Yesterday Spouse & I took advantage of a mutual day off and incredibly beautiful weather to clean up our screened porch and do a little planting.
Every fall we store the cushions and pillows in large plastic bags in the garage. The screened porch furniture stays on the porch over the winter because its all water proof and we don't have room in the garage for all the furniture. So that means in the spring after the big pollen 'burst' we have to do a big cleaning of the screened porch to remove all the dust, dirty, pollen, and cobwebs.
So we started by wiping down all the furniture, wiping down the painted wooden supports of the porch, cleaning both sets of french doors leading to the porch, and then sweeping the porch floor. Once everything was clean we could bring the cushions and pillows back out and set up the lanterns and luminaries. Our beloved screened porch is now ready for the upcoming holiday weekend and visits from some good friends and family.
Next we planted 5 day lilies Spouse had ordered from one of the TV shopping channels, and then we planted 4 varrigated hostas that a friend from work gave me. Her's had gotten too large so she dug them up, split them, and gave me the excess. I love varigated hostas because of their striking dark green and white leaves and the fact that they will grow in nearly any condition, from full sun to shade.
The weather was about 82 degrees, sunny, light humidity, and a steady breeze. It was the perfect day to be busy outside.
After showering I decided to continue my productivity by moving all my long sleeved shirts from our primary closet to smaller one, and moved all my short sleeved shirts from the smaller one to the primary closet. I'm fairly certain I won't be wearing long sleeves anymore for a while, and should I need one they're still fairly easy to access.
It felt good to get this work done and its almost always nicer to do these things together.
What did YOU do this passed weekend?
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cleaning. Show all posts
Monday, May 20, 2019
Monday, May 14, 2018
Oooops
Yesterday Spouse & I decided to do some rug cleaning. The area rug in the living room had a couple little spots from a bad little dog (Walter), so we began by spot-treating those areas 1st then using our carpet cleaner machine on the full rug.
A few minutes into the spot-treating I noticed a very strong smell. Typically rug cleaning products have a nice, fresh scent but this smelled the opposite. I asked Spouse if he noticed the smell too and he immediately said yes.
Then he looked at the bottle he'd been spraying on the rug and said "Oh my god - this is insect killer!" When he'd pulled the bottles out from under the kitchen sink he didn't notice that 1 of them was insect spray.
We hoped that the carpet cleaning machine and solution would wash the insect spray smell out so we continued with our plan of cleaning the full rug with the machine. But a couple hours later as the rug was drying the smell was definitely still there. Since the rug wasn't expensive we decided to roll it up and put it in the garage until we could dispose of it. That chemical smell was too much.
Next we turned our attention to the planting beds. I pulled some weeds, fixed the landscaping fabric that had become loose due to high wind, and then we spread a couple bags of fresh mulch. Of course we didn't have enough - isn't that the way it always works? - but it still looks better than it did before.
After dinner Spouse & I were looking at area rugs for the living room on Amazon and found this one in the clearance section:
Its 8'x11' and priced at $149.99 but there was a box to click for a 'coupon' which took off an additional $22.50 so the final purchase came to $127.49 with free shipping since we are Prime members. Deals like this are why we weren't so upset about having to throw away the previous rug. It should arrive on Wed.
A few minutes into the spot-treating I noticed a very strong smell. Typically rug cleaning products have a nice, fresh scent but this smelled the opposite. I asked Spouse if he noticed the smell too and he immediately said yes.
Then he looked at the bottle he'd been spraying on the rug and said "Oh my god - this is insect killer!" When he'd pulled the bottles out from under the kitchen sink he didn't notice that 1 of them was insect spray.
We hoped that the carpet cleaning machine and solution would wash the insect spray smell out so we continued with our plan of cleaning the full rug with the machine. But a couple hours later as the rug was drying the smell was definitely still there. Since the rug wasn't expensive we decided to roll it up and put it in the garage until we could dispose of it. That chemical smell was too much.
Next we turned our attention to the planting beds. I pulled some weeds, fixed the landscaping fabric that had become loose due to high wind, and then we spread a couple bags of fresh mulch. Of course we didn't have enough - isn't that the way it always works? - but it still looks better than it did before.
After dinner Spouse & I were looking at area rugs for the living room on Amazon and found this one in the clearance section:
Monday, June 16, 2014
Weekend redux
This past weekend I had a rare weekend off work, and managed to resist having to meet clients on my days off.
Spouse & I decided to do some much needed power washing. Against my wishes we bought a power washer a few weeks ago. (I prefer to pay someone to do it rather than have to figure out how to use and maintain the machine to do it myself.) But Spouse really wanted to buy and use it, and well, since I bought Big Ella years ago I have no room to complain about his decision on how to spend our money.
