Total House Window Refurbish

So in my infinite wisdom I thought it would be a good idea to start a major remodeling project during the Christmas holidays. What the heck was I thinking?

I've got one to two guys here at 9am every morning Monday through Friday till 5pm. They are pulling my vintage 1942 wood windows out of their frames, removing the glass, sanding down the frames and repainting, putting the glass back in, re-glazing and then replacing in the wall. There are 13 windows and they have not been worked on since they were put in the walls, or at least since I bought the place in 1984.

As they pull the windows out to work on them, they put plywood up so half my house looks like a cave.

We've been working hard putting down pavers in the backyard to make a patio. Now the view of the back of the house will be nicer with no peeling paint. And I don't have to worry about the window actually falling out due to neglect.

Kitchen upkeep

   My September goals are to drink more water and to write three pages a day.

   So far I'm not doing too well with the water, and I've only written 3 pages total. It's ok, every morning is a new start.

   I've bought some paint for the pantry in the laundry room. A muted violet blue called Creamy Blueberry, a Lavender called Sugared Plum and a nice Mauve called Mineral Mauve.
I'm not going to tell anyone I'm doing it, just let it be a surprise.

   Woke up this morning with head and neck pain at 6 am (?). The incapacitating pain stopped by 10, (thank you pain meds) but let me just say that you should never go to Walmart after taking pain medication. I bought hot pink tie-dye leggings. WTF! and donuts. I think I may have a problem.

   While at Walmart I saw a man walking around, no lie, wearing sunglasses, nappy nappy hair, slippers, pajama pants and a hospital gown. One arm was bandaged up and in a sling so the gown was only half on, the rest trailing behind him on the floor.

   I also got some green cotton yarn to make the vine for the purse I'm currently working on. They didn't have any red so I'll have to go to Michaels. and isn't that too bad.

   Ok, it's the next day and I painted the pantry with the blue and then did the trim with the Mauve. I didn't like it at all. So I went over it with some OOPS paint I had. It's a dark purpley grey. Looks much better. The first way jut looked to country. This looks a little more modern and a bit nautical. I have to put one more coat on the trim and I want to take the doors off to do  1/4 inch of trim by the hinges. I also have to get some little thingies that keep the doors closed.

   A friend came over to install a new vent hood. Wow I had no idea it was so hard to do. Took him about 3 hours and lots of cursing, sparks shooting out and even blood pouring. But it's done and works so much better.

  
  

brain dump

   So as it appears that no one reads this anyway I think I will start using this as a journal or maybe even a brain dump.

  Today is August 16, 2016. We are deep into the rainy season, with rain every afternoon, sometimes all night and sometimes all day. My backyard is mud with weeds and grass on top. The good news is it's very green. So it looks good as long as you don't try to walk on it.

   The orchids we put on the oak look good, they did have a brief period of adjustment but seem to have settled in well.

   I've moved the rubber tree from the driveway to the backyard and it's doing much better there. I added some potting soil and I've given it Reiki several times. Over the weekend I charged some Quartz and added them to the pot. It is sprouting new growth on all the branches. I think it was just to hot for it out front.

   The new porch is fabulous. We love it and are using it even through the intense heat. Feels like temps of 112 every day. I've been able to move the spider from the backyard to the porch. Also several plants from the dining room. I'm on the lookout for a 3 seater deep seating outdoor sofa for the porch. That will be the last piece to complete the porch.

   My eating has been completely out of control. Sugar every day. I haven't been gaining on the scale but I am noticing body changes. I'm not sure how to stop. Or why I'm doing it. I am still exercising a couple times per week. I just need to get back to my good habits. I feel better when I'm able to move a little bit. I think all the rain is keeping me from exercising, rain makes me hurt. But it doesn't make me eat, lol.

   My dog Lucky is doing so much better. After falling off the couch and breaking a vertebrae in his back he was unable to jump up or down and was medicated so he slept in his crate a lot. That was about 8 weeks ago.  He can now jump down off of laps or the couch but he down not even attempt to jump up. He doesn't try to stand up on his hind legs at all. We are going to attempt to make a ramp for him to get up and down from the couch.

   Patrick wants to get a small TV with the antenna instead of cable for the porch for football season. So I guess that will actually be the last piece for the porch.  We'll see.

