Fall/Winter Projects Continued!

Holly, don't worry about that. Go ahead and get a better one. About once a quarter, I step outside of my comfort zone and learn one or two of the camera's other features. I master those techniques and practise them repeatedly, then I don't forget them. If I took a course and learned a whole bunch at once, I would forget most of it. I'm the same way with software programs. If you don't use it, you lose it.

Stormy, I would love to get something along the line of a Cannon 40D, But it has been so long since I've shot an SLR I'd have to be retrained. I did a few nice shots of the kids on a visit to Hershey Gardens and in Florida before my Mamia gave up the ghost. When I lived in Jersey, a friend and I had our own darkroom, so we could afford to play. There was also an under utilized darkroom at the local community college we could get into, if we brought our own solutions (I worked and attend there). We had our fun playing with the art. I have some old pics I did of the Trenton area and up the river to the"Gap",Bucks County, New Hope, places I'd love to revisit, if I ever get the time. Nostalgia, has alas caught me again. Ric

I'd love to be able to figure out how to use Rick's fancy Nikon but I have a hard enough time with my little point and shoot! My children had to teach me how to use some of the features, like adding audio to the images or taking short videos, and I've already forgotten how :(

Project update - we were successful in getting the cabinets into the closet space at the end of the hall yesterday. We knew it wasn't going to be easy but we did it - YAY! We had to remove the trim moulding from the bedroom door to squeeze it in and I'll have some patching to do but one more thing we can cross off the project list :) Speaking of cameras, we've decided it will be the perfect storage area for ALL of Rick's camera equipment :) He even said he'd share the space with me and I can store my teeny little box of extras for my camera! LOL

That is funny RCN. Around here we end up having to remove dos and trim all of the time. For some jobs we've had to remove windows too. Oh well, things always do get back together and the little nicks and edges get retouched.

Things are progressing in my seed room. No water yet but my work counter is up and wiring is almost finished. Just starting a few seeds got the ball rolling. I am slowing moving more seed starting supplies in, but trying to leave enough room for DH to finish his work. So until the water is hooked up and all the wiring is done the room is not officially mine.

I jumped from a Canon AE1 35mm film camera into an early Sony digital Mavica floppy disk less than one pixel camera about ten years ago. Played with that for five or six years and two years ago bought the Canon Rebel XTI. I have been learning ever since. The first thing I have learned is that I had a poor salesman. He should have presented me with the virtues of a Canon D40. He should have been using my stated intended uses to absolutely be presenting fast quality lens features. He chalked up a thousand dollar sale to a customer who would have given serious consideration to even better quality than the Rebel XTI. Don't read this wrong! The Rebel XTI is a very good camera. The question is always.....how much quality do you want to get out of it? And................what will be your principle use of it?

Today Canon has a D50 and possibly one even better. Today I am more or less stuck with the Rebel XTI when I really should have at least the D40 and two fine fast high quality lens to satisfy my now understood need. That salesman should have understood my needs or stepped back and found another sales representative that did know. I am now faced with at least an eight hundred dollar loss to just change camera body and one lens. The D40 and the desired features with two good lenses is a really big chunk of change. We are talking the cost of a decent second hand car. If I should sell out to move up the recovery income might reach five hundred dollars if I would get real lucky. Second hand Canon XTI bodies are about four hundred bucks while the two lower end lenses might yield a hundred bucks.

The message here is know what you are into before you pop the change on the counter. Know what the camera will and will not do well. Most floor or counter sales people are on a monthly pay plus commissions. They do not usually have a whole lot of training or experience. Know enough to check on line costs as compared to local costs. Most local shops have to at least be giving significant discounts to be in the ball park with on line sales. When you approach a Canon D40 and two fast high quality lens
choices with motion correction built in the difference could be a thousand dollars or more between list price local and every day discount at a national mail order firm like B & H in NYC. Your local shop can meet them pretty well if they choose to do so.

A good point and shoot between two hundred and two hundred and fifty bucks may be enough camera for most photographers. A whole lot of good pictures can be made with six to eight mega pixels.

I need a room like that. Now that I can not rip and tear into the outside gardening the kitchen sink and counter is taking a beating.

Your room would be a possible dream for a lot of us. That's really nice.

Lady, I love the extension counter that you put in. Is underneath of it going to be for storage ot more seed racks?

Wow I sure could use a surface like that in my upstairs plant / junk room. I do all my potting at the kitchen counter and then moved the trays upstairs. At least I have water up there but no sink and very little counter space. Looking good LadyG.

Thanks everyone, I guess I created plant room envy. That coal bin room sure is a gardeners blessing.

I'm going to leave the space open, I have some plastic storage bins with pots, and I want to find a stool so that I can sit down to work at the counter. If room, a trash can.
I'm not ruling out another PVC plant stand in the future. Maybe under the window.

my mom has a coal room in her house... now a storage area for our old toys.. ebay dream!

