Monday, November 30, 2009

Forgot my cape

It was dumb to trade the afore mentioned cape for painting clothes. I ended up needing it. While taping off Ben's 12 ft ceiling I fell from an 8 ft ladder. I ended up in the hospital (a lot of help I ended up being) I cracked two vertebrae and bruised a lung. I'm still recovering but doing quite well. It hurts to laugh, cough, and sneeze.
On a brighter note we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The family really took good care of me and just had a wonderful time.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Hard is not good enough

I was telling Jill the other day that when determining whether or not I should tackle a project, I tell myself that "hard" is not a good enough reason not to do it. Well, with this last project, I found myself repeating that over and over trying to convince myself.

Christina found two porch swings that needed some tender loving care; a little sanding, coat of paint, new awnings, new cushions, pillows, etc. Remember, hard is not a good enough reason not to do something, so I threw myself into it and as long as I'm covering the swings I might as well make covers for the patio chairs.

First, I needed fabric. In Phoenix, the sun can literally shred outdoor fabric within a season, so I knew I needed "Sunbrella" brand. One little problem, it was $18 a yard at the local fabric store and I needed 36 yards! So I found some on Ebay for $5 a yard (not my first choice in prints but for the savings it was worth it) and I was in business. I figured it should take me about a week. Well, as of week 4, I am just now getting finished. If I had it to do all over again, I might rethink my little "hard is not a good enough reason" mantra but on the other hand it's nice to have my patio so much more useable. Barry and I have spent a lot of time just relaxing on the swings already. The weather has been beautiful so for now my Sunbrella fabric is working out great, come summer is the real test.

Like all projects, one thing leads to another, so I painted the front door and front bench. Well it's time to change out of my superwoman cape and tights (should have scrapped the tights long ago....50 plus body in tights....not a pretty sight) and into my painting clothes. I'm off to St. George to rescue a son and daughter-in-law in distress (we are painting the whole interior of their new home this weekend.)