Almost the 4th Weekend!

It's going to be a HOT weather 4th of July Weekend! I'm looking forward to being at the lake for 4 days in a row. It would be nicer if we had a cabin or even the camper, but we have a large tent and make the best of out what we do have up there at the lake. 

It sure would be nice to build a cabin, but it's complicated since we don't fully own the property. It's Steve's parents and he and his brother will have to share it. So, we really won't own the cabin even if we do all the work and spend our money, it would still be 50% his brothers. We all can't get on the same page to build and rent out to make money! I think we could even just rent out the land for people to camp on during the summer to pay the property taxes on the land. Makes perfect sense to me, but no one thinks it can be done. It's not my property so I just offer suggestions and that's all I can do. I'm just glad we do have a lake to go to! 

I'm actually working a little today! It's nice to have some work. With Covid numbers that keep going up in other states, its probably just a matter of time before our numbers rise again and shut down. I'm just glad we live in MN, where the governor is doing a better job of testing and tracing. Just wish masks were required 100%. We went to Target last night and I saw far too many without a mask. Makes me a little angry at those people and not all were young! 

So our camper is for sale. I got so many people wanting it with water damage! I decided to ask for more money. It's now going for $500 instead of $200. No loss if it doesn't sell for $500, or $200 we basically want it just taken away. I don't really want to give it away since I know its worth a lot with an easy roof fix. We paid $6K new in 1997. We just can't fix it since we have no where to bring it and store it indoors. I told Steve years ago we should pull it out and clean it, fix it up, but nope! He never wanted to get it out of there because a  few trees would need to be cut. Well to get it out, a few trees are going to need to be cut! Now we don't have a camper. ugh!!

The Purge continues!

I'm doing a lot of purging or selling on Craigslist and other places! Sold more yesterday and gave some away too. Making a dent in things we no longer use! 

Our pop-up camper has seen better days. The back of the camper has water damage from being out in the elements for the last 20 years. We are hoping to get rid of it asap! I already have two emails asking about the camper! 

We went to the lake this weekend. It was perfect weather! 

 Our new cabin at the lake since the camper is a no-go!

 A little cribbage and some drinks for Steve

 Night time bonfire. We left the top off the tent and the stars were amazing at night!

Here comes the weekend!

I'm already on my weekend. No work! I only worked one day this week on Thursday! At least I have some very part time work now.

I have a busy errand filled day. I'm not excited to go to three different stores but I have to make the most of this rain filled Friday! I'm out of good paint rollers, need a sander to finish the deck and pick up Steve's eye drops. Oh, and return a jacket I purchased at TJ Maxx. Guess that's 4 places!

I am feeling better about seeing most people wearing masks when out at stores. I am sure this is why MN Covid cases are going down even as more opens up. I just think indoor dining should be out of the question as people cannot eat with a mask on and its the cause of out breaks! 

The last two days, I've brought Zoey on our morning 1.5 mile run. She was a lot better today, not so excited! She is liking her long leash where she has more freedom to run or zig, zag all over the place. Makes her good and tired and less likely to sit in the widow and bark at the delivery trucks! 

I found out yesterday, that our good neighbor friends are wanting to sell their house and downsize. Guess, we aren't the only ones thinking this. They might move out before us. We are still undecided but will still go through the motions of fixing our house up to sell in the spring. 

Feeling better

It's much better today than the last 24 hours. Things are back to normal and we are all okay. I really don't like having communication issues and I'm glad we are all able to talk and get things resolved.  Plus there is always my stand, forgive and agree to disagree. Not everyone feels that way, so they can choose to leave.

I slept in this morning and it felt good after being so stressed out. I'm ready to bike and run today and then its back to my painting projects. Almost done with the china cabinet, painting it white!! I need to spray paint more door knobs since I got white paint on them.

I'm also going to the stores. I need yoga pants. It's a good thing 95% of the people in the store wear a mask. It's not too bad going to stores. I just wish it was 100%.

Glad that's over!!

We had a very loud Father's Day! I'm exhausted to discuss it again. Let's just say, my mother in law likes to stir the pot!

Weekend Plans!

What are the weekend plans? Good Question! With Covid we are really limited. I'll probably just be selling stuff on line and working on my home projects.

We will also be doing some of this, drinks but outdoors not at a brewery. We found a new location to play card, have drinks and snacks at a park over looking a bunch of ponds out of the way of others. It has a picnic table and is covered on top of a hill. So we will just sit and enjoy the view from our new place this weekend.

