Garage Floor Refinishing

One of the remodels that we did was resurfacing the garage floor so that it looks nice, especially since we keep the motorcycle and Adam's project Mustang in the garage  - we wanted it to be visually appealing since we do so many projects, its nice to have a clean, organized place to put our toys and tools. 

We began by pressure washing the garage floor and cleaning it well.  We bought this on craigslist for $25 - an $450 washer!  It had an issue with the engine, and since Adam is a mechanic, we figured he could fix it.  A $20 part later, we have a great pressure washer. 

After the floor dried, we took the garage floor paint (found at local hardware stores), and painted it on the floor.  We went around the edge and trimmed out by the walls, and used a roller for the rest of it.   You can decide if you want to do the sprinkles (colored paint flakes) for a visual effect- we chose to use the sprinkles.  When you sprinkle the paint flakes on, you have to do it immediately after you have painted a 4x4 area, so that they stick well onto the wet paint.  You also have to be careful how you are tossing them on the paint, or you end up with clumps of sprinkles. 

Close up of sprinkles

All Finished

After all is said and done, what would I do differently?  Next time, I would do two coats of paint, and I think I would choose not to use the sprinkles.  I also heard there is a clear coat you can apply on top.  We are going to redo our floor this fall, and so I will have another update on the next go-round of this! 

Caramel Apples

This past Halloween, I wanted to try out the whole making caramel in the crock pot idea.  I had been seeing things about how you can put a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot and boil it to make caramel without the mess.  I was a bit scared to try it that way, so I took my milk, opened it, and poured it straight into the crock pot.  That way, I didn't have to worry about exploding cans on my stove.  I got some granny smith apples, some candy sticks, and I was ready to make caramel apples.

Here is what my crock pot looked like after I dipped my apples.

For the apples, it was easy peasy.  I just put the stick in the apple, dipped it in the caramel (I used a spoon to help coat the top where the apple wasn't dipped entirely).  Then I put the apples on wax paper on a baking sheet, and waited for them to cool.

Delicious! 

Utah field trip

A few summers ago, I went on a field trip to Utah, where we looked at sequence stratigraphy of sands.  Basically, we were in an area that used to be in a shallow marine setting during the Cretaceous.  There was a giant seaway in the west, and all the rocks recorded marine setting deposition.  We stayed at a great hotel, and we explored in Capitol Reef National Park.  The geology is amazing, and there are world class sedimentary structure outcrops, where you can see ripples, cross beds and other shallow marine depositional features.  

Where we stayed was right next to a very nice restaurant, right outside the park.  We had a wonderful view of the red rocks, and enjoyed some drinks while we waited on the rest of the field trip participants to join us. 

We spent all of our days hiking around the field to different spots, and definitely got our exercise in each day.  We packed our lunches in the mornings, and would head out from the SUV's for the majority of the day.  We did a lot of off-roading (really, I've never been on a geology field trip where there wasn't a risk of getting stuck or flat tires).   The biggest challenge this time was rain in the washes - some of the erosion made pretty steep gorges for us to drive through.  We found the best thing to do was to go through one SUV at a time, really fast.  Here is a photo of all of us climbing around the rocks one day, as we make our way up to the top.

 


We also hiked a looonnnggg way across the canyons.  I took this photo when we were halfway back from our field area that day, so you can see how far we were from the SUVs.  Can you spot them in the photo?

The SUVs are on the left hand side of the photo, near the skyline.  It was a long hike back!

I love my job.

Pretty Pictures

I enjoy making my own art for friends and for myself.  A number of paintings in my house are ones that I have done myself, and so I wanted to share one of them with you.  These paintings were made for a bedroom in our house that I painted purple, for any girlie guests we have.  I wanted somthing black and white, since the purple is a dominating color in the room. 

I like the way these turned out, and they look great in the purple room. 

Framing Out a Mirror

I was tired of having those huge mirrors with no frame on them in every bathroom, so I began a quest to change that.  In the hall bathroom, I switched out the mirror completely, for an oval mirror (another post on that remodel later).  Upstairs, I redid the spare bathroom with wood and tile, and im the master, I am currently working on a project with tile. 