Allison, You could pay for some remodeling!

the whole seller thing on ebay confused me... just have to read everything again.. I have a box of stuff she gave me already... but I couldn't figure it all out

You will figure it out. It's not that hard.

wasn't sure if it's better so set a minimum.. or just leave it open.. so many options

allison, I will dmail you

ladyg that is looking nice. I just potted my winter dormant geranium while squatting on the floor by my plant stand and sink. A counter and stool would be nice!
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DH is getting hyped on bathroom remodel. We are trying to figure out if we can take our two small baths and combine to one really nice one Would probably mean moving a toilet a foot or two to one side, and moving shower/ tub drains, and opening a wall. Just not sure how hard the plumbing could be--but there's a plumbing supply place that would probably give advice in order to try and sell the fixtures. This would still give us two and a half baths in our four BR house--that sounds enough, esp if one bath is really updated and nice. I'm just nervous about doing it right. Amateur mistakes could really drag down a premium style. and we all know I do not decorate well.

Chris, your seed room is looking great! You've got me thinking maybe I should switch my plans for seed starting in the basement. I had planned to set up something in the "finished" half but I might want to consider setting it up on the "workshop" half. Kicking myself because I passed up a couple of nice metal shelves I saw beside the dumpsters yesterday - I might want to go back this morning and see if they're still there!

Took a couple of quick photos early this morning and wanted to share - I got the "frames" and baseboard installed on the kitchen island yesterday - finally! I took this one before I started nailing them up to show how different they looked after applying the gel stain.

I never tried the gel... looks like it worked well

And this is the "before and after" :)

I'd never used it either and it worked great! It's tough as nails on the walls but I will have some touch ups to do on the frames. They're not real wood, they're just the MTF (foam) and they don't hold the stain as well. Still, it saved me a lot of money, cost me less than $50 to get this look and $15 was just for the stain!

great job!!

rcn--well worth it, looks great, esp at that price.

Last attempt to work on this bathroom saw a hole knocked in the tile (to fix a leak by the shower) and then abandonment for two years...Much better at starting than finishing.
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I should update the window dressing down here. Dollar a yard home sewn valances on old cheapo curtain rods with cardboard for a faux wide rod look, over a dozen years old.

I see someone watches HGTV

just enough to be in trouble--or constantly feel out of style. So hard to apply those concepts to my real house! A split foyer--no style inherent whatsoever.
Christopher Lowell does some cool shows.

Debbie, those cabinets look great! That gel stain and the picture frame moulding really spiffed things up. It may be buried in this thread already, but what kind of gel stain did you use? Maybe I should switch. And Lady, I think you are inspiring all of us to set up seed starting in the basement. I've been working on de-cluttering the unfinished work area, and I think I'll be doing my seeds down there this year too. Now I just have to figure out how to rig up a utility sink. Terri

terri- even an un 'drained' sink with a bucket would be nice. You can re use the caught water right there. Oh, whoops, guess you still want a water supply.

Pictures NOT opening at this time....I know dave is still working on some issues on here....

Sally--
You give me some thought........
You are so early doing some things--like your Geraniums....Have you already started some seeds also?
I have not done anything yet....Do you know something i do not???? please share!

Been thinking I should, at least, gather up some cell packs, sterilize them and get them ready for seed starting.....
My light set-up shelf is in full use at this time with all the Coleus cuttings and others rooting....

May I recomend to you, Sally, that you go to HD and buy the book "1-2-3 of Plumbing". These 1-2-3 books are SOOOO amazing! They are wonderfully illustrated and walk you through every step of everything that you need to do--in this case--Plumbing. Even have humorous little asides of when something might go wrong....
They cost between $15-$19.
They have many, many 1-2-3 books on many topics.....Even Gardening--and it is amazing!

Gita

Terri, I had thought about using glaze with a stain or black paint to get the island darker but I was real nervous about using the glaze - messy AND stinky! Did a ton of research and decided to go with the gel stain and it worked beautifully :) The walls of the island are laminate so there was no way regular stain would work and the gel works like paint and dries fast! It took me two coats to get the tone I wanted but we were both impressed with the finish. You can use it on bare wood as well but I haven't tried that yet.

Sally--You are too funny!!!! You always crack me up! Love it!

I just brought in my 3 big pots of my Geraniums--still in the pots they grew all Summer in--into my basement last Fall.
They are mostly drying up--but at the same time are also growing measly new stems and leaves....I water them sparingly--now and then.....Will cut them back when i put them outside and re-fresh the soil and water them and feed them and hope they "explode" with new growth. Never done this before.....Just being "cheap".....

My dug up roots of my 4 O'Clocks, that I promised my Manager, will soon be buried in some potting soil that I have dumped into a big box from all my "used" pots. A good way to recycle this soil, don't you think? Then--I will further re-use it in my big planters outside. Amended--of course.

The Brugs never really "die"--even in their dormant state. They will always have the tips producing tiny, new leaves.
All that means is that ALL IS WELL! THEY ARE ALIVE!!!!

I no longer have any "mature" Brugs--as I gave the two biggies away last Fall.
My "biggest" one now is one of the one Chantelle gave me. Sorry to say--that both of the ones she gave me were mis-identified. NOT by her--but by whomever gave these to her! Shame on them!

