Home Projects and Appointments

We aren't wandering anywhere this week in the motorhome. Instead, we decided to stay home because the weather looks really lousy all week long. We each have haircuts scheduled for today and a dentist appointment for me scheduled for tomorrow.

The venetian blind that we ordered for the smaller window on the side of the bedroom finally came in. So we were able to put that into place and install the brackets. Then I hung up one of my sets of Heritage Lace curtain swags. Not sure if I'm going to do a lower panel on a cafe rod or not.

We will see what it looks like once I get the other curtains up around the big window. Steve has started cutting up the trim wood and shellacking the knots. Then I will get all of the trim wood painted. We are adding the top crown molding and the egg and dart trim to the big window to make it match the same as the original window and doors.

Steve also reattached the rows of coat hooks that we keep behind the door. It's a handy place for bathrobes, jammies or things that we are going to wear again. Out of sight, out of mind.

It stopped drizzling for a while this morning, so we went outside and decided to tear down all of the tomato vines and remove all of the cages. I invested in heavier stronger cages for next year. So these I think we'll get put on Marketplace for someone else to buy in the spring. It was time to empty the rain barrel and put that away for the season. We will remove the rain chain and pick up some new downspout piping and route the water away from the house for the winter.

These are the last of the tomatoes picked off the vines. We will let them ripen and I will process the last of these up into a jar or two of salsa. I dread having to buy store bought tomatoes again for salads, but at least I have lots of jars of processed ones for making into chili, casserole, or sauce.

Steve decided that it was time to do a little rearranging in our yard. Two years ago we put in these two boxwood bushes on each side of the Korean lilac. The Korean lilac is doing well and getting larger each year. This is right in front of the 3 western windows of the She Shed. So he decided it was time to move the two boxwoods up to the front of the house. He got the one out on the right. Boy oh boy did that thing have a lot of roots!

We stuck it up in the front flower bed, to the right of the bird bath. We will do the second bush to the left of the birdbath, but we ran out of time. Steve had to leave and get his haircut.

We still have to clean out the rest of the flower beds of all the dead stalks and blossoms before the winter snows come. The window boxes are still full of geranium blooms, so we will leave those for a bit. Geesh, I feel like winter is coming up fast, so it will be good to get these things done. 

We dug up a bunch of the evening primrose plants to get that bush into place. That stuff grows like crazy and makes kind of a nice ground cover. It blooms almost all summer long, and the leaves turns a nice red in the fall. So we took clumps of it from the front and brought it out to the backyard for around the flagpole in that flower bed.

In the springtime, this bed is full of irises which are beautiful. But the rest of the summer is kind of blah. The rhizomes of the iris have woven into such a heavy mesh underground that it's hard to dig into.  Steve was able to get a bunch of the evening primrose clumps dug down just enough. Hopefully they will take root and take over. They can stay contained in this circle, and the weed eater will keep them at bay from spreading into the lawn.

He took a load of all the dead stuff off into the woods and dumped it. We've had a few things we brought back in the woods sprout up and grow there too. That's okay. I snapped this picture of him coming back with his wheelbarrow. I told him that I just love looking at a man who is working! LOL

Now it was my turn to get ready to leave to go for my haircut. I decided that I've had this long straight hair all throughout the whole covid pandemic. I did chop away at some of it myself one time last year. Also granddaughter Chelsea trimmed the ends for me last summer. But I decided I would go in and get it cut. I have been wearing it up in a bun almost all summer.

Here is my "before" photo:

And here is my "after":

I asked for about 6 inches taken off the bottom, and some nice layers that let my curls bounce back up again,  especially on the top. It's easy to just tousel it up with a little bit of styling product and a few curls on top with the curling iron. I was pleased with the result and Steve said VaVaVaVooom!!

Now you know what I look like! 

 

It's been drizzling all evening so we didn't get the other boxwood bush moved. Maybe tomorrow.  Before or after my dentist appointment. It's just a cleaning, so won't take long. I think we are done with outdoor chores for the day.

I tossed some frozen pasties from The Pasty Oven 

into the microwave to thaw. 

Next, they go into the oven on 400 to bake them 

with a flakey crust and steaming filling. 

I think tonight is going to be a lazy evening, with maybe watching some HGTV shows, maybe doing a little sewing or weaving. I think we are winding down from a couple whirlwind weeks of camping.