One thing leads to another

     Have I mentioned that this place is a closed off hole out here in the woods.  There are so many things to do in order to make it a really nice place to live.  It has been completely un-kept forever, then, here I come with so many great idea’s.  Mind you, all ideas are great and easy in my mind until I actually put them into motion then oh my heck what was I thinking????  This for sure being where the “Catching Fireflies” comes in, what is it that is my main concern today, as things do change on a daily basis.

     Okay starting out with this project, I have one of dad's trailers parked out in the yard which has junk on it and seriously needs to be out of the weather; also I am still working on the "Barn Project".  As I do need to get a smaller trailer and the 4-wheeler out of the barn, so I can get to the inside and finish with it.  Where do I put these things?  It has been raining so much here lately that there is no possible way I can leave them just out.  Oh my a big sale at Harbor Freight  Check it out the Pressure Washer on sale, which I desperately need to clean that yearly algae off the house, then wow what is this- A Portable Carport

  This could solve my issue for the time being until I can get a permanent structure built.   Okay now where do I put it?  Again leading to something else that flashes.  I would love to put it out behind the barn, oh there is a tree there, which is hitting the roof of the barn and I wanted to take down anyway.  Or I could put between the barn and the carport,, but wait.... there is a big stump from a tree that I had already cut down and a cluster of trees that is a mess of about 4 trees growing together and all the limbs are dragging on the roof of barn as well.  I had already planned on taking these trees out anyway.  Okay I will just get them all cut down and be done with it.  Meantime mind you that the big box housing the portable carport is still in my SUV cause it is too heavy for me to take out and where am I going to put it?

     So my project begins,  all 4 of these trees are growing and leaning toward the carport, hmm must be careful how I do this cause it could take out the carport and maybe my car. Oh did I mention that I am doing this myself with no other help?  I started trimming some of the limbs off the trees to get them out of my way, then proceeded to cut one of the backside trees first.  I did tie the tree off with a rope putting tension on it so it would for sure fall the opposite direction.  Well now guess I am certainly not a lumberjack.  I cut the back two trees, doing the notch thing so they would fall away from the carport.  Yet the trees are so intertwined with each other that even being completely cut all the way through, the trees just stood there as they were.  One of them did fall, although it just moved off its own stump and sat on the ground next to itself.  Just scratching my head, what to do with this mess I just created?  

     Now with a rope on each tree in one direction and another rope in the back direction (my big concern is when they do fall where they are going to go).  I started cutting another notch in the back tree, almost all the way to the edge as I was about to stop and go to the outside, the dang tree started falling yet only stopped with it caught the blade of my chain saw in it.  Ahhhh!!  Okay a few deep breaths --- oh just take the blade out of the saw.  So now I am up on a ladder taking the chain saw apart so I can figure what to do next.  Finally mission accomplished, yet the tree is now sitting on my blade.  Ah ha! I got the limb saw and cut from the outside in to that notch being very careful not to hit the blade that is now embedded in the tree.  Yeah finally it fell--  okay only half way cause I had the rope from the other tree around this one pulling it backwards.  

     Okay getting the blade back on the saw, I started cutting a larger piece out and finally first tree was on the ground.  Alright had to redo all the ropes putting more tension on the second tree and did the same thing with cutting out a larger piece of the trunk. Tree #2 down.   Okay got those trees all cut into smaller pieces and moved out of the way, now for the last two.  These came down a bit easier since most of the limbs were gone that were holding the entire mess together.
   

     Getting to the end of this tree cutting process, now cutting all of it up to smaller pieces and getting it all taken over to the burn pile.  Well maybe, I might just be lazy and see if I can burn it all where it lays.  LOL! 

   Still remaining-- the stumps.  Most stump removal requires some stuff put into holes in the stump and wait about 6 weeks.  Do I have that much time or patience?  Certainly my question and still remaining as well- Where do I put my portable carport?  Oh did I mention that it is still in my car?  I do know that for an experienced person this would probably been an easy project, well now, I am just a little girl!
     And the saga continues......
== Catch ya later! ~Sis

Master Bath Paper Floor

Master bath Floor

     Once again thought I would try my hand at the Paper flooring. This time I Followed information again from: Domestic Imperfection, on the stone looking floor sample she did. This one I fell in love with. Gathering products: nothing I could go pick up in this area, everything had to be ordered from somewhere.
RUST-OLE UM STAIN
Art Paper
Urethane Finish
     Excited to get started, and can't wait for the finished project.  Prepared the floor, taking out all left over staples from the carpet, and patching all area of the wood.

