Bad Bath

Disclaimer: This kind of stuff only happens to me. Even if you tried, you couldn't have worse luck. So... don't attempt this at home. You might make a mess and possibly, you could lose a foot. I know I almost did.

That being said, here's the story. I was minding my own business, taking a shower in the worst bathroom ever, (my own) when all of a sudden and out of the blue - the ceramic soap holder on the side of the shower wall fell off.

Yup, it just decided, "hey, I'm old and I'm sick of hanging on."


And as much as I wanted to be furious, it was too funny. I took this pic right after getting out of the shower.

Mike got home and solved the problem with what else but duct tape!

Just another reason why I wish a new bathroom could come sooner rather than later. But seeing as how our siding is only partially finished, there's still a stack of hardwood destined for the living room just hanging out in boxes in the hallway, and we have two boxes of iron balusters just waiting to be installed on the stairs.... later will have to do.

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Updates at Last

It's been a trying week. Actually, a trying few weeks, I realize after checking the date on my last post. Depressing. I haven't even been able to update. Even now I have to hurry.

So before I run out of time - the door is in and beautiful. It lets in a lot of light, as we were hoping and will go brilliantly with the iron balusters... whenever we get around to installing those.

Door from Inside

Door From Outside (As of yet untrimmed.)

Mike was able to work on the siding last monday and nearly completed half of the front. He would have been able to do more, but had to start again after making a little mistake in the measurements about halfway through. So far, it looks awesome. And from what Mike told me, he's barely made a dent in the amount of siding we purchased... so we may have made a miscalculation in our favor.

Siding!

I can't tell you when we're going to be able to finish. I can barely finish a sentence these days.

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Light at the End of the Hallway

The door is here. The siding is on the trailer. The trim is up and painted... somewhat. 4th of July and we're all ready to go.

Last weekend we purchased the trim, painted the backsides, and installed some of it. Yesterday I painted the front sides of the few pieces that were up. Amazing how little gets done around here.

Forgive my curt text. Yesterday was tough. I was trying to catch some rays, but just couldn't manage to do it. The baby was having marathon feedings and it seemed every time I managed to get outside - clouds. And then, the icing on the disappointing 4th of july cake, I found a snake laying eggs under the living room rug.

Yup. I'm not scared of snakes, but it shocked my skin off. I was just walking through the living room when I stepped on a lump in the rug. I'm thinking - cat puke. Or something along those lines. So I lift the rug and there it is. I screamed and jumped back, but then got a grip and captured the thing in a tupperware.

Black snake with one orange stripe around its neck. And a freshly laid egg. There was a second egg some distance apart from the snake, which I threw out. When Mike got home I had him release the snake across the street by the herring run. But now I'm worried how many other eggs are under the rug... and how did the snake get in to start with?

We used to get them all the time before we had a basement - big snakes that Mike had to suck up with the shop vac. One of the main reasons we wanted a basement. Mike does not like snakes. I don't mind them. I'll even hold them if I have gloves on. But I do not like them under my rugs.

Anyway - so we'll be taking up the rug today. At some point, TJ will be over to help Mike get started on the siding and to install the door. I have to run out to Lowes and get a lockset. They have these nifty ones that let you change the lock to work with any key. It's so cool. You just stick in this special tool, stick in your old key, then stick in the new key and then that key opens the door. I have one on my french doors already, so one on the front door will mean I can use the same key for both doors and deadbolts. Highly convenient.

So take one last look at that old door.

And take one last look at the house front.

One last look at the french doors.

And hopefully I'll have some new pics later... they better be snake free. And maybe I'll have some color...

Mid-June?

Ok, so when did the calendar nearly pull June out from under me? With all the rain and cool weather, it's felt like a never-ending April/May around here. And we've been stagnating too.

But not this weekend. Sunday we began by finally installing the final ceiling fan in the upstairs office! (It's only been 2 or 3 years now...) Advertised as the "5-minute fan," we timed the entire process and found that it's more like the "half hour fan." But that's still great timing.


Then we had a serious siding discussion. As in, what else do we need to do to prepare for the job. I pointed out - hey - we're going to need to replace the front door. And hey - what about those screens for the french doors that we bought back over a year ago...

So Mike pulled the screens out from the garage attic. And wouldn't you know it, they were the wrong size... the screens we bought over a year and a half ago. But I still happened to have the receipt since we'd had warranty issues with the door when we first got it. (Keep all your receipts for warranty service on Jeld-wen doors. Makes it super easy.) Sure enough, we were able to return the old screen at Lowes and pick up the correct one lickedy split. (Although we didn't have time to install it.)

Then we measured our front door and looked through the Jeld-wen door catalog. Yes, they're steel doors. No, I'm not ashamed to admit that. Fiberglass is just way too expensive, and I'm totally happy with my Jeld-wen french doors. Plus, when my french doors were leaking and I invoked the 25 year warranty, Jeld-wen came and fixed them no questions asked and I've since had no problems whatsoever. And their designs are pretty cool - so who cares if they're steel or not.

I showed Mike the design I liked and he measured the rough opening for me and wrote it down in the catalog so I can take it to the deepHo and get a price. (They're all special order, of course.) But since I have absolutely no balance on my HD card (woo-hoo), I don't feel so bad about making one big purchase at no payments no interest for 6 mo's. I estimate it will probably be around $1,000 including all the hardware and such.

With the doors taken care of, the next order of business - the siding itself. Mike visted our neighbor Matt at Morse Lumber Monday morning to get a true price on the pre-primed cedar clapboards we had planned to use. But Matt said, "Why do you want to use cedar? We have a product called HardiePlank - it's pre-painted, less expensive, easy to install, has a wood grain finish, you never need to paint it, and it lasts forever."

Well, that's a no brainer. Mike came home and told me about it, and I got so excited that we both went back to Morse that afternoon and ordered enough for the entire house front. Total price - $1500. That worked out to $9 per 12' section of HardiePlank, or 75 cents per square foot. The product comes in a variety of colors, but Mike and I picked out a light grey.

Of course I think the grey is too grey, but I thought the white was too white and the off white was too yellow. And I didn't want to skew towards green or blue either. This means I'm going to have to repaint the garage, which is such a light grey, it's practically white. Oh well. I'm not too concerned about it, since the HardiePlank seems like such a great product. And I'm eager to get this siding show on the road too.

