Back Yard Fun

Ohhhh I can hardly stand it!

Our yard is very boring for Angela. Other than a lovely fence we put in this spring to keep her in it, there's nothing for her to do. We had a cheapo swingset that was flat out dangerous, and a pond she gets into trouble with by throwing non-pond items into. Other than that...NOTHING! I've been looking all over for a back yard climber thing that not only is big enough for a "big kid" (who's small for her age. LOL) but is also something we can afford. There was a Rainbow System that would have been perfect, and she could have played on it till she's 25....IF I wanted to spend $4,000 on it!

Anyway, I've spent all summer digging around online, and finally ran accross WillyGoat Inc. What a great site! They have lots of very affordable options, most of which come with the lumber pre-cut, pre-drilled and treated. We ordered a set for Angela today, and it should be here in time for us to spend Labor Day weekend putting it together. LOL Here's a picture of the set we ordered. Dean is going to hate love me. To put it into perspective, the slide is 10 feet long. Dave, if you're reading this...don't tell Dean how big it is yet! We'll just let him learn about that as we go, shall we? LOL (hey! It had to be big enough for a big kid, remember?)


Those of you who know Angela know she's been DYING for a "playhouse" that she can fit inside of and use as a hiding spot, and play with her real AND pretend friends. In fact, it was the #2 item on her Make A Wish list when the interviewed her. Her specifications were, "It has to be HIGH, have a slide, and swings, and be red." Well, this one just about fits. I'm not painting it red though!

Aaaahhhh let the summer rush begin!

Angela's last day of school was Thursday, June 12th, can you believe it? Friday we left for our 13th annual family Christamas at Ivanhoe weekend (which hasn't been at Ivanhoe for 3 years, but I digress.) This is Christmas gift from my parents. They rent out all the cabins of a local resort up in Walker, MN (just happens to be right down the road from their house.) and all my sibings and I, along with our families, take over the resort for a long weekend. It's the one time every year that I know I'll see my sister from IL. This year I got to see my great nephew Payton and great niece Madison for the first time. Beautiful babies who I got to love on for four whole days!

Ivanhoe weekend is the official start of our summer. Seems weird this year since we're already to the middle of June! Today I'll run Angela to swimming (she missed the first couple of days since she was still in school) then come home to start working in the house! We have a big party here on Saturday. Here's what needs to get done before Saturday morning:

1) Finish painting kitchen. 2 coats of 2 different colors.
2) tile downstairs bathroom
3) replace broken deck board
3) pressure spray 3 season porch
4) repaint said porch floor
5) wash basement windows
6) pick up odds and ends around outside
7) CLEAN THE OFFICE
8) Clean carpets in upstairs bedrooms
9) clean, clean clean the rest of the house.

Thankfully Dean's parents will be around to help out over the next couple of days. Needless to say, I won't be around much. Oh, and I have PCA lined up for all day Thursday and Friday so Angela will be busy, although I don't know what I'm going to do about the state Special Olympics track meet. I *really* don't have time to spend the day down there. Her PCA can take her, but....man...I feel like a rotten parent if I miss it.

Insert masculine laugh here

I'm talking about the laugh made by Tim Allan in "Home Improvement".

I have owned a handful of houses in my adult life. With home ownership comes power tools. But today I discovered a tool I'd never owned before. (still don't actually, as this one belongs to my brother in law.) It is a called a "Pressure Washer". Is it ever a ton of fun! I know lots of people use these every day, but this was a new thing for me! Warning, if you are prone to obsessive compulsive behavior, a pressure washer is NOT for you! Why? Because if you touch it, you will not be able to put it down. But I didn't know that today until AFTER I touched it.

So this thing has been sitting in our garage for a couple of months, waiting to go to said BIL's house. I had suggested to Dean that I might use it sometime to wash the floors in the 3 season porch (aka the puppy room) before our big party. Then today we were at Home Depot (I swear we're there every Saturday and Sunday morning!) and I was eying new cushions for the lawn furniture. I asked Dean "Do you suppose I could just take the old ones and spray 'em down with that pressure washer thingy?"

