Projects

Well today is another overcast day, so it makes it a good day to finish up a couple projects I have been neglecting.  I am trying my hand at remaking old furniture and giving it new and hopefully, better, life!  I started out with two small items.  This wooden pedestal cake plate is unique and looks pretty good as is, but it was really yellowed and dirty.  

It actually looks better in the pictures. 
So I cleaned it really well and primered it with Kilz.  Next I used a dark, burgundy red from RUST-OLEUM.  Forgot the name and threw the can away! 

I am also working on this old wooden magazine rack.  Didn't every family have one?  This one is a bit different from most, at least to me, so I thought it would be fun to try.  I forgot to take the before pics and just took a few with the Kilz primer on.

You can see our BBQ in the background, waiting for spring and summer.  The winds blew off the tarp that was covering it.  Everything looks so bare and boring in the winter.  In Summer I have the patio and deck

filled with flowers. 

You will have to wait for the after pictures.   Both pieces have been painted and are waiting for glazing and sealant.  Hope to get the final pictures up tomorrow!  Happy refinishing!!

Milk Glass

I have been busy taking pictures of and posting Milk Glass items for sale on my Etsy shop. It started when I helped my mother-in-law clean out her kitchen cabinets.
She had things in there from the 1970's and before, many that had never been used.

I had the idea to post these on the website and see if she could get a bit of spending money for them. She had several pieces of milk glass to add to the pieces I already had. To top it off, I found more and put those on the shop too!

 If you like milk glass, be sure to visit me at http://etsy.com/shop/LifeInStages

I am continuing to struggle with getting a good template and learning how to post pictures, and make changes to the layout of the blog, so if you notice changes, it is me still trying to make sense of it all... I am even challeneged by figuring out how to put the Etsy button on the blog!

Over the mountains

It is another gorgeous day here in the PNW. I haven't wanted to pack up and move yet this winter! That is a first for me. Today my family and I are going to Eastern Washington. This is where my husband and I grew up. His parents still live there and my sister does as well. In addition to visiting with family, we are there for a purpose. I am planning to help my mother-in-law rearrange her kitchen cupboards. A lifetime of collecting things has accumulated in there and I have finally talked her into passing some of her things on to charity and making more room. She is quite short and needs things moved down lower so she doesn't have to use a stool to reach them. The last time she did that she ended up falling flat on her back and unable to get up. Not a good thing. It is a difficult thing to see your parents, even in-laws, needing help more and more as they age. Though she is pretty young at heart and relatively healthy for 79, she is realizing, as are we, that there are many things she can no longer do. This is probably one of the toughest parts of growing older for me; the reversal of roles between parent and child. Both of my parents have already passed on, so I have made this journey already... How do you deal with aging parents? With your own aging process?

Fabulous Friday!

I have always loved Fridays. It seems like they hold so much promise. When I was in school Friday signified a weekend of cartoons and sleeping in, no homework and playing with friends. As an adult, it was the end of the work week, and meant time with family, or to have some fun. Now, I am not working and yet Fridays still make me feel a bit excited. Is it just habit? Maybe, but Friday still means no homework to force my son to complete, no lunches to fix and not having to wake up by the alarm clock the next morning. It means that for the following two days anything is possible. It isn't always fun, but at least it is generally a choice. I hope you all have the chance to take advantage of a bit of relaxation this weekend. I will be doing some reorganizing, but I am still free of the weekly schedule and routine. I plan to get outside and feel the warmth of the sun on my face. Sun is so precious here in the winter, sometimes even in summer, and when it is out, I want to just soak it all in! Time to dig out the sunglasses!

Wondering...

Today I am feeling introspective, thinking about all sorts of things, trying to find a place to land. Maybe this is just a new form of procrastination for me, just think of so many things that I can't focus and actually start, much less complete anything! Oh, I hope not, I am already a professional procrastinator and I know that the most difficult person to deal with is myself! I don't know about you guys but it is almost impossible to force myself to do something if I really don't want to do it! I am not talking about laundry, cleaning and the mundane tasks we do everyday, but the things that take more thought, effort and risk. Things on my mind today are weight loss, project completion, my taxes, my online business, projects around the house, saving money, planning for the future, that type of heavy stuff. It all just swirls around in my mind and I am afraid to let it settle. It seems hard to know where to begin sometimes, what to prioritize etc. So today I am taking the Light Rail into Seattle with my kids. We are going to bum around Pike's Place Market for awhile, maybe look at some of the shops at Westlake, and then meet my husand for dinner. Whew! I am rescued from decisions for at least one more day... now, if my dreams would be relaxing......

Grey sky

Today looks like another grey day in the Pacific Northwest. I did see a slice of blue sky early so it may 'burn off' like it often does in the late morning. Yesterday was gorgeous, it felt like spring time. I am one of those SAD people, you know the kind that get all depressed and lethargic when there is no sunshine? Yep, unfortunately I fit in that category. I was going to buy one of those sunlight lamps but by the time I made it to Costco, they were out. I am too cheap to fork out the $200+ to get a really good one, so I just take lots of Vitamin D tablets and drag around the house, moping like Rosie on the Jetson's cartoon. Does anyone remember Rosie? Maybe Eeyore is a more current moper. Anyway, yesterday was so nice and sunny that I actually got out in the yard! I set up a paint area and did some spray painting! I am slowly getting started on refinishing/repurposing old stuff and yesterday I primed and painted an old wooden cake plate and a wooden magazine rack. I have to finish up today, and I want to glaze them and then seal them. I am anxious to see how they turn out. I have very little patience for things like this so we will see....The most exciting thing today is that I got my very first follower! FarmgirlCyn@blogspot.com has a great site, you must check her out. Thanks FarmgirlCyn for letting me know, I am not alone out here!!!

Learning New Tricks

Ok, today I am trying to make sense of all this blog stuff. I just decided that I wanted to try this out, and dove in without much thought. I am having a some trouble figuring out how to get a cool looking page so it is pretty basic and boring. I thought I would just start out with a post.

Anyone out there have any suggestions for me as I start out? Is anyone even out there?