    This time I had a great idea... "Oh My Watch out"  Since this floor would be done with white paper and a light stain, I did not want any of the under flooring to show through. The closest thing to the stone look was what I was after.  I decided best thing to do is to prime the floor.   I know you say you can't put stain on primer.... Right... but it is not going on the primer it is going on the paper over the primer.. Waa Laa
     After all the cracks were filled, dried and sanded, primer was ready to go on.   Now there were a few imperfections in the wood, I left them un-sanded.  In my mind this would give a bit of depth to the stone look.  Therefor the floor itself was not completely smooth as would be, if doing a hardwood, or cement floor.  Not thinking could this catch up to me later??? Hang in to see.

Ready now to lay the paper.  I had ripped all the paper and wadded up in a ball, separating the pieces that had a straight edge and those that did not.  Now mind you, this is a craft paper and much thinner than the brown paper bags that most use.  Yet, how does one get a light floor when the beginning is dark to start with.  The choice was one that had to be made for the look I wanted. 

      Making the glue mixture of one part Elmer glue and one part water in a small tub, I carefully put glue either on the floor or the back of the paper.  Place where I wanted it and applied a coat of glue mixture to the top and I smoothed it out. (I used a cheap paint brush most of the time, and sometimes I just used my hands."

Laying the paper ugh!  This took me two days, I am here to tell you it is not for the impatient or the one who does not like hard work.  Getting the paper to lay flat as possible with no bubbles(A DIY fix for this later) was not an easy task.  Also this is thinner so it rips easier, thinking it went on well just to look back and see that it had ripped in one spot. (A DIY fix for this later)  

    I found that laying an area, letting it dry, then going back to that area actually worked best for me.  Putting too many pieces on top of each other when overlapping just made things much worse when trying to get it smooth and edges to lay down.  

Think if hanging wallpaper if you have ever done that.  Lining this piece up straight with the wall should lay flat right--duh.. well just have patience.

Alright now lets go to the stain process.

     I used a sponge to put on the stain, then wiped with a clean cloth, it seemed to go on very well. I purposefully did not smooth it all out, I wanted some marks so it appeared to be real stone.  I started noticing in area's the stain seemed to be much darker.  It was not until I had finished that I realized what made this happen, although I loved the outcome.    In laying the paper I found that if i put most of the glue under it and didn't put a lot over it that it was easier to work with a lay flat without any bubbles and shrinkage.  Where I did not have the glue mixture on top of the paper, the stain actually went straight onto the paper causing the difference in coloration.
     After the stain was all dry, I waited until the next day before putting on the Urethane.  The directions said to pour it on and use a  Floor Coater Tool to spread on the floor.  This is unlike the oil based which said to put it on with a paint brush.  I was so excited to see the final outcome, I kept going back to look at it from time to time.  I bout had a heart attack.  The oil based stain did not stop it from getting to the paper and it was bubbling up like crazy.

I was seriously freaking out.  Trying to be patient as I waited for it to dry and wrecking my brain at the same to to see how I would fix it, amazingly enough when it had dried, it all laid down very nicely.  I for sure let it dry the entire day and did not re-apply the Urethane until the next morning.  Again it did the same thing in the same spots.  Then I noticed that it was doing that the most where I had not put a lot of the glue mixture on the top of the pieces. Having things to do, I left the house for it to do its thing and to my surprise again, came home to find a beautiful floor.

I absolutely learned a lot more from this experience and will keep all things in mind for the next project.  Again you say?  Yes, I love the look and outcome so well that the hallway and dinning room will be next.  The most important thing is for me, is to give myself a lot of time and do things  in many more small stages.  This will for sure save my back and poor knees having a few breaks in between.

DIY Fixes

Bubbles.  Don't really know how to prevent this, every piece seems different in its own way.  I just went back and put a little slit in the bubble with an Exacto knife, put a bit more glue on it and laied it down.  It does not matter that there is a line in it now, it will be covered with the stain or into the grain if you are using a wood grain look.

Small tear
     I could have just tore a piece of the paper and glued ontop, yet I have to always go one step more in my creating.  I went to my Cameo and cut some leaf patterns out of the paper and applied directly over the small tear.  Ta da  instant fix.  And it also gave my stone looking floor more texture look as well.

  The end pic of course is zoomed in, you have to look really close to see the leaves, yet I know they are there so I am happy.

