Rain today, but good for the grass seeds

 Friday and it has to rain. We got a little rain starting late yesterday afternoon. I had time to put down grass seed with fresh dirt in the front and back yard. I still have a few spots in the back yard I would have liked to add more dirt/seeds, but that's for another day when I get another bag of dirt. I most likely will have to water the spots on Sunday since we aren't going to get any more rain this weekend. We get more next week, M & Tuesday and again Thursday/Friday while we are away at the lake. 

That's all I did and worked till 1:30pm. Well, I watched the debate. UGH!!! Biden, Biden. Not good! Trump lied the whole time, but his supporters eat that up. Funny how after the debate Biden came alive. He just looked old and not with it, quiet. Too bad Dump didn't glitch, instead it was Biden glitching. There is that! UGH!!!!! 

I could not sleep last night after the debate. Our alarm went off and scared us to death. Not sure why??? Then the fan fell out of the window and scared me again. Just when I was ready to sleep too. I was up till 2:30am? Maybe later, but did sleep till 7am. I feel tired and we are out of coffee! 

Thursday

 I spent 3-1/2 hours painting yesterday afternoon, but it's finally done 100%. The deck legs and ledger boards.  I think it looks great! Why we didn't do this years ago? Probably due to the amount of time it has taken. I sure hope it lasts at least a few seasons. I'm sure next summer I'll have touch ups, but at least I have the leftover paint to do that. 

I wish 5 years ago when we orig painted the deck, Steve would have listened to me and painted it black on the rails like I wanted. Well, better late than never. His reasoning would be that it will get hot? Okay? It's wood, not metal. It looks 100 times better than the orange brown color! I actually wanted to paint all. 

I'd like to post the before, but my photos won't all load! UGH!!

I now want to finally paint under the porch and brighten it up with white paint. I think it will just brighten up this whole area. Will that be a mistake? I sure hope not! I don't want it to peel. We will have to purchase outdoor paint before I can do this area. It's on my todo list now! I want to do our other projects before doing this painting. I was hoping to just use the can of paint we already have, but that's for indoors. 

At least I can check the deck legs off my todo list. Now on to the driveway, first we need to fix all the cracks and then I can tar. We purchased the crack filler, but don't have the tar. I think that needs to dry first and it's supposed to rain tonight and Friday. A project for next week or after the 4th of July.  I think we can fix the cracks today and that should set. 

I'm going to put down the rest of the dirt bags and add seed to the front and back yard spots. I think the ants are finally killed in the 2 areas in the back yard. Not sure if grass will grown with ant killer down, but I'll try. I mostly want to fix the front yard and get all that growing nicely. 

We also need mulch for the back yard on the rock wall and I'd like to do the entire burm with mulch and under the apple tree. More projects for after the 4th! 

Just like that

We are back to Monday, just like that! 

I'm okay with that as I want to work and advertise today, plus work on some home projects. I got a little more accomplished over the weekend. Steve finished the garage walls where I couldn't reach, painting those spots above the shelves. I helped move the stuff off the shelves and put stuff back up. Looks sooo much better! We still have to fix the sagging areas on the ceiling before painting and patch one little hole. We also will need more paint, probably 2 gallons to finish the ceiling. I'm hoping we can get this done sooner than later! He just needs to finish painting his parents house and get the big tall ladder to do this home project. 

I worked on the back yard, weeding the big burm and the garden. Got all the weeds removed from the front yard too and mowed both back and front yard. We still need to fix the yard in some spots. I'll pick up more grass seed and use the rest of the dirt bags and finish up that this week. Plus, I need to get some ant killer on 2 spots in our back yard. Spray weed killer on the berm to prevent those weeds from growing back. We need a bunch of mulch in the back yard too. I'm guessing at least $150 worth of mulch to freshen it up in all the areas. 

I also want to finish up the deck legs and get that all done. We need to move on to fixing our driveway crack and then I need to tar. 

I painted the garage door at the bottom where more rust was showing through. Plus, painted the trim around the front door. I want the trim around the front door replaced with plastic trim because then we'd never have to paint it again. It peels and is looking kind of rough! So more projects but easy to finish and not a whole lot of cost to do. 

Then we have more trees to trim and get rid of the branches. Again, not too much money to dispose of, just need to do it! We were planning on doing that on Saturday, but the place was closed over the weekend. Ugh!!! Plus, they close by 5pm so we need to plan and get it done in the afternoon. Maybe this week as tree branches are piling up! 

I have a busy work week. I hope to hear back from 2 clients. It's a once a month and a new client. Fingers crossed they are on my schedule this week. I'd like the money! 

We most likely will go to the lake this weekend. It's not going to rain!!  We will mow and get all ready for when everyone is up for the 4th. I need to remember to bring a rack for the little branches/sticks that are on the beach. It's not fun stepping on those! 

