30 Days to Clean: Still at it!

My 30 days ended weeks ago, but I am still finding things to deep clean. Just today, I spent a couple of more hours in my office, resulting in a large trip to the garbage bin. When I looked in the bin to deposit the trash, I was reminded of another deep clean.

Since I was on a roll, I hauled another load to the local thrift store. Those of you who didn't think I was a hoarder, have to be changing your mind by now. One Extremely large garage sale, a dozen trips to the thrift store, listings on craigslist, and I can still find a trunk full to give away. No wonder my mother kept bringing me cleaning supplies in an effort to kick start me!

Summer Dreams

 
 When I was a kid, my parents made sure to give us lots of great memories. One of my favorites happened in the summer. The public swimming pool had family night once a week. On that night you were allowed to bring inflatables! As a child that was a big deal. As if that wasn't enough fun. After our swim, all seven of us would pile into the family station wagon and drive to "the A&W" to get a milk jug full of root beer, then home. At home, we would sit on the front porch, swatting bugs, talking to passersby, and sipping on our root beer floats.

As you could probably imagine, root beer floats remain one of my favorite flavors of summer.

Today was that last day of daycare before school starts back up, so I brought in ice cream and root beer, so that 60 kids could have a taste of old fashioned summer. The best part though, was that I brought in too much, so we got to have them again at home with My Vet!

(Don't you just love these cute glasses I picked up at a garage sale in Iowa?)

Window Seat

The previous owners of my house loved to ad random details, even if they didn't match the style of the house. I like clean modern lines, so I have been slowly removing the random bits of ginger breading, and other froufrou bits. One of the remaining thorns is the portal window in the girls room. (We do not live on a boat, it isn't a nautical style home, just another random detail. Aarg Matey!)

Since my oldest starts Kindergarten in 2 weeks, I decided to fulfill one of my childhood fantasies. I am building a reading nook, and every good reading nook needs a window seat. I have some scrap wood from an earlier demolition, and I have a bit of extra time today. So here goes.

I started by finding a basic plan that I liked. Then measured my space, and then recalculated all of the pieces so it would fit my space, and the lumber bits I salvaged. I remembered to grab my safety glasses, and to measure twice, cut once. (Thank you Norm for all those years hosting The New Yankee Workshop.)

Because I was using what I had, I ripped some wider boards down with the table saw, before cutting them to length. After I had all of my boards cut to length, I pre-drilled and fastened them together. It took about 1 1/2 hours start to finish. I even used the air compressor to blow the sawdust off the tools before putting them away. My recent surge in cleaning, is sticking with me!

Once my box was built, I used putty to fill the screw holes, sanded, primed, and painted. I like to paint outside as often as possible. I find that things dry faster, and the entire project moves along at a quicker pace. Be certain to work in the shade though. Paint doesn't usually dry well in hot, direct, sunlight. I had the added bonus of being able to watch an American Bald Eagle soaring over head. Having not grown up here, it always amazes me to see such awesome sights during regular daily activities.

She was ready to go to the Splash Park,
but kind enough to help me out.

Here's another look so you don't have to scroll back up.