Category: projects

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Raising the Bar in the Garden, Raised Beds

crafty hands make handy crafts!
crafty hands make handy crafts!

Handyman has been repurposing. repurposing is close to my heart because it fulfills all those frugal plans that I coddle in my dream plans of being the most virtuous wife, ever. I know that isn’t on the list of people around me, but it does sometimes translate into saving money. For things that they would rather have, if given a choice between …oh I don’t know, raised beds for my garden veggies or new spring clothes (for some) or new tool gadget from Home Depot or Sears (for others). See? Repurposing is good.

Handyman made me a raised veggie bed from old barn boards that were just scrap from the pig barn that the former owner had torn down (halfway). We kept the boards in the regular barn which is on its own road to ruin, now. It is time to make use of these things or forever throw them out.

First, though, I had requisitioned the initial boards that were cut for the garden frames for a nifty idea I found while blogging. A organizational shelf area of boards and concrete blocks to store extra pots and buckets. Cheap, easy, and it helps with the outdoor clutter that was accumulating around my new greenhouse.

I can hardly believe what a difference the survival blogs have made for me. Handyman is addicted to them, and their convincing arguments for the value of growing your own food have translated into the garden projects that 15-20 years ago I so coveted.

This is the power of being on the same page.

Important marriage advice for everyone in every area:  “Get on the same page and life won’t feel like such hard work.”

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Have We Done Very Much?

Sometimes this question is the adult rendition of “Are we there, yet?”

Last time I wrote anything I (rather hopefully) said that the trimwork in the office was being done. That project remains unfinished, but I remain hopeful that it is bumped up into the early springtime. In the sidebar are several other projects that remain from 2009.

We had gale force winds in latter 2009 which blew out several panels from my new greenhouse. That meant a delay in being able to use it, but the panels have been ordered and I hope they are in place for the February 2010 garden preparations. You can see that 2009 demanded patience and delayed gratification.

It also began the organizing de-cluttering efforts that are the main source of renovation for 2010. We moved some things around to prepare for better use of the house. I reorganized and cleaned the kitchen this January so far. Sometimes this sort of maintenance is worth more than remodeling.

I still would like a new front porch and one room remains in need of remodeling, but I would really like to stop working on the house. My aim is to wind up the remodeling work.

Future posts will cover those projects and recount what we have already accomplished. Tales of the good, the bad, and the ugly; the forsaken, and the delightful, will be thrown in there somewhere, too.

The only thing on my purchase list right now is a bookcase. Or perhaps see if Handyman wants to build something in.

…see how those projects sneak up on you?

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Handyman -too busy to write

As you can see from the projects list on the sidebar, Handyman has been busy with some really big projects – and some not on the list.

He wallpapered the den area with the seagrass look paper I picked out (from Lowes). He can describe the process for you- it was the first time we repapered over the existing wallpaper. (we being a rather loose term here…)

He knocked out painting the front porch floor. We had nice dry,warm weather- perfect for painting and for the other big job: waxing the front room’s hardwood floor. All the furniture gets moved out, and the drapes taken down. Renting a buffer, applying paste wax, buffing, letting each of three coats dry between buffing creates a job that lasts over the entire weekend.

Then we move everything back in, after washing the woodwork and the windows.

We rewarded all that hard work with a trip to Southern Ohio Hocking Hills to hike (evil laughter)… although the Handyman held up well as he is made of iron. I, on the other hand, can hardly walk and now am just starting to get back to normal.