What Were We Thinking?

Let me tell you it was colder than the 24 degrees that the weather channel said it was.

Against all better judgment....we shingled today. No really we did.

It was cold.

How cold was it?

It was so cold that my tennis shoes hardened up and it felt like I was walking on boards.

We figured that it wasn't going to get warm any time soon so today was as good a day as any to finish up the exterior of the sun room.

It's amazing how slow you work outside when it is brutally cold. We needed to use the nail gun to finish the trim. The air hose was rock hard so it would not lay flat. I must have tripped over the hose at least 5 times.

We set up the saw in the sun room. I would cut and trim shingles with the little plane while R would nail and measure. We were able to get the bottom two rows finished on one side before we mercifully ran out of nails. Thank you nail god where ever you are.

This is the only photo I was able to take. We were just getting ready to start the shingling.
I tried to take more photos but my batteries were so low that it didn't even say LOW BATTERIES. The lens barely extended. I felt this was a sign to get inside and do something else. So inside I went.

Yesterday, my sister, niece and I assembled wreaths. They made 2 each and each one is different from the next. My sister sent me the photos and I will share those with you at the end of this post. I made 2 wreaths yesterday and made two more today. I hope to make two more tomorrow.

My wreaths are for the outside and all will just have red bows. I will attach them to the storm window glass with large suction cups. I still need to buy them and I sure hope that Michaels has them in stock. I see them all the time when I don't want them. Kind of like when you need a slotted screw driver and you can only find phillips and vice a versa.

Here for your viewing pleasure my sister and niece's wreaths. This wreath was made by my niece, Blaire and it hangs outside. It is a blue spruce and cedar wreath with pine cones and some small artificial poinsettias. This is the other all blue spruce wreath she assembled. It is adorned with pine cones and a bird.
My sister, Ranee made this blue spruce wreath with a feathered theme. The ornament hanging in the center is covered in feathers. The ribbon is a dark sage green but the photo does not do it justice.
Here is a long shot of the wreath over the fireplace. My sister did the stone work herself this past summer.
Her second wreath is a blue spruce and cedar wreath adorned with acorns, faux berry clumps, and a large metal acorn bell (bottom).
There was some method to our madness. We figured that after this year the wreaths will be nearly free to make next year now that we have purchased the metal frames. Ranee cuts the greens on her property in the U.P. (upper peninsula) and we will reuse the ribbon. Pine cones and acorns are all over my yard so that part is free.

I will try my best to get photos of the shingling if we have time to do any tomorrow. We have some running around to do and of course we need nails.