Sammy in the Rain

Our Memorial weekend is probably going to be a wash out, 

as in rain every day at least off and on.  

Maybe fire up the grill for some fast meat that goes on a bun 

only to whisk it into the house when it's cooked.  

My dad would of grilled, a little rain wouldn't of stopped him.  

He was happy to have the freedom to do it, even in the rain.

Most of the kids are harmless these days - I've had this pitchfork poked in the ground by the mudroom door for about 15 years - back when you did take your life 

into your hands entering a home with 5 (at that time) kids.  

I felt people should be warned.  The kids had the freedom to run, play and be heard.

I have had to touch up the paint a couple times on the wood flag. 

We also have a huge sign Brawn made when our oldest 

and two of his buddies were in the Marines.  

It says.....

"Land of the Free Because of the Brave".

We hang it on a tree by the road (photo another time, it's raining 'ya know!).

Our oldest joined 4 months after 9/11 while he was in college.

He finished his last few months of college, got his degree 

and headed off to do his part.

This weekend I have the freedom to be eating this............

The Grilled Pepper Jack Cheese Sammy

6 months ago I discovered this sandwich at the blog Uncluttered Lifestyle, which caught my eye as that's where I felt I was at with my home.....it needed some uncluttering.  Since then I've spent more time hauling junk into my house and learning how to work with it (thanks to all you talented bloggers) 

than I have spent hauling stuff out.  

Every week Iesha inspires me to free myself and unclutter something, 

even if it's just going through a makeup drawer  or junk cabinet.  

But this weekend because of rain, I'm just inspired to eat.

This is my very favorite sammy.  It has deli meat, tomato, grilled onions, 

pepper-jack cheese, tastes great on any interesting bread you enjoy, 

and I add avocado to mine which is sort of like the frosting on the cake for me.  

You can find her recipe here. 

Remember those lucky ducks Klous and Clyde?  

They are getting really big and don't mind this weather at all.  

My daughter has trained them to come when she calls.  

She also had to build them their own pond.  

When she can train them not to leave duck doo on the patio 

they can swim in the pond back there. 

I guess since we won't be enjoying the patio this weekend 

Klous & Clyde could maybe have the freedom to do so.  

The rain should wash the doo away.

Yes the land of the free because of the brave.  

We don't take any of it for granted at Bliss Ranch.

The Green Grass of Home

We have a yard and "areas".  A few yards really, and we refer to all the areas around here in various ways so we know just the spot we are talking about.

There is the back yard, the bottom back yard, the front side yard, the front yard, the yard on the side, the far yard, the down the driveway yard, the back shed, over by the basketball court area, the big field on the hill, the dry marsh, the woods, over by the chickens, the garden, and the back field.  I can use these terms and usually direct Brawn to a specific area for whatever the need is.  The kids I might have to draw a map and physically take them to where I'm talking about if it involves working.

Little Shed

In the backyard we have this little shed, not to be confused with the big shed in the back or the potting shed in the front side yard.  In the little shed we park the lawnmowers, bikes and sand toys over winter.  Next to it are a couple birdhouses on some old deck posts that are inhabited every year.  Everything is due for a painting, and I will probably just use something I already have.

I would love to turn my little shed into something like this.........

(source)

Or this one over at Thistlewood Farm that Kari calls her Art House....

I would love an art shed.

The hostas next to the back yard shed got off to an early growing season.  I hadn't even got rid of last years long dead parts before the hostas were huge.

Also in the back yard is a patio and pond area where the hostas thrive.  Some of them were scheduled to be removed before they got too big.  Hmmmm, I think we missed the timing on that.

A few years ago I was sitting on the patio looking around and I wondered what I could do to hide the big 'ol ugly air conditioning unit.  We had a pile of old deck posts, so Brawn whipped me up a form with two panels and I smashed some china and stained glass along with some mirror and made a big mosaic to hide it.

In the front side yard we have what used to be a play house.  Five years ago I turned it into a potting shed, but there is no longer anything that resembles potting or garden supplies inside.  Brawn has taken it over for work supplies.  I am serving an eviction notice to his supplies.  On my to-do list is turn it back into a playhouse for The Grands.

                     

 What you can't see hanging on the left side is a potting ledge where I inconveniently pot plants.  Most of my plants in pots are in the back yard, the potting shed is in the front side yard.  Also on the to-do list is make a potting bench that I can keep on the back deck.

This old tiki torch oil lamp is by the pool in the back yard just waiting to light up some fun summer nights.

