Ready for Summer - is it every coming?

So, no luck at the garage sales today. My partner in crime wasn't feeling well yesterday so she slept in this morning and I was on my own. I think that's why I didn't find anything good; she's my good luck charm! At any rate, I saved myself some money and put my energy into other things, like taking a nap in the hammock. I did get some good cleaning up done around the yard and pool area. Though it isn't completely finished, my pool deck is looking a whole lot better. We've had lovely weather for the past few days but still not warm enough for what I would call summer.

You may have seen my post about a month ago talking about how the good weather gives me project fever and my plans for a patio makeover and lounge chair finishing. When my pool was installed way back whenever, it was plopped it into the middle of a full blown garden so by the time I got a hold of it, it was overgrown with mostly weeds taking over the pool area. I am lucky to have a separately fenced area with a nice, secure gate that houses my pool but I have been longing to get it tidied up and more usable and that was this Spring's project. Well, mostly my husband's project - he's the one who made the loungers, ripped out the garden, hauled most of the dirt (I managed 10 wheel barrows full!) and put in the patio stones (left over from major patio overhaul we did two years ago.) So, here's what it looked like a month ago.

Shudder... you never realize how bad it was until it's fixed up! We sold the table and chairs and started digging. Remember, we were using leftover stones so naturally we had juuuuust enough to almost finish it. Eeeeesh, what project ever goes smoothly? We are still working on finding the few extras that we need but this is what it looks like with the table and chairs in place...

See? better already! Now for the lounge chairs. "We" built these last summer based mostly on the plan Ana White's wonderful plan for a chaise with a bit of a size modification to match the cushions we found on sale for $25 each! I was supposed to paint the loungers last year and never got around to it. Can't remember what I was doing but it must have been important because without paint, they are so unattractive (lovely craftsmanship, though!).

So, this Spring, I dragged out the ol' can of exterior white and got down to it AND, complained the whole time to anyone who would listen. the slat bottoms were really annoying and I had to paint one side and then the other, and then it rained so I had to wait before I could resume painting, etc. But, they're done now and they look fabulous and I am so glad I put all that effort into them.

 So, with the table, chairs, loungers and matching umbrellas (also scored on sale end of season last year), here's how it looks!

Now, if it would only warm up, I might be tempted to jump in!

Gone Sale-ing

We had a fantastic Canada Day! There was a parade downtown, a day long party in the park, activities all evening and fireworks at the beach at dusk.... and my kids were having none of it. They were up late last night for a movie in the park and didn`t seem to feel like anymore excitement.

They were quite clear this morning that all they wanted to do was to have a lazy day today. Fine with me. I have always said they are incredibly low maintenance when it comes to entertainment. Last summer we took them down the beach for a dinner picnic and they raved about it for 2 weeks! Trip to Disneyworld last summer notwithstanding, we really try to keep our lives as simple as possible and take in the small pleasures in life so it is great to see them embracing that.

So we celebrated our love for our wonderful country together, at home. We ran out to buy some chain for the hammock we inherited last summer from my dad and spent the rest of the day swinging in the hammock, blowing bubbles, and swimming. We ate all our meals outside and made frozen lemonade in the blender. It was pure heaven! We are all well rested and ready to take on the weekend, and good thing too - tomorrow is garage sale day. I have been really lucky the last few times I`ve been out and I am looking forward to a few hours of treasure hunting with my 12-year old partner in crime who has a terrific eye for well-loved, time-beautified treasures.

She chose this gorgeous toboggan last week.

The paint colour, worn in wood, leather straps and original rope were too good to pass up! She`s thrilled that we can fit 5 people on it and is `super excited`` about winter already.

At the same house, we found these gorgeous bobbins. My daughter noticed them right away and said how nice they would look on a bookshelf. I love the fact that they still have yarn on them. I am going to leave them as is - they are already on my bookshelf!

Ten starfish for $2 - yes, please! They even threw the basket in for free.

This summer we moved my white aluminum table and chairs to the pool area and my husband made me a new table (reveal on that coming soon!).  I really wanted `real`plates to use on the gorgeous new table but didn`t want to use my grown up plates. So, this was a real score - 12 dinner plates from the local church sale for $2. I was holding the plates and asked my daughter to get the money out of my wallet - she was going to count out $24, not quite believing it was $2 for all 12, not $2 each! I love them and we have already used them many times.

I have been looking for a chair like this for three years, I love the wood and the fact that it rolls and swivels, but usually they come with arms and I wanted one without so this was a real score - only $5 and spied by my very clever accomplice.

So we are up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to head out to a brand new flea market being held at the local drive-in theatre. Of course, why didn`t I think of that... what a great idea!. I have all my fingers crossed that it will be wonderful and become a regular thing.

I will be sure to let you know how it goes!