Few days on the "farm" will do you some good!

Last week I decided to go spend a few days with my Mother on her farm/ranch. What a great time we had enjoying each others company. It is so funny how things change when your parents age, you know your Mom or Dad are strong but as they age to 80+ you really see how strong they are! I admire the will to grow old gracefully as possible I really want to remember this as I am turning the wonderful age of "50" this year. I can't believe it and Mom really has a hard time putting "50" with her youngest child...

A beautiful day in Eastern Washington as I crossed the Columbia River bridge from Oregon. Farmers were out working up the dirt from the winter rest. But what really was exciting was the crop dusters were out in full force I tried to catch this on my camera but it was to hard to get a really good shot as they flew right over the top of the house.

If you look real close at the middle leafless tree you can see the plane coming this way. Sort of hard to see but that shows how low they fly.

And there he goes!

While my Brother and his family were away on vacation Mom and I made sure the cows and calves were taking care of by 2 great guys. My Brother should give the 2 of them a bonus for how well they did in his absence!

Lined up and ready to eat!

This little calf layed in the same spot every day I was there, it looked like she was watching Mom in her kitchen window. It is to bad the tulips were not blooming wouldn't that of been a great photo!



This feeding truck has been used twice a day for feeding corn silage (sp) ever since I can remember.


Walking around Mom's house is fun, I can remember this stuff from when I was a little girl and to be honst I don't think most of these items have moved from their spot weather it be on a self or in a cabinet.

Actually this little guy isn't that old, I sent it to Mom for Mothers day about 9 years ago. I just think he is so cute.



Now this Rooster is really old, as you can see the cracks in his tail. I think Mom use to have 2 but I only saw just the one sitting proudly in the kitchen.



Well Mom I will be glad to see you in May when we come up for Mothers Day weekend.

Life on the Farm!

Today is the first day of Spring!

I am so happy spring is here, I have so much going on in my life with the days getting longer I will be able to balance out my time better. Does anyone understand what I am trying to say? Lets see I was able to go to Portland to visit Casey and Holly, what a great time. We walked to wonderful places we had coffee and stop and shopped at vintage stores:) The weekend before Glenn and I took a day trip to the painted hills, WOW every time we go there I am amazed like it is the first time I have seen such a sight what a wonderful day trip that was. I am still working on the kitchen cupboards, Glenn has enticed me by buying a new faucet and dangling it in front of me. So here is the deal Glenn has told me when I am through with the cupboards he will put in a new sink and faucet. What a beautiful faucet I can't wait! At first I wanted a red cast iron sink, but that has changed after hours of conversation with my Husband we are getting a white cast iron sink. Also after hours on pondering the red sink I think it would be to much red in one spot, but boy wouldn't it be pretty.

I am leaving next week to spend some time with my Mother, just her and I, I wonder what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into??.. Maybe it will be something to blog about only time will tell.

A nice day in Central Oregon - Road Trip with POE!

It sure in nice when you live so close to the "open road"! In 1/2 of a day Glenn and I were able to go for a ride in POE, Glenn's 1974 MGB GT. The photos will tell you the whole story with out me having to explain a thing. ENJOY, this wonderful day just like we did, well almost as good:)

Now wasn't that a relaxing trip!

The sun is shining!

What a wonderful day to be off the sun is shining, still cold outside but the brightness is long over due. To catch you up on my kitchen project; I went into Sherman Williams they are so funny there, when I walk in it sort of reminds me of "cheers" they sure have fun greeting me. I think they like to see women come in because all I ever see is paint contractors and we all know what they look like. (if your a paint contractor don't take it personally) I had to get the pre-wood conditioner to see if that helps with the uneven-ness in the staining process of the wood. I am almost to the point where I will be staining cupboards that are eye level I think that will be the true test. But really it doesn't matter because there is no turning back at this point.

The cupboard on the far right looking at the photo is before and the cupboards to the left are after.

On a totally other subject, I watched the dvd Julie and Julia, WOW! lets say I watched it 3 times in 2 days what a great movie. Ever since I was a little girl Julia Childs annoyed me when I would watch her on TV. Well come to find out I just didn't "get her"! I now have a new found respect for her and I am sorry I judged her so quickly but again I was pretty little at the time. Virginia a very nice lady I work with let me borrow the 2 cook books that they were writing in the movie. I think it will be fun to sit down and look through them. From what I understand they are hard to follow one because they are a cookbook for cooking "French" and two they use different ingredients then we use today.

What great cook books, can't wait to read them.

Yesterday I took a big leap and had my hair cut to my shoulders, I think it looks "sassy", my husband thinks I look "cute". I am OK with that. My hair has been long for some time and when you have long hair it just gets to the point that you have to cut it off and start over so that is that.

As you can see in the back ground cupboards and drawers drying, me with new hair cut and no make-up, it is my day off!

Tonight Glenn and I are going to sit down and order our garden seeds from the Burpee Catalog, that will be fun and also a challenge we have to pick short growing time seeds, under 58 days ( I think) and that can be hard to do. But this year we want to shake things up a bit around our yard so I look forward blogging about it.

