And This Is Exactly Why I Make a Sample!

In trying to stay true to my word about not doing a lot outside today - and, knowing that my grand daughter was coming to spend some time with me tomorrow - I decided to give the 4th of July stars a try. Since I have worked with children for many, many years, I have learned that it is a MUST to try the craft first. That way, you can tweak it and work out any kinks. You also know everything you need to have on hand and anything you might to have to have prepped.

Boy am I glad I tried this star. It certainly looks easy enough. The painting was a no-brainer.

Then, when that dried I gave them all a light sanding to distress and just knock the color down a bit.

The next step would have been easy if I could have found the small star stamp that I think I have...but, I couldn't. I probably could have free handed the stars but I decided to try my stencil.

For me, placement is always an issue. I don't know why but trying to figure out the even placement of things always gets me confused. There's the center, the width of the stars, the distance between, the distance at the ends....in any case, I sure wish I had just had the stamp. And, let me say that if I do try this with any of the kids, I will NOT use the stencil. I had to do a lot of jerry rigging to get the stars to looks like stars instead of starfish or snowflakes!

And then there is the assembly. Luckily, I chose not to use hot glue. It would have been easier because of its instant grip but in this case, you don't really want instant grip. It was kind of tricky to figure out which stir stick went where because in this case, I wanted the blue stick to be on the top at both ends. It would probably have been better to make solid color stars but, I really didn't want 3 stars-red, white and blue. In any case, I used wood glue which will dry incredibly strong and let me have some wiggle time until I could get it to resemble a star!

I adapted this star from one similar on daily-hobby.com

My last step was to tie on some red and white butcher's twine.

I like it but I'm not sure where I will go from here. I'll have to see what the kids have to say. Stay tuned...and, I'm off to make potato salad, baked beans and a fresh blueberry cake for our impromptu Memorial Day party. I just found out grand daughter #3 will be joining us so I'm super excited!

How Quickly I Forgive!

Those very same trees that I was not very happy about in my last post quickly became my best friends yesterday! Holy THERMOSTAT! We are in the midst of a real heat wave and, instead of being smart and staying inside like I said I was going to do, I headed out yesterday morning to repaint the front door, shutters and garage door. It was on my list and I just wanted it done!

I started in the morning when the front of the house was shady. I really thought I could get it done in 3 or 4 hours but I forgot about all of the prep work. The front door has a window, lock and handle. The shutters touch the brick. And, the garage door has four 4 paned windows and the decorative hinge hardware that I put on it a few years ago. There was a lot of prep work involving taping off-definitely not my favorite thing. And, much up and down the ladder between tape, paint and towels for drips!

On top of all of that, I wasn't sure of the color. I really didn't know where I wanted to go but I knew I wanted to get rid of that "Christmas" green. One day I loved it...the next day, not so much.

I really did try to go "out of the box" but, in the end, I came back to a shade of green. Whatever I chose had to go with the brick and the brown of the soffit and fascia...not to mention all of my seasonal decor. Lol. If we didn't have so much brown, I would have gone with a classic black. Since, to me, green is another neutral and goes with everything (think about all of the colors in nature that  go with the green of leaves and grass), green it would be!

Here's a reminder of where I started...

Those hinges and handles were a nightmare! I didn't want to take them off because they are on so well but painting around all of the intricate little curly ques required one of my smallest craft brushes and between my eyes and the heat, believe me when I say they are far from perfect!

And, here we are now.

I think I like it...but, even if I didn't, it wouldn't be changing any time soon!! Lol

I can't believe that grand child #6 has now "graduated" from 5th grade and is on to middle school...only one left to go and she only has one year left. I truly don't know where the time goes! I am so proud of Hudson and his accomplishments this year. Eighth Street Elementary had a wonderful ceremony and then we got to head to his favorite restaurant for a celebration dinner so it was an all-together lovely evening!

I'm going to try to get a few more small things off of my list today but you can be sure none of them will require a long time outside! Stay tuned.

Dog Days of Summer!

