Back Door & Breezeway Steps

Hi! I still have to do a post about our vacay (maybe Mon?), but here's a little project K did last week to prepare for my dad and stepmom's arrival.  They flew into Moncton last night and my FIL and C drove over to pick them up.

When we got home from our vacation, K was motivated to do a couple little projects that have been waiting to be done for a while.  He picked up the lumber last Friday and got to work even though it was kinda raining!

Here's what he did.

He put a step down from the back door!  (Notice above the pool is gone.  We took it down before we left on vacation and may not put it up again as it's kinda cool outside!) Here's how it used to look with just a couple cinder blocks for a step. 

Here's a closeup of the step- with a rail even!

And a side view.

We only did one rail just to kinda test it out.  We may do another later...

We also got a step down in the breezeway. 

(Why haven't I finished cedar shingling the lefthand side of the door? you ask.  Well, the door wasn't installed properly- just sorta tacked in place with a few screws.  I'd like to get the door more situated before I put cedar shingles right up to it.)

Here's the before. See the cinder block under the door?

Both these steps are kinda temporary.  We want to build an extension for a screened room off the back door and do some kind of sloping deck in the breezeway, but they are definitely better than before.

It's blueberry season and my FIL has been picking frequently.  Here's what C made me for a dessert. (It spells "Mom"! 

Enjoy your weekend! :-)

Tasty Tuesday

Hi!

Miss me?  Ha Ha!  We were on a long overdue vacation.  Since K's been in school, he's missed the last couple years of vacays (he had to take vacation days at work to attend classes on Fridays).  And now, since he's done, we finally got to go on a family vacation.  We drove down to Boston, Durham, NC, and Washington DC with a few other stops in between.  We saw brothers and sisters and cousins.  I'll write more later, but we had a great time!

It's good to be home, though!

I'm back to meal planning out of necessity... We got home Thursday so here's what we've had since then and for this week.

• Thurs- Frozen Lasagna that I bought before the trip
• Fri- Frozen Spring rolls, Chicken Fried Rice with fresh carrots and peas
• Sat- Family Picnic & later Grilled Cheeses
• Sun- Dinner at In-laws- Lobster & Chicken Fingers
• Mon- Leftover Lasagna, Rotini, Ragu Sauce, Beet Greens, Raw Carrots & Peas for kids
• Tues- Moroccan Salmon
• Wed- Beans in Slow Cooker Leftovers
• Thurs- Eggs (Dad & Stepmom arrive p.m.) Snacks- Kids gone to grandparents'
• Fri- Chicken Battered Fish Filets, Rice, Swiss Chard
• Sat- Pizza Party for C's birthday
• Sun- Potato Chowder Hamburgers, BBQ Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli

Have a great week! :-)

Hallway Progress, Painted Door & Plate Hanger

We made some progress in the hallway.  It all started because I painted C's door when she was away at camp.

Here's how it looked before, from the hall.

See the part to the right of the door with no drywall?

  

Here's the inside of C's door.  She's getting rid of some of her One Direction posters- She used to have a huge bigger-than-life sized Niall poster there!

Here's how it looks after.  So shiny and clean!

I also got up the last bit of crown moulding and drywall in C's room!

And here's the hall.  K had to finish up some wiring in the wall and put in some drywall backers and then I got to work with the drywall and putting up some pics.  

I also found how to make plate hanger so I was able to hang up the PEI plate that my mom used to have in her little trailer.

I realize I still have to mud, prime and paint, but I couldn't resist making it look pretty!  Plus, I'm all out of drywall mud... And I have to remember how I painted the top part of the wall.  I think it was just primer and then the light blue kinda drybrushed on... Anyway.  I was glad that I didn't have to buy any frames for the frame gallery.  I think I've finally used up all of them!

Have a great weekend! :-)

Tasty Thursday

Hi again!

C is back from camp.  She had a great time and cried because she wanted to go back.  She was pretty tired yesterday!

Here's our meals for the week.

• Mon- Rapur (an Acadian dish with shredded potatoes and pork.  K picked it up in Summerside), Broccoli, Frozen Pintos
• Tues- Leftovers
• Wed- Chicken Nuggets, Frozen Chicken Breast with Onions, Cauliflower, Carrots
• Thurs- Southwestern Baked Eggs
• Fri- Pizza
• Sat- Pasta
• Sun- K's Soup (?)

Enjoy the rest of your week! :-)

Monday Musings (And a Hall Closet)

Ah, the summer is flying by...

C is off to camp this year with one of her BFF's.  It's her first year to go and it's only for 3 nights.  Here's a pic of C and her friend in their room after they've unpacked their suitcases.

In other, not so exciting news, I got some work done on Thursday.  The kids were gone.  N was at sailing camp and C went sailing with K.

I needed a project to do, so I decided to tackle the "hidden" closet in the hallway.  It doesn't look like much, but I got it done. (Mostly.)

This closet is at the front end of the hall.  Here's a picture from the kitchen with the door open.

And here it is with the door closed.

Here's the inside space before.

It's hard to photograph, as it's only 2 feet wide by 3 feet deep.