A am certainly open to any suggestions that anyone may have to make this process a better experience.
 Catch ya later! ~Sis

DIY Paper bag floor

Paper Bag Floor

     Alright now, anyone who is familiar with East Texas knows that it rains like all the time.  A must, for me anyway, in order to happily live here is to have many indoor projects.  February is one of those rainy months so my first indoor project is to try my hand at the Paper Bag Floor.  I heard about this as a money saving flooring option, and since my youngest son, Colt, told me to" Google everything", I did.  Researched for days, watched every you tube, and read every blog I could find.
The best of all: http://www.domesticimperfection.com/my-paper-bag-floor-one-year-later/.  She absolutely did a wonderful job with her research.
     As I mentioned before, this is a double wide mobile home, which originally had carpet in every room except the kitchen.  In the bathrooms----Really--- yes it did.  Okay I say to self, this just has to go.  Starting with the smaller bathroom first, as a okay let me give this a try, not concerned with too much, I can always go back and lay flooring over it if I don't like it right.

  My first thought was where do I get paper bags, everyone has plastic theses days.  Amazon?  Thanks to my wonderful friend Jo in LasVegas, who is obsessed with all natural, just happened to have a stack and did not have a clue why she was saving them.  Deep down her soul must have know I would need them.
     So out comes the carpet which was stapled to the particle wood floor, removed all staples or hammered them in which ever applied and ready to move on.

     Ripped up the bags and wadded them into balls in order to get the crinkled effect.   Mixed one part Elmer all purpose glue with one part water.  Carefully wet the back side, laid it down and went over the top with the glue mixture with a paint brush.
     The paper bags are thick so it was not too hard to work with, although it did get bubbles and some parts did not want to lay flat.

     I did notice after I put on the varnish that it had bled under some of the edges and of course made darker spots that show up a lot.  At this point I decided that it would do for now, until I find a fix or redo and went on to apply the varnish.
Okay not bad for a first timer who has no clue what she is doing.  Probably made more work for myself at a later date, yet for now, it is better than the particle board.

My Notes:  How do I stop the paper from getting bubbles,-- I have no clue--👎
I really do not like the color, although some might, after one coat of varnish the floor is absolutely
shinny and appears nice.  Will I keep it this way?  No, I will for sure redo this floor at a later date.  
More personal input and thought before I start to tear it up and redo it.
For now----- on to something new.

   

 Catch ya later! ~Sis

A little play makes work easier:

Who says " I can't combine work and play together"?
     Looking out into the yard there is a small issue.  There is a stake that marks this property from the property next to it.

     It just sits there all alone, and someone ( not to mention who) kinda got a little close with the riding mower and bent it over.  Plus the grass grows around it which is just something else to weed eat around.  Putting my creative brain to work, what can I do here????
     Okay there is a lot of what some would call junk around here, my dad calls treasures.
  Hey how about this old tire, let me get some ideas from https://www.pinterest.com/

     My dad thinks I am nuts, says you can't paint a tire..  Ha okay watch this.  Of course got some

RUST-OLEUM Ultra Cover  and a painting I did go.

     When It was all dried, off to the Dollar Store and picked up a colander and some fly swats.  I had to have a face and some ears.  I think it turned out pretty cute for my first attempt.

I did not think it was enough, and since I am not short of old tires around here, we got another layer.  This made it complete.

     I know that the absolute center of this cute little lady bug is the corner of the property line.  I can also just spray some weed killer around it and not have to worry with running over the marker with the mower.  Does that tell you what a wild driver I am on that thing..  LOL   
 Catch ya later! ~Sis

Agenda:  On with the agenda of filling my jar.
 Eating-  how- what- when.
      This is probably the hardest firefly to catch.  Keep in mind that I drive a big Semi-truck pulling 3 trailers on a daily basis.  I go nonstop for four hours out, turn around in about 25 minutes,  Picking up 3 more trailers and then it is a nonstop trip back home again.  What can I eat that is good and healthy for me and also safe while I am driving?  Forever I find myself doing the quick snack thing, with whatever I have that I can throw in my cooler.  Pretty much eating in bits and pieces all day just to kill the hunger.  Getting home late from running errands on the way home or a bad traffic or weather day.  On days that I am able to make it home at a good time is - yea! extra time today I can get things done around the house OR there is always a character that needs to level up or a Raid to run in World of WarCraft.
 Cooking -yuck! 
     Although I don't mind it, I am not one of those 'love to cook folks'.  I would always rather be doing anything else.  Grocery shopping is right along with the non love. Yet I am finding that in order to be eating better, it does take a bit of shopping and cooking.  I am really going to have to bite the bullet on this one.
Exercise:
     Earlier in life I have always kept in shape by just being me, doing things I really enjoy.  Played softball, volleyball, water skiing, swimming, bike riding, sports and fun stuff.  Never really into the, exercise to be doing it scene.  In fact the word exercise just seems to make me feel like work instead of play.  Not doing all the sports now, it is time to start thinking of it in a different manner.  Yep, it at times, will probably feel like work, yet the end goal is to keep feeling good and be in shape as I always was naturally, because of my activities.
  When starting to get in the habit of exercising, the question is where do I start?  What type is good at this age, that won't kill me and that is interesting and fun enough to keep me  motivated to continue. Not to mention the most important part- time to do it on a, hopefully, daily basis.
  And the Search is on.
 == Catch ya later! ~Sis

