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Monday, June 4, 2012

I need a weekend from my weekend!

Holy hell what a weekend!  We have spent the past full week trying to get our lanai in order.  It was installed about 15 years ago and it looked it.  Many of the stones had the top layer off so that slate-esque appearance they used to have looked like asphalt chunks.  I wanted to stain it to see if we could get a few more years out of it.  The Mr did a lot of leveling, cleaning and such it looked like this before we started.


Then we put on the first coat.  It looked okay but I did the one in the top right corner with 2 coats and the Mr said "ooh, that one looks good!" and I said it was because it had 2 coats.  He groaned because he knew that meant another trip to HD and more painting in the 90+ degree heat.


But it was worth it.  It looked 100x better and it even brought back the texture of the slate stamp on top which we thought was lost.


The rest of the week I spent painting the backside of the fence and putting sand in the cracks of the stones and such to get it ready to roll.  We were having my cousin over for a healthy dinner and to give him some stuff for losing weight and I wanted the patio all together before he got here.  Friday night we had a date at the theater but got up early Saturday and I painted the fence, we got some blocks for around the perimeter of the fence to keep the feral cats from making a home on our lanai.  (WHY do people feed these things and encourage them to come back.  I know they're cute but we're on like 5th generation of wild kitties here)  We got everything up and our oasis was finished.


The view of my herb container garden.  I planted dill, cilantro, sweet basil, orange thyme, rosemary, chocolate mint and garlic chives.


My cousin has lost over 50 lbs and for his achievement, we got him a shirt in Maui and I planted him a small herb garden with 4 basil plants so he could make pesto, thyme and rosemary.  He loved it.  I showed him how to use some of them with his meal prep.  I think it'll help pep up his food and he'll expand it if he likes cooking with them.  I'm excited for him.  He LOVED dinner and dessert and got so excited to go shopping at Trader Joe's the next day after we had him taste tested all kinds of stuff in our fridge and pantry.  Flying spoons everywhere..."here try this!...now this!"  So cute.  I know...nerdy but he's the only other person in the family really working to lose weight so it's nice to have him step out of his culinary box and realize eating healthy can be delicious.

The next day we went to a festival and walked around the city for a few hours then did a ton of grocery shopping and by the time we got home, we were spent.  My new to me pick was this Santa Claus melon...


It's about 12" long and 6" around.  It looks like this inside:


I tasted it and it was like a cross between watermelon and honeydew so the Mr balled it up for me for the week.  The house is chalk full of fruits and veggies and ready for some good eatin'.  I was a pooped pup.

What did you do this weekend?

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35 comments:

  1. I would LOVE to spend time on that lanai. How great to even be able to say that exotic word and be referring to your own home. Congrats to Cuz and congrats to you for being such an inspiration and mentor!

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    1. Thanks Paige! I did some work while sitting out there this morning and it was heavenly. I hope it's not a grossly hot summer, I'd love to enjoy it all season! I love that I have someone else in the family we can talk about geeky health stuff with that looks like they're actually going to stick with it!

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  2. Wow, the lanai looks fantastic! Your hard work definitely paid off.

    I spent the weekend with the outlaws and I, too, need a weekend from my weekend.

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    1. Thanks Debbie! :)

      Oh man, my condolences. I'd need to relax too!

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  3. Wow, it looks just like the outdoor rooms on DIY network! Really, really, REALLY wanting my own home so I can do this stuff too.

    What fun to share your passion for both food and weight loss with your cousin! And how sweet of you to give him a gift that will encourage exploring healthy food alternatives.

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    1. Ooh thanks for saying that! It makes the hard work even more worth it! Yes, it's great to be able to share that with him and show him all of the culinary possibilities!

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  4. It was a lot of hard work but it really paid off and we actually saved ourselves a lot of money by revamping the patio stones. I also learned that I am more capable of that kind of stuff than I would have thought before and so we avoided just spending the money to have someone redo the whole thing. I mean, other than the cost of some paint and the annuals/herbs, everything in that picture is stuff we already owned and made it all look like new again. So worth it! I just hope we have some nicer days that aren't stinking hot this summer so we can spend more time out there.

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    1. It really was and I appreciate all of the hard work you put into it. I just knew I wasn't going to replace it all so we needed to improvise and I think it looks pretty dang good. We got off pretty cheap considering. Hopefully by next year it'll only cost the amount in spray paint for the stands the herbs are on, replacing the blind on nosey neighbors side and any flowers we want. Praying for a mild summer!

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  5. Great job, you two! Your outdoor room looks just like a magazine picture! Enjoy the fruits of your labors!

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  6. I packed...I'll be off awhile. Your lanai looks lovely and I'm glad you had a good weekend with your cousin. All think of all those burned calories working in the heat! :)

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    1. Have a great trip! I burned over 3000 calories outside (not that it helped on the scale but we won't go there!)