I had to frame in the left hand wall, part of the back wall and the ceiling.  I put some leftover paneling from the old living room,

  (The paneling is in the above pic below the light blue wall)

on the ceiling and the back wall. 

Here's a view from the side of the closet taken from the front room.  The side wall will eventually be drywalled in the front room.

Now, tada!  Shelves to hold my totes full of Christmas Decor (3 totes) and Easter/Valentine's Day Decor (1 tote). 

Plus there's room in the front for the vacuum to fit right in. 

And some wrapping paper!

This closet is what I call the Linen Closet, because I always had in my mind that this is where the linens should go.  Before, they were neatly packed into one of the baskets under the bench in the kitchen.

Which was a fine place, although a little out of the way to get to (you had to move the table) especially when the kids were little and needed their sheets changed in the middle of the night or if someone gets sick and needs fresh sheets. I also had sheets in a suitcase above the washer/dryer.

So, this new arrangement is handy.  Here are the sheets- mostly pillowcases! And not that neatly folded - on the top shelf. That black thing below is the suitcase with more sheets.

So, I still have to paint the closet.  Maybe do something fun with the back of the plywood door... And finish the wall on the left, but I'm happy to have made a little progress on one of my projects! 

Have a great week! :-)

Tasty Wednesday

Hi!

We had a busy weekend- with C going to a party Sat and both C & N spending the night at their grandparents' on Sunday.  This meant N didn't have to get up so early to go to sailing school at 9:00 on Monday.  K takes him into town on his way to work, but he has to be there at 8:00, so they leave here about 7:30.  C had her friend from town sleep-over on Sunday night at her grandparents' (which I didn't realize) and then her friend came and spent the night here on Monday!

Here's our menu for this week.

• Mon- Rice Noodles, Carrots, Celery, Beets, Canned Salmon Thai Peanut Sauce (I used the recipe in the link, but used peanut butter and soy sauce instead of almond butter and tamari.  I didn't realize there was another Peanut Sauce recipe here.)
• Tues- Baked Whole Chicken, Raw Snow Peas, Pan-fried new potatoes, Summer Squash (Yellow Zucchini)
• Wed- Coconut Curry Red Lentil Soup (La Dolce Vegan pg 106), Broccoli
• Thurs- Moroccan Salmon, Cauliflower
• Fri- Pizza
• Sat- Southwestern Baked Eggs
• Sun- BBQ Hamburgers? (C to camp!) Scooters Dairy Bar

Enjoy the rest of your week! :-)

Front Porch Gable/Ceiling Styles Plus Playhouse Progress

Now that the bottom half of the front porch is getting done,

 it's time for the top part of the porch.  

Here are some inspiration photos.

From here

From here

From here

From here

As you can see, I'd like an arch on top! :-)

Oh, and guess what I did?  I painted 1/2 the porch rails without primer!  Oh, the horror!  For 1/2 of the porch (the left) I used the light blue paint+primer that I mentioned when we did the playhouse.  But then, I used it all up and started using the white paint+primer I had.  When I started using it, it seemed super thin compared to the blue, but I went on painting.  Well, it turns out, it was just Exterior Paint with no primer.  We'll see how it holds up.  I did about 3 coats.  I guess in a couple years I'll have to re-do it... Wah, wah!

In other news, we are moving the playhouse over towards the office.  You may have noticed this picture

in my post on Monday that the playhouse looks a bit crooked.  Well, it is! Because we were moving it.

Here's where it used to be.

Here it is mid-move.

And here's where it's gonna end up.  About where that white storm door is on the ground in the background.

Notice that tall plant in the garden?  It's spinach that grew from seeds from last years' spinach.  I also got lettuce to grow that way. I always find it interesting to see where things grow when you let them go to seed.  I never ate any of the spinach or lettuce from this year, I just enjoyed seeing them grow. 

 The playhouse is in a spot now that's leveled and C can play in it, but it still needs to be scooted over about 2 feet towards the office and back a bit.

In order to do this, I had to clear some of the old wild flower garden in front of the office. This is a picture from last year.

 The white flowers (that I guess are perennial as they seem to grow in the same place every year) are staying, but I transplanted some pretty flowers over to the fence behind where the playhouse used to go.

The rest of the dirt, where our junk used to be by the fence and where the playhouse used to be,  I've planted with grass seed.

I also leveled out a little hill of dirt by the corner of the office.

And I pulled up the random spinach and lettuce from the garden. It didn't do that great there and we're not really having a garden this year.

Plus, I moved some of the junk behind the playhouse over to the side of the office to consolidate our junk.

(Man, we have a lot of junk!)
Here's a picture from the front, back in May.


Now I've just got one more area of screen doors/ windows/plywood junk over on the pond side fence.

(See the white daisies? :-))
We want to move that fence forward (in the fall?) and use the windows in the treehouse, so I may leave that there for now.

My MIL got the Magnetic Screen Door (as seen on tv) for the playhouse door.

The other screen we were using was a bit cumbersome as you had to velcro it shut.

That's all the junky news for now!  Have a great weekend! :-)

P.S.
Here are some pics of C when we went for our bike ride on Wednesday.  It was fun!

Riding the bike trail by the Summerside Harbour.

Using the exercise equipment.

The view at the end of the trail!

:-)