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Photo of the Day 12.29.2009

Ashley — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:20:47 +0000

“You Might Be A Redneck if . . .”

Photo of the Day 12.18.2009

Ashley — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:59:10 +0000

If we do in fact get 12-18 inches of snow, it will officially be the most snow I have ever seen! Yay!

Oh, and don’t worry about us. . .

Ryan has made sure that we will have everything we need if we lose power–

he put the bucket on the tractor, got out the lanterns, checked the propane, got out the snow shovels, got a couple bottles of wine. . .

Photo of the Day 9.22.09

Ashley — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:24:01 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Jenna and Josh made dinner, Tacos; and put all of the Taco toppings in this gorgeous Lazy Susan basket Ryan’s Aunt Nellie made for us:

Doesn’t that look delicious?

Mother-in-Law

Ashley — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:59:40 +0000

I enjoyed reading Danielle’s post, Weekend Update, about how blessed she is to have a great mother-in-law; and when we walked in our door last night, I realized that my mother-in-law deserves a public “thank you” as well.

My mother-in-law kindly agreed to take care of Sport while we were in Las Vegas, which was AWESOME, but then we came home to find this. . .

gorgeous boquet of fresh flowers!

But that’s not all!

Our mail and newspapers were stacked neatly on the counter, along with some fresh fruit, veggies and cookies!

And there’s more!

We had asked her to take the green beans and potatoes from our refrigerator to eat before they went bad, and she did, but she replaced them with fresh ones!

Can you believe it?!?

AND. . .

We also found fresh watermelon, cherries, strawberries, banana pudding, coleslaw and home-made worchestershire sauce in the refrigerator!!

AND. . .

Home-made banana nut bread and strawberry jam in the freezer!

AND. . .

On top of all of that she took fantastic care of her Granddog!

Thank you Mama Swartz!

You made my week!

No she doesn’t have any more sons. . . Sorry!

It takes a strong stomach to own and manage rental property. . .

Ashley — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:45:44 +0000

We recently had some rental turnover, thankfully our former tenants cleaned the house and left everything in pretty good shape.

But like most people, they forgot to clean under the refrigerator. . .

When I pulled out the refrigerator I found what looked like a litter of Pomeranian puppies glued to the floor with maple syrup. The picture doesn’t do it justice.

My rant of the day: Please, please, PLEASE pull your refrigerator out when you clean you kitchen floor!! At least once a month! Or twice a year. . . at least! I don’t think people realize that refrigerators have wheels under them, so that even a very small woman can pull it out by herself!

When pulling it out be careful with the water line, that runs to the ice maker, if you pull that loose you will have water spraying all over your kitchen. Yes it has happened to me, and luckily the person who put the water line in my house put a nice water cut-off valve on the wall right behind the refrigerator, you may not be so lucky, beware.

And when you have your refrigerator pulled out, vacuum the dust out from around the motor. You may have to remove a cover, cardboard or metal, from the bottom of your refrigerator to see the motor. The dust is a fire hazzard. I had a refrigerator catch on fire once, it isn’t pretty. . .

Anyway, after the attack of the Dyson and a half a bottle of 409 later, the floor is like brand new again. Oh, and don’t tell Hank (the tile guy) that I used 409 on this floor, he’d have a fit.

According to Hank you should only use water and vinegar to clean tile. I don’t think Hank has ever found a years worth of dog hair stuck to the tile with some kind of old syrup. . . vinegar wouldn’t cut it.

PS- This is not a good examples of the horrors that one can encounter when owning and managing rental property, I will go into that later. Oh, and by horror, I mean it has happened to me, it wasn’t enough to shy me away from rental property, and I am not sure it could be any worse. So don’t worry!

Furniture Touch Up

Ryan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:43:15 +0000

A scratch on a piece of furniture is very similar to a scratch or dent in your vehicle, once there is one, it doesn’t matter how many others are added over the years. Once you fix them, on the other hand, they seem like new again and you pay more attention to how great they look.

There are a couple very simple and inexpensive processes anyone can use to touch up the scratches on your furniture. They are as follows:

Touch up markers: (We prefer Scratch Fix by Miller, Guardsman or Sharpie Brand)

Here is an example of a touch-up on a roll-top desk with a deep scratch:

Here is an another example, of chair legs that have been beaten by the vacuum cleaner:

Scratch remover:

Just spray on a paper towel, wipe on and wipe off. It just darkens the scratches so they aren’t as noticeable. (Any Brand Scratch Remover will work)

For heavy dirt and nasty sticky stuff, I recommend using a furniture cleaner such as: Guardsman Wood Cleaner - Just follow the instructions on the can!

An alternative to cleaner is a mild soapy solution. (soap and water)

I recommend waxing the piece when you are done cleaning, to protect the finish.

Our favorite brand of wax is Beaumont Clear Wood Paste Wax.

Twice a year apply a light coat of paste floor wax that is high in carnauba and low in silicones. Surface blemishes can often be corrected by rubbing in the grain direction with 0000 grade very fine steel wool and then a light application of the paste wax. You should plan on doing the whole piece so it doesn’t look “splotchy”.

You can find any of these products at your local hardware store, or you can purchase them in the Dumb Youngins Store.

For further information or assistance check out our site : www.virginiacraftsmen.com or email me at ryan@virginiacraftsmen.com. We are adding to our furniture site daily, if you don’t find what you are looking for please email us. The site is a little messy and still under construction. Sorry!