Our order will be in this week. (Eeeeeeee!) Although we won't be able to start work this weekend. (Father's Day and all.) Our friend Paul is going to help install the stuff starting the weekend after this. In trade, we're giving him a 4-wheeler. (Gotta love trade-offs) This is so exciting. Matt, who installed the product on his own house, said we'd probably be able to get the entire front done in a day - it's so easy to install. That's what I like to hear.

Now there's only one more thing to do to prepare - we need to stain the deck. Mike procured a power painter thing that we can use. I may even be able to do it myself! We just have to test it out and purchase some stain.

I'm so excited - we're moving forward at long last!

Stumped

Time keeps passing. All at once I have all the time in the world and yet none. I think I just need to abandon all hope of being productive and concentrate on that much anticipated end of the day shower. (Oh the things I look forward to now adays!)

Mike has been trying trying to get things done in between working, working for friends, and taking over for me at 6:30 every night. Yesterday he brought home a stump grinder from work and took care of the two stumps we had in the front yard. (One from the tree we took down a few weeks ago, and one from the tree we took down last year when we put up the porch.)


Now we just lay down some more grass seed and we should be all set, especially with all the rain we're due to have this week. Meanwhile, the rest of our grass seems to be coming up - I swear it's because I've been keeping Mike from driving on it.

Also this past weekend we used one of those deepHo coupons to purchase the ceiling fan for the upstairs office. (It's only been a couple years, after all.) And we purchased an electrical box to be installed at the bottom of our stairs. (We have need of a night light on the stairs and have no outlet!) Maybe this weekend Mike will be able to install both of those.

And the siding? Soon. Very soon, I hope.

On Your Siding

Home Depot wasn't as far off the mark as Mike thought. Which is what I thought. I'm not sure why he had this delusion that the siding would be cheap. Morse Lumber estimated the cost around $2000 - certainly comparable to what we saw at the deepHo. Plus we may be able to get a better price from our neighbor Matt, whose family owns Morse. He helped us out big time on the roofing last year, which was awesome and allowed us to finish by summer's end.

So $2000. I'm ok with that. When do we purchase? That I don't know. Once the siding is here, it has to go up. And that will depend on Mike and TJ's schedules. (TJ our carpenter will be over to get us started, then leave Mike to finish the job. Should be fairly simple.)

One thing's for sure, it's the 21st of May. The month is over as far as I'm concerned. Spring is over pretty much when June hits. To think we were celebrating Mike's 6/1 bday on the porch last year, after starting construction in April. Now that Mike Jr is here, we really have to get cooking.

Announcing Our Newest (And Best) Home Improvement

We finally have our new addition! That's right - baby Mike Jr is finally here! I was a total of 10 days late, giving birth on Saturday May 9th at 1:38am - just a couple days before I was scheduled to be induced. He was 7lbs 2oz and 20inches long - very healthy and beautiful. We got home this past Monday and have been adjusting ever since.

Mike Sr had the week off from work (thank god) to help me out, so we decided to commemorate the occasion by planting two new trees in the front yard. (As I've said before, have a baby, plant a tree - it just makes sense.) The trees I picked are both Kwanzan flowering cherry trees, which I've always loved and wanted for years.


We just barely made the flowering cherry selling season - the garden center only had two left and wouldn't be ordering any more, since they would soon be out of bloom. Lucky for us, that's all we needed.

The next order of business - taking down that disgusting old pine. Which proved to be no big business at all. Mike had the whole thing down and chopped in what seemed like just a few minutes, although I'm sure it had to have been at least an hour or two. And the next day he took the whole thing to the dump. Simple.

The trees didn't prove to be much trouble either. We picked out the locations and Mike dug the holes, digging in a cone shape, with the bottom of the hole about three times larger than the tree's planting container and the top only about the same size. This was advised by the garden center guy, so we could grow grass right up to the base of the tree.

The front yard and the driveway look so much bigger with the pine gone! And we placed the new trees equidistant from the road, house, and driveway, one across from the french doors and one across from the front door. So no more threat of trees getting in the way as they grow.

Two new trees, one old stump

Tree #1

Tree #2

Next order of business - get some siding on the front of the house. While Mike was home, he also took some measurements. Our carpenter TJ did the calculations for us - so now we know how much... but we don't know how much - money that is.

Mike stopped by the Home Depot yesterday on his way home from some errands and discovered the pre-primed cedar clap boards to be very expensive. Around $120 for a bundle of 10, if I remember right. We need over 100 16 footers just for the front of the house. So what does that come out to be.... (getting calculator widget)... $1200? I may have my numbers wrong. For some reason I thought it was more expensive. Ok - I'll check on that.

Not that we'll purchase from the stupid deepHo anyway. A big purchase like this definitely deserves a trip to Morse Lumber. They'll treat us right. Mike will probably go there on Monday to check out pricing. I doubt we'll be puchasing at the moment, but you never know. We've been selling off some of our extra junk to pay for these repairs - a chainsaw paid for the trees, for example. A welder may just pay for the siding.

Negative 8 Days of Baby

Yes - we're still waiting. And the rain keeps falling. The prediction of scattered showers all week long has long since turned into torrential rains all week long and I worry that our grass seed has been washed to oblivion.

At this point we'll just have to see what comes up. Tuesday we really got a soak. Wednesday, showers and clearing in the afternoon. Today showers in the early early morning. More tomorrow. Joy.

It's been 10 straight days of rain in one form or another here.

Negative 4 Days of Baby

I hate to report - there's nothing new to report. No baby. It's been 4 days since my due date and we're still waiting.

My last day of work was the 30th, and after just a few stuck-on-the-couch rainy days, I'm fed up and uncomfortable.

Mike brought home a stump grinder on Saturday and finally took care of a few of our biggest tree stumps. (Never let Nstar touch your trees. They promised us that all stumps would be ground 2" below soil level... and they weren't ground at all. That was about two years ago.)

