Do It Yourself

Lisa, Dad comes over NEXT weekend and my tools and supplies and thick mat are all under the laundry room sink so we have no excuse to put it off.  I also have to re-glue the wallpaper since the constant movement between the wall and sink has pulled some of it loose ... I keep my broom in that spot.

Marin, with the quarter round, you might want help when you go to lay it down. You can buy the quarter round (decide what size you want) and STAIN it before you lay it down.  You will need a miter saw kit (very cheap and easy to use if you are handy) so that way when the sides come together ( in the L shape) they have to be mitered. You know, cut at opposite angles so they fit.

J --  I use Goof Off or Goo Gone on almost everything.  My daughter get terrible scuff marks on her shoes and I just use both of them with a rag to get them off. 

I even used WD-40 on my hands to get spray paint off the other day. I was spray painting a plastic chair (kid size chair, on sale but red, spray paint it black and yippee!) .... got it all over my fingers and didn't have any turpentine or nail polish remover.  WD-40 worked but I think Goof-Off would have worked, too.

Make sure you use a white rag and blot, blot, blot.  Do not rub and scrub. Must use white so dye from another rag doesn't end up on your rug.

Janis, I have the cutest pic of my daughter with her hands in the toilet!!!!!!!  It was too late, hands were in, thankfully, the water was clean and I grabbed my camera!

Now, the hard part is keeping it closed and locked.

Janis, my little brother did that and tried to eat kibble, too!

Jaybird...I think that there may be 2 or 3 lilac buhes in all of NC, so I've no clue about planting them. Lilac is my very favorite scent though and for years, I wore a lilac essential oil by The Body Shop until it was discontinued 2 years ago. I've been seeking a replacement ever since. Anyways, I digress!

Sooooooo....I want to thank you hardy, self-sufficient girls and credit y'all with my attempt...and success....in "repairing" my dining room table. Over a year ago, one of the legs' wooden braces split and, since then, the leg has been too wobbly to allow full use of the table without my smushing it up to the wall and using the remaining 3 sides. It was downright depressing, but as with many issues I wish to avoid and pretend will magically fix themselves, I just said a good old Scarlett O'Hara "fiddledy-dee" and closed my eyes to the thing. But, I'll admit, I did remember it with each new boyfriend in the hopes that he would ride over on his white horse and do his man-magic and fix it. Well, each guy blustered on about how easily he could and would repair it but, alas, none lifted a finger to do so. Okay, exit the men and I'm left with this effin' table. So today I decided that I was going to come on here and ask you clever babes how to do it myself. But first, I decided, I needed to take an actual look at the leg connection to see how I could describe it. As I'm under the table squinting away, I begin to see the problem and considered a possible solution. It seemed logical, so I removed the split piece of wood and realigned to be caught by the original bolt that first holds the brace and then the actual leg. Then I screwed and bolted them both back in place and HOLY CRAP...the leg stood straight and tight!!!! I moved the table back to its rightful place under the chandelier, put a nice, bright red tablecloth, some pretty placemats and an antique pewter pitcher on top and voila, it looks like a dining room again. I got so psyched that I rearranged all of the furniture in the living room too! Yesssssssssss! I'm loving this self-sufficiency gig!

~Marin