Well here we are at the end of July, and the weather this year has been crummy.  We did not have a chance to do much outside in the spring and the summer is not doing all that better.  Will re-cap the last few months.

May Spent most of this month putting in the shower in our downstairs bathroom.  We had lots of tile to lay and grouting to do, but in the end it turned out GREAT.  We love it!  Also worked on the fireplace surround.  Putting up the Connemara marble from Ireland was so satisfying.  I have wanted to do this for such a long time.  We ran out of the marble and will have to get about 4 more pieces. In between rain showers we put in another raised bed and got the garden planted.  We also re-painted and re-wired a chandelier and put it up in the dining room.  Painted and put a medallion on the ceiling too.  Except for the floor and decorating, that room is done! Brian's cousin gave us their old swing set and we now have a great place for the grandkids to play.  Brian re-stained it and now it looks new again! Still need to finish landscaping around it...but the kids don't mind how it looks!

June   Worked on some little finishing projects, like the threshold between our bedroom and bathroom, and putting up more of the trim in the upstairs bathroom, hung some pictures and a mirror. Got outside on a few of the nice days and did some yard work and got the flag pole moved over by the garden.  It looks great there!  We have 3 flags up there now, the American Flag, The Chinook Tribe and the 4 provinces of Ireland. 

July   Back to scraping and painting the house.  We hired Chris D to do all the peaks as we do not really want to climb up that high on a ladder or crawl along the roof.  It is looking great. We are using 4 colors. a light grayish tan called Pewter Moon and a darker grey called Silver
spree. Then the trim around the windows is white and most of the gingerbread is a burgundy red.  I will post some pix soon!  One thing we had to do that was not so fun, was to tear apart the outside of the house because the new shower was leaking.  What a big job!  But it was better than tearing apart the tile.  Brian fixed the leak and we put it all back together again.  I bought an old table and sanded it and painted it for a vanity in the bathroom.  Also refinished and re-covered an old chair to match.  I have always wanted a vanity and now I have one.  We have also planted some bushes and have had fun harvesting some of our garden veggies.  The Dahlias are on early this year and are so colorful.  We have quite the crop. Bought all the flooring for the living room and dining room and will get it put in this fall.  Looking forward to that for sure...oh my aching knees! That is about it for now.....