Marvelous Monday Update 9/2/2024

 I just came off of a four day weekend. Gotta love those!  For my U.S. readers, did you do anything special over Labor Day weekend?

PLANNER UPDATE

Back in May I mentioned I'm trying my hand at using a crafty planner to keep track of what I'm working on, (loosely) manage goals, and track my finishes.  This POST talks about how I'm going about doing this.

Well... I fell off the wagon... BUT, I got back on and am trucking along to get caught up.  I've filled a couple more Finishes pages.

I created a new section for when I visited Liberty Hill Needleworks in Williamsburg, VA back in July.  If you're ever in the area, you HAVE to visit.  It's a beautiful shop with lots of models and charts nicely displayed.  They have a website and a FB page.  

I also updated the month-at-view pages in my planner.  More on those another time.

WEATHER

My area had excessive heat warnings Monday and Tuesday of last week.  

Both days registered 106-107F heat index temps.  Actual temps were 99-101F.

It was HOT-HOT-HOT!  On the hottest days of the year, my 3-year old central air until became my nemesis. 

Despite the thermostat being set on 60F for over 24 hours, the temperature in the house didn't drop below 78F.

Thanks to a suggestion of a friend, I slept in the Casita with the AC on.  I actually got cold!

A heating and air company came to look at the unit and said the compressor is going bad.  They are checking into whether it's covered under warranty.

A cold front came through Wednesday and the skies were filled with huge clouds.

WATERCOLOR FUN

I had a four day weekend so I spent one day working on some Halloween postcards I created with watercolor.

 Aren't they cute?

 

Speaking of Halloween, there are some new neighbors up the street from me who are in the process of decorating for the holiday.

 

Mr. B. wasn't a fan when I took him for a walk by there.  With his "ferocious" growl, all 4 lbs. of him let them know to stay away. LOL

 

CASITA NEWS

Since I had four days off work in a row, I spent three of them working on more oxidation removal.  I am SO close to being done.

When I took the spare tire off to do the lower half of the back, there was a stain where the tire cover ground the dirt into the fiberglass.

Some elbow grease took most of it off.  With oxidation cleaner, polish, and wax the stain can hardly be seen.

My coworker said she drove by house and said that the Casita looks so shiny from the street.

The tire cover was quite grimy and needed sewing repairs.

 

I cleaned it up best I could and did the repairs.  

 

 

I decided not to get a new cover because when I get a new spare tire, the cover size will change.

The final project I did over the weekend was paint the bumper.  When I took the tire off, I saw there was some rust forming on the bumper beneath the tire.

I covered and taped off the backside. Can't take a chance of over spray landing on the white fiberglass!

 

 

A bit of wire brushing to get the loose rust off before Mr. Rustoleum and I went to town.

Looks much better, doesn't it?

GARDENING

I received a box of flowery goodness in the mail.  After cleaning out part of the bed where the sedum have taken over, I planted 6 different colors of irises my FB friend in VA sent me.  I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom next year.

Wow, this is a long post.  If you're still with me this far, I'd like to end off with sharing the last page in my gratitude journal.  I started writing it a year and a half ago and have made a conscious effort to write something positive every day.

Until Next Time,

Homestead Happenings - Summer 2024

 Lots of hustle and bustle around The Homestead in 2023:

• Shrub Removal HERE.

• Flower Bed Landscaping HERE.

• Concrete Work HERE.

• Planted Climbing Roses HERE.

• Planted Hostas HERE.

• Planted Irises HERE.

• Planted Daylilies, Peonies and Tulips HERE.

• Planted Mums and Setup my Water Feature HERE.

What's new at The Homestead in 2024?

 

The railing on my front porch really needed to be painted.  There were quite a few areas showing rust.

 

Preparation is the key to a good paint job.  I needed to protect not only the concrete, but also the brick of the house.

 

Some may say it's overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  Ask me how I know...  I used gloss black Rustoleum spray paint to freshen up to wrought iron railing.

 

Doesn't it look much better?  There was an ulterior motive to get the railing painted.

