A-Z

  

Willow Ridge Primitives A-Z

Time to join in some blogland fun. I found this on The Cranky Crow's blog who found it on 1890 Gable House Musings blog who found it on A Primitive Place blog who found it on Renee's blog. Sorry to say I'm not familiar with Renee but give me time, LOL. So many blog's, so little time.

This is a list from A -Z to let your blog readers get to know you better.

A - Age - 50. Oh man that hurts to say!

B - Bed - A king sized Drexel Heritage rice carved 4 poster. It was a Craigs List steal cause I could never afford anything new  from Drexel Heritage. When we went to see it we discovered it belonged to our long time local Chief Meteorologist Craig James. Actually kinda geeks me out knowing he slept in my bed, LOL.

C - Chore you hate - Dusting, it's endless.

D - Dogs - Mr Bean and Lola Puddles and next month we will be adding a rescue yorkie to our hairy little family.

E - Essential to start my day - Hmmmm, I don't drink coffee or soda for a caffeine charge. I rarely use an alarm clock. But when I wake up, well, I can't get to my potty fast enough.  :o)

F - Favorite color - in clothing / black, in the garden / purple combined with yellow, and in decorating / dark dark reds and browns. I hope that wasn't cheating, LOL.

G - Gold or Silver - gold

H - Height - 6'1"

             

I - Instrument I play - I learned to play the recorder in the 4th grade. never touched the horrid thing again.

J - Job Title - once upon a time - JCPenney Customer Service (uh, that was an interesting job, LOL) and most recently, mail carrier

K - Kids - Just one, a daughter, now 31 with 2 adorable daughters of her own

L - Live in - West Michigan, a short drive from Beautiful Lake MI

                                

M - Make of Car - Carribean Blue Nissan Cube

N - Nick Name - Goof

O - Over-night hospital stay - only once, 31 years ago when you stayed a minimum of 3 nights after having a baby.

P - Pet Peeve - Droopy pants. Pull 'em up already! And stupid people.

Q - Quote from a movie -

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings. (It's a Wonderful Life)

R - Right or Left - I'm a righty

S - Siblings - Brother (7 yrs older), Sister (5 years older), Me, and a sister (9 months and 2 weeks younger). Someone told mom you couldn't get pregnant while nursing, LOL.

T - TV Shows - Oh dear me, this could take a while. Survivor, Big Brother, Swamp People**, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Design Star, Project Runway, Sister Wives, Hoarders, Moving UP. Thats right, I'm a reality Junkie!

 Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Two and 1/2 Men (missing Charlie though), Everybody Loves Raymond, Andy Griffith Show (I want to live in Mayberry).

U - Underwear - duh, YES!

V - Veggie you hate - Brussel Sprouts - mostly because they are hubby's favorite and they give him gas, LOL. But they do taste like dirty socks.   :o/

W - What makes me late - Lola who dawdles when she is put out for a last minute potty before we leave.

X - x-rays - dental, mammogram's, MRI, CT scan, utra sounds, knees, back, chest trauma, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. It's a wonder I don't glow in the dark.

Y - Yummy food I make - Coconut Pecan Rum cake. Yummy!!!

                                                                                                                   

Photo: Ginger-Rum Bundt Cake Recipe

Z - Zoo - Just makes me sad to see the animals penned up.

                        

And finally, 1890 Gable House Musings added an extra topic for Halloween - "What Scares You?" (besides the normal fears with life)

Well, I am plagued with phobia's, LOL. But my number one fear is heights. Not roller coasters (love 'em). Not trams, or ferris wheels, or glass elevators. It has more to do wiith climbing and having faith in my own 2 feet to get me there. Stairs and hillsides are bad. But ladders and (the worst) escalators will literally cause a panic attack. I can go up but I can't come down. No way, no how. I tried to learn to come down an escalator once. I got one foot on and then did the splits when the second foot froze. It wasn't pretty. I ended up with a sock and shoe filled with blood after getting the back of my leg all chopped up like hamburger. Now don't I paint a pretty picture?



