Weekend

Well, we had a productive weekend, but I feel like we still have a ton to do! Saturday was a shopping day. I bought some new clothes at JJill, Steve got a new cell phone, and we made a trip to Trader Joes…had to stock up on essentials like carne asada, organic whole wheat spaghetti, and brown basmati rice. Sunday on the other hand was a working day. We got some more stuff moved into the Tuff Shed, got a solar powered light installed in the Tuff Shed, sanded and painted 2 doors (we still have no doors on any rooms adjacent to the hallway except our bedroom), mowed the lawn, and installed the nailing strip for the crown molding. We’re hoping to get the two doors hung tonight, but every time we change out door hardware, the door never seems to close correctly. The new hardware never seems to line up the same way as the old hardware…I guess we’ll see how it goes. Well, I think that’s all the excitement around here. Maybe with some luck we’ll have some crown molding up next weekend!I can’t wait to have this project done…our house is a complete disaster and everything is need of a DEEP cleaning!

Lights & Crown Molding

We finally got our lights this weekend. I really like the way they look and with 7.5W bulbs they put out just the right amount of light. We put motion sensors in the hall so the sconces will automatically come on when someone starts walking down the hall. It’s really nice! Unfortunately one light doesn’t quite work right, so we’re trying to figure out what’s wrong with it. Here are some pictures of our lights.

So we are still trying to pick out crown molding for the hall and office. Here are the 5 we were looking at. I think we are leaning toward one of the last three. What do you think?

And here’s a picture of Sam. He decided to sleep in our laundry basket on top of all the dirty clothes!

Project Update

So we have a majority of the painting done. We decided that we are going to install crown molding, so that’s why the wall isn’t painted all the way. We just ordered some samples to see what we might like. The floor was installed Friday & Saturday (most of it anyway, we were just short so the closet in the office isn’t finished). We got the switches and new switch plates installed (lights are supposed to be in this week). So I thought I would post a couple of pictures. It’s difficult to take pictures in our hallway, so it’s a little dark.

  

   Hallway from gym         Where the 2 hallways come together

            Office                  New switches and plates in the hall

So last Friday we had a message on our answering machine warning us that there was a chicken in our yard. The message was absolutely hilarious…but anyway, by the time we got home there was no chicken. However, on Sunday the cats started going crazy and we looked out the window to find a chicken sitting on our fence. It jumped into the neighbor’s yard. We went over to the neighbor’s since they weren’t home to make sure they didn’t have a chicken floating in their pool and the chicken was chasing a cat through the yard. The whole thing was quite comical. So here’s a picture of our neighborhood chicken (we haven’t seen it since).

We also had a praying mantis…at least I think that’s what this is hanging out on the side of our house…doesn’t blend in so well on our white house!

Coco Bean

So everytime we do a project that involves a ladder, we are fighting with Coco Bean because she thinks it is great fun to climb them. Saturday Steve was in the attic and forgot to close the door to the closet behind him...a few minutes later he is yelling at me because Coco Bean climbed the ladder and is in the attic trying to make her way over to Steve. This clip showcases her ladder climbing ability.

Project Update

So, we've been VERY busy. Saturday we cleared an area for the Tuff Shed and built a pad to put it on. Saturday night I painted the coat closet. Sunday we installed a shelf in the coat closet and got all the computer server "stuff" installed and working...and now I get to repaint parts of the coat closet! And we built 3 extra shelves in the linen closet. We've also move the office into the family room until the floor is done. We've ripped up all the carpet and removed all the baseboards. It's been a busy week. Tomorrow a contractor is coming to grind down the high spots along the cracks in the foundation so we'll be in tolerance for the wood flooring...oh yeah...we did get a hold of the builder and even though they covered it last time they refused to cover the cracks this time. We decided it wasn't worth our time to fight it. So here are some pictures of the progress...

 

        Before the Tuff Shed                  After the Tuff Shed

       Here's the server shelf              Here's Coco Bean "Helping"

        

     New shelves (on the left)            Carpetless hallway

 

         Carpetless Office           Sam using Steve's tummy as a pillow

That's all for now. We're hoping to get the hallway painted this weekend...so maybe we'll have another update on Sunday.

