Tuesday, March 11, 2014

How We Spend 70* Days

It has been 4 LONG months of winter and today we had the most beautiful day. Giving us a hopeful glimpse of what is coming...Someday! There was no way I was going to stay inside and do housework when blue skies, sunshine, and 70 degrees was outside calling to me. All 3 boys were at school which allowed Katie and I to have a good quality girl day.
Today was spent doing what matters in real life - re-assembling Katie girl's playhouse. It has been stored behind the garage since moving here and every chance she has had she go and try to play with it. Can't get too far with something that is in pieces. After gathering the morning sap I asked her if she would like me to put it together. YES!!

I hope I never have to do that job again. Its hard work to be a big kid in a little house :-) Not to mention all the spiders and cobwebs.

Then the real fun for me was a little yard work around this here stump. The house has been moved behind it so as to have a front yard flower bed. As a little girl I LOVED the little flower bed my mom put next to my playhouse. I was allowed to plant whatever I wanted in it. Plus it was my job to keep it looking nice. Probably where my love for gardening began. So I hope to pass the same inspiration on to my little girl.

A little digging took place so as to install a sidewalk. 

A little red rock was gathered from near the big house.

Much better then a yellow brick road if you ask me. 

Now we are ready and waiting for Springtime so we can fill this all in with flowers. A plant saucer on top of the stump for the birds. And who knows what all. But we are going to have fun.

And that is how we spent our first real warm day.  We sweated a little, got our hands muddy, ripped up our hands pulling twigs and thistles, which made it a GOOD day!!

Good Night All!!







Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Basement Laundry Makeover

Every place I've lived outside of my parent's home the laundry area has always been much to be desired.  Usually in basements - need I say more?!  This house has the best I have ever seen which gave me a desire to spruce it up. It's MY work space so why not. Who says I have to look at boring block walls. Who says laundry rooms are just laundry rooms with a flip of the hand as though this necessary room doesn't deserve better treatment. 

So while at Wally World one morning I stood and studied the paint cards, but only for a brief moment cause I already knew I wanted yellow. I wanted some cheer in MY work area! And not wanting to spend a lot of $$ I purchased the cheapest paint which is Colorplace.  Feeling tightwadish I didn't even purchase a roller pad. I knew I had a good brush already and I would use it even if it took me 3.5 hours to do the job.  So for a whopping total of $16.00 I transformed my laundry area.

I wasn't sure how to hang things on the block walls so I improvised.  Everything has been secured by beautiful rusty wire that is then wrapped around nails tapped into studs at the top of the block walls :-) My Mommy always taught me "where there's a will, there's a way". 

Yep! Its still a basement but I love my thrown together results.  Just need to find some throw rugs to put in front of both washer and dryer and it will feel more complete. 

The walls had been 2 different colors. The 1 wall looking dirty. I couldn't be happier with the results. Paint is an amazing invention. Bless the person who discovered it. :-)

You probably didn't expect to see me back so fast after yesterday's post did ya?! Been meaning to do this and yesterday gave me the nudge to get it done.

I hope these simple pictures have given you some inspiration to just go do that project you've been putting off. It always feels good to do stuff life this and I've proven it can be done at minimal cost.

Have a great day!!

Partying at:




Monday, March 3, 2014

Cabin Fever

Hi All!!

Its been 1/2 of forever since I blogged and I am really missing it.  We have yet to get Internet at home and I never thought to blog when I'm at the library until now.  Now if I will just remember to go ahead and put the pictures onto the laptop from the real camera. Then I might have fresh material to share. I'll try to be more regular, but no guarantees with this forgetful brain of mine.

To keep this post short I'll just share the latest of info.
Reuben grew up around real maple syruping.  We have only done it a couple times in our married life.  This year being our 2nd time so I am still in the learning phase. We have little over 2 acres where we live and we have lots of trees.  Some of which our sugar Maples. The picture above is our oldest son catching the sap out of the tree :-)

A couple Saturday's ago we spent the entire day boiling our 1st collection of sap.  It is a 50 to 1 ratio. So from all the sap collected we didn't even fill an entire quart jar.  We invited a couple friends over and had a tasting of the finished product over french toast. Very YUMMY!!

Between not have much of a summer last year due to moving and a long winter I have cabin fever really bad.  I find myself looking through the pictures of our trip to Arizona last year where. The bright sunshine and beauty out there seems to ooze warmth and helps to get me through these blues. The above picture was taken in Oak Creek Canyon, AZ on the trip down from Flagstaff to Sedona.

All sign of winter has been taken down and put away until next year.  This is on top of the fridge. The beehive reads "Home is where your honey is!" I'm glad we are now in March because it brings us closer to mowing grass, planting flowers, veggies, and always being able to go outside without a coat. Can you tell I am REALLY looking forward to Spring?! :-)

Last week I started a very part time job - Fridays and Saturdays. Its a little bulk food store with a deli - The Dutch Cupboard.  So if you are ever in Columbiana, OH stop in and say hi!

Kids are getting grumpy so I better close and take them home.  Have a good evening!!





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