Oh boy...

I might have "bit off more than I can chew"...

I decided (after much thought) that something needed to be done with the deck.  It's a MESS.  A total and complete mess.  It's beat up and gross.  It is also massive.  There are 3 levels total, a gazillion railings, steps all over the place...ok, do you get it?  It's big!  Well, from our understanding, the main reason the buyers we had, backed out of going through with buying our house was the deck.  We've just never really gotten around to improving it, and we didn't want to sink a ton of money into it.  We looked at lots of options, and finally decided on a product called Restore.  It almost gives your wood deck a composite feeling.  It's very different to work with than paint or stain, but after reading the reviews, I realized you just need to follow the directions, and not rush, and it will be fine.  It actually went on very nicely, and I'm pleased (so far) with how it looks.  I only did one coat today, on the lowest level of the deck, near the pool, but that means now I have to do the railings, stairs, etc.  It's a big job, but since it's not that expensive to buy the product, it makes it a little easier for me to handle.

See...I told you it was a mess!  And the red color that I picked didn't end up matching the existing color AT ALL!  Oh well...I guess it doesn't matter because I'm sure I'll end up painting the entire thing sooner or later.

Here is a picture of Claire, since who really wants to see pictures of my deck?!  She was enjoying some fruit for a snack.  She loves fruit.  Actually, she loves pretty much all foods.  She still doesn't have any teeth,(which from my understanding is ok for an 8 month old, but I would think they will be here soon) so she only gets things that are very soft, and cut up into very small pieces, which I think helps with her fine motor movements when she has to pick up the food.  (maybe not, but it sounds good!) 

Hope you're having a good week.  Jeff had wrestling camp all week, and then there is a tournament on Saturday that we will both help with.  Thank goodness Kristi is back from Florida so she can hang with Claire while we're helping at the tournament.