Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Refurbished Lemons

As most of you know, Jim just got back from a week in Alabama, helping with clean up in Hackleburg.


The boys were so obsessed with the families whose lives were turned upside down by the tornadoes.   They wanted to help, but what can kids in Northern Illinois do to help people 13 hours away----hold a few lemonade stands!


Can I just say that I am so blessed to have Jim as my husband!   Seriously, he can turn out a table made from 4x4 scraps and an old bank countertop in no time flat!

Hang our huge chalkboard/goodwill sofa painting for a menu board.
Prime, prime, prime!!!
Spray paint YELLOW and tada!
If you're local, Friday we will be at my sister's garage sale and Saturday we will be out in front of our house during the parade.


If you're not local and still want to help, I'd gladly ship cookies but I'd have to see how much shipping would be....otherwise, the super fantastic easy way would be to donate directly to 


What Was I Thinkin'

 Have you heard the country song What Was I Thinkin'?   


That was pretty much what was going through my head this morning....
 This is a hand-me down table that we got when we were first married....back in the late 90's...can you tell?!?  (oh, HGTV you done me Wrong!)
 My little sister is having a garage sale this weekend...


And considering my new found refinishing skills....


And the fact that we're trying to downsize...


I figured, let's spruce things up and try and make a few bucks.


Hours of sanding and painting later:
Here's a little staining tip for ya:

DO NOT Try to Stain something when it's a Bagillion degrees outside..oh, or when it's nature's Sauna outside (but without the rejuvenating facial benefits!!!)

I came outside this morning at 6 AM to beat today's heat wave and get a couple more coats on the chairs so that I could stain them later.

This is what I found...my loverly table that was stained LAST evening...still wet and sticky, uneven and gross....

Moral of the story......go slow (like don't try and stain the entire table top at once), go thin (less is more, you can always do a second coat later) and when it's humid don't wait for 15 min for the stain to sink in....unless you like sanding table tops..A.G.A.I.N!

Ok, I'm off to go cry....or drink....or throw the table off the porch.....

Thursday, June 2, 2011

You Know It's Summer...

...when you spend all day outside and all evening sitting on the side of the porch eating watermelon! 


Juicy, sweetness...dirt trails to elbows...even had some neighbor setting off contraband fireworks...now That's Summer!



Corey is Not a big watermelon fan...he looks like he's about to spew chuncks if I make him take another bite for these pictures!
  
"Corey, come on buddy...give me one last good picture and your done."  Ha!  I'll pretend, but don't make me eat it!   One quick snap of the camera and he ditched the melon and hopped on his bike!

This is going to be a good summer indeed!