Crazy How The Time Flies

Can't believe it's been 9 months!

I hit a major emotional slump after that last post.  Things weren't happening around the house as quickly as I thought they would.  We kept hitting roadblocks like leaks around the bathroom skylight and fireplace, lots of expenses for things like add-ons to our lawnmower (a snowplow and then a trailer for the crazy amount of wood that needs to be hauled around, oh, and a thing that picks up the leaves), a new/used car since Craig's was starting to have major issues, buying even more paint because once we finished the long hallway and main bathroom, we realized something was off.  Turns out we somehow ended up with semi-gloss paint instead of eggshell and it really looked awful, and then having to paint all over again.  One thing after another was breaking so I had to get a job.  Decorating for the holidays just wasn't going well either.  The fireplace mantel is working it's way out of the fireplace so it slopes downward.  There isn't much I can put on it that doesn't want to slide off.  The living room/dining room/entryway/odd space on the other side of the fireplace was a much bigger challenge to decorate than I could ever have thought.  To this day, I still don't like how the living room area is laid out but I don't know what else to do with it either.  It absolutely needs different furniture but that isn't going to happen for a while.  Oh, and then we both got Covid, and it wasn't the kind that we didn't notice.  It kicked our butts and had us down for the count for three weeks.  I was depressed and I think the lack of sunshine had something to do with that too.  At least Craig was determined to get me into the holiday spirit and he put lights on the pine tree that sits in the middle of the yard.  It was beautiful!  He then brought the decorations up from the basement and soon the house was semi-decorated, just two weeks before Christmas.

Backyard Christmas Tree

Fast forward to today.  Dad was back in town for 12 weeks, we painted all of the kitchen and laundry room cabinets (42 doors and 10 drawers), installed new hardware, painted the walls and tried out a butcherblock countertop on the coffee bar.  We love it!  So now the rest of the countertops, as well as the backsplash tile and the new floor, will have to wait until we save some money. 

 

My gardening skills are slowly improving after last year's epic fail.  I found a gallon of deer repellant in the basement, along with a spray bottle full.  Lo and behold, that stuff works like magic!  I still have something eating my pink carnations (I think it's a Blue Jay) but otherwise, everything else has done quite well.  

  

I am currently working on my mailbox area.  I planted a bunch of new bee loving blooms and I'm collecting rocks to put along the edge.  I just bought a new box to replace this old one that's falling apart and I'd like to put a small white fence behind the flowers.

 

For craft projects, I am currently working on a Christmastime cross stitch that was part of a Christmas in July SAL hosted by Nichol Spohr in her FB group.  Most of the group is following Nichol's lead by ordering an unfinished sled on Etsy.  However, I think I'm going to make my own sled since I'm not crazy about the one they were using AND, I haven't done any woodworking for a while and I thought it would be fun.  I'm actually a little further along than this but don't have an updated photo.

Another project I've been working on, is a crocheted blanket for my youngest grandson, Steele.  He loves Spiderman, birthday cakes, dinosaurs and rainbows.  So in collaboration with my daughter, I'm making his blanket squares a medium gray and they will be pieced together in rainbow colors.  I have 12 more squares to make, and then the fun begins.