Guess What?

More TCB that's what!

The fence was in dire need of attention....It was peeling, faded and gethoish.

So upon waking last Saturday I was greated by a sunny, a great surprise because the forecast was wet all day.

 See? I'm not joking!

 With the new stain, dark bown...I love this! It looks well kept and rich!

And here's a small deco project. This owl came from the dollar store and was white washed.
I figured it would be better spay painted , Dan picked the color. It will need additional coats.

As for the fence we have a long way to go....Next weekend , weather permitting, we will tackle the exterior of the fence.

It felt wonderful do take care of business! And I slept like a baby, when I have too much stuff to do and I do it, I loose sleep . I lay awake hashing abandonned projects and things to do.

Hoping you all sleep like babies....

Some Cool TCB

Yes still going on with the TCB!!!

To tell you the truth we didn't do much this weekend....probably because of the great heat and humidity and it was afterall our first weekend after the very, very tiring first week back from vacation!!!

So basically we only tackled one TCB project....The kitchen faucet. It has been dripping for a while, make that 6 months....I had this idea that the cold water cartridge needed changing....It is always the first thing to go....And the handle on that side was brocken too!

 So yesterday I cut the water, and start dismantling the faucet handle. While attempting to remove
the cartridge, I pull and pull and finally it comes undone and I whack myself on the forehead with the plyers! OUCH! I am sporting a pretty big bump on the forehead.

I put everything back together, turn the water on...and guess WHAT? It still LEAKS!!!!
 So it must be the spout washer! I change the washer...and guess WHAT??? IT LEAKS!!!

NOW I AM PISSED OFF AND I'M BANGING POTS IN THE KITCHEN AND WASHING DISHES. Dan asks: Do you want me to do the dishes? NO! I AM FRUSTRATED WITH THE SINK!!!

So I leave it be. This morning Dan helps me shut off the hot water so I can do the same on that side...

 It is very corroded on this side and gunky...And Dan attempts to remove the cartridge, pulls and pushes, with a hammer, chisel, plyers...the whole tool box.

MORE THAN AN HOUR! We are quite discouraged....

We give it another go and give up. It is not coming out. EVER!!! The only thing I will be able to do is change the handle.

Which I do. And turn the water back on. We will just have to live with the drip until we redo the kitchen and change the counter, sink and faucet.

 With the new faucet handles...

Now guess what? GUESS WHAT? It is not leaking anymore and we don't understand why! CRAZY!

A vacation TCB I forgot to blog about was the frames....

 We have been wanting to frame some prints for more than a year! We couldn't find cheap frames at first....Frames are cheaper at Michaels in the U.S than in Michaels in Canada! And we got great deals at The Christmas Tree Shop ! That was last year...

 But when we started to frame the prints, I broke the glass from one frame !!!

 So last October we got more frames and they have been gathering dust ever since!
About the prints: The first one I got from Etsy as a gift for Dan.
Of course I had to get a Pyrex advertisement...From Etsy as well.

The last one; the Mid-Century house I got years ago from the Sally Ann for .99 cents.

 Here's the finished wall.
We love it!

 Last pic is not that great. My step daughter loves this lamp and Dan broke it 2 years ago....I promised I would fix it. Well it is fixed! Vero I'll give it to you soon!

Well my friends that is it for today! It is time to prepare our evening meal. Grilled marinated prok loin with veggies. Delicious!

Left behind

During my amazing vacation I thrifted I had the chance to thrift at a nearby place that I hadn't been in ages!

They had renovated, it was less dingy and definitelt sweet smelling! Always a plus for thrift shops!

Here's what I saw...

 The Federal dish with the lid is one of my all time fave! Yes I know, I'm betraying Pyrex....
But a girl can LOVE all the glassware she wants!!! It had some wear to the design...so no go.

 For some reason, I'm seeing a lot of corn themed dishes lately....This is an ashtray, but I also saw
a S&P set and a plate.

 I remember a time when I would totally go gaga for those folksy country prints....
                           Not anymore!

 They had a wall of Barbies ....If I were 8 years old, I would have passed out!
                                   For sure! I loved Barbies, all kinds, all sizes!

  But being a good Pyrex Queen....I had to bring home those 2 Delphite lovelies!

The creamer I will eventually sell in my Etsy store and the saucer I will keep in case I break one of mine...

My first back at work went better than expected. And to tell you the truth even if the money isn't that great ...There are plenty of more stressful places to work.

I just wish it was closer to my neck of the woods...or I have to move closer to the job....

This weekend I'll be doing some light plumbing, some digging, movie watching and landscaping!

Celebrate!

More TCB and Vacation Round Up

On my to do list was a clean up of the spices shelf.....I tend to get messy and just open the door and throw spice jars....

Before

After

 Yes I have a flashlight in my spice shelf....Most of the time I can't see what I have!!!

 The border were badly overgrown and some plants had overstayed their welcome!
I can't stand plants that run amock and take control of the garden!

 So were removed a lot of weeds and perrenials I couldn't stand. I have been lazy in the last
couple of years and it is high time I regain control of the yard!

