more projects

Thank you, Cheryl and Sloane, for your comments on the last post sharing what you’re doing to keep busy. Please send me a text with photos, I’d love to see and share your projects! In the meantime, I’ll continue telling you all about mine.

I was going to share how I not only cleaned out the refrigerator/freezer in the garage but also the two indoor refrigerators. And then I looked back a found that I have not shared with you that in early January, I purchased a new commercial refrigerator for Harmony Boards. Once I’d made the purchase, I needed to have it delivered. The store wanted $250 for delivery! Um, no!

So I came home, cleaned out and measured the space, and called Cody Howard to see if he had time to pick it up for me. Of course, he said yes. (This was 10 days before his accident in Canada) Cody hooked up his work trailer and retrieved it. Connor came over to help us get it in the house. It was a tight fit all the way around; it barely fit down the hall and through the doorway into the office, and the top cleared the ceiling fan by less than an inch.

We prevailed and I could not be happier to have it.

It holds custom boards for grazing tables. And it holds up to 10 Harmony Board boxes ready for delivery on busy days. The kitchen refrigerator could only hold two of these boxes.

Which explains why I have so many huge ice chests in the garage and blue-ice packs in the garage freezer. I still need those for summer and large deliveries. But at least I don’t need to use them any longer on a daily basis to hold boards as I am creating them in the morning for afternoon deliveries.

The next project – polishing silver. Hate it but it has to be done.

I bought this egg cup set at Piccadilly Market at St James’s Church in London in 2007 when I took Marissa to Europe for the first time. I used the tarnished egg cups on their own to hold flowers for my Easter table. (the red arrow pointing to where one of the cups sits, shows how tarnished the set is)

I decided to polish the entire set before I put it away. One thing always leads to another and I ended up polishing all day long.

After all the effort, I treated myself to a fancy breakfast the next day. We all need to treat ourselves and use the nice stuff during this time. Really all the time!

Even though the entire exterior of my house was painted two years ago, it is already peeling in areas. I spoke to my friend, Jennifer, who lives in Illinois and owns Luxe Cabinet Finishes and she told me that the house wasn’t primed properly. Not by the most recent painter I had used, but by the one or ones before that. Great, that means it’s up to me to fix it. First, I peeled and then sanded off all the peeling paint.

Then I painted on the primer. This is the backside of the house, facing east.

This is the south side of the house which faces the street and my neighbor’s houses across the street so this area was a priority. I never want to be “that neighbor!”

Many years ago, the aforementioned Jennifer in Illinois, had a house fire. It was caused by lint buildup in her clothes dryer vent. Terrifying! I worry about it all the time now. With this stay-at-home deal, I’m doing more laundry than usual. No time like the present to clean out the dryer lint trap and the dryer vent.

Have you ever tried to reconnect that duct vent to the wall and the dryer? It is excruciating! The lint trap was easy, I just used the vacuum cleaner attachment, but the duct vent … so help me! You have to squeeze your oversized “stay-at-home body” between the wall and the dryer. Every time I thought I had the end connected to the wall, it would pop off when I went to attach the other end to the dryer. It took me AN HOUR! A long hot, dirty, sweaty hour and more cursing than I usually blurt out in a month. But it is done, so all is well that ends well.

The final project is one that took me 2 years, 4 months, and 5 minutes. This beautiful and very large (5’x4′) painting has been perched on this table for over two years. And for that entire time, I have worried that it might be knocked over by the cats as they chase each other around the house. This is the far north wall of the house, the last place one can chase the other towards. Bombay is usually chasing Bailey and she is very agile, she’ll jump up on this table before he can get to her. Other times, Bombay lounges between the wine carafes and the elk antlers. I’ve long had the very real fear that the painting would fall forward and be skewered by the antlers. Yet, for all that time, I did nothing about it. Last week, I FINALLY anchored the painting to the wall, it took 5 minutes. What is wrong with me? I guess I like the danger of the possibilities. Who knows?

One Bonus Item: Not so much a project, just trying to create a new habit. I am terrible about making my bed. Basically, I only do it when I’ve washed the sheets or when someone is coming over. I promised myself that I would make the bed every single day while couped up in here. I am pleased to report, promise kept.

Today I am tackling the master closet. I’ve been saying that I’m going to do it for the last two weeks, but now that I have it in writing, I have to do it! Right? Yes, Just Do It!

Once again, Sloane and Cheryl, please send me a text with photos to post to show what you’ve been up to. To the rest of you, please let us all know how you’ve been keeping yourself busy!