Time flies when ... it's summer?

I guess that's my excuse. I haven't posted on my blog for 2 months because it's summer. Although, to be fair, it really has only felt like summer for a month. It took its own sweet time getting here, then bore down on us last week with temps near 100 and humidity to match. Brutal. I try really hard not to complain about the heat -- I do, after all, live in Minnesota, and, well, we have such cold so much of the year it feels ungrateful to complain when we finally get a warm day. But this? This was ridiculous.

So ... what has been happening since May 11, when I took my little hiatus?

Well, my little brother got married. He and his wife were both married previously and had some sad tales to tell. They had a lovely day and a beautiful ceremony and they are deliriously happy. So that was nice. In an awesome bonus, I did NOT get into a hair pulling, scratching, biting fight with my mom's sister, who hates my everlovin' guts. Ignoring evil relative FTW!

Also, my eldest son graduated from 8th grade. They had a simple ceremony at the end of the school's annual awards ceremony and I did not cry. Perhaps I am unsentimental, but I prefer to think of it as "looking forward to all of the cool stuff my kid will learn and do as he grows." It's all in the spin.

In June I made a trip to North Dakota to spend a couple of days with my mom. We attended a lecture by Clay Jenkinson, who portrays my favorite President, Thomas Jefferson, and it was amazing. I highly recommend Clay's Show, The Thomas Jefferson Hour.

And I drove my new car home from North Dakota at the end of that trip. My dad restored it for my mom (who picked the beautiful color) in 1996. They are starting to think about downsizing and moving somewhere warm, and they decided they had better start getting rid of cars. (My dad has a fascination with cars, which I detailed in an album I made for him a few years ago. You can see the inside pages in my gallery at Scrapjazz. Here is a link, but the album starts on page 7 of the gallery just in case the link doesn't work.

And here is the car:

I know.

It is gorgeous. I could not love it more.

Of course, in the interest of full documentation I should also add that the fuel pump died on the doggone thing before I'd had it a week. Fortunately the part was under $25 and my awesome husband did the mechanic work to get me up and running again. Could have been worse.

And of course we have been doing the usual home improvement stuff around here lately -- Evan's room is looking very appropriate for a gearhead, and Garrett's room just got its bamboo wall mural and a new oak door, and will get new bifold closet doors (also oak) as soon as I get them stained. Patience, grasshopper.

We spent a lovely few days at our friends' lake cabin in central Minnesota, where all 3 of the boys learned to waterski. That was a highlight. We had a ball. It is so much fun to give my boys a little chance to experience stuff like that. I took my grandparents' lake cabins for granted, and I wish one of them was still left in the family. Having a week every year to hang at our friends' cabin is really a treat.

And, of course, Potter fever hit our house in July, when Evan and I went to the midnight showing of the final harry Potter movie with our friends Tracy and David. The boys dressed up and we all loved the movie. We all love the books even more.

And, speaking of books, I read The Count of Monte Cristo with a couple of friends over the spring and summer. It is 1,200 pages. It was great fun to read with a group again and we are thinking of doing it with more books, although keeping a looser format than a monthly book group. I read it on my Kindle, and cannot love the Kindle more, either. What a great invention.

So ... it wouldn't be my blog without a list, would it? We still have that doggone storage unit from spring 2010, when we put the house on the market. Since then we have gone through a lot of it and it is less than half full, so we hope to clean it all out soon. Plus there are always a million things to do to get ready for school starting, so here is my list for today:

* clean out storage unit by Sept. 30 (in progress as of 8/22)
* get out for a few days of camping (not so many camping days this summer with the government shutdown)
* get kids to eye doctor before school
* finish staining Garrett's closet doors (in progress as of 8/22)
* stain remaining 3 doors for basement (in progress as of 8/22)
* weed garden
* take out tree/bush in back yard

I think that's good for now. I am well. My kids are doing great -- they are at UU Chalice Camp this week (Vacation Bible School for UUs). My husband is as handsome, patient and kind as ever.

So I am grateful for the things that stay the same, even as the world and my family change every day.

Infinite possibilities

This house has seen many incarnations since we've owned it. It's been 14 years this week. Currently the upstairs (with the cute sloped ceilings) is my scrapbooking/craft/computer/genealogy room and the "master" bedroom. I use the quotes because in this day and age it doesn't feel like a master without a bathroom, which we do not have. But I digress.