That was just the beginning.

When we got home, Dean pulled the thing out of the garage and showed me how to start it. He turned it on and started spraying off an old railroad tie at the base of our front deck, wiggling the wand back and forth, making marks all over in the wood. It only took me about 5 seconds to see that he was doing it all wrong of course. I took the wand from him, adjusted the spray, and proceeded to follow nice straight lines down the length of the board. As I did so, images of other similar objects came flashing into my head. Things that have been yucky looking for years that I could spray down and make new again.

The 20 year old railroad ties now all bright and shiny new looking, I headed for the back deck, lugging hoses and the thingy along with behind me. I removed all the deck furniture from the back deck, threw away all the junk flower pots and other junkie looking items that have collected back there, and turned on the machine. It is amazing to me how dirt collects over the years...on wood! Even green mossy/slimy stuff. I meticulously sprayed down each and every board, revealing brand new boards that had been hidden underneath the gunk. It occurred to me that this was MUCH more fun that stripping the wallpaper in my kitchen, a project that still sits nearly, but not quite, completed.

With a deck that now looked new, I accidentally aimed for one of the rocks on the retaining wall. WOW!!! When you spray ROCKS they turn all kinds of colors! I sprayed 10 or so of 'em before I realized the pressure was going to make the wall fall apart and that I'd better not do that anymore. Instead I grabbed those lawn chair cushions and started spraying those. They do look better, but they do not look good, and so I'll have to continue to work on Dean about getting new ones before the party. The furniture itself though, now THAT stuff looks great! And here I was thinking about throwing it all in a dumpster! I even sprayed the cement steps in back, making the cement look like it was just poured today. Interesting.

Next came the front deck. This area has been bugging me for quite some time. Somehow it is a collection spot for anything that gets emptied out of vehicles, or stuff from the yard that doesn't yet have home. Basically it is "flat surface disease" that has struck a very large, outdoor surface! It drives me nuts when people come over and on their way to the door they're walking past coolers, boots, a crappy looking grill, old empty planting pots and a throw rug that has been tossed out the door because a dog puked on it. So I grabbed the wheelbarrow and hauled away all the shed-worthy items and tossed the rest.

I sprayed down the cement step and discovered it looked better dirty. (oops) Under the dirt were splotches of paint, and bleached looking areas in the shape of paint cans. I sprayed down every board on the deck just like I'd done on the back, and just like the back it looks awesome! (it also needs to be re-stained. LOL) And about those rugs...the machine works great on those too, and they're now hanging to dry over the railing. I so wish I'd thought to take before and after pictures. It really is amazing. Later Dean and I were headed for some dinner, and I told him, "We need to get one of those machines!" He said there was no need to, since I'd now sprayed down every possible item. Little does he know what that thing could do inside the garage!

I won't do it! (said with arms crossed and foot stomp)

See this thing? It's a wallpaper scoring tool.
I have probably bought 4 of 'em in the last few years. I REFUSE to buy yet another, but...umm...where is the one I was using a few months ago? After my post about the list of projects that need to get done, I decided I might as well get to work on the kitchen. I got out my scraper, got out my DIF (I swear by that stuff for wallpaper removal, especially when there are TWO layers to remove!), and was all set to start. Except for the small problem of finding the darned scoring tool!

Some people say, "Don't score it! It'll take forever to get off!" I find this to NOT be true, but ONLY if the tool is used correctly. Used with too much pressure, and yes...the paper will come off in bits and pieces and it'll take you forever. Well, that and the fact I have two layers to get through. If you have two layers you can get your DIF (some people prefer to use plain water, but I like my DIF) down to the bottom layer.

Anyway, I'm now on a hunt for the thing. I've got the urge to work on this project NOW, but that could be very short lived so I need to do it while the urge is there! LOL

The Countdown

Seven weeks.

