It's a cronut, cross between a croissant and a donut. Sugar coma? Probably. Worth it? Definitely!!
At least once :)

but where's the chocolate?
good morning michele. short walk for the dogs already. heading to garage sales in a bit.
yesterday,i pulled some pottery barn white and some off white tab top curtain panels from my linen closet. (past garage sale finds). bought some turquoise idye from dick blick arts supply. washed the panels and went to dye them but it calls for NON iodiozid salt. hmmmm supermarket? drug store? back to craft store?
anyway, the turquoise sunbrella panels were over $100 each and i need 8 so i decided to try this.

jayme, hope things are better for you today.

we may actually go 2 days with no rain .
happy day to all.

Morning Mo, definitely supermarket. Look for the Morton girl, they sell iodized and non iodized. I think the turquoise will look lovely. I have some cushion covers for the wicker furniture we painted waiting to be dyed once I get back to other house. Going to do a deep navy, I have pillows with stripes and medallion tile patterns that mix my favorite greens with ivory and navy. Hope they'll turn out ok. Want to do it in big utility tub sinks in basement at other house. Don't want to do it in washer, always makes me nervous. :)
Have a great day, get some interesting things and learn how to post pics so you can share :)

Isn't anyone hungry?

I'll have to find a beautiful photograph of some protein breakfast tomorrow. Smoothie and egg white soufflé. Breakfast of decorating champions

I am going for coffee and try to finish cleaning up the room.

It is raining here and messing with my gardening.

Room looks great :)
Post a pic here later when cleaned up, let the others see .

Will do Michele an Jayme if you hovering thinking of you.

Have a great day ladies, I'm off to get ready for the day. Enjoy it, whatever you do.

I am making lasagna and working outside. not at the same time :)

Wouldn't that be fun though, mousemaker? :)

Left you one Angela :)

Michele- got it.

One stump out, one big one and three smaller ones to go. Phew.

Another Paul Bunyan up Canada way. :)

Hi everyone....I need an opinion....We are bidding on building a disc jockey booth for a local bar. The box is approx.14 feet by 10 feet, to be built on a raised base...approx. a foot and a half or so off main floor. It is to have 4 sides w, wit 42" in height walls. The back will have an opening for entrance. This thing needs to be tied into an already existing raised platform. There will be a few opening to cut out for electronics, a countertop to put in.....For building this thing from the floor up, plus finishing and trimming it out, does $2500 sound like too much? (not including materials)

Jayme - That does sound a bit high unless you are doing some special finishing work. I would estimate how many labor hours you are expecting, multiply by desired rate per hour. Then add or subtract based on how much you want the job or how much P I T A you expect from this job. Also modify your bid for any special circumstances like difficulty getting access to the site or need to have it installed yesterday or customer that keeps changing the design.

I would say you could always float the number of $2500 to the customer and see if they flinch...if they don't flinch then you can say "that's for the construction and installation and we expect it will cost you XXX dollars for materials" If they say "well maybe we'll rethink the design" then you can state that the price includes all the materials and installation charges as well as construction

If the customer is in a major league hurry, you can use meeting that tight schedule as one of the reasons for the cost potentially being higher than expected. But, if timing isn't a major issue for them, make sure not to deliver too quickly or else they'll start figuring the potential labor hours involved and start thinking that you're getting too much money.

Part of the problem you and your hubby will have in this business is making things look too easy and quick. You want the customer to see enough progress to feel good about choosing you, but not too much or the customer may think "rip - off"

I'm pretty sure Mr. Bunyon didn't have to dig out his stumps.

One more bush left then I think I'm going to call it good enough for now.

they r in a major hurry. He has to frame a raised base, build the walls with top ledge, subfloor, opening, steps, build a countertop base, install counters, trim out the whole thing too.

I ran the numbers by what the average per square foot for each aspect of the job....taking the middle number not the highest or lowest...IE: framing floors, walls, applying subflooring, building a countertop base, cutting and installing counters, trimming...didn't figure in the stairs or extra finishing for the ledge, etc....didn't add in tying this floor into an existing platform either, which may take some leveling work.

I was imagining a structure like a deck and then with 3/4 inch plywood from the bar floor up to 42 inches wall height, either painted or stain grade. I wasn't thinking of this as having framed walls with drywall but instead I pictured something more like a piece of built in cabinetry.

I was seeing something that could be built substantially off site and then the pieces assembled on site

I would say their haste would probably be worth about 25% premium over a more relaxed schedule

@Linda...it's a raised box....which will tie into a platform already there...but will need it's own raised floor built, with half walls on sides, with an opening in the back with steps up to it....the outside would be finished with some material not sure what yet. The top of walls will need a finished ledge of some kind...then the countertops will be on 3 sides I believe....will have to be attached to something to hold them up. The interior and exterior would need finishing trim too.

So it's building a raised base with floor, side walls/half walls, an opening, stairs...attach structure to current platform already in place at same height. Then finish the whole box inside and out including cutting, installing laminate countertops..the blueprint shows openings under counter for holding equipment also.