The main floor is where our middle and youngest sons sleep. Spring break was last week and I worked like a dervish to get cleaning/organizing and painting done. Our poor stereotype (often neglected, fades into the background because he is so mellow) of a middle son, Evan, had been waiting patiently for months to get his room painted and personalized.

Monday I painted, with his help. It was a lot of work, and I think at 41 I may have decided painting is a job to be hired out from now on. Maybe.

Evan loves cars and motorcycles and the Indianapolis Colts. Not necessarily in that order. (The Colts move up during football season and move down the rest of the year. Sorry, Peyton.)

The big empty space above Evan's bed is for the 24 x 24 inch canvas we procured over the weekend. It will feature a large Harley-Davidson bar & shield logo and some motorcycle pictures. Soon.

This is Spencer's room.

And Garrett's. Clearly I should have used the flash. Sorry. The loft bed and desk are from Walmart. He wanted a bed from IKEA but it was too tall for the ceilings in the basement. This was the only option we could find that fit. We hope to get a chair in the next few months that will fit where the blue chair is (far left in the shadows) and will fold out into a twin-size bed for guests.

This is my grandma's breakfront. I had to look it up, but it's called a breakfront because the center of the case is set out from the sides. This is curved glass and I was a basket case transporting and unpacking it. Can't imagine having to replace the glass. Yikes. Many of the items in the breakfront were given to me by my grandma over the last 10 years or so. I love having it in the room, but I think it will be quite some time before I stop referring to it as "Sally's furniture."

And I did use the flash here, but it's cloudy and the light is funny so it still looks dim. This is the table and chairs, again from my grandma. I remember sitting here for dozens of holiday and everyday meals with my grandparents and parents. I find myself stopping and staring at it as I move through the house -- it throws me off every time I see it.

I think we are set now, for a few years. (I suspect until Garrett graduates, anyway. (What a freaky thing to type ... it's only 4 years away.)
Our family has grown and changed over the years and the house has managed to shiftshape and morph along with us. It's a pretty amazing house with endless variations. :)

Unveiling

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P.S. Mom's thing went fine. It could have been MUCH worse, but it was calm and without conflict and we thank you for your good thoughts and prayers.

Progress ...

Rob got 2 additional shelves put into one of the closets. Here they are now:



The closet on the left. Top shelf is craft stuff that will be moved and an accordion file that holds a good number of old family photos that don't fit into my smaller photo boxes. It will soon hold many more as I get them sorted and labeled. Middle shelf is resource books, including a family Bible and a baby name book.

Bottom shelf holds binders with individual family information.

Have I mentioned this didn't make a dent in the stuff I showed you the other day? Ay, caramba! Or uff da, whatever.



The closet on the right. Top shelf holds several empty scrapbooks as well as a number of scrapbooks and albums that are full.

Middle shelf is photo albums and scrapbooks, all full.

Bottom shelf is my sewing basket and button box.

Yeah, it looks pretty good. Until you see that I still have a long way to go. I think we emptied half a dozen boxes and a couple of those plastic crates. Not much in the grand scheme of things. Pray for me.

A quick trip east

to Chippewa Falls, WI today. Checked out the grave of my great-Uncle Henry and cleaned up the stones for his parents as well. I was glad to see the stone from the VA was pretty close in appearance to those of my great-grandparents.

Rob got the patio blocks laid yesterday (and got a terrific sunburn as well).

My friend Kris called last night and she is coming for a little visit mid-month. If I had known that I probably wouldn't have pulled out all those boxes. LOL Nothing like a little motivation to help get things moving. Rob is measuring and cutting wood right now to add some additional shelves to the his-and-hers closets in my scraproom. It will be most helpful to have direct access to all of my resource books instead of having to dig through all of these boxes.

And .... drumroll, please .... yes, Rob is hanging the final curtain rod in the bedroom so I will be finishing the remaining curtain this week. Now to find some hold backs. Any ideas? I hate the big "C" shaped ones ... I want them to be more flush to the wall. I don't like them sticking out so far.

The big task for tomorrow? Filling the new backpacks with all the school supplies. I finally broke down and ordered from Lands' End this year. Last year Garrett went through 3 $15 backpacks -- I figured this year I'd spend the $40 up front and theoretically these will last them multiple years. I like that LE stands behind its products so we'll see.

Another season ends ....

and what an ending it was! Evan pitched an inning (his first ever) on Tuesday. Tonight he pitched again and did a great job, retrieving the ball and throwing it to first base twice for 2 outs.

