A Lot of Trouble for Little Things

Time to gripe. First off - I'm so sick of Couptessa ads on Pandora. Every time one comes on, I want to throw up. Secondly, I hate having to "sign up" for your stoopid website before you let me see any of the "awesome" deals... which always turn out to be more like mediocre deals on poop I don't need or want anyway.

Now that that's out of the way...

I've been trying for months, years in fact, to get the right dang end caps for my baseboard heat radiators. The problem originated years ago. Mike bought a buncha radiators without buying the end caps. He bought them from a pro-plumbing store open Mon-Fri 9-5. So obviously, since we work longer hours then that, it's been hard to go there to pick them up. Plus I never wanted to go on my own... not being a pro-plumber.

I finally mustered up the courage after a doctor's appointment put me in that neighborhood. I walked in there and received no assistance from staff. In fact, they directed me to the wrong place. A helpful pro-plumber actually helped me find the end caps, which I purchased four of.

Get home and they didn't fit. I told Mike I wouldn't go back there. So there they sat. $55 worth of end caps that didn't fit. Sitting around for months on end. But, as luck would have it, Mike had an opportunity to try and exchange them just yesterday. He came home with four different style caps at only a $10 increase in price. I was ecstatic!

But they didn't fit either. So now we have $65 worth of end caps that don't fit. I'm just ready to stab someone. I know the original mistake was not to purchase at the same time as the radiators... because over the years, lo and behold, stuff changes. Tis nature's way. But we have no way of knowing even the make and model of the radiators to order old-style ones... they have no brand names or markings on them and it's been too long to remember or have any of the boxes.

One of our pro-plumber friends is going to have to come over and try and identify the durn things... and then try and see if he can order or find the right caps. Two left. Two right.

I am so frustrated.

Then, last weekend, we put together Mikey's big boy bed. It was a gift, used, from some friends. And I assumed it would be a twin.... we get it home, it's a full. Good god the thing is huge, but we managed to fit it in Mikey's room and kind or sort of get things organized around it. Then, I fell in love with this bedding set from Target. Notice that the amazon link says "Twin." Just three days after I fell in love with the set - Target discontinued the Full size! I went to two local Targets to try and catch one left in stock. Nope. I went to Amazon and Ebay and a lot of other online bedding stores. Nope.

I started looking at other bed sets. Target, Walmart, Kohls, Home Goods, Bed Bath and Beyond, Overstock.com, smaller bedding websites, Macy's, Sears, Kmart... you name it, I looked there. And I hated everything.

Why did they discontinue the perfect bedding set three days after I fell in love with it??? That's almost reason enough to send some hate email.

Through some more mad searching, I finally got a wicked deal on ebay on a Tonka truck comforter. (Bought sheets and pillows at Target) See the Tonka tough comforter there on Amazon priced at $60? I got it on ebay for $30 plus $15 shipping. $45 comforter plus $25 sheet set equals $70. Original price of the Target bed-in-a-bag set? $69.99. At least I didn't lose money on this deal, but I'd still rather much have the build-it bedding set. The Tonka comforter by all accounts is thin and cheapy. I'm glad I didn't pay full price.

Mikey doesn't even like to sleep under the sheets and blankets. I'm probably driving myself crazy for no reason.

Meanwhile, nothing else has gotten done lately. We over seeded the back yard, which is actually growing quite nicely. My tree still looks sickly, but I just make sure it gets watered twice a week and hope for the best. Mike was terribly sick last weekend and I had bad allergy symptoms. We were both grounded.

I managed to pick out a paint color for the porch ceiling... but Mike hasn't been able to pick it up from work yet. Our neighbor Richard has been recovering from some minor surgery and hasn't been feeling up to drywall work. Timmy has been MIA, probably fishing. Not that it matters because we haven't been available either.

As you can tell I'm feeling pretty down about everything. Summer flies post 4th of July. This is not where I wanted to be right now.

Inspiring (Though Temporary) Fix

We were at Bike Week last week... Great time, terrible weather, by the way. And while we were gone, Mike's mom (Kathy) was at our house watching out for both Mikey and our two cats. Cool, right?

Well, I returned on Wednesday evening to a few surprises. First, Kathy had totally organized the toys in the living room, with two new shelves, a canvas bin, and a new little table. Now, Mikey can clean up and put away his toys and they'll actually have a place to go.... Then Kathy says to me, "Now look in the bathroom."

Woe. The second I opened the door I was blown away. She'd accomplished something that I'd been thinking of doing time and time again for the better part of six years. She bought a roll of that cheapo linoleum and laid it down on the bathroom floor. It looked AWESOME. I mean like, exceeding any of my cheapo-linoleum expectations awesome. Plus, she got an actually toilet paper roller to go in our built-in holder and a new shade, which she had trimmed with some pink fabric trim to match the rest of the room.

Now, before I post pics, let me tell you just how inspiring this was. I decided just yesterday that this new and clean/fresh bathroom needed to be re-organized. So I started re-arranging all the crud. The four yaffa blocks I had serving as a vanity cabinet (leftovers from college), I moved to next to the bathtub. Nah - that just wasn't going to work. I moved them back. "I just wish these things were thinner," I thought.

Then, I had an epiphany.

Down in the basement, I had two thin plastic rolling drawer cabinets (also leftover from college) that I knew were practically empty. I measured them. I measured the space. This just might work. So I emptied and cleaned them and brought them in to the bathroom. This was going to be good - as long as my towels from the yaffa blocks would all fit in these smaller cabinets. I cleaned out the yaffa blocks and folded the towels.

They fit.

In fact, I had extra room and cleaned out my other bathroom/medicine cabinet, putting some of the bulk purchase items and annoyingly inconveniently sized items (hairdryer and curling iron) in the new cabinets as well!

