It's done!

I told you Bob was working on a storage shed for the back of our yard and I'm happy to say it's all done! I'm going to show you pictures from the beginning to end.

August 13 - Bob has the frame complete and crushed concrete leveled into it

The shed kit was delivered. Laura and Aaron and family came over to help haul lumber from the driveway to the back yard.

August 18 - Bob starts building walls

August 25 - my brother came over and helped get all the walls up

August 27 - the roof trusses and dormer are all in place

Sept 1 - we put on 2 coats of paint.  In the evening my BIL Mark came over to help get the plywood up on the dormer.

Sept 2 - the shingles are done and the windows and vents are in place

Sept 7 - the doors are installed, shutters up and lots of small details completed.

Sept 8 - the shed itself is done!  All the trim is painted, caulking is done, nail holes filled and painted...

Sept 12 - shelves built inside for storage

and looking into the shed.  When it gets colder our porch and deck furniture will be stored in here.

The finished product!  Bob's been working on landscaping in the front of it.  It'll be fun to see this new flower bed grow in front of the shed.  Bob worked really hard on this and I think he did a great job on the whole thing!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

We had another potluck at church last week and today I'm sharing the salad I took to share.  It's a recipe I got from a friend who has since passed away. She was a great cook and I love remembering her when I make her recipes. This is an unusual salad because it has corn bread in it!  It's very tasty and looks pretty in a clear glass bowl or a trifle bowl.

Chili Corn Bread Salad

1 pkg (8.5 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground oregano
Mix all of above and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool.

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 envelope ranch salad dressing
Mix to make dressing.

1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a 9x13 glass pan or a large glass bowl, crumble half of the corn bread. Spread half of the dressing over bread. Layer with half the beans, corn, tomatoes, pepper, onion, cilantro and cheese. Repeat layer. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Some fun with my girlies

Alaina and Ruby came and spent the night this past weekend.  We did lots of fun things!

We took them out for supper and then took a walk down the road to give the horses some apple treats.

Walking back, Alaina took a picture of us walking behind them.

Later we picked up my brother and went to an ice cream place that was my Dad's favorite.  The girls were eating blue ice cream and look what it did to their mouths!

On Saturday morning, Bob was gone to help cut down a tree at my sisters house.  The girls occupied themselves with some doodling while I got some things done in the kitchen.

This is something Alaina was drawing and I thought it was pretty cute!  I don't know what she was going to say to Come to though!

Then we started on our craft for the day. We had 2 mini crates for each of them, which Bob had already glued together.  The girls got them painted.

While the paint dried, we drove to Mark and Cheri's house (they live just around the corner from us) to check on the tree cutting.  Things were going well, but there was a lot to be done yet.

When we got back home, we did more work on our painted crates. They were being turned into pumpkins!  A piece of a branch was cut for the stem, spanish moss, some leaves and acorns were glued to the top.  We also put battery operated fairy lights in through an opening and glued the battery pack under the moss.

Here they are - cute little light up pumpkins!

Later, we went for a walk in the woods near us.

It's so beautiful there this time of year.

We found this wood teepee someone had made with old logs.

Ruby crawled in and checked it out.

Alaina didn't want to go inside because "there might be spiders in there".

Ruby wanted to do a little climbing. She made it up the log and back without trouble.

The tree cutting didn't get done until about 5.  Laura and Aaron had been over there helping, so they came and picked up the girls when they were done. 
We had a fun day!

Life lately

I thought I'd share a few random things from the last week.

Last weekend we went to a surprise birthday party!  My sister Terri and her husband Dave both turned 60 within a week of each other. So their kids threw a surprise party.

Daughter Chelsea took them for a drive, then had them put on masks before coming it.

Surprise! 
Their kids did a great job and we all had a good time.

Someone from church had lots of extra tomatoes they gave me, so I canned this salsa.  I also canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.  It feels good to have that stored away!

The weather has been beautiful, and I've been enjoying some walks in a wooded area down the road from us.

As I was walking, this caught my eye.  What is a shell doing on the edge of the woods?

Isn't this a beautiful tree?  Being out in nature is such a reminder of God's majesty.  Makes me think of the song 'How Great Thou Art'.

Blue skies and sunshine!  I'm enjoying it while I can.

Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park

Last week Bob and I took a day to just get out and have fun. We went to the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park which is about 30 minutes from our home.  I've shown you this place before because Laura and Aaron have given us a membership there for the last few years. We enjoy going and walking around different areas. It's huge so we'd never get the whole thing done in one visit.

There are different sections, like the sculpture park, a Japanese Garden, a woodlands walk, the kids garden, a farm garden and a boardwalk.  This time we decided to focus on the sculpture park.

This was founded by Fred Meijer, who started Meijer stores and is such a gift to our community and all the people who visit it from all over.  This is a statue of Fred and his wife Lena.

I've shown this statue before, but it's so impressive I have to share again.  This is the DaVinci horse, made from a DaVinci drawing. There is an identical horse in Italy.  You can see how big it is by looking at those spots on the hill behind it.  Those are people.

This one is called Neuron.  I'm not usually a fan of more modern type sculpture but this one looks kind of cool sitting out in nature.

This pond and waterfalls is so pretty!

Balancing Act

The Arch

Not a sculpture!  :)   Just a selfie we took along the way.

We had been there a few hours when we finished the sculpture area and decided we weren't ready to go home yet, so we walked over to the farm garden.  This is a replica of the farm that Lena Meijer grew up on.

All of the gardens have sculptures through them. This was by the house and I thought it was sweet.

Isn't this pig the cutest?

This raven sculpture made me think of my friend Jenny from I'm Having a Thought Here.  She loves Poe and I knew she would appreciate them.

One last sculpture as we leave the farm area.  This is Lena Meijer as a girl, riding a pig!

We walked through the woodlands to get back to the entry.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy nature and art both!