One More Day Until Spring?

 Ahhhhhh---- we have one more day until Spring officially arrives. This weekend is going to be chock full of nice beautiful weather again. When considering that during the past week we had some awful snow and cold and wind!

This morning, as I sit here sipping my coffee, looking out of the She Shed windows, I am looking ahead to a day in the 50s with sunshine and blue skies.

Do you know how I always say how Steve finds these wonderful bargains on Marketplace and Craigslist? Well, yesterday it was my turn! 

I was kinda browsing along looking for some end tables or nightstands for in our guest room. Nothing in particular, but I was just looking for a set to put one on each side of the guest bed.

Well, I ran across a listing with two very nice end tables. But added with the listing was a leather mission style loveseat!!!

Oh boy, it was something I didn't even realize I knew that I wanted, but after spending a bunch of days with grandchildren, we realized that there are only two "adult butt sized seats" in the She Shed. Everybody ends up in the She Shed. But we were constantly shagging the kids out of our leather mission recliners and forcing them to go sit on the "kid butt sized" ottomans or the tall stools over by the sewing area fabric cutting bar.

When people stop by, (granted we haven't had any people stop by for a year due to covid-19) this loveseat was the answer. It would give us two more grown-up adult sitting spaces and we can still move the kids over to the ottomans if we have company.

I contacted the seller to get some better photos and see if it was a match to our recliners. Hint: if you want to sell something you need to have good photos or people can't tell exactly what you're selling. In a way, that added to our benefit because nobody else contacted her about the loveseat. 

(here was her photo in the ad)

In contrast, she said she had over 50 inquiries about her other two leather chairs! That was a better photo in a separate ad. Well, once she sent me the better photos, with closeups of the side wooden sections,  I knew that it was the match to the set we have, even from the same manufacturer.

After my dental appointment yesterday, Steve hooked up the trailer and off we went 30 miles to check out my potential Facebook Marketplace deal acquisition.

Sure enough, that's exactly what we wanted. All 3 pieces for only $250. The tables were even nicer and taller than the ones we currently have in our living room. We will put them in there, and rotate our existing tables into the bedroom as bed nightstands for the guest bed.

We were able to just squeeze the loveseat in through the door, working hard between the two of us. We set it into place. The woodwork matches perfectly!

There--- we now have four "grown up butt sitting spaces" in our She Shed! We still have plenty of room for my other things and I have all of my sewing and weaving and knitting and spinning toys around us. This makes a much cozier cluster for sitting and looking out of the back windows into the big backyard.  That is one of our favorite past times in the She Shed, besides working on my fibery stuff.  We also listen to music and play cribbage or yachtzee, and enjoy the space much more than being in our livingroom. 

(it looks tight in the pic, but there is about 4 feet behind the loveseat and the looms)

We are babysitting two sassy Grandpuppies for 5 days while the kids are on spring break. Of course I know that they like to jump all over the place and act more like cats or squirrels than actual dogs. I covered the new loveseat with a big quilt to help protect its surface while they are here visiting.  Binney and her buddies had to try it out. I put the smaller ottomans in front for the dogs to jump onto and hang out when I sat down in their places.

Little Biscuit, the white Bichon Frise dog, seems to think she's a cat and jumps up and sleeps on the back of the loveseat in the sunshine.  Totally spoiled rotten! 

Sassy little Ewok, the cairn terrier mix, seems to think he belongs anywhere he darn well pleases. Here he is hopped up in the recliner chair and I had to shag him off right after I took the picture.  They make themselves at home here, and it's much nicer for them than a boarding kennel. 

By clustering the furniture together in a group around one of the sets of windows, it creates a nice little space for visiting and still allows plenty of other room for my she shed toys.  Our view outside this morning... the grass is not greening up yet, but the sunshine is sure nice.

~~~~~~~~~

Over the last two weeks, we have spent some special time with each of the local grandkids. We're trying to give them all some one-on-one time and also some grouped family time. We make up list of projects to do or things we'd like to get accomplished. When they come, they get to pick out things they want to do and we cross them off the list. 

This picture below happened to be that they decided it was time to make rice krispie bars! It is a favorite project because each one gets different steps to do and eventually by the time we reach the end, we have a nice big pan of Rice Krispie bars, and three spatulas that needs to be licked off. Of course, this grandma keeps more than enough left over stuff in the bowl after filling the pan. Then they can all scrape away till their hearts' content with their spatulas. Got to make sure there's enough for everyone.

The oldest grandson, Jameson, loves cooking. Here he helped make dinner, which consisted of a roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes, veggies, tater tots, and our favorite garlic knots.

The two smallest girl cousins Whitney and Claire, spent an evening making apple pies. They love making the apples go round and round on this apple peeler corer slicer unit. It doesn't take long and soon we had enough apples to bake three pies! One for each of them to bring home, and one to leave here with Grandma and Grandpa.  Look at the delight on Whitney's face, while Claire is busy eating as many of the string peelings as she can cram in at once. LOL

Spending some one-on-one time with each child, as well as in groups, gives us a chance to really get involved with them with projects. We get a chance to know each one, and enjoy our time together, and hopefully build some memories for them to carry on down the line.

