three drawers and made a door so he could put his CPU in it. (he also cut out a panel on the back - the drawers were re-installed but the hole remains) I'm pretty sure it lived in the garage for awhile (where unused furniture waits for a new life) then moved to college with baby boy and on to Minnesota last year. We brought it back in May when we brought Ashley back to Texas.

After sanding, puttying, sanding, painting, sanding and waxing it is now in hubby's room upstairs. (also known as the game room)


The wall behind it will eventually be painted green - haven't made it to the upstairs rooms yet!


Better?


I also spray painted the drawer pulls. Now that the 'work' part is done, I need to get on to the 'fun' part! It needs a lamp (Home Goods, here I come) and a chair. Still debating about having a piece of glass cut for the top.

Waiting to see just how much rain we get from Alex. Cloudy and dark, occasional wind, but so far no rain. Don't mind the rain as long as there is no flooding.

Shoe dog

Apparently Nicholas likes shoes.

Usually when I come upstairs he waits for me here -


He will come see what I'm doing every once and awhile then he just goes back to napping at the top of the stairs.
I guess I stayed to long the other day and when I started to go downstairs he wasn't there waiting for me. He had been busy.


Guess I forgot to close the closet door. Now, he can't carry more than one shoe at a time and he has to go through the bedroom and through the bathroom to even get to the closet. I wonder if he would have emptied the closet if I hadn't caught him? At least he didn't chew any of them (though Jason says he will)
Oh well - guess I'll remember to close the closet door from now on!

Current weather - sunny, hot and humid. Yuck.

Weekend projects

Why do they always take longer than the weekend? I guess because the weekends are never long enough! I hope to have this finished in the next couple of days and then I can show you the finished project. (no, not my kitchen cabinets - I wish! That will take longer than a weekend and a few days!)

If the link works, this is pretty cool. (I don't think I've ever linked to a video before) Last week middle son spent the week in New Orleans with the Voice of Praise Choir from the church where he works. (still amazes me that he is now an adult, as in chaperon, on these trips. Weren't we just chaperoning band trips?) Anyway - they were performing and up walks Lenny Kravitz who joined them for a bit. The video does pan to the sound/mixing board a couple of times and that is where you will see son #2.

Been hearing thunder the past couple of hours. Lots of clouds, but so far no rain.

No before

I looked back through all my pictures and can't find one picture of the fan that was here before. I'll just say white/bright brass and too small for the space.

A few weeks ago we finally changed it out. And when I say we, I mean I put the blades together and handed them to hubby who was on top of the ladder.



Much better and it actually moves some air! This was the only room that had a fan at all so it was the last fixture to get changed. (we still have bathrooms to change out, but we will do those when we get around to painting those rooms) I know decorators hate fans and if I lived where it wasn't blistering hot most of the year I would love to have cute chandies all over, but I live in Texas and we have ceiling fans!

On another note - I hate that big black hole. We tried swapping out tvs a couple of weeks ago but the tv that is in the cabinet (upstairs) wouldn't get HGTV when hooked up downstairs - still don't understand that one - and this tv won't fit in the cabinet that is upstairs. Argh. So, I'm back to looking for something to put the tv in so it will be behind closed doors when not in use. I'm sure I could easily find something if I was willing to spend a couple of thousand dollars. I'll just keep looking.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Mom's buttons

I didn't get a lot stitched last night - when I try to stitch with a headache, I usually take out as much as I put in and that is what happened last night. I did stick with it long enough to get mom's butt out of the picture. LOL

That 60% chance of rain yesterday - nada, not one single drop. The weatherman had us at a 60% chance again today - we got a few drops before I got up this morning. The road was still a little wet, but by the time I left the house around 10:30 it had completely dried. Now the sun is out and I think our rain chances are almost none through the weekend. At least we have air conditioning!

Snowman

Recipe for a Snowman
Pine Mountain Designs

I started stitching this on the way to Minnesota but I didn't get very far. (I still haven't finish, finished the pin pillow I did get stitched on the trip) Anyway - I've been stitching on it a little in the evenings and I'm getting close to finished. Now if I could only remember if I have a pillow form for it. I 'think' I bought one, but if I did I have no idea where it is!

If only stitching a snowman could make you feel cooler!

