Easy Makeover for your Patio/deck Furniture

HAPPY THURSDAY!

In the summer we try to eat as many means outside as possible. It helps with the kitchen clean up and if its not to hot we can enjoy a beautiful view while eating. The past few weeks we have had to eat inside because the heat has been crazy!!!

We bought our patio/deck furniture about 7 years ago from a local store. It was not high end but certainly wasn't cheap by my standards! Over the years it has become very faded but is still in great structure shape. I decide at the beginning of the season I was going to give them a makeover this summer.

Since I use to work part time in a paint store I am familiar with what products to use. In the past I have used different spray paints and really like Rust-oleum. The spray nozzle makes it easy to spray without getting it all over yourself. It colors very good and sometimes I have only needed one coat of it!

First I made sure the chairs were clean and dry. I started on the bottoms first not worrying about it looking perfect where no one could really see. When they were all dry I turned them over and did the back, seats, arms and legs. After I was done with all six chairs, I looked them over and touched up some areas.

This is what they looked like when they were all done.

Next, was the table. First I had to remove all the tiles from the top and clean it. After it dried I began spray painting it. The table was very east and fast and what a difference it made although the pictures don't look like it.

I ended up using seven cans of spray paint for six chairs and one large table which I thought was really good. Like I said before, this stuff covers very well. I got it at Lowes and it was about $8 per can. The two local Walmarts by me did carry that kind of paint but not the color and finish I wanted.  It would have been less than $6 for it there. 

So for $56 dollars I have what looks like a new patio/deck table and chairs. I just hope they can withstand the crazy weather changes we have here in Pa. The other day it was over 100 and in 6 months it could be -5!  YIKES!

Back from Myrtle Beach, SC

Its always so hard to come back from vacation. With us when we are away, we really try to not to make any timed plans. We wing things a lot and it is so nice for a change! I cringed this year when some of the extended family wanted to make dinner plans for a couple of nights. I'm fine with dinner plans but can we just play the time by ear???!!!

Some days we went on the beach and or pools at 9:30 and stayed till after 6. Other days we didn't get out till 11 and came in by 4. That is vacation to me, do what you want, when you want to, eat whatever and whenever you want. So that's pretty much the way we did vacation and it was wonderful!

Jim's Cousin decided to plan an informal family reunion for a week in Myrtle Beach. Anyone who could come was welcome and they had several activities and dinners planned and if you could make it you did and if not you didn't. Most people stayed at the same place. We stayed at a resort we have been to before and have loved. Being that I am very particular with where I stay this worked great for us. There were 27 people that traveled from 7 different states to attend, the furthest being Nevada. I met many of Jim's relatives I have never met before and others we don't see to often.

Myrtle beach  is a long drive with stops and such its around 9 to 10 hours. We left at 3:30 am and got their around 1:30 pm. As soon as we touched the ground we unpacked and went right to the beach and pools. If you have ever been to Myrtle beach you know that most of the nicer hotels are like full blown resorts and have multiple pools, Jacuzzi's, lazy rivers, and palmetto trees which makes you feel like you are on an island somewhere super far away.

The weather was HOT!!!! To the point that during the day you pretty much had to be in the water most of the time or you would be miserable. That is saying a lot coming from someone that does NOT like to get their hair wet in public! (that's another one of my quirks!

Our room slept 8 and we had 6 and a baby. So it was Jim, me, Savanna, Taylor, Mitchell, Kaylee and her baby Jaxson. It was a little close quarters but worked out very well. Jaxson loves to sleep so we all got plenty of that while he was asleep, but while he was awake, WOW is he a handful!

Everyday was sunny so we were able to get LOTS of beach time in. Mitchell and Taylor were obsessed with finding sharks teeth or other treasures in the water and sand.

The Pokemon Go craze started right before we left so Myrtle was running around Myrtle Beach to catch them. He said there were tons on the beach! lol

The girls got their hair braided at the hotel from a Jamaican woman who did a fabulous job! Taylor still has hers in.

Jaxson was and is obsessed with his POP POP and loves to be with him and say pop pop all the time.