He played first base, too, and was really on and paying attention. Turns out the game is more fun when your kid is having a great day. LOL

At any rate, the season has ended and I am most grateful.

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In other news, Rob did some plumbing last week and it turned out the pipes he replaced were not the main problem -- it was the faucet. So he replaced the faucet last night and I finally got to put the bathroom back together. I've had all my cleaning supplies out on the counter for over a week.

And last for tonight, I had a request from one of my genealogy websites for some information. I knew it was in a specific book and decided to empty the closet of its boxes to find the elusive tome.

Now I have a living room piled high with boxes and a scrap room filled so that there's no walking space -- and no book. Honestly, I can't figure out where I put it.

But as long as it's out there, I am starting on the organization of the closet and its items. I am hoping to be done by November 1. Yikes.

Updating the list

- finish installing chain link fencing on north side of yard
- buy some annuals and put them in the big pots out front
- finish installing patio blocks
- pull out dying arbor vitae in front; replace with a new, healthy plant
- install a gate between house and garage (this may have to wait until next year because I want an arched gate to match our arbor)
- paint window of garage (because Rob replaced the window and left it white...)
- make curtain and 2 valances for our bedroom (how long has THAT been on the list? I know, I know...)
- find rods for living/dining room and make curtains (I think I found some online at IKEA)
- make slipcover for chair in scrap room (started)
- make table skirts for scrap room
- empty genealogy closet; catalog, organize, enter data into computer
- purchase new genealogy software (I know what I want, but that $59 is not a NEED, so I keep putting it off)
- get chimney fixed (got an estimate yesterday: TWELVE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. Whatever.)
- paint hallway
- get photos for hallway border; get laminated. (again, since it's not a NEED, it just keeps getting put off)
- have Rob cut the molding we bought to frame the bathroom mirror; paint and install
- fill screw holes and paint rubber stamp shelf

(Bold is finished; updated 12/19/08.)

We're done

The game this morning was hard fought. The 2 teams kept inching the score up, a point or two per inning each. Going into our final at-bat (we were the home team), the score was 10 to 13 in the other team's favor.

Garrett got walked, made it to 2nd on another guy's single, and headed home thanks to a nice hit from another teammate. But it wasn't enough. Final score: 11 to 13.

I was only half disappointed.

We are at home for a while now. Rob ran to Menard's for some plumbing supplies (we have a leaky bathroom sink), and we are hoping to impose on the friends with the pool for a couple hours this afternoon.

That was a long weekend -- and now we're down to just 4 games left for this baseball season. Man, am I ready.

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And here's the frame on the bathroom mirror. LOVE it.

Seriously?

We won tonight. The boys did amazingly well. Guess none of them are morning people. LOL

So we play tomorrow at 10. I thought that was it, but I was wrong -- if we win at 10 we play at 12:30. Yep, a back-to-back double header. That is a lot of playing for 11 year olds in one day.

However, Garrett got a great hit today and slid into second in a very dramatic play, so he is feeling terrific.

Will keep you posted. And can I just say, FIVE games in three days? *Sigh*

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And in other news, I got the nail holes filled in the mirror before we left for the game, so I can paint over them tonight or tomorrow and the project will be done. Yay me.

(I also got the screw holes filled in my rubber stamp shelf, but we won't talk about how long it has taken me to complete that small task. LOL)

Fab!

It's almost time to get ready for baseball but in the time we've been home I have:

*cleaned the bathroom
*vacuumed the hall, dining room, and living room
*loaded and run the dishwasher
*painted the last of the touch-ups on the frame pieces for the bathroom mirror
*helped E with a window art project
*watered plants
*dusted
*made my bed
*cleaned the glass in the French door
*taken magazines and newspapers out to the recycling

and Rob, in addition to mowing the lawn and dumping the mulched clippings onto the garden to fertilize and keep weeds down, AND watering the front lawn, has also successfully installed the frame for my bathroom mirror. It is perfect. Pix to come....

Weekend

Got the fence done (yay Rob!). Got some flowers in. I had neglected the pots out front because of the cool weather and my general laziness. Turns out the annuals are way cheap after the 4th of July, but you can't get "Fuchsia Blue Eyes" anymore because apparently everyone else loves it too. Next year....

Small confession: my friend Marchee will be in the Twin Cities at the end of July and may make it down here (she hasn't been here since 2002) and Teresa may be coming in August. She's never been here. I know neither of them cares what my house looks like but I want it spruced up a bit. I guess no matter what, the motivation to get things done is good.

