i'm back...

i do apologize for my extended absence...we've been 'a little out of sorts' at the shed and before one knows it, several weeks have past by. i haven't been completely bogged down with painting, more a case of being bogged down with 'sick' and 'colds'...mother's day was rather lovely, the younger residents of mossy shed took notice of my sign and when i added "oh and no grumpy old sods either" i had it completely covered...

then our #4 came down with a 'sicky bug' which lasted for a while, until his 10th birthday where miracle of miracles he was well enough to do a bit of presie opening...he told me at the end of the day it was his best birthday ever and surprisingly when he went back to school i have to tell you i actually missed his company.

then yours truly and her man started to feel rather jippy...

amongst all of the "mum, i don't feel good", i have still achieved a few things, and even when i felt quite grotty i did not sit around looking at repeats of Little House on the Prairie. i am quite sure i might have been tempted but i haven't managed to find the channel since we moved and so my addiction to lunchtime viewing of 'olden times' has been broken...

the painting is coming along, i have finished the staircase with a little help and all but two doors are left untouched in the downstairs part of the shed...our tree house is growing, my man feels his plans were a little adventurous but as we are half way through there is no going back. the boys have been working on a fire pit and a staircase for their tree house (quite obviously designed to keep their mother out and her doilifying ways)....and little old me? well i have been busy working on a flower bed outside of Gladys, hauling rocks from the undergrowth and arranging them 'just so'...

and last but by no means least, we have the latest member to join our clan...

how could i resist this battered old truck parked on the side of the road with a sign that said 'PLEASE CAN I COME AND LIVE WITH YOU, TIF' (according to others at the time, it just said 'FOR SALE' but i know what i saw)...when my man returned that evening i asked him if he had seen Winston and 'the sign' on his way home...

"who's Winston?" he asked...

"the beautiful beat up truck at the side of the lake road who wishes to reside at mossy shed"...

to which he just groaned, hung his head and mumbled something about hoping i hadn't seen it...

and so dear readers, Winston (born in 1968, oh what a good year to be born) shall spend his twilight years in the company of Gladys at the bottom of the yard...

she's thinking your thinking she's quite batty ~ Tif

ever hopeful...

not much to ask for mother's day...

oh and a bit of sunshine won't go a miss...

she's wishing you a lovely weekend ~ Tif

the adventures of Tif and the rain forest...day five...

Tif had lost all hope of ever being mistaken for a bohemian hippy chick traveller, several things were not working in her favor. first it didn't help having four children with her, chances were high that someone would have something to complain about, children of a bohemian hippy chick woman do not complain, no they embrace their mother's lifestyle.

today the complaint was the lack of dry clothing and shoes, it was pointless hanging the damp clothes out over night, they appeared to be even wetter in the morning. added to that, all the shoes from yesterday's trek were like sponges.

she also noted that her minuscule wardrobe contained no clean clothing (apart from the little blue sundress and one pair of underpants that she was saving for the plane ride home).

everything had been used, sweated in and rained on...she had a feeling they were starting to 'hum', visions of 'pig pen' from Peanuts started to float around her head...

but apart from the knowledge that she would never look like those lovely women that seem to look naturally beautiful at all times whilst travelling she knew today would be a good day.

it started off with a 'lie in', total bliss compared to the last few days of early starts. breakfast was to be at eightish and then Suzanne their host, said to meet up on the beach, making sure their legs were covered. any shred of looking 'with it' was lost when that little bit of information was given, and so Tif returned to the cabin (don't ask why she sleeps in the bungalow and yet her clothes are in the cabin, it just happened that way and gave the kitchen staff something to laugh at every morning) to fetch her knee high socks...

they were heading once again into primary rain forest but this time on horseback...the whole family were excited, the sun was out, there were no 'waiver' forms to sign or helmets to wear, it was just a case of get on your horsey and hope for the best.

Tif's horse was called Coyote...they soon bonded even though they did not share a common language and Coyote felt Tif's attire rather dodgy. Tif knew Coyote dreamed of living in the olden days on the plains of the wild west. Coyote knew Tif shared that same dream only 'better dressed'.

and so it was that Tif and her children had the best day ever,

her man however was bringing up the rear laiden down with the back pack, a camera with no strap and a horse that did not share his dreams, whatever they were.

his horsey was slow, stubborn and cared not for being on this journey...they eventually made it to the highest point where the horses were left to rest while they scrambled down the hillside to a waterfall to cool off...

on the return part of the journey Suzanne felt them experienced enough to gallop, in hindsight Tif knew that was the point that made it impossible for her to sleep at night for the rest of the stay without a pillow wedged under her 'ailing' derriere...

she's off to paint the banister and spindles of mossy shed ~ Tif

well fancy that...

"do you like the color green?"

"excuse me?" said i

"do you like the color green?" the young shop assistant at Home Depot asked me again

"i'm not sure...why?" i asked (worrying if it was a trick question)

"well look, your shirt is green, your wallet is green, the packaging on the 'weather stripping' you are buying has green on it and if you look at the inside of the box containing the door handle you are also purchasing, that is green too" she said

pausing, as i finished paying whilst wondering if this conversation was for real

"well, i guess i do"...