Happenings

Let's see...I have a couple of weeks to catch up on.

We went to our family reunion in Irish Beach (just south of Mendocino) the weekend of the 15th. It was really great to see my parents and my sister's family as well as other relatives I haven't seen in a while....I couldn't believe how much Adam had already grown! He is such a great baby. The weather was pretty nice while we were there. It was a little foggy, but we did have some sun! We were able to take a family picture...which was great since it's not often that we are ALL together.

  

Here are some pics of Susan, Leevi, & Adam.

Last weekend we went back out to Mountain Winery. This time we ate their prix fix dinner. It was pretty good food. The only problem was the 5 gazillion (ok a little exaggeration) yellow jackets buzzing around us. I thought I was going have a little extra protein a couple of times I tried to take bites of my food. We went to see Steely Dan. It was a really good concert! We had a good time, but we didn't get home till around 11:45pm...did I mention this was Sunday night. I decided it would be good to sleep in Monday morning and go in a little later.

And now we've been working on our newest house project. Just like every other house project we've done...we've hit a snag. We tore the carpet and baseboards out our two closets and found a crack in our concrete foundation...we knew there were probably more throughout the hallway and so we cut the carpet in another location and sure enough there was another crack. So now we need to have those fixed before we can have the hardwood floor installed because the floor is crowned where the crack is and is over the tolerance for the flooring...this happened when we installed the floor in our front room too! Here are some pictures of our "mess" so far.

I'm having a VERY hard time picking a color for the hallway, so here are my MANY test patches!!

 

I'll try to update my blog a little more often...but I don't make any  promises!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

Update...

I have been horrible about posting lately...so since the last "catching up" post we have...

1.  Gone to a comedy show here in town with our neighbors. The first couple of guys were horrible, but the last three were pretty good.

2. Started a new house project. We are going to replace the carpet in the hallway and office with hardwood floor. The flooring will be here on Monday, but as with ALL our house projects, Steve has managed to make it a bigger project than we originally had in mind. Since we're taking the carpet out...of course we have to paint...and since we're painting we should really do something with the lights...and since we're doing the lights we should also replace all the wall plates etc etc etc. Seems like the list never ends. So we are now in the process of trying to decide what color to paint the hall so we can pick some lights out so we know where to make electrical drops...but this will all be put on hold for a little longer since we have a pretty busy August.

3. Last Sunday through Tuesday we went with our neighbors to Don Pedro Lake. Our neighbors have a 40' motor home, a pontoon boat, and a jet ski. We had a great time with them. We had never been in their motor home even though we've probably walked by it 1000 times. It is SOOOO nice. I was going to take some pictures, but I forgot. We had beautiful weather for the most part. It was a little warm during the day, but since we were on the water it didn't matter much. Monday night was a little warm so I didn't sleep so well, but I've since recovered :) Here are some pictures of our trip...

   

Steve taking off on the jet ski    Just getting back on the jet ski

So a little side story about the jet ski...I had never been on one before and Steve had...so Steve rode the jet ski out when we left the docks. When we anchored the boat he took me out with him...and not more than 2 minutes into the ride he dumps us both!! Then he hadn't paid attention to where the safety was connected, so we spent 5 minutes trying to figure out how to reconnect the safety so the ski would start again...oh and for those who were wondering, yes it was me, not Steve who eventually figured out where it went. Also for those of you who don't already know this about my husband...he is a speed freak...the jet ski goes 60mph....and I wasn't so keen on him going that fast while I was with him...I had to keep telling him to slow down. I think he got up to around 50 with me on it...that was more than fast enough for me!!

    View from our campsite              Here's our camp setup

 

      Relaxing before dinner              Steve driving the boat

    The outhouse on the lake              View from on the lake

So our next adventure is coming up next weekend. We have a family reunion at Irish Beach (near Mendocino). My sister and her family are flying into McKinleyville tonight. I can't wait to see everyone!!