Gooood morning y'all!

I'm trying to get some life into me... it's been a long, hectic weekend.  I'm a single mother again, till Friday when Dan gets back that is.  Saturday was probably the longest day I've had in awhile.  Two soccer games, drove to Mission Beach in San Diego for a BBQ, then onto Bonita Vista to visit my friends Brianna, Brian, Bryce, Bailey and their new baby Blake.... Yes, all the B's are on purpose. haha  Anyway, we didn't get home from San Diego till almost 9pm.  So I was go go going from 7am to 9pm non-stop.  Phew!  Luckily the boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and went straight to bed.  I don't think I could have handled any bedtime drama at that point.  I had a much deserved glass of wine then put myself to bed.

Last week we thought my car keys were gone forever.  We looked everywhere for an hour, yes even in the fridge, and had no success.  Daniel said, "This is what we call a 'budget buster'." Just what we needed.  Not.  It turns out it's not that expensive to get another key made, only about $50, but I got a call from Dylan's teacher around 10am saying that Dylan had "found" my keys in his backpack... hmm... suspicious. I was just so happy they were found and we didn't have to "bust the budget".  So yesterday when the boys and I left church to find a flat tire I was none too pleased.  Really universe??  Luckily, yet again, we had recently gotten new tires at the nearby Big O so they fixed the flat and rotated the tires for free. Phew!  After the tires on the boat trailer fiasco back in July (which was around $500) I was prepared to spend a lot of dough for the car key/flat tire incidents.  I thank the Lord that we didn't end up having to spend a dime on these things. 

I teased on Friday that Tracy and I would be doing a surprise project on Sunday.  Well, we did!  I'm happy with how it's turned out so far.  Although it's far from perfect, it is really much improved from it's original state.  Don't tell Daniel, but we stained the banister on our stairs!

The boys insisted on modeling the "before" banister shot.

Builder grade oak (like my kitchen cabinets... future project!).  Not nice.


I lightly (maybe too lightly) sanded the smaller banister and did a single coat of stain just to see how it would look before Tracy got to my house.

Already much improved if I do say so myself.

After quick contemplation between Tracy and myself we decided that the bigger banister was superfluous.  Yeah, I said superfluous.  And I even spelled it right on the first try! lol  So, we got rid of it!

Bam! Gone.

Now I just have to patch the screw holes and put some more texture (I hate that my walls are textured but I ain't tackling that  project) and repaint those spots.  No biggy.  We put a total of 3 coats of stain on the remaining banister and I put the first of 3 coats of Polycrylic protective finish on it this morning.  Word to the wise, put the stuff in a tray, don't try to dip the sponge brush in the tiny can.  I know from experience, dude.  ::Sidebar:: Polycrylic comes out of carpet with water and a rag.  I found that out the hard way! ;)

Ah.  Lovely.

It is far from perfect, there are a few spots as I said that I probably sanded too little, but overall I love it!  Can't wait to get those spots on the wall patched up, carpet vacuumed and the banister completely sealed.  Not too shabby for another free home improvement project!

I hope you guys had a relaxing weekend, unlike me.  Have a great Monday!

~Holly