Typical Tuesday

Well here it is Tuesday.  I was so glad i was not going anywhere this last weekend after going to the lake 2 weekends in a row.  But i did get out on the river nearby and had a nice kayak float.  Went with a woman i know and one of her friends and a group out of Oklahoma we did not know.  Nice women and nice river.  However it did seem these Oklahoma women were in more of a hurry than us!  LOL.  We basically paddled the entire 10 miles!  But we did stop twice to visit and eat snacks/lunch.

On the gravel bars i was told by 3 of them they look for heart shaped rocks.  I found one shaped like Oklahoma.  Then couple of them said they find lots of rocks with holes too.  I found a few.  Then my friend Lisa said they make cool wind-chimes so i found as many as i could.  I am going to make a wind chime for me and one for my sister.  Her birthday is tomorrow.  We are going to have lunch Saturday.

Last week right after work i jumped in DH truck and ran and got a bed-full of mulch.  I put newspaper and cardboard down around all my hostas and then mulch.  They are said to do really well with rich organic matter based soil and the paper/cardboard breaks down while thwarting weeds...helps the plants stay watered in this dry hot summer weather.  It was a 2 day job.  I am SO glad it is finished.

this was before much.

And after!

I hope you all are staying cool out there and staying healthy.  I have had a head cold for 8 days.  No fever.  I am doing ok, but yoga sure was difficult last night with my sinuses so clogged!  We have been blessed with some rain couple times in last week.  Makes it super humid, but stuff was really getting dry and brown!  I am worried about losing some of my new bushes and trees.  We are watching them close and watering them a lot.  The clouds have kept it from being too hot, was high 80's low 90's last few days but going to upper 90's rest of this week!  Good time to do my outside gardening and watering early in morning or late in evening...otherwise we are catching lots of movies on Netflix!  I am trying to convince myself that now is a good time to paint my master bath ceiling...we shall see.  It had an old leak that someone covered - badly.  Needs a dose of Kilz and a coat of paint and will be so nice and fresh.  To be continued...

Signing off with my beautiful burgundy glad!  This is the first time i have grown gladiolas but i LOVE them.

Post Christmas, Pre New Years

Had DH family (mom and dad, sister/BIL, 2 brothers) Christmas meal Saturday.  We had roast pork and ham.  Then we all split up the sides.  DH mom has said she is not doing the cooking anymore.  I can understand - she is 85 this March!  So, sister in law did the 2 meats and I did scalloped potatoes, Waldorf salad and deviled eggs.  The potatoes tasted fine, had a slight sweet smell to them...I did not realize until today that I had used unsweetened but vanilla almond milk.  Haha, what an idiot!  Oh, well I am not sure anyone really noticed.  We had so much yummy stuff.  I also did a version just for me with dairy free cheese substitute.  I just had some for lunch - pretty good.

Today I finished moving the dirt (and bulbs) from my raised flower bed that we had to move for the new fence we are having built.  Then I raked a bunch of wet leaves from our little yard and piled them on top of the beds (I have 3) to help insulate the bulbs and prevent weeds.  It was good the leaves were wet, hopefully they will stay on the beds and not blow off.  Bad because they were hard to rake!  It has turned cool here...and windy!  But still not supposed to get too cold yet this week.  That is good news, I am hiking 13 miles New Years Day!

Then I came inside and cleaned the house.  Did couple loads of laundry.  The dogs were running around and now they are napping.  DH is playing golf with his cousin.  I declined since I am doing yoga tonight.  I played DH and one of his brothers Friday at a challenging course 45 min away.  It was nice and I did ok.

My yoga instructor is out of town for 2 weeks, so I am taking advantage of a $21 for 21 days unlimited yoga...the only problem is I have to drive 30 miles.  Oh well, the price we pay for living in the boonies.

I am sitting here enjoying the view of my living room picture gallery.  Maybe I have posted before, but just in case.  Here is before:

Here is after.  I wanted to lighten up the living room.  I am sure the deer head is not everyone's cup of tea.  But it is DH and he is proud of his hunting and enjoys outdoor stuff.  He does not get to display most of his rustic, antique and old-timey stuff, so I give him the deer head in the living room.  It happens to go with our other rustic themed pictures. 

Have a great week and if I don't make it back here.  Have a Happy New Year.  Quiet night at home as usual for DH and I.  We are going to enjoy nachos and wings.  I will go to bed early for my long day of hiking NYD.

Bathroom Before and After

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1
Have I got some Befores and Afters for you!  I love makeovers!  Make up and hair, clothes, but I LOVE HGTV worthy makeovers.  When I do a project at home, I make my husband wait for the "reveal".  He gets a kick out of it.  Usu, because I just work away and let him do his thing.  I just have a hard time sitting still but he does not.  But he is getting better at helping me and I am getting better at relaxing.  Hopefully in retirement, we will be good for each other!
So, my tile before and after is here.  We just love how it turned out.  The top part of our shower was already a nice neutral bright ivory.  We left it.  It did also have very light grout, the  light grout did not work out down low where the walls met the floor.  It had mildew that I could not get clean.  Our contractor said the walls were tiled, then the floor poured after//tiled.  Incorrectly.  He said they also used silicone instead/over/replaced some of the grout in the crack around the outside of the floor.  He rounded the walls into the floor, built the floor up and graded to the drain so the water will drain and not stand, we also put in a powerful fan just outside the shower and took the door off.  HOpefully, we won't have mildew.  The grout is also dark down low, the transition from light to dark acceptable to us.  We love how it looks and won't miss the pink!  We did the entire floor of the master bath in a coordinating tile with the same dark grout.  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Before and After

Know what is more unsatisfying than some poor photos on a blog?  Before photos with no After!

Well, here is a before and after of living room.  It has wood burning stove (lower left out of frame), so we took out un-vented gas fireplace and put in large window. 

 

We love how it turned out.

 

Yesterday was a special day.  My DGM turned 99 years old.  I took her some yummy cupcakes and talked to her about her busy day.  She said she did not know how to receive all the birthday blessings and cards, calls, well wishes.  She was a little overwhelmed and tired.  But happy.  What a blessing she is to us.