Jayme - how many days work? 4? 5? Although we use dimensions for estimating materials, our labor estimates are based on man days.

Premade counters or laminating on site?

I don't think we would get $2500 plus material for that in our local area; probably more like $1500 for a one week job. Labor rates are probably higher in your area though they are going up in ours too as the construction market gets busier. I'm not saying it isn't a $2500 job - I'm just saying be sure to make it appear like a $2500 job to your customer!

@Robin - getting rid of the stumps is harder than getting rid of the trees/bushes. I've had to dig out several yew bush roots and it is quite a project especially because about 9 inches of so under the surface, my garden is just clay.

Morning ladies, just about to rush out the door but I just had to pass this on to Mo.

So Mo, if you are still here, I found out yesterday how you upload your photos on an Apple. With Microsoft you just put your camera card in a slot and the computer will automatically ask you what you want to do and you click on "import". Seems Apple don't have this facility and you have to buy a connector to put your camera card in and it plugs into a USB port on your iPad and then you proceed to do the "import" thing. I assume an Apple store would be able to help you with this. Some cameras can be pugged straight into the computer to do this also, I think you would then have the connector supplied with the camera and instructions should be in your camera manual.

Hope that is of some help to you and now I am escaping for my Seachange - weather is still chilly but beautiful.

@Linda...Ok ...thanks, makes sense. They had to hire out of town workers since no one is available in town....so our market is pretty good right now. We r thinking it over and checking around.

Have a great time, Ms Roo!

Mo -- my camera plugs into my Mac's USB port with the supplied cable. My lap top has a card slot but the desktop does not.

Roo's right about iPad, you need one of these: http://store.apple.com/ca/product/MC531ZM/A/apple-ipad-camera-connection-kit

Have a good rest and come back refreshed Roo, we will miss you very much. Hope you'll upload some great shots for us, have a great time. :)

Robin, you'll need a big blue ox to pull stumps for you ;)
That's the way to do it. Hope you're not too sore from all that heavy digging and hauling, don't forget to take a bath or shower, I always try to remember, usually forget. But it does make it not so painful the next day.

I went out fabric shopping today but I got a rude awakening because the grayish paint I picked for walls at one house is turning out to be much more difficult to match than I expected!. It has some lavender tones rather than bluish gray and most all the fabric I was seeing were more toward blue tones than purples. I had thought that putting up some basic window coverings might help stage the house better but maybe I won't go there unless Joann fabrics has something that looks right

I did get one piece of fabric which is a light aqua and tan paisley pattern for the bar stool seats. I love the rich dark red paisley prints but since we're probably painting that house in a light greenish tint to coordinate with the existing kitchen counters, I needed some light colors.

This fabric store is end cuts and remnants from a custom sewing workroom. The company makes bedspreads, drapes, pillow, upholstered benches, headboards, cushions etc for local interior designers and after several months, the leftovers from the jobs get sold off cheap in their odds and ends store. I've been going to this store for 20 years but it is getting more difficult as the hours get shorter each year. Now the place is open only thursday and friday from 10-4 and saturday from 9 - 12. Fortunately it is only about 15 minutes away from here so I'm not bothered if I don't find what I think I want. I ended up getting about 1.5 yards of a nice quality upholstery fabric for $7...fitting price for my $3.75 bar stools!

I have a similar grey in my kitchen with more of a purple undertone. Instead of trying to match the grey, can you do something totally different? I love the look of white curtains as they seem to make the room feel larger and brighter.

Good deal, Linda, always great to have a place like that for bargains. White does sound very nice for the more lavender gray you have there. :)

Jayme- when I was talking with my electrician today he said to me that sometimes in doing job don't think of what you getting now but think of what you can get time and time again. He just got a second job from a recent job and he knew is because he charges reasonable price.

@Angela, yes. There is a lot of monkeying around to do with this thing so we don't want to underbid it. We r checking around, comparing etc. We want to do a good job at the right price and get repeat business too. We sat down tonight and broke it down into steps and estimated how long it would take, etc. So we r getting closer to a price...thanks :)

Ugh. Sticky, dirty, sweaty and gross. Got all of the stumps dug out today and then started to turn the dirt to even it out and hopefully kill the weeds. Once it's even, I'm going to put a tarp over it for the winter and tackle it in the spring.

Good going Robin. Awesome Jayme, you will figure it out.

Few pics of my room.

Not complete but a rough as I am still waiting on nightstands and need to get a rug. Also have s closet door on order

What a day :) just beautiful outside, spent it at the lake with hubby, my oldest son, daughter in law and my 2 grandkids. Those little ones sure can move fast, i'm not used of watching like a hawk anymore. I managed to hurt my hubby, son, and daughter in law, crazee tubers but all will be better in a few days....I hope. Promised that boat ride to my grandson so had to make good. Once we all had enough swimming and tubing, we had a wiener roast on the beach. What a great way to end the day.

Hi Michele, I'll need at least 2 cronuts, if your coming for coffee best to bring a few more then.

Just realized that I didn't say hi to everyone so, HI EVERYBODY :)