Get Your Summer On

Summer is here!  Sunny and warm here in the Pacific Northwest and it's only June.  I've been busy getting my Summer ON.  First up, hang a summertime bunting on the patio. Leslie made my bunting and I love to watch it flutter.  Thanks Leslie!

 Make up your patio bed so it's ready for a nap in the shade.

 Keep yourself hydrated.  Drink a lot of water and for a treat try the Starbucks Refreshers, its fairly low in calories, thirst quenching and it has a hit of caffeine.  I like the cool lime and there is a berry and an orange one too.  For happy hour try a shandy, it's a hard lemonade and beer mix served with sliced lemon.

 Keep your plants well watered.

 And your pets too!

 Get your summertime reading list started, it's time to kick back and read.  Well, for me anytime of year is the right time to read but it is fun to find some light beach books and fly through them.

 Find some dappled (that would be a nice sun and shade mix) area and peruse a stack of magazines.

 Find a food truck for some great eats.  I don't want to cook when its hot but everyone still has to eat.

 Get your summertime salad ON, yummy!

 Get your FaN oN!

 And get your Fourth of July ON!  It looks like we will actually have a sunny, hot holiday.  

Tomorrow we are getting our road trip ON!  Nothing says summer like a road trip.

Enjoy!

Debbie Donuts Are Good

Someday I'll get back to a cohesive blog post but at this time it is just random.  Random again.

Max left on Sunday with the '54 on the trailer.  It needs a drier climate and the guys aren't here enough to drive it anymore.  Max made it over to the east side safely after a week at home. Sam doesn't report in until July first so he is still here as are the little debbie donuts...  It has been a tough eat less move more week with guys at home.  I have snacks in the house for them, I actually cook dinner for them, I baked cookies and somehow I end up tasting and snacking too much.  By the way, the little debbie donuts are actually better than Hostess.  Rumor has it.

 Hubby and I did a bit of junkin' on Saturday and I found this sweet little Christmas musical tree.  The best part, it came from my Aunt Nelda.  So, every Christmas I'll be thinking of her when it gets unpacked.  I love my Christmas things that have a connection to someone.  Christmas is all about family.

 Someone has been writing on the walls at the Stone house.  Oh wait, it was me.  It's harder than it looks so get that casual loopy style.

 Yesterday I went on a lamp shade quest in Belltown.  It's difficult to find the right shade with the lamps I've been finding at garage sales.  The proportion issue is important with shades and their lamps.

 This one(below) was a brass lamp I found for $1 at a garage sale.  It's been 'zinced', given a new shade and looks pretty stylish now.  The shade fabric has texture to it.  I don't think neutrals with texture is an actual decorating style but it is the underlying theme in the master bedroom.

Many projects going on here, many repairs being made and honestly the whole place looks like a big, fat mess right now.  As they say on the other side of the pond, "it's a tip."

It's back to work for us today.  I wish Molly Maid knew our address and would show up and clean up...

Party On

On Monday afternoon I attended a work party at Chris' studio.  Shelly, Holly, Chris and I had many projects waiting in the wings and decided to set a date and work collectively on our individual projects.  It just seems less like painting when the air is thick with creativity rather than paint fumes (ASCP has no smell). Enjoying refreshments which include champagne cocktails also help to make painting seem less like a chore.  And some quality time with the girls helps too.

 We had a party on the patio Monday and Tuesday evenings.  Many guests, delicious food and weather that cooperated, who could ask for anything more?

 Well, I guess Sam could ask that his Mom put the camera away.

This week we have been on our patio, our friends' patio and tonight... probably no patio.  The rain has returned.  It's raining so hard that flamingos were trying to find shelter on our lawn this morning.  

Go south pretty pinks!

I think I'll make soup for dinner tonight and try to keep dry.  After all, Summer actually begins tomorrow and then no more soup because it will get warm and sunny.  Right?

Three Out of Four

Last evening Blake, Sam and Max were home for dinner.  This doesn't happen very often anymore so Hubby and I are happy when the stars align and our guys land on the patio.

Blake isn't really ours but there was a time when he was at our place so much that he had his own pile of clean laundry lined up with everyone else's stack in the laundry room and the futon upstairs was considered his bed.

The guys have brought some very special girls to the table.  I felt so blessed last night to have my guys and sweet, sweet young women at the table.  Good food, a still and warm evening on the patio, great adult children, many laughs and good conversation made for a perfect storm for Hubby and me.

Since our guys live all over the country we treasure these storms.

I wished Danny and Jessica could have been here but three out of four is still pretty good.

Pretty good, indeed.

Nap Time

On Saturday I found an iron bed, springs and mattress at an estate sale.  I have always wanted a bed on the patio for summer nap time.  For ten bucks I felt like I had nothing to lose.  Shelly helped me get it home and then I cleaned it up and carried it up to the patio.  Why yes, it is heavy.

 After I got it up there I realized that I had gotten rid of all twin size bedding.  So I ran back to the estate sale thinking they might have sheets.  No sheets but I did find a cream chenille bed spread in good condition,  I washed it, dried it and hit the hay for a snooze.  It is like a little cozy nest!

