Picture love in August

Where have I been. Visiting with my lovely mother! It was so fantastic to have her here. But that will be another post in itself. I thought I would at least end this month with the fun I had and pics I took. So here we go!

This was our BBQ in the rain with the hot sun and the sun showers that occurred afterwards just as Mark started the fire. It still makes me smile. 

Mom is in town. Yay! The day after she landed we headed to Calgary to visit my great aunt. Afterwards we made a short stop to the mall as we never realized until after we left that it was rush hour and I didn't want to drive. So we found a hat store and had fun. Doesn't my mom look so cute in fascinators? I definitely couldn't pull them off. Lol. 

I found a hat myself that I kind of fell in love with. Mark says I look like little Bo Peep. So be it. 

Jimi jam and mom looking at ipad jokes pre market time. 

Us at the St. Albert market. Kind of my new favourite market. And we bought quite a bit. However the bags I was carrying were a bit flimsy and I dropped one of the canned goods that was bought. 

However Jimi Jam came to the rescue and went back and bought some more. Sweet heart!

That night mom and Jimi and Cassie went to a movie. Mark and I decided to check out "what the truck" at Louise McKinney park. Talk about amazing food from a truck. We fell in love with Phillysteak sandwich and Mac bites. Yummers. I think it's safe to say that our summer has been all about the food. 

So if you look at previous posts you have seen my attempts at pies. This time I has a mom and she showed me my Grammies secret to making crust that doesn't stick to the counter top. Amazing. More amazing walking to our local market and picking up fresh blueberries for the said pie. And it was good. I had it for breakfast every morning till it was gone. He he. 

Family together. Cassie and Jimi came over for lobster rolls. Had to snag a mother son pic. 

And of course a mother daughter one. 

Carleen came over for supper. Fun times. We were set to make the homemade perogies that we bought at the market (I wasn't lying about the food). But when we took them out of the fridge they stuck together. Ugh. Because Carleen is so lay back and chill frozen perogies it was. Plus dessert. And  giggles and maybe one shot. "Nick nick nick nick". 

Last night. Wendy and David came over for a bit of firepit fun. Mom really wanted to have a firepit. Unfortunately we waited till the last possible day and it was not as enjoyable in the wind. But we had our dogs that Mark and mom cooked. Lol. 

Fun memories. And it is possible to write more as I will later. But enjoy the pics of August!

Love

It's war

So yesterday was epic. And by that I got epically wet. 

Mark was watering the plants and innocent little me went to say hi, or bug him, minor detail. Mark then proceeds to soak me with the hose. 

Well, I never...

I go inside and proceed to wait. To wait for the perfect moment. Mark goes outside to take care of weeds in the front. I sneak to the back unravel a bit of the hose and run towards the front. The hose kinked. Darn it!

The fight was epic but he got the hose from me. Not before I kinked it and headed for the second hose. 

Ha ha. Could it be. The possibility of an all out war. 

Well it was. But it was a sad pitiful war. Mark somehow wrangled that hose from me and I couldn't get to them and kink them and I got drenched. Soaked. Whatever other word you could think of. By two hoses! 

Game on Mark. Game on. 

Revenge will happen. Sleep with one eye open. 

Love

And kitchen complete part two.

My husband is a minimalist. This is in contrast to my business. So I have been trying very hard not to plaster all of our walls with numerous amounts of pictures, just a few here and there. Cut to the dear kitchen that I just completed one of the pieces of furniture. 

Mark insisted that the buffet would look best by the fireplace. I have to agree but the wall then looked off to me as We had one big piece of furniture on one side and a smaller one on the other. I don't know why but it was not balanced and very off putting to me. 

Then I remembered these wooden frames I bought about four or five years ago. I had intentions of using them in our apartment but funnily enough all the walls were covered (so I may have had a problem but I am toning it down). I bought fabric that matched the wall and the painting and stretch it over the frame, nailing it on. Again I see flaws but I did it not buy it a run of the mill store so it has heart. He he. 

Next I got out the trusty level, a tool that I love. And nailed the work onto the wall. And tada! The kitchen is no longer off kilter. Ha ha. 

I also put a friendship quilt that Casey made for me on the other wall. I figured friends and family socialize and have fun in the kitchen so it was meant to be.

Kitchen complete. Now the eating shall commence. 

Love

It's finally done

So here is what happened.  We moved and I went on Pinterest. My first mistake. I pinned tons of things to do this summer. Piece of cake. Pinterest makes it look so easy. I should have all these projects done in a two weeks right?

Wrong. But one is done and although I see some flaws I have learned a lot. What I took on was this beauty. 