I only wish I had a proper "before" picture for you. In fact, the only wide shot of the bano I could find on this blog was from 2005. And believe me, it looked much worse now in 2011 then it did then. Let me paint you a picture - the floor was dark green very old linoleum. (or something like that) It was cracked, warped, water damaged, rippled, and breaking all over the place. You'd leave the bathroom with gross pieces of flooring stuck to your feet. Of course dark green gross linoleum matches the light pink tile and teal green bathroom fixtures...not. The shade we previously had was a "temporary" shade made out of paper. Yes, paper. Costs like $2.00 at your local home improvement warehouse. The vanity cabinet, as I said, was made out of two stacks of two yaffa blocks, which didn't exactly fit well under the sink due to the plumbing. The yaffa blocks were made to look as one cohesive unit with a decorative towel draped on top and two cheap kitchen curtains hung across the front on a curtain rod. We kept the TP on top of the yaffa blocks and not in the TP holder because we didn't own a roller. (Hard to believe my husband works at a hardware store.... but I just couldn't spend money on this sh*t hole.)

Now, with all that in mind.... check this out:

In the pictures, the cheapo stuff looks nearly real. The real life view isn't quite as real - but it's 250% better then what it was before. The entire room is so much lighter now... easier to clean.... better on your bare feet.... It's still terribly ugly - but at least we can live with this now until we can manage to redo it for real.

Later on yesterday afternoon I cleaned up and organized the storage in the basement using the yaffa blocks. So that's looking more organized as well. All at NO additional cost. (Love that part!)

I can't wait until we can re-do that basement and get our other bathroom going on down there. But for now, of course, it's summer. And outdoor projects need tending to. Mike will be home today, and rumor has it, our neighbor will be over next week to finish the kitchen drywall so we can paint and trim out the new (now sorta old) window. Next Sunday, Timmy is raring to go on railing installation... After that, steps. After that, siding the other side of the house. After that, (pending funds) new gravel in the side driveway and a fence for the backyard.

That should get us through the remainder of summer.

Tree Woes and Grass Grows

Saturday I was out in the yard with Mikey near our new Japanese maple and nearly died. The leaves on the maple were crinkly and dry. Petrified that tree-death was imminent, I had Mike water it well. Then, I hopped on the internet and read this article from someone in my exact situation.

Ok, phew. After reading all the comments, I came to the conclusion that this was normal - probably transplant shock - maples are hardy, we were watering enough, and not to freak out.

But I still can't help but worry. It's only gotten worse since Saturday. Now, most of the leaves have fallen off. It's been pretty warm, but we had rain this morning and a little last night. Rain is due again over the weekend... other then that, there's not much else I can do but pray it'll bounce back like the article advises it will.

I love this tree and it was so beautiful and full when I brought it home. Now it's a wreck and if it dies I'm going to be absolutely heartbroken. The two cherry trees out in front of our house are absolutely flourishing - despite being eaten again this year by bugs. So I feel like if those can succeed, this maple will too. I'm trying to keep the faith.

Out in the back yard, grass is coming up nicely! We've watered with the sprinklers every morning and evening with great results. It's nearly ready to walk upon!

Unfortunately, all other projects are on hold due to a couple of busy weekends in a row. Hopefully we'll have the rest of the porch railings up by July 4th. I still need to paint. The kitchen needs drywall. The siding is just hanging out on the side yard. The octagonal window is in the basement.

Plenty of materials - I'm not spending anything else until we exhaust our current stock.

Seeding Brings Sun

I predicted this. We had half the neighborhood over on Sunday with rakes and shovels to spread the loam, lime, and seed over the backyard... and now the forecast is nothing but sunsusnsunsunsunsunsunsun- possible 30% chance of rain- sunsunsunsunsun. (Previously, when the loam sat idle, we had nothing but rain-showers-morerain in the forecast.) This always happens and probably has contributed to our lawn issues over the past 4 or 5 years.

But, yet again, we've strategically placed our sprinklers across the back yard and started a strict twice a day, 20mins a whack watering regiment. And we're really hoping the good quality loam will give us a nice fluffy, fertile blanket of grass.

All the neighbors made quick work of the job too. Mike managed to squeeze some life out of our skid steere and placed mounds of loam here there and everywhere in the back yard. Then, the neighbors would shovel it out and rake it smooth. When the whole thing was shoveled and raked, (and by the by, the 18 yards of loam did in fact cover the entire back yard - for those who saw and disbelieved) the lime and seed was spread. We left the side driveway barren, to be covered soon by that asphalty stuff... which can be covered by gravel. (I say, "what'ev's" at this point.) Within just a couple hours it was done.

And that's it.

Mike spent the rest of the Mem Day weekend working on the boat. Draining the boat. Cleaning the boat. Fixing the boat. But not going out on the boat. No time. But I suppose it's good to have all that other malarkey out of the way.

Looming....

The loam has arrived! Mike ordered it early thinking that there may be a run on loam deliveries for Memorial Day Weekend. Smart. Now stay tuned for some spreading....

Now I'm Luvin It

My painting from last weekend...

Mike sometimes just knows how to make it happen. And boy did great things happen between last Thursday and last Sunday.

Wednesday night, as you recall, Mike picked up all the lattice.
Thursday night, we had a small cocktail party for a friend's birthday - going out on a weeknight, I know! Livin on the edge over here.
Friday was our first big lattice day.

Mike first dug a trench in front of the porch, then stapled up the screening. The lattice came next. And so on and so forth for each section of lattice, each section of porch. He finished the entire front side that evening.

You may recall that I was going to purchase a tree on Friday. But I didn't. Turns out, Morrison's prices and selection were so good, I could afford a bigger and better tree then I ever imagined! (Plus I had my 25% off coupon.) Unfortunately, such a nice tree would not fit in my driver's seat. So I borrowed Mike's truck on Saturday to pick up the tree - a beautiful Japanese maple around 8' tall.

