Small Things

It's funny how glad I am to just see little things done now. Like today, I painted the rest of the area inside the refrigerator cabinet, lol.

Notice in this picture it's only painted like 1/4 of the way.....yikes!

I sure can't leave it like that!!  I'll know it's back there hiding behind the fridge!

Ta-da!  Done!  Now my mind can at least be at ease about that  :)

Kade did some figuring in the 1/2 bath.  Hopefully my rigged up vanity will go in soon!

In just a few days Kade will go back to work, which I'm not going to lie....really STINKS!

Why can't we just win the lottery so he doesn't have to go to work??

Guess I'd better go buy a ticket or two!

Another Slow Day

We made it to the last row of flooring in the middle bedroom!  YEAH!!  We're saving all of the "partial rows" until the end so we can cut boards that may not be as good as others. 

We've still got the closet in here in the middle bedroom...that's going to be last right before cutting the edge pieces, lol.  I've noticed that we're saving a bunch of things till "the end", lol.

Kade got the spline cut for in front of the door but didn't get it glued in today...

there's always tomorrow right?

I think tomorrow we're going to do some work in the 1/2 bath...can't wait!

Still Flooring!

What is it about snow that makes everything look so calm and beautiful?  Every time that I see snow covered branches it's like automatic peacefulness (is that even a word??)  It was so pretty tonight.  We didn't get a ton of snow...but it was wet, sticky snow that just stayed right where it landed.  I had to sneak off with my phone and snap this shot real quick  :)  This was the view out of our laundry room window tonight.

Ok, ok...we did get some work done today too.  Back to the flooring.  We worked in the dining room, hallway and middle bedroom today.  We made some good progress I think.

Middle bedroom...it's getting so close now.

Notice how we had to move our "railing" again.  We're going to have to take it out totally pretty soon and that is going to be DANGEROUS!!  Everybody better be VERY careful when they walk in our front door!

Looks like only another day or so till it's finished.  It's going to get interesting though.  We're going to have to make sure the hallway flooring and the dining room flooring meet at the same distance in front of the front door...YIKES!  This will be a true test of how well we've done our job!

You'd think hallways would go SO FAST since it's just one or two pieces to make up the total width...but it takes just as long as everywhere else, lol.

Tomorrow we'll have to glue in another "spline" for in front of the stairs, then modify the board that will go in to that spot.  I sure don't know how anybody can get all of their hardwood flooring installed in a week!!  lol.  They must be magical :)

Merry Christmas! (and a fishing tree)

Back at the stair nose trim again today :)  I swear...one of these days this flooring is going to be done....it's NOT going to defeat us!  Kade is so meticulous in his work (and I am equally as bad) so it's no wonder that it has taken so long.  It's a learning experience that's for sure!

Look how "chipper" Kade looks working and wearing his new flannel lined shirt!

Now to change the subject....I have been working on a few "tree" things for my brother for part of his Christmas present.  I wanted something that would be super fitting for him....so what else...but a FISHING TREE!  We celebrated Christmas tonight with my family..even Grandma stayed up until after 11!  We really do have too much fun opening all of our goodies.

Here's the burlap tree skirt that I made.  I actually changed it a little more after this picture and put a seam on one side so he could easily put it around the trunk of the tree.

The "bobber" tree topper that I made out of a big plastic "outdoor" ornament.  Painted white several times and then red on the bottom.  The little red top is actually made out of blue painters tape.  I'm figuring one day I'll have to fix this, lol.

 

I made garland for the tree with twine and small bobbers...it took about 50 bobbers spaced approx. 6" do a 5' tree!  And the all of the "ornaments" are actually REAL fishing lures that belonged to our Grandfather.  How cool is that?  We used little clear tubing over the hooks (actually Dad did that part for us) so all of the lures are still perfectly intact.

I think there are probably about 70 fishing lures on this tree.

I LOVE the way it turned out....

Maybe I need a fishing tree now  :)

Here's Scott seeing it for the first time.  He had absolutely NO idea...

and I'm pretty sure he loves it.

One last closeup...maybe I'll try to get some better "night" shots after things slow down for us!

Moving Right Along

I know, I know!  We should not have been working on Christmas Day!!  HOWEVER...Christmas with my family is not going to be until my brother comes home...which is tomorrow....so we figured we might as well keep on working while we both had the time off!

So we worked on the stair nose trim around the stair opening again.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the way it looks?

I can't wait to see this room FINISHED!!

We did stop early today to have Christmas with our not really family family (does that make sense?) The Harmans.  We had lots of fun and all stayed up way too late  :)

Merry Christmas 2012!

Floor, Floor, More Floor

Around the stairs we go!  This is going to get interesting in a few days!!!  You know we have to meet up at the other end of the stair opening with the flooring that we put down that hallway!!  YIKES!

It just doesn't seem like we get anywhere very quickly, lol.

It's lookin' good around the stairs though!

That's the stair nose trim around the top.  LOVE IT.

This picture makes the floor look SUPER crooked, but I can assure you that it is not :)
Must have been the way I was standing and trying to get everything in the pic!

