Welcoming Autumn With a New Heating & Cooling Unit

 DH is incredibly handy and he does so much around here that it's a rare event when we have service people out - but we had a local fiberglass company out to resurface some water troughs earlier this week - the fella that owns this company has day worked for us in the past. He's also a ranch owner and probably one of a handful of people DH respects the most.

                        

then the next day we celebrated the arrival of Autumn with a new heating & cooling unit. 

We've been fighting our old unit all summer and have been dealing with a local company. They've been out no less than 8 times and we finally decided that a new unit was in order. Problem was, they didn't carry and could not get the brand requested by the owner so a different company was brought into the picture. Seeing these work trucks in our drive was a happy sight:

We know from experience that working on worn out, old ranch houses is a challenge

Not only does this crew receive high marks for quality work and kind, polite servicemen, they also get an extra gold star for this

One of the servicemen was weed-eating around the old unit and he kept going! I told him he didn't need to be doing that - it was on my list for the weekend - but he said he was just supervising the rest of the crew and he liked to stay busy and do a little extra for their clients. Who does that these days!? And how very sweet!

He ran the weed eater around the entire front part of the yard and would have  kept going, but his battery died. LOL. I told him he was hired and around here, going the extra mile deserves a fresh-baked reward

Needless, to say, they get an A++ for customer service!

And the Painting Continues...

Once the living room had been repainted, the dining room was next on the list. One of the many things I love about this old house is the 9' ceilings and the big windows. The dining room only has one window, but it's a big  picture window that lets in lots of good light. It faces west and brings in lots of the afternoon heat which is really nice in the winter, but not so much during the desert summers. Thus the glare -

Still, the paneling made it feel like a cave and my mission to banish all 70's paneling must continue. I guess it was kind of cozy, but all of our furniture just felt like it was invisible against the brown. Here are the before shots:

Since its just the 2 of us these days, I don't keep any leaves in the table, but I have 2 large leaves that I add when I have a crowd:

I have 2 hides that I keep under the table too, but they were out on the fence waiting to be whacked with a rug beater. One more wall waiting for Kilz:

I used a color called Heath:

The red curtains have to go now.

But this room is done. Up next - the kitchen. I hope to tackle it after the 4th.

What I've Been Stitching

...not much! Whew! It's been a long time since I sat in this spot though!

Sometimes I wonder what I do with my time that I can't find the time to sew. By the time I sit down in the evening, I'm just too tuckered out. With more daylight hours, it's after 7 before we even get in. Supper, shower, and bed pretty much finishes out the rest of the day. Haven't  a clue as to what is even going on in the world. This morning we were out the door just after 4 and headed to my in-laws, 2 hours from here, to help them butcher a beef.

On a positive sewing note, I'm acing this fabric fast! :) I did have to order just a tad for a wedding gift I'm making, but my friend, Theona, assured me it didn't count if I bought it to make a gift. I wanted to match the fabric I had used for the shower gift for a coordinating set that matched her kitchen.

We're gearing up for our Spring Works next week and this week has been full, but I finally made some time to stitch. The only thing I had worked on since the baby quilt - was that February or March?...was a few potholders and a grocery sack holder like this,

 but using the coffee fabric, for the wedding shower,and I added a recipe book where she can keep all of her recipes together. I made 2 more sets of potholders when I made Sara's and I'll get those bound one of these days.

 I took Lora's daughter to lunch the other day and she mentioned that she would like to come over sometime and see how they are made. And another friend of the kids' came to spend the day on Wednesday. She just made her first quilt and asked if I would show her how to make and sew on the binding. Sweet girl and we had a very fun day together.

So before she came, I thought it would be a good idea if I blew the dust off of my sewing machine. I picked up 2 quilts from Jackie last week that I had dropped off in February so I stitched the bindings on to them and they too are waiting for some hand stitching time.

Then I made curtains to cover up some troublesome shelves in the mudroom - laundry room - entry way.

I'm very thankful for that room, but good gravy, is it ever an eyesore and I'm trying to spruce it up a bit since its the first room you walk through when you come into the house.

For a long time, the ceiling was half blue and half yellow. That's just the way it was when we moved in. I finally painted over the blue. Then we have these shelves. They are very handy and filled with stuff that just needs a place to live. Rags, and light bulbs, and laundry soap, and yes that is a flag that I took down because the wind shredded it, and winter boots, and small coolers, and syringes, and gloves, and egg cartons, and trash bags, and paper plates, and just stuff. Please tell me that we're not the only ones who have this 'stuff'.  How do y'all keep it all organized? I've kind of corraled them into baskets, but it still seemed awfully messy.

So I stitched up curtains and my handy hubby came up with a way to attach metal pipe to the shelves.

They are easily removable so that the curtains can be washed. I had initially bought some curtain rods, but DH took one look at them and said, "Ummm...no. I've got something better." They WERE kinda flimsy and this pipe is a much better option.

Edited to add a few detailed shots of DH's handiwork:
 These are built in shelves that had to have been welded in the room. They are not going anywhere. They wouldn't fit through a door. DH drilled holes through the middle support and on each end.He inserted a solid metal rod that is about 8" long and smaller in diameter than the pipe:

I just slide the rod from one side to the other and release the pipe when I need to wash the curtain:

He asked me how I wanted to do this and I told him to fix it up the easiest way possible. I didn't want him to have to make hooks and weld supports and make things complicated. We have enough things waiting in the wings as is and I really think this is the perfect solution.