I must say I was also very satisfied with my tree-buying experience. A helpful dude got the tree for me, loaded it into the truck, suggested the type and amount of planting soil, rented me a free tarp to protect the tree from the perils of driving, gave me a How-To-Plant sheet, and he was kind and courteous about it. The tree was $189 - add in my coupon and a couple bags of soil - total of approx $169. I think that was a fabulous deal. I will shop there again, for sure!

Saturday night, Mike planted the tree for me - on the left side of the house (if looking from the street.) It's awesome! I can look at it from my chairs on the porch and I just love it. When it grows up a bit, the shade will really help the grass on that side. (It needs all the help it can get.)

Sunday Morning! It's the big day - the day of Mikey's 2nd Birthday Party, and boy do we have a lot to do. (I'll save you from all my food-prep and cleaning/decorating tasks and stick to the house blogg'dness of it all.) Mike begins the morning by latticing (is that a word?) Fail, try again. Mike begins the morning by applying the lattice to the right hand side of the porch - at least up to the soon-to-be-finished steps.

Then, off to the dump. He trashed all the old wood and gutters that we had previously been storing under the porch. (Yeah, they all got wrecked when we stained... should'a thought'a that.) He also trashed all our coon-munched trash and he even trashed our huge, impossible-to-dump-cause-it's-too-heavy-when-full trash can.

Upon the return home, Mike grabbed a chair from our mudroom to return to a friend of ours. (Yes, we had a chair on loan... best not to ask questions. Long story.) But we needed to return it ASAP to make room for the coming piano... I've been taking lessons. Another long story.

So he dropped the chair off, picked up all our party rentals, returned home just in time to get it all set up, and the party went off with very few hitches.

And now that the madness is over, we have a beautiful new tree... beautiful new lattice... no chair.... Things are good! This Sunday, weather permitting, we'll be picking up the piano. Oh, and I may have neglected to mention that our two porch railings that have been on back order? They were delivered on Wednesday.

Wouldn't it be great if Timmy could come by for a bit on Sunday to install?

Next on the List: (because Memorial Day Weekend is right around the corner)
Finish the railings and the steps.
Trim over the lattice.
Loam and seed the back yard.
Finish the kitchen drywall and paint.
Paint out all porch trim and the porch ceiling.
Purchase and install a porch ceiling fan.
Rip all the siding off the left hand side of the house.
Install the octagonal window.
Install new siding.

Not in that order. I'm not sure about Timmy's schedule, but we plan to at least do the loam over Mem Day Weekend. The small things like paint and fixtures, I will keep pushing for myself to take care of. Beyond that - I can't forecast.

But I think we've caught up with ourselves from being sick, at least.

Not Lovin My Lattice Yet

Hyannis HD just sux. I don't know why I even told Mike to go there to get the lattice. Of course they were out of stock! He returned home with only the screening... and a couple of circle dirt things that go at the base of the trees. (Freebies from work.)

Luckily, HD spring hours are long enough to accommodate toddler bedtimes. 10pm EST. After I returned home from piano at 8:30, Mike went to our local HD and picked up everything we needed. We'll be ready to rock and roll on Friday, as long as Mike can cut the stuff. (His saw and some other tools are at the present time, conveniently located at his sister's house.)

Also on Friday, I'm going to purchase a tree. (Good thing Mike got a random 3 of those circle dirt things.) We'll be installing that as well Friday evening.

As for this weekend - rain. Next week - rain. Would have been lovely to have that loam down with some grass seed... we'd have a full fledged lawn by June. You just watch. As soon as we get da stuff... heat wave. Drought. All summer long.

50 Ways to Love Your Lattice

No screen last night. Mike had to measure first - which he did last night. Good news, he's going to get the screen and the lattice and do it all at once, tonight. (Can you tell I'm being just a little pushy?)

Meanwhile, I gave a call to Morse Lumber yesterday, since those last two railings have been on back order for more then a month now. The answer? They'd be delivered on Thursday. Awesome. Will they be up in time for the weekend? No. But at least they'll be here. I asked too for a price on 6" solar lit post end caps and did not receive a callback. That makes me wonder if they just slapped them on the order without giving me the price first... Mmmm, nerve racking.

Also, I received in the mail a coupon for 25% off any tree or shrub at Morrison's Home and Garden. (As if I needed any excuse to purchase a tree or shrub, right?) So I'm thinkin Friday I'll purchase a tree. A tree for the side of the house, since the back isn't ready yet. Not sure what type of tree yet, but I'm flexible. I'll see what they have in stock. I'd really love to have one those purple-leaf'd trees...

*As I said to some co-workers, "I'm not very botanical!"

So if all that wasn't enough, I got myself a good scare last night while taking out the trash. And if you didn't know, we have a cruddy little trash hut made out of plywood out in back of the house. This past winter, with all the rough weather, the hinges on the door of the thing finally gave way. And with all the other goings on, fixing it hasn't been even ON the list.

So there I am, fist fulla boxes in the dark of night. I pull off the plywood door, which is just leaning against the hut, and I stare. "When did I throw away a sweatshirt," I'm asking myself. Suddenly, the sweatshirt looked up. And I'm staring into the fuzzy face of one of the biggest raccoons I've ever seen. He's just chillin in the trash can, chowin down.

I screamed and ran. He was not phased. Perhaps a little surprised that I so rudely interrupted his dinner, that's all. He was big - I mean come on, I thought he was a sweatshirt laying on top of the trash can. Fat as a coon who's been munching on our trash since the door broke over the winter, undoubtedly.

I went right inside. "Did you hear me scream?"
"No."
Well, that was comforting. Good to know I could have been mauled by a fat coon without anyone to hear me and come to my aid. I related the story to Mike, who immediately went out to the garage looking for his pellet gun.

But by then our furry new friend was no longer in the hut. But he hadn't gone far. He was brazen enough to stick around close, hanging out under an adjacent tree. Mike got one good shot off, hitting him in the face before he scurried into the darkness. By the time Mike got a proper flashlight, he'd gone. Or maybe found a better hiding place.