Today, I'm focusing on the spare bath.  I got my shopping list ready and headed to the improvement store.  I got glass mosaic tile, wood trim, and liquid nails.   To start, I cut the wood to size, and painted it white.  I then laid out the peices along with the tile, so I could size everything before gluing things in place. Along with my friend's dog I was petsitting

Then, I made sure I had enough tile, and glued the tile to the wood frame.  I did not glue the wood together in the rectangle shape, as I wanted to put each piece on the mirror separately to make sure it would fit properly. 

Then, I glued each peice separately to the mirror, and before you know it, I had a nice framed mirror, where before I had just mirror.

I love the new look! Plus it was very easy!

Laundry Room Re-do

I wanted to redo our laundry room.  For too long it was ugly tan, and I wanted it to be nice and bright.  I hate folding laundry, and I figure, if I'm going to be in there anyway, I might as well like the decor.  Here is a before picture

We moved the storage cabinet into the study downstairs - it is a perfect unit for all my craft and art things.  I can even store my wrapping paper in a drawer inside that is the perfect length!  Once everything was removed, I went to paint. 

I had a few different leftover blue paint colors from around the house, so I mixed some of them all together.  I also knew that I wanted a shelf, a hanging rack, and some hooks along the wall.  I did have inspiration from here.  I got the wood from a home improvement store for the shelf and the wood moulding on the hook wall.  I cut the wood to size, and then painted the pieces bright white. I secured the shelf with leftover wood and molly screws, and for the wood trim, I nailed the peices to the wall.  Iscrewed in the hooks (from the home improvement store), added the hanging rack, and voila, I had a nice new room. 

I added some decorative finishing touches, and now I'm ready to go.  Since the laundry room is upstairs at my house, I don't have to worry about shelves getting repurposed for anything other than a folding table or ironing area.

Yay!

Italian turtles

So, two interesting things happened to us yesterday.  We had dinner at an Italian place, and Adam saved a turtle's life.

Adam found a turtle in the garden, and so he wanted to keep it.  The next thing I know, we have a giant aquarium and 3 red-eared slider babies.

Yesterday, he picked up the turtle we named Cruiser out of the aquarium.  Cruiser had wedged himself between the glass and the heater, and we thought he had died.  Adam blew in his face a few times, and before you know it, little Cruiser perked up and came back to life!  It was amazing.



Cruiser feels better now.  He is all happy this morning and ready to not die again.

The other story involves dinner.  Last night, we went to dinner with our friend Todd and his girlfriend Brooke.  We went to a nice little Italian place <disclaimer - the food was delicious>.  Our server was Jose Gonzales, and he served us authentic Italian food.  When we were seated, we got our drinks.  I ordered Merlot, and Brooke ordered Cabernet.  Thinking all was fine, we continued our conversations.  Soon however, we got a taste of how the night would go. 

Here comes Jose - he tells Brooke that Cabernet and Merlot are the same.  WTF?  No they aren't.  Finally, she gets her wine, but we have to taste/smell test to make sure he didn't get confused again.  In the meantime, Todd ordered some escargot.  5 minutes later, he comes Jose - Jose can't remember what Todd ordered, so he again tells him escargot.  Well, then the manager comes over - they're out of escargot.  That's fine, no biggie.  Jose shows up again, and tells Brooke that we have other appetizers, and tells her about the moserla.  She can't understand what he's saying, so she has him point to the menu item (oh, its mozzeralla sticks.).  No thanks. 

Time to order our food.  We order, and all is well.  5 minutes later, Jose appears again.  Even though we thought he was writing down our order, I guess he was just doodling, because he forgot what Brooke wanted.  She re-orders, and we wait for our food to arrive. 

Here come the plates.  Oh look, someone's order is messed up.  Adam has been given capellini with tomato sauce instead of the fettucini alfredo with clams he ordered.  So we wait again for his to be corrected. 

Finally, his food arrives, and we ate well.  When the manager comes over, he offers us free desserts, since Jose is such a screw up, and so we get dessert.  Brooke has to quiz Jose, to make sure he isn't going to forget between here and the kitchen what we ordered. 

Oh man, what an experience.  Pretty funny night for us.