Designing in Life

A Good use for Your Old Shop Vac

With spring here, everything seems to be growing – especially the grass.

When there is a lot of snow in the winter, our neighbor comes over and uses his snow blower on our driveway.  That means in the spring there is quite a bit of stone overthrow in the grass.  Mowing over the stone is tricky, because it's possible to throw one at a car or house window.  Raking all that stone back into the driveway is no fun.  So I came up with a solution.

Using this old shop vac to collect the stone has been a time-saver.  Just plug it in and start to vac.

Every once-in-a-while open it up, and dump the stone back into the driveway.

Now I'm not sure what people thought, who were driving by watching me vacuum my lawn, but it saved me hours of raking.  Lazy?  Maybe. I'd like to think of it as innovative, because let's face it, we always need to give credit where credit is due, even if it means patting ourselves on the back a bit!

You Just Never Know

It's true.  I just never know what I'll find outside my door on any given day. 

Today is a very snowy Sunday.  This is what greeted us outside our bedroom window this morning.

To the right is a red-bellied woodpecker, and to the left is a pilated woodpecker.  The red-bellied is actually a fairly large bird, so you can see that good ol' Woody Woodpecker is huge!

I know this is a bit blurry, but it's not easy taking a picture of a woodpecker who is pecking like crazy on a tree.

Then when we opened the front door after going downstairs:

I immediately called the neighbors.  We live on a treacherous corner, and didn't want to have anything happen to the cows or a driver!

I hope you're enjoying your snowy or not-so-snowy first Sunday in March.  Was I talking about spring a few days ago??

The Age-Old Mystery of Socks

I am off for a little adventure tomorrow (remember, I mentioned how important it is to have adventure in your life!)  In preparation, I am gathering clothes to take with me.  And this is how I once again encountered the mystery of where socks go.

You see 5 single socks in the picture.  I know there are 5 that match these somewhere in this house.  The question is, "Where!!!"

How many pairs of socks do we really need?  I supposed it depends on the types of shoes you wear throughout the week.   Thinner for dressier shoes, medium for clogs, heavy for boots and white athletic for your running shoes.  So let's say 15 max.  So 5 missing is HUGE.

I have found a sock here and a sock there, stuck to towels, still in the bottom leg of my jeans, on the dryer ledge that you can not see when you open it, on the front top side of the washer (where you're too lazy to lean over and look and far too many other places to mention.  But these 5?  Vansihed.

With time on my hands these days, I found myself tearing apart drawers and shelves looking for them.  Nope.  Nowhere.  So what should I do?  Certainly not what I've done before when I've found a stray.  Throw it away, only to have its mate miracuously appear 3 days later when the trash has been emptied, and is no longer available to search through?

For the moment, they're back in the drawer.  You might think I'm crazy, but I can assure you if you go and look in your own sock drawer, you'll find unmatched socks you couldn't bear to throw away, because you just knew the mate would show up if you did!

 

Luck – Is Mine Changing?

Someone gave this to me at Christmas, and I just found it.

Okay, so it's not $5,000, but I'll take the 10!

DIY Bathroom – the Work Continues

This is for all of you who have been asking about the on-going bathroom project.

There is a working sink and toilet.  Part of the wall is painted.  The shower stall is almost permanently installed and things are moving along.

Here are a few photos to show you.

So now I really do think this will be finished by summer.  Yes, that's right – I think!

Things Always get Better

It looks as if the weather has finally taken a turn from this:

And we can now do this:

And to prove they always get better, perhaps you remember this.

 

Birds of Blue

I was looking outside to see if there were any newcomers  on the bird feeders.  Sometimes during spring migration, you might be lucky enough to spot birds that you don't usually see, because they're just passing through to their summer homes.

Spotting a blue bird on the feeder, I just couldn't figure out why a bird that eats bugs was eating sunflowers.  I got the binoculars, and I couldn't believe it.  An Indigo Bunting was sitting on the feeder munching away.  I have only ever seen one, and that was on a hike far away from houses and people.

Here is the photo I took.

Here is a photo I found, just so (in case you've never seen one) you can get the full effect of the blue.

I'm starting to think that this bird might be the only blue I'm going to see for a while.  Just like so many of you on the east coast, the skies have been nothing but gray for far too long.  Hmmm, maybe this Indigo Bunting is a sign of better things to come.  We can only hope!!

Finding Happiness

Often the things that give you the most joy in your life are just a few steps out your back door.  I found this to be true over the past 2 days.

A rainbow appeared after a torrential downpour with amazing lightning and thunder.

Just like old friends, these grosbeaks are visiting again after their winter vacation in Central/South America.

Last night's sunset that took my breath away, and left me with a feeling of incredible calm.

The Dalia Lama said, "The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness."  I couldn't agree with him more.

DIY Bathroom Continues

Yesterday...

Today...

Progress!  The wall in the soon-to-be bathroom was removed yesterday in preparation for the sink and medicine cabinet to be installed.  Because the bathroom is so small, we decided to insert them into part of the wall between the guest room/office, where the washer and dryer used to be.

I know I've mentioned this before, but there sure have been some surprising wall colors that show up when construction happens.  Notice the dark green wall on the inside of the closet.  Aren't closets dark enough with out dark green paint?

Not enough time today to put up sheet rock, so that will have to move to another day.  There is still much to do, but it certainly is hopeful seeing so much happening.

Laundry Room – the DIY Way

You might remember me posting a picture at the start of our laundry room project  earlier this year.

I'm happy to report that the washing machine, as I post, is happily washing a load of laundry.  The resident DIYer aka "Handyman Nick" has almost finished the laundry room.  Only a few minor things are left to do.

The dryer isn't downstairs yet, so it means taking laundry upstairs to be dried.  But we are soooooo close to having it completed.  Next stop, finishing the bathroom on the main floor.