Dinner with my tiny family later today. Perry is smoking a cherry-glazed ham and I have most of the other food items ready for consumption. Here’s hoping you and yours have a wonderful Easter with loved ones too.
Yesterday, I finished my last winter project. Just in the nick of time, I hung curtains in the upstairs bedroom.
I have a few touch-up paint things to do at some point, but nothing big left that I wanted to get done before spring. TADA!
Next up, spring projects.
The things that need done this spring are numerous:
Brick edging along the sidewalk.
Rubber mulch to cover about a 25-acre area (at least it SEEMS like 25-acres).
Decks painted and re-painted.
Prepare ground for and plant wildflower seeds.
Landscape that 25-acre area.
Open pool.
Drain, clean, and refill the hot tub.
There’s plenty more to do, but you get the idea. And most everything I have to do by myself. My assistants have better things to do.
Seasonal goals are how I get things done.
Do you set seasonal goals — or just do what pops up that needs done? Or maybe you have things you always do — like spring cleaning or yard work — but you don’t necessary consider them goals.
Before I began to set specific seasonal goals, I would flounder around and procrastinate to the point of never making progress. If you find that’s what’s happening in your life, try writing a list of what you’d like to accomplish before summer. And then, start tackling that list a little at a time.
Now you know: Until 2019, male members of the US Marine Corps were not allowed to use umbrellas while in uniform.
It was a busy day for the barndo yesterday. It’s like when a human goes to the doctor and never-ending tests follow… this place has been probed and had all kinds of cosmetic surgery of late. Besides the contractors working all day, the heating & air dudes were here AND she got gutter guards installed.
The heating and air dudes ordered parts and will be back but that’s a story for another day. Out of 6 mini-splits and two outside units, one mini-split is currently working. ARG!
Rural living includes dust — and LOTS of it.
Farmers were in the fields yesterday too. Not sure if they were spraying or turning the ground over or what they had going on, but whatever it was, they stirred up a dust storm. Because of the staining/polyurethane action happening inside, the windows couldn’t be closed. Because the windows couldn’t be closed, the dust all came in.
It’s not like I can clean with workers all over the place, so I sent Perry out to pull down a grapevine from a tree. There’s miles of it and all I wanted was one vine that was medium size in length.
He pulled the vine from the tree and up on the deck. He asked if I needed wire. Nope. No wire needed. And since it’s spring and the vines are flexible, I didn’t even have to soak it before turning it into this:
That size wreath UNDECORATED on Etsy runs $89 bucks. I have no clue what my favorite local florist charges for something similar, but I’m guessing it’s more than free and about 10 minutes of work. 🙂 I’m going to do one more to hang on my door — but I promise I won’t turn it into a side hustle and drive ya crazy on Facebook.
TIL (Today I Learned): Genetic traits that helped people survive the Black Death in the 14th century are linked to autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s disease today, showing how a historical pandemic shaped the evolution of human immunity genes.
Seriously considering a move back to the Ville, I’ve been watching Fixer Upper like it’s my job and searching all kinds of stuff online to find things I like — and things I don’t like. I ran across this cool idea for outdoor lighting (at least I like it), that would work here in the sunroom, or really any outdoor spot.
I sent a photo of it to the Peskies to see if I could talk Carl into either helping me find a box spring from a baby’s crib, or come up with an alternative that would produce the same effect. (A stained wood frame with some kind of fencing could work I think.)
Immediately, I get a text back with a photo of what THEY want.
Their “want” is much better than mine, albeit a LOT more expensive. While I could make that light structure look ok in a 3-season room here, a grain bin gazebo would get me run out of town, for sure. But I like it anyway.
Maybe these crafty feelings stem from all the rest I’m getting. Or… NOT getting. It’s a rough life when you’re a night owl and you have two big, insistent hound dogs that aren’t.
TIL (Today I Learned): Dogs can be trained to sniff out electronics due to the scent of Triphenylphosphine oxide, a chemical used in the manufacturing process that prevents overheating.
I’m doing better with the Android phone… or I WAS until 1:23 AM this morning. That’s when my phone decided to set off this loud notification to tell me it was putting certain apps to sleep.
Not as smart as smart phones — and watches — should be…
My Apple watch has decided I sleep better at night if I am in bed by 1:30 AM. The health app reminds me when it’s time to go to bed. BUT, if my watch knows what time I fall asleep and is able to record that — why does it not know when I’m already asleep at 1:30 AM? I can be in dreamland and that darned notification wakes me up. 🙄
Changes at the 80’s house are incoming
I’m about 75% sure I’m going to put this house on the market next month or the month after. Concentrating on the primary area that I want to spruce up before listing, I moved furniture around in the master bedroom. It had everything to do with aesthetics and nothing to do with the fact that I can’t see TV as well when in bed with it against another wall.
Since I fall asleep to what Ben calls “murder porn,” listening and not being able to see the screen over a big black dog isn’t ideal. I want to see the serial killers as they are hauled off to prison after searching for them for 45 minutes.
Although not clear with the lighting in the photo above, the carpet in the master is a light gray… not tan or brown at all. The dude at Seymour Decorating picked it out and it’s the worst carpet I’ve ever owned in my entire life. It picks with dog toenails and it’s time for it to go. GET!
To DIY or not DIY — always the question.
While I thought I’d try to do the flooring myself, it’s probably best to simply do what I did before… call Seymour Decorating to order the product and send an installer. And that lone mirror on the back wall looked fine when over the bed. Now it looks like a portal to some unknown world… need to do something about that, for sure.
I’ll wait until the flooring is down to tell you about the master bath. Now that’s where the DIY is going to happen. 😯
Changing out all the metal mini blinds for modern cellular shades on every window in a house isn’t cheap — and it’s also no piece of cake to hang them. These suckers have three brackets each. Starting with the center one on the kitchen window, I thought it would be fun to hook the blind and see what the finished product would look like. Now, the blind is stuck and I can’t get it down to place the two other brackets.
Soooo… I figured I might as well try out a valance I already have to see what it would look like. Thinking it was just too much for a smaller window I took it back down, but in the process, I accidentally pulled the curtain bracket partially out of the wall. I opted to unscrew those brackets from the wall and wait until the kitchen cabinets are painted to choose a curtain. That’s when I realized that behind the brackets is bright blue paint and I don’t have even one brush full of paint left in the color the room is now.
As I’m staring at that, I realize that if I paint the cabinets, I should probably also paint the window trim… and if the window trim is painted, the door jams and baseboards should also be painted. ARG!
NONE of this would’ve mattered in 1968.
Sent to me by Sherry (Brumett) Bridges, this is from her mother’s ledger of checks written in 1968 — a little over 50 years ago.
I wonder what Mrs. Brumett got in groceries from my Dad for $3.95 when her electric bill for the month was less than $9.00, her phone bill was less than $7.00, and her house payment was a whopping $25 bucks. I’ll betcha that $13.00 doctor bill that she didn’t care about the color of her cabinets so long as they were clean.
