We are pretty excited to reveal to you our new rec room, and show you around a bit! We’ve got to tell you, it’s been our plan to make a rec room downstairs for some time. But so many other projects of one kind or another just kept pushing it back. This is the story of our life. You know? But then, pretty suddenly, we decided we needed to get the rec room done. The kids and their friends just needed a big fun space of their own in the house to hang out in; especially on the hottest of summer days, or the bitterest and most miserable of winter days. Also, our oldest daughter’s college friends have been coming to stay here now, too. So one can stay downstairs on the futon that opens up to a bed. Anyway, once we did decide it was time to get the rec room done, Michael went at it and finished it in a flash! [Read more…]
Honey Bees Farm – Field Trip
The kids and I enjoyed a very interesting visit to a nearby honey bee farm, on quite a beautiful day of this spring. We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather that day! It was sunny and awesome. We invited some friends to come along with us, as a little educational homeschooling field trip.
* We are/I am . . . sharing all kinds of things we learned about beekeeping in this post.
But YO, DISCLAIMER!: We’ve been trying to remember all of the great information we were taking in by ear that day, as accurately as possible, and did a little research here and there, too. But no guarantees we got it all exactly right in this post! We’re just new beekeeping-learners, chatting with you, here.
So, having very local, raw and organic honey in our house is a must for us, at all times. We not only enjoy it immensely as a sweetener in tea, on oatmeal, toast or waffles, and in many recipes, but teaspoon a day goes a long way with helping fight the symptoms of some our environmental allergies! Not to mention the numerous other health benefits, that consuming organic honey provides. And seriously, this natural medicine could not be any sweeter, or delicious! So we’ve been buying honey locally for a few years now.
But this spring, I found an even closer source, right down the road! It is one of the locations of Bee Well Honey, in Sagamore Beach (MA). They have a very convenient road side stand there, where we can pick up more honey any time at all! After learning of them and picking up a big jar of honey, I reached out to them via messaging their Facebook Page, and asked if they would be interested in doing a field trip for us, and teaching us what they could, about beekeeping. We were thrilled that they responded they were, so the communications and plans to arrange it, went from there.
We thought we’d share with you some photos, and a bit about it. While we can’t relay all we learned to you that day here in this post, we hope it inspires you to want to learn more yourself, about how honey bees play such a crucial part in environment, and in all of our lives! Without them, we’d all be in a world of trouble. And maybe, you’ll even feel inspired to find a honey bee farm in your own local visit, and arrange a visit for yourselves.
The beekeepers, Rich and Aaron. One lives here on this property, with his family, where there are some beehives. The other lives at another beekeeping location, in a nearby town, where the processing of the honey is also done. However, they have beehives set up all over the south shore, which they manage. And the system as a whole balances and benefits us and our environment, in countless ways.
[Read more…]
Old Junk – A Big Old Rusty Clock Makeover & An Old Cabinet
Are you an ‘old junk’ lover? Do you love going looking for old junk, and get butterflies at the opportunity to bring some of it home? That’s ME to a T! Sometimes, I don’t even have a clue what I’m going to do with the old junk I’m bringing home. But I know I’ll think of something! (That’s the other part of the fun! Right?!).
Well, previously I shared in a post on our Facebook Page, a few photos of some old junk I picked up the weekend prior, of a big old rusty clock, an old cabinet, and a little bird bath/feeder dish. I promised I’d let you know what I did with them.
Here I am, keeping my promise, with a post on it! (Well, 2/3 of the promise, anyway.)
Since I have the most to say about it, we’ll start with . . . . . .
The Big Old Rusty Clock
Here is the clock, the way I bought it. Now, knowing photos tend to really confuse actual scale of objects, I want you to realize that this clock is actually a foot tall! So it’s bigger than it may appear, if you imagined it to be a close-up of the size of a regular alarm clock this style.
I actually ‘settled’ for this clock, in the antique store. The first one I saw was that old-style 50’s turquoise-blue-teal (you know the one?), but extremely chipped, worn, with rust coming through everywhere. I loved the look of that one, more than this unpainted one. The problem was, it just went out the door, in someone else’s hand! Ha haha! So, we bought this one instead, with the plan that I could create the same look as the one I originally wanted, with a little creativity. Somehow. As soon as I figured out how. Because the thing was, I just didn’t care for the ‘finish’ of this one, which to me, really looks like it was almost manufactured to appear rusty. The rust is far too….uniform, to be convincing. So, my plan was to try and fix that.
It did end up being one of those projects where, as soon as I got started and past that moment of ‘too late to go back now’, I got that sinking feeling like, ‘Oh no, what did I just do? What am I doing? I’m ruining it!“. But in the end, I was happy with it.
But quickly, here was my thought process, getting to the happy point.
I got thinking about where it would ultimately be put, and, I realized that old teal color wasn’t the ideal color. I mean, I did have a choice at this point! I didn’t have to make it the same color as the one I originally saw. Considering where I knew I wanted to put it, the most ideal color would be a cream. I did the best I could to replicate the texture of the look of the original clock I saw.
And here is how it came out . . . . . . [Read more…]
Yet Another Pallet Mug Holder – How and Why
Alright, so maybe you’ve already seen the pallet mug holder idea a good many times. But there is more than that to this post. And anyway, give us a little break here; you know most all of the time, we are sharing our own custom and very unique projects with you! Like the time we built our shoes-storage bench out of old doors! Or custom-designed and built our mac-daddy chicken coop! So we have no shame in being inspired by others ourselves now and then, and running with it! Creative people sharing their ideas is what it’s all about. Right? Being inspired by others is why we all share. And we’re not immune to loving other’s ideas! Anyway, today I’m going to share some how-tips about this popular project, and why I personally wanted a pallet mug holder (just like I’ve seen), so bad.
So yes, I’ve seen a few variations of the idea many times online before, (also). However, [Read more…]
A Love-Themed Watercolor Art Piece
Being in my art studio, is way up there as one of my favorite places in my very small world, to be!
For the month of February, I was inspired to create something ‘love-themed’, to add as a decorative art piece for our home’s double-mantels. I was very much in the mood to get into a watercolor project, and I had some text in mind that I wanted to make a part of it, as well.
In this post I’m sharing the general concepts I used in creating this fun little piece, with a little chit-chat along the way. I hope you enjoy it.
Although I have sold several watercolor scenery or subject paintings in my earlier years, I still do not consider myself to be [Read more…]
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