"that's good" she said "because it suits you"

she's thinking you learn something new every day ~ Tif

a 'happy birthday' at the shed...

yesterday was a lovely day, everything went smoothly...it was our #2's fifteenth birthday, the sun came out to play, her mood (for want of a better word) stayed pleasant and i was spot on with the presies. (phew)

i had been to the mall on Friday, i managed several hours with my friend Annette and then i returned home with a few bags, several dollars lighter and rather pleased with myself. you see dear readers i can not be the only one who has trouble 'mall' shopping...i stumble around from department to department looking lost. the assistants look at me with that 'smile' of "what is she doing amongst these clothes, doesn't she know she is 'oh so wrong' and 'oh so old' for them"...

but i managed it (oh, the sacrifices we make for our children) and only came away with a mild allergic rash.

and so my little wheelie table came out to play again, we had cake in the sunshine...and i wished once again that i had whipped up something home made and picture perfect but alas it was a shop bought number in luminous green (very in, i am told) that our #2 choose herself. when we came to light it, i had forgotten the candles, not a candle to be found in the shed...after ten minutes of trying to find some i asked if she was willing to not have any candles, which of course did not go down well and so i sent our #1 out to buy some (she has become most handy since passing her driver's test )...

we also started work on the tree house, it is an elaborate plan, made all the more so by me and my 'creativity' which apparently is getting in the way of what boys want from a tree house. "you know Tif," my man told me "boys do not require curtains, furniture or pretty colors in a tree house despite what your magazines show you. no, they require a pulley rope and bucket, a sleeping bag and a lantern...and no, not fairy lights before you ask".

and so there it is dear readers, 'duck egg blue' has been banned from within several yards of any wood and i have also been informed that 'bunting' will not cut it either. but do not despair for me, i have mentioned the need for a 'british flag' and that was met with noises of approval, plus the color of 'sagey' green has been given the go ahead.

i have saved the bit about a few hanging baskets until further down the road...

in the meantime i have been told to "back off" with my 'doilified' ideas and tend to Gladys who has been neglected due to my need to paint another fourteen doors in the shed...

she's hoping the sun came out for you or if not, it will do soon ~ Tif

paint, paint and more paint...

there has been a lot of paint brush wielding going on at the shed, spurred on by the results of our #3's bedroom we have moved onto the bathroom...the space was very dark so we put in a sun tunnel, i can't tell you just how amazing these little solar tubes are. the space was also very dated which is being kind...i don't think it had seen a lick of paint since the shed had been built...

i put on my natty painting number and got to work brightening up the 'knock down' with several coats of white.

my man and our #3 took out the old tiles and sink that had seen much better days (actually that is not true, i do not believe the day they were put in, nearly thirty years a go was a 'better' day, it was never a good choice).

so we replaced the sink and i painted the dark wood out with a rather lovely vintage greeny blue.

i am so happy with the results that i am now fretting for my little cupboard until the paint has properly cured, i do not believe my children realize that it took their mother three coats of paint and an awful lot of 'strange positioning' to achieve these results and so i have resorted to this...in the meantime i must make the shower curtain and lay the floor but am pleased to see that at least India Rose approves of it all...

my door from the kitchen to the garage via the laundry room has received the paint brush also...and it hasn't stopped there dear readers, oh no, i ventured into the laundry room and painted out the 80's formica sink unit and tried to give it a 'little charm'...

but i think the best thing i have to share with you today is the fact that last saturday the sun shone and so i pulled back the 'tarp' covering my still unpainted french doors and wheeled (yes WHEELED!) out my kitchen table to the "ooohs" and "aaahs" of my family (that's what i like to think the noises were).

once the table was outside it became glaringly obvious that gloss white paint in the sun is quite blinding...none of us could look at it directly...not to worry, it just gave me the excuse to fetch one of my beloved tablecloths...and so it was my boys played 'al fresco' and then we ate lunch 'al fresco' and at the end of the day my little wheelie table came back inside my kitchen to wait patiently for the next sunny day to once again take a spin outside...

i have Lynn to thank for the locking casters, i had some great suggestions from one or two of you but alas they did not fit my skinny legged table, but Lynn tracked the perfect casters down and they fitted a treat. i have to tell you if ever one is in a dilemma of where to find something, Lynn is the girl to go to...she leaves not a stone unturned and always comes up triumphant, i believe it is the influence of all the 'crime solving' programmes she watches...

dear readers, i thank you for staying with me whilst i am blogging so little, you are not the only ones to feel neglected, our #1 commented yesterday as i was finishing up a six panelled door (arrggh) "i see where your priorities lie mother, it is with a paint brush and sadly not me"

at the moment she is thinking that never a truer word has been spoken ~ Tif

footnote: i know what you are thinking...you are thinking, "has Tif lost her tiny mind, what twit puts white towels in a bathroom for a family of six?" but do not fear for my white towels, for i have instructed my children that to avoid traces of mascara and other such undesirables upon the 'whiteness', they are to find the 'old' towels lurking in the cupboard if needed...