Back in the Saddle Again

When you know a strong winter storm is headed your way, there are a few obvious things that you need to do to prepare. One is to go get groceries. Another is to check your gas cans. Finally, head over to the hardware store and stock up on home improvement supplies, because you might as well be productive while you're snowed in!

Yes, yes... I have neglected this blog for a while. I apologize! But guess what? I didn't neglect my home improvement projects! These cold winter months are my most productive times. I've discovered that I really just want to be outdoors all the time when it's warm and sunny, soaking up the vitamin D and working in my garden. Painting a hallway holds very little appeal when it's hot and humid and our house doesn't have air conditioning! But these winter months mean a lot more indoor time... and more time for me to notice things and decide how they need to be improved upon. So, I'm back. Over the next week or so, I will share some of my latest projects with you.

Some of the highlights: I just finished installing faux beadboard wainscoting in the upstairs hallway. It is ridiculously awesome, and has changed the entire look of the hallway! The hubby and I are also in the middle of finishing up our laundry room. It only took two years, but it's finally becoming the space I imagined it could be! The hubby also created some tool storage out in the garage that I will have to show you, since I was the one who gave him the idea. It's not pretty, but it's functional (and could be pretty, if you wanted to make it that way).

Anyway... stay tuned! We are snowed in, so it's time to catch up on blogging!

A Quick (and FREE!) Autumn Landscaping Project!

This past summer, we had an absolutely amazing deck built in our back yard. We have spent so much time out there, and it's sort of become my happy place. I love this deck. Behold the splendor (this was taken in June, the day it was finished):

And no, we didn't build it ourselves. The hubby and I are both handy, but this would have taken us forever. We let the professionals handle this one. However, when they were done, we were left with this beautiful deck that needed some landscaping around it. We put that off, because the summer was busy with vacations and lots of fun family activities. At one point, we came close to spending a good chunk of money on some plants at the store, but we never actually did it. And I'm glad, because it turned out that we were sitting on a veritable gold mine of plants. Enter: the hosta!

These plants grow all over the place, and we have tons of them in our yard already. Tons!! They all have pretty purple flowers like this one. And, since they grow from rhizomes, you can split mature plants apart into a bunch of smaller ones, turning a few old plants into lots and lots of new ones!

Right after we had our deck built, we also had some fencing put in. As a result of the fence placement, we had three hosta plants that were no longer located where we could really see them. So they were the perfect candidates for our deck landscaping project. I dug them up (very easy-- their root system is pretty shallow), divided them into equal-sized clumps using an old bread knife (probably not the best or most appropriate tool for the job, but it worked just fine!), and plunked them into the new holes that my husband dug around the deck.

I actually followed the great guide shared here. But it was shockingly easy. And my littlest kiddo was able to get in on the fun, tamping down the soil around the new baby plants and then giving them each a nice long drink of water!

Even the chickens got in on the fun. They were very interested in the new plants, haha!

Anyway, the entire thing took less than half an hour from start to finish. Three old plants quickly became 22 new ones! Free plants, minimal effort, minimal tools... Perfect! And this is the best time of year to divide most plants, since their foliage is beginning to die back for the winter and the plant can spend its energy on root development instead of its leaves. I can't wait to see my "new" hostas pop out of the ground again next spring!

And, while we're on the subject of fall planting projects-- now is the time to buy bulbs! I have a mountain of daffodil, tulip, and crocus bulbs in the garage, just waiting for my mom's visit in a few weeks (she likes to garden and is officially in charge of all bulbs). Such an inexpensive way to add a TON of spring color to your yard!

Detangling Doll Hair

So this post really has nothing to do with working on our house. But it definitely has to do with me being a handy mommy! My daughter has this Rapunzel Barbie doll whose hair was hopelessly tangled (how fitting...). Anyway, I had tried and tried to get the tangles out, but it was just not happening. And then I saw somewhere on Pinterest that mentioned using a little bit of fabric softener mixed with a lot of water, putting it in a spray bottle, and using that as doll hair "detangler." Well, why not? I don't normally use liquid fabric softener, so I picked up some of the cheap stuff. I laid Rapuzel down on some paper towels and went to work.

It took probably half an hour (yes, her hair was *that* tangled), but look! The new, sleek, nice-smelling Rapunzel! Mommy for the win!

How long do you think it will take for my four-and-a-half-year-old to get it tangled again? I'm taking bets now.

10 Minute Tuesday: Fixing a Kitchen Drawer

I posted recently about how I'd been on a bit of a home improvement hiatus. But... sometimes a project is born out of necessity, not because I think it will be fun or will make the house look nice. And that's what happened today! I was making some tasty pumpkin muffins with my son (ahh, fall!) when one of my kitchen drawers stopped opening all the way. It happens to be the drawer where I keep measuring cups and stuff like that, so it was sort of important to the whole baking process. After grumbling about it for a bit, I decided to have a little look-see at what was going on. And this is what I saw:

Yup. The dovetail joint holding the two sides together had come apart. Luckily, that's a pretty easy fix! I pulled everything out of the drawer (the most annoying part), and found our little squeeze bottle of yellow wood glue (side note: everybody should own wood glue. EVERYBODY!).

The next step was to apply the glue to the ends of the dovetails. I borrowed one of the kids' paintbrushes and went to work slathering it on there. I didn't worry about being neat with it, since it wipes off really easily with a wet paper towel (as long as you do it right away). I smooshed everything back into place and wiped up the glue:

And that was it! The whole thing took about five minutes. Everything stayed in place on its own, or else I would've clamped it. But in this case, that wasn't necessary. After some drying time, the drawer is as good as new. Success!!

Getting Rust off of Hand Tools

So I took a little blogging hiatus... I don't know if I've mentioned it on this blog, but I was a 5th grade teacher for many years. And the beginning of the school year was always brutal. I'd come home from working with 30+ students all day, and I just wanted to crawl into bed!

As it turns out, the feeling is similar as a mom. Between getting my kindergartener and preschooler to their respective schools on time (on two very different schedules), as well as driving to swim lessons, dance class, etc. I am TIRED! Throw in some house guests, and I haven't been too terribly handy lately. So, I apologize! I am trying to get back into the groove! I have lots of great ideas, but just no TIME. Isn't that how it always goes?

However... I do have a helpful tidbit to share today! My husband was outside earlier today, and came back in holding his compound square. I mentioned that tool in a previous post-- my hubby has one that was on the pricey side. Welllll... I used it outside when I was making my DIY Wall Ruler Growth Chart, and I never put it away. BAD HANDY MOMMY, BAD!!! I left it out on our screened-in porch. I just forgot. And, well, it gets humid here. The thing was covered with rust. Husband was NOT HAPPY with me at all!

The good news is that "new" rust like this can be removed with a little elbow grease. We sprayed it with WD-40 and scrubbed it with fine steel wool. I've also read that you can use 300 grit (very fine) sandpaper. And somewhere else, I read that you can make a paste with lemon juice and sodium bicarbonate (also known as baking soda, haha!) and use that. But really, WD-40 and steel wool worked just fine.

And there you have it! Lesson learned: always put your tools away, especially if they aren't yours and they cost a pretty penny! But our marriage lives to see another day. And now we know how to get the rust off of our tools!