I've had this fabric in my stash for a couple of years. It's a textured upholstery fabric that's nubby and rough and just about perfect for this spot. I think they'll stay cleaner if they're not dragging the floor so I hemmed them a tad shorter than floor length.

I am super happy with the end result. Its kinda hard to get a decent picture in that room with the long window, but those shelves run the length of the room which is just over 11'. The washer and dryer sit opposite the shelves:

And that's about as exciting as the sewing gets around here lately. :)

My Mission

As I mentioned previously, I started painting. We live in a old ranch house that has lots of potential. Alas, ranch houses are not a priority when it comes to running a ranch and keeping the books in the black. I call this my little crooked house in the desert. I'm not going to detail all the things that need to be done to it, because those are not the things that make this our home and I'm a glass half-full kinda gal. I love this old house. We've made many good memories in this house. However, after 10 years of living here, the 70's paneling must go. :) I've avoided it for the simple reason that I have been afraid to tackle it. I have come close to ripping it out, but in an old ranch house, that often causes more problems. A few years back we had to pull the paneling in our one and only bathroom due to a leak and the sheet rock was in less than desirable shape and I'm no sheet rocker. So painting it is. We've got paneling in the kitchen, living room, dining room, and one bedroom. Sigh. I'm starting in the living room and I finally took the plunge by just slapping on one paint brush loaded with some left over paint in the middle of a wall one day:

DH asked, "Why did you do that?"
I answered: "Because now I am committed. There is no turning back. I have to do SOMETHING."

I'm sure the thought that I really OUGHT to be committed has crossed his mind in the past and most certainly on more than one occasion. :)

I researched online and read about sanding and filling in the crevices and more sanding and removing all the dust and priming...all before painting. I am not afraid of work, but I was going to be tackling this all by myself and that just did not sound appealing at all.

Now for those of you asking, :Why doesn't her DH help? With 128,000 acres to tend to, DH is covered up and  the last thing I want to do is give him another thing to do. If it really mattered to me, he would find the time. We're a team and he's always willing, but I know what he has on his plate and I've got this and truth be told, I think I get an odd sense of satisfaction by tackling this by myself ...not unlike a 2-yr old who insists, "I DO IT".

A few weeks ago, we were at a friend's house. They live in a old ranch house too and they had painted their paneling. It looked really nice so I interrogated her about how they did it. She said Kilz and paint. The end. Now THAT is doable! So thanks for pushing me over the edge, R. :)

So then I fretted over choosing the right color...for a couple of weeks. This should not be this hard, but I was paralyzed by the  endless choices. Eenie...meenie...miney...moe:

I spent way too much time making this decision. One friend told me to throw a dart. I got orange.

Ummm...not working for me. but you are funny T.

Another told me that it was not a tattoo so if I didn't love it, I could paint over it. LOL - that made me laugh.

Now one of these friends lives in Michigan and the other in Colorado. They ought to be very thankful they live so far away or I would be dragging them over here for moral support. Personally, I think they planned it that way. :)

I lived with numerous paint chips on the wall for weeks. I looked at paint colors online for days. By the way, I found out that paint colors online are not true to the actual colors. The ones I chose on the computer looked completely different in the store.

Home Depot seems to be a regular stop for us these days:

I've got a sweet Home Depot story about this trip. There was a darling, little girl, about 3, with her grandpa. She was in the cart and every time we passed each other she would pipe up enthusiastically, "Hi Cowboy!"  We chuckled every time and DH would grin and wave and say 'hi'. After about the 4th time, with the same greeting, she added, "Where are your cows?" We couldn't help but laugh out loud and thus a conversation ensued. Ended up the gentleman was her great grandfather and he and his wife were raising their great granddaughter due to a really, really sad situation. What a blessing they were to each other...and to us that day.

 My haul last week. The gloves are from the Farm Store.

I'm pretty excited about a new pair of gloves! They're not for painting, but they come in mighty handy for just about everything else around here and by the time I got the last pair, they had already been worn out by DH. I'm excited to have some that fit and don't end up hanging on the fence every time I turn around when they pull off.

Then I finally took the plunge and dove into the 5 gallon bucket of Kilz:

 I finally brought home some samples and brushed them on the wall and chose one.

What a difference! Our 9' ceilings look 3' taller.  All of our furniture is dark - leather furniture, oak bookcases, beautiful old dark piano, dark tv console. It all sunk into the dark paneled walls and disappeared.

I like our furniture and now you can actually see it. It seems to have given our piano an extra charm and I'm thinking its about time I learned to play it...and dust it. :)

I got my exercise too. Lots of trips up and down the ladder. I started out by adding 37 paneling nails in all the loose spots. The paneling has a thin strip 12" from the ceiling that covers the seam between the 8' sheet of paneling and  the 12" piece that goes to the ceiling and that made for a lot more cutting in that had to be done with a brush. I used a thick napped roller for the rest, but I still had to pay lots of extra attention to the grooves in the paneling. I'm glad its done.

The color doesn't translate to the camera very well - it just looks like cream. All that trouble for it to look like cream in pictures? Its warmer than that and it's called Rye Bread. Good thing I like rye bread.

I'm thinking the associates at Home Depot are breathing a sigh of relief now that I have stopped loitering in the paint department. Not so fast boys. I've still got 3 more rooms to tackle.