One was supposed to be a "Dr. Seuss"--but it ended up being just like the "Rose Souvelons" one I had.
It is the biggest one I now have--but is experiencing serious die-back of the tops of the stems. I will wait until I put this one outside and then cut the stems all back to live wood--even if it has to be below the "Y"..

The other one--which was supposed to be a "Charles Grimaldi"--ended up being a very well-growing plant--but another pink Brug that only bloomed after I brought it inside--but this one's blooms were long and pendulous. It is almost futile to try to ID a pink Brug! They are the majority and have SO many cultivars......

The third one I have is the "Baby Maya"--which did well last Summer and is holding it's own in my basement....
One tough variety--I tell you! That was the one with the gazillion blooms-- four times last Season.....The one 7'x7' in size that I gave away to the Cylburn Arboretum! Would have been nice to hear back from them re this donation.....

It is, almost, like i am starting fresh---and asking myself WHY???????
By now--been there---done that-----HUH? WHY???? WHY?????

Made my way through knee-deep snow to my shed today and brought in a stack of cell packs so I can get ready for seeding......Won't do it until beg. of March for the Daturas--and mid-March for everything else.....Chomping at the bit for patience required in all this......:o)

Reflecting back on all my failed/crippled seedlings last Spring--especially my Tomatoes--I have been thinking that, maybe, me spraying them with water that had H2O2 in it might have crippled them. Just b/c I read somewhere that it was good to do that---does not mean i should have done that. NOT gonna do it at all this year......NOPE!
Just water-----till they grow big enough to, maybe, want a drop or two of MG.

BIG question!!!!!
HAS ANYONE, YET, CLAIMED THE PLANT SWAP EVENT FOR THIS SPRING??????????? HOLLY and RIC ??????
They did such an excellent job last year! YES YOU DID--Holly and Ric!!!!! Loved being there!!!!

I know my brain is "muddled" by all this snow--and I am dreaming of things to come----PLEASE????????

Gita

We got a hundred lbs. of ear corn on our way to the weekend wrestling meet. Betty put out three ears Sunday AM and within two hours or less the squirrels were eating like there was no tomorrow. By this afternoon a front was moving in. All the wildlife were very actively eating their offerings. Those first three ears of corn are gone. Three more are in the feeder. They will attack as soon as the snow stops falling early tomorrow AM.

I have a wild house cat eating our birds. Anyone want a good birder? It just appeared within the past three days. We have coyote. It will not be here long. :)

RCN, WOW that looks great love the stain. Thanks for that pic where the molding was off it gave a great contrast. The before and after pic "huge" difference well worth the effort. Can't wait to see the tile work.
Gita, Thanks so much Ric and I would definitely be up to hosting again in another year or so. R_R_R is going to host a more northern swap and there was talk of Bec hosting a more southern swap. I haven't seen exact dates and not sure if there is any thing else in the works. Holly

Debbie, what a difference, I really like it, so warm and rich looking.
We have a really creative DIY bunch here. Keep up the great work.

Deb, Your Island looks really great. That gelstain is a really neat product.

Sally, I think you underestimate your decorating ability. You should go ahead with that bathroom project.

Teri, you could put one of those sinks down there that gets hooked up to a hose if you have any water down there at all. They cost about $70. You could even run a hose in through a window and just pull it back inside when you're done.

No photos this morning but hopefully tomorrow. Other than a few minor issues yesterday, the ceramic tile is up! Considering that I'm pretty much a novice at this, I was pleased it only took me three hours :) I've laid tile on a floor and counter before but this was my first wall. A little anxious about doing the grouting today but hoping to come back later and report it was successful! Now, if I can just get this behind me I'll be able to finally start thinking about setting up a seed station :)

Whew! I apologize, I've been so busy I haven't been back here to post my photos. I am so pleased with how everything is looking in the kitchen. Plus, I got my daughter's stamp of approval when she saw the photos and you know how fussy she is! LOL

The good news is that it's basically done. Bad news, Rick is so impressed with the ceramic tile that he wants me to continue tiling all the way around the counters - so I'm not done yet! At first he just wanted me to add a few tiles on the right side so it would like it disappeared behind the refrigerator. He was so funny, just kept staring at the tiles and before I knew it we were making the decision to do the rest of the backsplash :) It really wasn't that bad, only took me 3 hours to get the tiles up and even though I have a larger area to cover for the rest of it, I've got "experience" now so it shouldn't take me as long :)

Here's what it looks like from the living room...

I'm not sure it's easy to see in that photo but my WHITE toaster is driving me crazy! And I thought my daughter was the fussy one! LOL Everything else is either black or almond so it just sticks out like a sore thumb. I had painted our white can opener with bronze spray paint but I was hesitant to use it on the toaster because of the heat. Rick finally got tired of hearing my whining and I'll have a new toaster soon :)

Oops, was going to post another photo but realized I have one where you CAN see the white toaster! LOL And if you look closely you can see the "new" bronze can opener to the right of the microwave :)

And here's the close up of the fossil tiles and bronze "rope". I had a little problem with the width of the grout because the fossils are grouped together in a sheet of eight and I had to fudge it. Plus I got a little off center, only about a 1/4" but I now realize how easily just a teeny little difference can throw everything off :(