Well our new catch phrase is "Nothing Is Easy" Everything always seems to take two or three tries to get done. First the crooked walls in the bathroom, next the shower that would not stop leaking no matter how many times we caulked, then painting the floor in checkerboard squares was a fiasco. The dark stain leeched over into the white squares...spent countless hours with mineral spirits and sandpaper to get it up and then had to re-paint the white with a tiny brush and a Q-tip. AHHHHHHHH. So next I need to put a coat of clear varnish on it all. Got my fingers crossed that this will go well.
We have been working on the downstairs bathroom too. Emily and Jahn were down and helped us tear out the old bathtub, and finish the subfloor, did some sheetrocking, tape and texture and now to paint. Even that wall was uneven and had to have some work done to even it out!
Oh...the shower finally is waterproof for the most part. All the caulking is watertight, there is just one seal that needs some adjusting, but we can live with that.
Brian also has started putting up the window trim in the front bedroom, that will need painting too soon. Might as well start carrying a paintbrush in my back pocket.

We have been trying to get the wainscoting and trim up in the bathroom. Gees all the walls in that room are SO crooked! Trying to match up all the joints has been a real challenge! But we have one and a half walls done. I have re-caulked the shower and have my fingers crossed that this time we won't have any leaks. I am going to put it to the test today. Brian got the power strip installed on the island in the kitchen. It will be so nice to have plug-ins to use in that location to do baking, mixing etc....One more thing off the list.

Happy New Year!
Now that the holidays are over we are back at it! We have been working on the shower upstairs. The new hose is in, and Brian even tried it out, but we have leaks!!! Not in the lines but along the inside of the base. I have caulked and re-caulked, but there are still small leaks, so I have started to tear out all the caulking and will try it again with a different product. Grrr, why can't things go right the first time???
Bought the wainscoting and I am in the midst of painting it and the trim so we can get that up. Just want to call one room DONE! Soon I hope!

The oven is in!
Wow!
Brian cooked chicken and I cooked a roast and a cake! It is so wonderful to have an oven again. John Lampien came over and helped us get it in. It was just too heavy for the two of us.
And...the shower upstairs is ready to go except for the flex hose that had a hole in it. We ordered the new one and it is on it's way!
Making progress!!!

Still not a lot to say about what we have been working on. No major projects, as we have been on vacation and Brian's work schedule has been nuts. However we have managed to work on the following.
Had a garage sale
Insulation in office and closet area
Winterizing the yard
Re-organizing our bedroom
Sweeping up the ladybugs! Ick!

Oh, and we were hoping to have the oven in by now, but Home Depot gave us the wrong cabinet. We just picked up the new one, so maybe next week?

Had a funny thing happen.........Brian picked a box of apples and put them on the back porch and when I came into the kitchen that night, there was a deer munching away looking in the window at me. We both gave each other a start for sure!
Hope to get started on some bigger projects soon!

We finished putting up the last of the siding outdoors, still a few pieces of trim board to go but so glad the siding is done.
We are also working on re-glazing and re-building the old front window. Really want to get it in before fall.
Doing lots of yard clean up too, and trying to keep ahead of the deer as they really are enjoying eating my dahlias and other plants. They have even been so bold as to come up on the porch for a nibble!!!! It is a love/hate relationship for sure!

We have either been working or gone, so not much to post, but Brian did get the hot water heater hooked up and we ran the dishwasher for the first time. NICE! It's hard to focus without a due date and a list of priorities! Ha! Guess we have to have another event here!!!

Here is a picture of the wedding. More to come on the web-site later this week!We have actually accomplished a few little things this week, despite having a 2 year old and a 10 year old here. Putting up the pot-rack in the kitchen, finishing the lattice on the gazebo and sealing the upstairs porch. Nice to get a few little things done.

Heather and Adam are married! Cannot believe how much we got done before the wedding. Heather and Em came down one more time and we finished painting the porch and railings, finished painting the front room, put out lot's of barkdust and playground chips for the kids play area that they named Camp Verbena. Also did a lot of other outdoor jobs. I finished setting up the dining room, living room and the upstairs bedroom....well actually all the rooms. The house has never looked better. Kevin brought us a load of driveway rock, so the driveway looked awesome too! Brian did a lot of work outside as well as in. the counter tops in the kitchen were finished just a few days before. They look great!
The day before and the day of the wedding are all a big blur! So many people pitched in to make it all happen. So many things had to wait until the last minute and there just wasn't enough hours in the day to do it all. But it happened and I need to thank so many people. I hesitate to list them as I don't want to miss anyone. So for those who take the time to read this...THANKS!
I will be posting some new pictures very soon!

