Playing catchup to life and playing with pallets

Hello all.
I know its been almost a whole month since last I blogged (has it really been that long?!?). This summer has been way more than just fun and games...well... except for this game...

Bucket ball anyone? Think Beer pong, but with Dollar Store plastic trashcan buckets and plastic baseballs.

I reccommend making this easy game if you have a large enough space- it was a huge hit at our cast party this summer- adults and kids alike. Speaking of the cast party...

Cast party was a blast- I can't believe we agreed to host it though. lol

My "sisters" and I in "Fiddler on the Roof." In case you didn't figure it out, I'm in the center.

Also saw "Guardians of the Galaxy" among the week of the show, and loved it!

But life just has been sooooo crazy this month- we had all the performances of "Fiddler on the Roof," my mom stopping by for a short visit, our cast party, me starting my new job (or at least getting more into the swing of it- I still have to work 2 hours a day at my old job till next week, then I'm 100% to the new digs!), starting rehearsal for another show, our wedding anniversary and overall- being social butterflies.

6th Wedding anniversary with the hubs.

I know being busy is no real excuse not to blog, but honestly I haven't really been doing much blog-worthy projects in life till about this week. lol

One of the big projects we've been working on was getting our backyard up to snuff for the big cast party.
We acquired a new pool (16 foot!), the hubs built a little deck thing for it- from 2 old picnic table tops and a drink shelf.

Hubs made this mini deck from 2 tops of picnic tables.

He also made a little drink shelf to the side of the pool from the seat portion of the picnic table.

We also moved over the fire pit (eventually we hope to build benches for that area) and cleaned up the deck and barshed.

We stained our deck too. Phase 1:

Phase 2 is painting the actual railings- but that takes a lot more time.

Recently the hubs has discovered new ways to get pallets and has been making a few projects for around the house.

pallets galore!

Hubs made me a cute wine rack to go in our dining room.

A few easy cuts.

a little spray paint.

Tada! Final!

He also created a little inset box for our trashcans, to kind of hide it from the rest of the yard (he still needs to add the top and the side door though.

He also created 2 window boxes for a friend of ours' German classroom- she wanted window boxes to add fake flowers to, adding some character to her classroom. She plans on staining them.

Eventually we are going to add a "carport" style shed to the side of the barshed, to put the lawnmower and bikes in, since it doesn't really fit easily in the side shed when the pool is up (we want to take that horrid metal thing down anyway).
Eventually we will also repaint our front steps as well (and resettle them as the one is loose). We finished re-painting our picket fence to be all pretty white (with the help of a few friends and some kids my friend was babysitting, lol).

Here is the finished white fence...along with a scary large spider who took up home there for a bit.

So many outdoor projects and not enough time or money- so we have to pick and choose what all we do. haha.
I also made lots of headway on one of my bucket list items: Write a novel. I plan on working on it in co-op with my hubs (he's much better at dialogue writing than me).

The start of the prologue- very rough still.

... and I've also started rehearsal for the next show I'm in:

Other projects...hmm... Well, as part of my anniversary present from my hubs I signed up for some Subscription boxes to try- and will get rid of the ones I don't like, after the first month.
When I get my first box from each, I'll do a reveal/review of them, so stay tuned.

I'll be getting:
- Paper Pumpkin from Stampin Up!
- Baribox
- Ipsy
- Splendies

So stay tuned for some reviews of these subscription boxes. My mom is trying out a few others, so I'll let you know about the ones she tries too!
I found so much information on subscription boxes from this great website: http://www.mysubscriptionaddiction.com/
(I think I got my mom hooked! lol)

Lastly, I was excited to catch the season premiere of Dr. Who Season 8 in theaters with a good friend of mine. I totally had a blast!

fun before-show trivia

So what have you been up to these days? Has your life taken over your free time like mine has?
Wendy cat says hi!

Have a great day!
-M

Tweet

Updates around the house- Sunshade for deck, Firepit chairs, Pergo hallway and picket fence updates (to name a few)

So I've been kind of MIA from the blog-o here, partially due to lots of things happening in life, but also due to lack of energy to blog- I blame my new found exercise regime- wears me out. lol. (You can check out my trials with weight loss and exercise over at Stepping with Smiles, btw.)
Among many things (such as working full-time and rehearsal for a theater cabaret I got roped into doing) hubs and I have been doing some minor updates to the humble abode.
Check out some of the fun stuff we've completed around the house recently:

Sunshade added above the corner benches

Now things are shaded from the sun a little better. 

We originally made it even, but after some thought, we made these two front posts shorter, so the shade would be at a angle- making it better during rain time

It worked out nice when we had friends over- this was where everyone hung out for our Murder Mystery night- along with some tasty dinner also served on the deck.

 Firepit chair update

The before- the metal was a little worn (these actually went with our dining room table- but they just took up too much room- with having the arm rests) 

After- all bright (we did 2 in the yellow/green and 2 in the blue) 

We mixed them up with the other chairs we have (from our patio set- but we could just use the neon chairs if we moved the patio table to actually eat around)

Firepit time!

 Pergo hallway redo

I come home one day, and the hubs has torn up all the old carpet in our upstairs hallway...

...and started to remove all the carpet from the stairs. 

So much under-carpet padding. bleh

The scary stairs...

But, it ended nicely- here is after the pergo is put down.

And now with doorway edger put in. Yay!

Picket Fence update

Hubs tore down all the original fence- and put up new back braces (he fixed that middle spot that was all weird)

So many pickets!

After the new back braces put up- he then re-put up each picket one at a time.

Pickets are now even across the top- however, since our yard is at an angle, there looks like a gap underneath- hence why we want flowers to go in front of the fence. lol.

With the spare old back braces from the old fencing hubs made this cute little plateform/deck to the barshed. Eventually we will paint it to match the shed

 De-weeding flower beds

I spent a good portion of a day de-weeding this flower bed and removing grass that had gotten into the bed. exhausting work.

but our flowers are so pretty!

Oh spring flowers!

Sadly though- the front porch looks a little pitiful till the bucket flowers bloom

Other happenings...

Oh, yeah- we also finally added a ladder to the loft in the barshed!

We cooked on the grill for the first time this season! 

We saw the newest Captain America Movie... 

I got back into tracking my diet and exercising more... 

... and Wendy continued to be cute.

I'm hoping to finish painting the fences all white, painting the stairs (once the staples are ripped out), finish redoing the dining room and possibly adding sheer curtains to the deck sunshade area- whenever I get the free time to do so. (I know, the ToDo list keeps growing). This weekend I'll be doing another "Once Upon a Time" at Barnes & Noble with some friends (aka- a lot of us dressing up as storybook characters and reading to kids), as well as a girls crafty night on Saturday. I'll have to share some crafty projects later too (along with what I finished during the Stampin' Up! weekend getaway with my mom, which I still have neglected to share with ya'll.).

May the todo list keep growing and projects keep getting done to check off that list. lol
Have a great day!
-M

Tweet