Sunday we returned the stump grinder and picked up the overseeder and some cape cod grass seed. (For sandy soil.) Mike overseeded the lawn on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the evening's showers. And with showers all week, it should come in nicely. Plus, today we picked up some loam and Mike spread it on our major trouble spots, where grass has never grown. Hopefully this will guarantee an awesome lawn.

And me? I'm just watching him work from out the windows. Ho-hum.

Later this afternoon, we'll probably put up the closet shelves in the baby's room and the upstairs office closet - which has been awaiting a shelf for years. (I really need the storage space now!) If there's time, I'd love to have Mike throw a coat of stain on the baby's room window bottoms and another coat of paint on a toy box we're refurbishing. No big hurry though. The yard work has just been kicking his butt. And it doesn't help that I'm out of commission.

Zero Days of Baby

Well - day zero hath arrived. I'm still feeling normal. Still doin my normal thang. My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow, so I suppose I may have a better idea of the plan going forward after that.

I've been telling friends that I'd like to give birth on Cinco de Mayo. That way we could call it Cinco de Mike-O and all celebrate with Coronas. They all think that's just a hoot.

Anyway, in celebration of the due date, here are the final final pics of the room. You'll see I put up the banner from my shower along with some pictures, a mirror, and a couple lamps.


Oh, and pay no mind to the little box of drywall screws next to the crib. I promise we'll move those soon.

WTF?!

You all remember my closetmaid problem right?

*sigh*

Well, just about a week ago, I got my chance to vent when closetmaid asked me to fill out a survey about my recent customer service inquiry. (You know, that customer service inquiry I never received a reply to?) So of course I railed them in the survey - told them I was completely dissatisfied and that my issue had never been addressed, nevermind resolved.

About five minutes ago I received the following email:

Dear Jessica,

Thank you for your kind comments on our products and service. As you may know, so few people take the time to let a manufacturer know when they are satisfied.

If there is any other service we can provide for you, please let us know.

Regards,

Roumel

Roumel Sy

Consumer Line - Team Lead

ClosetMaid

visit us at www.closetmaid.com

1 800 874 0008

At this point I'm convinced that they're totally dense over there. I don't even want to dignify this email with a response! I'd rather just giggle a bit and let it go.

Two Days of Baby

And yes, I feel fine. I'm almost sick of everyone asking. I want to say, "No I feel terrible! I'm dying! Ahhhhdslkgjldfasldkf....." and fall on the floor trailing off incoherently. Granted, I'd be a lot better if I was lounging out in the sun right now, but hey, you can't have everything right?

Oh, and another thing. Everyone thinks I'm nesting. But you all forget one thing - my average everyday no-prego self is psychotically organized and cleanly! So keep that in mind as I tell you about my weekend.

First off, if you weren't in New England over the weekend - shame on you because the weather was an event to behold. 80's and 90's in April - unheard of! And believe me, I'm not complaining. I was lovin it - belly and all. Such weather naturally leads to motivation, especially around the house.

Saturday I spent most of the day cleaning and running errands. (Which I usually do on Saturdays now that Mike works Saturdays - nothing weird there.) One of my big tasks involved tackling mildew in my costume box.

For years I've kept halloween costumes in an old steamer trunk. And for years, the box has spread its smell of mildew to everything I've put inside of it. And now, after my mom complained after borrowing a strawberry shortcake costume, I was finally doing something about it. (You may classify this as nesting - although I've been working on this project for weeks.)

I researched a lot about mildew online before attempting anything. The consensus for clothing was using a cup of vinegar in with the laundry detergent, washing in hot water, drying on high in the dryer, and then setting out in the sun - with repeat cycles as needed. Previous to this weekend, I sent the machine washable items through two wash and dry cycles and one sit out in the sun. The method worked well, although I needed a couple good hot days to really bake off any lingering odors.

Then there was the unwashable items, which brings me to Saturday. In the case of costumes, most of my unwashables included wigs, shoes, and hats. So first thing Saturday morning, I washed the wigs and hats in the sink with a half cup of vinegar. The shoes I sprayed with Tilex mold and mildew killer. Then I left everything outside in the sun to bake for the day.

On Sunday, we were able to put up an actual clothes line and I hung out the machine washed items and again set out the unwashables. By Sunday night I couldn't smell a thing on most items. Some of the unwashables may need another dip in vinegar - but all of the clothes passed my rigorous sniff test. (Oh boy what the neighbors must have thought.... a whole clothes line of halloween costumes - and then me coming by in the evening and sniffing everything as if I were in a Fbreeze commercial!)

And if you're wondering about the box - the one that started this whole mildew problem? Well, unfortunately it can't be saved. I tried washing that too. I tried the Tilex. I set it out in the sun for a week straight. And it still smells. The minute you think you've fixed it - you close the box and it just starts festering in there. Open it just a couple days later and it smells again. If anyone's interested in a smelly trunk, I'll probably have it free on the lawn next weekend.

Ok, returning to the weekend. Sunday morning, I enlisted Mike to help me with another big spring cleaning task I've been wanting to try for months. (See, I've had this on my mind for months, nothing weird here either.)

A while ago, I read a great blog about cleaning your large area rugs at the self serve car wash. And I thought, what a brilliant idea! You just spread the rug in the back of your truck. (Yes, you need one, unless you trust putting the rug on the ground at a car wash - ew no!) And then you wash and rinse it with the car wash pressure washers. Take it home, dry it in the sun, and it'll look as good as new.

Again, I needed to wait for a hot sunny couple of days to try it myself. Plus, we recently acquired a pressure washer - so we could cut out the car wash entirely! And here we were, with a random 80 degree Sunday. Perfect.

We grabbed our large 8.5 x 11 living room rug and draped it over the farmer's porch railing. We wet it first with just the hose to saturate. Then we prepared the soap. Luckily, our pressure washer had a soap mix option, so we just mixed some tide in a bucket with water, put the soap hose in the bucket, and let the machine do the rest. No scrub brush requried!

I had several set in stains that I knew in my heart wouldn't come out... but they did! Mike just got really close with the wand and let that rug have it! Especially the stains. And they all washed right out! I was impressed. Of course our pressure washer isn't your run of the mill Home Depot Joe Homeowner special. This is a high powered professional machine that could probably take off a finger if set to its highest. (For a rug, not quite that much power was needed, but I just have to disclaim myself in case your pressure washer isn't as cool.)

