Walllaa!

We finished the island last night, so here's the final outcome. 

We took this sad guy that my mom and gmother found at an estate sale:

Worked and worked on him...

 My mom and I painted him, my mom cut the tiles, and Tony adheased them to the larger top we had cut at Home Depot.  (I'm like a regular there lately between the spray paint ordeal and this). 

After adheasing the tiles, we had to wait 24 hours to grout it.  It went better than expected, until I tried to help and accidently sat on the bucket-o-grout...

Warning: objects in this picture may appear larger than they really are

After the grouting it was all pretty and we ended up with this!

Now we just have to seal it in 3 days and it's officially done!  Thanks to Tony and my mom for all their hard work.  I would have done the tiling, but Tony is too OCD to let me handle something like that.  He's probably right, mine would have ended up crooked for sure.  I mean I did manage to sit on the only object in a 5 ft. area while bending over.

Spring Projects

I've had some requests for another Margo post, but she ate my Sperry's last week and we still aren't on speaking terms, so let's talk about how productive I was this weekend shall we?? Okay. 

We had some projects to do around the house for the weekend and we were thrilled that the weather cooperated. 

Project #1- Add a storm door to the front.

Before

 Yes, that is my Easter wreath that's still up. 

Here's Tony in the process with his stop-taking-pictures-and-help-me face.

 6 hrs. and one emergency patient later, here's what we had...

Neither one of us were the emergency patients, thank God.  Tony got called in to save someone's tooth.  He's a good guy like that.

Project #2- Paint the old yucky patio furniture

My parents have had this patio set for as long as I can remember.  When they moved from Great Bend it was passed on to us and I hadn't done anything with it since, but I wanted to keep it b/c I think it has a lot of character.  Well, it needed some a lot of love after sitting outside for years without a fresh coat of paint.

And there's the shoe eater

So I grabbed me a can of spray paint...

And off I went.  Those gloves didn't last long, they were super annoying.  After about a chair and a half I ran out of paint.  Duh.  Apparently I don't spray paint often, I guess I thought the can was never ending and one would get me through.  I went back to Home Depot and came back with another can.  It ran out too.  I'm an idiot.  So back I went again.  3rd time was a charm. 

I might have sent Emily a text message saying 'spray painting is a bitch.  I'm ready for a drink.'  My right hand is still getting cramps and looks a little bit like a claw.  But the end result was worth it.

And here are the cushions I bought for it.  Yes, they are a little large, but I had issues finding smaller ones, so they will have to work.

So here's the layout of our deck, where I sat and enjoyed the fruits of my labors over a cocktail while Tony finished the door.

Then I got a hold of this guy...

He was in need of a makeover too and I didn't want him to feel left out.  Nothing was safe with that paint can in my hand.  Margo's lucky she didn't cross my path.

Project #3 - DIY kitchen island

We are almost done with this beaut.  This is just a sneak peek.  I'll post before and after pictures when we finish the grouting and sealing.



Okay, okay, here's a picture of Shoe Eater in all her glory.

Christmas Cheer!

In the form of bottles. 

Here's a little sneak peek of my DIY Christmas Gifts this year.  Homemade Peppermint Schnapps.  Easiest thing ever and I loved decorating the bottles. 
(Hopefully none of my recipiants are reading this, if so act SURPRISED!)

Sharin' the Cheer!

So for any of you out there that might want to copy me - here's how you do it.

1.) Pour yourself a big ol' glass o wine (or open a beer) whatever your style is.

2.) Stir 2 1/2 cups of sugar into 10 cups of water as it's being heated to a boil.

3.) Cool mixture to room temp. while drinking your drink

4.)  Stir in one fifth of grain alcohol (I used everclear) and try not to gag.

5.)  Then add 2 bottles of peppermint extract (1 oz. each)

6.)  Here's the hard part, put liquid into the bottles.  We didn't have a funnel, but I recommend using one.

And yer done!  This whole recipe filled about 6 of these bottles.  I decorated the bottles after I filled them.  Like I said, we didn't have a funnel so things got kinda sticky.  Tony made me try the finished product.  I hate peppermint schnapps, which makes me wonder why I'm giving it to people I like.  Sorry, folks I thought it was festive.  Hubs said it was good so I believe him.

I'm pretty sure people keep it in the freezer to take shots of, or put it in their hot chocolate... how do you drink it???