Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween all, hope you have a great day and some left over mini chocolate bars! I may have bought myself a bag of Oh Henry's just to say they were left over ;)

So what shall I do today? Start with some yummy creamed coffee and checking how the paid Facebook ad is panning out. Britt surfaced around 10:30 to grab a coffee, she is taking a shift at the gym today, seems $$ is a bit thin now as we are 2 months into college!

Tash's cork board and frame were united into a great memo board and now will be a much more useful piece in her home with no guilt of her daughter not being in the family photo. Great repurposing of the frame.

This is however not the last of the frame run, I still have one vintage frame scrubbed and ready to be painted and that was just what I did next.And staged the candle pedestal.

Britt got off work early so snagged some candy at Walmart and picked up my Chinese food order and was home by 4. She donned her coveralls and hosed Bird good and played fetch with Lola while I watched American Pharoah hit the grand slam winning the Breeder's cup before joining me for supper. 

Amanda along with a tiger and superman stopped and were our only trick or treaters but it seems the horse barricade detoured a few others ;)

By 5:45 we had pj's on, cozy in my king bed with tea and candy to started our fright night movie marathon. We watched The Conjuring, Sinister, classic Carrie and the The Haunting in Connecticut stopping for popcorn and coffee break till late (earlier if you count the time change) with Britt sleeping with me which is very rare unless scared lol.

Shaina did the Halloween makeup for her and Kaylin this year and it looked awesome, well done girls! your contact is creep K!

Freaky Friday

Friday before Halloween, yikes. I was awake before 8.. go figure. Get dressed and put on some paint as a new customer arrived at 10 to buy the grey end table. It is off to new Calgary home ;)

Before she arrived I sealed the wedding frame again both sides. Once dry it will get put together and ready to roll. I am working on this candle holder too.

Shaina was up around 11:30 and has claimed the antique black dresser as her Christmas gift. I had her hold the mirror in place for a few photos then we moved it down to her room for now.

Jessie stopped at noon on her way by to deliver a project from Auntie Mindy and took back Olivia's chair, THANKS Jessie!!

Shaina was off for her 1 pm shift so I assembled the wedding frame, it is good to go, wedding not till next August though ;)

It was then time to cut the cork and glue to backing and let dry for Tash's frame. Britt pulled in at 2:30 skipping her last "lame" class in order to get home after such a long time away! pets, laundry and PVR were here entertainment for the rest of the day. She did fall asleep at 5 and miss supper but awoke at 8 to eat it ;)

I had to add another coat of sealer on the wedding frame as it did not feel quite right. I worked on marketing and put my first paid Facebook ad on today, lets see if it draws in any new buyers. The overcast 13 degree day finally found the sun peeking thru around 5:30 just before sunset and the wind picked up ;(

arena floor is completed!

It is 7:30 and still dark, Diego is doing his job alerting me to visitors, sure enough a convoy of 5 trucks has arrived just as the sun begins to rise in a spectacular show. As promised, Gray's has a fleet of fellows here to complete the riding arena. Two lowboys hold a packer, track steer with bucket and another track steer with grader? I large water truck, the first load of clay and the boss man in his pickup. The horses even sounded alerts but I think they at first thought a bale was being rolled out, once they saw all the equipment they booked it to the far NE corner. Lola tried to hold off the deck but I put her in with D to keep they out of the way of all the big trucks and milling workers. Did not last long as she gets to hot inside but D was happy to stay in ;)

Time for a coffee and enjoy the sunrise. 4 more loads of clay rolled in followed by 3 sand, or at least I think. Britt text with awesome news, she was chosen for the AEF scholarship, I think it is the $1500 to only 1 recipient. YEAH B!!!! well worth the effort it took during that stressful time and again thanks to Gran for proof reading her essay and providing helpful changes.

After procrastinating a bit and snapping a few pictures of arena progress I got busy on the chair. Two hours later I had all the staples out and material all off. I took 45 pictures to remember the exact way they were, thank goodness for digital!

Diego and I went out around lunch to check progress, he bust his way thru the ice in his jumbo waterer this am and had to stop for another drink now ;), the sand is getting leveled and looking good!

It was time then to finish Marissa's frame after I buffed it up. Attaching the chicken wire is all a challenge as I have to juggle the frame balancing against my head while holding wire to edge of frame and trying to get the staple to cross strategically. Then ends gets bent and staples taped in firmly with hammer and flat head screwdriver

The fellows finished up the arena floor at 2, reversing the process of loading up all the machinery and tools. The dogs and I went to check it out in the 13 + gorgeous sunshine, it cant really be Oct 29th but I will take it. A bit later the dogs joined me on another walk to the gate, this time to meet Marissa and pass off her new memo frame.

 loving it, now to get the kick wall up and it will be good to go!

I took the glass out of Tash's frame and got the cork laid out to flatten before inserting.

I continue to procrastinate on the cutting of the material but I did get my seam ripper and take apart all the chair seams. Reupholstery is not for those with dust allergies, holy moly! And I am lucky, although this chair is 80 + years old it has been indoors all the time. In my online research, I have seen some crazy dirty pieces. I am pretty confident this will be my first and last project.

The wedding frame got a touch up coat on the top then flat matte sealer. Shaina arrived to stay the night this time bringing me a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte.. my fall treat, THANK YOU lovey! She and I watched Still Alice, Limitless and then started the series Wentworth before retiring for the night.

upholstery challenge begins

Well it seems the hired man was let go after last night's progress update. He was here before 8:30 to pack up his tools and get paid and be on his way. Looks like my barn progress is back to slow molasses ;(

Cold morning, seems hit -5 last night, brrrr! So excited to see my chair finished, here's a little test drive

Time to finish the frames up.

red frame got dark wax highlights added

 Marissa's got dark wax added too and topped with clear wax, love how adds dimension

 mirror frame got another coat of poly

I took the dogs for a walk to the gate to meet my shadow box customer at noon, good multi tasking!

J always like to walk to and good thing he joined today to be my fur scarf for my brisk walk home

Last night I stayed up way to late going thru old emails and cleaning up accounts but again it feels good to purge and organize. Today I saved all the laundry folding for Ellen @3, another great multi tasking chore. I then thought I best get at the chair project, over and hour later and with a few broken nails, 1000 bent staples and a couple screwdriver stabs; I only had the bottom cover, piping layer and the lower edge. WTH, I think I bit off more then expected here especially when I see the backing is stapled all around the back side. This may not be really pretty with flat material versus the existing heavy textured.

here is "Rose" before top and bottom

 dust cover removed

 piping layer

 all staples (1000 I think) and the bottom is free, now starting the sides where I saw the visual issue

5:30, time for a break, a fellow had posted a chunky coffee and end table he was holding for me and was now home. I grabbed the truck and trailer and off to town I went stopping for biweekly mail pickup first. A few tight turns in a cul de sac and they were loaded then it was off to Rona/Walmart & Peavy mart for product restocking including a search for a new upholstery stapler. Holy cow do you need to price shop this town, I ended up buying an electric one for $14 cheaper at Wally world, sorry but that is a big savings, big box wins. I did treat myself to a Booster Juice and Opa pita for supper too before heading home.

Back at the ranch, I touched base with the stapler with the Prince who gave it a thumbs up and with Mom as to how to hide this backing issue then worked on the blog for you to enjoy with some green tea.

Shaina sent pictures over she took Friday night, here is a loaded elevator ;)