Monday Make-Over

Monday Make-Over
on Sunday
I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow. Hubby is 2 hours north today, plotting out where to set up his deer blind and camp site for the opening of deer season in a couple weeks. So, I decided it was a good time to get my blog post done. 

I got my antique market windsor chair done and I love love love it!!!!! It turned out just as I pictured. It is so well made and authentic but was shiny finish, dark dark stain, and the painted floral design on the back were all tragic.

I sanded it all down to bare wood, mostly with my orbital sander on the lowest setting and some bits by hand.

Next I painted it with a little sample size jar of valspar paint from Lowes. They have tiny little 7.2 oz jars of base paint which can be mixed to any of their paint colors for just $2.99. After sitting in my poolhouse with approx 12 different shades of aqua I decided on a color called Evening Stroll.

Once painted I sanded it all down again, leaving just enough paint in just the perfect places. Then I added a simple little white stencil across the back and sanded that down too.

Next step - I rag stained over it all with minwax's Special Walnut oil based stain. I gave it 24 hours for the stain to dry and then gave it a water based satin clear finish (Repco).

We also got our free Craig's List cupola placed on the roof this week. I just love a cupola!!! One of my favorite historic home tours ever was the Cupola House in Edenton North Carolina. Gorgeous! And don't ya know the diningroom was all painted in aqua?

Of coarse my cupola isn't that big or that beautiful (and neither is my house). But it was free, LOL.

And here is my cupola - finally off the driveway and placed on it's new home.

From the front -

And from the back yard -

Now if only I can find a free weathervane by next summer. Probably not going to happen though.  ;o)

Now I need a make-over on my computer. Somehow my picture file is no longer working. I thought I had lost all of my saved photo's (probably 1/2 are saved on a memory stick). I did find them. Somehow they've been moved to epson print studio. Beats me how all this happened. Even new pics are being loaded there. Guess it's a trip to the computer doctor to see if they can get my photo program restored. System restore did naught. So if you are wondering why I have some pictures un-edited here today, that would be the reason. If it's not one thing it's another when it comes to computers.

Monday Makeover

Monday Make-Over

I have been working over-time trying to get some projects wrapped up while this incredibly beautiful weather lasts.

First up is the poolhouse with barnwood ceiling I have been slaving over. We got the ceiling put up and the walls painted this week. Still need some flooring and trim work and (next spring) run the electrical out there.

 This is a plastic grocery bag dispenser I have seen a lot of in the re-sale stores. I use all my plastic bags for trash as well as for poopy scoopin'. I made-over this bag dispenser to hang in my garage so they are readily handy for those "outdoor" jobs. It is a mustard stencil over dark country red and then stained.

Before

After

I have a small antique table that needed some serious lovin'. I got it free 3 years ago and am finally getting to it. I spent yesterday working on the table and a windsor chair I recently picked up at an antique show. They are both nearly stripped with just a little touch up to do tomorrow. Then the table will get some replacement stretchers (as 2 of them are missing) and some stain and clear coat. The chair (a very nicely made 70's reproduction with super shiny finish and terrible painted accent) is going to get a weathered crackle dusty aqua over white paint job and probably a small white stencil on the back. Maybe, LOL, we'll see about the stencil.

Of coarse Mr bean is always right in there trying to help.

This one does'nt look like much now but it was an awful lot of work. I sprayed a lot of vegetation killer in the area and then hubby tilled it under for me a couple days later. Then I rolled the old broken down hay wagon into the bed, planted some false indigo, coreopsis zagreb, some clematis to climb on the wagon, and somewhere around 250 bulbs (giant daffodils, blue scilla, and some big blue hyacinths). Next spring I'll be adding a couple hosta, a bunch of pachysandra, and some bird houses. I already have some big old porch posts to mount the bird houses on.

So far I have planted 406 bulbs and there are another 50 coming. If you ever want to plant bulbs in large quantitiess be sure to check out Van Engelen Bulbs. Awesome company with amazing wholesale prices for the general retail public.

Next week expect pics of a completed chair and table as well as my autumn garden. I am just waiting for the mums to open.