~~~~~~

On the fiber front, I started a new quilt. These are some special pieces of fabric that I got in the mail, through a Christmas Gift Subscription from the kids. Every month I get a new batch of six different pieces of fabric that all coordinate. They are shipped out by a little tiny rural quilting shop up in the Northwoods of Minnesota. What a great way to help out little shops during the pandemic! Now by the third month, I had enough to actually put together into a quilt. So I started piecing together all of the little squares and triangles to get started on a new quilt. 

It is based on a pattern by Eleanor Burns called Jewel Box Quilt. 

 It says you can make it in one day, but I will take my time. LOL

On another evening, Steve needed to buzz up to Marinette to Menards to get our last window order for replacing in the kitchen breakfast area. Of course, right nearby is a Jo-Ann store. Chelsea and I decided with being that late in the evening, we could reasonably go up there and not have too many other shoppers to deal with.

We were right, we were the only people in the store except the two clerks working. We roamed around till our hearts content and picked out a few things that we absolutely had to have. Chelsea picked out enough fabric to start her very own full-sized quilt for her bed.

She chose sea turtle fabric because that is her favorite animal. We found some really cute little prints and enough coordinating fabric to work into a quilt for her.

We set to work cutting up the fabric and in one evening she sewed together a lot of the cut pieces into large four patch blocks. Although she got her own sewing machine for Christmas, she spent the evening sewing on mine while spending the night. She sewed right up until 9:30 p.m.

The next day she was ready to start laying out her blocks. She meticulously arranged and rearranged them to make sure that no two matching pieces would be touching each other. She sure is a little Mini-Me, wanting to create and make something with her own sense of style and learn along the way. Soon the younger girls will want to be doing it too.

Well, enough of this blog stuff this morning, the sun is shining and I think I need to get some things done. Steve already cooked us a delicious breakfast and all three dogs got little nibbles of leftovers as treats. Now the two sassy Grandpuppies are dozing in the sunshine on the big ottoman.

Binney has taken up her place of honor as the princess on the new loveseat. She's keeping a close eye on Steve while he is on his computer.

I wonder if he is looking for more of his own

 Facebook Marketplace Bargains

 and Craigslist deals?

You never know.

Spring Projects Have Begun - And It's a Small World

Today, I am happy to report that with our hoisting of patio stones the other day, both of us woke up just fine with no sore or aching backs. We did pop a few ibuprofen tablets though, as a preventative measure before going to bed.

I calculated that 32 pounds per each paving stone, times 78 stones, that equals out to TWO THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND NINEY SIX POUNDS!!!! 

That is over one ton!  Steve and I took turns lifting, loading and stacking them onto the trailer, as well as lifting and unloading and stacking them in the garage or placing them on the lawn.  So we each did 1,248 pounds TWICE.  Ack! 

I'm glad we did it in three trips. It gave us a chance to rest in between each episode of lifting and stacking and moving. We could sit on the seats of the Saturn and relax for the rides back and forth to the store. LOL!

