Back in January, I spent the better part of a day at Woodcraft in Orlando at a basic woodworking class. I’ve been wanting to tackle some projects for awhile now, but power tools scared me a bit. Plus I’m clumsy and scatter-brained so I really thought it would be appropriate to take a class to make sure I understood all of the safety precautions.
…How to Update Old Furniture with a New Coat of Paint – Wooden Slat Chair Makeover
I’ve had this chair since I was a kid. My sister has a matching one. Somewhere along in my teenage years, I decided to paint my room and some dripped on the chair. So I painted…part of it.
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How I Installed My New USB Outlet
WARNING: Use all precautions when working with electricity in your home. Make sure you know what you’re doing. If you aren’t comfortable, hire a handyman.
As a family of five, all with cell phones, we found ourselves constantly arguing over “cubes” – the things that allowed us to plug our lightning cables into the power outlet. We’d lose them, find them, find out someone else had “borrowed” them, or whatever…it seems like even if we owned more cubes than there were people, we could never find one.
…How to Make an Upcycled Banner
Our local Audubon birding chapter received a grant to construct a native plant garden at nearby Hundred Acre Hollows. The grant had several requirements to fulfill, one of which was that it had to incorporate some kind of upcycled feature. We chose to make banners to use for the ribbon cutting ceremony and other photo ops.
We started with two large vinyl banners. If you do a Google search for “vinyl banners” you’ll get an idea of what I mean. Businesses and organizations often use them on the front of a table at conventions, fairs, and other places where they advertise their services.
…Dining Chair Update – Part 2, Reupholstering
On the last day of 2018, I can finally say I finished this project. I’m not happy with the outcome. But I think it’s important to be honest about the things that go wrong, as well as the things that go right.
We’re all learning as we go through this live, right?
I wrote the first part of this post back in October, when I took the chairs apart and stained them using General Finishes Java Gel Stain. Then they sat in the garage throughout November and December. Part of the reason for that was the holidays, but the other part was the fact that I lost my staple gun.
…Candy Cane Wreath
Garage Pegboard Storage
When I was last working on the garage, I installed a pegboard. Let me tell you, it’s been a-MAZ-ing! It got a lot of loose stuff off the shelves, things that didn’t fit in bins or otherwise just didn’t go there.
…Swedish Chef Halloween Costume
I have to admit that Halloween is probably my favorite holiday of the year. I know it’s supposed to be Easter or Christmas, and I do love those, and especially the reason for those seasons! But there’s just something about dressing up for Halloween that strikes my fancy. My favorite costumes are homemade – I’ve been Effie Trinket, Maleficent, a hockey player with a missing tooth, and many others.
This year I picked my husband’s favorite muppet, instead, as a surprise. He loves the Swedish Chef! And it was pretty easy to do.
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Georgia / SC Trip Part 4 – Charleston
This is the last post in a series! I feel like I spent as much time writing about my trip, as the trip itself! I guess that means it was a really good one, huh?
You can also read Part 1 – Atlanta, Part 2 – Atlanta, and Part 3 – Greenville.
Wednesday I rode with Mom and Dad to my sister’s house near Charleston. Thursday was Mom’s actual birthday and we’d scheduled a trip for the three of us to take a boat over to Bulls Island. You can only get there by ferry or private boat, and it’s almost completely natural. It’s a great place for birds – which ironically isn’t why Mom or Laura wanted to go! But it’s also got a beautiful beach with shells and a section known as the Boneyard, which is full of driftwood, fallen, and dead-but-still-standing trees. It’s a good thing I’d practiced that walking earlier in the week, because by the time we finished my iPhone said I’d walked 7.2 miles! Holy moly. It was totally worth it though.
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Georgia / SC Trip Part 3 – Greenville and Pretty Place, SC
This is part three of my recent trip to Georgia and South Carolina. If you’d like to read more about the first weekend near Atlanta, you can check out part 1 and part 2.
After I got Peter tucked onto a Southwest flight back to Orlando, I drove from Atlanta to my parents’ house – and my second hometown – Easley, SC. It’s right between Greenville and Clemson. I basically got there in time to go to sleep. The next morning Mom and I returned my rental car and then did some shopping and had her birthday lunch at Trio in downtown Greenville. Did I mention it was her birthday week? That was the whole reason why I stayed up there longer and didn’t come back home with my son. We had some great mother-daughter time, something we don’t get much of since we don’t live closer.
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