Another great reason to love your lattice.

And another great reason to get a new freakin trash hut. A real live small shed would be fabulous. Something not made out of scraps... I shouldn't complain. It's lasted thus far.

Rock'N Out

My back is kinda sore, but the rock wall is done! And we actually had a good time, Mike and I. Yes we did. We grabbed a couple beers, set up the work light, and chucked rocks at dirt for the better part of 2 hours. It was great. Just like old times.

And I must admit, I'm pretty happy with the results. We used up all the rocks we gathered on Sunday, plus some huge ones we managed to roll into place.

Can't Stop the Rock

So as you can see, the rock wall now turns neatly to the right.... or left, depending on where you're standing. We went as far as the amount of rocks could take us. What we're going to do with the hillside to the left of the rocks in this pic... unknown. Maybe that area will just be grass.

And speaking of which, Mike is going to attempt to just change the oil in his skid steere and make it go - at least enough to spread loam. Plus, while we were standing around admiring our work last night...he noticed a high area that he'd like to grade down. Urgh. In my opinion, that man could find fault in the yard for an eternity just so he could keep digging with the big machine.

Then, he also dropped the bomb that he doesn't want to re-gravel the side driveway. He wants to put down something... I forget the word. But it's the poop they scrape off highways when they repave. Old asphalt. I don't like that idea at all. He's slowly trying to pave the entire yard is what he's doing. I much prefer the natural gravel look - it goes with the rock wall, and it provides better drainage. HE wants to eventually put a car lift in the side driveway.

Nuh-uh. No ways.

We'll see who wins out on this one. We did not come to any kind of agreement at that time.

But seeing as how we made so much great progress last night - I want to keep the train going and have Mike bring home that meshy stuff that goes under the lattice for the bottom part of the porch. If we can maybe get that stuff on tonight and the lattice tomorrow or Thursday?! Keep up the pace! THIS is the spring I'm talkin about.

If At First You Don't Succeed.... Get a Bigger Machine

AKA The Big Machine Fiasco of 2011.

Mike brought home the big machine on Thursday - a Case skid steere on tires. As you recall from last post, he spent all of Thursday night cleaning the yard in preparation. Friday he planned to dig up the side gravel driveway so that we'd be able to have the loam delivered and dropped there on Saturday.

It was all so smooth and easy and going according to plan. So of course, something had to go terribly wrong.

Friday night's disaster started with the Case. It couldn't even dig itself out of its own way! Seriously - no power. Mike struggled for a couple hours and finally gave in when the stoopid thing couldn't even get over a small dirt hump. He switched to our own John Deere skid steere... which we hadn't planned to use because we always considered it an inferior machine. Turns out, it kicks the stuffing out of the Case. It was actually doing a credible job... that is, until the motor blew up.

Yes, that little machine kicked the bucket at the absolute wrong time. Mike spent the rest of the night trying in desperation to fix it - but gave in upon the realization that the motor should really be re-built.

Saturday. Obviously, we weren't going to order loam without the means to move it and without a place to put it. Sad days.

Then Mike called me on his way home from work Saturday night. He was on his way to a job site where he would pick up a bigger big machine from another friend of his. The same bigger big machine, it turns out, that dug our basement years prior. (Ah, memories.)

Saturday night we had three machines - three trailers - and one boat in the neighbor's yard. OMG just doesn't cover what the neighbors must have thought... although they've got to be used to it by now. (We are good friends with most of them, one family hates us, and we have one newbie on one side that I think likes us...)

Anyway, when Mike rolled off the trailer with that third machine - a big Cat on tracks - he drove right over to the gravel driveway, scooped a scoop, and dumped it over the hill. Power! At long last! Sunday was going to be good... except now we didn't have the loam. Only one day with the machine and no loam...

8am Mike started up the machine. And it went so fast, I was convinced he was going to be finished with the whole job at noon! Sure enough, the driveway was done before 10.

Before noon, Mike had brought down the grade of the entire back yard to the correct level. Before 1, he cut a bit out of the hill on the other side of the garage - where we hadn't even planned to cut! Before 2, the entire back yard was smoothed over. Mike took the machine down back into the hole, where we picked up rocks to create a rock wall where our current rock wall now makes a sharp right. Before three, Mike decided to dig a hole out in the way back and bury two huge stumps.

Before 4, the machine was washed and back on its trailer and on its way back to the job site where it came from. Before 5, the cruddy tire Case was back on its trailer and on its way back to where it came from.

And we were all home about 8, having stopped for dinner on the way home.

The Old Gravel Driveway, now Dirt

The Opposite Side of the Garage soon to be Tie Wall

The New, Flat Back Yard

Now the only problem is the loam. How are we going to spread it once it's delivered? We may not be able to get the machine again... and ours is kaputkz.

For now, those thoughts are going to have to wait. This week, I hope to complete the rock wall on the new right hand turn of the back yard. I also hope to get some PT ties for the side yard on the other side of the garage. We can't have either side washing out... but I have no clue what's involved for the ties. Rocks are easy. You just throw 'em on. Looks rustic. I might even do that tonight if I can muster my strength enough.

Stain, Dig, Repeat

Allergies. I have severe allergies. And boy did I suffer last weekend... right after I cursed myself by saying, "F this sickness, I'm going to keep on doing whatever I wanna do." Yup. Never ever say that. Because the sick came back with a vengeance and bit me in the butt so hard I could barely get off the couch to make myself some Sleepytime tea.

I was going through a box o tissues a day. But after going to the Dr's on Wednesday, I'm Clariten clear! Now I understand that ad campaign - because I was in a serious fog o allergies. And that Netipot that I swore I'd never do? I'm doing it daily. And I'm going to be seeing a specialist.... Loverly.