Another reason I like Myrtle Beach is that it is the mini golf capital of the WORLD! You have never seen courses like these! So big and cool for all ages!  Our family loves mini golf so as hot as it was as 10 am in the morning, we suffered it out to go a few times. 

As good times always do, the week went super fast and was over before we knew it! The long drive there seemed even longer on the way home.

I cherish these special times with the family all together knowing these are the times of our lives!

Choices and Decisions...

Life is all about choices...Where to live, work, who to be friends with, how many kids to have, what stores to frequent, etc. Some choices are life changing and some are not important.

As we are growing up we are faced with some very big choices that could be life altering or even deadly. Under peer pressure we sometimes bend and give into these things. Drinking, smoking, drugs, drinking and driving, sex, stealing, etc. We think, "if we just do a good enough job parenting MY kids will make all the right choices" WRONG!!!

My parents were very strict growing up and I was overall a very good kid. Yes, I told an occasional lie, but I had good morals and respected my parents, but I still made a very bad choice that could have been life altering or ended my life quickly.

It was hot July night when I was 16. I went to my friend, Shane's  house and we decided to go to the Baltimore Inner Harbor which was only about 20 minutes from her house. (My parents would NEVER have let me go without an adult). Her parents were a lot less strict and were fine with it.We had no real plans of what we were going to do there we were just happy to be independent.
We arrived around 9 and had a bite to eat at one of the restaurants there. After we walked around the harbor which was full of people on their boats. As we passed one large speed boat, two grown men asked us if we wanted to take a ride on their boat. Like complete idiots, we were flattered and we jumped on board. They asked if we wanted to drive the boat and I jumped right behind the wheel as he sat behind me to help steer. Never for one minute did it cross my mind that this fun exciting ride may end in disaster! DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Luckily for us we were returned safely back to the harbor about 10 minutes later. I think about this trip as being the trip we had angels on our shoulders. I mean, really, the stupidity of  that trip never ceases to amaze me.

We have had our share of bad choices among our six kids and some have been life changing and future altering! It seems with some people, especially kids, all the talking in the world won't change things. Remember they think that are exempt from THOSE bad things happening to them.

"If I only had two drinks and i'm just driving 1/4 of a mile, who cares, right!" WRONG,,,,Hello Mr. Policeman as someone does a rolling stop at a stop sign.

"I can use my friends ID to get into a bar at college, they never check them anyway" Oh, YES they do, and have the police waiting for them if they try!

"I don't really have to do the interviews for the project required for high school graduation. I will make them up and just use peoples names, one being a teacher at school." HELLO dummy, they will check with the teacher and when he doesn't recall you ever interviewing him you will be caught! You were very very Lucky they liked you at that high school or you would not have passed 10th grade! (That was a very hairy situation and NOT a call I wanted to get at work!)

These are just a few choices that were made by my perfect children and believe me we have many more that I can't and won't mention. Never blame yourself for your kids poor choices. I honestly couldn't tell you how many times we have drilled certain things into our kids heads just to be slapped by the reality that they did the exact things we were preaching about for YEARS.

Like I said, Life is full of choices and hopefully we will make the right ones, but if not, hopefully we will learn from the wrong ones.

Our trip to Wildwood Crest NJ

Every year our family meets my husbands family in Wildwood NJ for a small family reunion. We have been doing this for about 12 years and it has become a tradition. Last year we didn't go because of his dads passing. This year was the first year without him so it was a little emotional but everyone had a great time. Over the years we always try to get a family shot, here are some from past years.

Wildwood Crest is on the Jersey shore, but be assured its not like the show that portrays the Jersey Shore wild and crazy. Wildwood is a very family friendly beach. We stay in the crest because its a little south of where the boardwalk is and its a lot quieter and even nicer.

We usually all stay in the same hotel there but different rooms. The hotels there are unique and unlike most resorts. They are mostly from the 50's and 60's and early 70's and have kept that look on the outside and some even on the inside, YIKES!

This weekend we leave for Myrtle Beach