It's also Father's Day Sunday. The kids are making food to go along with some beers. I picked up beer made from Mexico, Belgium, Czech, and Germany. They will make foods from the country to go with the beer. I have no idea what they are making but they picked up food last night to cook tonight. We are doing it on Friday night instead of Sunday because I'm sure Steve will be having a meal or drinks with his father Sunday.

I've got a meeting with the rental house owners this morning which is nice because it gives me something to do! Makes me a little nervous being by them since they just flew in from Florida. High Covid and on a plane. I'll keep my distance and wear a mask. Rules have changed for renting during Covid and they have to get all in place for when they are back in business. They book it up and then everyone cancels due to Covid, stay home, protests and no one is going anywhere. It's by a college so lots of professors and parents coming for graduations but none of that is happening this year. They do have a few in October booked for now but nothing else. 

I'm also spending my day doing home projects, selling more of our stuff and trying to keep busy. 

River BBQ

 What a beautiful Wednesday evening! Steve and I took our dinner to the river. We did a little BBQing under a shaded pine tree. A perfect spot to watch the boats and enjoy a nice night outdoors.

 Before the virus, we'd go to the legion on the river and sit on their patio. We really should have been doing this sooner, because its cheaper to drink and the food is pretty delicious too. Who can beat this view? Not even the patio next to the river. Sure, its nice being waited on, having drinks brought to your table and food cooked for you. I really don't miss it since we still can enjoy all for a lot less money! We might have to keep doing this forever! Although, some times it is nice to go out but not sure when that's going to happen.

After having our dinner and drinks by the river, we took a ride to look at near by lots for sale in Hastings. These lots are closer to home and the Vermillian river goes behind so we are still on the water and closer to where we currently live. 

I'll have to look into lot costs, many available in a nice neighborhood open to all builders. 

Photo's from Monday night's dinner with my grandchildren. Evan and Madelyn. Poor Madelyn, she was hungry and not too happy. 

Steve and I are going biking today! I tried to get him to bike yesterday but he wanted to run, so off to the park we went to run 2 miles. I did a run walk on mile 2, my leg feels like I pulled something on the outside and it hurts to walk sometimes. Not fun! 

I'm selling more things on Craigslist. This is sold for $5 today. It was a plant stand in our front room. I'm over this look and it needs to go! Doesn't fit into the room look. Now to get the other stuff to sell! I have lamps, light fixtures, clocks, mirrors. So much more to find in our house and sell!! I'm determined to downsize by selling and getting paid for it! 

Love this!!

Just another Summer day

It's just another Summer day in June! No where to go, nothing much to do in a Pandemic. 

I'm trying to fill up my days with home projects, running, biking, cleaning our house, organizing and just keeping busy.  Some days its harder to just keep going. Its easier to lay on the couch and look at my phone. I would like to work. I do miss working and just want things back to normal. We can wish it away but it's not going that fast and we don't know when it will end. Right now, we are saving every penny, doing projects that don't cost us much or nothing at all since we have the materials and are doing them ourselves.

I did more paint scraping off our deck yesterday and hardly made a dent. The gas power washer is broken again! It needs a new carburetor even thought we replaced it last year! Steve thinks he can fix it so we will use that to get the rest of the paint off.

I didn't do any door painting yesterday since I went to the lake with the kids. We took the jetski and just sat, floated and cooled off since it was 90 degrees. We didn't stay out long. I brought only one big tub and not some smaller ones so I didn't have anything to float on.

Today is going to be another hot day. No plans for anything other then being home, getting some painting done and that's about it.

I like it HOT!

That's right!!! It's going to be 90 degrees today and I like it HOT! Thankfully we have AC, so I don't have to be out in it all the time. It sure makes mornings walking out side nice! I'm going to enjoy this and go for a bike ride asap!

Monday, night Logan and I went over to Kendra's hotel home for dinner. We brought chicken and pasta to cook up on the grill. The Marriott has a nice court side BBQ grill and cooking area. They also had a firepit and played some music. Too bad there was one guy sitting by the fire pit all night long drinking wine. It was a good thing I brought chairs and a little table because we needed it! While Logan and Kendra cooked the food, I got to spend the whole time holding Madelyn.

This was the fruit tart I made on Sunday night. It could have used more fruit, like strawberries but it was still good! I should have made one for last nights BBQ at Kendra's. 

Here are photos from the river on Sunday. Our little fishing /drinking and enjoying the day. 