Still waiting on that rain we are supposed to get today.

Dog days of summer

Yes, I know the calendar says that yesterday was the first day of summer. Whoever made up that calendar obviously doesn't live in Texas! It has been 'summer' here for quite some time. Everything outside is wilted or dead. I'm still debating whether to replace any of it or not - mostly because it would mean going to the garden center to get replacements - and IT IS HOT.

So how do you spend the hot summer days?


Monday - day one of summer


Tuesday - day two of summer.

They have the right idea - if only I could get away with spending my days like that!

At last check (this morning) we have a 60% chance of rain tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

More drop cloth decorating

I've been decorating with drop cloths again! This took a little more effort than just snapping in some grommets and hanging, but I think they came out okay.


It's really hard to get a good photo of a window! There is either too much light, or not enough.

I was really flying by the seat of my pants on these. I used one drop cloth and 4 yards of ball fringe. I guesstimated how much ball fringe I would need - I bought it while it was on sale half price - this is what I had left over!


Cutting a little too close for comfort! It's nice not to have a lot of leftovers, but it is a little stressful when you aren't sure you have enough.

I don't think House Beautiful is going to be knocking on my door anytime soon, but I like the way they came out.

I'm thinking I might like to have some stained glass pieces for the two side windows - too much?

I have a couple of nice size pieces of drop cloth left over - I might try to make some pillows when I get caught up on a few more things around here.

Hope you are having a great Monday.

Cherry Dump Cake

This is the recipe I used the other day - I meant to post it yesterday but I spent the day with Bertha. :) Pics of that project soon.

This is the original recipe - I have no idea where it came from, I've probably had it at least 25 years.

Cherry Dump Cake

1 can cherry pie filling
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 dry white cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 stick butter

Pour filling in bottom of buttered 9x13 pan. Spread evenly. Spread pineapple over cherries by spooning out lightly. Spread dry white cake mix over pineapple. Top with pecans. Cut butter into slices and lay on top of pecans. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.

This is how well I follow a recipe. I've always used that glass pan which I think is slightly smaller than 9x13, but not by much. I used apple pie filling (I've also used peach when I accidentally picked that up instead of apple!) I used a yellow cake mix because that is what I had in the pantry. I usually end up baking mine 30 minutes because I just don't think it is brown enough at 20.

Really good served warm with ice cream or cool whip!

Have a great weekend!

Well fed birds

Remember that 'mater I showed you the other day? Hubby went out to pick it and it had a huge chunk out of it. He was not happy! This morning I thought I would go out and see if there were any more ready to pick - wanted to get them before the birds.


This is what I found. Dang birds! At least the hubby will have one 'mater to eat with dinner tonight. I've got a pot of peas ready and I think I'll make a meat loaf.


I've also got this ready to go in the oven. I used the recipe is for a Cherry Dump Cake, but I used apples instead of cherries. Yumm. Gotta love something that is easy and yummy!

Identity crisis

Thinks he's a cat.

Question - if you 'follow' a blog how do you get the posts to go away on your dashboard? I read them in Google Reader - and then they don't show up anymore there, but when I read them on dashboard, they are still there. Do you have to not 'follow' them anymore to get the posts to go away. (I don't mind the new ones I haven't read showing up there even though I have probably already read them in reader but I sure don't need the whole history there, especially after I've read them!) If you have any tips, I would be grateful!

'maters!

These were hubby's tomato plants on April 21


This was taken this morning! Looks like we will be eating 'maters soon!

Dishes

How many dishes do you have?
I seem to have a thing for plates. I'm always picking them up to see how much they are. New ones, flea market, antique stores - you can bet I'll pick up at least a few to at least look at, even if I don't buy any.

You would expect to find them here in the cabinet

And even here in the hutch

You've seen them hanging over my sofa

I have a few on the yet-to-be-painted, still-fugly beige dining room wall. (it will be yellow - soon I hope!)

A plate rack on the kitchen counter - some vintage, some new.

I even have some hanging on the back fence

These came from the plate collage that I never could decide where to hang after we moved.

