Ye Olde Red Brick House

Last weekend, I put away the Fall decorations and put up the Christmas lights, tree and decorations. I absolutely love Christmas in my old house, especially since my grandchildren are getting older and love lights. As soon as I got everything set up, I told Jewell to close her eyes. I plugged in the lights and said "Ok, open your eyes now!" She opened them up and said "Grandma, it's magical!" She is such a smart 4 year old. Here she is telling me "I love you" in sign language.  

I had a busy weekend! Yesterday, I sanded the 4 remaining porch rails. It took about one hour of sanding per rail, but what a diffrence!     I painted them today.      I also worked on the porch steps. I seriously cannot believe I waited this long to work on them... as they were looking pretty bad!     I primed them yesterday and then filled in the cracks (probably should have done that first)     Today, I painted on the first coat!   This is the paint I used, especially made for concrete. I love the gray color!   My freshly painted porch rails need to be waterproofed tomorrow. I still have so much work to do on the side! The floor needs to be stripped, sanded, primed and painted before winter.     It's in a lot worse shape then the front was... I think because of the way the wind/rain blows.   The wood by the side steps are in poor shape as well... next weekends project!