Our Outdoor Projects for July

I spend time this week over 3 days working in the barn, shed, and yard. My husband helped a lot too.


I returned things to the shed to were they belonged and straightened up. I had previously spent a day cleaning up this space in late June. It's not too bad but will probably get a bit more tidy before winter.

I straightened up the 1st stall of the barn, collected donations, and trashed a few things.

















In a previous post I mentioned removing our 26 yrs. daughters stuff from the barn and taking it to her storage locker. It freed up the back of the 2nd stall in our barn. I moved a few things around, collected a few things to donate, discard unneeded items, and swept the floors. My husband moved the wood crate from the 3rd stall into the empty spot in the 2nd stall. He cut up wood border, a few pallets, and logs that we had for firewood. We both stacked the wood into the new area that we are storing it. This freed up our 3rd stall so that we can get the camper a bit further into the stall once the camping season is over. My discard pile from this project will be in the Clutter Busting post at the end of the month.

















Once we moved the firewood, I took all the bricks that were under the wood crate and stacked them with our brick pile that we're collecting to build a patio. I used the scalloped concrete border around our shed and removed the wood border. We have more space for the camper to store during the winter.

We haven't done much in the yard since I posted in May about Our Finished Outdoor Overhaul.
We've been rather lazy and just mowing the lawn. Our vegetable garden doesn't have anything growing cause of the weeds and we have weeds in the flower beds too. I did go out and started to weed around the shed, my fairy garden area. I removed all the timber border and added the scalloped concrete border that I had. It wasn't enough so I'll need to look for more that is similar at the hardware store.

Wine Country Chicken Salad

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless), cooked and chopped into one-inch cubes

1 bunch red seedless grapes, cut in half

2 celery stalks, cut in half lengthwise, then chopped finely

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo (or to taste)

1-2 tablespoons Apple Cider vinegar

2 teaspoons poppy seeds or celery seed

salt and pepper to taste

In another bowl, combine the chicken, grapes, celery and nuts. Pour mayo/vinegar mixture over chicken and veggies then mix together. Cover and place in the refrigerator for two hours (or overnight) to chill and allow flavors to heighten. Serve with whole grain bread or crackers with dark green leafy lettuce. Delicious, nutritious, and refreshing on a hot day!

Redesigning and Cleaning Wreaths

I spent a day redesigning and cleaning my wreaths in the living room, family room, and kitchen. I've had them for many years, they get dusty and every so often I get bored with the design. 


I have two wreaths that I keep on the double doors leading to my living room. I put the original design together and hung them 15 yrs. ago, it was past due for a change up. I took the greenery/flowers off, added a variety of lace from my craft stash, and re-added the greenery. I'm going to buy silk hydrangea to add later. I hung them on my curtain holder to take the pictures since we're working on the family room and I couldn't rehang them yet.

  













The second of the two wreaths that I keep on the double doors leading to my living room.

I took all the silk hydrangea out of the metal basket, sprayed them in the shower, laid them on a towel to dry, dusted the Spanish moss the best I could, and rearranged the hydrangea back into the basket. I'm not sure yet were I putting this one yet, it had been in the kitchen.

This wreath I laid the whole thing into the shower, sprayed it off, and let it dry before rehanging it.

I put this wreath in the kitchen sink, sprayed it with the sprayer, laid it to dry, and rehung it back on the kitchen door leading to the basement. I dusted the cross too.  

Fruit Salad

8 oz. lemon flavored yogurt

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

2 apples, peeled and diced

2 bananas, sliced

In a large bowl combine the yogurt with the vanilla and nutmeg. Add the fruit and toss. Chill and serve.

Clutter Busting Challenge June 2018

I'm purging 43 items this month. I forgot to take a picture of 9 of the items. Wow, this have turned out to be the biggest declutter month that I've had in a while. The bulk has been my husband purging his electronic/electrical items. 


My Purge Pile:

June 2018 Reading List

Aloha Brides by Yvonne Lehman

Aloha Love

Picture Bride

Love from Ashes

KonMari: Komono

My husband and I each got older Kindles for the camper. We got one on eBay and our oldest son gave us his old one. I'm using the older one that our son gave us. It came with the plastic protective cover. I had the fabric Vera Bradley cover for quite a few years but hadn't used it cause I didn't have an e-reader. I'm happy that the Kindle fits and my cord too.

  















The Kindle my husband got is a newer version that mine. He ordered a plastic protective cover to go on his since it didn't already had one. We're both happy with our Kindles and have enjoyed playing on them together.

I update my houseplant shelves in the laundry room. I moved things around a bit and repotted a few plants.

 My husband has discarded several electrical items. I don't mind him having a lot of things under this category since it's his job/hobby. I'm glad he's releasing things that he can't use. I'd like him to be able to use his things and enjoy them rather than be stored unused. 

And more electrical. I forgot to take a picture of the first 5 items before donating them.

My husband spent a good bit of time organizing his tool bag with a few organizers that he bought.

The organizers with his tools in them.

I updated my planner, the family calendar, our 5 yr. plan on Google Sheets, and our Trip Plans Notebook.

Our 5 yr. plan on Google Sheets under the camping tab. We picked our camping trips and paid for them in advanced for the 2018 camping season.

I printed and added my own items to the 26 week Konmari list from the group I follow on Facebook. I still have a few projects to do  under some of the categories.

• Children’s Belongings- Paint the grandkids furniture stored in the barn.
• Furniture- Paint the family room and refinish the floor.
• Sentimental- Delete unwanted digital pictures, organize our 6 photo boxes of printed pictures, scan printed pictures to digital, and update our gallery wall.