Garden Furniture

So the last time I wrote I was in the middle of sanding down my garden furniture and restaining it. I had completed the chairs and the bench and the all came up pretty good. Hard work in the hot weather we were having but worth it in the end.

Both chairs and the bench were dismantled, sanded down within an inch of their life and given a lovely new coat of natural cedar stain.

Once the first coat was dry (takes about 3 or 4 hours depending on weather) it was time to reassemble ready for the second coat




















Then finally, all together with a 3rd coat of stain and ready to last another few years. One year of protecion for each coat so the makers say.



The problems started to arrive when it was time to take the table apart. Unfortunately, where the slats were dowelled underneath, moisture had seeped into the joints and the wood had gone soft and in some places started to rot.

After sanding a bit more of the table down on top I then discovered that a corner of the table had actually split and unfortunately there was nothing I could do to repair it. 

I wasn't too upset as this table and chair set have given about 15 years good service. The main problem now was to decide on what table we would buy to replace it. The last one was good solid heavy hardwood and if I could get the same table it was going to cost. No chance of visiting any shops, so it was online we go and trawl through the different sites. My god, so many different garden tables ranging in price from the very cheap £25 to the really expensive, over a £1000. Eventually, on reccomendation I had a look at the IKEA web page and lo and behold, there it was. On offer at a £110. Of course then you had to add delivery because there was none available in store to "click & collect", naturally, and the delivery charge is a whopping £40. It kind of put me off and I was going to wait until places started to open again but my daughter said she had an Ikea Family card, brilliant, add the card number in and a big £25 discount. I could live with that. So last week the table arrived, delivered by a nice young man who even lifted it over the back gate for me. 

So easy to assemble, came with full, easy to read instructions, all the nuts and bolts were there and although the instructions suggested two people to assemble it, I managed it easily on my own. Just laid it upside down on the flattened out cardboard boxes and it took me just under the hour.

It's slightly different from the last table, that was 50ins X 28ins. The new one is 48 ins square so we can actually sit 8 people around it. We are really pleased with it, and although I will probably have to sand and stain it next year, one because it's darker than the rest of the furniture and two, because the stain on it at the moment is very light and won't take many knocks. To be fair it's only to be expected given the price, but a job well done I say.

Now we're set for the rest of the summer and even the cat approves.  Next project, well that's the front garden that needs a bit of a tidy. Not allowed in the back garden as that belongs to the wife.

Succesful Weight Loss

It has taken me 5 months, starting on January 6th this year to today's weigh in to get down tonear where I want to be and to be officially declared a "healthy weight".

Probably, like many others of a similiar age, as we have got older, the waist line may have thickened a little and the weight has crept on. Since Marlene and I both retired, the work load has gone down and the leisure time increased which meant that all those calories we used to burn off, stayed with us. So, in January this year we decided that we would go on a controlled eating regime. Not quite a diet as such, but more reducing portion size and cutting out a lot of the snacks.

We have always ate healthy, haven't used many processed foods for years as we tend to cook from scratch. We used a program called "My Fitness Pal" which allows us to see what calories we should consume and track them, plus sugars, carbs, sodium and salt etc through what we eat.

It's easy to use and it has worked very successfully. We still have our glass of wine on the weekend, we still enjoy the occasional bar of chocolate and we bake a cake and it lasts us the week for "elevenses.

A little bit of exercise, which normally means a 20/30 minute walk once or twice a day and voila, I have now lost 9.75kilograms of useless weight from my tummy and jowls. Plus I feel much better and can bend over and cut my toenails without struggling, lol.

We shall continue in the same way until I meet my target weight of 13 1/2 stone, so just over 5 pounds to go. Then of course will be the real test, can I keep it off. We shall see.