Home Improvement

Neat Finds Amongst the Rambling

kanniduba6 Comments

So Mother’s Day weekend was made up of everything I love.  Time with family, time with friends, outdoor play time, house project time, homemade pizzas…(I made a pesto one that was to die for!)…ice cream shop visits, roses, Lowe’s, Chinese Food take-in, watching home videos of the kids…I couldn’t have asked for more!  One of my gifts from Zan and the kids was a day off to go and play photographer.  They came up with a list of places that they think I should go photograph on my free day!  Can’t wait…I’ve been saying I need a little “alone” time…I was thinking along the lines of grocery shopping by myself, or running errands alone.  This “alone time” will be 10 times more fun!

We started preparing for the deck!  Siding has been ripped off in preparation for the ledger board, sidewalk has been removed, and Zan started digging the holes for the footings.  Since we live so far up north, the footings have to run four feet deep, so it’s a big job.

Here’s the before shot of my messy backyard entryway.

We have lived here for 10 years, and are finally getting around to improving this part of the house.  Our home is 110 years old.  Since we moved in, things like broken windows, old wiring, plumbing problems, boiler replacement, uncovering the hard wood floors, and more have taken precedence over the outside.  It feels good to finally get around to it!

 Zan made an interesting little discovery when he ripped off a board that was covering a space under the house.

There it was, this little charm just sitting on the ground.  His comment was, “This house likes to remind us now and then that we were meant to own it.”  I have to figure out what to do with it.  Any ideas? 

Oh, and one more…wait, no…two more things.  On Saturday, there was this really neat “rainbow” (for lack of a better term) around the sun.  Maybe it could be called a halo?  Neat, eh?

Our Lost Boy said, “You take pictures of rainbows?”

“Yes…”

“Why?”

“Because they’re beautiful and I want to remember them.”
“Huh.”  He says.  “Weird.” 

And last but not least…my roses.  I had no idea how difficult it was to photograph red roses!  This is pretty, but not what my eye sees.

 

It’s a sickness, really.

kanniduba3 Comments

So, I have a little problem.  I know I’m not the only one.  Tolle would say that it’s my ego talking, not me.  Little comfort to my dear husband!

My little problem is that I am never content.  I always have to have something to look forward to.  I should say that I am extremely content with the “big stuff” in my life as it is–I don’t “need” anything to make me happy (for example, another baby, a new house, a new job.)  I am truly happy in the moment. 

But my mind always seems to need the preoccupation of looking forward to something.  Now that the anticipation of Disney is over and I’ve had a week to come down off the trip, my mind is already busy conjuring up “the next thing.”  If the next thing isn’t a trip, it invariably becomes a new house project. 

Poor poor poor poor Zan.  Now that I’m not working, I have more time than ever to think…and dream.

“Hey Honey, I’ve been thinking…”

*sigh*  “Oh, no.”

Yep…that’s usually how the story starts.  And before you know it we’re heading off to Lowe’s.  A friend of mine used to say, “It all starts with a throw pillow.” 

So let me tell you about the “next thing.”  Mister Baby Boy has discovered the Big Outdoors.  However, Mister Baby Boy gives Mommy heart attacks because he wants to be running around very unsteadily on the blacktopped driveway, trying to make baskets in the way-too-tall-for-him basketball hoop.  He is not satisfied to play with the toddler-sized basketball hoop in the yard.  Oh, no…he must be Danger Boy (he has his own theme song, by the way—but that’s a story for another day) and nearly cracks his handsome little skull on the concrete as he looks up to the basket which is so high that he loses his balance and falls backwards. 

So, I say to myself, “Now, if we had a big deck off the back of the house, I could gate off the stairs, and sit outside and let Mister play on the deck with a bunch of toys, and watch the girls without having to chase him around all summer long.”  Some chasing, good.  All chasing, bad.

Ergo, “Honey, I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh, no.”

So we’ve spent the last two days looking, measuring, researching.  An easy do-it-yourself weekend project!  *tee*hee*hee* 

Relatively inexpensive!  *tee*hee*hee*

And somehow, a very simple, square, 20×20 deck has become this elaborate extension with a tree coming up through the middle of it.  And who wants plain old deck flooring?  Wouldn’t a herringbone pattern look nice?  And what about those wood balusters?  Ew!  Boring!  I’m thinking THESE would be nice.

And who wants plain old post covers?  Wouldn’t copper be great?  Or, ooooo, what about these????

And a brand new deck definitely needs a brand new grill!  And did somebody say screening?  Screening would be nice.  And…..*sigh*

See?  I told you, I have a problem. 

But I think Zan has an even bigger one.

🙂