April 2015 Pt. 2

One thing that April included was a lot of  YARD WORK. There's still much more to do, and  I'm kind of worried that everything is going to be torn up soon. Our old back deck is being removed and rebuilt, so it's also a good time to address other backyard issues, like re-seeding or sodding the yard. 

This is Jon's sucking up thing. I don't know what it's technically called, but this tool is the opposite of a leaf blower and it's AWESOME! It sucks up stray leaves in hard to reach places or areas that aren't great to rake like the pebble path. 

One weekend we had seven yards of new mulch delivered and then we hauled it all over and laid it out. That's always hard work but fun to do together.

Josie is enjoying the newly emerged sunshine. She has taken to laying in the sun and then moving to the shade. That's her sandbox there. A hopeful solution to her digging issue. Sadly, it didn't help much and our yard does not look like this at the moment. It's now full of holes! We had to put that silly white fence up because Josie had been running around the entire backyard, digging mushrooms up. I don't know how she even finds them, they are honestly BELOW the ground! The danger is, she tries to eat everything, and I can not risk her eating a poisonous mushroom. It's too bad, I'd rather her have the run of the entire yard, but I need to keep her safe.

The Mini-"pool" woke up from it's hibernation this month. Even though we're heading towards year four in this house, we're still like: "What IS that thing!?" The mini-pool was here when we moved in. It's kind of like, well, a min-pool. It's the size and depth of a reflecting pool or a wading pool. It was built by a pool company and has a large pool filter and pump that sits at the bottom of our yard, BUT....I've heard that it has been used as a pond in the past! Actually, now I'm remembering that the former owners who had it built, planted (?) many water plants in there. Like lily pads. It must have been pretty! And then, later on, different people used it as a koi pond. The only problem with that is that the herons and cranes from the ravine behind our house, would fly over and swoop up the fish. :(

So, that was definitely out of the question for us. A fish pond. The mini-pool was old and crumbly, so we had to completely resurface it. The old cement walls were sandblasted out and then a  type of  pool composite material was used to rebuild the walls. We had tile laid, a step built and the pool pump and filter fixed.

Wow, this is a long explanation of a single photo. Anyway, this month we took off the winter covers, and reversed all the winterizing we had to do to the pipes. We started the pump again and cleaned the pool. Jon borrowed our friend Kellie's waders. I think it's a good look on Jon. Seriously!

One of my favorite things this month was the Lego organizer that Noah and I made. I might have mentioned more than a year ago, that one of our beloved neighbors passed away. We miss Ricki and talk about her all of the time. She was so great and interesting and creative. Ricki had a boutique at one point. This old display shelf was put outside with a sign that said "FREE! Please take." I thought it was neat and immediately envisioned it as a great Lego organizer and display area. 

I know the shelf looks light, but it was SO heavy. I'm not kidding. It's about 4' tall and 3' wide. That's a lot of Lucite! Noah and I wheeled it home on a 4-wheeled moving cart. We looked crazy rolling down the sidewalk. Then I summoned all of the strength I could, and I carried it up a small set of stairs, into our house, and dragged it over to the family room on a fleece blanket. It was a ton of work, but worth it. After a thorough cleaning, I then spent hours color sorting Noah's Legos. The ones that are not part of a kit or already put together and voila'!

Also from Ricki.....her daughter found this sewing table while cleaning out Ricki's house. Again I found it outside with a "Free" sign. I couldn't believe my luck! Not only has my Singer sewing machine been really broken, but I was JUST saying to Jon that I wished I had a small desk in our room to sit at and blog! REALLY! This was just perfect.

I called Ricki's daughter to make sure and to thank her so much. We then carried the desk and sewing machine home. I cleaned it up and thought about what I was going to do and where I was going to put it.

At first I thought about refinishing the desk. Maybe painting it a beautiful turquoise (a color that I knew Ricki loved) with silver trim. Then though, I began to appreciate the desk for what it was. I don't want to chance it. It's original, right down to the 1969 owner's manual that I found in the drawer!!!! How GREAT! Right!?

I carried the desk up the stairs and played around with where it would go. I finally ended up folding up the treadmill and backing it into the corner to make way for the perfect blogging and sewing desk. Hopefully, sometime soon I can find some cute, new drawer pulls juts for a mini-update, but for now, I thought a few of my scarves looked cute tied around the handles.

I'm super excited because it was perfect timing. As we speak, I'm typing at the desk! Also, one of the Boden dresses that I ordered finally arrived. This one took longer than the rest of my order because it was shipped from England. I need to hem my new dress and now I can!

Also along the lines of "salvaged furniture," my Mom gave me this antique shelf that she was not using. I think it used to sit on top of a china hutch. She thought I might be able to use it to organize my jewelry. For now, until I purchase some hooks and figure out how to display and organize things, it's sitting on top of our dresser. I think it looks great! A little busy with all of my necklaces and things, but still, a lot of fun.

For April, instead of making new paper decorations for the windows, I made a little bunch of silk flowers and a bow for the side gate, and refreshed a wreath that I had made several years ago for the front door.

I wired my wreath to reinforce its shape and then added some new flowers and a ribbon bow. Easy!

Have I shared with you the puppy blanket that I crocheted for Josie? It was very easy and took me about two weeks, working at night. This was a while back, and since then, she's been sleeping on her blankie most nights. I found this free, easy PERFECT baby blanket pattern HERE!

I know that I mentioned this necklace, at least on my Facebook page a month back, but this is my new necklace from Fresh Produce.  I absolutely loved it and found it on sale! It was funny because the day it arrived, I was wearing a dress that perfectly matched my necklace. It had the same exact pink and yellow. What are the chances?

Dress by Boden. Super comfy.

And that's the scoop! At least for the second part of my April post.

Until next time be creative and have fun!

xoxoxoxo,

Lauren :)