Fixing up the Booksncoffeehaus Cottage

What we did on our Thanksgiving vacation week ~ (and now that we have strings of colder and windier days, we are so thankful that it is 95% complete).

It began the Wednesday before break. The trees in the yard had not even really started to change colors at this point.

Part one of fall painting project: I sanded, primed and repainted all the front porch railings. This began ten days before Thanksgiving. We already had everything we needed for this step.





Sparsebeard repainting porch soffits


and priming and painting bad spots on the gables. In this shot, you can see that we got to the sanding, priming and repainting of the green trim atop the porch. It looks so good.

Moss on The Cottage




Post sanding and priming stage

Looking better already, with both of us getting the siding primed up ~


and painted (the only color that we had to buy. We still had plenty of green and peach from several years back, the last time we painted).

Bottom piece of siding is rotten and needs replacing, so...

Nailing in new siding pieces. We ended up needing to replace the bottom two (b/c of large nail holes)

New siding pieces primed up, and then primed.

Now, back to the front porch. I needed to sand the flaking, front-porch swing. We replaced the seat a couple of years ago with mahogany slats (hand-cut by hubby), but never painted them. So, this project needed to be done for several reasons.

Back slats all nicely sanded and ready for primer

Working on the back, west-facing gable

repainting front porch soffits. By this time, almost ten days later, those trees were finally changing those gorgeous colors of Autumn.



Front porch railings all primed up, plus some lovely fall color, just for fun. It was a gorgeous, 80 degree day, that week of Thanksgiving.

North wall, door, windows completed, repainted...even the green trim below repaired gutters!

It feels great to have this done, and the house ready for winter. We even re-sealed some areas around the windows before priming/painting the trim to ensure a better finish. Next Spring/Summer: New roof!!

Now, on to Christmas projects. This time: Indoor craft projects and tasks.


Javamom

Holiday weekend pt. 2

Things we did or observed while waiting for our oldest to arrive after his ten-hour drive from his "home" in Omaha

The sparrows really do wait in line for each other and take turns.

Blue jay families


Silly Nim decided to munch on the tree leaves during our picture taking


He has filled out nicely since we rescued him.




Little brother is waiting patiently for Big brother to arrive. We only get to see big bro. just about every six weeks since he moved out on his own.


Jonathan's visit was short, but good and profitable. His sister bought a car from one of his coworkers, so he drove it down to her. It worked out great, since his car was finally repaired this week after breaking down on him when he was here the last week of June/first few days of July.

He also got to visit his old friend from Jr. High, a wonderful gal with whom he is now very smitten. She is in the previous post in a photo I took of them on Friday last.

While Dread Pirate Sparsebeard is away in New Mexico fetching Green Chiles with his buddies, we have been very busy here at home.

I have a couple of small projects to do before he returns: I bought a new bedroom door for the boys' room, and it needs a coat of paint. Then, I want to paint their bathroom door and trim.

The other project is to cook up the last of the pears into pear jam. I have about five batches left to peel and chop. This will make about ten more quarts of pear jam or sauce.

There are still a few pears left on the tree, but I am letting a friend come and pick those.

End of summer is here, and we are squeezing everything out of it that we can!

How about you?

Javamom

Catching up

As it has been for most of us, the summer has been filled with family, friends, and visitors for birthdays, Independence Day, and bookmaking "mini-camps." Our oldest son had serious car trouble on the way back to Omaha on the fourth, so he had to turn around and come right back home. This meant that he was able to spend traditional "Family Fourth" with us, along with another good friend of his. They helped our youngest son and their cousin shoot off fireworks in the front yard while Sparsebeard and my brother, "Boat Captain" shot off the big explosions in the backyard for all to see. A lot of families in our neighborhood had good fireworks displays this year! It was one of the best ever.


Before J came to visit for ten days from Omaha, I had my 44th birthday. Here are most of the things I spent birthday money on at a couple of thrift shops that two girlfriends and I visited together on a day just for us. First we had lunch together at one girlfriend's home, and sipped blueberry lemonade. Then it was off to a quilt shop and some antique and thrift stores.

I found a heavy duty paper and board cutter for $8, watering can (2-3 gallons!) for $18, a paella pan for $8 (paella is pretty much Spain's version of jambalaya), old Pyrex small refrigerator leftover containers, 4.50 each (I actually bought three), old enamelware storage container (I collect these) $6, two ceramic trivets with herbs on them for $1.99 each.

The blue, Mediterranean "mosaic" mug is from Starbucks (dd's discount applied) and the poppy fine bone china tea mug is from a blueberry picking farm we went to with friends on my birthday. My dear friend bought it for me. It came with a tea strainer and steeping lid. I also bought Lemon Balm Tea that day to put in my new teacup.

About a week later, we found lemon balm herb pots at Home Depot and bought five to put in our garden. This herb is very good for congestion and swelling, but also has a nice, relaxing effect. It is perfect for evening sipping. I've also steeped some of our dried mint leaves with it, and they go well together.



We also bought these flowers to decorate our newly cleaned deck and dining area:

zinnias, balloon flower, I don't know -orange vine, balloon flower, zinnias


Now I must get going on quite a few summer book restoration jobs. I'll also be speaking at a local conference and need to tweak my notes and handouts for that, and load up my "show and tell" basket to display.

Some of you have been to "singing camps" and summer camps and back, gotten new jobs, had new grandbabies, gone to weddings or are planning weddings. What else have you all been up to?

Happiest of summers to you,

Javamom