I know it is only May, but I am already over what feels like the heat of summer! I knew I shouldn't brag so much about the perfectly gorgeous weather we had for awhile. I wish I could have bottled it because now, it is just down right hot! Just what you think about when you hear the words "a Florida summer"!

In any case, I am plowing forward. I still had a list of finishing touch to-dos...and I still do in fact although I have gotten many things crossed off at this point. Honestly, if I don't get out as soon as the sun comes up to finish the rest, they may go unfinished.

I just filled 7 more garbage cans with the leaves that came off of the roof-with still more to go. These are the culprits!

They're really stately old oaks and I'm sure they help keep my electric bill down but they sure do drop a lot of leaves!!

I also got almost all of the pool furniture touched up, the fountains cleaned and, as we speak, all of the weeds pulled or "Round-Up" soaked. Things are looking pretty good-and just in time. My brother and sister-in-law are coming this weekend and we're having a little impromptu Memorial Day party.

I also just got back from Sherwin Williams with a gallon of paint for the front door, garage door and shutters. Don't believe it when someone tells you "paint is an inexpensive way to make a big change" these days. That's not true any more but paint has come so far that I guess the extra expense is worth the convenience!

I was going to make new shutters but, for now, I'm just going to paint the ones I have and see how it looks. I have been looking for a new color for awhile and even though my decorator daughter says I should go really light, I'm not convinced. I will post that transformation soon and let you be the judge.

I'm also starting to think of some July 4th crafts. My grand children will be in town this year so I want to be ready in case we take a notion  Did you know you could buy these like this?

I truly didn't until I started watching some craft videos and everyone was using them. I grabbed a few when I saw them the other day and will probably head back for more. Right now I'm enamored by the red, white and blue stars everyone is doing. There are lots of design options so I might make a few as samples and see what the kids would like to do.

And, since I will be putting 4th of July out before too long, I should probably finish up the spring house tour. Let's catch the dining room today.

Tonight I'm off to grand son #2's 5th grade graduation and then his award ceremony tomorrow. Then I'm free to get going on the painting...can't wait. Stay tuned...and if you're in Florida, try to stay cool!

Dumb Luck!

So it's Mother's Day weekend-Happy Mother's Day to all moms! I am in the middle of a full weekend celebration.

It actually all started on Thursday evening when my oldest grandson had his 8th grade awards ceremony. He is such an all-around good kid and I am always so thrilled to see someone other than his Nana recognize that - cause I might just be a wee bit prejudiced. He is taking advanced classes at school and maintaining an honors GPA while playing football and lacrosse, participating in numerous church and community activities and leading a very active "social" life-this kid is just an all around good guy-but, I digress!

In any case, I love these ceremonies because I really love to see how all of these kids excel-our future is in good hands! Sorry I don't have more/better pictures. We were all about the ceremony and then getting to one of our favorite restaurants for a late dinner-lol.

The following afternoon, daughter #2 arrived with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, all of my favorite foods, a lovely bottle of wine and a beautiful card and gift. We nestled in with lots of chit chat and then ended the evening watching "The Green Book".

Saturday dawned and we discussed all of our options for the day. You'll never guess where we ended up-cleaning the roof and gutters. I'm truly not even sure how we got there, but I think she knew that I would be tackling them very soon and she didn't want her old mom falling off of the roof. The sunroom, garage and hubby's office have a flat roof and a HUGE oak tree hanging over it. Once the leaves fall, they very seldom blow off of this area as they do from the pitched roof. As a matter of fact, the leaves from the pitched roof probably blow down and sit on the flat roof as well. Every year I am always amazed that none of the ceilings cave in under the weight of these things-especially after they get wet from a rain.

Becky is truly a rock star! She got all of the roof cleared and all of the surrounding gutters cleaned out. I did "ground" duty and got most of it raked and into cans. We filled 10 large garbage cans full of leaves, branches and muck and there is still a large area around the side yet to be raked once I have some empty cans again. Don't have any pictures of that little adventure either but I do have a picture of my beautiful flowers. This bouquet is full of freesia, charmelia and cut hyacinths. I have never seen hyacinths as cut flowers...and boy does this bouquet smell like spring!