But despite the pain... progress cannot be stopped. (Just slowed a little bit, which is super frustrating when you're on a tight spring chore/project schedule!)

Mike did in fact get the porch stainer and stain last weekend. The stainer thing looks a bit like a Swiffer, except with a brush in the middle to get the insides of the boards. Unfortunately, due to sickness, the porch was not cleaned off or prepared before Sunday as was planned. Mike had to do it all... and the job took all day.

Additionally, we realized last Sunday, "Hey it's May 1st and it's the last day we can burn!" And boy did we have a pile from all that yard work and trimming of trees we did a few weeks-a month back. So Mike set up a burn while he worked out front. It was a little hectic for a while...

But the brush got burnt and the stuff got stained.

The porch looks AMAZING! Not only because of the beautiful dark cherry stain, but also because all the poop is gone. (And by poop, I mean siding, wood, tools, etc.) I put back our porch furniture just a few days ago, plus a couple potted plants from BJ's.... OMG it looks like a real live nice person's house. I'm in love all over again.

I Actually Had a Nice Cup of Coffee Out Here While Mikey Played on the Bus

The Plants Make a Difference - So Nice!

The only unfortunate news - it's going to need another coat. And, with this week just made for diggin', I just don't think we're going to get to it in time for Mikey's 2nd bday party on the 15th.

But speaking of diggin', Mike picked up the machine on Thursday and began the lovely process of cleaning up the yard. (Did I mention he took the camper back to our friends' house on Tuesday night?) So the camper was already gone. Next, Mike cleared around the garage (again) and put some scrap metal in his truck for the dump. The boat he moved to our vacant neighbor's house. Mikey's little bus - on the porch.

And that's about all we had time for on Thursday....

Can You Dig It?

Just call me A Mess. After a near- recovery, I've slipped into relapse town. I don't know if this is allergies, viruses, infections, or just generalized internal chaos (great band name by the way) but I'm sick and tired of it. So sick and tired that I've resumed all normal activity - whether I feel like poo or feel like sunshine, I do whatever I normally do. I just have to. That's the bottom line. I can't stay stagnant for weeks on end.

Since the garage doors are in and working and since the remainder of my railings are still on back order, Mike and I have moved forward on other projects. Just last Friday I came home early and painted a lot of the farmer's porch trim and puttied some more nail holes. I still have the front facing, exterior farmer's porch trim to putty and paint - but that will have to wait until Mike sets up the ladder for me. Because I'm petrified of heights. (As my good friend Ryan put it, "I'm not afraid of heights - it's just that 'Woe!' feeling you get when you're on top of the ladder.")

Mike, meanwhile, continues to clean up his mechanical hoarding. Last weekend he gave away a set of rims and a giant tire.

And just this week, we're gearing up for warm sunny weekend weather with a couple projects in mind. Just last night, for example, I tidied the camper in preparation for its departure on Friday. Tonight, Mike will install his brake controller so he can safely tow the thing to our friends' house. (Yes, we share the camper.)

This move will free up the gravel driveway so that Mike can use his skid steere to remove all the rocks and fix the grade. (Out and away from the garage this time!) Once this has been accomplished, we'll order a dump load of loam and have it dumped right in the once-gravel driveway area. And this is because....

Next Sunday the 8th, Mike is borrowing a bigger machine from some friends of his to grade the backyard and spread the loam. (Nothing says Happy Mom's Day more then big machinery....) And I know we previously decided NOT to re-grade... but Mike has the opportunity to borrow the machine for free and we're eager to dig below and cover up any broken glass and debris leftover from last year's vehicle headaches and trash burying of years past. SO, there ya go.

Additionally, Friday or Saturday night, Mike is going to pick up stain and the porch staining machine. (Three non-rainy days in a row? Yup, I'll stain for that.) Tonight and/or tomorrow night, my task will be to clean off the porch in preparation. And hopefully with the machine, it won't take too much time once we get started either.


Stay tuned - this renovation freight train is coming through....

The Doors

It's been awhile. And I apologize... but I've been pretty much on my death bed for the entire month of April. First, as you know, it was the strep. Then I came down with conjunctivitis. Then I came down with some sort of bronchitis, from which I am still recovering by the way.

Mike got none of it - of course.

But despite my online absence, we've still been working. (And when I say we, I mean Mike because I've been totally out of commission.) 

Let me start first with our door drama.

As you know, the fam and I bought Mike a giant garage door for xmas. A giant garage door for our two-car one-door not-one-large-door-one-small-door garage. But due to inclement weather and misc sickness, it's been sitting around since January in boxes. The door itself, the hardware, the tracks, and all the accessories we purchased... just hanging out in the boxes.

A few Sundays ago, we were finally ready to install. And I mean, this was do or die. The previous Saturday night, Mike and a few of his friends cleaned out the garage, cut a gigantic hole, removed the old door, and pushed out the project cars. A door had to go in by end of day Sunday. Otherwise let me just put up a red flag and a sign out front: FREE STUFF! GARAGE NOW OPEN FOR LOOTING!

Sunday morning Mike went out to the HD and purchased the garage door opener. (Eeee! So exciting!) As soon as he arrived back home, the door dude arrived. The weather was beautiful, the pre-construction was accurate, and everything was perfect.... But we were missing pieces. Big deal pieces. The low headroom kit that would allow the door to open properly was missing.

I could've sworn we paid for that.

But we had no invoice, receipt, order confirmation, package inventory, or other manner of documentation could be found anywhere. I had an email, which I received after ordering the door on Home Depot's online garage door custom ordering website. You know what it said? "Thanks for ordering blah blah blah." Nothing about - here's what you ordered and here's the cost breakdown...

Lovely.

The guys went back to the DeepHo, purchased the low headroom kit in stock, and returned after all that to find out that it wasn't going to work. So the door was installed.... but it couldn't go up. (At least our stuff was safe though.... So safe, not even we could get to it!)