 

Last year when I got my Bailey girl, her first mama was moving out of state and gave me three deck planters similar to this one, but without the coco liners:

 

Since my railings were painted, I could install them.  Yay!  My problem with installing these was the bracket is made for 2x4 deck railing and my railing is wrought iron.  What to do?  What to do?  Zip ties to the rescue.  They very securely hold the planters in place and since they're black they're not noticeable.

I soon filled them with plants, and look how lovely they looked.

 

 

Fast forward several months and they've filled in nicely.  I couldn't be happier.

Since I didn't have time last fall to finish all the mulching that needed to be done, I did more this year.  Twelve bags so far. 

 

I mulched the bed on the west side of the house.  It went from this in 2023...

to this...

 

to this in 2024...

 

I've had these rocks forever and thought this was a good way to use them and hold the window well covers in place. 

I also mulched the southwest corner of the house.  I call this The Alcove.   

The roses are Knockout roses. I've figured out that if I trim the faded flowers, it blooms more profusely.  It only took me 15 years to figure it out. Hee Hee!

I still need to put a border between the mulch and the grass.  I have bought some to finish the front and start on the other beds.

Until Next Time,

Marvelous Monday Update 8/26/2024

Happy Monday! The beautiful weather with 70-80F temps and no humidity has come to an end.  The forecasters are predicting 109-112F heat index for the next few days with high humidity.  Ugh!  Thank goodness for air conditioning, right?

 

What have I been up to this past week?

 

MACHINE EMBROIDERY

I made this table topper after last year's Kimberbell Day.

 

 A couple of closeups show the detail of the machine embroidery and the quilting design I chose.  Isn't that glittery spider the cutest?

I finally got around to making the quilt label for the back. So now I can finally call it a FFO!

 

STITCHY STUFF

I misplaced my Halloween issue of Just Cross Stitch so I did a deep dive into the stash to try and find some Halloween designs.  I'm hosting a Halloween Mailart Exchange on the FB group Stitchers of Mailart. I also signed up for a Halloween Ornament Exchange hosted by one of my FB friends.  I also found a link to some Halloween freebies on Cyberstitchers.

I didn't have plans to complete the Halloween Ornament in one weekend, but I did.  Whoop! Whoop!  I can't show it in entirety, but here's a sneek peek:

I hand dyed the fabric back in March when I went to the Spring Hoosier Retreat.

 

I had some random spools of Kreinik in ziploc bags so I decided to organize them into my existing storage boxes which happen to be 20 guage shotgun shell cases.

 

As you can see, I'm now up to three boxes.  I have an obscene amount of 032 blending filament.

If you're interested in seeing how I store my other stitchy stash, click on over HERE.

FURBABY LOVE

Early last week, I gave Bailey a bath because she smelled like she rolled in something outside.  I kept calling her my "Stinky Girl" LOL.

 

 

She has always had a floppy left ear.  Isn't it endearing?

 

On Saturday, both Bailey and Baxter had a scheduled spa day. I could hear Bailey crying when I entered the grooming salon to pick them up.  Poor girl. 

Both were so happy Mama came back.  They smelled so good!

 

This morning I woke up to Baxter letting out a scream at 4:50am.  I jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen.  He was cowering in the corner of his playpen and he had pee'd himself.  I gave him a bath, he went outside to do his business, and ate breakfast. He seemed okay.  Scared the bejeezus outta me!

 

Based on what I told the vet, they think maybe he had a seizure due to low blood sugar.  They suggested I give him a small snack at bed time and journal this in case it happens again.

GOOD EATS

I tried a new spaghetti squash recipe. It had bacon, garlic, and onion in it.  The receipt called for Parmesan cheese, but I was out so I used Mexican blend.  It was so good!

TRANSPLANTS

Last year, my supervisor gave me a Kalanchoe for Administrative Professionals Day.  It had outgrown the pot it came in so I transplanted it in a larger pot. I'm hoping it will bloom again.  The tiny flowers were so cute.

Months and months and months ago... Did I say how long ago?  I propogated Sedum Morganianum (Burro's Tail) and Echeveria Runyonii (Topsy Turvy) from leaves that dropped off of a mother plant.  They were finally big enough to be planted in a pot.

This was the pot the Kalanchoe came in.  Both have homes on the window sill of my office.

Until Next Time,