I set up our orig tent under our 4 season porch and used some of the water proof spray on the tent bottom edges and seams as well as the top tarp. I'm hoping that makes it more water proof. I'd like to still be able to use that tent as it still works fine when it's not raining! Plus, I have a screen to put up on the old dark out tent so we don't have to use the zipper all the time. I need more AAA batteries to put lights in more of the camping lights for our tents. So more things to do. Plus, probably more of the spray for both of the green tents too. Doesn't hurt to make them more water proof, right!

I also want to get some more herbs for the pots I have yet to plant. I need more basil! I'll just purchase some plants and let it grow! Maybe a few flowers in there too. 

Always something to do, but its a challenge this year to get our house all fixed up outside too! I'll do more purging inside this winter. Maybe I can get Steve to purge the garage too?? Or at least organize it better on his side to find things easily. 

Cooling off once again!

 We didn't get the rain during the day, but it sure came down last night! Today is a lot cooler again after a humid overcast day. We kept the AC off and the windows shut to keep in the cool air. It worked. This morning might have felt a little warm inside, but the fresh air from outside feels great! I just don't want the house to cool off too much! 

I only worked an hour. Came home, ate lunch then groomed Zoey. I figured out that if I just sit on a chair while doing under her body and legs, it doesn't hurt my back. She just doesn't like her legs done. I think it must have been a record for fast grooming! Felt quick! Of course, her fur wasn't very long either, but enough to fill a plastic gallon bag! She looks great again and short for the hot days. I know she isn't perfectly groomed, still working on that, but I'm getting better. 

After her grooming, I cleaned up our kitchen dishes and vacuumed the house. Then decided to quickly mow the front yard since I thought it was going to rain. I had enough gas to do the front but not the back yard. I'll have to get gas today and finish that up. No rain today, but more Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

I also need to use up a car wash. You'd think why bother if it's going to rain. Well, it expires on the 30th and I'd like my car vacuumed out. I'll do the inside window washing before I go and then all will be clean for at least a day. lol.. It's a $30 value and free. Might as well do it! 

We also have a Chianti free dessert or appetizer, along with more gift cards to use up. The free stuff expires next month on the 13th so we will have to go at least once to use that.  Maybe this weekend? I need to make reservations or we need to go early! 

I was trying hard to fill up my day and ended up watching 2 episodes of Australia's alone. My binge TV for the evening. 

I've been slacking on the cross ramp running. I didn't feel like getting all sweaty but need to do that today after work. I want to run at least 2 miles and build up to 6 again. Got to lose the extra weight and bring down my BP. Ugh!!! 

Its already humid.

 No rain till a little later today. We need the rain break!! It's pretty warm this morning, but I don't think we'll turn on the AC. I might regret that later! It was a cool day yesterday after a really hot Sunday. So we are going back and forth on the temps this week. Tomorrow is a non-rain day then again till Sunday when it clears again for I think 2 days. Bummer that the weekend can't be rain free! 

My Monday was productive. I worked in the morning and ran errands in the afternoon and again after dinner. I forgot coffee, so a trip to the store was in need along with more grape jelly for the birds. I had my new client meeting at 4pm which was successful! The job doesn't start till the week after the 4th, which I was hoping to have them on my schedule starting Thursday! Ugh!! Oh well, its for 2x's a month, so that's a plus! Now to pick up 4 more new clients to fill up my schedule and hit my earnings goal! 

Today is work for an hour. I was hoping to have at least one more job today, but I had 2 switch to different days. I will spend the rain filled afternoon grooming Zoey. I never did fix the height of her table, but maybe I'll check the garage for some wood to place under the legs? Or not? Maybe that's not a great idea either? She will also get a bath. I could use one of those shower sprayers for the end of the faucet in the tub. At some point, I'll have to look for one to see if that would work on our bathtub set up or maybe switch out the shower to have a sprayer? 

I found 2 new bakeries I want to check out. One on the way up to the lake in Maple Grove and the other closer to home we could do this weekend. Once again, my photos aren't wanting to post. I'll try again later. 

Happy Father's Day

 Sunday for Father's Day was HOT! 90 and very humid. We didn't have any time to adjust to the heat as we went from cooler temps to super hot! Good thing we turned on the AC!! I think we can turn it off this week since the temps are supposed to be cooler and rain filled. 

We started Father's Day going for a walk around lake Jensen/ off Pilot knob. The path is right on the lake edge, so has nice views of the lake. It got pretty hot by the time we were done at 10am. It was a nice way to start the day. At noon we meet up and had a picnic in Hastings. After went to the car show for a bit, but ended up just sitting and cooling off in the brewery. We were done with the heat! 