It has been another busy week. Jahn and Emily and their friend Jason were down over the weekend and they worked their butts off. Jason and Jahn built the deck and one set of stairs for the conservatory. It was so hot you could only work out there in the morning, too hot in the afternoon. Em and I worked on the pathway on the east side of the house. Put in bark dust and red rock. Just need a little more red rock and bark to finish it off. We also started painting the front deck railing. It is going to look really good once we get it finished. Brian had just had surgery so we just made him the gopher. Hard to keep him down! He was so frustrated that he could not help more. He did finish putting the BBQ together, it looks great! Em and I also cleaned out two big cupboards in the dining room and put stuff in the kitchen. Then the guys moved the cabinets outside. Lot's of room in the dining room now!
Then Monday Brian and I installed the door to the conservatory. WOW! It is so pretty! And lets so much light in on that side of the house. I got the small bathroom upstairs all painted, and started on the front bedroom. I am sooooooooo sick of painting! But back to it tomorrow! Still no counter tops, but Brian and I finished putting the island together and Dale Jacobsen came and hooked up the gas stove. Baby steps!
Lot's of cleaning and organizing to do too!

Well the sheet rock is up and textured in the front bedroom, small bathroom upstairs and our bathroom downstairs. It looks great! I painted for two days in the bathroom and got the ceiling and two walls painted, so we could move the washer and dryer back in place and get two cabinets up. Looks great!
I painted a small table...Brian poured the cement foundation for the conservatory stairs.
Heather and Colleen were here and we worked on all sorts of projects.
Got the conservatory out of the box! WOW! What a big project. Lot's of cardboard, but everything looks to be intact. The big crate it came in is now a playhouse for the grandkids....We named it Camp Verbena (that was Mary's middle name)
Cleaned off the back porch and got it swept and scrubbed and some furniture out of the garage to put on it.
Did lots of yard work, including a nice garden area in the east side of the house with steps going down to the Gazebo.
Brian worked on installing the fan in the kitchen, which was a comedy of errors! He had it in backwards first...ooooooo heard lot's of 4 letter words.....but it is in the right way now. It is never as easy as the instructions make it look!
The guy was here to start on our counter-tops. He got quite a bit done, and will be back once the rest of the material for the top gets here.
Lot's of other stuff too! Cleaned off the front porch, and scrubbed off lots of bird poop. Picked up garbage and loaded the pickup with one heck of a load to go to the dump.
We are getting there!!!

The sheet-rock guys have been here for 6 days now! What a difference. They will be back tomorrow to do one more coat and then Saturday to texture.
Brian and I have been working just about around the clock to get the kitchen cabinets in place. The counter tops start going in today.
I have even put food and dishes in some of the cabinets, trying to get the old ones in the dining room emptied so we can move them out of here! And the fridge is in! Now to get the rest of the appliances in there!

Heather read the last entry and said I missed some stuff! We did SO much it was hard to remember it all!

Here goes:

Cleaned out the junk in the front entry way (wait a minute.......Junk?)
Detailed and cleaned off the stained glass window over the front door
Installed the new Dutch door (that was a big one you missed!)

The sheet-rockers are here now and things sure look different!
I will get to paint next week!

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Heather & Em came down last week and stayed thru the weekend. The boys came down and joined them on Friday night along with two other couples that are friends of Ems. I am just going to make a list of all the things we got done.

The Gazebo is off the cribbing and onto it's own foundation. WOW! This was a huge job. So glad it is done! Jahn and Adam and Emily were a big help!
The BBQ area is cleaned off and painted. Heather did most of it. It looks so clean!
Created a few more flowerbed areas
Cleaned up around the two garages
Moved the yard art into place
Stacked all the lumber in one location
Painted the fence pieces
Cut down beams in BBQ area
Installed one fence piece
Put more dryer felt and barkdust down in the secret garden area
Planted twenty barberry bushes across the front of the house.
Installed the upper cabinets in the kitchen (WOW, they look great!)
Worked in the small bathroom upstairs, tore out one wall, insulated and moved things
Adam and Brian started getting the shower installed. It is about 3/4 done.
Did some insulating in the big bathroom upstairs
Cleaned all the outdoor furniture
Mowed and watered lawns
Painted the picnic table
And lot's of other little jobs.
What a week!
More to do before the sheetrockers get here in two days!
Back to work!!!