In the front yard is this area between the two entries to the house.  The tree is a dwarf Japanese Maple and the long tall spikey things will soon be sporting beautiful stargazer lilies.  I bought 6 bulbs for .99¢ a few years ago and needed a place to plant them.  I stuck them in the ground here and this is where they stayed.  There used to be a beautiful birch tree in this spot but it got too big for the area.

 My front porch flowers were just planted and consist of ferns, marigolds and impatiens.  The pots were in need of paint.  They used to be pale yellow.  Gwen at The Bold Abode painted some pots which gave me the idea to paint mine.  First I tried pastel blue, not at all right for my porch, so the other color spray paint I had was green.  I wish the storm door could go, but we get some nasty weather in the winter.  Tomorrow I will take out the window and put in the screen.

I have a lot of other "yards" and "areas" to take pictures of.  Today I noticed some of my wild roses are blooming.  Seems early to see those and they look real healthy.  As of today our garden is planted.  There is always a never ending list of outside chores.  I have flowers on my table that need to be planted.  Tomorrow?

  

Show us your Garden party @ The Polohouse

Linking the Mosaic Air Conditioner Cover to:

Tuesday's Treasures @ MyUncommonSliceOfSuburbia
  Newbie Party @ DebbieDoos 

Wood Scrap Art

Wood Scrap Art and A Poured Concrete Top

Our family room got an update a couple of Christmases ago. 

The males, (ok, really it was me) wanted a new television because glare from all the windows makes watching the old one impossible during the day. 

Not that I watch much tv in daylight or nightlight, but when a special little boy wants to watch Power Rangers, I'm not telling him no.

                                 The Big 'Ol Dinosaur                                     

The big-dino was built to house the big-dino-tv, obsolete these days huh?  The cabinet above it stores more junk than you can shake a stick at. 

And I'm a short stick. 

I couldn't reach the top shelves in the cabinet to do more than pop in a cd, if I could find or reach the cd in the first place.

During

After Christmas the new tv sat on a toy box for a few months till I ordered a hanging bracket for the wall. 

I sort of liked that the toys were held captive and not on the floor. 

When the old tv cabinet left, it also left an empty space above the new tv that I was going to have to put my thinking cap on to fill.  Light pours in this area till the sun leaves the sky - makes for a bright happy space (hard to take photos in).

Poured concrete top

Brawn decided to reuse the old wood from the tall cabinet to make a shorter one and do a poured concrete top with a rough edge for a rustic look. 

That's his style.  Rustic, not rough.

This was totally his baby - he didn't consult me, a rare occurrence and one that is usually not a good idea.

Rustic concrete edge

He stained the concrete with acid stain in some earthy colors and dabbed some on the edges.  The chiseled edge mimics one you might see on granite.

Shrunk down with the same wood

Everything here is reused from the original cabinet, except the new concrete top and the cabinet wire, but that's left over from a chicken coop.  Inside is a Wii, all the Wii games and controllers, stereo, and I forget what else.  If I ever make it purdy I'll show 'ya.

The original idea was to have the sides look like the ends of vintage wood crates with

interesting vintage product advertising, stained onto the wood.  

That was to be my job.  I haven't got that far, and between you and me, I don't know when I will.

Notice the cute pillow on that little chair?  Linda from It All Started With Paint sent it to me.  I was a lucky duck recipient of the Pass It On Project. 

I have been eying up lots of blogland ideas and decided in the interest of no cost, to use what I had to fill the area above.  I pinned an idea from Sweet Serendipity as inspiration.

I would love to say I raided Brawns well placed wood scrap bin, but really all I had to do was look on the floor under his saw and brush away sawdust to find scrap pieces I could use.  Our garage is famous for it's mess.

I set to work.  I used a combo of stencils, stickers, or made my own letters to paint everything.  The Grandpa & Grandma sign was a gift, and it seemed like a perfect fit.

I arranged and rearranged and finally got an order I liked.  We ran a piece of tape down the middle, with a line down the center of the tape, so it would all line back up once the first piece was nailed to the wall.  At about 10:00 at night because I was anxious.

I painted the wall with the paint can closest to me, which was still sitting out 

from a project a month ago.  It's the same color as on the outside of the front door here.  Dutch Boy, "Earth Matters".

The wall is empty no more and the leaves are green outside once again.

 

Linking the Scrapy Wood up to:

 Throwback Thursday @GlitterGlue&Paint

Saturday Night Special Reclaimed Wood @FunkyJunkInteriors

Beyond The Picket Fence, Under $100 Party

The Mother Lode @ I Gotta Create 

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me @ CraftyScrappyHappy

Pin'inspiration Thursday @ JanesAdventuresInDinner 

Inspired Creations @ Embracing Change 

Party Time @ 36th Avenue 

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here 

Featured at:

Beyond the Picket Fence, Under $100 Party