almost finished

My life as a carpenter!

Basement Project

My heart goes out to all of you have ever had to build a house from scratch! SOOO many decisions. We're just finishing the basement and sometimes I think ... "I can NOT make one more decision about things". Especially after we painted the bathroom. Laid the tile next to it and I said ... "all wrong". We repainted within hours to a more silver gray, instead of a greener gray. I'm still hoping that all the pieces come together OK. I AM NOT AN INTERIOR DECORATOR! LuAnn where are you when I need you! Oh that's right I have a budget to stick with ... OK LuAnn stay away!

So while I was in Texas for 2 1/2 weeks awaiting cute little Adelaide's arrival Scott and Zach start the basement project. I've been gathering pieces for 3 years now (since we moved in here). A tub, toilet, sink, lights, sheet rock mud, etc. It seems like when I go away Scott gets a bee in his bonnet and things really start to roll. I like it when I go away! We are now getting close to finishing the bathroom (that's one out of three). The only things left are the window sill (all 13 pieces ... yes the builder did not lie when he said that there are 13 pieces in each window casing) and the crowning glory ... the toilet installed. Because Scott and I do not do this everyday of our lives we are slow ... oh so slow. We have to think out each little project. Let me tell you that add so many decisions and then cut a board wrong and it is the ingredients of a little argument! Last night I threatened to walk off the job ... what's he going to do hold back my wages?

I consider myself the sous carpenter. I do a lot of the prep work, the cleaning up, the buying of supplies etc. (Much like a sous chef). I work with the pretend carpenter, not a real carpenter. I'm learning about all kinds of miter joints, compound miter joints, thin set, grout, paintable caulk ... call me with your questions and I'll refer you to YouTube! We eat dinner watching YouTube segments about tiling, grouting, cutting baseboard and crown molding! We have learned so much from those little blurbs! Now I'm looking for someone who has done Venetian Plaster ... can't wait to tell Scott what my plans are. He usually just knows it's easier to join in than to fight me.

Anyway I tried to pull the color gray from the tile we used (used all over this house but with warm tans and browns). I could see a spa like bath in my mind. Calm, soothing gray ... needless to say the bathroom's been painted three times now. Primer, then a green gray, then a more silver gray. I think it's finally coming together, but I must admit for awhile I was pretty scared that I might have to paint it again!!!

So I'm off to THE BASEMENT. Time to prime last nights work on the window casings then off on my daily trip to Lowes to buy the missing baseboard that we need ... again!

Looking back ....

I was looking for pictures to print for our "near to be finished" basement bathroom and found this one of the sandrail that we went on while visiting the Oregon coast. It was a "white knuckle" ride, full of screaming, cussing and "oh my, we're goin' die". If you ever make it there it is a "must do"!

And NO WE DID NOT LET SCOTT DRIVE!!!! Even though he probably would have loved to. The driver jumped out to take our picture (before the excitement) and of course Scott slid right over! AND YES you do need protective EVERYTHING wear! Not sure we looked this good after the ride! The couple in the very back ... were very quite the whole time! We were screaming! Way worse than a roller coaster! $25 a person for an hour ride ... right up there with helicopter in Hawaii! We are SUCH ADVENTURERS!

THANKS JUDY AND ALAN for such a fun vacation! Where we goin' next???

A day in the snow ... December 31, 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One of the hardest things about having a black dog is that they take horrible pictures. So the other day when we were out for a dog-walk my amazing brain told me that black with a white background makes for a great contrast. So here is my photo shoot of Elena in the snow. Hard to believe that we could just have her for four more months ... of course this is about the time that the puppy gets easier and we've REALLY started to like her!

Elena, sweet Elena!

Apparently this is what happens when you leave a 10 month old puppy (who is in heat) alone it the kitchen for too long unsupervised! Elena is such a sweet girl, but I think the demon in her was showing it's ugly head this day! And this picture doesn't even show the rest of the kitchen that looks like snow all over! Elena, sweet Elena ... how we love you! I must admit you do have to laugh at something like this! And I was so sad today ... oh well ... life with puppy happens!

Cottonwood Ranch

My Mom and Dad (alias Grandma and Grandpa) were such good sports to go "4 wheeling". They are 86 and 85 years old but were willing to see what Cottonwood Ranch looks like in October. Needless to say, my Mom kept saying ... "Where's Lynn?" ... but when I got ready to take her picture ... he moved right in to it. Someday we hope this will be a family hang-out, but for now we're just having the gifted "water witcher" find a spot to drill a well. The crossed sticks in the top picture is the X that marks the spot! (Maybe we'll find "black gold" instead! Texas Tea!) OH, and ... it was opening day of deer hunting season ... but where are the neon orange vests? Home in the grandma's bathroom closet of course! That's where everybody keeps them!

Oregon Coast 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow