Beginning the Budget Redo of Our Outdoor Living Spaces

It's been a very chilly and wet April here in the Pacific Northwest. Just this afternoon, the high was predicted to be in the upper 40s F, with real feel predicted at 28 degrees F. We've had hail on 3 separate days this month. And the rain has been so prolific that I've been reluctant to do my walking outdoors on many days. So, I've been walking indoors a lot this month. To entertain myself while walking indoors, I've been watching Youtube videos of other folks' patio, deck, and front porch makeovers, in particular the ones done on tight budgets (because, as you know, a tight budget is just the sort of budget that I have).

Our outdoor living spaces really need a good makeover. And I've been inspired to turn these spaces into places where we want to linger, or play a game, or enjoy a quiet cup of coffee in the early hours, or sit and wave hello to the passersby in front.

So, here I go, jumping into my summer project of upgrading our outdoor spaces on a budget. My plan is to incorporate what we own, repair and clean as needed, pick up whatever looks interesting from free piles, shop at thrift stores and garage sales, try a few DIY projects, and perhaps spending a little more money on some quality seating.

the current state of our backyard patio, 4 plastic chairs and a fire ring

Obviously, the first place to start is to do a thorough cleaning and repair of what we already have. When the weather warms enough for me to not mind getting wet, I'll pressure-wash the hard surfaces and chairs. Our outdoor cushions have faded over the years, so I"ll purchase some outdoor fabric to make new cushion covers. And our wood furniture needs re-staining.

I got a start on thrifting some furniture pieces this week. Tuesday is Senior Discount Day at Value Village. I went looking for a long black skirt for myself, but I came out with this side table. This table looks very much like another side table that we bought new in 2001. After a good cleanup and re-staining, I'll have a near-matching pair of side tables. 

One of the aspects that I like about this table is that it folds flat for storage. Another aspect that I really like . . .

is the price I paid. It was tagged $2.99. But since it was Senior discount Day, I actually paid . . .

$2.09. Yep, the discount at VV for seniors is 30% off everything, even the long black skirt that I also bought for myself.

This won't be a quick project. I expect to be working on it for a couple of months, at the least. But I will update you on my finds and progress as I go.

The videos that I've been watching have prompted me to think about how we use our spaces and what activities we may like to use them for, if the spaces were made suitable. For example, chairs or a bench on the front porch for casual people watching and good neighboring in the summer evenings and a simple bench and cushions on the back deck for quietly reading a good novel on a summer afternoon, or a DIY outdoor checkerboard for fun games and entertainment. My hope is that this will be the summer that some of my outdoor living dreams actually come to fruition.

How about you? What do you like best about the outdoor living spaces surrounding your home? Is there any spot where you're not satisfied? What matters more to you, function or visual appeal? Any advice to offer me as I begin this new project?

Making the Best of a Delayed Holiday Celebration

Hi friends!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter followed by a good week. And if your week wasn't a good one, I hope this week is off to a better start.

Our Easter didn't go as planned. (Does anything, anymore, go as planned?) My daughter was very sick on Easter. So about 6 AM we made the call to postpone our Easter celebration with our son and daughter-in-law until the next Sunday (Orthodox Easter, yesterday). I'm glad we pushed the date back a week and am grateful the whole family could be on board.

Meal prep for Easter did become slightly more complicated, however. Before we canceled our Easter Day plans, I had baked a ham, roasted a turkey, baked a lemon meringue pie, and made an onion and crumb topping for green bean casserole. I had also bought fresh asparagus and fresh strawberries to add to our Easter meal. (I had other side dishes planned for the meal, but hadn't begun to assemble any of them.) 

But I had the meats, a whole pie, fresh produce, and crumb topping that had to be dealt with posthaste. So the day after actual Easter, I sliced the ham and turkey and froze it. I made a stock with the turkey neck and carcass, freezing the resulting stock in smaller containers for making gravy later. I roasted the ham bone and made ham stock, which I froze for soups later. I froze the onion and crumb topping to use in a week. The asparagus wouldn't keep for another week fresh, so I blanched it all and froze it to use on our delayed-Easter. That left the strawberries and pie to contend with. Strawberries wouldn't keep and I didn't want to freeze them, so we ate them over the next couple of days. I wasn't sure about freezing the pie, so we decided to just eat it during the week, and I'd bake a second pie for our delayed celebration. I was able to thaw, reheat, use to finish recipes or serve, as is, all of the frozen items. And for the most part, quality didn't suffer too much with the freezing (exception being the asparagus -- it would have had better texture if cooked fresh).

The late Easter meal all worked out okay. I bought another container of fresh strawberries and made a second pie. With the extra week, I even found time to make a refrigerator dough to make dinner rolls. This is what our complete Easter meal menu looked like:

• ham
• turkey with gravy
• mashed potatoes
• green bean casserole
• honey-mustard carrots
• asparagus with lemon butter
• fresh strawberries
• crescent rolls
• date and coconut rolls (a fruit candy)
• lemon meringue pie
• Jordan almonds
• mint, lemon balm, rose petal herb tea
• sparkling water

Everyone enjoyed the meal. It was colorful, varied in flavor and texture, and filling. We ate this as a combined lunch and dinner, so that too-stuffed feeling had plenty of time to diminish before bedtime. 

There were enough leftovers of everything to send some home with my son and daughter-in-law and for our dinner on Monday (tonight). I have some roll dough, turkey stock, and both meats left in the fridge for making a simple dinner on Tuesday of turkey/ham soup and rolls. Plus there are several containers of ham and turkey meat and stock frozen for future meals.

The downside to this delayed celebration include: my daughter was very sick and felt miserable for a few days; the asparagus wasn't as crisp and fresh if it had been cooked on the day of the meal; I had to spend extra money to buy more strawberries; I had to bake a second pie; we all had to wait a week to gather together.

The upside to the delayed celebration included: we got to eat a second container of strawberries; we got to eat a second pie; I added dinner rolls to the menu; everyone was well by the time we all got together; I had extra time to put together the side dishes, as the meats were baked/roasted already at this point.

All in all, a lovely Easter celebration, even if late, spending time with my whole family.