After the soap had been applied, we rinsed throughouly with the pressure washer, and then with the regular hose, and we left it to dry.

It's still out drying today. By the end of yesterday, it was mostly dry except for the bottom. But another day in the sun is always a good thing. I'm curious to see how it smells too. Hopefully like Tide or not at all.

So that was our clean weekend. Today, Mike plans to grab an overseeder machine from work and seed the lawn - which is super green, but patchy. His timing is impecable with rain on the way for Wednesday and then Friday. We've been seeding and re-seeding every year since we lifted the house. It's so hard to get a good lawn back if you've destroyed it completely. Takes time. Maybe this year we'll finally have it.

And I haven't forgotten about my trees for the front yard. Now is the time to plant those too. They'll be expensive, but I really have to do it. Just makes sense. Have a child, plant a tree. It just feels good, right?

Seven Days of Baby

It's come down to this. One week until the due date.

We took a little trip to Boston this past weekend - very relaxing, but of course nothing new has been accomplished around the house. Scratch that - Mike has been playing with his chainsaws. That doesn't count for me.

Those window bottoms still need to be stained and installed. The closet light needs to be fixed. The closet doorknobs have to be installed. Nevermind the fact that the car seats aren't even in yet... that's kind of critical. Plus I have some other stupid stuff that needs to be done that just isn't getting done.

At this time of year, whenever we try to do anything, Mike is attacked by neighbors, friends, and family who all need him to help them with stuff. And it's not that any one person asks too much - it's that they all seem to ask all at once. On Mike's to do list this week - my dad's car, his parent's subfloor, our neighbor's tiller, our other neighbor's tractor, a co-worker's lawn mower, a brake job for a friend... and I know I'm not even remembering it all. And of course by the time the poor kid is done, he's exhausted and can't manage anything on my to-do list. Plus he's got his own list - including fixing the new 4wheeler and chainsaws he's recently acquired.

This same thing happened last year, but it's no less rediculous this year and I'm sure he'll be burnt out by June.

Twelve Days of Baby

Yes, we're finally under 20days remaining. Under 15. It's now officially day 12! And I'm proud to report that things are moving along just swimmingly.

On Monday the guys were even more productive then I could have imagined! And I knew it the moment I turned the final corner on the way home from work and saw the beautiful new mailbox at the end of my driveway. A bomb could have exploded behind me and I would have never known it. I was so struck by the difference the mailbox made in the overall look of the property.

And that says a lot considering the house has no siding on the front, the farmer's porch is incomplete, and the landscaping leaves much to be desired. But oh boy, a bold mailbox nearly makes up for all that!

I hadn't even recovered from the shock and awe of the mailbox when I got inside the house and discovered that Mike had taken all the boxes to the dump! I was so amazed I could barely look up the baby safe water temp so Mike and our plumber Brian could set the furnace properly.

Meanwhile, as I'm scouring the internet for that information, Mike continues to ask if I've seen the baby's room yet. I thought to myself, I'm still thinking about the mailbox!

But I finally found the info (at or below 120 degrees) and went to check out the room. Again, I was shocked. The rug hadn't fit under the closet doors, so the guys rotated it, pad and all. They moved the furniture around - mostly for their own convenience, but it looked good.

And the remainder of the baseboard trim was done. The closet doors were installed. The window bottoms were cut. Everything was just awesome.

Just Another Manic Sunday

It was a cold and unloving Saturday. And after Friday night's festivities, I could do nothing but sit on the couch all day wishing I could fall asleep and wake up motivated. But alas, I couldn't.

Easter Sunday... that's another story. We got up early in hopes of going to the dump.... then realized it was Easter and they'd be closed for sure. So we moved on to the rest of our list - starting with the baby's room closet light.

Just a little light right? No problem. Mike had it up in mere minutes. But it didn't work. He checked the wiring on the switch - everything seemed in order, but still the light didn't work. I should actually stop at the HD after work and pick up another one. If it's the light bulb, I'll just switch out the old for the new and return the kit with the bad bulb in it tomorrow. If it's not the light bulb... hey, we'll have a whole other apparatus.

After that failure, we started assembling and installing the closet organizer. Mike worked on the tower while I assembled the drawers. We finished most of it by the time we had to leave for my parents' house for Easter dinner around 12:30.

We got home around 5 and started working again. I finished the drawers and Mike brought in our latest handmedowns from my parents - a rocking chair that was originally my grandmother's mother's and a small dresser that used to be my dresser as a kid.

After that, there was little else we could do. We didn't have the brackets to put up the closet shelf and the closet rods would all need to be cut before they could be installed. (I should pickup those shelf brackets on the way home too now that I think of it.)

Plus, with our carpenter TJ coming over today to help us finish the trim and install the closet doors, the room needed to be in some sort of accessible order. (ie - he'd need easy access to the baseboard, windows, and closet without having to trip over or move baby stuff.) So I neatened up before Mike kicked me out to stain the closet trim boards.

Today I had such a long to-do list for Mike and the guys. In the baby's room there were two remaining peices of baseboard trim - one wouldn't fit because of a gap in the flooring. The other had been measured incorectly. All three windows needed window bottoms cut and the closet doors needed to be installed (not an easy task with an uneven closet.)

Then, Mike had a dr's appointment and a prescription to pickup. Plus he wanted to clean out his truck and do an oil change.

This evening, our plumber will be in to install a mixing valve and check out our boiler.

I can't wait to see how much of it all is finished by the time I get home. There's a possibility they decided to screw it all and ride 4wheelers all day... a small possibility, but I'm not putting these guys past it.

Away from It All

Weekdays have been ridiculously chaotic. My normal routine has just been thrown up into the air and scattered into a million pieces. You'll have to excuse the resulting blog posts.

Weekends have been similarly strange. I still can't get used to this whole mike-works-saturday thing. It just throws off my biological clock.

In this state of disarray, I had more than a little freak out last weekend. All of a sudden I realized that we only had three weekends left (or three Sundays with the working situation) - approximately - and the to-do list seemed just as long as it did a month ago.

So Sunday turned into the day of a million tasks. Mike moved all the hardwood out of the baby's room and into the hallway.

