The flowers really love the rain.  No matter how much water they get with the sprinkler or hose, there’s just nothing like Mother Nature’s sprinkler.

The pets got to enjoy some outside time too.  Cookie has recently discovered that there is a whole new world underneath the deck.  My hubby came out with us and his job was to watch the bunny, while mine was to watch the turtle.  Well, guess who bolted for the deck?  My son came out and found us trying to lure her out from the playground under the deck.  As he went back inside I could hear him tell his sister, “Dumb and Dumber lost the rabbit.”  She finally came out when the dog started barking and spooked her.  When she’s scared she wants her humans.

Peanut is home for the Summer and finally got to go outside to catch some bugs.  She loves her potato bugs.  We flip over the landscaping bricks and she charges after the bugs as they scatter.  She’s quite the hunter.  She loves basking in the sun and hiding under the plants. For those of you who don’t know, Peanut was gifted to our kindergarten class last year.  She is a 30 year old box turtle.  She is very set in her ways, doesn’t like to eat her greens, prefers bananas, and will grab onto your finger (tightly) if you wave it in front of her. (Ask our librarian how we know that!)

Here’s the big guy.  This is Cooper.  He’s such a dork.  He’s a total goof ball and he loves his pets.  He gives the bunny kisses on the side of her head and kind of sniffs the turtle.  He gets upset when the bunny goes under the couch and was really upset when she went under the deck.  He tried to go under to get her, but quickly realized he’s too big to fit.

Seriously, could these three be any cuter?  Someday I’ll have my farm animals, but for now I’ll be happy with these guys.

I’m so thankful that the rain stopped and that sunshine is on the way.  I loved getting outside at the perfect time of night.  Between sunshine, the golden hour, my favorite pets, and getting the chance to use my camera, this was just the mood booster I needed.

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Here is our deck in 2013, when we had just pressure washed it.

And here is our deck after painting Behr Deck Over onto it.

You can see that there is a lot of space, which meant a lot of painting, and also meant that we didn’t want to tackle this project every summer.

For the past few summers I’ve given the deck a light scrub with a push broom, some outdoor cleaner, and a hose.  It’s worked great to get the pollen and green gunk off of the boards.  The Deck Over held up perfectly!

So, here we are in 2018.  I just had a stroke and the deck is finally showing some wear.  This needs to be the summer of Behr Deck Over Round 2.  Unfortunately, I have been on a strict “do nothing” routine prescribed by my doctor.  No repetitive movements like painting or exertion of any type that might hinder healing in my artery.  Fortunately, for me, my kids were my chief workers with Behr Deck Over Round 1.  At that time, they were 9 and 13.  Fast forward 4 years and my kids are even better workers at 13 and 17.  I’ll just sit in a chair in the grass and tell them when they miss a spot.

Seriously, friends, this is my happy place in the summer.  Once the dry weather hits you’ll find me in the corner of that couch with the fire going and the heater on full blast.  (I said it gets dry here, but most days aren’t too warm.)  I plan to use Behr Deck Over again and I’m hoping they have the same color.  I want to say the name either had something to do with chocolate or coffee.  It was the perfect color.  Our house is a light gray with white trim.  Although I love the look of a white deck, that’s not the best idea when you have kids, a dog, and green blecky stuff that seems to grow on everything around here.

It’s Behr Deck Over for the win!  Happy painting!

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The old doors were in pretty sorry shape.  They were chipped and cracking beyond repair.  They corners of the garage doors had funny angles that made the house look very 90’s too.  The picture below doesn’t look too horrible, but that’s because it was taken in the Summer and everything looks pretty with hanging baskets and flowers.  Trust me, the garage doors were past their prime.

The new doors were done by Premium Garage Doors and I couldn’t be happier.  We had the funny notches on the house cut out so the door corners are now at 90 degree angles.

Fun hardware was on my “must have” list.  I love it!  They had the option of magnetic hardware, so you didn’t have to put it permanently on the doors.  I opted for the permanent version because I was afraid my family would mess with me and change the hardware around, just to bug me.

We still need to paint the trim on the house, but the exterior is looking pretty good!

It’s garage door happiness, Friends!

