Tuesday, July 30, 2013

What's happening at Saylor Street Cottage

I'm finally getting around to posting some pics on my blog to highlight what we've been up to (Miss Saylor and myself).  I just love to read other blogs and gather inspiration.  Unfortunately I gather more inspiration than action.  Miss Saylor is moving to her own apartment at the end of August for her last year of college.  We've been very busy lately working on some paint projects.

This is our most recent project that I'm very proud of.  We had some little arguments over how to place the lines but I think it turned out great.  I've seen a lot of Union Jack flag furniture over the internet and wanted to try one ourselves.  So, when Miss Saylor found this old beat up coffee table in the garbage and brought it home, we decided it would be a great candidate for our first Union Jack painting project.  I think it came out fantastic. 

Table before we painted it.  Everyone told us that it looked good as is from this picture.  But we think the previous owners had a dog because one of the table legs was chewed up.

 
All Finished and looking great!
 
 
We had an old dresser mirror we decided is going to make a sweet headboard.  We probably should have used a yard stick to keep the words straight but not bad for a free hand.
 
 
And to match her headboard she painted a side table and stenciled for the first time. 
 
 
 
And now we just need to move all this furniture into her new apartment.  Right now the Saylor Street Cottage looks like a furniture store. 
 
I have a couple of little tables I think I might have to paint up now.  We've got the bug!
 



Friday, July 26, 2013

Happy Friday!  It's been a pretty good week because the weather has been fantastic!  Cool and sunny and the evenings have been cool.  It's been a refreshing after the hot spell we had.  Even better is the fact that I can turn off the air conditioner.  We went to a lovely concert in the park on Wednesday night.  What a beautiful evening it was and the band was a lot of fun.  They perform songs from the 70's, 80's 90's and present.  I think I sang along with almost every song.

This weekend is supposed to be in the 60's and 70's degree range.  I think it's going to be perfect for gardening.  I plan to spend a great deal of time outside.

I also plan to pull out our sewing machine and check to see if it works.  We bought one at Walmart at Christmas time and when my Miss Saylor pulled it out to use it she found out it doesn't work.  I plan to take it back to try to exchange.

Well, off to work.  It would be great to be able to stay home today.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Getting back to working out

I worked out today.  I haven't worked out in a couple of weeks and I've been feeling it.  Today as I sat around after dinner I started to feel tired and lazy and I decided to just GO.  No thinking about it, I wasn't going to give myself the opportunity to talk myself out of it, I just got ready and went to the YMCA.  I completed a 3.3 mile run on the treadmill.  That is the first time I've completed 3 miles without stopping since I can remember.  I didn't keep a fast pace but I didn't care because I was more focused on actually completing 3 miles of running even at a slow pace.  It was great and after the cool down I actually completed 3.54 miles.  Awesome.  I'm glad I went to the Y because it's too hot and muggy to run outside and I ate a piece of birthday cake left over from yesterday's party. 

It's funny how things work in my head.  When I'm focused on home décor and my garden, I neglect my workout out and when I focus on workouts and losing weight I let the house go.  I suppose it's because I work eight hours a day and with commuting time I really only have a few hours in the evening.  Trouble is that if I workout too late I have too much energy to go to bed and then I end up too tired in the morning.  I guess I'll just have to juggle things as much as possible or find a job that lets me get to the gym an hour a day. 

First world problems is what they call my dilemma.  I'll just have to let things work themselves out.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

A fun ending to the long weekend

Today we celebrated my MIL 75th birthday.  Mr. Saylor and I worked pretty hard around the house to get things ready.  Isn't funny how a fingerprint on a door or a dusty mini blind is easily over looked until a party or holiday gathering?  I wish I was as picky about day to day living as I am about throwing a party.  On second thought it might be a good thing I'm not because I'd probably have to go on meds to keep me calm.  Yesterday we power washed our patio and I was agonizing over some stains left behind from our fire pit.  I was even on my hands and knees scrubbing the concrete with a wire brush.  The stains never came out so I have to live with it for now but I'm on a mission to get rid of them. 

I decided to try some homemade dishes like slow cooked baked beans and coleslaw.  We also picked up some frozen mac and cheese to serve with the smoked pork shoulder Mr. Saylor was cooking.  I also made some cheesecake in a jar.  It was a lot easier than I thought and came out fabulously.  They looked so cute with the lids on.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them because I put them in the fridge last night before taking a picture and when I served them they were gone in an instant!

packing down the graham cracker crumbs

 


I baked them in a pan of water



Fresh from the oven



                          Added some cherry pie filling topping and some finely chopped almonds

I had 12 guests and made 12 jars.  They were gone in an instant and added a little whimsy to the party. 

The evening is winding down and tomorrow starts a new work week.  It was a lovely long weekend with lots of things accomplished. 

Hope you have a wonderful, successful exciting week!

Friday, July 5, 2013

4th of July Weekend Projects

I'm so excited because I can finally post some pictures on my blog of projects Miss Saylor and I have completed.  I've been updating my blog but never seem to have any pictures to go along with my posts. 

Our town has a spring clean up day each year where we get to throw out anything we want for free.  Usually we have to purchase and put stickers on our garbage and we have to let the city know if we have any large items.  Once a year however we can just leave it at the curb. 

During this time our town becomes scavenger heaven.  SUV's and pick up trucks scour the neighborhoods for discarded treasures.  This year Miss Saylor found an old steamer trunk by the curb.  She was so excited to score such a treasure.  She parked and  jumped out of the car and loaded it in before anyone could get it.  She came home so happy because this is her first piece of furniture to go into her new apartment.  I think she plans to use it in her bedroom at the foot of her bed. 

Unfortunately we don't have any before pics to post.   It was an ugly black color and was pitted and sticky looking so we scraped off all of the old paint and painted it a bright white.  Next we pulled out the old smelly liner and washed the inside with bleach. 

Lining it was easy because I had some old toile fabric in a blanket chest that never made it to whatever project I had planned for it.  Miss Saylor did not want to put a lot of money into this project.  I think she felt that since she found it in the garbage she wanted to try to complete it with as little investment as possible.  

We started working on lining the inside out in the garage.  Boy, we picked a HOT day to do that and so moved some of the measuring and cutting back inside in the air conditioning.   We didn't have enough of the blue on white toile to do all of the trunk but luckily I also had some white on blue toile that we thought would contrast one another quite nicely.

I think it came out very well.  The project cost us about $12 to complete when you add in the sandpaper, paint and spray adhesive.  I don't remember what the toile cost but I don't think it was too much.  I probably bought it around 6 or 8 years ago. 

What a fun project this turned out to be! 




Thursday, July 4, 2013

Christmas In July



Happy 4th of July!  It's 9 am and the house is peaceful.  Little Miss Saylor is still sleeping after a night out and Sgt. Buzzkill and Mr. Saylor are doing a quick task at work.  It's sunny and a nice breeze blowing through the windows.  This is the beginning of a nice long four day weekend and after reading a few of my favorite blogs and getting completely lost in blogland I had an epiphany!

I've got quite a few things tucked in the closets that I bought last year at Christmastime with the intent of making some decorating items for the season.  However, in this house the season just gets too busy to create projects in time for the holidays and my plans fall to the wayside and the items just end up collecting dust.  But my epiphany is (drumroll).......I'm going to start some of those projects NOW.  And so begins Christmas in July at the Saylor Street Cottage.

Pictures will be posted this time.