 

In the corner we had an old climbing rose that had seen better days, out it went.

I will put an Alaska daisy in its place.

It is far from done. The grass you see will eventually be all gone too.

We also have rogue garlic growing all over the place....

So we dug some out.

I am letting it dry a bit.

And it seems I have a furry helper....

 So cute!

 The veggie garden is coming along....

And I started drying out herbs for the winter. Here's sage next to the garlic.
Also I dried oregano and lemon thyme...

This vacation was the best! We napped, shopped, ate out, read, gardened, swam,gardened, organized, laughed, gardened, laughed, gardened,stained,laughed and gardened!

Of course I wish we could have another week off....

And we will have to keep the TCB focus because we have more stuff to do!

Be well

TCB

Being a child of the 60's ; I would've been a total recluse if I'd never heard Taking Care of Business from Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

It nearly played hourly on CHOM FM Montreal's classic rock station. In my 20's I visited Graceland with my Dad and was amazed to see Elvis's ring with TCB on it. It was a big ass ring!

Here's a link for it in case you've never seen it TCB RING . I can't copy a picture it is copyrighted.

TCB has been my word of the year twice in a row and let's face it I need to take care of business!

We have loose ends all over the house and our heads are full of projects we should do....

Here are 2 I tackled in the last 24 hours!

 I bought 2 mid-century lamps in Wells Maine in 2011. They would turn on but I was not comfortable
with the old dried up wires....Once in a while I would talk about re-wiring them...but basically did nothing about it.
Now since I feel so recharged and productive, I started to check out Ebay for the new parts...I found some but the shipping was crazy!

 So Dan suggested going to the Home Depot to search for them....Well I was very surprised that I found what I was looking for!

                                            I took a new extension cord, cut out the head, seperated the wires
                                         and took out the insulation. I then connected the wires to their appropriate
mates...Smooth to brass and ridged to silver and presto changeo...

 a super duper cool lamp that I'm not afraid to use anymore!

 Ans here's her orange sister....

My next project was to change the screens to some windows that Bandito had a lot of fun ripping to schreds!

 Cutting the screen is the easy part....

 Then you need to use the little tool to force the screen and the retaining strip in the frame's groove

 Oh man that sure was hard to do! My arms will definitely feel it tomorrow morning!

 Here's the finished product back where it belongs...Fresh AIR at last!

Now I can go back to my book....

Shortly I will share what Dan wsa working on....

About Time

Being on vacation this year has been AMAZING!

I feel so rested, inspired, creative, productive!!!

The pool is finally ready, at the end I was ready to throw in the towel and just empty it and dismantle it....

It took a new gasket (totally useless), a new filter (professionnaly installed) I'm so happy we paid extra for this because we would've gotten this all wrong  , a new 3-way valve....this is where I nearly threw in the towel!

First place I went, the service rep just gave me any old part and dismissed me...THANK YOU VERY MUCH B.....But we are lucky there's another pool store accross the street, an independent one, the service rep was super nice, not condescending and actually made me a deal on the part I needed....

I know where my future pool is going to come from....

I still need to return the part from the first store and I have a feeling they will get an earfull....or two!

 The pool is finally ready for dipping! It is wonderful and the sure sign summer is here!

The new veggie garden...Doesn't look like much now but I will post pictures of its progress

 

                                         I actually saw a car with false eyelashes!

 My blast from the past snack. In my youth sugary snacks were few and far apart...I got some on holidays...Xmas, Easter, Valentine's....Once in a blue mood my mother would buy a box of these. They were considered a luxury item (It was a real brand not generic, those were never on sale and actually tasted good). My mother was hyper thrifty and we would have cheapo on sale knockoff brand cookies
that weren't really tasty...Too thrifty is not always good.

So I bought a box (I am on vacation afterall)....Guess what? Of course know where I am headed!

I was disappointed! TOO SWEET! Good but too sweet, I could only eat 2 per sitting, which is eally more than plenty.

So the to do list is not getting smaller... Well it is what it is!

Sleep tight!

What I left behind

So these are some of the pictures of the teasures I left behind on Saturday:

 This was a sweet fondue pot but I already have one.

 Even if I am the crazzy cat lady; I'm not sure I like those enough and I have the teapot in the shop and it is not moving...

 Why is Value Village a cemetary of old microwave glass platers? Please tell me, I need to know!

              
This one was hard to leave behind because I have magical memories of my vacation in Nantucket!
  And I am a sucker for vacation souvenirs....

                                A Fireking Primerose casserole

                                Some JAJ Pyrex casseroles

                                               A cool warmer tray. I must get one, one of these days!

                                          A Halloween blowmold, it was not a Xmas blowmold, that's why I left it there!!!

                                         A cool avocado green shoulder bag. Now I really wanted to get this bag
                                         but there was something wrong with the shoulder strap, so I left it there

                                        Well that's it folks! Today is another scrocher in the Montreal area and my pool is still not READY! AAAGGGHHH! Soon I'm hoping :)