a week of projects

From this.....to this! Anything has to look better than the lovely blue marble like laminate counter top!

A coat of primer, coat of base color, two coats of color applied with none other than a paper towel! Many, many coats of polycrylic, and lots of time to set.

Now the wall behind just has to be repaired!

The once wallpapered half bath underwent a skim coat of drywall mud, sanding and a repeat of two previous steps and then priming, and two coats of yellow paint...geesh, I am sure glad it was such a small bathroom. And for goodness sake people, if you are going to wallpaper, use sizing, someone will thank you later!

My double towel bars, one for washcloths, I still need something to go on the walls perhaps, but it can wait.

Kind of turned out to be an Ecuador theme, as several of the items I brought back have yellow...who would have thought! And the shelf was once HOT pink, and I got it free from a garage sale! That picture is a favorite of mine, taken by a Ecuadorian street photographer. The subject is a street kid.

The old drab linoleum was replaced by some nicer looking tile! And it wasn't too bad to install, just a killer on the knees.

Caulking and the rug, which I already owned, help to complete the look.

 

The very, very dark brown door getting a face lift. It will eventually get a large glass window to install (from Crestview Doors, a great option for a door refinish) to allow more light in, and it had some scary block architectural things on the outside... totally forgot to document those things!

Yes, more yellow! (the paint is a story in itself. I got it at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, a great place if you have never been to one, for only $6) It was a nice paint, Dutch Boy brand, and basically a plain white color. I tried to get Lowe's to color it for me...she refused, and was pretty rude. The great guy at Ace told me, oh, no problem, we'll get you fixed up...and he didn't even charge me! I LOVE ACE!

and a new door handle, which I got for over 75% off last year!

Those strange holes are from the blocks that were on the door. Hopefully the new window and trim will cover them, or I will be filling and sanding those things!

And more drab linoleum replaced.

Now I'm in the market for a new rug!

My last project was a bust....moral of the story, follow directions very carefully! It said to mix the silver roof coating with an electric drill and mixer attachment, which I did not have. So, I figured if I shook it up really well for several minutes that should work (kind of annoyed now that they guy who helped me find it at the hardware didn't shake it in the machine!). Well, can you see when I finally got down keep enough to actually hit the silver sediment part...so, now I have a mostly black roof, which totally defeats the purpose of the silver part! The sun room will be hotter now, not cooler, thanks to my oops...luckily it was only and $20 mistake, and a bit of effort. Guess I know what I(or maybe Larry) will be doing next time we are up there. Let's hope that at least the leaks we had been having in the sun room are non-existent now!

We have plenty to praise God for; the ability to repair/update/modify our house to make it a home.

grandparents, cousins and singing

 Last weekend the girls and I headed to my parents.  We spent some time with cousin Trey.  Maria has been asking, "when am I going to see Trey?"  I got to hang out with one of my bestest girlfriends and help her do prep for her son's birthday.  We spent time with GG, at her house, per request from Maria, who said "we never go to GG's house."  Mainly because when we go home, she comes to mom and dad's house.  SO we spent several hours at her house, most of the time which she spent reading to Maria, she was in heaven! 

 Anna seriously contemplated checking out the depth of the landscape pond...the girl keeps us on our toes!

 Checking out a bird nest.

 enjoying some time on the swing.

 

Sunday we attended the baptism of this beautiful niece, Everly.  And we had a lovely lunch afterward, yum.

Aunt Michele knew how to keep her happy!

 Cousins having fun and making LOTS of noise.

 After lunch, we had to jet down to the Follinger theater in to hear my dad sing in the Summit City Barbershop Chorus.  We had yet to be able to make it to one of his concerts and he has been in the group about a year now, I believe.  He is there in the back row, third from the right.  How appropriate that they had a naval theme, since he served in the Navy himself.

Maria enjoyed listening to grandpa, even though it was quite toasty in the outdoor theater, at least it had a roof!

We have plenty to praise God for; grandparents, cousins and singing.

fun at the beach

Some friends came today with their kids and we beat the 100+ heat by hanging out at the beach.  I do believe I got a bit of sunburn despite putting sunscreen on multiple times, hopefully I am the only one!  The kids played well together, had fun, and were dog tired by the end of the day!

We have plenty to praise God for; friends to help us enjoy the beach as we escape from the hot weather.

random days

 We had a pajama day and I pulled out some motor skill activities that had been floating around in my head for a while.  It kept them occupied for quite a while, and left me able to complete my kitchen tasks of baking bread, making bagels, zuchinni bread and doing some laundry!  Pajama days rock!

Maria was using a stick to pick up some beads, they also used measuring cups to scoop and pour the beads, the metal bowl gave great sound effects.

 Using clothespins to clip/slip on the edge.  Maria did the clip kind, Anna worked on the old fashioned slip on kind.

 Using a pair of craft tweezers, she transferred the craft puffs to the opposite bowl.
There was also a tray of craft sticks to sort by color.

Don't even ask, we don't know why she was doing this, but it really reminded me of the character, Mushmouth, on Fat Albert.
That's our randomness for today!

beaching it

 Eager to hit the beach perhaps?

 One can never be too careful in the lake!

Sharing the troubles of the day.

 Maria has loved her swim lessons.  Here she is jumping to the instructor.  She did it without any help!

Fun on the 4th

We started our patriotic attire on Sunday so that we could fit it all in!

 silly sisters

 We headed to a friend's house for a cookout and some small fireworks.  The kids were thrilled!

 Check out Peter leaping next to Maria. 

 They did get a bit scared and all scooted back.

Anna trying out sparklers for the first time.

 Maria too.

We have plenty to praise God for; our freedoms.

bonding with cousins

We had visitors, which the girls were very excited about spending time with.  Their cousins are very close in age, so it was fun to have them spend the night, oh and Aunt Emily and Uncle Justin too!  I now know what it would be like to have two sets of twins since their ages match up so closely.  We spent alot of time playing in the yard, and later after dinner we had to head out again as they thought running in circles through the house was great fun!

They all played so well out in the yard, that I actually was able to water and tend to the garden.  The sandbox was a bigger hit than the pool, which surprised me on such a toasty day.

All 4 Monkeys!