Heread skimmed the directions and put the 117 pieces together. We removed the 4 love seats, 2 chairs, 2 end tables, 2 dining tables and 8 dining chairs from the rear screened porch and started experimenting with the 3 tips which give different widths of spray and power. After a few minutes we got the hang of it and cleaned the mildew, cobwebs, and dirt from the screened porch.
Next we cleaned all the furniture we'd taken off the porch, and then we headed around to the side entrance of the house. Because of the sun's direction, that part often does not dry thoroughly after rain and had some algae along with the dirty, cobwebs and mildew. (Note to self: consider repainting white trim a color that doesn't show so much.) We were pretty impressed with the work we did, and to my genuine surprise, we really didn't argue like we usually do when trying to complete home projects. (Spouse prefers 'fast' while I prefer 'thorough'.)
By the time we finished the side entry, the screened porch and furniture were dry, so I loaded all the furniture back into the porch while Spouse was inside making a cake.
That evening we went to cook-out at Mike & Nathan's place. Spouse made a Luau cake (my name for it) which was delicious and simple. Just make an orange flavor box cake mix according to the directions, but substitute crushed pineapple with its juice for the water. Once its cool, ice with butter cream frosting and sprinkle with coconut flakes. It was a big hit.
On Sun we had a leisurely morning at home, drinking coffee on the freshly cleaned screened porch, dead-headed the roses, and eventually got ourselves ready to go to the beach. We picked up wraps from the deli on our way so we could eat lunch at the beach with our friends Joe P, Rick, and Tim. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and really enjoyed our time at the beach. Later that evening we met up with Steven & Thad and Joe P for dinner.
It was a fun and productive weekend!
He
Next we cleaned all the furniture we'd taken off the porch, and then we headed around to the side entrance of the house. Because of the sun's direction, that part often does not dry thoroughly after rain and had some algae along with the dirty, cobwebs and mildew. (Note to self: consider repainting white trim a color that doesn't show so much.) We were pretty impressed with the work we did, and to my genuine surprise, we really didn't argue like we usually do when trying to complete home projects. (Spouse prefers 'fast' while I prefer 'thorough'.)
By the time we finished the side entry, the screened porch and furniture were dry, so I loaded all the furniture back into the porch while Spouse was inside making a cake.
That evening we went to cook-out at Mike & Nathan's place. Spouse made a Luau cake (my name for it) which was delicious and simple. Just make an orange flavor box cake mix according to the directions, but substitute crushed pineapple with its juice for the water. Once its cool, ice with butter cream frosting and sprinkle with coconut flakes. It was a big hit.
On Sun we had a leisurely morning at home, drinking coffee on the freshly cleaned screened porch, dead-headed the roses, and eventually got ourselves ready to go to the beach. We picked up wraps from the deli on our way so we could eat lunch at the beach with our friends Joe P, Rick, and Tim. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and really enjoyed our time at the beach. Later that evening we met up with Steven & Thad and Joe P for dinner.
It was a fun and productive weekend!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day
Its been a great Memorial Day weekend: the official start of the summer season here at the beach. As I mentioned on Fri, this is the 1st Memorial Day weekend in years that we have not had company, but it has been a great long weekend none-the-less.
Sat morning after having our coffee and walking the dog, Spouse & I pulled all of the porch furniture (4 rockers, 2 love seats, 2 side tables, and a bistro table and chairs) into the yard and scrubbed them all down. Then we used the leaf blower to blow all the dust, dirt, leaves, cobwebs, and other assorted bug stuff off the porch. We discovered an easy way to clean dusty cushions: with a scrub brush.
Ours came from the Dollar store. It worked great and brought those cushions back to life. The weather was absolutely spectacular (warm but not hot, clear skies, no humidity, nice breeze) so it was a good day for doing this. When the furniture was dry, we put it all back on the porch and sat and rested for a few minutes.
Then it was on to the back/screened porch. We removed the furniture, used the leaf blower to blow the debris out, scrubbed the cushions, and wiped down the posts. Its a much smaller porch with less furniture so it went much quicker. It felt really good to get our porches and porch furniture cleaned up and ready for the summer season.
Then we put together our new convertible bench/picnic table. We saw it on one of those home shopping channels and couldn't resist it. Its a bench that converts into a picnic table in seconds! Here's an unflattering photo of me sitting on the bench:
Then, in mere seconds, with a simple lift, I convert it...
...into a picnic table for 4 adults or 6 children.
Later that evening we took the convertible car to an indoor/outdoor dinner party at our new friends' Kathy & Jill's. It was a gorgeous evening so we enjoyed assorted olives, cheese and crackers, and cocktails (Cosmos for me) outside on their deck and screened porch. Kathy & Jill are terrific hostesses and served a fabulous dinner of flank steak, salmon, grilled veggies, bow tie pasta with gorgonzola, and green salad with goat cheese. Everything was so tasty! We met lots of great/fun people too.