I do have photos of the day, but they are not posting right now. 

We also played some bags and bocci ball. Cooked sliders and brats with roasted corn and pasta salad. 

Strawberry & Rhubarb crumble

 I made my first ever strawberry/ Rhubarb crumble. Although, Steve and I are the only ones eating it for some reason! Ugh!! It's sooo good. I'm amazed at how good it turned out. Makes me want to make more triple berry pies with crumble topping. Super easy to make and too good with vanilla ice cream. I think it's one of the best desserts I've ever made. Go figure! 

Thanks to our neighbor, I received some rhubarb from their back yard plant. I had to help bake some for her son's grad party since their oven went out. I could have used a smaller pan, but it turned out just fine. I added in some oats even though it didn't call for any. Probably could have added a few nuts too for some crunch. 

We also made some flat bread pizza last night with left over Fresh cheese and procutto. 

Soo good!! It's the way to go, pre-purchase crust and add toppings. I think we could cook this on our grill too! We need to try it. Might be a good camping meal! 

I spent a good part of Saturday, cleaning the house. 

Cleaned the kids bathroom

Washed the bathroom towels and rugs 

Cleaned out the sliding door track, seeds from the trees

Made the crumble

Went to the store to get Father's Day stuff with Steve

Went to the gym with Steve and Celina

napped a little in the late afternoon. It was a rain filled day. 

Today is going to be HOT! It's Father's Day, so we have palns to picnic with Steve's parents and go to the car show in Hastings. I really don't want to do that. 

I do want to get in a morning bike ride before it gets too hot. I need to run on the cross ramp too. Get in my 2 miles. Maybe walk around the lake - 2 miles before it gets too hot. 

No home projects today. Other then I should plant my basil, but its probably too hot for it, so I'll wait till Monday. 

Speaking of Monday, I need to make client calls and make sure they are on the schedule. I also have a new client meeting at 4pm. Steve also has a new client estimate/referral for a bathroom remodel. 

It's going to be a rain filled week! Ugh!! Not looking forward to that!

Saturday... Rain, rain and more rain

 We are getting rain and more rain all darn week! Ugh!!! 

Brainerd photos. They finally were able to upload. 

Not sure what I'm doing today. Paying bills and then making rhubarb crisp. 

Probably should go to the gym too. I didn't get dressed for that, but need to! I haven't been all week! 

I need to run to! Will do 2 miles on the cross ramp later. 

I can do more garage painting and finish that up. 

Sunday, is Father's Day. Need to make sure the kids get a card and do something for Steve. 

It's supposed to be 90 degrees. Maybe we'll have a picnic and check out the car show. I don't really want to do that in the heat! ugh! The river will be too flooded, so that's out. 

Brainerd mid week mini trip.

 The mid week mini trip to Brainerd was a nice distraction. Plus, it rained here and not up there, so a win/win as Steve couldn't work anyway as he is painting his parents house. 

The water was chilly, but since it was 85*F and humid, I got in to float around. We did a few sunset pontoon rides which was also nice. 

The frig is finally fixed and back to normal. The part was only $115 for an evaporator fan. It was an easy fix as I googled it, Utube video and Steve did the work of taking it apart. In all it was empty out the racks, unplug, undo 4 screws, remove a bracket that was in the way and take off the ice machine and back panel, to unplug the ice machine and get at the fan, which unplugged. We had to wait for the part to arrive, and then put back everything last night. Just waited till this morning to check the temp and its working!!! We saved sooo much money not having to get out a repair person or to purchase a new frig! The part was still not cheap, but not too bad either! I quickly put back some of the food from the mini frig and will go in the basement and empty out the freezer/frig and bring all back up. I'm sure some will be purged too. 

I got 2 calls while on vacation for more work. I have an estimate next week/Monday for every mo or 2 weeks and then a new one time job today. Wish Steve would have also gotten some calls, but he did get a client of mine to call and has a small light fixture to install. It's something!!! Plus, if it rains all next week, he needs some filler jobs. I can't even advertise if it's going to rain! 

I was pretty tired yesterday after work, which I got home around 2pm. I didn't want to do any advertising even though it was a nice day to do that. Today also is a nice day where I should get out and advertise. I have a 3 house day with 2 new ones, so I'll be exhausted after!! It's extra money this week since I took off one full day. Makes up for that! 

Next week's work schedule is super busy for me, as long as I don't have any schedule changes!! Guess we will see!! If it's raining, makes the week perfect for being extra busy. 

I mowed the back yard yesterday afternoon and do some power blowing off the driveway and deck. I was tired, but after awhile felt like I had enough energy to do more. I want to finish up those few outdoor home projects, paint the deck legs, tar the driveway and do the last of the garage touchups, paint the ceiling. 

