The first two projects are completed!

There is a spot of light at the end of the remodeling tunnel!

John and Shelby’s rooms are just about finished, except for a few minor details. Arthur and I did the painting, and we had the carpet replaced with new hardwood floors. We are not responsible for the color schemes, we’re just the painters! :)


This is Shelby's,



...and here's John's.




Now, (evil grin) the kids get to move all their furniture back while we rest.

Oh, by the way, we didn't win at the casino, but we didn't lose very much either... so it was a nice trip!

Back to the business at hand

OK friends, I've returned to my normal, cheerful self. The tears about my babies are behind me now, but the remodeling continues!

I have been taking some photos to eventually post as “before” and “after.” But, first I need to post a different bunch of photos.

Arthur, the kids and I are actually involved in “Phase Two” of the dining area remodel. The original kitchen project began in 1998, when Andy and I decided that we absolutely hated the ugly dark painted cabinets in the kitchen. New cabinets cost a small fortune, so we did a “poor man’s remodel.” We completely stripped and refinished the wood cabinets.

This is not a job for the faint of heart. I have never before or since tackled such a difficult project. It seemed like it would be simple, but there is nothing easy about stripping and sanding an entire kitchen! Not to mention the DUST. It turned out very well, and the cabinets are still looking good as they wait for their new countertops to be delivered.

Believe it or not, my paraplegic Superman did all of the lower sanding and finished all of the cabinet doors after I took the high ones down. I sanded the upper cabinets and did most of the trim painting. Looking at these photos no longer makes me sad, and I still find Andy's attitude about his injury to be inspirational.


A very bad, horrible, awful, messy job!



Moving stuff out of the way... (MUST you take my picture???)



Sanding...


...sanding...



... and more sanding. (There was lots more non-pictured sanding out in the garage to do the doors.)



I don't know if I could still climb up here!




Andy hated painting!



Sanding completed, cleaning badly needed!



I always wanted to write in the dust, so I did.




C'est moi, painting the trim



Although Shelby was too little to do any painting, a hug was always a big help.



Fast forward to the present... Here is Shelby, taking a rest in the same corner. (I'll bet she wishes she's still too little to paint!)



These images combined with these help weave together another piece of the fabric of my life. I can't wait to see the room finally finished! :)

Out with the old, in with the new.

Does anybody need a new hot water heater? We know a great heater company, if there is a distributor in your town!

Our old hot water tank was manufactured by a company named A.O. Smith . It was the original tank that was installed in this house when it was built in the 1970’s, and it was working right up to the time we unplugged it to put in a new one. Unfortunately, back when it was installed, city code didn’t require it to be on a stand. Over the years moisture from the floor rusted out the bottom of the tank.

The nearest distributor is over 200 miles away so we had to get a different brand. I sure hope the new one works as well as the old one did.


So… goodbye Mr. A.O. Smith.




Welcome Mr. Bradford White! :)

A quick update

Our remodeling work has been on hold the past couple of days because Shelby is preparing to go on the Catholic Heart mission trip. We are saying lots of prayers for the group to stay safe in New Orleans. I have to take Shel to the bus tomorrow at an hour that makes me feel some mild un-Christian like emotion, but I will be better by noon!

We are in “hurry up and wait” mode with the installers. All the materials have been ordered and paid for, but now we have to wait for phone calls to set installation times. I guess it could be worse; at least we are living in the cell phone age. Remember the days when we had to sit home to wait all day for a call that might never come?


Perhaps I should think about getting to bed soon. Since my vacation started I forgot that 5:30 doesn’t only come in the afternoon. :)

This is how the fun begins!

It's rather difficult to photograph macaroni on the ceiling. It's almost as difficult to figure out why the macaroni is there in the first place. :)




The kids finally broke down laughing and 'fessed up. It seems that when a cook needs to find out if the pasta is fully cooked, all he has to do is throw a piece of macaroni on the ceiling. If it sticks, it's ready!

I have been so preocupied recently that I didn't even notice the new overhead pasta decor until we began preparing the kitchen and dining room for a new paint job. Although we are having professionals install the new sink, ceramic tile and countertops, we are fully capable of doing the painting ourselves. (I think.)

Um, John? I think the paint goes on the ceiling, not on you.

We have finished 3/4 of the painting. All we have left to do is apply the contrasting color. Yes, I helped! You don't seriously believe those three would let me get away with just taking pictures of them while they work, do you?

Tune in later this week for the next installment of "Adventures in Paint and Macaroni!"

Happy Holly Days???

My holly bush has berries in June! It doesn't get berries very often, but I thought this was supposed to be a winter time phenomenom.





I guess my bush prefers the company of daisies to that of the snow.

So... Happy Holly Days to all my friends!! :)

A small harvest, but big to me!

I planted these in my garden six years ago. This year, for the first time, there were enough to actually do something with! Go Me!!! :)



















I might never be so lucky again, so now I have the photos for posterity.

Wryly tongue-in-cheek!

The closing on the new house was supposed to take place tomorrow, but has been postponed until the probate smoke clears. For some reason I am not even really surprised by this turn of events. Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me! :)

In one of my recent musings I told about how Andy and I wanted to move out of this house, but something always prevented us from moving. Now Arthur is living in this house with me and once again something is preventing the move, at least temporarily.

A chill ran down my back when I came to this realization:

'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
but you can never leave!

This is not a house. We are living in the Hotel California!!!



Ok, now that I have written that I have the song running through my head. So here it is!

Holy Cow! I think we need a new roof!!!

Actually, this is a photo taken during the new roof installation. This hole was discovered under the old shingles. No WONDER we had a big leak! Hey Pammy, you can tell Uncle Donnie that the roof he installed for us 18 years ago finally had one too many hail storms hit it! :) It was a good old roof....

Wow! Actually, there were holes similar to this all over the roof under the shingles. I never realized that roof damage occured UNDER the shingles!


Well, at least we won't be rudely awakened in the middle of a rainstorm with water pouring into the bedroom, like we were last week. Now to go argue with the insurance company. They are only paying for 75% of the shingle job, and none of the wood repair. That leaves us with a bill of over 2K. Yuck!!!