This week:

- an afternoon at the pool with friends
- bookmobile
- grocery shopping
- maybe a nail appointment
- a park playdate with other friends (we hope)
- making some garden stepping stones
- a little sprucing up of the garden (weeding and adding newspaper and grass clippings to keep weeds down)
- painting some rocks with puffy paint to use as garden markers for next year (since I was too lazy to put in a garden this year)
- making some Watermelon Rind Pickles
- perhaps a craft project with some mini canvases to put up in the surf bedroom
- nail appointment for Pippa
- maybe even haircuts for the boys
- and, of course, a healthy dose of baseball

Forgot to mention ... last Monday baseball was canceled. We were at home enjoying the Black Crappie (that's pronounced CROP-ee LOL) Rob caught in Lake Itasca. Delicious. After dinner, we were all just hanging out (the weather was gorgeous after the rain had moved out) and the doorbell rang.

It was my friend Kristine, who moved to the East Coast with her husband and 3 boys last summer. We are simpatico -- we understand each other in so many ways, and moms with 3 boys have to stick together. I hadn't heard much from her in a while and it was SO amazing to just have her show up on my doorstep. If we'd been at baseball I would have missed her, as she flew home the next morning.

So thank you for stopping by, my friend. Don't be a stranger, okay? And hug those gorgeous boys of yours for me. We miss you all.

Thinking ahead

I haven't made a list in a while and lately I've been coming up with all kinds of ideas of stuff I want to accomplish this fall when all 3 of my kids will be in school full days (ah! the day I have dreamed of for so long! so why am I a little sad, too?)

It is humid out today but I decided I had procrastinated long enough and I finished the touch ups and the edges on the door frames ('cause I painted those, like, last October).

There are always home improvement projects underway around here, but we know there are some things that HAVE to be done because Rob anticipates the MBA stuff will continue to suck all of his spare time this winter (and, it turns out, it's sucking most of his Saturdays, too. blech).

- finish installing chain link fencing on north side of yard
- buy some annuals and put them in the big pots out front
- finish installing patio blocks
- pull out dying arbor vitae in front; replace with a new, healthy plant
- install a gate between house and garage (this may have to wait until next year because I want an arched gate to match our arbor)
- paint window of garage (because Rob replaced the window and left it white...)
- make curtain and 2 valances for our bedroom (how long has THAT been on the list? I know, I know...)
- find rods for living/dining room and make curtains (I think I found some online at IKEA)
- make slipcover for chair in scrap room
- make table skirts for scrap room
- empty genealogy closet; catalog, organize, enter data into computer
- purchase new genealogy software (I know what I want, but that $59 is not a NEED, so I keep putting it off)
- get chimney fixed (got an estimate yesterday: TWELVE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. Whatever.)
- paint hallway
- get photos for hallway border; get laminated. (again, since it's not a NEED, it just keeps getting put off)
- have Rob cut the molding we bought to frame the bathroom mirror; paint and install
- beat dog within an inch of her life because she was barking and got kenneled and now is frantically pawing at her kennel door (of course I'm not going to beat her, but we are definitely at odds right now...)

Honestly, it's not as bad as I thought. And the best part is I'm not obsessing about how quickly I can get it all done. All in good time, grasshopper....

Have a good weekend.

Lest you think otherwise

Aforementioned retired neighbor is a nice guy. Honestly, he has never complained about my weeds (at least not to my face). Having dealt with the neighbors from hell in California, I can live with this guy.

And I sold out today and used a weed killer. (I know, corn gluten. Whatever.) I had the stuff in the garage and the means to do it. ***Miraculous occurrence ahead*** We moved into this house in 1997. That's 11 years ago. When we bought it the outside spigot on the front of the house had no handle. It had to be turned on and off with a wrench. Rob told me it was no big deal and we bought a replacement spigot the day we closed, in the giant $500 Menard's shopping spree that included paint, drop cloths, and our wonderful Weber kettle grill. I mentioned it last night as I was leaving for a meeting, kind of in a teasing way. Since we already had the evil chemicals I figured I could use them. (And to be frank, there is really no other option. The whole yard is clover, dandelions, Creeping Charlie, and crabgrass.) The container hooks up to the hose, but I hate fiddling with the wrench. Lo and behold, when I got home I discovered my darling husband had installed the new spigot. Never mind that he was congratulating himself as though he had found a cure for cancer or a way to lasting world peace, he did get the job done. LOL

