Category Archives: fix-it

Jun2

Photo Hunt-Taste

Posted on by
Standard
Mom-mom’s chili con carne, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Nothing tastes as good as my Grandmom Ruth’s recipe for chili con carne. I use celery and ground turkey with a sprinkling of cinnamon and lots of chili powder (love).

Bathroom update…I did a really stupid thing and could have saved myself a ton of time. The glass mosaic tiles came yesterday and I decided to put them up. I by mistake ordered a multi-color sample and that was glued securely on cardboard. The other two colors were on brown paper. All I really had to do was put the adhesive on in the space, cut the squares, ‘while still on the brown paper’ and push them into the space. I knew the 3/4″ squares wouldn’t need to be cut at all. So why I took them off the paper is beyond me! It meant I had to stick 100 squares on ‘individually’. So that being said, it was messy and I had a lot of cleaning and scraping today. I need to grout it now. Brian bought me the adhesive and we were in Lowe’s today to get grout and lo and behold, they sell adhesive and grout! Why he didn’t get that a few days ago.

Here is what it looks like without the grout. And guess what? Bri is hooking up the sink and it’s going to be even harder for me to grout this! I can’t get to the bottom row at all now unless he unhooks the pipes for an hour.

I got the shower curtain up and the hooks were a little tricky. I noticed Sean knocked two off the pole after showering last night. I hope they work okay.

Update-the sink is installed! Can’t wait to put the white grout in those mosaics!

It sure is more modern! Not sure if we can get rid of the soap and toothbrush holders without hurting the tiles.

I did get to work in the pond garden and got some pretty filler plants like Ornamental Pepper, a pretty raspberry color Salvia, bright yellow Lantana and a few other plants.  They should all fill in nicely around the pond. I noticed if I stand where the gazing ball is, the shape is almost heart shaped!

A few of my gardens are disappointing so far-the Sweet William/Asian garden. It’s not a good year for them.  My woodland garden was pretty when the Bleeding Hearts were blooming (and they bloomed a month or so!) My Nicotiana looked nice, but the Salvias never took off and are getting nibbled even though I used insectide soap on the constantly. I will probably pop a few marigolds in there.

Last but not least, I couldn’t resist to pick a yellow rose to enjoy. It smells wonderful!

May30

Slowly but surely

Posted on by
Standard

Brian found the floor tiles that were left from this job and installed them. He had to make a Lowes run for some wall adhesive for the tiles around the bottom. When the toilet paper holder was, our patch job is mainly hidden by the vanity. I put in two tan ones I had saved for the 6 missing above (where you can’t see). I’m waiting on the mosaic samples now. Brian cut the hole for that lovely drain pipe in the vanity last night. He ran into a snag getting the marble top screwed on, so called it a day a  little after 9:30. He’ll get that and the sink in place and work on the plumbing. It will look pretty. It’s tight in there, but can’t help that.

May29

Unexpected renovation delay

Posted on by
Standard

So we were moving (actually Brian) right along and the toilet got installed on Thursday. Friday morning dawned and Bri said he was going to install the vanity and sink. The thing with him, it’s 2-3 in the afternoon before he gets started. I know, it’s being unemployed and he’s on a schedule like Sean and me-stay up late, get up late. Glad we have light until 8 pm. : )

So he turns off the water, unscrews the pipes and takes the vanity out-it’s much worse than we think-it was just crumbling from water damage-just not usable anymore.  So then we see the floor next to the wall. It’s in bad shape-there’s rotted wood there. Bri starts digging at it-ends up with about a 2 foot by 6″ hole. He spent many hours finding wood, making sure it fit well and was level. This will be covered up-we have to find similar linoleum tiles though-guess we’ll look for those tomorrow or the next day.

He did saw off the foam overflow. We have tiles to put up along the edge there-the dark brown ones. You can see the 52 yr old original floor and the newer one we put in which is like parquet.

This will be covered by the vanity and I think I’m going to redo the floor down the road too.

A few rows below the toothbrush and soap holders were 4 tiles with holes from the original pedestal sink. Brian carefully took them out. I ordered 3 sample tile sheets from Susan Jabalon tiles, the place I used when I did the kitchen. I figured one color or design will be the right one and I’ll save the rest for art projects. 3/4″ mosaics will fit perfectly without me cutting them- 5 x 5 = 25 a square. I just have to grout them in place and fix a few that came loose. I saw some river pebbles that they use for floors. I ‘may’ order a sample just to see how it feels. We have less than a 5′ x 5′ space to worry about-yes, our ‘main’ bathroom is small.

I was going to get a new medicine cabinet. Now I think I’ll tidy up the old one, maybe paint it. That should brighten it up.

I also planted more annuals and am weeding the pond garden. It’s been very hot and humid these last few days. Can’t stand that! I lasted an hour on Sunday and did indoor stuff.

Wish us well with getting that floor fixed and the vanity and sink in! Hope to show pretty photos next!

Aug2

Proof is in the photo

Posted on by
Standard

So a few days ago, I went to put something in Brian’s armoire and the stuffed contents of it fell out and I was peeved. It all was wrinkled and I think the 55 novelty shirts need laundering, but that’s too much work. I put some of his cologne on a tissue and stuck it in there. I found two packages of 5 new white shirts-in the front. It didn’t take long to do, and we got rid of lots of shirts and underwear. The socks are not put away as they need to be sorted. I remember doing that last year! Sean and I sort through all our clothes year in and year out. I didn’t show you ‘my’ armoire, but it’s stacked high with mostly tops-folded by color and the short sleeves are on one side and the sleeveless on the other. But I have a bad habit of piling clothes on the hope chest. I try to wear things a few times before laundering-that’s if I only wore them to dinner, not working in the yard. The yard clothes usually don’t get back in the bedroom until they are washed again. I have that tick phobia from having Lyme disease.
I went down to my hometown to get my hair done-I needed some highlights too. Didn’t the lights go out from a storm that went through! Needless to say, I have very blonde highlights! C. took me out back to cut my hair in the last of the daylight. No one said they liked my car or went to look at it. It would be nice if they showed an interest in my likes. Families can be that way.

Here’s one of my newest 4″ x 4″ collages with real seashells
Splish Splash 4" x 4" Collage card

Jul4

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on by
Standard

Happy Birthday big brother Dave!
*******************************************************

Sean always likes to light some of his own fireworks!


New York City Macy’s Fireworks


Philadelphia Fireworks in front of The Art Museum

We’ve had a very low key day. My mom was suppose to come out with her friend Jim, but she decided her dog needed her more! Little Kelsey is really afraid of fireworks.She was doing some clothes sorting and Jim was helping her out too.

Brian and I did some tile repair out on the front steps-14 came loose this past winter. Between the cold and ice-or-the paint underneath may have just gotten loose. Probably a combo of the above. We were trying to chip off the old cement and broke a few tiles, so we worked around that. It looks ok, better than the gray showing underneath. We had extra tiles saved from 12 years ago which saved us using the broken ones.

I did make bacon and egg potato salad, a cold green bean salad and had some store bought macaroni salad. Also cut up watermelon (I’m the only one who ate the watermelon so far). I went to clean up a bit out front and Bri let the burgers go ‘extra crispy’! He put on enough charcoal for 10 steaks! I had grated and pressed onion in them too. Oh well. Sean got in from work at 6:45 and enjoyed his feast.

The guys just went to the fireworks. I am fine sitting here in my bug free and cool family room. I would have enjoyed the show in Philly with Michael McDonald, etc. but we just aren’t crowd lovers.