Porch Rail Gets a Fresh Coat!

OK, remember reading about my new railing? Well, yesterday was the day I painted it. I finished up the tops of the posts and applied a second coat in some areas today. I had to drive to Home Depot first to pick up some paint and a couple of supplies. Once I got home I set about finding my little radio, a step stool and various other items that would be needed along the way.

I tried to match the color as much as possible. It's actually called Southern Pine by Glidden. The old paint was pretty faded so this new coat looks very bright to me. However, it seems to match the metal trim around the windows and doors. I still take a second look when getting near my house. It definitely needed a paint job!
See for yourself! (click the photos for a closeup....check out the landscape plants...they've really grown!)

A Day of Pampering....

Wow....that's all I can say. I treated myself today. I went to a salon and had a facial and brow wax. And because I'm a new client, I was able to have a free hand treatment. My hands were gloved with certain products that heated up when mixed with water. After removing the gloves, each hand was massaged. They were very smooth from the products that were applied. Sounds OH! so fun doesn't it?

If you've never done this....and guys I understand you not wanting to have a facial, (you can still do the brow wax!) then ladies, I highly recommend it! This may sound crazy but I've never done it until today.

I recently visited this particular salon, Gloss Salon and Day Spa, because I had received a gift certificate and used it a few weeks ago for a pedicure. My girlfriends' wedding was the special occasion. I also was given coupons while there, for future visits on different services. So I had made an appointment to get a facial. This was the most relaxing hour and 1/2 I've had in so long! That is once the eyebrow waxing was complete. Ouch! Anyway, it involved facial, head, neck and shoulder massage, skin treatment, and the hand massage. The esthetician definitely knew what she was doing. The sad part is that this particular girl will be moving in October. But she referred me to one of her co-workers.
I was in a very soothing environment with subtle calming music playing in the background the entire time. She had me lay on a body conforming table that almost made me fall asleep! Once I was done developing (for lack of a better term!), I went home and felt like sleeping the day and night away. I was so relaxed. However, I ended up playing some sand volleyball instead. It was a beautiful night so I didn't mind once I got there.
I've never been one to do something for myself such as going to a spa. And other than having to treat my skin for acne as a teenager with a little help from a dermatologist, doing anything special to my skin has just never been a concern. A daily washing in the shower and occasionally after a bad day at work has always been the extent for me. But I've never had any problems either.
I was told at the spa that my face is a little oily (always has been!) but yet it's dehydrated. So now I'm using some products, without any alcohol, mind you, to help alleviate the dehydration. After all, I'm 40. And working in the elements every day isn't helping. So I guess it's time for me to start taking better care of my skin! And a return trip to the spa is surely in order!

My Fence is Back Up!

Last Friday I arrived home and found my neighbor Bob, whom is a contractor, working away with help from his nephew. They were almost done putting up my new fence. They only had one side to build so it went pretty quick. I snuck a few pictures of them before they knew I arrived home. It was hot that day so they were glad to be almost done. Remember how it looked after the tornado? Now I plan on finding a nice color of stain and get it stained before winter. Although, if you look at each individual board the wood has a nice look just as it is! But a little added protection for the wood will help it last.

Here are a few photos to show the progress.

Bob....The Builder!
Almost done...his nephew is behind the fence somewhere.

My fence is the short section on the right side.

Everything on the exterior has been repaired now. I do have some interior work to be done yet. But at least the biggest jobs have been taken care of. The inside things will be easier to do no matter what the weather is like!

Ok, has anyone been keeping a tally on the time frame it's taken to accomplish all these projects? The tornado happened on June 8TH. It's now September 23RD. Is this crazy or what?

Project Window is "Clearly" a Success!

As you all know, I've been getting house-and-property repair projects done throughout the course of the summer. No thanks to this! This week, the circle of repairs came around to the window in my living room. Here is how it has been for over three months, minus some of the rough edges that I cleaned out from the exterior pane.

Monday, the guys from Archway Glass arrived early in the morning and set to work. It was a fairly quick process. They didn't have to remove the casing around the window at all. The only pieces that they took off was some of the narrow wood trim that is used to help keep the glass in place from the inside. After removing the old caulking from the outside as well, the old pane and what was left of the broken pane (they are built as one unit) came right out. They cleaned up what little broken glass pieces came off and set the new window panes into it's spot that had been re-caulked. The wood trim went back on and after a quick polish of the glass inside and out, the whole job was done!

The new window is in!

Yesterday I returned home from work and was surprised to see that the porch railing had been rebuilt! It looked so nice! My neighbor, Bob, is a contractor and had agreed to do a couple of the jobs I needed done. He had actually planned on getting both the fence in my backyard and the porch railing done last week. He and his nephew had dug the post holes on Wednesday. I came home from work that day and saw them digging away. But I told him that the forecast was for rain, starting that night and into the next two days. He didn't know that. Well, for a switch, the forecast was actually correct! It started raining late Wednesday night and continued with either the light mist or pouring rain right into Friday afternoon. (My little rain gauge showed 5 inches after all was said and done!) So the fence project had to wait, needless to say. Hopefully that will be done this week as well!

Here is the brand new railing!

He made the railing look a little different than the orginal one. I thought it would make it look nice. Now I just need to get it painted. I guess a trip to Home Depot is in order! Whoopee!
Stay tuned for pictures of my new fence. Maybe I'll have another surprise today or tomorrow!

Dee and Chris Marry

Saturday, September 6TH was the big day for my friends, Chris and Dee. The wedding was outdoors at Platteview Country Club near the swimming pool. Dee's older brother Bobby is the director of the club so she had a little "in" when she needed someplace to hold the ceremony! The forecast that day was for rain in the evening. So it was touch and go for awhile as some storms were moving in right about the time the wedding was supposed to take place. Thankfully, there was no rain when it was time to start and it turned out to be the perfect temperature and was beautiful! It was short and sweet. No attendants for either the bride or groom. However, Dee's son, Dillon walked her down the aisle and stood up front with her along with her step-daughter (from her previous marriage) McKenna. It was just the four of them and it was perfect. The bride's brother gave a reading during the ceremony but other than that, it was over fairly quickly. We all went inside for the reception and shortly after getting into the clubhouse, the rain finally made an appearance.

The Ederer family...Greg, Mark and Judy, Dee and Chris, Tim and Marcus

The Mom's of the couple pouring their champagne for the toast.

A late night photo beneath the arch.

Out near the pool....you can barely see the lights on in the pool behind them.

Best friends......Lisa, Tammy, Dee, Trisa and me. We look like we color coordinated outfits but actually had no idea what each other was wearing! Scary that we think so much alike! The colors of the wedding included navy blue on top of that!

The O'Keefe family....Bobby, Dee, Alvina, Bob and Debbie

Dillon with his Mom....walking her down the aisle.

The reception was very cozy. There was only about 130 people there. We ate a meal consisting of fresh hoagie bread with cheese and ham and turkey along with mayo and mustard for the sandwiches. We also had chips and pickles. The cake was served with nuts and the mints that we "girls" helped to make. It was very delicious! The DJ was very interactive with the guests and we danced so much that my feet hurt the next day. The small kids had more fun just running around on the dance floor.

After helping clean up the decorations that we put up the day before, we all gathered belongings from the changing room and made sure everyone had rides to their respective homes (if needed!) and then we all headed home. It was a beautiful evening. Congratulations to Dee and Chris. We love you!