The big old water tank is GONE! We were so sure we could use it, but it just wasn't going to happen. So listed it on freecycle and they came and towed it away today!
Brian has been feeling better so we have been able to get a few things done. Slow but sure! He finished putting down all of the sub floor in the kitchen, and did a little bit more plumbing. I have been following behind painting and insulating and getting things moved and cleaned up so the sheetrockers can do their job. We are going to finish the kitchen ourselves, so we can get the floor down and start putting cabinets up. The time is flying by!

Heather and Zach came down for a few days and we got an amazing amount of projects done, considering that we were chasing a 2 year old around too!
Heather mowed and weed-eated just about the whole lawn. I spread some more dirt and grass seed, there are a few places that just don't want to grow! Then both of us cleaned off the big stump and weeded and barkdusted and really made it look nice! Got rocks put down along the new trees we planted too...it is really looking good!
Then we went up in the attic and put down some insulation and boards and moved all the seasonal stuff up in the attic. Wow! Finally some room to move! So nice to have some storage up there. Lot's more to go up there.
We have hired a guy to do some sheetrocking in a few of the rooms. We just don't have time to get it done before Heather and Adam's wedding. He will be here in a few weeks, so we need to get a lot of things ready and out of their way! Always something to do!!

The ceiling in the kitchen is done! We finished it last week. It really looks nice! Since then we have been doing more yard work, painting and insulating. We also had a new electrical panel installed. Then Brian had another pancreatic attack, so we are going to get some help to finish some of the sheetrocking so we can get the cabinets up and the rooms painted. Just a little over 2 months until the wedding. EEK! We can do this!

Another week has gone by and we have been busy with all sorts of projects. More landscaping, more weed killing and grass watering. Starting to see a little bit of results. We are keeping Rodney busy hauling dirt, rock, sand and barkdust for us! And we are busy spreading it!
Got the last of the beadboard stained for the kitchen ceiling, should be able to get those boards up this week. Also sealed part of the black and white bathroom floor. Did some mudding and taping on the walls in there too. Want to get at least the sink and toilet ready before the wedding! So have to get the floor and the walls finished in those areas.
Colleen was here for the weekend and wanted to help with some jobs, but Brian and I had too much fun playing with the grandkids to do much work. Was nice to have a break!
The new carport came tonight and they had it set up in about an hour and a half. Gees, never saw anything go up so fast in my life! It is supposed to rain for the next week, so guess it will be inside jobs!

Things are really moving along!
Last weekend, Emily and John were here and we got the Gazebo off the trailer. Now it is up in the air on cribbing. Next is to get a foundation down so we can get it on the base.
Ted was here and got the base built for the conservatory. Looks good. Brian and I are going to have to do a little more cement work before Ted comes back and builds the stairs.
Got the area beside the garage all cleaned out and Brian is working to get it all level for the new carport that he just had to have! It will be nice to put all the rolling stock under. (we seemed to accumulate a lot of it) Tractor, lawnmowers, Dr Trimmer etc....
Also got a load of bark dust and started working on creating flower beds and getting it spread around them. Planted a peony and re-planted an evergreen bush. Pulled so many weeds!!!
Still working on trying to get lawn to grow. Put more dirt and seed down and watered it like crazy. It is hot this week, so got to keep it moist.

Oh...one of the most important things we did, was charge the waterlines! We have water to all the new lines now and had only one leak! It was just one Brian forgot to glue! A big relief to have that done for sure!

Well vacation is over and Brian headed back to work yesterday, but boy we got a lot done in a week. We had more top soil delivered and spread some of it...a nice big pile left to work from as we plant bushes and trees and smooth out the rest of the lawn. Put more grass seed down too.
Also went down to the beach and brought up MANY buckets full of rocks to put around the base of the conservatory. Nice rock and it looks great! We will be getting a lot more of it for landscaping. And it's free!!!!
We also got the Gazebo moved back a bit from where it was and now it does not block the view at all. Still need to get it off the trailer...Hopefully soon! Brian smoothed out the area just below it and I planted more grass. Made a run to Longview and picked up all the lumber for the base of the conservatory. Ted will be here soon to build that for us. Cleaned off the back porch and around the base of it. Looking better for sure!