I call it a buffet cause that is what my parents called theirs. Holds all our nice things. The hitch is that we had dark cabinets in the kitchen and this kind of stuck out more than I liked. So I perused some websites and decided to start the process. 

I bought a little sander at Home Depot and sanded away. And then did some more. And more. What was taking so long? I started to read up on it more and people said if the cabinet had a veneer it just needed a 240 grit. I scoff, he he. Maybe my sander and hands were not powerful enough but I just couldn't get it to the grain. I used 80 and then 120 to smooth it out but I found the process painstakingly long as one shelf took me two hours to do. Ugh. Maybe I need more patience. He he. 

Mark's Uncle John and Aunt Marie came by for a family dinner one day and suggested I try a chemical sander. At this point I was willing to try anything. So I bought a scraper and this little product. 

So I went away at it. Smoothed it over all the furniture. Waiting for approximately 3-4 hours and scraped it off.

So what do I have to say about this. It is messy. Seriously. And it can take a bit of time to shave off all of the product. But it works. Really well. And it cut my time to doing four shelves in one hour. I did go over all of the surfaces with the sander to make sure it was all smooth and even. Cleans everything right up. 

So the next part was to clean it all off and apply the stain. The hitch. The first product I bought basically stained the wood the exact same colour I just sanded down. Aaaaaaahhhh. So I searched for this gal's blog. She is my hairdresser and decorator extraordinaire. I knew she had done her kitchen cabinets so I looked up the product and used it.

I chose espresso for my colour as you will see. And it worked just as she described it. I did about four coats overall. And loved it as it has a nice sheen to it too. My only issue was my painting technique may not always be the best as I had some drips that escaped and dried. Grrrrrr. I need to apply a thinner coat next time I believe. And because I had a cat and no matter how hard I cleaned I still found strands of hair at times. He he. He is permanently etched in my furniture. 

New hardware after that as there was no way I was going to paint the wooden knobs. 

I then applied grey scrapbook paper on the back to match the back of our kitchen wall. And maybe hide some mistakes. He he. This was not before I put glittery silver paper on it and Mark said in his "I am not going to insult it directly but I am making it known I don't like it" voice of "oh it's sparkly". The next morning I looked and it did look like a giant disco ball. Grey paper it is. 

Obviously I did all this before putting all the things back in. But I wasn't smart enough to take the pictures. 

And here is the finished product. And I like it. 

So what do I have to say about the next projects. I need a break. Really. I am thrilled with the result and am eager to do another one.  Maybe next year as I want to do it in the garage it can get a little colder in the later months. Plus the car wants the garage back. He he. 

So this is my big DIY for this year. This is the reason that I will not be doing the half marathon as I can barely get past 11 km and I have to double that in two weeks. Sigh. But it was worth it. And the kitchen is back in use. 

Love

Steak in the sun, banana boats in the rain

The title was set...

By the dinner companions. 

Corn, steak, and potatoes on the BBQ. 

Salad, pre-made. 

And the sun beating down. 

Very hot hot hot. 

Dessert by the fire

S'mores with oatmeal cookies...

(Watch out they may burn if left too long.)

Banana boats...

And thunder in the background. 

Then rain. 

And then a downpour. 

All in the presence of good company. 

Good laughs. 

Good times. 

Mark and I are getting the hang of this hosting thing. 

Love

Here is the blog post, Jimi

Lets talk about my husband

I talk about him at times on this little diddy. I was driving in the car and heard a song and thought of him. It was a song that he downloaded before it became radio play. And it is a really good song. A socially aware song. And then I got to thinking how much I admire Mark.

You see I am the type of person who seeks out entertainment to escape. Sometimes I have guilty indulgences that I find fun to watch. On the other hand Mark looks for entertainment to inform. Shows that don't strive for conflict. Songs that don't have messages that are undesirable. He tries very hard to be socially conscience of what is out there. 

I am not saying one way is right or wrong. But I am in awe of things that Mark finds and likes. Because really they are good things. Like this song. 

Love

Oh marathon training i.e. motivation where are you?

I had a really good day today. And the day before that and that. I get to spend my days with Mark while he is on summer break. We have been eating good meals. Enjoying our porch. Sitting in the sun. Going for walks at night. It has been pretty fabulous. And I have loved every minute of it. 

But...

I kind of forgot about this marathon that I signed up for in less than a month. 

Now you may be wondering. Well Tracey. You do have the day to train. Absolutely. But then I decided to do a side project with one of our furniture pieces. And what I thought would take a week (oo Pinterest you deceptive site you) is now working on two months. 

Sigh. So I am writing this in hopes of motivating myself for the next month. If not I may not make the marathon alive. ;)

But I can at least say that I have had a most excellent summer being with someone that I adore and love. Wink wink. The other project....the jury is still out. 

Love