He installed the remainder of the baseboard trim except for two pieces which need to be re-cut. I cleaned up and arranged the furniture into what may be its final configuration. (Still undecided.)

That Side of the Room Where Wood Used to Be

Closet Door Trim

Then a couple of Mike's friends helped him move his toolbox. (Not on my list - but still good to be accomplished.) After they left, Mike stained the closet doors and we went to Home Depot to pickup more stain and the closet organizer. (Would you believe we ended up going with the stupid Home Depot cherry finish despite the fact that it's totally different?! Mike just didn't like the white, and I didn't feel like arguing.)

When we got home, Mike sprayed another coat of stain on the doors and then painted the mailbox post.

And as you can imagine, the day was over at that point.

This upcoming Sunday is Easter and I know there won't be time for much of anything since we're visiting my folks for dinner. (Although we are picking up a rocking chair from them.) But Monday we've got all sorts of fun progress scheduled!

During the day, our carpenter TJ will be over to help Mike complete the window bottom trim and install the closet doors and whatever else needs final final completion. That evening, our plumber Brian will be in to install a mixing valve on our heating system - sad day for me, no more scalding hot showers - and he'll check out the efficiency of our boiler too. (We think it has not been running at its full potential.)

After that, all other to-do's will have to be weeknight projects. We're so busy for the next couple weekends! Dinner with friends, Easter egg coloring, Easter dinner, guy friends over, bday party, friend's baby shower, trip to Boston, eye appointment.... And oh yeah, somewhere either between, before, or after all that we're having a baby.

Half Trimmed

Well, Mike caught the flu last week and was absolutely couch-ridden for days. This put us more then a little behind on finishing the room, but we were able to finally put up all the window trim and install the shades.


The baseboard trim proved to be a little more problematic due to a gap in the flooring along one of the walls, so we stopped there. Plus, all the rest of the hardwood is still stacked against the opposite wall. (Always something in the way.)

At this point, we need to move all that stacked hardwood into the hallway and finish installing the baseboard trim. We still need to stain the closet doors and purchase the organizer and closet light too. All easier said then done, mostly because of weather and Mike's hectic schedule. It seems he needs to visit or help out friends or neighbors every single day.

And did I mention the mailbox isn't up yet? Our poor mailperson!

Down with Mailboxes!

It finally happened on Monday. Our ancient rusty iron mailbox died. Seriously - it just keeled over and died. I'm shocked the poor thing made it as long as it did.

To tide us over, Mike duct taped it to some pieces of wood and stood it back up again. So it's out there right now, standing tall and still accepting mail for the week.

But knowing this was a sign, we bought a new mailbox and post on Tuesday. I wanted a green mailbox and a white post. Unfortunately, the only mailboxes in green were super huge.... and the wooden posts were, well, even bigger. So we're going from a small, inadequate, embarrassingly cruddy mailbox to a large, phallic, bigger-than-all-the-neighbors mailbox.

This picture is terrible - but as you can see, this mailbox post is huge. Thank god half of it goes in the ground! Mike sanded it last night and will hopefully paint it tomorrow if not tonight. If all goes well, we could have this baby up and running by Monday!

It'll be such a change just to have a mailbox that doesn't leak or lean to one side. I still have to get some of those wrought iron numbers for the post - that's another thing I hated about the old mailbox: the number stickers. Ew!

Anyway - enough about mailboxes! That was a total tangent project.

We're finally making headway on the trim! Yay! At this point everything is cut and nearly ready to be installed. Mike put on the 2nd coat of stain last night.

The only thing remaining to be stained is the closet doors, which need to be sprayed. (We have an automotive grade paint sprayer - no junky sprayers here.) And they need to be sprayed outside. And it looks like weather will not be cooperating for this weekend. So more delays there.

Also - I got a couple bounce backs from my email to Closetmaid regarding the organizer. So glad they care, you know? So I suppose we'll be going with a white organizer, (Grrrrrrrr!) which we will probably purchase sometime next week once all the trim is installed.

I guess I should just be happy it's all coming together. This Sunday begins the 30 day countdown. I have to admit I'm nervous. Mostly about getting everything done in time. All the weird dreams and hectic work days aren't helping either. I have to get everything prepared at work too, after all!

Cherrified!

I have a closet organizer in my bedroom closet that I'm just in love with. It's a Closetmaid Completions Cherry 16" set with matching drawers and shelves. The cherry color just happens to match our hardwood and trim color perfectly!

Granted, the dam thing was expensive. Nearly $90 for the 16" base set and then around $30-40 for each 10" drawer. So, as you can imagine, I didn't purchase everything at once. Whenever I had some extra cash, I'd head over to Lowes, where I first bought the main $90 set, and I'd pickup a drawer here, a shelf there, etc.

I was really looking forward to purchasing a second set for the baby's room - the main set, the drawers, the shelves - I was just going to purchase everything. So yesterday at lunch I went out to my nearest Lowes...

And they didn't have it. In fact, they didn't have any more Closetmaid Completions sets. They had a new brand! They didn't even have any of the accessories for the Closetmaid sets. And the new brand, though similar in style, was a completely different color.

Then I tried Home Depo. They were carrying Closetmaid Completions.... but not in Cherry.

At this point I went online and frantically started searching. Neither Home Depot or Lowes had the Cherry colored set available. Lowes still listed it, but you couldn't purchase online and it wasn't finding the item at any of my closest stores.

I found several blogs talking about a big sale on Closetmaid Completions at Lowes - 75% off. Boy am I pissed I missed out on that memo!

Then I went to the Closetmaid site - turns out you can't order Completions direct from Closetmaid, though they still listed the cherry set and accessories in their online catalog.

I checked Ebay - no luck. And no other store or website seemed to carry it.

So I went back to Closetmaid's website and sent them the following inquiry:
I currently have one of your Closetmaid Completions Cherry 16" closet organizers with several drawers. I love it because it matches the cherry hardwood floors and trim of my house. I want to purchase another 16" Closetmaid Completions Cherry closet organizer with drawers and other accessories. However, it seems Lowes has discontinued carrying it, Home Depot does not carry it in the Cherry color, and I cannot purchase it online. Has this product been discontinued? I hope not. I would really like to purchase. Where can I purchase?

