Peach to White

Our 50th Anniversary Bouquet from my Sister and Brother-in-law had its first rearrangement - and its ready for another week. 13 Days before it needed anything but fresh water.

A dream with help - I wanted to paint my room white. It has been peach for about 20 years and that was more than enough.

I started to paint one wall (and that was when I realized the peach was an OIL paint and I was trying to paint over with LATEX. Primer was picked up and I started again. Got one coat of latex white over the primer and expanded the small office space with another shelving unit. Things were ok. Very compact space but it worked for me. Didn't take a picture.

The office space is beside the stacking washer and dryer in the closet. 

The new units were a close fit - TALLER than the last ones. I sat in the living room and practiced slow breathing while the two installers put the dryer on top of the washer. Whew!

My dream - eventually the entire room would be painted white but for now one wall and a bit were just fine (I used this photo in an earlier post and ... never took an updated one, whoops).

Dream maker - Judy had a bit of time this week. She lives in the Cariboo Regional District and had come down to the Coast for a week to help with her younger grandkids - and she had two mornings available - we share the teenage grandkid and we have been great friends since the day we met (about 16 years ago).

Judy loves painting. It was a sunny day and warm enough to open the windows. The tarp on the bed has about 35 years of paint spills and splotches.

I am great at hauling stuff out of a room and filling in all the holes left from a great many pictures as well as removing those yellow plastic plugs for holding screws in drywall. The bed and one dresser stayed, the rest I stacked in the kitchen. 

Judy painted. Since I had moved out all the furniture and STUFF the night before, while she worked I cleaned brushes and got the tray cleaned for the wall paint after she finished the baseboards plus I made lunch, cleaned the top of the stove, ran the dishwasher... 

After Judy left to pick up her youngest grandchild from Daycare (a one year old sweetheart) I tackled the paint spots on the hardwood floor.

I sprayed them with (can you believe this?) SHOUT - and with damp sanding sponge rubbing the spots were gone. I washed the floor 3 times to get rid of the Shout and then dried it with towels.

Judy will be back Friday morning to paint the second coat of white Latex. Happy Dance.

I will hopefully be ready to share the putting the room back together again in my next post.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs

Joy

Sharing with:

Tarah of Grandma's House DIY
Sam of Raggedy Bits
Kate of Chic on a Shoestring
Kristie of Love My Little Cottage
Kathy of A Delightsome Life
Beverly of How Sweet The Sound
Andrea of The Cottage Market
Jen of A Fireman's Wife 

Pink Rhododendron in November

Sometimes something beautiful happens and on Sunday I saw a lovely sight for November.

Got out of the car and went closer - several pink rhododendron blossoms were sharing the sunshine - and a wasp was having a lovely rest.

This week has been very full.

Thank you for visiting.

Hugs

Joy

October Thrifts and Catching Up

Some thrifts are from long ago and some are part of my way too many collections. 

Can't ignore a pumpkin. Kitchenware finds.

Love the Halloween Trick and Treat Visitors - sweet costumes, careful parents making sure things go well as their children knock and call out 'trick or treat' and say thank you when they receive their treat.

Lanterns are 'new to me old finds' while the paintings, washboard and window are old collectibles.

The sweet Poole and Beswick creatures are quite endearing and part of my collection.

The rabbit tureen is from a friend. I think it was made in Italy. Lovely detail and painting.

Frost arrived and all the roses are really finished so I added the pink rose taken last week beside the 3 1/2" tall wooden stacking dolls, the tiny one is less than 3/4" tall.

Instead of On My Walk this week


DH has finished the several months of daily IV Therapy plus has recovered from his foot surgery on the 12th. 


No weight on his foot for these past 21 days - plus the next 2 weeks, he has managed with renting a collection of support equipment on wheels to make sure he could get around safely.


Tuesday afternoon this week DH decided that he would no longer stay in the basement bedroom (level entry which was wheelchair accessible) and from his wheelchair to the base of the steps, he very slowly and carefully walked (not using the front of his repaired foot) up the 7 steps (with 3 small landings) to the main floor and he was 'home'.  Wheelchair is in the back of the van ready for next appointment.


DH was very adept at transferring himself from the wheelchair into and out of the backseat of the van as well as inside transfers. He was a very cooperative patient and followed the Doctor's instructions to the letter.


I was caught unaware Tuesday afternoon with DH's shift from the basement/wheelchair accessible bedroom to our main floor and I had a VERY busy afternoon/evening shifting DH's things back upstairs and routing DGS's things back downstairs. 

They are BOTH much happier.

We both feel a big lift because things are starting to get back to normal. Not quite normal yet but certainly better than the last many months.

We are so grateful on that on October 11th the EMERG Doctor called in the Orthopaedic Surgeon and the Doctor for Infection Disease who both agreed DH would have surgery the next day.

Thank you for visiting today.

Hugs.

