Farmhouse Project - We Got Eggs and Darts

In yesterday's blog, I posted about some beautiful egg and dart moulding trim that I found at Home Depot.  I wanted to add it to our mantel.  If you remember a few blogs back, I spackled up 327 holes in the mantel prior to painting it.  Although it looked better, it was still a tad bit rugged. I wanted to cover the front edge with some trim.

This afternoon, Steve got out his tape measure and figured out that we had enough trim on that 10 foot long piece, exactly to the inch --- enough to not only do the front surface of the mantel, but also a piece for each side!  If the trim strip had been even one inch shorter, it would not have worked out mathematically to have enough wood to cut the corners.

As he made his cuts carefully at 45 degree angles at both ends, there was exactly enough leftover to do each of the two side pieces.

  

He brought the air compressor around to the front door and dragged the air hose into the house with the air nail gun attached. Carefully balancing the strip so it was level and flush with the existing mantel, I held it while tight while he started to nail it on.  Once he got most of it nailed into place, I could let go and grab the camera for a pic.

He put a thin bead of caulk at each of the 45 degree angle corners and then proceeded to nail on the two end pieces. What a transformation!

Out came my matching brown paint and my little paintbrush. I got the first two coats on before supper and then I finished up a final coat after we ate.

I think it looks like it should have always been there....  

The reason why I wanted the egg and dart motif, is because it matches the smaller egg and dart trim we have over the doorways and the window frames. That trim is probably 100 years old, and I would think people were pretty proud to adorn their farmhouse with such fancy mill-work.  I think I know the feeling --- by adorning the mantel now to match.

This beautiful oil painting was painted by my artistic friend Rosie DuPuy of Bethel, Missouri.  She gave it to us on a visit to her home, many years ago.  It has always hung in a place of honor in our homes.  In this house, we chose to hang it in a place of honor over the mantel. The frame was a little too brightly gilded gold. Last summer I had toned it down a bit with some watered down brown paint, and it blended well with the old paint on the mantel.  Now it seemed too reddish in tone for the new color of the mantle. While the mantle trim was drying, again I watered down some of the newer paint, and I toned it down some more.  I think the transformation has worked and it will coordinate well with the mantel trim and color.

Here is an evening picture, but I am sure it will look much better in the daylight.  I will check it in the morning for any little spots that need a touch up. Sometimes with the glare of evening lamps and wet paint, I can miss tiny unpainted bits in the cracks and grooves of the carved moulding.

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The other thing I wanted to post about was our Saturday entertainment:

Granddaughter Chelsea, who is 10 years old was attending a fundraiser for her cheer dance competition group. They are called the Illusion All Star Oconto Youth Cheerleading Group.  They are trying to raise funds to buy new mats for performing and learning their routines on. They put on a production called the Spirit Showcase.

Manning the admission counter was none other than our darling little granddaughter Claire, who was helping to collect all of the ticket money and put it in the box. She takes her job VERY seriously and does it well.

Then granddaughter Chelsea and grandson Clayton had the honors of marking people's backs of their hands with a stamp showing that they had paid their admission.

The dance team parents were offering a lunch counter of homemade food, so we ate lunch there and helped donate to the cause.

They also held a bake sale. I got up early and donated four platters of homebaked toffee bars that I brought over earlier during the event setup.  The bars sold out right away, so fast that when our daughter Erin went to go buy some, they were already gone.

They invited various vendors into the cafeteria to sell crafts and merchandise and then they donated to the group fundraising efforts. A local favorite guy who sells tie dye items at festivals and county fairs was set up there. I snapped up three lovely tie dye t-shirts. I love his merchandise as the shirts are 100 % cotton and very thick and heavy. Then don't stretch or shrink or fade either.

Indulging in my Inner Hippie-ness 

The parents and sponsors also held a raffle with gift baskets. We bought a stack of 30 tickets and selected various baskets to take our chances on.  Later when the winners were called, we were surprised to find out that we won two baskets!  One was full of holiday baking supplies, cookie sheets, cutters and pans.  The other was full of games, puzzles, sketch pads, markers and colored pencils.  How nice... Perfect baskets for these grandparents.

Chelsea's group did a few fun routines.  They won first place at their last two tournaments, and put in many hours of hard work and practice.  Here is a little video clip of their group.

It was cute to see that the older girls sit along the edge to encourage and cheer on the little ones.  Such nice support and positive energy, (in a day and age of bullying and negative peer pressure).  Even the high school cheerleading girls came to help out and do some routines with the younger girls.  The coaches helped demonstrate the safety of learning different aspects and how each girl could try a new thing with adult spotters on all three sides to be extra cautious.

When the event was over, we only had a mile or so to travel home, not like other years where we lived 70 miles away... we had to travel a lot to attend these grandchildren functions. 

SIDE NOTE: ONE YEAR AGO TODAY WE TRAVELED UP TO OCONTO TO VIEW THIS SAME EVENT FOR CHELSEA IN 2019.  ON THE WAY HOME IS WHEN STEVE UTTERED A PHRASE:

"THERE REALLY ISN'T ANYTHING

 HOLDING US TO CHILTON ANYMORE"

 ----  THEN HE BROUGHT UP THE IDEA OF SELLING OUR HOME IN CHILTON AND MOVING UP TO OCONTO! THE REST IS HISTORY --- 

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Today the weather was absolutely beautiful again. I think this is our January Thaw in February. I went out on the front porch for a little while, wearing a sweatshirt while the sunshine was streaming across the porch. I sat in the rocking chair and enjoyed the break in the weather.  I could hear birds chirping and I swear I heard a red winged blackbird!

Our snow is melting fast

Steve had a little bit of spring fever too, and suggested a lunch of making some bratwurst on the grill. He grilled out some good Klement's brats while I whipped up a pasta salad and some deviled eggs. It sure felt like summertime!

It was only 35 degrees, but the sunshine gave it a "feels like" temp of 41.  So with a bit of warmth, we both got bit by the bug to act like it is summertime!

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And now for two personal notes:


A beloved family member is undergoing heart surgery tomorrow. Please add this person to your prayers if you feel so inclined. We will be spending the next day or two at the hospital helping out, and possibly helping with things for the return home afterwards.

Also our darling little Grand-Nephew has come down with a second battle with cancer.  A tumor has grown again on his little liver. He is only 3 years old. He needs to face chemo all over again and possibly another surgery or maybe a transplant. If you have room in your heart and room on your prayer list, please give a little thought of kindness and healthy healing to little Bennet.