   I'm crocheting an afghan for Patrick's sister for Christmas. She is having a really hard time, and I want her to feel like we are hugging her when she uses it. When that is done I need to do a grocery bag holder for Penn and one for Lane. Fortunately those go quick. Here's the one I use.

I might do a couple of hats for them too. I need to do a hat for Jordin, and those things that peek out of the top of boots for Estrella. Sam's friend wants a dice bag too. Time for a run to Michaels for some red and black yarn. I want both colors in one skein. that way I don't have to join and weave ends in.

   I've been trying again to schedule out meals for the week, but I'm just not able to keep to the schedule. When I have a bad day pain wise I just can't cook. So I'm trying to make extra on the days I do cook and freeze it so that we just have to thaw and heat up.


Todays Food List:

• Avocado
• coffee with Splenda, salt, agave, HWC
• 1 piece of bacon
• 3 chocolate chip cookies

Plan for dinner is chicken, baked potatoes and salad.

   Pills for the week are parceled out and I need refills for 2 meds, but I have to wait till the end of the week to call that in.

   I haven't accomplished too much today. I stayed in bed till 11:30. I weeded the Day Lilies and Society Garlic for about 30 minutes or maybe it just felt like 30 minutes. I baked some cookies to take to Jordin tonight. And that's about it. And I have to be okay with that because sometimes you just have to rest. Sunday took a lot out of me. Dinner party for 6.

   Tomorrow I'm taking Brenda out. I think we'll go to International Mall. I need to go to Sephora for Anastasia Brow pencil in Carmel. I'm completely out. I've been using the Ash Blonde but it's a bit too light.

project list

1. wash wall on porch
2. paint front door
3. pressure wash house
4. paint shutters
5. oil porch ceiling
6. paint hallway
7. pavers for patio in backyard
8. plant the Lily and the purple thing in front yard
9. plant the Ginger and Ti plant in back yard
10. get P to put away comforter in suitcase and back on top shelf in closet

  

Wedding News

This is my daughter and her family. They are getting married in March of next year. So lot's of plans and excitement going on here. 

Of course I've got her set up with a wedding planner, more sticky notes than she knows what to do with and tons of Bridal magazines. 

She is planning a small formal intimate ceremony and reception. Elegant and romantic. Her colors are Eggplant and Gold. We're going to make it brilliant with crystal and mirrors so there is lots of sparkling light. 

We're thinking of something like this for the ceremony:

we will not have the flowers, it will be crystals, pearls, grapevine and ribbon. 

The plan is to make the arch somewhat like this:

She doesn't like the buckets, not sure yet what we will use instead, maybe planters. But she does like the Hydrangeas. 

Nothing will happen until she books the venue, which she is dragging her feet on. A lot of places are already booked up so fingers crossed that she will find something. 

I am very excited, it has been a year of weddings, I got married in April, P's business partner got married on June, and P's best friend will be getting married this winter. Love is in the air! 

Bougainvillaea Update

I keep seeing that picture of the Bougainvillaea further down the page and I wanted to show you how much it's grown. I pruned her pretty severely last Spring and she has just gone crazy. She needs to be pruned again, but I don't want to cut off her flowers.

I added another matching Bougainvillaea in a pot on the other side of the steps. It's huge but no blooms. There were blooms when I bought it, so I know they are the same color, but she dropped them when we transplanted her.

I can't wait till they are both blooming at the same time. I'm hoping I can get them trained up and over the doorway. Wouldn't that be magical to walk through?

Front yard

We've  made a nice spot to sit in the front yard. It's not shady in this picture, but in  the morning it's a nice shady spot to take a break from weeding.

My plan is to paint the bench slats each a different color like a rainbow and write an affirmative phrase on each. Always so much to do and not enough time to fit it all in.

I'd like to paint that chair too, but it's plastic and I don't like the colors available in the spray on plastic paint. I want to paint it Purple or Fuchsia  but the H.D, only has primary colors.

We added some vines to the trellis there on the right. A Purple Passion Flower and a Pink Allamanda. The Roses are still there but not growing very quickly so the vines are filling in the bare spaces.

The Ice Plant has filled in the front garden very well, I'll try to get a picture soon.

Early morning visitor