Stretching Results

Stretching Results:  
      Oh my goodness.  I hear all over the place about folks stretching, especially those who work out and do all kinds of exercising.    Even at work they promote daily stretching.  Yeah Yeah- I got up and gave the old body a good stretch like the dog does and think that I have actually done something good for myself.
      Never did I imagine that regular folks who don't do the gym and exercise scene can benifit from deep stretching.  Nor, oh my goodness, did I even realize that my muscles were so tight and probably capped full of all that fuzz stuff that had built up for a really, really long time.
First few days:
          It kinda hurts and I certainly felt it the next day, yet I  kept on chugging.
After a week:
          Wow this feels good now, still a bit tight especially in the hamstring area.   I got up one morning fiddled around the house and decided to leave for work a bit early.  As I was opening the garage, that feeling of what have I forgotten came to mind (A usual feeling these days)  It dawned on me that I had been lost in what ever thoughts I had and forgot to stretch.  Sometimes creating new habits for myself has to be put on the "To Do List" until it is second nature, especially when I know it is the best thing for me.
After 2 weeks:
     I have found that my entire being now has a more healthy thought process.  One of those days, I wanted a snack, looking around the kitchen- those Twix looked pretty good, although it just was not what I wanted.  Opened the Fridge and without thinking twice, took out that cucumber. Hmmm could this be related?    I really do have this new over all feel good thing going on, leading me into wanting to feel even better and  making better choices as to what I want to eat.   Wow could this help me on my path to dropping a few pounds?
Here's the Deal:   Stretch- not just a one time cat stretch, but deep stretches, it really does give a better since of well being.  This is for sure one thing I will keep on my daily.
Moving on with the search and action.
 Catch ya later! ~Sis

Fighting the Fuzz

What is the fuzz?
Fuzz is stuff that grows between the muscles when the body is asleep or at rest.  The more the muscles are not stretched out the more fuzz that grows on the muscles, which  becomes more tough and harder to get rid of.


I realized that stretching helps to keep the muscles working well and why, here's a great video
Here's a Great Video

How I feel today ( am I fuzzed)
 I am here to tell you that my line of work is not the best for one's health.  I am what is called a Line Driver.  My duties include driving a truck from point A to B then back to A within a 10 hour period. Not to mention the fact that I got sucked into gaming...My physical activities have pretty much declined since the kids left home. Some days the body is just not what she used to be, getting out of bed all stiff, thinking that I should have worked out when I got home yesterday instead of sitting on the PC playing games.  Today I was discussing this with my daughter-in-law, whom is a Yoga instructor, she lead me to this video.  Oh my goodness am I fuzzed?  This is scary business.

2 week challenge:   I decided that since I am on this path with no turning back, I would for sure start here since stretching is so important.  For 2 weeks I am going to:

• do deep stretches in the morning before I am off to work.

See you in 2 weeks with the results.

When I retire:

    Everything I wanted to do was always "When I retire I am going to:"   I have a list a mile long.
It is no secret that economy just really sucks these days, so who wants to go from a good paying job to a smaller fixed income unless the job sucks worse than the economy?  Mine does not.  Mind you, I would much rather be doing things form my list.

    At any rate this is where the story begins.  I decided that if I keep waiting and putting things off, I might be too flipping old or out of shape to do any of the things I want to do.  First things first, is my health and well being.

'"So why wait", I said to myself.  There are a number of things I can get started on right now so that when I do get to the, light at the end of the tunnel, I will feel great and ready to pursue all of the things on my list.
    My goal now it to find those things that actually work and will fit in to the "never boring, always something" life that I am living today, in preperation for tomorrow.  Mind you, I do have this thing about catching fireflies, what ever flashes, is where I go.. ha  So just hang with me on this journey while I search for those quick, inexpensive, sure fire, fixes to turning back the clock, while it keeps ticking.
 Catch ya later! ~Sis