Now, at this point, I'd like to take a break in the narrative to talk about WHAT a difference the new door (working or not) has made to the garage. First, the outside. It looks like a real live two car garage now. A nice one at that... save for a little trim around the edges. And when you open the door... (not that it could be opened at this point in the story) the whole garage world is your oyster!

Inside, the white of the door makes the entire garage look bigger when the door is closed. Mike is thrilled beyond belief.

And now we fast forward to just last weekend. Mike called the door company and they confirmed that in fact we did not order a low headroom kit. (Uh-huh, is my response. I need to call them back to get an actual receipt.) So, back to the DeepHo. But the salesperson told Mike the kit he'd bought previously would work. So, back home.

Mike and the door dude make some modifications and at long last, the door went up and down! Mike installed the opener too - so just imagine, we hit the button and it opens! No more of this fumbling for the padlock key and trying to get the durn thing to open when it's frozen in the middle of winter. The garage door opener even came with a wireless keypad for the side of the garage. (Yet to be installed.) All these creature comforts! I'm loving it and I haven't even pressed my button yet.

Sick Like Winter

This is an April fool's joke, isn't it? First the snow, then strep throat. WTF?! Yes, sick again. The snow came first, tuned me into a minor cold which turned into major pain. And by last Friday, I was completely incapacitated. Saturday I went to the Minute Clinic - strep.

But I wasn't alone! The door dude called Mike. He was sick as well... sounded worse then I did, Mike said. (How that was possible, I didn't know.) The garage door installation was again postponed.

My good gal pal Heidi and her 4-kid crew were also supposed to come by for family hair day. (She does the hair, if you hadn't guessed.) Strep unfortunately canceled that date too. No need to expose two older kids, a toddler, and a newborn to ANYTHING like that.

Timmy, on the other hand, was healthy and well and arrived on Sunday around noon for more railing installation. (I was quarantined to the house as soon as folks arrived.) He and Mike (and Richard, who joined the party a couple hours later) wrapped the last full height pole and installed our last in-stock railing. (Two more on backorder, yet to arrive.) Then, they wrapped the three half poles of the side stairway. Ready to rock.

At the end of the day, the guys figured out how the front porch steps were going to go. Mike and Richard dug and prepared the stairway landing area for concrete. Pending a break in the rain, Mike will bring home the cement mixer and pour the front stair landing and the remainder of the side stair landing. (Which we previously - and accidentally - poured only halfway.)

*UPDATE
So here I am on Thursday.... still having not posted the post that I started writing on Monday. Blame the sickness! (That's what I do.)

While I was busy not-blogging, Mike and Richard picked up the cement last night. Mike had brought home the cement mixer, but there just wasn't enough daylight and energy to make it happen. Plus, we had a little bit of rain. Tonight perhaps?

Meanwhile, I've been trying to research solar post end caps. And if you click on that nifty link, you'll see that Amazon has a wide price range of products. Some of these dang solar lit post caps are big bucks. Like this one for $49.99... IT'S ONLY ONE CAP, PEOPLE!
Home Depot has a 4" x 4" one for $3.99. Yes it's crap, but it's only $3.99! Compared with $50??? What's wrong with the world? If I had a 4" x 4" post, I'd buy a few for $3.99 and if they turned out to be poo, I wouldn't give a poo.

The thing of it is, the reviews for the expensive ones aren't that great. They stopped working... they came broken... they're not bright at all... etc etc.

Unfortunately for us, we have the harder-to-find 6" x 6" post. So I can't just pick up a $3.99 cap and call it done. In fact, I'm having a difficult time finding a 6" for a decent price. I found this one here, but I'm not really in love with the design. I more like the design of the $50 one. Not that it comes in my size anyway.

And other websites - deckdepot and decklighting and otherstoopiddecksites.com? Yeah, I've found that their pricing is NOT at all competitive, their sites have poor design and navigation, the information is lacking, the selection is limited, and overall - I've come to the conclusion that I probably won't be able to find these online.

Changies in Schedule

As you may recall, we were tentatively scheduled to work on the farmer's porch this weekend, garage door next weekend, and possibly backyard grading the weekend after that.

But, as always, nothing goes as planned. Garage door is still scheduled for next weekend. And now the farmer's porch is scheduled for next weekend as well. (Timmy was stuck at work this past Sunday and couldn't make it over.)

So, what were we to do but start on the backyard?

Mike firstly came to the realization that he just couldn't and shouldn't grade the entire backyard. It was too much and our little skid steere would spend the next billion years trying... probably blowing itself up in the process. Mike decided that the best course of action would be to pour more cement and increase the height of the garage addition floor. He'd also grade down the gravel driveway, and angle it towards the pavement driveway so that water would flow in that direction instead of towards the garage.

We spoke about the possibility of getting rid of the gravel entirely and pouring a cement side-driveway. I told Mike if we were going to do that, we should do the entire driveway at the same time... we imagined it would be an expensive proposition and left the idea on the table for the time being. One thing at a time.

The backyard.

Now, this all started when I got out my rake and started raking the rocks. (Yes, the rocks. They were fulla leaves.) And when I got near to the end I thought, "Why should I rake this corner when I want it gone anyway?" So I asked Mike if he would get the skid steere and cut the corner.

He agreed and made a nice circular sweep around, creating a new entrance down into the backyard hole. (Which we'll eventually add gravel to...) Meanwhile I kept on raking the back of the backyard where I had left off a few weekends ago. That led into my next problem - there were all these new, small trees growing sideways that were in my way. So Mike got out his chainsaw and we chopped a bunch of them and piled them on the Trogdor for later burnination. (Next weekend, perhaps?)

Well that helped with the raking, to have all those out of the way. And it looked a heck of a lot better. Except now Mike's CB antenna was in the way. So our neighbors from up the hill came down and gave Mike a hand raising the thing to back on the back of the garage. Mike secured it as I continued raking, now unimpeded.

