Painting, gardening, friends, food, and more…

Greetings!! I hope you are all surviving the hottest summer on record – in New England at least! You can just imagine how excited that makes me.

NOT!

Never fear, the trusty old and ugly window a/c’s are keeping it nice and cool Behind My Red Door. Here’s a peak at the ugliness. Ewwww, I get shivers just seeing that! But at the same time, I am very thankful for the cool air that comes out of it. And I am very thankful for the power that keeps them running!

Because of that cool air, I was able to get to some things I wanted and needed to do since I was last here. Like paint under the chair rail in the dining room. As I said last time it is a subtle difference but an important one. I am slowly working my way around the house and soon all the rooms will be painted in Powell Buff and if there is a chair rail, Tyler Taupe below it as I want a uniform and neutral look in each room ( and if somehow Mr. Red Door lets me paint the woodwork someday, I will be ready. )

While I had the Tyler Taupe paint handy, I decided to paint the end of the cabinet in the kitchen to match the wall under the chair rail in there too. It is not the solid oak of the fronts and it really needed some updating and just in case Mr. Red Door ever concedes to let me paint the rest of the cabinets, I know I will like the color I had in mind! Shhh…. don’t tell him though because he has not even noticed this!

While I am talking about the dining room, I got several questions about how I painted the chairs black. (See last post). I am sorry I don’t have time to answer a lot of emails right now so I thought this was the best way to reach you all with my not so special painting method. First I used some #0000 steel wool and did a very quick sanding of the finish. I used steel wool because of all the curves and spindles. It is easier than sandpaper for something like that. I then tacked off that dust and then simply painted them with a cheap chip brush (go to Lowes.com and do a search for chip brush) with some not so cheap Old Century Paint in Lamp Black. It took two coats. Because the paint is such high quality, the process went rather smoothly.

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And after the wall painting project, I took a few days off and then tackled my perennial garden. In the heat. YUCK! But sometimes a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do. Knowing I can come inside and cool right down – I can get done what gets to be done. Even if I do complain about it endlessly.

Because all the rain storms in this area continue to bypass us – sometimes even by as little as a few miles - our town is in a water conservation mode to save the water in the town wells for drinking and bathing, and we can not use water outdoors. We have two rain barrels but that is just not enough for all my watering needs and my garden was and is suffering. I lost a lot of ground cover and several perennials. Others are really wilting. So I did what any prim gardener would do – I got creative with my prim garden decor. We also spread more bark mulch and it came out rather nicely and I like it so much that I am not going to fill in the big bare spots with new perennials now.

Oops, my little sign in front of the light post tipped over!

Much better!

The grass in the following picture is now all straw colored. Crispy crunchy is not how I like my lawn.

And way over in the far corner of the yard…

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And then just when I was on a roll getting prim projects done, my iPad came a week early and I got busy setting it up. I am really enjoying it and have added several apps. I even downloaded some books to read. Yes it is an eBook reader too.

For those who asked about it, here is what the screen looks like when you need to type something. See how the keyboard is close to the front edge? I love that. And when you want to type numbers or symbols, it is one stroke away to another keyboard. I find it very user friendly. And no there is no mouse. You touch the SCREEN to do everything!

By the way, it is in the black case I ordered to go with it. It opens sort of like a notebook and holds it an angle for easier typing if you choose.

Or you can see how you can flip the flap backwards to lay flat, or forward over the screen to protect it. I think it is a great accessory.

I did find a few things it does not do …and coincidentally, they both have to do with blogging! I cannot scroll a window inside window so when I go to Google reader to check out your blogs, it doesn’t work. PHOOEY! I have to compile a list of my favorites and add them to my ‘bookmarks’ but that doesn’t show when they update so I need to find another solution. The other problem is with some blog’s backgrounds. Some of them do not show up and therefore, the words don’t show up. In fact my own blog had that problem and that is why I changed my background.

But other than those problems, I love it and use it a lot for things like visiting the APP forum.

Wait, what does that say?? It’s a post from Kristine…

What did you say? You need me to get even closer? Okay how about this??

Still can’t read it?? Well normally what is discussed in the forum stays in the forum and is not to be shared outside the forum. We respect confidentiality like that. But for this, we can make an exception and I will tell you what is says!

“Are you ready??? Subscriptions will mail IN LESS THEN A WEEK on Tues. the 27th!! WOOHOO!!

Wholesale will start shipping this SATURDAY!! We will ship from the 24th through the 27th and wholesale will go out Priority Mail.

By the end of the week, you will see A PRIMITIVE PLACE at your favorite shoppe! Check the list on the site to see where you can buy the hottest new prim magazine. http:www.aprimitiveplace.org/Where-to-Buy.html”

And if they don’t carry it, just order a subscription of your own!

WOOHOO! It is so exciting. And even more exciting since I have seen the final draft in PDF format. OMGoodness. I have been on cloud nine all day and I have scoured it several times. I cannot wait for you all to see it too!

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Well now that I have calmed down, I can finish this post! This week I also got busy getting ready for a prim luncheon with 3 dear friends. I had all intentions of getting a full sunflower theme going. First I got out my dried sunflowers.

Then I made matching napkin bands and place cards.

And then I got sick with a nasty tummy virus and didn’t get out to buy the other things I had planned. When I recovered, I moved on to plan B and used my trusty old geraniums. I still think the table looked summery!

And I got out my faux cherries

and some of my dried yarrow too.

And then I got busy making 3 different salads. I shared the edamame salad recipe back ~HERE~. And then I made some chicken salad. With the chicken breast meat I used a mixture of mayo and extra virgin olive oil; seasoned it with rosemary from my deck planter, along with minced onion, celery, slivered almonds and dried cranberries. YUMMO! And the third salad was a watermelon feta salad and I based it on several recipes I found online. Cubed watermelon is tossed with cucumber and red onion slices, and sprinkled with crumbled feta cheese. I used the sweet n sour dressing from a different salad I found last year on Colleen’s blog. Click ~HERE~ for the dressing recipe. It was a wonderful combo if I do say so myself!

My sweet friends brought bread and dessert and it was a delightful meal shared with 3 delightful friends.

OH I am sorry, did I forget to mention who they are? Audrey, Bonnie and Laurie. Those of you who purchased the magazine will have the pleasure of seeing Laurie’s GORGEOUS home as one of the featured homes in the premier issue. Bonnie, Ashley and I had the pleasure of photographing it just for your pleasure. (And ours too!) Just to tease you a little bit, here is a teeny sneak peek at her home.

Not enough?? Sorry!! But you’ll have to buy the magazine to see the rest!! http:www.aprimitiveplace.org/Where-to-Buy.html

I think that is all for this time. WOW, this was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate each one of you!

Stay cool!

Warm prim hugs, Grammee Linda