Joy

Sharing with:

Kathy of This Delightsome Life
Kristie of Love My Little Cottage
Roseann of This Autoimmune Life
Andrea of The Cottage Market
Jen of A Fireman's Wife 
Danielle of Finding Silver Pennies
Katie of Let's Add Sprinkles
Marci of Stone Cottage Adventures 

You Think You Have Time

A dear and kind blogging friend, Jilda, shared this.

"The trouble is, you think you have time."  - Buddha

"If I could give someone one quote to live by, it would be this one.  We are all guilty, we all think we have time.  We think we have time to make our dreams come true, to take that trip, to make amends, to work on our health...it's a never ending list, this thinking we have time."

Family health issues have taken over all my time and energy and I am taking a blogging break until things improve.

Hugs

Joy 

Autumn Flowers, Branches and Moss

I am always thrilled when a gardener shares their garden flowers stories when I am walking by. This lovely lady took the time to visit as I took pictures (with permission).

The gardener's daughter wanted dahlia at her JULY wedding - and Mom made it happen but it was not easy forcing the blooms. 

These group groupings are from the late September visit.

More autumn blossoms, treasures.

Update on the roof

the Gutter Guy (husband and wife team) came by on Tuesday afternoon and power washed the now yellow moss off the roof. The very yellow mossy picture is the chimney top BEFORE washing.

I had a rather steep learning curve - the 'after washing picture' was actually on the video taken by the Guttering Guy after he finished cleaning the moss remnants off the roof and... I had to take a clip from the video .... and it has been years since I have done any video editing.

On my walk ...

It is branch cleanup month in our city... Homeowners trimming their branches leave them heaped on the curb. The city (using taxes collected from the homeowners) pay chipper companies to chip and haul the chips away (which are resold to homeowners). Nice cycle - employment plus a useful product for raising funds. The mosaic below shows some of the beautiful colours of the branches the before chipping plus ... mushrooms growing on lawns - along my walk while waiting for school to be out.

Piles of branches

Thanks for visiting today

Hugs

Joy

Sharing with:

Beverly of How Sweet the Sound
Jen of A Fireman's Wife
Andrea of The Cottage Market
Anna M. of Strawberry Butterscotch
Suzanne of Pieced Pastimes
Pam of Pam's Party and Practical Tips
Angie of Letting Go of the Bayleaf
 Danielle of Finding Silver Pennies
Roseann of The Autoimmune Life

October 3 - Gutters

The past week I have been working on ...

refreshing an old grape vine wreath and ...

and taking maybe the last photos of the pink roses...

and back to work - clearing off most of the stuff from my back and front decks because... 

Taking Care of the Gutters:

the Gutter Guy was booked for Monday. We have not cleaned out our gutters properly for YEARS.

Here is one BEFORE and AFTER - The gutter was packed with composted leaves and was home to a section of plants (before/after).

The Gutter Guy ALSO screwed the soffit pieces that had slipped out of place back in place and he also unscrewed and removed the pieces of wood we had used to close the space a few years ago ... two birds thought this was a great nesting spot and we had to wait until they and their fledglings all LEFT)before propping the soffits in place.

I am so grateful to have the gutters both cleaned inside and outside (scrubbed clean with Dawn blue dish soap, a green scrubby, water to rinse and a lot of 'elbow grease' by the Gutter Guy and his partner who manned the hose to rinse as well as point to any missed spots, she also kept things very clean as they did their job. 

One of the corner gutter pieces (picture above) has been leaking buckets of rain water directly to one area of the deck floor and this has caused cracks and heaves in a small area of the deck ... the Gutter Guy removed the corner piece, cleaned, screwed back on again and caulked inside and outside, leaking problem solved.

I will be patching and sealing that spot asap, already have the supplies handy and I have done patching before (thank goodness).

Finally the Gutter Guy sprayed moss remover all over the roof, he will be back later in the fall after the leaves are finished to remove the blackened moss and give the roof a good rinse/sweep/rinse to clean off any debris. 

I didn't climb the Gutter Guy's VERY long ladder to look at the moss but I could see thick clumps near the corners of the house and along the top of the chimney.

Very relieved to have the gutters in working order (and CLEAN)and not dripping at that one corner plus the moss problem almost over.

Something I did for fun this week:

I put together a 'fresh' wreath for my front door...

a bit of black wire, 3 cheerful seasonal TY stuffies and a well used grapevine wreath.

On my walk: 

waiting for school to let out - what could be prettier than orange with yellow tipped dahlias in the sunshine - and saying HI to fellow walkers.

Thanks for visiting today.

Hugs

Joy

Sharing with:

Kate of Chic On A Shoestring
Kristie of Love My Little Cottage
 Roseann of This Autoimmune Life

Kathy of A Delightsome Life
Jen of A Fireman's Wife
Andrea of The Cottage Market
Beverly of How Sweet the Sound
Michelle of The Painted Hinge
Pam of Pam's Party and Practical Tips
Anna M of Strawberries Butterscoth
Suzanne of Pieced Pastimes
Beverly and Gloria of Across the Blvd.
Angie of Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Danielle of Finding Silver Pennies
Tarahlynn of Grandma's House DIY