Sylvia's Simple Shots

I did manage to pick a few handfuls of raspberries this week.  There are several bushes in the neighbourhood which are on my morning walk route.

I sure miss picking raspberries in Mom's garden. 

The Big Dreams Beach Hotel by Michelle Gorman writing as Lilly Bartlett.This was a nice light read.  

Rosie fled New York City after a failed relationship and the resulting loss of her job in the hospitality industry. Betrayed and devastated she headed back to her seaside home town in England.  

She now manages a quaint Victorian hotel owned by the Colonel where there are several permanent senior residents, a eccentric chef and a dog named Barry and just enough rentals to keep it afloat. 

Next, the Colonel has sold the hotel to a couple of brothers from America and a young man named Rory arrives as the transition manager. The changes are significant, renovations to the building, new decor, new menu for chef to learn, and the end to tenant contracts for some of the residents.  Where will they go?

It  has been scorching hot again this week.  

I had to place a sheet over the curtains in the dining room to keep the heat of the morning sun.  It is not cooling down overnight so it's been about 82F to 89F in the place. Soaking my head and shirt to keep cool.

These pine crates elevate my TV so I can place the DVD player and the stereo below it on the console table.

They are rough pine and are not finished.

I decided to give them a good sanding then a couple of coats of Tung Oil since they are not being used right now with everything in the living room packed.

I just did the outside since the inside will not be visible.  They are very rough and an electric sander would have been helpful but I go with what I have.

They do look better so I am happy.  It will be at least another couple of weeks before I can start putting the house back together.

It has been a full 2 weeks of waiting, emailing, researching, emailing some more to get approval to move forward with the installation of the flooring.

There's a trip to Calgary this week I hope to pick up the underlay.

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah was a book I recently finished.  This is my second or third book by this author.

Annie Colwater lives in California with her lawyer husband and daughter.  She has been a housewife for 20 years and a mother for 17.  She is a great manager of the house and her husband depends on her to make him look good.  

He wants a divorce.  What is she to do? Her daughter is off to London before college and her husband has moved out of their house.

She heads north to the small town where she grew up and spends some time with her Dad, Hank. She meets several people she went to school with and one in particular Nick Delacroix is in need of support.  His wife has died and their 6 year old daughter has been expelled from school. She is not handling the death of her mother well.  Annie offers to babysit the girl while Nick is at work.

A love story develops and she finds her purpose. 

I won these picnic place mats at the reunion raffle last weekend.

Great way to not lose your cutlery and have a clean place to eat when you are using public picnic facilities.

Great for the RV or trailer.  Washable, reusable and a great addition to any camping trip.

My sister made these and they will be added to my camping gear.

Repair Furniture - Pine Secretary Desk

I recently had occasion to move my pine Secretary Desk that I use to store my dining room stuff in such as table cloths, placements, napkin rings, etc. I knew that one of the feet was loose but it turns out 2 of the 4 feet were unglued. Trying to move this piece on carpet was not easy so I decided I would just replace the feet with casters which make it easy to move.

I purchased what I needed.  I emptied the unit and I laid the piece on its back to do an assessment of the situation.  It turns out the 2 remaining feet were very well adhered to the base. It was clear that a significant effort would be needed and very likely result in damage to the base to remove them. 

Plan B.

I guess I will re-glue the feet to the base.  I removed the felt sliders that had been applied to the feet to allow for no scratches on a hard surface but of no help on carpet.  I decided to add small glider feet to each foot to help with the moving of the unit.

The glue on the top of the feet and on the base of the cabinet needed to be removed before proceeding with new glue.

I used a sanding drum on my Dremel tool to remove the dry glue from the all 4 surfaces.

That worked really well.  When the bulk of it was gone I finished it off with a bit of hand sanding to ensure I was completely back to the wood. I forgot to photograph the feet.

Before I glued the feet back to the unit I decided to add glider feet to all 4 feet.  I sanded the place where the felt pads had been adhered to the feet.

These are 1" circle feet attached with screws which were included.  I needed longer screws on the ball feet as there was a hole in the middle of the foot.  I was able to find what I needed in my stash.  I used my drill and a small bit to make a pilot hole in the rectangular feet.  

With all the feet ready to go I moved on to gluing the 2 feet to the base. I used Carpenter glue which I had on hand. I applied a generous amount to the leg and the base including the dowel and hole in the base.  I pressed the feet in place and wiped away the glue that was pressed out.  These had to stay in place for at least 30 minutes so I used what I had to do that. 

Packing Tape is what I had on hand so I made it as tight as I could with the tape.  Applied the tape in both directions.

I waited an hour and when I removed the tape they remained in place.

I had lifted the unit onto a stack of pine boards so that when I lifted the unit the pressure would not be on the legs.  That worked really well.  Once upright I just slid it off the boards and it was standing on it's own feet again.  I think the slider feet will be very helpful if and when I need to move it again.

Here it is back in it's place.

I added shim under the front feet to ensure that it sat tightly against the wall.

I filled it with all it's stuff and it looks great.

The glue will completely dry in 24 hours and the weight of the cabinet and contents should ensure good adherence.

I am really happy with these results.

I was able to roll with the problems, come up with solutions, execute them and got a great result.