During the upcoming week, we will be getting some free sand from the city municipal lot and then scavage some fine gravel from our driveway.  We will get a grandkid to skim it off and load the wheelbarrow for us.  Then we can work on leveling out the patio area in the backyard by the door to the She Shed. We will be able to build it out level and then lay the stones in a 5 1/2 by 12 foot grid. That will be a nice patio area for Steve to put the new gas grill!

~~~~~~~~~

In the meantime, Steve found another wonderful bargain on Facebook Marketplace. He sure keeps an eagle eye out and finds some interesting things. This one has a really funny story to it that I will get into a little bit later.

We had been discussing a while ago about adding one more screen door to the pergola entry side of the She Shed. We have debated whether or not we wanted to have to struggle opening an additional door every time we go back and forth, versus the niceness of having the outside air blowing through from one side to the other of the She Shed.  There's a screen door on the other end to the south that could enable nice cross breezes this summer.  That door leads out to the soon-to-come patio and fenced-in dog yard.

So as we were contemplating the idea about getting another screen door for a few days, Steve happened to come across this listing for a very nice new vinyl screen door ---  at less than half of its original price. 

We contacted the sellers via Messenger and made arrangements to meet at a public space, in a local gas station parking lot three towns away.

Here is our plan:  We are going to dress it up with four more little corner bric-a-brac pieces like we did for the other screen doors last year. I really think this little added touch is adorable.  It really dressed up the cheap $29 wooden screen doors. 

Here's the front door that we did last year with the added bric-a-brac and it was just a plain wooden screen door that we screwed onto the aluminum storm door frame.

Yup, that would work for us.  Home Depot doesn't carry these cheap wooden screen doors anymore (we checked during our discussion a few days ago)  and this one being offered was solid vinyl and probably made more sturdy and longer lasting than the cheap ones. 

We loaded up our little trailer and headed on over to the gas station, about 20 miles away.  

It was exactly what we wanted and in great new shape. It had never been mounted and still had the tags on it. So we quickly handed over the money, all while we were wearing our masks. They hopped back in their truck and drove away. So we really didn't get to see each other's faces.  It was windy and cold, so we hopped back into our Saturn after strapping the door down to our trailer.

Now ---- here's the funny part of the story, showing that it really is truly a small world. As we drove away, the seller texted us. She says "We think we know you! We think you bought some other things from us in the past!"

It turns out that almost two years ago we had bought a light fixture from the wife. She was kind enough to drop it off, sight unseen, on our front porch the very same day we closed on the deal of the house. We said we didn't know if we would be here when she came through on her way to work, so we just left her a check in the mailbox. We never met face-to-face. 

But here's the beautiful light fixture we bought from her, that matches the other light fixtures that we were bringing up to install in our newly purchased old farmhouse

The parrot is in the background hanging from the window frame, 

it's not part of the light fixture LOL

Then she said, her husband remembers my husband! Well, how could that be? It turns out that we had also bought a pile of old office cabinetry fixtures from him almost two years ago. We had met him at a storage unit where it was being stored. It was left over furniture fixtures from an office. Amazing that he recognized Steve from way back then?

Here are some of the goofy cabinetry pieces, with some odd greenish stain and burgundy doors. It took three and four coats of white primer and paint to cover it up. 

The first section of 3 door cabinets were what we wanted the most.  We mounted them on the wall in the laundry room. Just a bargain at the price of $100 for all of the cabinetry. It more than paid for the amount that we wanted for some cabinets in the laundry room.

In my mind, the rest of the cabinets were an added bonus, leftover to configure for my use in my She Shed. And configure them we did!

The tall section that was used as a counter (I think to stand in front of and make appointments with the receptionist) became the back surface of my sewing desk. On the top counter surface I was able to set my rectangular large ironing board, known as a quilting "Big Board", as a perfect height ironing surface for working on my fabric projects.

The two file cabinets were spread apart and mounted underneath a recycled table top. This became my sewing desk with a leg hole opening in the middle for my office chair. Underneath we wired in an electrical outlet into the floor and put a porthole through the tabletop. Then we ran up my electrical cords and light cord to power anything on the desk.

The super strong file cabinet drawers, designed to carry a lot of weight, also double now as an ironing surface on one side and a rotary cutting board surface on the other with removable planks. One is coated with ironing board material and the other has a rotary mat permanently affixed to it. It makes a great sewing center with the U-shaped design.  I can just flip the planks off, and close the drawers up like a regular desk if I want. 

By having the tall counter in front of the sewing table, it kind of hides my clutter and mess from the rest of the room as people come and go through the She Shed. It also enables me to leave everything out, and I don't have to put things away each time in between quilting sessions.  The little stools are fun for the grandkids to sit on and work on art projects at the counter when I remove the Big Board. 

This one awkward piece of cabinetry had slanted side shelves, and it was a little more unusual. At first we considered cutting off the angled corners. Instead we decided to securely mount it high enough on the wall to hold my weaving supplies. The end shelves were just perfect for my most often used tools and accessories. They were easy to grab and reach from each side, especially now that I have two looms set down below it. 

So all in all, I messaged back to the seller, and told them that any time they're ready to sell something again, let us know first! 

  