And now on to my "dumb luck". I am due at daughter #3's in just a bit but I was perusing my Pinterest account until time to head. I happened upon a post of some "European" paint technique that they had used on candle sticks. And faster than a speeding bullet, I was on my way to the garage. I bought a tall, wood candle stick a long time ago in HL. It was on one of those 90% off areas where the ugly things go to die and NO ONE wants them! I really didn't want this either but I thought it might have potential!

It was made out of an orange wood of some sort and it was truly ugly. Over the years, I have spray painted it and tried to make it more acceptable but I recently noticed that when I head to my stash in the garage for a tall wood candle stick, this is one that is never picked! It just sits there year after year collecting dust.

And so, when I saw this technique, I knew there might still be a chance! Of course, me being me, I started to read the technique, saw that foiling was involved and walked away. I first went and grabbed the minute amount of watered down chalk paint I had left from the chair and kind of dry brushed it on. It was better but still not great. I then grabbed a bottle of watered down taupe craft paint and used a stiff stencil brush to pounce that on. At first, I wasn't thrilled but some sort of a chemical reaction started happening. I don't know if it was from the chalk in the one paint or, again, my dumb luck but areas sort of separated and "calcified" and I think I have "got it". I'm going to let it sit until I return home and if I still like it, it will be a "go". If not, I might be dabbing a bit more.

I'm off for some more Mother's Day fun. I hope everyone is having as good a celebration as I am. Always more to come. Stay tuned.

Here is where it ended up...replacing the railing spindle that really looks better on the couch table as it joins the other "porch pieces" and adds a bit of needed height to that left side! It's always the little things that make me happy! Lol

And yes, my Mother's Day ended up just perfectly! I didn't get home until after 10 last night-way crazy late for me-good thing my daughter lives so close.

We all helped-but mostly her hubby and kids-giving her her MD wish...work around the yard.

She has a VERY large yard and she has taken a leaf from her mom and gone on a tear adding tons of new landscaping, trellises, a giant checker board area with bench, etc. And of course, as with her mother, one thing leads to another and lots of little details that have been on a to-do list for so long, started niggling at her and she wanted them done. We all pitched in and then ended the evening out at the pool while my son-in-law grilled every kind of food you can imagine. We ate on the porch and watched fireworks from the nearby golf course!

I also got to talk with daughter #1 in St. Pete for over an hour-lots of catching up to do. And, I had an invite to actually go down there for the weekend with my grand daughter but all of the other plans were already on the calendar. All in all, I couldn't have asked for a nicer celebration. Isn't it funny have priorities can change? When I was younger, being treated like the "queen" on MD was fine with me...and I surely never would have asked for a gift of "labor". Now a days, that is worth more to me than anything else they could bring! I must really be getting old! Lol

Take a Trip With Me...

...inside my mind and how it works! Sometimes even I don't know how I get from point A to point B. Many times there is no plan...and yet, somehow, I get led around a convoluted path that, in the end, is right where I would have wanted to be if I had planned it! Does that even make sense?

On the morning I was waiting for my brother and sister-in-law to arrive to begin the pool deck, I happened out to the "other" side of the back yard. This is where the swing set used to be and where we still play some family games when the whole gang is here. But, it is an area I don't get to very often as it is pretty shady and really not conducive to gardening...at least not for me. As I was walking around, I noticed that many of the fence slats were rotting off at the bottom. This fence was built a long time ago so I would expect that to be the natural progression but, I noticed that there were piles and piles of leaves blown up against the bottom of the fence not to mention a lot of bricks and pavers left over from other projects. I know that that is not a good thing but, somehow over the years, I have just not realized what I was doing until this morning. And that's when I saw it with those darn "new eyes"!

Since that was the morning that would start many mornings of heavy duty cleaning and staining, I didn't get very far...and, quite honestly, didn't think of it again until the other day. Since today was supposed to start out fairly cool, today was the day!

I had forgotten just how many bricks and pavers there were so as I was moving them so that I could rake out the leaves I thought about the area where I store the garbage cans?! Wouldn't everyone?

