Variety Pack Day! And Kitchen Here I Come.

Omg, we are loving this new deck.  Of course the one evening we can finally sit out on the completely finished thing, it rains.  Heh, just like our patio install day.  Ha, weird!

It's been painfully rain-free around these here parts too, totally opposite of June, but darn if the weather had to pick that one night!

We did sit briefly despite the wet because we're just.dying.to.enjoy.it, but also briefly the night before, pondering enhancements.

Even though Mike was all pooh-pooh about having a dining table and chairs up there bizarrely claiming he doesn't like to eat outdoors, suddenly he wants a table and chairs.  So we can eat outside.  Heh, always keeping me on my toes that one!

But darn too if the majority of patio furniture is, well, not terribly attractive but yet screamingly expensive and then too I have unquestioningly pricey taste.  On an apple juice budget.

So looks like a DIY-in' table build (which I think is a better idea anyway) and we'll track down some chairs.

An image search turned up some spiffy ideas to combo:  this trough idea combo'ed into a concrete top like here with a base along this line, or a variation of this, or maybe something else.  I suggested steel pipe but Mike spurted an "eh," and "rust."  Though spray painting the pipe in a fun color would be awesome and protective.

Turns out those plastic planters needed for the trough are pretty well out of season.  Figures.  Always my luck.  Hopefully I'll run across one though.

These chairs above would be super excellent, right?, but alas, they're quite a drive away and out of budget.  Craigslist, sigh, always a rabble-rouser.

We realized that we might need to gutter across (at minimum) the deck side of the garage as water will pour onto it and speed up the wear-the-wood process.  A gutter would inhibit Mike's wish for a retractable awning (idea stolen from our last abode) but he's all for shade sail instead he said.  Which is cool because heh, that's way less expensive and much sooner attained!

While those awnings are nifty for their practical applications, a shade sail will be far more visually appealing on our deck, in my humble opinion.

I haven't broached the plantings topic but will.

Got the itty solar lights on the deck face.

I'm not sure what the dealio is but I'm weirdly too fired up about them.  They're not lookers, nor anything special.  I guess because I got them level, in near book-matching placement, and they do as I intended.  Who knows, I'm so odd sometimes.

Got all those posts enveloped in taller concrete too.

Knowing our yard and its lack of draining ability, this was important to get done ASAP.

Handy tip?  I tied a string around the tube and traced next to it with a pencil, thereby getting my trim line where I needed it:

The garage got yet another cleaning and organizing.  I swear, it's amazing how messed up one small area gets.  That's not even in the house.  Just a pass-through space.  And I swear too....how many times have I cleaned and organized this darn garage already?!

Cornhole tidily stored!  Woo hoo!

The key goal this go around though, in relation to Deck Time, was to carve out space for our ol' mini fridge.  Ya know, for beverages and snacks and the like, conveniently located by the deck thereby eliminating the "long" trek back into the house.  Or.  Or, it's a component of Mike's plan to move out there.  Not sure.

Yes, that's still tile piled up awaiting master bathroom redo.  Yes.  Yes, I know.

Either way, man, I was all Super Woman-ish, roar!  Mike came home and couldn't believe it.  His very first question while repeatedly blinking in shock was, "how did you do all that without hurting yourself?!"  Because as we all know, I'm terribly good at hurting myself in the silliest of ways.

Somehow I managed to get the wheelbarrow stored above.

Yes, I took this boring picture because the feat is something to behold.

That was not easy.  Especially for not-as-strong-as-I-was, too-short, on a five foot tall ladder me.  So how?  Sheer determination.  Ok, I did cut my knee on this task but pffft, not a biggie.

More utter I-should-not-have-done-this sheer determination?  Getting the mini fridge up from the basement and out to the garage.  Without breaking limbs, toes, or walls.  It wasn't so much heavy, just awkward.  Ok, and heavy enough.

The things I do to make my baby happy.  Heh.  ; )

Oh, I painted a gift for my cool woodworking friend Scott too.

Since ya know, as I mentioned, he lost his sweet kitty Onyx recently.  I figured he deserved a paint-by-numbers too.  I hope it's not too soon of a thing to receive; I might not have fared well if someone had done the same for me within a similar time frame.

We finally hung our trio of fur-kids since I wrapped up Hailey's painting.

I wanted Mike's input on placement hence why a chunk of time passed.

The spot is perfect, at the landing of the stair, our layout great, and the wall color complements them all so well.  I was fighting the waterworks after we got them hanging.  I think Mike was too.  I wonder if I did this project too soon.

It's amazing how much the paintings look like the real puppies from a distance.

Anywhoooo......

But ah, so yes, amping up for the kitchen cabinet painting!  I sooo hope I don't regret painting these dumb cabinets.  Not so much about the black, please, I want to paint everything black but the wear and scratching factors.

But omg, it's going to be a load of work, loads of wait time, even for our kitchen which is not remotely medium sized.  I don't expect it to be difficult and I am task-trepidation-free, reassured of its ease more so after watching the kit's enclosed DVD.  The dull banality of dishwater tedium is the biggest concern, and where I always lose patience.

I patched up the holes where I infilled corners.  Removed all the cabinet doors and cleaned those.  This is definitely an operation that requires planning out, mapping, like when and what day and how certain steps get done.  Already my brain is trying to further streamline a streamlined kit.

Hilariously, the video says to keep pets out of the area for the duration of the process.  Ha!  Uh huh, so practical for us.  Not.

Mike comes home to all the cabinet doors off and doesn't even notice.  Whaaaaa??  I know, right?  

He sees my cryptic three second door map sketch taped up first, looks at me, back at it, confusion and fear befell his face.

I'm standing there waiting when finally he notices.  I get the double takes, the panic, the eye rolls, the smirks, the chuckles, head shakes, and shoulder shrugs.

I torture this poor guy, don't I?

I know in a day or two he's going to say, "ya know, this is kinda handy, not having cabinet doors.  I like it."

We still haven't taken out the rug we put down for Hailey after her surgery, yeah.

In the mean time, I keep wanting, trying to shut all the doors.  That are not there.  Dork.

I will say, with the doors off, I can extra envision how slab doors would look infinitely sharper.  So maybe Mike is right, I might change my mind in six months.  Heh!  (I said maybe babe, don't get too excited.)

So it's kitchen cabinet week!  

Ah, recipe share for Variety Pack Day, yes.  We ate at The Publican not too long ago for the first time when Mike's cousin was in town.  Not really our scene, if you will, likely a one-and-done adventure for us as it's eye-poppingly wallet-cleaning but the chicken was fantastic.  I happened to come upon a recipe for it and we tried it the other night.  Came out pretty close, despite not having espelette pepper.  There are substitute options, which I did with smoked paprika, ancho chili, and cayenne.  And it worked surprisingly well! 

Back 'atcha real soon!