4 DAYS & 13 PROJECTS

Cori and I have been on a creative, painting, repurposing 4 day binge.  We started early last Saturday, and work 4 days straight, for 12 hours each day.  We were tired, we were sore, we went without eating a few meals, but when we were done, we had accomplished so much...... 2 coffee tables, 4 side tables, 2 benches, 4 dressers, and one sign.  Whew....just recalling all of that makes me tired.

I already showed you the license plate side tables, (which were one of my favorite things we did), so here in no particular order are some of the other fun stuff we did.

With all that work behind us, it's now time for some fun.  We are off to Spokane to spend the weekend at the Farm Chicks Show at the fairgrounds.  An added bonus will be having my cousins from California driving up to experience the show for the first time.  Here's hoping we don't end up needing bail money when the weekend is over!

YARD SALES

The first thing Cori and I did when I arrived in Walla Walla for my visit was to hit the yard sales on Friday morning.  She really didn't need any more furniture to repurpose, but when the girls feel like shopping some yard sales, buying furniture, needed or not, was the the order of business for the day.

We hit a rather large yard sale on our first stop, and found the prices to be a bit high for our liking, but when I spied a large box of license plates, I nearly shrieked with joy.  In fact, both Cori and I had to almost fight another shopper over the rights to these treasures.  I politely told the other buyer that we were taking all of them.  Yep, there was over 50 license plates, and they were only asking $1 a piece for them.  Even better?  We got them all for only $40.

Cori managed to purchase quite a bit of furniture, and at one of our last stops, the sellers were more than will to part with a few last remaining pieces, which included three of these glass top side tables.  Right away we knew what we wanted to do with them and asked if they would take a reduced price offer if we took all three.  With a price agreed upon, we made what little room we have left in the vehicle and packed them in.

Once home, Cori's husband cut us a piece of plywood to cover the opening where the glass once resided, and we went to town painting them.  With a little graphite gray chalk paint, and then some clear and dark brown wax, we then covered the top of the side table with some license plates.  This was definitely one quick and easy redo of a side table that had been lost in the 90's.

VINTAGE INSPIRED WINDCHIMES

I've seen silverware wind chimes out in Blog land for some time now, and have always filed that idea into the back of my brain with all the other ideas that have yet to be created.  But when I was at a recent yard sale, and had the opportunity to purchase some old vintage silverware, I knew that the wind chime idea was going to become a reality.

 With some wire, beads, and my handy needle nose pliers I went to work.  First I had to charge up the trusty drill and then find a drill bit to do the hard work.  I picked out six different pieces of silver and when the drill was charged up, I went to town drilling my holes.

Then it was just putting all the pieces together.   I didn't have anything lying around that I could use for a center piece, so I just used one of the forks and bent the tines to use as the base for all the other pieces.  About an hour later, I had it assembled and was very happy with my first attempt.  I know now to be on the lookout for something unique to use as a center piece, and then there will be no stopping my imagination on creating some future chimes.

WHO LET THE GIRLS OUT?

Craig and Justin were in Spokane Friday morning making a delivery, when they were beeped with a message to come into the yard when empty to have the truck serviced.  Seems there was a recall that the Kenworth Dealership needed to complete on the driving suspension, and then the company shop wanted to do a service on the APU.  When Craig called me with these developing details, I hopped into our pickup and made my way into Spokane to meet up with him.

We ended up following Justin in the truck to the dealership, where they said it would only take about 30 minutes to do what they needed to do.  We took that opportunity to hit Craig's favorite Chinese buffet and enjoy a nice lunch.  Then it was back to Kenworth to drop Justin off to take the truck back to the company shop, while Craig and I took in an afternoon viewing of the movie Battleship.  We both couldn't remember the last time we had seen a movie together, but thoroughly enjoyed spending the afternoon together.

By 6pm, Craig was dropped off at the yard and I made my trek back home to rest up for an event in the small town near us, Newport, WA for what they call "Who let the girls out?"  This morning, 7 different antique/vintage/boutique stores hosted a shopping party for all the women in town.  Honestly, I didn't think there were that many women around where we lived, but a good time was being had by all.

Each shopper was given a passport to be stamped by each store you visited.  They made sure to entice you in with lots of goodies and drinks, and when your passport was completed, you turned it in for a chance to win a $100 shopping spree.  Along with the seven different featured retailers, most every business establishment up and down main street had their doors open for business.

What was really nice, is that several diners had specials for the women including drink specials.  Nothing like a bit of alcohol to induce you to open your wallet to spend.  Later in the evening, they are offering live music and the local theater, The Roxy, will be showing  a "chick flick" just for the women.

It's really nice to live in such a small town, where they create such a fun atmosphere to have the community come together.  They do a "who let the girls out?" twice a year, and I already have my calendar marked for the next one in November.

SPRING CLEANING

I have been enjoying Craig being home on vacation probably a bit more than he has.  Let's face it.  It has been four years since we have done anything to the outside of our property, even as tiny as it is, and with such great weather, we decided to do a little bit of planting and sprucing up.

Craig rebuilt the cover to our propane tanks and I couldn't be happier.  I managed to try and see if I just might have a green thumb, and planted some dwarf snap dragons and a couple of azalea bushes in the front flower bed.  We found these pretty hanging baskets on sale at the local Ace Store and couldn't pass them up.  It's just the right amount of color to the front of the house.

We brought out the pavers and the bark ground covering to be squared with the side deck.  After going rock hunting to find enough rocks to continue our border, we planted a few plants that the nursery said would be hearty enough to survive on their own during the winter and the following years after they get established.  Lord knows, we are never around consistently enough to plant something that needs constant attention.

Craig built me another flower bed along side the shed, which gets the morning sun.  I've had more than a few people tell me that this will be the perfect spot to grow some vegetables.  I'm starting out with some tomatoes and squash.  We'll see how it goes.

In the little pots on the shed porch, we planted some strawberries, and we can already see the beginning stages of some fruit!  It was also the most perfect spot for the only pet we have have, Spot, who stands guard 24 hours a day.  My brother made Spot out of scrap metal pieces, and has made a menagerie of animals that have brought joy to a lot of people.

Lastly, we finally planted a dwarf spruce tree behind our house.  We think it is the perfect location and it may just find itself decorated sometime in the future when we will actually be home for the holidays.

All in all, Craig and I have paced ourselves with all these chores and have still found time to sit back on our porch and enjoy a beer or two.  I'm not looking forward to taking him back into Spokane to go back to work, but I know it will be a short 28 days before he is home again!