Sun morning after breakfast and walking the dog, I made 2 pans of Paula Deen's corn casserole to take to George & Steve's cook-out.
The weather was warm again but more humid, but we still drove to the cook-out with the top down. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and the corn casserole was a real crowd pleaser as usual. Despite the fact that the invitation read "come at 2:00 and we'll eat at 3:00", they didn't get the burgers, hot dogs and chicken off the grill until 4:30, which meant we had to forfeit the cocktail party we were supposed to attend later that evening. But we had a lot of fun.
Today the weather was quite changeable. We had sunshine, humidity, sprinkles, clouds, rain, thunder and lightening, all within the last 8 hours. Spouse & I decided to do some much needed housecleaning before showering and heading out the door. We made a stop at Home Depot to look at some tile samples, then tried out a new place for lunch we heard about yesterday at the cook-out. Over lunch we discussed some of the details of our upcoming trip to NYC. It seems as if just overnight our roses started blooming, so before it started raining today I took these photos. (Click to enlarge.)
Here are some other cute things (the names of which I can't remember) we have blooming right now.
I hope all of these will survive when they are transplanted, in preparation for the addition. Spouse & I aren't 'good gays' in the sense that we don't love gardening and don't know much about caring for plants. But fortunately we have the internet and friends who know.
Sat morning after having our coffee and walking the dog, Spouse & I pulled all of the porch furniture (4 rockers, 2 love seats, 2 side tables, and a bistro table and chairs) into the yard and scrubbed them all down. Then we used the leaf blower to blow all the dust, dirt, leaves, cobwebs, and other assorted bug stuff off the porch. We discovered an easy way to clean dusty cushions: with a scrub brush.
Ours came from the Dollar store. It worked great and brought those cushions back to life. The weather was absolutely spectacular (warm but not hot, clear skies, no humidity, nice breeze) so it was a good day for doing this. When the furniture was dry, we put it all back on the porch and sat and rested for a few minutes.Then it was on to the back/screened porch. We removed the furniture, used the leaf blower to blow the debris out, scrubbed the cushions, and wiped down the posts. Its a much smaller porch with less furniture so it went much quicker. It felt really good to get our porches and porch furniture cleaned up and ready for the summer season.
Then we put together our new convertible bench/picnic table. We saw it on one of those home shopping channels and couldn't resist it. Its a bench that converts into a picnic table in seconds! Here's an unflattering photo of me sitting on the bench:
Then, in mere seconds, with a simple lift, I convert it...
...into a picnic table for 4 adults or 6 children.
Later that evening we took the convertible car to an indoor/outdoor dinner party at our new friends' Kathy & Jill's. It was a gorgeous evening so we enjoyed assorted olives, cheese and crackers, and cocktails (Cosmos for me) outside on their deck and screened porch. Kathy & Jill are terrific hostesses and served a fabulous dinner of flank steak, salmon, grilled veggies, bow tie pasta with gorgonzola, and green salad with goat cheese. Everything was so tasty! We met lots of great/fun people too.
Sun morning after breakfast and walking the dog, I made 2 pans of Paula Deen's corn casserole to take to George & Steve's cook-out.
The weather was warm again but more humid, but we still drove to the cook-out with the top down. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone, and the corn casserole was a real crowd pleaser as usual. Despite the fact that the invitation read "come at 2:00 and we'll eat at 3:00", they didn't get the burgers, hot dogs and chicken off the grill until 4:30, which meant we had to forfeit the cocktail party we were supposed to attend later that evening. But we had a lot of fun.Today the weather was quite changeable. We had sunshine, humidity, sprinkles, clouds, rain, thunder and lightening, all within the last 8 hours. Spouse & I decided to do some much needed housecleaning before showering and heading out the door. We made a stop at Home Depot to look at some tile samples, then tried out a new place for lunch we heard about yesterday at the cook-out. Over lunch we discussed some of the details of our upcoming trip to NYC. It seems as if just overnight our roses started blooming, so before it started raining today I took these photos. (Click to enlarge.)
Here are some other cute things (the names of which I can't remember) we have blooming right now.
I hope all of these will survive when they are transplanted, in preparation for the addition. Spouse & I aren't 'good gays' in the sense that we don't love gardening and don't know much about caring for plants. But fortunately we have the internet and friends who know.I find it curious that my 3-day Memorial Day weekend had nothing to do with remembering fallen soldiers. 
I really do appreciate the sacrifice made by those brave men and women, but for some reason it seems to have nothing to do with my thoughts and behaviors during Memorial Day weekend.
I really do appreciate the sacrifice made by those brave men and women, but for some reason it seems to have nothing to do with my thoughts and behaviors during Memorial Day weekend. Here's hoping that all of you had terrific Memorial Day long weekends!
Crush du Jour: Michael Churchill
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