When that was done, I asked Mike to help me out on the waaaay back of the back. I had him skim the top, (where all the gross old leaves and logs were) with the skid steere. This would make a big difference in ease of raking. But that raised another problem. Mike couldn't effectively smooth out the area due to large, massive old stumps.

So he had to hook up chains and drag out a couple giant stumps, which he then loaded onto the truck for a Monday dump run.

Meanwhile I kept raking. (Never go years and years without raking people. You'll die - like I did at about this point.) I raked the bulk of the leaves and called it a day when my arms were about ready to fall off.

And at about the time Mike finished loading the stumps - he was beat too. We called it a day.

Would You Like Windows With That?

Ok, so I'm stoopid. I'm checking out Monday's post and reading right there in my own writing, "no windows [on the left hand side of the house.]"

This is entirely wrong.

There are two windows - the two living room windows - on that side. DUR. But the siding will still be easy. In looking at that side of the house, I forgot that our gambrel style roof goes waaay down. Like to the level of the first floor ceiling. Yes, we won't be siding up two stories even!

Incredible - that's not a lot of siding at all. I can see that side really getting done sh*t quick....

Clean Up, Siding, and An Unexpected Guest

Yes, it's time again for the Sunday Show! The show where we present, for your reading and viewing pleasure, all the awesome and wonderful things that happened around the house on Sunday! You may have thought we were off the air - but yesterday unexpectedly kicked off the spring season of the Sunday Show in ways never thought possible.

We were up at our usual early hour on Sunday. And, inspired by a Saturday burn by our neighbor up the hill, (and not to mention my stick-gathering of two weeks ago) Mike went downtown at 9am and got a burn permit. Needless to say, we were burninating by before 10am. Awesome.

Shortly after the fire was self sufficient, Mike went about moving stuff in the yard. The camper - back to the gravel driveway. Those old logs - pushed down the hill with the skid steere. One lawn tractor - gave to a neighbor. Snowmobile - on the side of the garage, cover on. Junk - loaded in the truck for the dump. Sweet.

Although I must admit, this after photo doesn't look like much. But it looked a lot worse before. Additionally, Mike considered the grading project. He'll need to get himself a bigger machine, that's for sure. He estimated about an 18 inch difference from the garage addition to the edge of the hill. Plus, this nasty bit you see in the bottom third of this photo? All that has to be cut off as well. I'll be prodding Mike this week to remind him to source out a machine he can borrow on the cheap/free. Sounds like a plan.

And if you think that's all we've got on this edition of the Sunday Show - well, you're wrong! Around 12:30pm, Timmy and Richard came over and got right to work finishing the siding. Mudroom/Kitchen Side - done. (Save for a bit of trim and trim-painting.)

It's all one cohesive side! Imagine that.... Mike also cleaned up that side driveway whatever-you-want-to-call-it area. We had a buncha dirt piles there from snow plowing and sanding over the winter. Plus, we had our garage doors stored there on saw-horses. No more. Mike moved those, dug out the dirt, and put in some pea stone from the gravel driveway to fill in. Sigh of unexpected relief. I'll be prodding Mike some more to schedule his friend for garage door installation as soon as this upcoming weekend.

The last little triangle of siding up on top? (There on the right.) Oh yeah, it's done. Trim's back up. All is well with the world of siding.

If you simplify all and everything - you could call our siding half done. But, as Mike is quick to point out, the left hand side of the house is barren - no windows (save for an octagonal one yet to be installed), no doors, no additions, no porch, no nada. And without any of those strange cuts and jags, it will be quick work to side the left. (Not to mention less wasteful as well.) We're so much more then halfway there.

Nearing the end of the Sunday Show, Timmy made us a materials list for another upcoming Sunday Show. And believe it or not, it's not going to pinch my pockets too too badly.

Wrap for the last of the porch posts
Two more railings and a stair rail
Misc trim - and not much of it

Weather permitting, I will be prodding Mike to order everything on Friday. (Lotta prodding going on this week.)

Now it's time for the most Unexpected thing to ever happen on the Sunday Show. And I Missed It. MISSED IT! I'm so pissed. Ken Thompson stopped by. Name ring a bell? As in, just a couple weeks ago I was talking about Mr. and Mrs Robert Thompson, previous owners? And how the strange coincidence of my friend Christine having visited Mrs. Thompson caused me to reconsider all the unanswered questions about my house in my own mind??

And the dude shows up and Mike gives him the grand tour and I'm not there. Oh, I was livid.

Needless to say, he was impressed. Surprised that the bathroom had gone basically unchanged. Loved the kitchen, loved the tile. He did tell Mike in regards to the yard that they dug out a huge hill in order to build the garage. They dug it out and pushed it down the hill in back. It used to be just one giant hill in back of the house. And the family had always wanted to renovate, but didn't have the means to do what we did.

He said he usually has to go to the Cape for something every couple months. Mike encouraged him to stop by at any time, and I hope he does.

After that, Mike cleaned up the gravel driveway with the leaf blower.

And that's all we have time for this week on the Sunday Show! If you can't tell, I'm just giddy with excitement. Everything all of a sudden seems so close and easy again. If we can get that garage door installed next weekend.... If we can get the last posts trimmed and the last railings up next weekend.... If we can grade the backyard the weekend after that....

It's never that easy though, is it?

In the Glass of Her Boudoir

Boudoir - French, literally means "sulking place." I'd like to think of my all-new office as a boudoir. Yes, you heard it here first, all-new. As in, I'm sick of sitting stagnant and couldn't live in the virtual photoshop renovation world any longer. I decided to re-arrange my upstairs office.

It had been annoying me for quite some time - ever since I started my piano lessons and found I couldn't get at the keyboard comfortably with three computers, a TV, a sewing machine, and various pictures, nic-nacs, and other oddities all over the desk. Plus, the excess dust and garbage was highly aggravating to look at. I mean, I had old empty boxes of nothing, giant dust bunnies, a file cabinet from the dump, and wires - wires everywhere! Oh, and the books! Tons and tons of books!