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Here's a recap of my week:

Monday: chaperoned Evan's class trip to the Minnesota Zoo, Evan had soccer in the evening
Tuesday: volunteered at school in the morning, spent the afternoon in the driveway vacuuming and cleaning out the minivan. (It looks amazing!), Garrett had baseball in the evening
Wednesday: volunteered for DFL in morning, tried to clean a little in the house and finish up the car, Evan had soccer in evening
Thursday: volunteered at school in morning, had lunch out with Rob and Spencer, spent the afternoon supervising field day for the K-3rd grades at a park near the school (and got sunburned despite the hat, sunglasses, 50 SPF lotion, and standing in the shade for most of the day), Garrett had baseball in evening
Friday: ran to the library, dollar store and grocery store with Spencer this morning, then had a volunteer thing get canceled (woo hoo!) so I ran to buy a storage thing for food when we camp (the 60 gallon Rubbermaid tote wasn't working so well), and found tires for the camper. Installation was FREE (helLO), so we had them put on and ran to get covers for the tires (the sun is really hard on them). While out we stopped for lemon garlic chicken kabobs at our favorite butcher and tzatziki sauce at a little place nearby. Rob fired up the grill when we got home, I made some rice and some veggie kabobs, and we had a lovely dinner. A quick walk on the shores of Silver Lake helped us wear the boys and the dog out. We still try to practice the physical exhaustion theory of parenting. LOL It works.

So there you have it. A week in the life. It feels good, though -- a less busy week is ahead (not as much volunteering, I hope). It's a good thing because I have lots to do in preparation for the inaugural camping trip of 2008. Hard to believe it's only a week away.

There.

So it's out of my brain and I won't waste precious sleeping time involuntarily composing vitriol in my brain. And I feel better.

I just didn't want anger to be the focus of the blog on a Monday morning. It looks like this week we may actually see some warm temperatures (like in the 70s). It has been an insanely long winter and all of us in the north country are ready for a major change.

So now we turn to my accomplishments of late. Oh, how that makes me smile! We all know I cherish my lists and the checking off of tasks. So here's what has been done:

Remember last fall I was working on a system for my recipes? I mentioned it at the very bottom of this post. I spent a lot of hours copying recipes onto 4x6 index cards. Most of my recipes from friends and clipped from magazines and newspapers had been stored for years in a sturdy box from Lands' End. I moved that box to California, vowing I would have the recipes organized by the time we moved back. Are you laughing out loud yet? So last fall I decided I was going to at least try to get it done. And I am proud to say that today it is done. All of the recipes have been copied, they are divided up into categories, and I have plans to add some of my favorite stand by recipes that I don't actually have written down, but it is done. And it looks great. But it's a 3 inch wide binder and it's too big to fit in the cabinet. LOL



I also finished a Christmas project. I bought the letters J, O, and Y around Christmas. I have plans for them beyond this, but step one is done: they are decorated with non-traditional Christmas colors and today I blinged them all up. Cute, no?



And last, the surf painting I have been working on for the boys' room for FAR too long is progressing nicely. Here's a sneak peek. I had been struggling with my little projector and the scale of something in the painting. In swept my husband today, with a few tools and a good bit of patience. He fixed my problem, did the majority of the pencil tracing onto the canvas, and I spent much of the afternoon painting. It looks great, and I'll post the finished project later in the week.



So, my dear readers, happy Monday. Have a wonderful week. I am looking forward to sunny days, warm temperatures, and possibly soccer. They are still deciding whether to start tomorrow or postpone the season another week. Keep your fingers crossed for Evan -- he is ready to play. (Evan's mom has to confess that she will not be disappointed if she has to wait another week until the weather is warmer.) Shhhhh.

Why, yes, I am, thank you.

Crazy, that is. I must be, because we bought paint today. Honestly, I don't know what it is. Rob stained the baseboard molding over the weekend and he was prepping the bathroom walls so we could install it. There had been 4" tiles up before so the mastic needed to be scraped off, the walls sanded and primed. Once he had done that I said that I had never been very happy with the color of the walls in there (a generic tan that is on the soffits in the kitchen and looks fine but for some reason looked very peach in the bathroom). A trip to Menards and a gallon of paint later, Rob is taking out the toilet tank so I can paint in there. Bless him, he did all the taping and the prep work on the ceiling (which was peeling and desperately needed doing). All I have to do is paint the walls tonight. He'll do the final coat on the ceiling tomorrow and we'll put it all back together before we have to put a bird in the oven. Whew.

