Paint!? Okay, let me explain. This weekend we got a lesson in making plans. Sometimes the plans you make are not the plans that happen. Sometimes what you think is cement is water, and all you can do is make the best with what you’ve got. Our original plans to head south to Springfield for the fourth were dashed sometime Friday morning, and while initially we were bummed and a little disappointed, it didn’t take us long to be totally alright with the idea of staying home and getting a few things done. I mean, we did just go to MN, and camping the weekend before, and have one of our best friends get married the weekend before that. It’s hard trying to get it all done during the week, and we have more than a few projects that have been shoved aside because we just haven’t been able to fit them all in.
The first project we tackled was repainting the front door for the landlord. A few weeks ago, in the middle of Anja’s wedding weekend actually, the original hardware (the house was built in ’56) broke, locking us out of the house. Neil had to bravely kick it in ninja-style. It was actually pretty hot, won’t lie. The new handle is smaller, and the door needed a new coat of paint to cover up the gaps and just give it an overall facelift. I kept the yellow but warmed it up to a shade that matches the beautiful coneflowers on the side of our house. Isn’t that an awesome taping job?
Clive wasn’t so keen on being behind the baby gate while something was going on at the front door. The cats weren’t either and were more than pests trying to get at the paint. Felix walked into the kitchen an hour after I finished with a bright yellow streak on his back, a la Looney Tunes, and I had to go back and scrape and repaint.
Another project we’ve been talking about for ages is building a portable table for freelance and crafting. With all the freelance we’ve had lately, we needed a war room-like table to work through project details and collaborate more closely where we could have multiple computers close together. We’d been lusting after sawhorse tables because they are portable and easy to assemble without being an unsightly plastic fold-up. Like total pros we marched into Lowe’s and spent the next hour and a half measuring, second-guessing, and having all the wood cut. Hey, we’re still learning! Needless to say, we ended up buying a table saw too. The whole project was fairly inexpensive though, and the table is awesome (I’ll get some finished living room shots today).
All this hard work, definitely necessitated some reward:
One of our local grocery store has a fairly decent “Pick 6” option on beers. Sure, it’ll cost you more than buying a full 6 or 12 (or 24 pack) of the other stuff, but having a little variety is nice. I have a feeling this will become a regular treat of ours. I think Leinenkugel Berry Weiss is a new love of mine.
Speaking of love, isn’t summer produce season awesome!? Check out my booty from our Ag research farm:
HUGE zucchini and squash. Knowing the zucchini would be enough to handle, I gave the squash to my parents. You’ll have to see the bounty of the zucchini harvest this afternoon in my next post. It’s ongoing too, still have 1/3 of the zucchini left! We also harvested the first half of the carrots:
All in all a great weekend. We got a lot done and did have some good fun. I love my new table and the door looks 10x better with a fresh new coat of paint and new doormat. We were able to make it Anja and Steve’s “Screamin’ Eagle Fourth of July BBQ” and had a near front row seat on the fireworks. It feels weird going to parties and having most if not all of the girls your age bringing babies. It’s a weird new time, and I’m not probably as graceful adjusting to it as I should be, but I’m going to make a better effort to be graceful about it so I don’t drive Neil bananas. I just thought there’d be more time (read: fun) before all this started?
Did you have a jawsome Fourth of July?
