You newell it was coming

Since we were strengthening and suring everything up - we tackled the rather wobbly newell post.  First we anchored it to the stringer. First we drilled starter holes with the frochner bit so that we could counter sink the screws.  Then we screwed it in with three 4 inch decking screws to the stringer.  Sturdy!!!  Then we put wooden plugs in.

With the plugs unstained - ignore the sawdust on the ground



After stain and varathane - really not noticable from a distance

But we had another problem with the newell post


The piece of wood between the newell post and the new riser is part of the old tread that somehow became fused to the molecular level to the newell post.  There was absolutely no prying it off.  So using the handy dandy mutli max dremel I shaved the old nasty wood back.  Honey cut a piece of oak to fit and using sandpaper rounded the edge to match the curve of the newell post.  Then I stained and varathaned it


Again - ignore the saw dust.  Even though it shows up in this picture, it does not in person that much

Oh and notice the BEATIFUL tread - He He.  We also cut off a section of bull nose from some of the tread we had cut off and glued it to the front of the old tread and I re-varathaned it.  You cannot see the seam at all.  Ahh - so much better!!

And if you were wondering if we were still hot
 



Yep - its hot!!!








We had all the kids for dinner tonight.  And by dinner that means that they start showing up around 2 in the afternoon.  Gotta love it.  We don't get a whole lot done around here, but like I have said before -  I would not trade these days for anything!! 

c

 We had a blast!!  I cooked everything that each of them wanted which led to grilled chicken tacos, spanish rice, corn, seasoned pintos, hot dogs on the grill, cole slaw, and baked beans.  My kids are so wierd - HAHAHA.  Ok - maybe they are just spoiled.  I have no idea who would have done that to them.  We also made Butter Beer (from Harry Potter) to finally celebrate the fact that they all went together to the opening of the movie.(  No - they did not camp out, but yes they got there 7 hours before the movie started to make sure they got good seats.  )  The Butter Beer was a huge hit!!  We made 2 gallons.  The kids said the taste was close to what they had at Universal, but ours had a creamier texture.  And being the good kids they are - they said mine was sooooo much better. 

Here is the recipe we used from here

ce-Cold Pitcher-Perfect Butter Beer5 Cups A&W Cream Soda (Chilled)
3 Tablespoons Imitation Butter Flavoring
1 Cup Butterscotch Syrup
1 (12 ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed
Directions:
In the bottom of a large pitcher, pour in the butterscotch syrup. Add the three tablespoons of butter flavoring and one cup of the A&W Cream Soda and mix well. Set aside in the refrigerator to keep cold.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the whipped topping with 1 tablespoon of the Butterscotch Syrup. Mix well. Mixture will be too thick to pour at this time. Add in enough of the A&W Cream Soda to thin it out, without making it too soupy.
Pour the remaining A&W Cream Soda into the pitcher. Let the soda settle. Serve in individual glasses and gently top each glass with a dollop of the whipped cream mixture to form the foam.
Serve immediately. Do not store.

Perhaps a few calories here.

Oh and I learned a valuable lesson today.  Do not dress your 4 year old grandson in a totally precious new outfit and then give him fresh black cherries.  Trust me - learn from my mistake.  You also might not want him on the carpet unless you plan on replacing it very soon.

Well hopefully the kids and weather will cooperate tomorrow and I will get a bit more DIY'ing done.

Happy DIY"ing!

Susan