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  7. Very nice! This weekend was my hubby's birthday so I made him breakfast and then we went to a Japanese place for dinner.

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    1. Happy belated Birthday to the hubby! The Mr loves Japanese places!

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  8. You guys did a great job! I hope you guys are able to enjoy it. It really looks like you had someone come in and do the remodel. I could probably do some home projects myself, but I choose to let someone else do anything I need done. Maybe one day I'll stop being so lazy.

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    1. Thanks mama! I hope so too! Fingers crossed for a cool summer in lieu of a cruel summer! We would've done the same but I'm tired of relying on other people if there are some simpler things we can take on ourselves.

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  9. So awesome!!! The lanai looks beautiful, so impressed with the success of your diy! Now I need to find a Santa Claus melon, I never would have thought it would look like that inside. Glad you had a wonderful, productive weekend. :)

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    1. Thank ya! We feel pretty proud of it ourselves! :) Yeah the Santa Claus melon surprised us too. I looked at it, had no clue what it was (no sign), got a price scan ($3.99) and said "why not!"

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  10. Beautiful--makes me want to get out and work on my outdoor space as well! Kind of a so-so weekend for me, end of a week off (but not going anywhere, just using vacation time to keep from losing it). Naturally right at the end of my time off I started coming down with one of the worst colds of the season. I did get to go to a friend's alpaca ranch before it really hit hard to help with the shearing and came home with about 20 lbs. of fiber to use for free, once I get it all processed. I just had to scoop up the fiber as the pro sheared it off the animals; pretty cool process.

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    1. You should! It's so nice to have a place to cozy up before the hot stink of summer sets in. Ugh, hope you feel better soon! What do you use the alpaca fiber for?

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  11. Seriously lanai envy here. Yours is lovely.

    I spent half the weekend cleaning someone else's sun room (house where I was pet-sitting) and the other half riding my bike. It was a nice balance. :)

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    1. Thanks Cammy! That does sound like a good balance. I find I don't mind cleaning other people's homes when I stay there but need a little more nudging when it's my own! HA!

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  12. I know what you mean about needing a vacation from the weekend! In addition to your house chores, I can see you also spend a lot of time in meal prep as we do. I think if you want to eat well, you need to do that. I work until 8pm in the evening, so we do ALL our food prep and cooking on the weekend for the entire week! Next week, we plan to start visiting the farmer's market on Saturday morning. Weekends are becoming a military operation!

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    1. Meal prep takes FOREVER and I swear it still takes me quite a while to throw my lunches together too so I don't get it. It feels like meal prep should be my job title!

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  13. Ohhh, you're outdoor space looks so nice. I just love the herb space. My herbs are doing ok. I'm having trouble with the cilantro. Not much going on there.

    I didn't do much this weekend other than recover from my trip last week. I'm already looking forward to this weekend as I know it will be awesome. You are so inspiring with your home improvment stuff! Makes me want to get down to work!! Have a good week.

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    1. Thanks! I had trouble with cilantro last year too and I think I should harvest what I have soon since I saw after I planted that it's a part sun herb and mine gets pretty much a good blast of sun all day. Oops! Get out to the home improvement store and see what inspires you! :)

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  14. Patio looks awesome!!! Good job you two! :-) I KNOW you'll enjoy the heck outta it this summer.

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  15. Wow! I love the lanai, it totally looks like a little oasis. That's why I'm aiming for on our porch, but I might have to fly you out to NC to get it right. :)

    I've seen those melons before, but haven't tried one yet! I'm trying to grow some of my own exotic melons this summer (man, that so doesn't sound right when I type it out), so we'll see how that goes!

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    1. You know it! We've accumulated a lot of it every year and just picked something else each year to focus on. So probably by the time we're ready to sell it'll be the way we want it! *rolling eyes*

      Ooh, you have some exotic melons! Gotta love dirty garden humor!

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  16. That looks gorgeous! I love how the little garden is stacked up and the pops of color everywhere.

    Are you southern? "Lanai" isn't used up north very often. :)

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    1. Thanks! I had to get some bright flowers because everything looked like the emerald city without them! HA!

      Lanai is used in Hawaii. ;)

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  17. FAB job on the lanai! Looks like a cozy oasis. Woohoo for the cousin and for you guys introducing him to some healthy food alternatives. We had a busy weekend--movie night with the girls, picnic, outdoor symphony concert, searching for a hidden medallion which has lots of prizes if you find it, etc, etc. Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks sassy pants! It sure is, at least until the humidity kicks in which judging by the forecast is next week so we're going to enjoy this week big time! I hope the cuz enjoys using the herbs. I see he's already eating some TJ's stuff we had him sample. WOOT! Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend! That's what it's all about...and the hokey pokey.

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  18. The lanai looks gorgeous and so does your herb garden!! Congrats to your cousin for his wonderful success! Wahoo!

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  19. I've never heard of that kind of melon! It looks good though!!

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