I Did It Myself!

If you have followed this blog, you know that the majority of the home projects I do are done with my father-in-law. He is always there to help me with things and I am so grateful for him.

Recently, you may recall, we got a second hand playscape. We knew it would probably need a bit of patch work. The other day, when Ella was climbing the rock wall, one of the rocks just fell off.

Most of the wood on it was starting to dry rot. So I went into my garage and took a look at the wood I had left from the deck/porch project. I had plenty of boards and a couple 2×4’s. That was really all I needed. I knew that Menard’s had the little “rocks” that were mounted to the boards, so I could pick those up after I put the new wall together.

It didn’t take long to measure everything out. The speed square I bought got a lot of use that day. Once the wall was finished, I packed the kids in the car and drove to Menard’s. The problem was, that they were out of the “rocks.”

I began to wonder how I could get around this problem. We looked at some of the other “swing set/playscape” accessories and there it was. It was a big plastic thing with holes in it. Basically, you build a square frame and mount this inside the frame. I, of course, thought “Why can’t I mount this thing right onto the wall I built?”

I ran to the tape measure aisle. Measured the plastic piece and saw that it would fit! So 8-12 screws later – it was mounted and guess what? The kids love it!!

An entire project finished without having to call my father-in-law for help!! Woo hoo!!

Projects – Done

Over the weekend, I finished up some of the projects on my “To Do” list.

One of them, I’ve blogged about a couple times. I feel like the nook is officially complete. I wanted to get a cushion for the bench, but the size was odd. I really thought that I was going to have to get one custom made, or by the foam and fabric and make my own. However, I found a solution I would have never thought of!

I had to go to Menard’s to get some mulch for the front yard. As we walked through the store, I passed the pet area. I happened to see a dog bed that said 42 inches. I knew that was the length of the bench (and nook itself) because I measured to mark off where the coat hooks were going to go. I put the only one they had in the cart and walked over to where the tape measures were. I knew the bench was 42 x 26, so I wondered if I’d get lucky. I did!

I picked up a decorative pillow and it is now officially complete!

The second project was fixing the swing set for the kids. The main beam on the set that was given to us was a bit rotted out, so my father-in-law told me what to get from the store to fix it.

He came over on Memorial Day and we swapped out the old hardware, drilled new holes, and mounted the new beam. After that, we put up a toddler swing, a regular swing, and a net swing for the kids. At some point I need to paint the bean, but there are a few other boards that need to be replaced first. The kids were thrilled to be able to play on it, though.

As a bonus, my mother-in-law brought burgers and dogs to grill for dinner.

The last, and easiest, project was a small (but important) one. A year or so ago, I mounted a flag on one of the trees in the front yard. The weather got the best of the aluminum pole and it broke and fell off the mount. The flag itself was tattered a bit, too. It was time for a new one. Thankfully, the mount is still in good shape and I was able to fly the Stars and Stripes proudly for Memorial Day.

I wish more people flew the flag at their house….

Early Gift For Mommy

When Sam got home from work today, we packed up the kids and took a drive to Lowe’s. The purpose of the trip was to get a teeter totter for the swing set/playscape in the back yard. Once we were there, we asked around and found out that the only way to get pieces for swing sets was to order them online. There was nothing in the store.

Sam noticed some patio furniture cushions and wanted to look at them for some chairs we have. It was then that she saw a beautiful rocking chair. I had bought two rockers for our porch a few years ago, but they were poorly made and just didn’t hold up. As we were looking at the chairs, Sam noticed that they had a bench rocker. After discussing things, we decided that we were going to get that for our side porch.

I had every intention of getting in the car and saying “Well, Happy Mother’s Day!” to Sam. But on the way out to the car, Ella asked her, “Is this your Mommy’s Day present, Mommy?” She said, “I suppose it is!”

Just like your typical man, as soon as we got home, I pulled the box out of the van, placed it on the porch and grabbed my tools! I was going to get this thing together today! Of course, I didn’t stop to think that Sam had worked all night and wanted to go to bed. She was in the house getting lunch together while I was glancing over the instructions.

It didn’t really take too long to put together, especially when I had help!

Andrew was all about trying to help me out. He wants to help SO bad. He kept bringing me pieces I didn’t need yet and pulling sockets from my socket wrench box. I look forward to the day when I can actually sit and build something with him and have him understand what we are doing.

In the end, the rocker came out great and really is a nice addition to the porch.

As I finished it up, mom went in the house to get some sleep. She should have been the first one to sit on it, but of course, that wasn’t the case.

Looks like this bench is like that cereal, “Kid tested, mother approved!”

Happy early Mother’s Day, Babe. I look forward to being able to rock with you on this over the summer. They even have a beer I can bring …