And my plate box isn't empty yet. I also still have the box with plates that were in the flower beds at the old house (along with the bottles from the bottle tree). I haven't decided if I want to 'test the waters' and 'plant' them in the front flower bed here or wait until I have beds in the back. (either way I would have to dig the box out of the garage - no small feat)

I've shown photos before of the plates I have hanging in the master bath and laundry room.

I'm sure I've missed a few. Like I just remembered I have them over the pantry door but I'm not going looking for pictures - you get the idea, right?

Do you have a thing for plates?
Use them for decorating?

The good kind of mail

I received a rather nice package in the mail last week.

Sometime ago Terry (no blog) from Arlington asked to borrow an out-of-print chart. I sent it to her and look what she sent along with the chart when she returned it.


Quilt stash, mother-of-pearl thread winders and she stitched something for me!

Everything was all wrapped up - it was like Christmas! I used one of the pink bags to put behind the thread winders for the picture - they didn't show up well on my dark table. Aren't they pretty?

And I just love this piece she stitched just for me. Spring Greetings by Blackbird Designs - a design I must not have seen because I don't think I have it in my stash, but I love it!

Terry was my very first commenter on my blog. I hope to meet her in person someday soon!

Thanks Terry!

Drop cloth decorating

If you do much blog hopping at all, no doubt you have seen many things made from simple painters drop cloths so this is not an original idea but here goes.



Who would have thought these little buggers would be so hard to find? I finally found these at Wally World, not with the shower curtains (all you can find there are the decorative kind - not what I was looking for!) where I had been looking, but with the regular curtains - as you see, they are no longer called 'shower curtain rings', but 'utility rings'. I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but whatever. Anyway, now that I had my supplies, I could move on to this.


I made these for both sides of the patio. In the morning and evenings the sun blares in and makes it to hot to sit out there. Privacy isn't really an issue as we do have a 6' fence but that sun can be brutal! (obviously I still have some work to do out there)

I seriously just opened the pkg and put in the grommets along the top. I ended up using 9 grommets per panel. I used electrical conduit to hang them from (less than $4.00 for a 10' pc.)

Now here is the thing I want to tell you about using drop cloths. I just put these up to block the sun when it is blaring - I didn't really care about the length. They are already finished on the ends so I left it as it was. I hung them up and they were too long - as in dragging the patio. I knew they would shrink when washed - I was actually afraid they wouldn't shrink enough but I needn't have worried.


See how much they shrank? This doesn't bother me in the least, I'm only pointing it out in case you decide to make something out of drop cloths and it is something where shrinkage would be a problem. Wash and dry them first! In fact, I'm not sure I wouldn't wash and dry them a couple of times just to make sure they were through shrinking before making anything where shrinkage would matter. (like indoor drapes or slipcovers) They sure have made a difference as to when we can actually sit out on the patio!

Just my little tip for the day. :)

Doors and doggies

This is the front of our house when we bought it. (I couldn't find a close-up of just the door)

And this is it now! We finally got our storm door installed and the front door painted to match. Kinda hard to tell in the picture (might be able to tell better if you click to enlarge) but the color is 'cranberry'. I would have liked to go with a more of a 'fire truck red' but since I wanted the wood door and storm door the same color I had to go with what was available in storm doors. I'm happy with it though - it looks much better than the faded stain on that was there. Still need to replace the light fixtures on the porch.

Do you see anything odd in that picture? Find the doorbell?

These guys are pretty happy with it too. . .

This happens every afternoon around 5:15. How do dogs tell time? They used to just sit there on the rug in front of the door waiting on the hubby to get home. Now they just look at me until I open the door so they can see out. (and bark at everyone who walks by!)

It's blooming!

Hope you enjoyed your long weekend!

When we bought this house this poor little tree looked like it was on death's door.


Seriously, it looks better in this picture than it did IRL.
I don't think it had ever been fed and it had black stuff all over the leaves. We were planning to replace it this spring but thought we would give it a chance first and started feeding and tending to it.
Now look!


It is actually blooming - and it is pink!


And look how much it has grown in just 7 months! It has a lot more buds ready to spring out. You can't really see the other tree that is just behind it in this picture, but it has grown quite a bit too. It didn't appear to be in as bad of shape when we moved in but we have been tending to it too and it looks like both of our trees are going to make it. Now we just have to decide what and where to plant some in the back yard.

Have a great day!