 Max came home on Saturday.  He spotted a present and couldn't wait to open his birthday gift, yep, it the Lone Ranger Lego Western Train set.  It is going to be so fun to set it up.  Max thought my patio bed was crazy until he laid on it.  He's hooked.

 Sam and Angela got home this afternoon, just in time for steak dinner and to celebrate Father's Day.  I am so thankful that they had a safe trip and a good time. They drove over 3500 miles without  any trouble.

 It was the first time in several years that Hubby has had some guys home for Father's Day.  

It's been a good weekend.

Saturday Junkin'

I did a bit of junkin' this morning.  My plan was to run to the neighbor's estate sale and then get busy at home.  Shelly talked me into a few more stops.  It took two pickup truck loads to get us back home.

And when I got home the junkin' fairy had been to my back door and left me a little surprise.  A luggage rack  for the guest room!  I've had it on my list for a long time.  So a heartfelt thank you to the little junkin' fairy.

 The vintage chaise lounge is going to travel with the Aloha '54.  The suitcase is for Sam. The cake tray and lamp with be painted with ASCP.  The vintage champagne bucket is for Hubby.  And the berries are for everyone!  Oh, and the groovy beaded belt is for moi.  I've always want one to wear to a rodeo or to the fair.  A skirt or Levis, a black t-shirt and yeehaw I'll be stylin'.  Or I could belt a vintage suitcase...

I bought one other item and I'll share it later.  Before and after shots, you know.

Father's Day Weekend

Sam is driving across the country this week.  He is moving from Fort Bragg, NC to Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA which shall be referred to on this blog from this time forth and forevermore as JBLM.  Angela is traveling with Sam and they stopped in Michigan to visit Danny and his fiancee, Jessica.  I love this picture of the guys that Sam texted home this week.

 I think it's pretty safe to say that they are having a good time on the road.

Sam loved the jackalope in Wall drug when he was ten.  Apparently, it's still a hit.

Sam and Max are coming home this weekend.  I guess I better rustle up some groceries.

 For five years after we moved in the Stone House I tried to get foxgloves to grow in the front flower garden.  To no avail.  This year they are everywhere and in many hues of purple and violet and there are some white flowers too.  Thank you poopy birds!  The hummingbirds love the foxgloves.  I have enjoyed watching them.

 It's a bit jungle like at the Stone House this year and I'm fine with it.

 The orange blossoms smell divine except when the fields get a heavy, fresh layer of manure, then they get drowned out.

I baked almond cakes today for Father's Day dessert.  The fresh strawberries are in season and taste so good.  The berries could use a bit more sunshine for sweetness and honestly, I could too.  The rain is starting to make me cranky.  Otherwise, it's all good here at the Stone House.

Enjoy the weekend and celebrate your Dad!

Tin Trays

I finished two more Annie Sloan Chalk Paint* projects yesterday.

Before:

After:

 The large tray will be used to bring Hubby his breakfast in bed.  'Cuz that happens here all the time and I've never had a nice tray to serve his highness.

 The small tray was not silver plated, just a faux silver tray.  I made three cloches for it.  This tray is in the guest room.  Depending on the season I can add tiny vases of fresh flowers under the cloches or a Christmas vignette.

 Real life will now interrupt this plethora of *ASCP projects.  

Carry on.

I Drank the Kool-Aid

I drank the kool-aid, the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint kool-aid.  I resisted the Annie paint simply because it costs a lot of cash compared to hardware store latex, however; I kept seeing beautiful things painted with Annie Sloan paint.  So last week I pick up a couple of colors at our local stockist, Grandiflora.  On Saturday I went to get groceries and on the way to the store I stopped at several garage sales where I picked up some smalls to Annie Sloan.  

 The lamp was marked $1/works, I bought two trays for 50 cents each and a small clock for two dollars.  And I had some frames that need a freshening up.

 I dabbled, mixed colors, dry brushed, wiped off, and smeared on the paint.By Saturday late afternoon I knew I had to run back to Grandiflora for the clear wax, the brush and another color, old white.  The brush is an investment, boy howdy.  

The clock is finished and on the kitchen window sill.

 I debated about painting over this tray but it is now old white, ready for wax and some distressing.  Another tray was painted graphite, then louie blue and now it is old white.  I had some decision making issues in my excitement.

 In my usual bull in a china shop fashion I just started messing around, enjoyed some success, had some failures and then I started researching.  I'd like to recommend Simply Reinvented.  It's blog with many tutorials, including a waxing video that I should have watched prior to the waxing.  Everything she says not to do in the video I had already done.  Hahaha, good thing I can laugh at myself and buff with a soft cloth.

Grandiflora offers classes and I can see where they'd be helpful for someone with patience.  Since I have zero patience and couldn't wait for a class to begin I learned by trial and error.  I may take a class down the road to learn more techniques.

 I hope to have more completed projects to share later this week.  

Right after I wipe that kool-aid mustache off my face.