~~~~~~~~

Our warm temperatures from yesterday were beautiful in the low 60's.  Last year we had such large puddles in the back, ponds really, that Steve was running pumps and hoses trying to clear them out. He got it to run out to the gutter in the front of the house to go down the street and off into the swamp. 

This year the water table is much lower, and the level of snow melt was much less. It's a little muddy back there but no big ponds.

It's a beautiful view out to our backyard, even without the green grass or the leaves on the trees yet. This is the view from the She Shed that we enjoy every evening from our chairs.  You can barely see the blue of the neighbor back there on the right. Come summer, when the trees leaf out, we don't see him again until late next fall.

The weather was amazingly beautiful yesterday in Wisconsin. It was almost 70°. We opened all of the windows of the house, letting in the fresh air (after turning off the furnace). We spent some time out on the front porch, with the porch swing and end tables now in place. Ahhhh this is nice. 

We also put out the pair of rocking chairs, along with the little repainted end table between them. It feels so good to have the furniture back on the porch. It's a sign of SPRING!  The long front porch is just one more of the features of the house that we really enjoy.

A lot of neighbors were going past, and we were waving and chatting with a few as they strolled on by. Everyone was remarking on the beautiful weather for March for Wisconsin. Very unusual. Of course, we can still be hit with a wallop of a snow storm yet. And that would not be unusual at all!

Selfies! 

These are the two upcycled chairs from my neighbor Sheryl.  They make great additional seating for visitors, and can be carried over to join in the group on the other part of the porch.  Much nicer than hauling out lawn chairs from the garage.  I bought them from Sheryl for $5, painted them, and recovered the seats with red upholstery vinyl. 

From the other side....   

Binney came out to enjoy the sunshine too. 

It was wonderful afternoon

to hang out and enjoy the blue sky,

with our American Flag waving in the breeze. 

Stay tuned for more projects. 

Uff Dah -Are We Getting Too Old For This Kind Of Stuff??

 Sorry--- It's been a tough time last month, since losing Finnegan, and I took a break from blogging.... 