 This is what happens when you have a little boy and don't use your office for near to two years.
It was high time I stormed the castle and regained my place on the office-throne.

As usual, I highly underestimated the time it would take me to do such a thing. Two hours tops. Four hours later and I still wasn't done. I'm actually still not done. It took an additional two nights to clean up the major mess and now I need to organize the minor mess that still remains.

Why did it take so long? Well, I suppose I should have gone back to photoshop land first, because I rearranged that room every which way to Sunday. I knew I wanted to flip the desk around so the chair would face the wall instead of facing out. But beyond that - uugh!

I flipped the desk and centered it. I flipped it and put it to the left - the right - back to the left. Measured to determine if it would fit on another wall. And finally I flipped it so it faced the window. Now, I thought, I was on to something. The rest would be easy! WRONG. Where to put the couches? I can't even tell you how many couch configurations I did. This was the bulk of my time. I moved those things again and again and again. Finally, as the sun began to set, I said, "Come on, think outside the box here." And that seemed to work - I put the large couch in the middle of the room.

Now I was really onto something! All of a sudden I had two defined areas, which solved the problem of a big freakin gap in the middle of the room.

But the love seat was still a problem. I wanted it to fit opposite the couch, but it was just too big for the space. I needed a chair. I didn't have a chair. I needed to buy a chair.

And that pretty much brought me to the end of Day1.

On Day2 I left the dang love seat where it was and brought in all the misc items I had stuffed into the bedroom on Day1. Books, video equipment, nic-nacks, etc.

On Day3 I went into HomeGoods to check out their chairs. I had previously looked online at IKEA and decided I didn't like anything there for the money. I planned to check out HomeGoods and take some measurements and on Day4, get an armchair for around $200. But - I had a total Maxx moment. They had, in the back, a perfectly matching chair... same color as the couches, microfiber, very soft.... on Clearance - $75. It didn't have any arms, but for a price like that, I didn't care.

I brought it home at put it in place of the love seat. And unfortunately I had to stick the love seat on the other side of the room temporarily. I need to get it out of there, but since it won't fit thru the living room basement door, I have to wait until the temps warm up enough for us to open up the exterior basement door.

Final thoughts - the chair could be bigger, but for the money, I think it's great.

Full Frontal Photoshop

I'm getting waaay too ambitious again. Either that or my vitamin D level has dropped to catastrophically low  proportions.  Whatever the reason - I hit the photoshop again. And despite the fact that I'm not totally finished with this pic, I have a need to share anyway.

 

Click to Enlarge

Check it out!!! The green grass, the lush trees, the fully-doored garage, the nicely paved driveway, the shutters, the front steps, the maple tree on the left hand side that you can barely see, the lattice, and of course the rock wall.

That's the unfinished part. I have to put some plantings in there. Listen to me, I talk like the photoshopping is the hardest part of this whole landscaping thing. If I think this is difficult... woo! I ain't seen nothin yet.

Here's the "Before" picture. (I quote it because in reality, we're still in the "Before" state.)

A Girl with a Rake and a Dream

We had some unseasonably warm weather over the weekend. Or was it seasonable? Winter has been so terrible that I've lost all concept of normal. BUT, seasonable or not, I was motivated by my own summer backyard photoshopping to get out there in the yard and make things happen!

First, I cleaned up and organized some of the JUNK around the garage. (Remember last year when I totally cleared and cleaned up both sides of the garage for painting... yeah, both sides have become a dumping ground yet again.)

Then, I dug out my handy dandy rake... oh wait, I didn't need to dig it out. It was on the side of the garage. Nevertheless, rake in hand, I set myself on the back of the backyard. (You know, the skid steere/trailer parking area.) And I raked until my blisters popped and then kept on raking. Then I went inside and baked cookies. (Oh, the strange and random life I lead...)

So with probably near to two or two and a half hours of sheer raking agony, you'd probably expect that I'd have finished the entire back of the back yard. Wrong. I finished half of the back of the back. And not even the most horrendous half. Looming just to the other side I have more then just leaves and sticks to contend with. I have logs! As in, there used to be a log pile there a million years ago. And there are still some gross old logs hanging out under a buncha gross old leaves.

I've got to find out whether or not the logs are salvageable, and if so, make a new and neat pile. If not, I need to chuck them down the hill with all the leaves and sticks. And if that wasn't bad enough, this section of yard has NEVER been nice. The good twin next door used to be lush, shady, grassy, and wonderful. Its evil twin has been leaf'd upon, log'd upon, and neglected for eons. And that means layer upon layer of disgusting old leaves, decomposing logs, prickers, bugs, and possible snakes/frogs... all the more reason to get a-rakin before spring really springs back.

Mike has some strange notion that come spring, he's going to re-grade the entire garage area so the garage doesn't flood again with snow melt and heavy rain. You know what I've got to say to that... Uh-huh. Not that I'm not in favor of such a thing. In fact, when I was cleaning the yard, I discovered that over the winter, Mike dug a huge hole in the yard to get sand with which to spread over the then icy driveway! And so now I have a freakin huge hole to contend with.

And I'm wondering if I should just bring in the pro's with a skid steere that doesn't have street tires on it that dig in and ruin the lawn. Grade the yard, fix the hole, push the malarkey down the hill, and then spread loam so we can seed. I wonder how much it would cost? I can't remember how much it was when we had Nick Mitchell grade the front after the house lift.... but I remember how incredibly happy I was with the work.

Like I said before, Uh-huh.

In the short term, I need to have Mike move the camper back to the gravel driveway now that Dodge #2 is gone. Then, I need to finish raking the back of the back and move on to the front/mid of the back. And I want to buy those two trees this spring too.