But I have a feeling they're going to tell me that color has been discontinued. I can't tell you what a disappointment this is. It was the perfect color! And now I can't even get new accessories in the same color for my closet set. I can purchase the wire drawers instead of the laminate wood-looking ones, so I'm not totally screwed, but still!

Hopefully Closetmaid will get back to me soon. If the set is indeed discontinued, I will have to purchase an odd ball wood color - or just go with white. I can't help but think that I wouldn't be in this situation if the sets and accessories weren't so dam expensive!

UPDATE - I just looked again at Home Depot's website - they're calling the wood color of their Closetmaid sets cherry - but it is definitely not the color I previously purchased. Looks more like oak to me.

This is Home Depot's Cherry


The Cherry color I currently have and am looking for.

The Lions and The Lambs

This March the lions and the lambs are just running around in circles! One day it's winter, next day - spring. Surprising that living creatures don't go into shock from the constant changeover.

Yesterday was definitely a lamb day. Mike and I cleaned up around the yard and burned some brush. It felt good to be outside, even though I couldn't do much yard work save for picking up some bits of trash. (Although I did dare to go for a short motorcycle ride late in the afternoon.)

And in the evening - well, I sort of have a confession to make. I went to the deepHo and bought baseboard trim and closet doors on my HD card. I had a coupon.

So before you shake your head and remind me that I shouldn't be using that dam card - I'll have you know that I paid off the entire balance this morning. (Minus what I just purchased yesterday.) And there is the matter of having a coupon... a coupon requiring you to purchase on your card of course, but a coupon nonetheless. And if I don't purchase anything else, I can have this paid within the next billing cycle. So it's not so bad after all.

Now comes the cycle of cutting and staining and sanding and staining again. The rest of the window trim still hasn't been cut. Mike and I have both been really busy... and he doesn't much like trim work anyway, so he's been procrastinating and I just haven't pushed the issue yet. Although I did pick up the new rug on Saturday! I'm really happy, it looks good, and now I'm even more eager to have the trim done so I can put the rest of the curtains back up.

The only things left to buy are the closet light and organizer. And if I had remembered, I would have bought the closet light on my coupon too. The organizer is a Lowe's item.

Baby's room with rug - looks pretty much completed from this angle. You can't see the other sides of the room where there are no curtains, no closet doors, and a big pile of hardwood....

Spring Edition of Now What

As you may remember, purchasing 500sq feet of hardwood flooring was a 100% gamble. Sure, Lumber Liquidators had their No Payment No Interest for 12mo's deal going on, but who wants another card and another must-pay-this-off-in-a-year monthly payment? I gambled on upcoming tax refunds to pay off the entire thing. (An educated gamble based on the amount of past years refunds.)

This past weekend we prepared our returns (thank you to my in-laws and their edition of Turbo Tax) and were both pleasantly surprised to find that we would be able to pay off the entire hardwood purchase AND THEN SOME. The "and then some" was definitely an unexpected surprise.

Already a flutter of possibilities are swimming around my head... although I know I have to rein myself in. Immediately and without thinking, the first thing out of my mouth was, "now we can do the floors in the living room." Although after thinking on it further, I reminded myself that the siding is still in desperate need of replacement and the porch is still in desperate need of railings and trim.

Not to mention the obvious - the baby's room is not 100% completed yet!

Our biggest problem (that Mike and I share) is our tendency to begin new projects without completing the old ones. We just get waaay too excited about new projects sometimes, and it bites us in the butt. Might I bring up the examples of the upstairs (still awaiting some trim and lighting fixtures), the downstairs stair railing (as of yet unfinished), and of course the porch and siding.

So when the money arrives (March 20 if all goes well), completion of the baby's room will be the A #1 priority. Baseboard trim and everything for the closet. Not much - but it all needs to be done.

Then what? That's the question isn't it. But I'm not even going to ask myself right now.

Trimming Here and There

First off, thank you all, we won the case. The floor shalt not be poly'd.

With that decision made, we quickly moved on to window trim. Mike's been cutting and staining and scuffing and staining since Sunday. And last night he applied the final coat.

With another baby-related class tonight, we won't be able to install the trim until at least tomorrow night, pending Mike's schedule. Then, once this trim is installed, we can put up the new shades and then begin the fun and exciting process of cutting and staining and scuffing and staining the trim that goes around the windows.

Closet doors, trim, light, and organizer are next on the list after that.... then we're done!

Granted, I still have yet to purchase the rug. But I plan to probably after the 15th of this month. And hey - wouldn't you know that's right around the corner!

Seeing as how we decided not to poly, we put together the crib on Sunday. (I just couldn't stand looking at the box any longer!) Though I was apprehensive about the color at first, once I saw it in the room I was just in love. Perfect contrast - not too yellow. And the bedding matches the room just perfectly. I couldn't be happier!

Notice the little Fidget head... yeah she thinks this is an awesome new cat bed. Boy is she going to be disappointed!

Making a Case

I'd like to bring the court's attention first to Myth #20, found on the Lumber Liquidators "Flooring 101" Common Flooring Myths article.

20. Wood floors that are sanded and finished at the job-site are more durable than a factory manufactured finished floor.

A pre-finished floor gives you the added benefit of a perfect finish applied under dust-free, ideal conditions at the factory. Ours include from five to eight coats with aluminum oxide suspended in the finish. The only thing harder is diamonds! Factory finishes are much harder than any product site-applied, requiring air-drying.

Next, I ask you to read Myth #34 from the same article.

34. I was told to re-seal my hardwood or bamboo after installation to protect it against pet urine, vomit or spills. Regular cleaning is always recommended however applying another sealer over the original finish will void the warranty. Once between the boards sealers can promote gapping and act as an adhesive preventing normal expansion of the flooring.

Please note this important detail from Myth #34, and I quote, "applying another sealer over the original finish will void the warranty." Might I remind the court that our beautiful pre-finished flooring comes with a 25 year warranty. Furthermore, 25 years is a long ass time.