Share Your Cup #240 - This Week

Veggie Salad

It's been a while since I have been making salad primarily with veggies instead of lettuce.  The ingredients are shredded cabbage done on the mandolin and grated carrots.  I love that I have this red Tupperware bowl so I no longer have to be concerned about the carrots staining the bowl.
With the main ingredients in place I add whatever other fresh veggies I have.  I have included at various times: red and/or yellow peppers, celery, red onion, and cucumber.
Other options would be small broccoli florets, bean sprouts, and nuts.

I enjoy this substantial salad.

Furniture Repairs

These chairs are from my original solid pine INGO dining set from IKEA over 20 years ago.  They had been set aside because they had become wobbly and needed gluing.  I had bought the glue but never worked out what needed to be done. 

My sister came to spend a couple of days with me which made me very happy. While she was here she decided we would look over the problem and solved it if we could.  Yes, the original front skirt had been glued and had become unglued.  With a stop at a hardware store to buy wood glue, check to see what I had from straps, we tackled the project We applied the wood glue in the right place, wiped off the excess when we strapped it tight and let it sit for 24 hours.  A solid chair to go with the more recent solid pine table.













The glider chair I bought a year ago at the thrift store developed a problem last summer. It was tilting forward and was no longer comfortable to sit in.

Once turned over we discovered that mortise and tenon joint in the base had become unglued.  We applied glue to the tenon and set it back into the mortise.  Upon further checking, we discovered an earlier repair had been made with screws to stabilize the top tenon.  So we decided to add screws to the bottom tenon which we had just glued for insurance that it would not come apart again.  With a small drill bit she made pilot holes then she put in the .75 inch screws.  I expect to be gliding on this chair into my old age.  Thank you sister T.

I had recently purchased this maple foot stool for use with the glider chair.  I brought it out, cleaned it up, and set it in it's place at the foot of the chair. I was concerned it would be too tall but it works well for me.
It has storage space in the top which will come in handy!

Welcome to my Kitchen

We had a great fellowship time this morning with the ladies who attend Welcome to my Kitchen.  We take turns hosting, providing snacks and doing devotions.

Our hostess this morning had a lovely table set with blue and white dishes, muffins, St. Patricks' day cupcakes, yogurt, cheese and fresh fruit.  It was all very yummy!

We were able to retire to the living room following our snack and spend another hours in fellowship, sharing, praying and in general have a great time.

We had 13 ladies in attendance with a tiny little girl in training.  This is the most we had so far but there was room for everyone.

Thanks Barb!!




I took this DVD from the library last week and sat down and watched it this week.  It is a story about a woman in the USA who swaps houses with a woman in Ireland.  They are both experiencing own life changing events and a summer in a different house and community helps to put perspective on their situation.  I need to read the book now because some of the events near the end of the movie need some clarification in my mind and I am sure the book will provide all the details.  Most will know that Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite authors.

Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson who hosts Share Your Cup #240 linky party every week.

Share Your Cup - Light Furniture

This chair arrived today.  I purchased it several weeks ago while visiting my sister but it would not fit in my car for the ride home so I needed it delivered.  My sister and my brother in law brought it to my house today for the price of lunch. Thanks so much!  It's made of light colored wood  (maple? pine?) which matches the rest of the furniture in the living room which I have collected over the last 20 years. I have passed up several glider chairs in the last several months and I am glad I waited. The covers are removable and my sister had washed them once.  Someone in the past had washed the cushions without removing the covers which requires removing the buttons and putting them back once the covers are back on the cushions. The buttons were covered with the same fabric as the covers but the backs were metal.  Since the cushions were left wet for a while I suspect, the backs rusted and stained the fabric around the buttons.  These stains did not come out when they were washed the first time. I made a mixture of water and bleach half & half and sprayed it on the stains a couple of times making sure to rinse the fabric right away.  Success!!! I gave the wood of the chair a complete wash from top to bottom while the covers were in the dryer. Once the covers were dry,  I decided to replace the buttons with some from my Mom's collection (check out the small pics in the bottom corner).  I chose some ivory pearly ones with shank backs. With a long needle I threaded them to the back and tied them to pearl buttons with 2 holes.  This will allow me to easily remove them when I wash the covers.  Did you see the color of the fabric? They will need regular washing.

The cabinet on the left is a multi purpose cabinet. My TV lives on the top. Inside, it holds audio and video media, candle & wax, and other miscellaneous stuff. This is one of the original pieces of pine wood furniture I purchased from IKEA years ago.  The train on the floor in front of the cabinet was made by my Dad.  Not sure what the wood is but it fits right in!

The secretary desk on the right I purchased earlier this year.  It's pine. I bought it second hand because I could not find a real wood piece to match the furniture I bought a long time ago.  My niece even noted when she helped deliver it that "Auntie, it matches the rest of the furniture!" Exactly!  I store my table linens, cream and sugar set, vases, coasters and such in there.  These are close at hand when I want to change the look of the table.  I've put my mercury glass tree and the similar candle holder with a yellow candle. In the center is an angel tea light holder.  Above is my card holder which still holds Christmas cards.  The dining room table and sofa end tables are also pine from IKEA.
Sharing this post with Sharing Your Cup #182 hosted by Carol at Art & Sand.