The Christmas Tree Tradition

My good friend Stacy and I have been planning this Christmas tree tradition for MONTHS now...and I mean...since July when it was 105 outside!!  We were already thinking old ornaments and Christmas Yes...we have a problem :)  A friend of ours, and Stacy's oldest son Mark's business partner and his wife had their first child earlier this year...so this will be her first Christmas.  We thought what a better way to celebrate than with her very own little Christmas tree full of old ornaments!  Stacy and I saved up these ornaments since the summer and put this cute little tree together for her.  I think it turned out great!!  Now Stacy and I both think we should have one too, lol.

Happy First Christmas Isabella!

O' Christmas Tree

Isn't it cute!  When we went to my parents tonight for dinner Mom had this little box that she gave me.  Said it was from some long time family friends for a house warming gift for Kade and I.  I opened it up, and this is what I found...

 

Now for the story behind it.  She had purchased this at the auction for my Great Uncle Orin's estate after he passed away...in 1986.  She thought that we would like it....and boy do we ever.  I can't believe it still works.  You can tell that the light bulb is even old!!  It's just perfect!  I am such a sentimental person, can you tell?

Thanks Kathy!

Christmas #1

Today's the day!  I've been frantically making candy the last few days.  Did I actually forget to take pictures of that??  I'll have to look into this further!  I guess I'll have to fill in with pics of my nieces & nephews.  They are all four such GREAT kids!  They have no idea how proud Kade and I are of them.

Our nephews.  Kaleb, the oldest on the left and Keith, third in command on the right.

Kaleb, Keith, Cordelia and Sarah :)

Notice the girls are BOTH hiding their faces. UGH!

Let your auntie take a picture!!!

Our nieces, Sarah on the left (the youngest) and Cordelia (second oldest) on the right.

LOVE THEM!!!

We had a great day.

Don't these kids know that they have to stop growing?
Nothing makes me feel as old as they do...

but I still love them.

Upper Cabinets - YEAH!

Wow...what a difference this makes!  Today the installer from the cabinet company came out to help Kade install the upper cabinets.  They got busy right at 8 a.m. and were done at about 1.  Not bad I don't think.  It's amazing what having some help can do!

Installing the cabinets around & above the stove.

I'm so glad that I didn't have to be over there helping, lol.

Lookin' pretty good.  That refrigerator end panel section is new to us.

I LOVE IT!!!

It's strange....I don't even like to cook (bake, yes, cook, no)...but I am actually getting anxious to use this kitchen!  Maybe that's what it was all this time.  I didn't like being separated from everything else.  It's like you're isolated in the kitchen.  YUCK!

Christmas #1 Prep

This weekend we will be celebrating our first Christmas of the season.  I always try to be creative and put TONS (entirely too much) thought into what we're going to do for everyone.  This year I decided that all of the ladies needed wreaths...LIVE wreaths.  With the exception of Kade's Grandma.  Since she's in assisted living I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate my fresh cut pine needles dropping on the floor in their carpeted hallway :)  So I took a few days and put these guys together.

This is the fake one.  I thought it turned out well.  I'm not a poinsettia person, but I think even I would hang this one :)

for Vance & Mindy

(way to hang it straight, Amber!)

this one is for Kort & Sandy

Aunt Kathy's

and this one for my mother-in-law.

I can't believe how yummy they were smelling.  I may have to do that again next year.

I snipped some holly, cedar, and a few other kinds of pine.  I think the cedar smelled the best.

Next year I will at least try to make myself one!!

Tricky, Tricky

I have GOT to figure out what we're going to be doing for a railing like NOW!!!  I just keep putting it off and then putting it off some more :)  So what I'm thinking is that we're going to use parts from two old iron baby cribs.  They would be the long side rails.  If we could just somehow frame them in to the railing....hmmm....going to have to really sit and think about it a bit.

These are the two styles that I have - not exactly the same, but I think they will be similar enough that nobody will know the difference unless I tell them.

I also finally picked the pull for the trash can cabinet.

Who knew that would be such a big decision, lol!

I love the way it looks.  Love the island in contrasting colors too.

The trim is finally done around the sink too.  I'm loving how it turned out.

Just kind of hugs the sink don't you think?

Love it....oh...but I see I forgot to stain the filler there in the corner.  UGH!

Back on the hardwood floor we're getting ready to do around the stair opening.

This requires us to use the stair nose trim - it will go kind of like a picture frame all the way around the stair opening.  It really gives the floor a finished look.

Wouldn't you know that we'd have to do a little custom work to get this to work properly.  :)

Notice it's only about 2" wide.  Our regular pieces are 4.75" wide.  Here we go...

This is the finished edge of one of the pieces of wood. (I'm going to have to match that)

Here's the stair nose trim.  Notice it also has a groove in it.

Since we had to cut the strip so much narrower, we had to pick to either cut the tongue or the groove off.  We opted for the tongue. So I sanded the "bevel" onto our little strip.  Kade used the biscuit cutter and put a groove in it, so now we just need to cut a new tongue and glue it in.  WHEW.  That's only a few days of waiting and work on this little piece, lol.

Surely it's going to work right?

Congratulations are in Order!

Woke up this morning to a very good surprise!  I heard a text message come in while I was walking down the stairs, so I just went straight to my phone.  Who would be texting me at 8:00 AM on a Sunday morning??

This is what I saw....and a message from Jeffie with a zillion smiley faces that says "another fun weddin!!!"  Awwwwe!  LOVE IT!

Congratulations Jeff & Sidney!

We're so happy for you!