Also for your consideration we take a look at the rest of the evidence:

Exhibit A: The beautiful floor.
Exhibit B: The price tag for the aforementioned beautiful floor - this portion of which can be estimated at over $1,000.
Exhibit C: The inexperienced Mike, who has never sanded and poly'd a floor before in his life.
Exhibit D: The boxes in the living room.
Exhibit E: The calendar, which has begun its nine week countdown to April 29th.

Ladies and gentlemen, upon review of this new evidence from the Lumber Liquidators website, specifically Myth 34's confirmation of warranty null and void - there is no question as to the next course of action. ie, There will be no next course of action in this case. The floor should be moved in upon as is.

Any supposed benefits are as of now far outweighed by the major disadvantages.

1. Further application of sealer to the current hardwood via inexperienced do-it yourselfers could cause major damage to the expensive and beautiful floor, all while voiding the incredible 25 year warranty the floor came with. At worst, this leaves us with a floor we have to completely refinish. Another waste of time and money, especially since we love the floor's pre-finished beauty. This is why we purchased and spent the extra money on a pre-finished wood product.
2. Sealing the area and moving out for 3-4 days or more because of the smell is impractical when weighed against the disadvantage stated in #1.
3. Time is of the essence. It is not worth risking the worst case scenario of #1. The room must be completed and this lengthly court case alone has held things up long enough.

Though the argument may be made that the Lumber Liquidators Myths article is simply a bunch of marketing designed to make you purchase their products and not whine about the imperfections and inherant shortcomings of real wood flooring, there is no argument that re-sealing will void the 25 year warranty.

In closing, the new floors will NOT be re-sealed. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry to say you're not the jury in this case. Lucky for me I'm the girl. The prego girl! And what I say is going to go. But you can't say I haven't done my research! As you know, I didn't know!

So check your warranty on your pre-finished hardwood! If you don't have a warranty and you don't have a baby on the way and you have some experience at finishing wood floors - I'd probably recommend the poly. Otherwise, forget it.

Can I buy the rug now?!

Decisions and Timelines

February is over. Face it people. And here it is, a week already since the completion of the floor and we're still mulling over the next step.

This poly has become a major decision, mostly because we realized it's going to disrupt our lives more than originally expected. Here's a minor detail I didn't think of in the beginning - I can't be in the house at all with the smell of that stuff.

Once we realized it... and then filled our oil tank with all the available monies, work came to a screeching halt. On top of that, our exterior water spout thing, (you know, that the hose attaches to?) the supposedly freeze-proof water spout thing.... well, it froze. And on Sunday we discovered it gushing water.

So the entire day was spent running to this person's house to grab our plumbing tools, that person's house to grab some fittings and other do-dads to fix it, and finally home to take care of the job and get the water back on.

And then the week started and here we are at Wednesday wondering should we or shouldn't we poly? Scratch that. We know we should. We know now's the only time. But the pain in the butt factor is really making it a hard final sell. We've never applied poly before and this is a large stretch of expensive and beautiful flooring that I would die to see ruined. We need to move out for 3-4 days. It's already March - 9 more weeks to go! The living room is full of boxes of large items just waiting to be assembled.... and more to come after this Saturday. (My shower.)

I said this last week, but if it's going to be done, it needs to be done this upcoming Sunday/Monday. So we'd need to be out Tuesday - Friday. So the decision needs to be made by Saturday. I have a feeling we're going to bite the bullet on this one.

It's Done!

The floor is down!

It looks amazing! Mike was so proud to have accomplished it all yesterday. We talked for a long time about what we needed to do next to really finish the room - besides the poly - we need window and baseboard trim, closet doors, and the closet light. (I'd like to add the closet organizer to that list too.)

And then we couldn't help but talk about the living room... it's so tempting to just start on that floor too while we have an empty room to move furniture into. But we have other things to worry about. Besides that, when we do the living room, we have to do it right. We have to fix the drywall and repaint. Some furniture I'd like not to put back at all or replace. I'd like to get a new TV. It's just too much for right now.

Besides the baby, spring is coming and we still need to complete the farmer's porch and put up the siding. We've got to keep focused instead of doing what we always do.... starting new projects without completing old ones.

Another Wood Weekend

Before Plywood

Plywood

Old square nails from the old old flooring.

Friday progress - just one halfa missing on the left side.

The hallway was in fact 95% finished by the end of Friday. It looked great too and I had high hopes for the next work day - Sunday. Over the week, Mike and his friend and carpenter TJ had struck a deal for Sunday - Mike would fix TJ's truck while TJ worked on the floor for us. Hours for hours. Perfect!

So on Saturday, I spent the better part of the morning cleaning up in the baby's room. Removing all scrap wood and unnecessary tools, vacuuming, etc. You know, general prep.

I had hoped the floor would go on easily and without any major snags. However, as usual, things were not as easy as they seemed. Our hardwood was in fact so hard that the nailer could not penetrate fully with the nails! Mike tried to find a way to set the air pressure to change the nail set depth when he worked on Friday to no avail. He even searched the internet! (I was so proud.) And then he made this comment:

The internet has a lot of crap on it!

To which I had to laugh. Truer words have never been spoken. (He was mainly frustrated after finding several forums where people had complained about the nailer... complained but not offered any solutions, which he thought was pointless. Then again, here I am doing the same thing...)

Anyway, the guys could not find a way to adjust it. (This is on the Stanley Bostich pnuematic 3/4 flooring nailer if any of you are wondering.) So every single nail out of the nailer then had to be countersunk by hand... thus slowing down the process considerably. Even TJ, who is an awesome carpenter by the way, could only get halfway through the job by the end of the day. Mike and I continued laying rows for a little while after he left until we ran out of staples for the rosin paper - thus leaving the room at the half way point.

But everything still looked incredible! And Mike has the day off today, so he'll hopefully be able to finish the second half of the room.

Sunday - hallway completed

Sunday work - halfway through the room

One more half to go.

And now for the frustrating news. Once the floor is done, it's not done. To prevent wear and also water damage from future spills, TJ recommended adding a coat of poly to the entire floor. Unfortunately for all the baby furniture stuck in boxes in my living room, I have to agree that it's probably a good idea. But this means closing off the hallway & baby's room for a full 72-96 hrs - aka 3-4 days - and living in the living room with no access upstairs.

