Summer’s Glory

Blog catch up time and is there a lot to catch up! I used to be so good at getting a post up every other week. I love the process I just seem to procrastinate. As a long time journal keeper I love blogs! I love looking back through my journals and with a blog there is just so much more depth. I like to believe I’m leaving a legacy for my descendants. I have diaries from my grandmother and I love reading what her life was like. Oh how I wish I could read a blog from my ancestors about their lives and loves. So I leave my little stamp on the earth, journals and this blog, so that perhaps my grandchildren and beyond may have a small glimpse into their heritage, history, and just mundane doings of an ordinary life.

I did finally get my cabinets painted! What a job that was! I generally only use Behr paint but had kept seeing post on Pinterest recommending Valspar cabinet paint. I gave it a try. It is much stickier than Behr and seriously makes your hands sticky any place you get it on them. But it went on great with 2 coats and has been extremely durable…even with all the grand kids visits off and on and the wear and tear! I’d give it 5 stars for certain! I was going to seal them, but has has worn so well that I don’t believe it’s necessary! I just love how it looks!! As for the glaze finish, I did a small test with glaze on one cabinet and decided against it in the end.

I like to update and reuse the hardware any time I can and with the amazing spray paint finishes available now it’s so easy!! I love how it turned out!

It feels like I have a new kitchen and I’m loving it! Since I had the glaze I just had to use it. So I did this:

This little metal table was a rust look finish and didn’t fit with my decor. It looks much greener in this photo but is actually a nice blue green. I love it! I really enjoyed working with the glaze so will be looking for more projects to apply it to.

Erica finished her internship for her PH.D. and came down for a visit. We loaded up the car and headed to Nevada to visit Becca. This required 10 hours in the car and most through desert! I used the opportunity to catch up on some knitting. But man is that a loooong trip!! See all that sage brush….yup 8 hours of that scenery. But to see Becca and sweet peas….so worth it!!

Matt took the olders hiking. They actually caught that fish, cleaned it, and cooked it over the fire. How fun is that!!

We had the most amazing time visiting, knitting, sewing, and just being together! I hate that she lives so far away!! Becca also had me go through her sewing stuff and I brought home an entire carload….we weren’t sure we would fit it all!

Back home and had this waiting! My fridge had given up a week prior to the trip and we had been trying to use cooler boxes for perishables….doesn’t really work I’m here to say! So off to Sears and I chose the largest fridge that they sold. It is a beauty and so much room in both the fridge and freezer compartments! I love how the stainless matches with my other appliances. Now my kitchen is complete!

When we returned home, the hubby took the kids off for a play day at the beach. Looks like they had a great time…..well not so sure that Jayse is enjoying being buried!

Erica and I took the time to work on dyeing yarn. We are very slow at launching our business but we are steadily coming along. Our new business cards arrived and we love them. Trinity did the design for both this business and the bag business Stitches Plus Purls. Love her simple yet fun line drawings!

We also canned cherries. Erica had never canned before and has a huge garden so wanted to learn simple water bath canning. The cherries were delish and canned up beautifully! I really enjoy canning and hadn’t done so for a few years either!!

What I love most about summer is all the grands are out of school and come for visits!!! On the heels of Erica and grands, Christina arrived to drop off some sweet peas for a week!!! We had the grandest time!!!