Stay-Cation Vacation Time

I am so excited. Beyond excited really. If I could jump out of my skin right now, I probably would. And the reason is this, starting Friday, I am on vacation from work for 4 glorious weeks. My stay-cation vacation time begins soon! No getting up and rushing around to get to work, and then coming home exhausted, drained, and no energy or motivation to do anything extra.

And while many use their vacation time to go to far away places, I prefer to use my vacation to stay home, and get caught up on my ever growing list of ‘to-do’s’. You know, the things you want to get done but never have enough time to actually do them? Yep, that is my plan.

Finishing My Book

The first thing on my long list is to finally complete my book of DIY tack room and barn projects. This has been a passion project of mine for over 2 years now. And I have promised to get it out, and it just hasn’t happened. But with some dedicated time, this project will get done, and put out into the world for others (like you) to see!

I have so many ideas that I have been including in the book. It has gone from 40 pages to 160. Now all I have to do is go through every age and make sure I have lots of different projects that will make it worth the investment for others.

Hopefully it will be done and ready by July 1st. Because that is the deadline I have given myself to get it done. Once it’s done, I will make sure to have a blog post about it, just in case you were looking for some new ideas for your own tack room or barn.

Painting Our House

After getting my barn painted, and seeing how awesome it looks, has given me the motivation to getting my house painted. I have bought the paint, and have just been waiting until the night time temperature has been over 40 degrees.

I bought the paint when Home Depot was having their rebate sale over Memorial Day. They offered a $40.00 rebate on 5 gallon buckets, and $10.00 rebates on single gallons. I could have waited though. Because right now they have their paint on sale for $27.80 a gallon, a little more than their rebate sale but still a good deal.

But the paint I bought is matched to a Benjamin Moore paint. And $20.00 a gallon is way better than $66.00 a gallon, which is what it would have cost me to get the paint at Benjamin Moore. My paint purchase at Home Depot was $572.00 total, including a paint brush, paint roller and new pan. If I were to buy just the paint at Benjamin Moore it would have cost $1,188.00. And the quality of the Home Depot paint is fine.

My last paint job has lasted about 8 years, and it still looks good. My husband just doesn’t like the color. While I never thought I would do gray on this house, that’s what I’m doing.

There are a couple of parts of the house that are popped out, like the back patio door areas and the windows in our bedroom. And to keep up with the times, I will be painting these two areas a little darker gray, to give a little ‘style’ to our home, and keep it in the current trend. I notice a lot of newer homes are doing this, and it looks nice, so I’m going to do it too.

Front Porch Makeover

This has been a project on my list FOREVER! I am going to paint the front porch (it’s concrete) and do a stencil design over the paint. I have had the stencil for 6 months in anticipation for this time off. And yes, I will be making a video of the process, in case you are wondering about it.

And once the concrete is stenciled, I will be repainting the handrails, and even the porch swing.

I splurged a little bit for the paint for the swing. Sherwin Williams was having a sale on their paints, 40% off, so I bought a quart of oil based enamel for the porch swing, and our front door.

It’s called denim. And its kind of a dark grayish-blue that I think will compliment the gray. I haven’t decided if I’m going to do the shutters, and flower boxes I made, but I might. We will see how the colors look together on the door, porch, and swing, and then decide if the shutters and the boxes will give little pops of color.

And then I may have to make a couple of new large flower pots. I haven’t done new ones in a while, and I think I would like something a little different at the front door.

Back Patio Makeover

And just like the front porch, the back patio will need to be updated as well, to match the rest of my projects of course. There is a little more work that needs to be done though. The deck is fine, but some of the seating area boards need to be replaced, and then painted.

I also want to add a few hanging baskets, and possibly replace the hot tub cover.

Te cover we have right now is not keeping the heat in. So when we have the hot tub full, our electricity bill jumps up a lot trying to keep the water hot. And if I would just replace the cover, it would actually save money and we could keep the hot tub full all the time. So I think that is something that needs to be done.

And the cover is brown. Which won’t match the new color scheme. And I am a very matchy-matchy type person. So I think I will need to make the investment of a new hot tub cover.

Building Some New Horse Jumps

Again, another project that has been on my to do list for some time now. My list of ideas is increasing, and I have even gotten a few suggestions (thanks Kate!) So I will have the time to get them done, I think.

I have wanted my own Voltaire Design jump, along with building a jump that looks like bamboo, a butterfly jump, finishing my playing card jump, and a few others.

Not only will it give me some new videos, but it will give you some new ideas of different jumps you can build too.

Building New Horse Paddocks

This is a big one. Not because of the cost, I think I can do them for about $800.00, but because of the aesthetics, and to keep Ethan from getting hurt.

The metal corral panels I have are getting beat up. And Ethan LOVES to put his feet up on the panels. I am afraid that one time he does it, he will get his leg stuck, panic, and then hurt himself. He loves to find new ways to hurt himself.

So by replacing the metal panels with wood, not only will it look better, but I am hoping he won’t be able to get his feet stuck. I could be wrong, and it might be easier for him to plop his hoof up and then potentially get stuck. But I am hoping it will be harder for him.

And I am also hoping that with the thicker boards, they will act like a wind block, and keep the wind out of the stalls and hopefully the snow during the winter. I won’t be able to tell until next winter, but that is my thinking.

Quality Time With My Husband

And probably my most favorite thing to look forward too…4 weeks with my husband. Not having to be away from home (and my husband) for the next few weeks is something I am totally stoked for.

I can spend time on my projects, but then we get to do some fun things too, like going fishing and kayaking one day. Or going for a hike in the mountains, and finding new places to explore together.

He has been working out and getting in shape so we can do more hikes together. We love going on hikes, and we haven’t made the time to do so in a very long time. I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my best friend. And just being with him is my most favorite place to be. So yes, I am looking forward to some down time with my man.

So Many Projects, So Little Time

With so many big projects to do, I find it best to plan ahead. Which is why I am putting my projects out into the world here. If I write them down, and plan for them, they will get accomplished.

This is my approach to goal setting. Call it manifestation, call it goal setting, call it whatever you like. The only thing that matters in the end is that it gets done.

So instead of sitting around and looking forward to The Price Is Right every weekday morning during my stay-cation vacation time (don’t kid yourself, I will be making some time to do that too though) I have a plan of what I want to get done, and make the most of the time that I have while I am off from work. And just like my goal of selling stuff, I will have to revisit it here, and share my progress. This holds me accountable for my plans, which also makes them more likely to be completed.

Time will tell if I am able to get everything done. But I am fairly confident these things will be done. If anything, it gives me a lot of fun content to share with you! So bring on the stay-cation, and lets get to work!