The weekend!

 Steve and I had a really good weekend with just the two of us at the lake. It was nice just working on the yard/woods and getting everything trimmed up. We never did burn up any of the branches since it rained again on Friday night everything was wet again. I also didn't want to hang out in the woods watching a fire. I had enough to do trimming the grass/branches while Steve mowed. 

We also had some fun, went to see a local Sauk Centre band at Diamond point. It was only $5 each cover charge and I had 1 drink for $5. We were there from 8pm to 11pm. Long enough! It was a bit chilly that night as I could have brought up an extra sleeping bag. 

It wasn't windy, which was nice! Perfect 75+F Saturday and a bit cooler 70*F Sunday. Not warm enough to get in the water, but nice! 

Daisy's blooming up on the hill. I planted some seeds on the beach. Lavender and daisy. I'm hoping they grow!! 

Friday night sunset. 

Making steak, mushrooms and garlic bread Saturday night. 

Pelican

I didn't get any photos of the band, since I forgot my cell in the tent! Ugh!!

We left for home around 3:30. No traffic and easy clean up since we didn't bring much. 

Now to deal with the frig this week. The frig wasn't cooling last week, but the freezer was still working. I googled and U-tubed in the issue and we took apart the freezer ice machine to get to the access panel and are waiting for a fan replacement part that should arrive Tuesday. Of course, we leave Tuesday- Wed night to Brainerd, so the frig will have to wait. It was pretty easy to take apart, just had to remove racks and the ice machine with 5 screws and unplug the fan part. It was $100 replacement but cheaper than a new frig or having a repair person fix it. It's pretty easy to fix anything after watching a Tube video. At that point, can't hurt to do it ourselves as the other option is to get a new frig! It's still not fixed, but I sure hope that's the issue as we've checked other options of what it would be. 

Home Project, check that off!

 Since it was too windy today to do much of anything after work, I decided to paint our garage walls. They have been a yellow/old sheet rock with drips, markings all over for years. I wanted it all cleaned up and looking good. 

Here is the before

Steve had painted the walls with what ever color he was doing at a job. We had quite a few swatch paint all over the walls. Plus, it was looking dirty and water stained. 

I just did a section at a time and moving/cleaned as I went. 

Here is the after:

It feels like a brand new garage.  No idea why I didn't think of painting our garage walls sooner!! Better late than never! I still have a small section above the garbage up high and up high on the other side above the shelves. I think we should paint the ceiling too. I'm almost out of paint, so it won't be enough to do the ceiling. Maybe we have some white paint around? This is a semi white-gray color. It didn't cost anything to paint since we had a gallon on hand. We do have a light white/cream gallon of paint, but I want to get away from anything yellow! I am also going to paint the trim around the door with the paint enamel. I'll save that project for next week. 

The blank wall before I put all our stuff back. I should have purged a bit of stuff instead of just putting it all back. I did throw out a few items but not enough. At least it's more organized now. 

 

It was about 4 hours of painting and organizing total! Not too bad! 

I decided to try small braids on either side of my head to keep the little stray hairs from hanging down or needing a baby pin. It worked great! I should do that in the back too! Just not sure how that would look? 

I found an outline of MN to cut out a small cribbage board. Ugh! I wanted it larger but this is the only size that will print. I probably should start with just a rectangle and make holds. I just need a drill press to make the holes. I guess they aren't very expensive. Next on my list to purchase. 

 

June 1st.

 Here were are the start of summer, June 1st. When the 4th of July comes around, then the summer really speeds up! 

I've been doing more non-posts lately. Here's one of our back yard before mowing and the rain to wash down all the cotton seeds. Still haven't finished the deck legs. We need good non-raining days to get that all done. I also need more paint. 

I had a good week of picking up two new clients. The first was a one time job, might turn into more work in the future? The 2nd is an every 2 week client. I need more of those! My goal is to make at least $600 more per month! So a few more new jobs. I did 3 days of some advertising each day. Hardly made a dent on Wednesday advertising, but it was something! Steve even got 1 call, which I guess could turn into a job. We are still waiting to hear about a paint job that a quote was sent out. They are on vacation and moving in soon, so just waiting a bit till they are back and then following up. 

We have a 60th birthday today. I want to go to the Farmers Market to get flowers. So we should get going asap! Plus, we have to make something for the party to bring. 

We did nothing last night as it was raining. We were going to attend the local brewery's 90 night, but figured it would be overly crowded and long lines just to get one beer. We all opted out. I was fine staying home. I think we should get a dry Saturday with more rain on Sunday and maybe some storms. 

My home project is to clean out the window tracks in my bedroom and take out the screens and wash them. It's a quick project! I still want to make some crackers too. It's on my todo list!