I was so excited to post the pillar project wrap-up yesterday, but the Wordpress portal was offline for the entire day. Wasn't I just talking about unforeseen circumstances in my last post? I suppose that piece of writing contained inadvertent foreshadowing. *** The pillar was covered up for about two weeks. The kids and I enjoyed beautiful…

When blogging, it is not my intention to take so long to write about each project. I realize that as a reader it can get very boring to read a long, drawn out project post. Nothing happens by "the magic of television" in real life though. Real life is fraught with the daily landmines of schedules…

(The beginning of the story) The first day of this project left us with a pillar that looked like swiss cheese: I hit the local hardware store for some wood hardener. Minwax products get mixed reviews, but I decided to use their product anyway because it was readily available, and the price was right for a first…

We are chasing what might be the last two days of decent weather for outdoor painting and staining. Today is the day that I must get it done before the temperature nosedives down into the 50's during the day, and the dampness creeps in and stays for the rest of the fall and winter. Yesterday,…