the goose loves tuesday's ten (#7)

Well, friends, I've done it again. I've managed to post nothing for a whole week, and I haven't even been able to have a timely Tuesday post. But we'll pretend it's Tuesday instead of Wednesday and get to the good stuff.

"Today" is Tuesday, April 10th, and so I have Ten Tuesday Things on the Tenth for you! Yay alliteration.

1. Last Friday was Good Friday, and here is what made it good.



Shrimp Po'Boy at Miss Delta



I know that Good Friday is about reflection and quiet time and understanding the weight of the day - and don't worry. I did that all day. Work was busy and stressful and we were working hard. I was reflecting on strength and patience and sacrifice!

So then, by the end of the day, it was time to spend a few peaceful moments with the one I love over a tasty meal. And that's just what we did.

2. After driving up to Seattle on Friday night, I hung out with Monika while Billy went to Canada for a drum competition. Mon & I went to her friend's baby shower, and we wrapped up two onesies (one is below) and a little clutch/diaper case/pouch for the soon-to-be-mom-of-two.

3. On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, we walked Greenlake - a three-mile path surrounding a giant manmade lake in Seattle. The weather was gorgeously sunny, so we soaked up the rays and enjoyed the fresh air.

4. And it was Easter! So we said goodbye to Lent and ordered ourselves some delicious coffees - a latte for me and a (soy) mocha for Billy! Mmm lattes never tasted soooo good. (We got the regular 16 oz, even though I did talk earlier about getting a super-grande 64-oz-er...)

5. Here's your Easter post teaser - we celebrated with Monika on Sunday, and then had a little extra fun on Monday with the dog... details coming soon. 

 6. While Billy was still in Canada, Bents and I took a walk through Carkeek Park, a nice trail near Monika's house. LOVE the sun. 

I tried to get the dog to get up on the rock and lay down so I could photograph him, but he was way too interested in the bird/squirrel/leaf/stream noises to sit still. 

And why wouldn't I try again when we got to the field of daisies? 

 7. While I took pictures of the dog hung out in Seattle, Billy met his band in Vancouver, BC for the first competition of the season. He looked a little bit like this. Click here for his performance!

 8. One of these days, I'm going to get crafty again. And one of my first projects will be turning these beads into a gorgeous necklace for work. I'll add it to my long list of weekend projects.

 9. I made more cookies. Billy is a spoiled lucky boy! 

 10. Finally! Remember when I got that spraypaint (#10)? Well, here's the results! Spraypainted hampers. Those suckers used to be plain-old-ugly white. And now they're gorgeous!

I covered them with a layer of primer first, to make sure the paint wouldn't flake off. I covered the insides with plastic and newspaper to keep the paint only on the outside, and that worked well. I also let each of them dry for at least a week in the garage so they fully set. Oh and there's Billy's teddy and the art I made awhile ago that's waiting to go on the wall... 

So there you have it - another ten down for Tuesday. And I promise - food and Easter and Bentley posts coming soon!

the goose loves tuesday's ten (#4)

Happy Tuesday, Faithful Readers! It may be Tuesday's Ten, but there's something like 20 photos for your enjoyment today... and don't forget to check out last week's post too.



1. Monika came to visit us this past weekend. It was great to see her and I'm glad she came. Bentley was happy to have an extra friend too.

2. This coming weekend's plans include building a planter box of some sort. Farmer Billy Joe wants to plant some veggies or berries or something so that we can reap the bounty in summer and have a harvest party in the fall. Or something. I suggest he build something like this beauty:

3. Monika and I celebrated St. Paddy's while Billy was at some March Madness games at the Rose Quarter. I crock-potted some traditional Irish fare, while remembering that the stuff they ate, or supposedly ate, was super boring and fairly bland. Or maybe I did it wrong?

I did make a fresh loaf of soda bread - and no complaints there. Any kind of bread is good for me.

4. I told you the bow tie had a good purpose. And this photo shoot wasn't for nothing, either. Just wait.

5. On Sunday morning, I ran the Shamrock Run 8k, as I mentioned last week. The race is famous for having lots of irish-themed costumes and outfits, and tutus are popular. I decided that being serious was no fun, so I made myself my first tutu. And it was epic. (That's what I was doing with the material in #6). So I ran my first 8K (5 miles) in 50 minutes (10 minute miles, for you math whizzes) and I didn't walk once! And then I was exhausted. This photo is pre-race, when I was barely awake.

6. After the race, I came home, ate some soda bread, and slept for almost an hour. Then I woke up hungry and lazy, so we checked out a new restaurant on N Mississippi called Miss Delta. Delicious Southern-ish food for excellent prices. I went for the Pain Perdu (deep fried french toast), but I'm going back soon for the shrimp po' boy.