That is how long we have until Dean's annual family reunion, and it's our turn to host it. Keep in mind the weekend prior we'll be out of town! Dean and I work well under pressure, so I'm sure we'll be fine. Yes, I'm sure of it. No...really...we'll be just fine. We won't even kill each other!

The last time we had a big thing here (his twin brother's wedding) we totally re-landscaped the yard in that amount of time! We do know ourselves well though, and when working under such stress, some days one of us might say to the other, "Don't talk to me today. Really...it would be better not to."

Here's what needs to get done by party time:

Remodel basement bathroom (It's been 1/2 gutted for 3 years now. Since not one thing has been purchased for this project, this will prove to be the most interesting project of all) All that junk in the background is where the shower is supposed to be, but has now become kind of a storage area....sigh....(I really didn't want to post the picture, but it'll be fun to show an "after"!)


Do SOMETHING with the *^&# pond!! I want it filled in. The pond is huge, and honestly as much work as a pool, and if I want that much work, I want something I can use! Here's what it normally looks like


And here's what it looks like now. This may not LOOK like much work, but that is an entire weekend project you're looking at. And those rocks? H-E-A-V-Y, and I can't lift anything so it'll be up to Dean and Tyler. This will need to be done before the fence goes in.


Get fence installed in back yard (Containment for Angela and the dogs. This will be a HUGE stress reliever on several different levels)

Finish stripping kitchen wallpaper, then paint. Here's what it looks like now:(project I started LAST summer, now needs to get done.)


Cleaning the garage would be a good thing too! Two years ago I took this picture to PROOVE that we really could fit two cars AND a motorcycle in there! Now? Can't even get ONE car in there because there's a junker, TWO motorcycles, and lots of JUNK!


Do some planting outside to replace stuff destroyed by the dumb Chemlawn guy last summer. (You'd think they could tell the difference between a hosta, clamatis, and weeds! OMG, I'm so furious about what they killed! 5 years of growth in the gardens GONE!)

Haul a load of junk furniture to the dump (old couch, some odds and ends of crap.)

Repaint floor in 3 season porch (This is the room where we serve food when we entertain in the yard. But there were puppies in there last fall, so it needs to be thoroughly scrubbed down and repainted. The dump couch is the "dog couch" from that room.) Sorry, but I will NOT be posting a picture of what this looks like right now! Just imagine the worst.


Professionally clean basement carpet (We have 4 dogs, need I say more?)

Re-seed the yard. I got the front about 3/4 done a couple days ago, and have a huge BARE spot fenced off so the dogs can't walk on the heavy seeding I did there. That was the favorite wrestling and "let me make toothpicks with this stick" spot.


Find a place for all the dogs the day before and day of the party (This is so that not only are the dogs not underfoot in the final hours, but also so that we're not re-cleaning AND we can get rid of all land mines before company comes.) Look at these four lovely, well-behaved dogs, who wouldn't want them for a couple of days?



Anyone need a dresser? It's in my way!

Finish it Friday

Yep, that's right! It's Finish it Friday. You know that one pesky project that's been haunting you? Today (well, really this whole weekend) I'm pushing you to finish it. At my house it's the half-stripped kitchen wallpaper. As soon as it's done I can paint and finish this darn remodeling project that started back in....ready? MARCH! Yep, we put new floors in, which quicky snowballed into removing a wall, adding a new railing, ceramic tile, paint, and lots of other stuff like that. Now Dean wants to put on an addition BEFORE the two HUGE family reunions we have in June and July. Yeah, right! I can say this though, we work well under pressure.

This next week will also be my last chance to get any major projects done, as I have a litter of puppies due and then lots of stuff comes to a screeching halt.

Mondays' theme will be Make it Monday. You can make something on the stove (but it has to be something you've never made before) or make something with a child, or make something for yourself, or make someone else make you something! LOL Have a great weekend, and don't play too hard!