This is on the side of the garage and I built that fence section years ago so that the garbage cans are not visible from the front. The area has a very deep slope away from the wall and with each rain, it seems to get worse so I am always out there trying to level it off. That is when the thought hit! Why not take all of these bricks and pavers and make a level pad for the cans? And so, as I raked and shoveled the leaves away from the fence, I took the piles that were full of dirt as well and moved it to this spot to start to build some sort of ramp to make moving the cans easier.

Then, I laid the bricks and pavers. I didn't think it would bother me that they were all different...and it wouldn't have but there was something about the bricks that made rolling the cans up difficult.

 And so, the bricks were out and the pavers were all in. Of course, now I need to buy about 27 more to make this as large as it needs to be...assuming, that is, that they are still available. We'll soon find out. And the rest of the bricks will be gone soon. I am still not done raking and shoveling the fence area but, I am done for today!

When I got up this morning, this caught my attention:

And then this:

I think I will spend the rest of the day on this side of the yard! The fruits of my labor are finally paying off over here. Maybe they will be on the other side soon as well. Stay tuned.

Movie Matinee Day For Sure!

I am just starting to hear some grumbling in the skies and am optimistic that we may finally get some of the rain that the weatherman has been predicting for weeks! I am ready for an afternoon of movies...without the guilty feeling that I should be getting something accomplished that is still sitting on my to-do list. Honestly though, aren't there ALWAYS things sitting undone on everyone's' to-do lists?

In any case, I snapped a few more pictures before it got too terribly dark in here. Let's head to the family room.

Do you remember this sign that Michaels almost paid me to take off their hands? I wasn't sure where it would go but then I decided to give it a try in the family room. I knew I wanted to use the basket to mimic the basket on the back of the bicycle and add the flowers but, after doing that it just didn't "read" correctly. Then, all of a sudden, I spied the sun hat in the front basket of the bike and it was an ah-ha moment. Luckily I had just the thing in my closet. I truly don't understand how silly little things like this can make me so happy, but they do.

That's it for the family room. This is turning into a wonderful, unexpected weekend-which I am not complaining about after the last two super busy weeks I have had. Yesterday, we were off for a lacrosse game in Gainesville. It seems as if my oldest grandson has decided to add lacrosse once again to his already pretty full agenda. We met my brother and sister-in-law there. It was early enough that the weather was perfect and Team Ocala got a win!

Then we headed to Depot Park. It is a wonderful new park in Gainesville full of all sorts of play ground equipment and water features. Just the perfect place to be as the sun got a bit warmer. Daughter #2 joined us here and after lots of fun in the water, we headed up to get some lunch. There are 2 food areas as well as a food truck available so everyone was able to find something to eat.

 

We were so busy visiting that we really didn't remember to take pictures but you can tell by this one that a busy time was had by all.

After a really nice visit with all, we were ready to head home to Ocala but Presley wanted to stay in Gainesville and spend the night with her aunt and uncle. Here's where they ended up just a few minutes later...smart kid!

Jen, Hudson and I decided since we were driving right past one of our favorite little towns, we would make a stop in Micanopy for some ice cream. This town really does remind you of old Florida-so peaceful and quiet-at least when there isn't some kind of a festival going on. It was a lovely way to wile away a bit of a lazy Saturday afternoon. 

And then, we were off for home-or so I thought. As we were driving through McIntosh, my daughter decided to make another stop at an antique shop. She is always on the look out for unusual things for her clients but today she was in search of an iron gate for herself. Funny thing is that we forgot all about the gate when she saw an old rusty arbor for sale...and then a few other treasures-including a Mother's Day gift for me! And then the topper was meeting the owners 3 Golden Doodles-one of whom looked exactly like my daughter's 2nd dog. We spent way too much time there but the addition of the dogs made it OK with my grandson so we did lots of looking and planning-might be another trip back soon.

And now, it is Sunday and the skies have finally opened. I have to be careful what I wish for but I know my lawn and gardens are saying a prayers of thanks. It has been pretty dry of late. Of course now there will be tons of branches and moss all over to be picked up once again but hey, I always say I love a project. A bit more spring to come so stay tuned.