Billy went for a "Southern Stack" - breakfasty-things in a biscuit with gravy.

Monika went for the gumbo mac n cheese - I alsmost traded her dishes - it was so good. Thanks, Mom & Dad, for sponsoring our brunch!

7. Check out this amazing project from The Junk House. She cut up scrapbook paper to make the pattern on a huge piece of poster board. I think I know what I'll be doing when Billy's building his farmer box...

8. On Saturday, we got a package from Billy's dad! Along with some magazines, he included an awesome Sharks jersey-like shirt for Billy.

Here's his "Go Sharks" pose. But they still lost last night, even though he was proudly wearing his shirt.

9. Taxes are done! Federal taxes e-filed, and we're getting $$ back.

And Oregon tax return sent via snail mail today. Done and done!

10. Along with planter boxes and paper art, I'll be getting my spray paint on... got these on Sunday at Michaels with my giftcard from Billy's dad! Just wait to see what I paint...

So that's it for this Tuesday. Come back soon!

the goose loves diy ottomans - part one

Okay, we're on a roll. The dates are out of whack, but ignore that.

I finished this project about a week ago, but it probably started close to the beginning of October. Also, there are a ton of photos so I split it up into two posts. Here's the first of two.

So although I've pinned this, I originally found it at Young House Love, a home renovation and DIY blog of a family that lives off of blogging about redoing their house. Dreamy, right?! I think we're all a bit jealous. Anyway, in their archives, I found this guest post where Kara from Kara Paslay Designs gave a tutorial on making your own ottoman-bench-footstool-thing. I was intrigued! Since we got our new couch, we were in need of something footstool-coffee table-ottoman-like, and we didn't want to get something large and expensive. So why not make our own?

Kara's Tutorial on YHL

Kara was able to use some awesome leftover wood from her home re-do, but unfortunately I haven't ripped out any walls with out-of-date-framing (actually I haven't ripped out any walls lately), so I thought I might just start with an existing coffee table instead. So Billy and I spent a Saturday garage-sale-hunting and thrift-store-shopping, and finally came up with this:

We found it at Crow, a small thrift shop in St. Johns. At first, we wandered around the small place without finding anything. But the nice shop owner asked us if she could help, and I described my idea.

(The dog came free.)

So she scurried into the back and pulled this out!

It was just the shape I was looking for. Long and skinny, perfect for in front of the sectional. The top was some kind of laquer and the sides and legs were a little beat up - some scuffs and they looked like they had been partially primed and then abandoned. But the pieces were real wood and we were planning on re-doing it anyway. So we took it home for a sweet $25!

The legs come off in a jiffy.

My boys posing on the table. Bentley looks hilariously creepy.

Model dog?

I had trouble getting him out. He liked it.

So the first step was sanding it down to prep it for a couple nice coats of spraypaint.

I also pulled out some random staples on one end. Maybe somebody already had my idea?

Plasco Inc. is the manufacturer. Didn't find them in Google, who knows all, so they must not exist anymore.

This was the most severe damage, but not really that bad. I filled it with putty, smoothed it out, and let it dry before painting.

Billy helped me sand it down. Well he actually re-sanded everything after I had first sanded it all. I guess I missed some spots? We started with some 100-grit paper, and finished off with some finer 250-grit. Not sure if we needed both, but it worked well.

Bentley=Super Helpful (Not)

Above were my two choices of spraypaint - gloss espresso brown and hammered brown. The Rust-Oleum stuff works great -the nozzles were really easy to use. I decided to go with the hammered brown -a  little lighter and more metallic-y.

I laid my table out on some cardboard in the backyard to be painted.

I stood the legs on their tops, so that I could spray on all four sides.

I also stuck Q-tips in the screw holes, so they didn't get all gunked up with paint.

And voila - my way-attractive fume-proof getup. And surprise! It was sunny in Portland! So I donned the sunglasses. This awesome photo is my reflection in the sliding glass door. Nice, right?

Spraypaint, Coat #1

Spraypaint, Coat #2

Spraypaint, Coat #3

Spraypaint, Coat #4

After reading many posts by Sherry the Spraypaint Queen, from the above-mentioned blog Young House Love, I learned that proper technique includes constantly moving your arm while spraying 8-12" away from the surface. And lightly does it!

I probably ended up doing about 6-8 very thin coats on all surfaces.

Once I let the pieces dry (for 48 hours, outside and in the garage), I brought them inside but noticed that the ridges in the legs didn't perfectly get sprayed. Dang.

No biggie, really. I just sprayed a little paint in a paper cup, pulled out a craft foam brush, and dabbed it onto the ridges.

Ahh, much better.

Then I let that dry, of course.

What's next? The good part! Upholstery!!

But that will have to wait until the next post...