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We had a set of outdoor furniture that I really loved, but we’ve had it for 9 years and it was beginning to show signs of many parties, a fire pit that was too close to the chairs, and too much lounging on warm summer days.  The cushions had seen better days.  I started shopping for outdoor fabric, assuming that I would recover everything.  Once I started adding up the cost of outdoor fabric and the foam I needed to replace, I started thinking that it would be cheaper to just buy new cushions.  Ummm…. Have you ever looked at the cost of new outdoor cushions? Oh. My. Goodness.  It was going to be almost $600 to replace just the cushions and they weren’t even a perfect fit.  I was going to have to do some reconstruction.  The fabric and foam was nearly the same cost, so it was looking like that wasn’t going to happen either.

At that point my hubby and I started shopping for a new outdoor set altogether.  We checked around in a few stores, but everything was getting sold out.  Hello, it was only the end of June so, of course, it was time for the stores to start bringing out Christmas decorations.  We ended up finding our new set on Wayfair.

It had a couch, two chairs, two huge ottomans, and a side table.  We found the fire table on Amazon. I added a few quilts to cozy it up and bought some outdoor pillows, on clearance, from Pier 1 Imports.  I am in love with our outdoor space.

Our old furniture is still on the deck and I’m kind of hoping to keep it for times when we have bigger parties.  I just pushed it off to the side, hoping my hubby is just ignoring the fact that I’m hoarding furniture.

I had a little table on the deck, but it was really out of place.  I moved that to the corner and put a bunch of herbs on it.  It’s the perfect mini kitchen garden.

It’s also a great place to display my new treasures that we dug up while on vacation in Central Oregon.  (I’m kind of a rock-nerd.)

I’m loving my view from the deck.  The flowers are blooming and it’s a perfect place to sit and relax.

Another little perk to having new furniture is that I have a great little table for the lower area of our backyard.  This is the old firepit.

I guess I’m proof that Wayfair has just what I need.  I’m sure you can guess that shipping was free! (Sorry to put the song from the commercial into your brain!)

Happy decorating!

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I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to give my hubby this DIY BBQ Prep and Serve Cart for Father’s Day.  Pinterest has been calling my name since I had surgery, a few weeks ago.  I couldn’t really focus on reading because my brain felt like mush, so I turned to Pinterest to just look at pretty pictures and feel like I’m doing something productive.  I saw a picture of a DIY BBQ cart from Home Depot and thought this would be a perfect gift.

As I mentioned, I am still recovering from back surgery so I knew I wouldn’t be much help in the thinking department or the lifting department.  I sent the picture to my friend Diane, who is my partner in the blogging world, mom-life, and is a wanna-be farmer like me.  I told her that we should build these for Father’s Day and she was all for the idea!

We took the little girls to Lowe’s and had them do the heavy lifting of the lumber.  Diane did the thinking and I took my medicated self along for the ride.

There were nail guns and chop saws involved, so I stayed back.  (I’m telling you, there is no telling what could have happened if I had my hands on these.  My brain is mush.)

Diane taught the girls how to use the tools and insisted on safety goggles.  (Don’t you just love it when other people insist on safety? It makes me feel like shouting to my kids, “See!  I told you I’m not the only mom who is cautious!”

My son lives on the basketball court so he had to jump in and help whenever I could grab him.  He helped quite a bit and I was thankful for his muscles.  My main roll was “drill supervisor” as we were putting the frames together, and I also helped with staining and weather-coating.  I can’t even tell you how much I love this piece and how thankful I am that I have a fun neighbor who enjoys woodworking and can be the brains behind the operation.

We put the BBQ cart over by the smoker, so my hubby would have a place to set his things when he is out grilling.  It’s on wheels, so it’s easy to move if he doesn’t want to keep it on the deck.  My kids did the styling and tried to make it just like the picture I found on Pinterest. Here is the link to the DIY Prep and Serve Cart on the Home Depot website, if you are interested in building one.

Happy Building and Happy Father’s Day!

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Well, at least we don’t feel the pressure to work in the yard every weekend when it’s a muddy mess.

My attention turns to inside this time of year and making a cozy and inviting place for my family.  I focus more on cooking, baking, cleaning, organizing, and decorating than weeding, planting, pressure washing, and dead-heading.

As I was feeling down about the gray and rain again today, I reminded myself how much I LOVE home.  I want my home to wrap my kids and husband with coziness.  I want it filled with smells of good food and the sounds of laughter.  It’s a happy place, and do you know what?  It’s not so bad to be trapped inside because of the gray and gloom.

It’s a time to nest a bit and create as many memories inside the house as we do outside.

Home is a good place to be.

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