Month: May 2012

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Barstools for gifts

One of the home furnishings that my aunt needs is to find a bar stool like the other three she already has. I love going to her house, since it almost looks like it could be a place that was built for the tropics. She has loads of hanging and potted ferns and plants in all of her ceiling to floor windows. What she calls the breakfast room, has a great bar type island and there are supposed to be two rattan and wicker bar stools on each side of it.

I’ve wanted to replace the stool for her for about three years now, and she also has wanted to replace it, but we haven’t found anything that looks like her other three. I know that the set was expensive, and looking for one bar stool to match has been so unsuccessful that she’s decided to spend the money and get the four of them that look similar, but also have more of a soft seat and a higher back to them.

She looked online and found a great set that she can also pick the type of fabric for the seat that will match her breakfast room. I love the ones she showed me, since they are even named Hospitality Key West. I think they will look very tropical in her beautiful room. Bless my Aunt, as she said to save my money for more plants, since she wants these and they are way over my budget, but not hers.

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An over abundance of chives

Looking out at my garden, I have noticed that I have a big time over abundance of chives. I must have at least 12 patches of them that I have counted just now, as it’s a far as I can see out the front door. I’m going to have to dig up clumps and give a lot away. I’ll also be saving space for other compatible plants.

I know that one of my long time friends is going to take some this weekend, and bring me some of her geraniums in exchange, but I have plenty more to share. I do plan on drying a lot of them, and lately my son likes his (as I do) mixed in with his mashed potatoes, so he’ll grab some and chop them up.

After the chives, I have to definitely thin out all of my various mints and cooking herbs. A great deal of them are all volunteer plants. Maybe I’ll just start another few gardens in the back yard. It’s closer to the kitchen and would be much handier.

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Musical kids

My sons are very musically inclined. It seems they have teamed up with my friend and blogging buddy Lindsay’s sons to form not one, but two bands. Her sons are nearly the same age as mine, and actually that is how we started being friends. We met through our kids since they all were and are interested in the same things. It was sort of uncanny at first, but now we are both used to.

Today was sort of a blessing for me, for awhile anyway, but my poor friend is about to experience the wonders of music through a whole complete drum set. 🙂 Oh the joys of kids swapping musical instruments.

I think now in this house at least, we are down to 11 various kinds and makes of guitars, a flute, a mandolin, a dulcimer, an electric piano and I know there are a few I’m missing, but you all get the idea. I feel sort of sorry for Linds, but I’m sure there will be another drum set in the house, and I’m going to want to do some home improvement and get the room they play in, sound proofed. It will help a lot with to save the family’s hearing and relaxation.

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Shopping for safes

While being up in the attic during the last two days, assessing the damage due to rain and also  improper venting, I have decided to start looking for a couple Safes, because I found boxes of valuable documents and also lots of jewelry that I thought had been taken to my mom’s house when we moved here and needed to store these items. Somehow they ended up here.

I have two small safes down here on the main floor of the house, but after looking at the valuable documents and other papers that I have, I’d like to some way to hide them, yet maybe turn them into a useful piece of furniture. When I talked to a friend, he said it could be done and the safes would be hidden. I like this idea.

I have looked at various sites who sell gun safes also. What I need is one that is fire proof, and large enough not to get just carried out of here, if we aren’t at home. I would love to have the Rhino gun safe. It’s on my wish list, because it is rather expensive and I don’t have that kind of money right now, but from what I read about it, it’s a good one and that it seems worth it. Besides, it’s a good looking safe!

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Improper venting

After the storm we had yesterday, I went up into the attic since I thought I had heard water dripping on the attic beams. I was a bit leery to go up there since I actually was afraid of what kind of damage I would find. To be quite frank, my husband is not one to do home improvement or home maintenance well at all. If he isn’t interested in a certain project or a “need to be done” chore, he won’t do it, and if he does, it is rigged. Some guys are like that, but it ticks me off when I have to hire someone to follow simple instructions on home fix it things that I can’t do and he won’t do right.

I’ve always been a jack of all trades. A lot of trades. Meaning with me, I know a little about a lot and what I don’t know, I find out. So onto the attic…I ventured upstairs to see that the vent for the bathroom was vented into the attic and that is it. No where except the attic for the moisture to escape. In other words, the husband did a really improper vent job, to say the least. I wasn’t impressed and ticked off great to lots more.