I am back now that we are doing some National Folk Farmhouse Projects! 

~~~~~~~

As I said in my title, "UFF DAH"  ...  We are both feeling a tad bit achy this evening.  Why? Hmmmmmm  because Mr. Steveio had a new project in mind. Of course, as his sidekick, I had to hop to it and help him with whatever he comes up with.  

He even bought me a NEW pair of leather work gloves... Good to be suspicious when your loving husband gives you WORK gloves?  

(They are very nice gloves, I must admit) 

Sooo what was this stinker up to?  The snow has mostly melted this week, but the frost is still in the ground.  Things have been getting a bit mushy on the sunshiney days, and we are getting some mud tracked in from the yard.

We know since building the little pergola between the garage and the house, the walkway is pretty good and our feet stay clean when coming from the garage.  But if we come through the yard on the grass portion between the garage and the She Shed, the mud will get tracked in as soon as Spring arrives.   

Right now it is lawn... 

but soon to be mud.

There is also a 6x12 patio area near the back door to the fenced in dog yard that is cracked and in need of replacement or repair.  Again, that will track in the mud as well.

Well, that Steveio had pondered getting concrete walkways and a cement patio poured this Spring.  He made a few phone calls and got a few estimates. It was a tad bit more than our retirement budget can handle.  Sooooo  He took a good long look at his other options.  Off to the local Big Box store we went, (Menards) to the outdoor garden center.  

We put those work gloves to good use! 

Each block weighs 32 pounds....  

and are very rough on the hands.

We loaded up 30 blocks, and then we strapped a flat piece of OSB board over the top to keep them from possibly bouncing or sliding around.  Just this load was 1,000 pounds, and we didn't want to overload our little trailer.  Instead,  we took three round trips of 44 miles each. 

The stones we picked out are 16x16 cast cement slabs, that match what the previous owner had already put in the front yard for a sidewalk.  Instead of pouring concrete, in three different areas around our yard, we decided to just create another walkway and a  patio to match what is already here! 

(this is the front sidewalk made by the previous owners)

Fortunately, Mr. Bargain Hunter Stevieo found that these blocks were on sale this week, up until Saturday. So it was important to haul them as soon as we could, and not be in a crowded store on Saturday with the weekend shoppers.

We unloaded the first 30 blocks and set them right into place on the frozen ground.  As the frost goes out, they will sink down some.  If we need to, we can dig up some of the turf underneath them later this spring.  Once they are firmly in place, we will sweep in the special polymer sand that creates a cement type bond between the stones and prevents the weeds from growing up in between them.  They are SO heavy, they don't shift around at all, even when they are just set on the grass. 

While we worked, we had our "Supervisor"  who made sure we did a good job.  Since Finnegan passed away, she clings to us, and doesn't leave our sides.  This is about as far away as she ever gets.  Keeping a close eye on us, she won't let us leave or even turn away for a minute. I went into the garage for a rake, and she followed me just to make sure I wasn't leaving her behind.  She is adjusting to the loss of Finnegan, as we all are.  Sigh.  

After the first 30 blocks we laid, we got back in the Saturn and headed up for batch number 2....  again, strapping things down securely and making sure that the load wouldn't shift around or fall off.  I see too many crazy people who load things haphazardly on trailers or in the back of pickup trucks.  I hate following them on the highway, and don't trust them at all.  An extra strap or two is worth the time to keep other people safe as well. 

Right after lunch, we got the second batch unloaded.  We set the last few blocks to get around the corner and now out to the edge of the driveway.  We will take a shovel to the gravel later to level out the last two blocks and ease any tripping hazards. 

Once they are done settling, we can add a bit of gravel here and there underneath certain blocks until they are all level.  I can just see Steve now, crawling around on the sidewalk, with his lazer level, making sure each one is perfectly aligned.  LOL  

We went back to the store for the third and final load.  This one stayed on the trailer tonight,  while we just backed it right into the garage.  We will unload the rest of those tomorrow, or maybe the next day, depending on our aching backs!  

Those remaining stones will go for the 6x12 patio area, but first we have to prep that surface and get more packing gravel and sand to make it level before we lay those stones.  We can do that a few at a time, and not as zoom zoom zoom as we did this first part. I hope?

Are we getting too old for this stuff?  Not sure, but we can see where people at our ages start opting to get handymen to do this type of stuff. 

Steve would like the patio area out the side door by the dog yard, because he has treated himself to a NEW GRILL!   His other little one in the motorhome has seen better days, so he will move the table top Weber Q out to the motorhome now.  He has been just carrying it out and back into the garage each time we grill out at home.  Now he will get a regular grill set up outside on the patio and we will order a nice cover for it.  The extra bonus is that it is much closer to the kitchen, and he won't be traipsing back and forth through the entire She Shed to cook out near the garage. 

(this is the new grill in a temp position near the pergola)

It even has a bottle opener 

and bottle cap receptacle 

built onto the grill! 

This looks like a happy grilling man!  I don't mind him wanting a bigger grill, plus he helps with half of the cooking tasks anyhow.  Might as well enjoy it, right?  

Notice the ivy plants?  I left them out all winter in the frozen north sub zero temps.  They are soft and pliable and greening up!  Amazing, I never knew common garden center ivy plants would make it through a Wisconsin winter? 

Speaking of Wisconsin Winter, since we have upgraded the attic insulation last fall, as well as replacing the windows on most of the house.  Our heating bills are 30-40% less than last year.  Plus our "heating degree days" are even colder than last year.   It was a worthwhile investment to change out the windows and replace all of the insulation with better R value and more evenly covered attic spaces. 

We have been trying to keep busy during the last month or so. I was working on this latest quilt.  I call it the Coffee Break Quilt. 

 It is a queen size, and all finished up and ready for sale on my Etsy site:

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/595688245/coffee-break-homemade-quilt-queen-size

Here is a closeup of the quilt... it has cute coffee motifs in the center of each block surrounded by "log cabin" style construction of the quilt pattern. Then there are swirls of my own free motion stitching that resembles the brewing steam emanating from the mugs of coffee.  

Stay tuned for the next batch of upcoming projects in our old Farmhouse.  I think it might be replacing these windows in the kitchen nook.  We have the large window configuration for the right side windows already in the garage, waiting to get installed.  The left window is on order, and due to arrive next week!   We hope. 

I hope we can handle the next project. For how much my back is aching tonight, I sometimes have my doubts.  For now, I am going to relax in my tub and pop a few ibuprofen.  I think Steve is going to do the same. 

Little Binney worked hard as a Supervisor.

She has the right idea. 

I hope to write more regularly,

now that we are facing Springtime:

More Camping

More House Projects

More Family Time

and 

Less Covid!!