The kids and I are planning on going to the lake this afternoon. I'm taking the jetski again out and we will just tube and float around. A perfect afternoon to be on the lake! 

More on Monday!

I have more on my todo list this Monday! I took a project break Sunday and did zero painting. I did scrape more paint off the deck, and today I power wash it to get more off. I'm hoping the gas powered  high pressure washer does the trick! I pretty much scraped everything possible that would peel off easily.

Good bye gray paint! Back to natural wood and a clear coat to protect the wood. No more peeling paint every spring. This is our last outdoor project for the summer. Once we get this done with a few more bags of rocks for the front yard, we are done. We only have mowing and trimming the yard with some grass seed to water, sprinkle down to keep some grass growing in bald spots.

I'm still working on selling more items on Craigslist and a few other places. I keep posting more things I find around the house. I keep hearing try posting on Market place on FB. Not sure I want to try that or not? I am just not interested in my items being sold going out to all my friends on FB.

Steve and I did a little Mississippi River fishing for carp Sunday afternoon at this park, just down the path on the other side. I can't pull up a phone phone because my laptop still won't load photos right away. We brought some drinks and snacks, fished and enjoyed the day outdoors. 

Keep it up!

I was super duper productive Saturday. I got up at 4:30am and started right away with my day plans to accomplish a lot! Here's what I did!

The first project that needed to get done was not my project. Steve had to put a new garage door opener together and get this one down. It still worked, but was giving us trouble all last year. I was just done with it even though we could have tried replacing the door sensors. It took Steve from 10am to 2pm. We still need to program the new door opener and get the phone app loaded. That's this mornings todo list!

While Steve was busy working on the garage I did the following. Which did not include lounging on the couch like Zoey! 

Painted the upstairs doors and linen closet (one more coat of paint to go!)

Disinfected the house (daily). Washed Zoey's fur blanket that she sleeps on in our front window. The white fur starts to get a little dirty, but peroxide in the wash makes it bright white again!

Vacuumed our house (daily thing with me!) I hate dirt on the floor! 

Sold the old garage door opener for $20 on Craigslist and also listed more things to sell. 

planted my two new hydrangea plants. Watered the plants and yard. Trimmed the trees out in the back yard. Trimmed around the fence. Cleaned up the kitchen dishes.  

Scraped the deck paint. It was like peeling sun burnt skin, very addicting when large pieces would peel off. I'm not sure how long I sat outside peeling the paint? I finally had to peel myself away! Because happy hour was waiting! 

Celina bought beef tenderloins for dinner. I did a snap chat of the dinner instead of taking a photo. It looked and tasted delicious! 

I'm still thinking daily, about what flooring color to choose. Do I go gray or do a soft brown gray? I'm leaning towards a gray brown. Or do we just forget the gray and stick with a very light tan-is floor? I'd hate to go back to golden but is gray done? Decisions, decisions! 

Oh, the weekend!

Here we are Saturday! It's a bit chilly this weekend with 50's at night and the high only 70*F today! Starting Monday the temps will be going up to almost 100*F. Too bad it's not going to be hot this weekend for being at the lake! Steve and I decided to go to the lake this weekend and camp. We don't have a cabin, just land and no longer a camper to use since it had a little water damage seeping through the roof last summer. We are going up to clear out trees and to figure out how to dump the pop up camper. We would rather just get rid of it, and not have to deal with fixing it. I just need to figure out if there is a title involved? Something to look into!

I made a small dent in our home projects Friday. I mowed the back yard and trimmed the front and back yard. I started painting the upstairs doors, Celina's bedroom and closet door and then Logan's bedroom door and a little of the linen closet. If I do some every day, it will get done in no time at all. After the doors are done, I'm moving on to more painting! It will be the laundry room cabinet, master bathroom vanity and kids bathroom vanity. All white except the kids vanity which will be a gray color. Probably the same gray we used in our kitchen since there is left over paint.

You can see the two different floors, one oak the other cherry in the office. I figured we will need just about 1000 sq ft of flooring to cover up and make all the floor the same on the main level. Our office isn't red anymore, its a nice blue, that will need to be painted a lighter color. So the flooring I like is about 2.49 per sq feet, less money with less sq feet! I'm hoping this project can get done sometime this fall?? Summer is just too busy wanting to be outside. 

I love these feather pillows. This was a Parade of Homes house. Looking at new houses makes me want all new again. Our house is 20 years old and so much needs to be kept up. It's just getting to be a lot more then we want to do.