While upstairs, I also notices that the roof is leaking. This is not good. I have to call someone to help me get this fixed a what I am hoping is a reasonable price. I am going to ask a friend of mine who has and will help with the vent for a home cooked meal. Not a problem at all. This is how we barter back and forth.

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Thunder storms and gardens

This morning I woke up to one of the loudest storms I’ve heard in a very long time. It was about 5:00 am when it started and actually one long crack of thunder and the lightening flash, seems to  have hit right by my bedroom window. Needless to say, it scared the heck out of me. (I actually jumped out of bed in one bound, that didn’t make my neck and back feel very good) The storm lasted for about 45 min. The light show was really awesome once the initial wake up shock was over.

After the storm the sun came out and so did a lot of my flowers in my garden that weren’t blooming last night. It is pretty awesome to see. I can’t wait to get into the new planting of more perennials and annuals.

After it being so chilly and not having more than a couple really nice days in the last three weeks, it felt so good to walk outside at nearly 5:50 pm and not be cold. It smells so nice outside. Cut grass from yesterday, ground that has been dug up and burnt straw from last years bale gardening. Going barefoot was the absolute best feeling. I’m really looking forward to summer!

 

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Tile cleaning for round rock

When my friend called me to tell me all of the things she was doing to her house, including tile cleaning round rock, (on that one, I’ll admit she stumped me) I had no idea what round rock was. This coming from a person who is a big rock collector. When I say big, I mean big in size of rocks. I collect small rocks and stones also, but I actually had no idea what my friend Amy was talking about.

Amy being from Texas and being a true Texan, tends to use words and sentences, or words for objects, that I (being from the North) have not a clue what she means. When she said she had hired a company who is experienced in tile cleaning round rock, I thought she meant the round rocks that line her driveway. I shake my head on this one, simply because I don’t know what her house looks like, since she just moved in and I’ve not visited, yet. I know she had hired various businesses who specialize in what she want’s done and needs help with, when it comes to the house, so it sometimes confuses my about that my friend is doing next.

After a lengthy phone call, from the Austin area, I found out about tile cleaning round rock, which led to garden talk, of course, since she laughed about what I had thought she was doing. With the money she saved, and help with the matters she needs done to the house, it sounds like I’m going to have to take a trip to Texas!

 

 

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A corkboard wall

After realizing that the large cork board that is hanging next to my desk isn’t big enough for any kind of organization near my computer and telephone. I think I might want to cover this wall in cork board. I’m unsure just yet though.

When my oldest daughter was a teenager, I hung the self adhesive kind and discovered that the only problem with her cork board that I put up, was that it was totally impossible to take it off the wall easily. Okay, I’ll admit to being “kind” about saying easily. I had to use a chisel and even then, bits and pieces were left. I ended up sanding the part of the wall that I had covered. It only was a 3’x3′ patch of wall, but it seemed a whole lot bigger than that while trying to get all the cork off the wall.

I can’t remember where I saw it recently, but there is a new kind of cork board that won’t hurt the walls once it is time to remove it. If I can figure out where I saw it, I’m gong to by it for this 3ft. wall beside my desk. It will make my life much easier.

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The comfort of sheepskin products

Ever since I was a young girl, I have always loved the feel of sheepskin products. Having grown up on a farm the stables and barn were the places you most likely would find me. Even my horse’s tack had a lot of sheepskin that protected my horse from rash and injury to the skin. I think this is where my love for sheepskin and also realization of the comfort it afforded both my best friend and I as we grew.

When I got old enough to move out and afford my own place, the first things I bought for myself, were a few sheepskin rugs. I was fortunate enough to have rented a wonderful old cottage with a fireplace. Of course, that was about the only form of reliable heat I found out, so that was were the rug went. In the winter I spent more time sleeping on that rug than I did in my bed, and it kept me off the cold floor, warm and toasty. Plus it was so comfortable to sleep on, I ended up putting two large rugs on my bed.

At first when my mom got me sheepskin seat covers for my truck, I was a bit unconvinced that I wouldn’t roast sitting on them in the summer. I was totally wrong. On the contrary, I didn’t stick to the seat and the covers weren’t warm in the hot summer to sit on at all. I love all sheepskin items. I won’t even buy slippers or house boots unless they are lined in sheepskin.