Everybody say YEAH!

Here's the crown molding -- I am so glad it's done, and Rob did a great job.




I scored this cute little thing at the rummage sale at church today -- it's missing some mirrors but I can fix that with mirror tiles and double-sided tape. It is sparkly, shiny, bejeweled and completely fab. The perfect girly accessory for my scrap room.



And in other news, I haven't said much about the "friends" that I used to have here that sort of blew me off when I moved back. I don't know if it was intentional or that I was not liked by a newer member of the group, but I was pretty hurt by it, frankly. I just never understood what exactly it was that I did to deserve being treated like shit.

But today I got an email that one of those "friends" has had a terrible accident in her family. When I heard, I knew I should call. It's just that, well, I am still hurt. And this person and I are both very strong personalities and we have had some clashes. But when Rob's dad died that group of friends rallied for us. They helped us through a very difficult time. And I took a deep breath and called. I offered rides, meals, whatever they need. And I meant it. And, honestly? I just hope now that my sincere effort to be a decent human being will not come back to bite me in the ass.

Cross your fingers. And if you're the praying type, that family could use some right now.

5 hours

was all it took for Mike, flooring installer extraordinaire, to do my carpet and vinyl today. We ended up getting down to the subfloor in the bathroom so the floor level is lower than the tile was. We'll have to put baseboards in but the main part is done. Tomorrow the toilet goes back in. The carpet came out fairly easily this morning and the new frieze (pronounced frizz-AY) looks great. Thankfully we were able to use the existing pad and save a few bucks.

It looks AWESOME. The carpet feels great underfoot, too -- which was never the case for the ugly Berber we had before. A word to the wise -- PLEASE don't put sculptured carpet of ANY kind in your home! Seriously, what is WRONG with people, anyway?

I got one coat of paint in the broom closet before the carpet install. It needs a second coat and the coat closet really could use a little paint as well. I am going to try to get a first coat in the coat closet tonight and do the second coats tomorrow.

The baking cabinet/dresser is DONE with the exception of the Silestone top. It looks fab.

Here are a few before and after shots. Please ignore the wood in the door frames as it is (STILL) a work in progress. I'll get there eventually.






So I am glad it's almost over. A little painting, a little cleaning, and a lot of putting things back where they belong and I'll be all set.

YAY!!!!!

If I had a hammer

Oops. I mean, I DO have a hammer. I am removing tile from the bathroom. Thank goodness it's little. (The bathroom, I mean. Not the tile. The tile is ... oh who cares?) Pray for me.

Before

Our front entry. Horrible ceramic tile -- not unattractive, just really ill-suited for an entry. And even more ill-suited for use in a bathroom. Yep, smooth, slippery... not sure what application it would be good for, but places that get wet from little kids splashing or snow melting off boots are not ideal, that's for sure.




I have to admit I took a little more pleasure in taking the sledgehammer to that tile than I thought I would. But man, it felt good. I wore my safety glasses and just dove in. Turns out underneath my lovely green 1952 linoleum (I know, jealous, aren't you) is hardwood. Of course we've already purchased the new carpet (to replace the Berber that looks WAY better in the photo than in real life) and the vinyl, so re-doing the hardwood floors in the hallway will have to wait a few years. When we do those we'll do the ones in my scrap room, too.




So there are the befores. With luck, Mike the flooring guy will be here Monday and Tuesday and I can post afters then.

Home improvement (again)

Here is my beautiful basement bathroom with its lovely ceiling. The walls are "Blueberry Popover." Spectacular, no?




And some "befores" on the baking cabinet. Here it is, mostly sanded.



And this is a drawer front before sanding. It really IS nice wood, and the drawers are all beautifully dovetailed. I almost hate to paint it. Almost.




This is the back. Rob is adding some wood to give it a finished look before I prime and paint it this weekend.



Next week the carpet and vinyl will be installed on the main floor and I plan to have those doorways stripped and stained before the floor installation.

It feels so good to get things done. I am still remembering how incapacitated I was last spring. It is nearing time to get out my little light every morning. Funny, though -- I am not dreading winter as much as I usually do, I think because I know I have a secret weapon against the darkness.

This weekend: Rob is at school while I am priming, painting ("Timeless Taupe," if you want to know), pulling up carpet, sanding, staining, and breaking up tile. The kids are looking forward to taking hammers to the awful bathroom tile with me. I am looking forward to not having to bleach grout anymore.