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.





Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday

Ahhhh......... Fall, my favorite time to get out and about and do a little shopping. Last Sunday was the final Allegan outdoor Antique Market. My favorite. I finally bought myself an antique butter paddle ($12). I'd say thats about the going rate in my neck of the woods. Heaven knows I waited long enough in hopes of finding a cheaper one, LOL. I also got a reproduction birdcage windsor for $25 at the show. It's a great shape but not a great color. That'll be a future Monday make-over. Here is my butter paddle pictured with a basket I found at a garage sale last Saturday for .25 cents.

This morning I went for a country drive to an orchard and pick up some farm fresh cider, some spies, & several little boo's along with a couple other pale colored little gourds to fill the basket. Their mini gourds are .50 cents ea.

From there I went to Changing Thymes antiques and decor. Lucky me, they were having an anniversary sale. Discounts in every booth and plates of goodies and hot cider all through the store. Cookies, apple bread, red pepper spread on home made french bread, brownies....... Oh My!!!!!  That was my lunch today, LOL.

I bought the beige berry sprig that is in the basket for 20% off ($3.20) and an adorable little sampler (pictured below) stitched in 1988 for $10.80. The frame has got to be replaced. Better sized and maybe heavier. But I love the sampler!

The lantern above is electrified and very weathered. I just love it! I got it off ebay for only $15 and $5.95 shipping. A steal. My hubby, the electrician is going to rewire and add a plug with switch for me since I haven't figured out a good place to hang it. If only there were 2, then I would know right where to put them.

I am still at, buying up wool clothing, cutting it up, and storing it away. Much like a squirrel storing up nuts for winter, LOL. So the last tuesday of the month is always 1/2 price day and I tend to go "a little" crazy. I hit the jackpot this week with some really fabulous colors I didn't have yet - rusty oranges, olive green, eggplant, plus lots of brown and tan - great fall colors.

Finally, I wanted to share some pictures I took last night. We had quite the storms move through west Michigan early last night. As the storm came in it looked like armagedon. The clouds were so black and foreboding and they came in so fast. Then the 40+ mph winds hit followed by hail and heavy rains and some wild lightening. It was an awesome show out the window. But then....... the grand finale. A full double rainbow. I grabbed the camera and ran out the door in my bare feets. Brrr!!!!!!! And there I stood on cold cold wet slab stone along side my pond, in total awe! Rainbows always seem to fade away so quickly and I was snapping away. But that rainbow lasted and lasted and gave me lots of time to just stand and drink in the majesty of it.

Then I noticed everything had a strange glow. I turned aound and looked to the west and this is what I found.

Now I guess it's time to go pick up those branch's and twigs that are spread across the lawn in the wake of it all.





Make-Over Monday

Make-Over Monday

It's been a busy month around here. For starters, I finally re-finished a dovetailed box I got for $2 at a garage sale earlier this summer. It had a very unattractive label and a lot of paint splatters on it.

 The sanding went super fast with my orbital sander. It's a  crafty girls best friend.

I sanded it down just enough to remove the label, paint, and the old finish. But, not so much that I removed the character and age of it. It still has it original saw marks and all it's scars, bumps, and dings. Then I restained and varnished. It is gorgeous if I may say so myself. The pictures just don't do it justice.

We finally got the outside of the pool house done.

This is a picture of the area when we first moved in.

The unsightly chain link, over grown shrubs, and hosta were pulled out as soon as we moved in and the fence re-used elsewhere in the yard, behind a wall of Junipers and out of sight. Then replaced with hydrangea's and evergreens and a split rail fence.

The view from the road. We put in the half round window to match the arches above the bedrooms windows on the front of the house.

The cupola was ordered on-line from Annapolis Weathervanes and Cupola's. It's definately the frosting on the cake.

We are still working on the interior. The drywall needs a little more mudding and then paint. The ceiling is going to be paneled in some old barn wood.

It was ReaLLy ruff so we ran it through the planer to clean it up.





Next I rolled on a light coat of flat, thin, cheap, white wall paint that we got free after re-bate from Menards.

 When the paint was dried I took my trusty orbital sander and sanded the paint way way down. And then I stained over the top with an oil based wood stain.

And set them all out in the sun to dry.

And now they are sitting on saw horses in the garage waiting to get installed. I sure hope I like it after all that work which included 1 day of planing, one day of painting, 2 days of sanding, and 2 days of staining.

Till next time (hopefully with a finished ceiling).................