Sugar Skull, Root Canal, Deck construction, Stitching Friend

I finally had my root canal done Monday morning and it went fine.  I just have to have my dentist replace a temporary filling in the crown with a permanent one next week to put this whole episode behind me.

I'm trying to get a little ahead on my Nov. sal's (since I'll be doing some traveling again soon) and I stitched a Sugar Skull for the Halloween ornament blog sal theme of bones/skeletons.  This is from the 2015 JCS Halloween special issue...and was a pretty quick, enjoyable stitch.  I'd seen so many people stitch sugar skulls that I needed to get into the act.

As much as we need 2 bathrooms updated, DH (and our neighbor friend) really wanted us to build a deck by the lake so we're building a deck.  (I secured a promise from DH that we won't put off the bathrooms too much longer.)  The guys are also replacing a fence along a pato/garden area.  The deck is nothing fancy but it will make that area a lot more usable than it was before.  They had to tear down a small portion of the fence but our neighbor already has plans to put a gate there. (We need the fence to keep the dog in our yard but we've been talking with our neighbors for a while that we need a gate too so it's easier for us to go back and forth between our yards.)  His wife is a "junker" and she's found and repainted a chaise lounge for us to use on the new deck.  They're really good neighbors.  Even I am excited about the deck now...I'll be even more excited when the bathrooms are redone.  ;-)

Before, we just had a concrete sidewalk along the bulkhead:

Here's what's going on this week:

If you look in the top left corner of the last picture, you can see a bit of the fence that needs replacing.  We found out it wasn't even build to code, so in addition to being nicer, it will be up to code and safer.

We opted to keep the little pier where it was at least for now.  We'll also install a pool ladder so it will be easier for swimmers to get out of the water.  Our neighbors (the ones referenced above) have a 3 tiered deck and we're working on the neighbor on the other side to get his done too.  (He's all for it!)  I suggested that we have a progressive lake party sometime going from deck to deck for food, fun, etc.  Several of us have small boats so we could also make it a "regatta".  We may just do it sometime!

I have a friend who's been joining me weekly for lunch and stitching.  Instead of going out for lunch, she brought lunch over here yesterday.  I think I've created a "monster" as she's becoming addicted now.  We had a good time chatting, stitching, and watching the guys work yesterday afternoon.

I think next up on the stitching front is a Christmas ornament (for Nov. for the ornament blog) and then maybe after that a Denmark ornament for my son (who just moved from there back to the US).

Happy stitching!