If that wasn't inconvenient enough, I worry too that we're going to mess up this really beautiful, really expensive floor. We've never poly'd a floor before. And it has to stay completely spotless and dust/cat hair free - or else. But on the good side, the poly will fill in the spaces between the wood, thus creating a seal that will prevent any water spills from seeping through the cracks to warp or rot the wood from the inside out.

I'm nervous! And it all could begin as soon as this next upcoming Sunday or Monday if things go well today. That would put us for final completion right at the end of Feb.... OMG, the end of Feb. Yeah - we totally need to stay on track too, with no problemos.

Always easier said then done.

Slappin It Down

It's lunch time here at the 'ol office. And I can't help but wish I was home right now because Mike is putting down hardwood today! I miss being the layout/cut gal... although so much kneeling down and getting up and kneeling down and getting up would probably be exhausting with my basketball belly.

Last night Mike came home with the 3/4 nailer.... rental free of charge. (Have I mentioned how much I love his new job?!) He began working on the measurements right away - this is always the difficult part. And to make matters worse, he had to start in the hallway so he could seamlessly transition into the baby's room with no threshold. But of course the hallway is small and un-square as un-square could be.

Nevertheless, by the time I got home from dance around 8:30, he had the first row nailed down. Theoretically, once the first row is down, you're good to go, although he only managed to do a few more rows before we turned in for the night.

I am hoping upon hopes that at least the hallway will be completed when I get home from work tonight. I know he's not going to have time to get into the baby's room, since he had some other errands to take care of today, but a finished hallway would be huge. It's one step closer!

Then maybe I can hope for him to have the baby's room completed by the end of the day Monday... maybe. This is the exciting part because once the floor is down - rooms look 100% better. And they feel finished.

Home Despairo

If you have a Home Depot credit card, this is for you. Or if you have another Citibank credit card, this is for you too. They are raising their APR’s DRAMATICALLY. Up to 26% or up to 30% if you have any late payments. What’s more, they are sneaking the announcement in a mailed monthly statement.

Have you checked your Home Depot card mailings lately? If you're like me, you pay online and normally ignore mailed statements. BUT BE WARNED! If you haven't already, you will receive a notice in your monthly Home Depot card statement outlining an APR hike for all. That's right - APR increase for ALL. The Home Depot credit card, brought to you by CitiBank, is just one of CitiBank's cards soon to see an increase. As in - next billing statement soon.

Thank god I had been warned by a family member or, as I said, I would have just thrown out the entire letter.

It doesn’t seem to matter that my account is in good standing and that I’ve never made a late payment. Or that I have awesome credit and have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on that card over the years. They’re still jacking up the APR. For me, I’m so pissed I’m paying off and closing my account ASAP. Sure there'll be no more 0% for purchases over $299 - but honestly, most of my purchases are below that amount anyway and I don't want to get sacked like this.

I've already written Home Depot/CitiBank a scathing email regarding this. Their reply - your APR isn't 26%. My reply back to them, Oh I'm sorry, I guess you don't read your own mailings. The change will take place next billing cycle. And you just lost a cardholder.

I thought to myself, I know I can get a better rate on a regular credit card – non Citibank. But then a few days later I recieved a letter from Capital One. Same thing - rate hike. I could hardly believe it. It's an epidemic!

So I did the internet thing and Googled the issue. Check out an informative article about the many credit card companies that are doing this HERE. I did and it really cheezed me off. But better to educate yourself before you find yourself down in a financial hole you can't get yourself out off.

Relief!

After a December and January straight out of the depths of you-know-where, February is turning it all around at lightning speed. In fact, I dare say that this week has been the best in months and months and months.

Our economic woes were swept away on Monday when Mike got a new job complete with some awesome benefits.

If that wasn't enough of a reason to celebrate, I got the stamp of approval from our insurance agent. They had one more question about our skid steer, whether or not we owned it and if it was used for business. The answers were yes and no, and they seem to be good with that. They will renew the policy. What's more, no to-do list for the year!

I mean, I'm sure they'd love to see the siding replaced and a real railing on the porch instead of just the temporary one - but we'll be taking care of that in the spring anyway.

What a relief all around.

Meanwhile our hardwood is still acclimating. Friday it will be ready to go! Mike may be able to get his hands on the floor nailer for a discounted price this weekend. Although he will be working Saturdays from now on... and with Sunday being ATV riding day... well, that leaves him to floor on his own on whatever day of the week he decided to take off. Unless we do an evening or two together. I'm sure it will work out somehow.

I even dare say that if things keep on this uphill path, we may even be able to complete the hardwood in the living room sooner than expected.

Wood Weekend

Have you ever been faced with a persistent glaze of dust on everything in your home due to continuous renovations? After methodically cleaning for last week's home inspection, at the end of this weekend I was appalled to find the house looking like I hadn't cleaned in months. But for once I didn't give in to my obsessive compulsive urges - it will only get worse, I told myself, and then I'll be in the same situation next weekend and before you know it, I'll be spending half of all my weekends dusting.

And if you think that's how I want to spend half my weekend... well... you can come dust for me then.

So - another weekend. A really productive one, I might add. On Friday, I left work early for an appointment and decided not to come back. (Yay!) With the extra time, I met up with Mike and we picked up the hardwood and unloaded it into the baby's room. (Rather, Mike unloaded it. Heavy stuff this 3/4 as you can imagine.)

On Saturday, Mike decided that it would be easiest to hardwood the hallway at the same time as the baby's room. So he spent the day tearing up the old wood and reinforcing the beams from underneath. Late that afternoon, he cleaned up, took all the old wood to the dump, and purchased 2 more sheets of plywood. Our neighbor Rich came by too - because after he heard we were doing the hardwood in the hallway, he really wanted to help us finish up the drywall. The hallway really only needed one more skim coat and one more sanding to prepare for paint. And the last coat only took about 10 or 15 minutes for Rich to slap on, so it was no big deal.

Sunday Mike was able to finish installing the new subfloor in record time. Again, Rich came by in the evening to see if the mud was dry enough to sand. Nope. Maybe early this week if he's available.

And now we just wait for the hardwood to finish acclimating - about a week - before we put it down. And no dusting until that's done.