Meg vs. The Yard: Shopping and another coat on the bench

Wednesday: Pick up plant food, grout cleaner, and another can of stain. Apply second coat of stain to the rocking bench.

The boys helped me do the shopping this morning, and we even managed to pick up more soil for the garden, cat repellant (someone was digging in our garden last night and killed our healthiest pumpkin plant), and paint chips for the dresser for the boys' room (a friend is going to give us a set for free!). Then during nap time I did this:

I guessed on the stain color and it seemed to match pretty well. The bench is still not perfect, but I touched up a lot of spots I had missed in the dark and got most of the back of the bench, which I had left undone due to lack of stain. It's coming along, and I am happy that our porch is not looking so empty.

Meg vs. The Inside & Out: More rocking bench plus hallway repairs

Thursday: Pick up more stain and a protective coat. Start staining the bench.


I am officially caught up for the week! I used every drop of stain in my tiny little can, and I think I got all of the visible parts. Though I won't be sure until morning (I have to do all these things at night, you know. The day was spent mowing the lawn, gardening, cleaning, and distracting little boys). Here it is!

It isn't the picture of beauty, but it is coming along nicely. I may go pick up another little can to do a second coat, or just call it good and top it off with some weatherproofing finish. (Probably the latter.) And if I get really fancy I'll make cute cushion for it, but that may be pushing our luck a little far, particularly because we still haven't picked exterior paint colors.

Saturday: Pull down peeling joint tape in the hallway and assess how to repair it. Start re-taping if it looks okay. 

This job took all of about five minutes. Here is the problem:

All the joint tape was coming up and the plaster coming down. So I grabbed some of this...

 ...pulled down the old tape, scraped off the rough plaster edges a bit, and slapped some tape up there. Since it is clear fiberglass mesh, you really can't see it in the picture. But it is there, just waiting to be slathered in joint compound. Alas, that will have to wait until next week.

Meg vs. The Rocking Bench: Sanding, take 1

Monday: Sand the bench.

I did not start the week off with a bang. I had a stomachache, and started sanding the bench with a piece of sandpaper, then realized I desperately needed to make myself a sanding block because it was impossible to keep the paper from crumpling instantly every time I used it. I may even go at it with the orbital sander because I'm lazy like that and it is an old, beat-up, free bench after all. Maybe when I re-attempt it I won't keep having to take 7-up breaks!