Fixing up chairs on a Friday.

So, in my efforts to keep up with this better, this is what I did yesterday, complete with a couple pictures!

Yesterday, I got up and puttered a little at my computer.  Okay, a lot at my computer.  And then I got ready to go to the babysitting gig I thought I had that morning.  I remembered that I’d seen a message from Mom on my phone just as I was going to bed, but that my phone had died and I’d plugged it in.  So I went to go listen to the message from Mom and discovered another message from the woman for whom I was going to be babysitting, canceling our appointment.  I called her back to let her know that I’d received the message and then I changed back out of “decent” clothes and back into “work” clothes.

Then I went out onto the back porch and washed the heck out of the three wooden chairs we had sitting on our front porch.  They used to be the kitchen chairs at Justin’s old apartment in upstate New York, so they weren’t actually weather-proofed for that sort of thing.  They’re mostly under the cover of the porch, but it doesn’t really protect them that much.

The front of our house

They were all pretty spotty with mold, so I washed them good and hard for a long time and in the end, they mostly ended up looking like this.

But it’s impressive what a good dark stain will do.  This is what I did later in the afternoon.

One of them is darker than the other, just because it took more weather damage than the others, but they all look so much better than they did.

All refreshed and renewed

I think I might give them all a second coat, but I’m going to wait until they’re all good and dry, which means it won’t happen for a week or so.  But they’re all covered in a very good weather-resistant stain now, so hopefully they’ll fare better than they had been.

In between washing and staining, because I had to wait for them to dry, I went to the library to return my due book and pick up a handful of others.  I’d forgotten how liberating it is to *borrow* books instead of buying them.  I can pick up books for research that I wouldn’t want to buy and keep around, but are good to be able to borrow for a while, get the information I want, and then return.

Like The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke by Suze Orman.  I’m recommending this read to everybody I know.  Seriously.  READ THIS BOOK.  It’s all about how to get yourself out of debt and into a better place for the future.  And it’s not just “stop drinking Starbucks everyday.”  It’s “this is what your credit score means and why it’s important and how you can get it better.”  It’s “don’t worry about your savings account when you have $10,000 in credit card debt.”  And “this is what a Roth IRA is and why you want to start one RIGHT NOW.”  It’s “this is how you buy a house, after you’ve paid off your credit card debt and improved your credit score.”  It’s really great.  I’ve got the book full of Post-it notes and I’m working on doing the things she recommended.  But once I’m done, I’m returning the book and I didn’t have to pay a dime for the advice!  It’s lovely!

Anyway, back from the library, I went and stained the chairs, listening to podiobooks on my music box, and stupidly forgetting to put on sunscreen or bug spray.  My back is a lovely pink now and I’ve got bites all up my legs.  My legs were all spotty when I came in, both from the splatter from the stain and because I sat on the grass and I’m allergic to grass.  The bug bites didn’t even register until this morning!

So I came in and washed, collapsed for a while because I was tired (sunburn does that) and I’ve lost track of my evening after that.  Tired does that.  I know Justin and I played a game together for a while and then remembered that one of our favorite shows was coming back on that evening so we watched that.  Eureka! Fantastic show.  And then we went to bed.

I’m sorry I failed to call, Mom.  I will do that sometime today.

Justin found a great pattern for build-it-yourself bookshelves, so I think we might be working on that today, and maybe getting together with online friends to play a computer game online, but I’m not really sure yet.

I hope you’re all having a great day!  I’ll check back in again soon!

Cheers!