Valentines Day! What a great day, it isn't like a birthday or a holiday where you cook all day. It is just a loving day and I like that. Glenn was very good to me; I got a Aero Garden and a beautiful dinner out and a bunch of cards that were mailed to me from his work. I think there was only 2 days I didn't get a card in the mail that was a lot of fun and I miss them but I know someday I will receive a card in the mail again from the one I love! I made one of Glenn's presents; he wears printed shirts to work and he has a way of pulling off really any print, I think he likes to wear different prints because it can be an easy conversation piece. Boy when he wears this one he will have a lot of explaining to do about the print but it was fun to make and if he likes it I am sure the future will bring more his way.

Glenn's shirt!

The Aero Garden

Valentines Cards

Have a great day and thanks for listening to me ramble on today.

Betty

Things don't always turn out the way you want!

Well today was day 3 of my kitchen project, I had a little break down and decided I wasn't going to go through with this project. I got to the cupboards below the sink and I guess wood has "pores" and soaks up stain differently so on and so on...There were spots where the stain would not adhere to the wood at all no matter how much I put on the stain or how much I sanded it.

When Glenn called to see how I was doing I told him "I Quite and I wasn't going to be able to pull this off". Now we all know I wasn't really going to quite I just needed to vent and be a little mad. I am not even 1/4 of the way through so who knows how many times this type of behavior is going to happen. I was coached through the next few hours by my Husband, he is really good at that. You know it really isn't going to be as bad as I thought and it looks much better then the cupboards I haven't touched so on ward I go next week day 4 here I come!

Kitchen Cupboards phase 2

I can not believe what you have to learn by trial and error along the way while you are trying to re stain your kitchen cupboards....

I have found out that the 2 most important steps in redoing your cupboards is in the sanding and what you apply the stain and varnish with. So if someone was going to read this before they took on a task like this here is what I recommend;

1. #100 sand paper if you have severe damaged cupboards like mine (see photos on previous blog). Also use the cute little electric sander that your husband came home with awhile back as a "I just wanted to get you a gift" forget about trying to sand by hand it just doesn't get the job done. Thanks Glenn for the sander, even though at the time I thought it was sort of weird when you brought it home for me to add to my "girly tool box", as a side note it has my name on it the outside of the tool box says Betty's Tools. Isn't that fun!



2. Buy yourself a real treat, invest and I mean it when I say "invest" in a sheep skin pad (qty 2) to apply the stain and a Purdy SYNTOX nylon/chinex blend brush for the top coat of varnish.



There is other stuff you will need also but these three items seem to be the most important to achieve a professional fresh new look.



It's sort of funny I have been home for a few days and have been able to pace myself for the start of this project and as I am waiting for the stain or varnish to dry I see myself looking at the sun room window seals , very cautiously thinking I should redo them they are weathered, then looking at the kitchen chairs thinking I could really make those look much better then they do now. OH BROTHER!!!! One thing at a time please, note to self I am only one person and I can't take on all of these projects at once. FOCUS on the kitchen cupboards ONLY!! For the time being:)



I do get a little anxious on days like this; sunny Central Oregon mornings. I know my time inside the house is indeed limited and pretty soon I will be outside and the inside of the house will have to wait until fall before I will attempt any other projects that require me to be inside. But it has occurred to me I could work on the dining room chairs outside in fact that is probably where it should be done so I will have to do some investigating on this subject. I will just have to wait and see what happens.

Day one - Kitchen cupboard project

Kitchen Before 1/27/2010


I decided a few months ago that I was going to redo our kitchen cupboards, they are a mess and I don't know if they have been touched since this house was built. So at first I was very overwhelmed as to where I was going to start. As the same as my other projects I am the type of person that can create a phasing schedule and work at any pace I want. I am so glad I am not one of those people who have to start and finish immediately. I am also very lucky and so is my family as I always finish the project I start, I don't leave it 1/2 done or do I not finish at all no that's not me so if I calculated this right I should be done with the cupboards in about 2 months, if all goes as planned.


I went to our neighbor hood Lowes with some questions every one was busy so my second stop was Sherman Williams. I was there probably 1 hour or so the guy there was very helpful he even took me to the back and show me the difference in stain and how to prep the wood for the look I wanted. Oh yes and they price match if needed. But it looks like they won't need to, I am very pleased with their help and answering all my silly 1st time staining like this questions that I had.

Today I prepped the 1st section I am doing with this cleaning stuff call, tsp cleaner, great stuff but it is not the type of cleaner you would use all the time. Second I used wood filler where needed and then "surface" sanded. I don't have to strip the old varnish because I am using this stuff called Gel Stain. From reading about it and the guy showing me how it works it just sits on top of the old varnish and re stains the wood then you put this other stuff over the top when it drys. So wish me luck, tomorrow it's staining day on section 1 :)

Just look at these cupboards, I am embarrassed to even show them! But I just want to remember how bad they needed to be done incase I get tired of this little/big project..