To Do This Week

#1- Finish touch ups


#2 Clean out this dusty closet and decide on a fun color for the background of the closet to the right. I lean towards a happy green, Mat's towards a rich orange. I'll grab samples tomorrow seeing how I am beat right now.



#3 Finish the tongue and groove on the ceiling



#4 Finish Barn Door



#5 Clean the dust and collections out of the kid's rooms-this was just what Micah had stashed under her bed!



#6 And try not to die while I finish up Spirit Week at the elementary





#7 and reports--




#8 and #9 find a new wood floor guys since he can't do it for another 3wks and call the cabinet guy to tell him I CAN'T WAIT FOR FOUR WEEKS TO GET MY CUPBOARDS IN (when he's had 15 wks to make them)

Painting

I'm the first to admit that I am not the best painter.  I tell you--I'm not a detailed person, so sewing, painting, anything requiring accuracy is out the window. It's not that I don't want to be, I am physically and mentally challenged.  I become so frustrated telling myself to take my time, relax, you can do this and then I end up walking into a wet wall or my paintbrush slips and swipes the ceiling.




The girls sure wanted to help though and I figured their painting couldn't be any worse than mine (maybe even better).



And as if my low painting skills weren't enough, when I went to peel off the tape---a nightmare happened.  Now I'm touching up walls and ceilings for the next few days.  Pandora is really helping me through this hard time.



I don't like painting.

What I learned this week

Running a marathon hurts, but a frozen creek makes you go so numb, you don't feel a thing.



You can also use the cruise control driving through the city if your legs arent working right to push the gas.



We also have awesome grandparents who were willing to take the kids while we ran! Thank you Bob and Andrea.



We also learned that Jack Bauer and Mat are only 10yrs apart to the day! Mat is now applying for CTU training with national security.



Chess week at the elementary has been so studious and fun.  You just look cool when you play chess, no doubt about it! I learned that Gretchen does not like to get beat--she refuses to play her own grandpa.  I called her chickenpants for doing so.



I decided I'd like a square fireplace where my garden boxes used to be and Lehi Block was cheaper than the Depot on their pavers.



And,  as we start painting the indoors, we're going to need a lot more primer for this job! If I go to Home Depot twice in one day, it's a good day (it usually is about 2-3 times a day).

What I do in the meantime....

While I literally wait for the mud to dry (drywall mud), I venture outside to see what I can stir up.  I decided it would be advantageous to move my garden boxes down by my patio.

Reason #1 I can look out my kitchen window and see what produce I have to use
Reason #2 More sunshine to grow that said produce
Reason #3 I now want to put in a fire pit where my garden boxes used to be

Crazy to start yet another project, but we've had beautiful weather and I HAD a great book to listen to, called the Kitchen House. It's nice to disappear and escape into someone elses world.  I pop in my headphones and dig away in my brainless motions.  Needless to say, I now need another book--the yardwork just isn't as fun.



I've also been learning a thing or two about sprinklers thanks to my right hand man/contractor Jeff. He's been teaching me the ropes.

I figured out that this would be a cracked sprinkler head and that is why it is watering everything, BUT my plants.



This is what I call the flood of '14.  Broken pipe somewhere and I have yet to find it.



Jeff asked me not to touch this one and that he would do it. Obviously, my skills are very novice.



Oh yeah, the mom stuff. These kids have been troopers. With a little ice cream at 9PM it will get us through one more Home Depot trip.  Gretchen is a tad teary eyed because she was sword fighting with Becket using 10ft PVC pipe---until Becket THWAPPED her on the head.  She always turns into a barking chihuahua when she gets hurt and Becket always tries to soothe her by telling her to get over it using his lecturing tactics.  It takes about ten minutes to calm everyone down in aisle 11, but we eventually move to the front of the store to check out.



I've also managed to make it to a few of the end of the year programs.  I wouldn't say I'm showered or put together in anyway, but I'm there.  My camera skills are like my sprinkler skills--not so good. Micah is in the back--the blurry one.

Barn Dance-walls going up

Sheetrockers have arrived and they are the most hard working duo. They have given me walls, which I have to admit, these walls seemed like a stranger in the home when I became so accustomed to 2X4s and insulation.



The sleek half wall is coming together nicely and I like the interesting look.



This is our homework station hub.  There will be a stainless steel desk where Gretchen is standing.  It will be inspiring to look out at the mountains while I write my poetry, I mean my to do lists.  In the cubby down to the left is where all of our internet modems/cables will go.  I'm hoping our cell booster still works, so far it's been pretty spotty.  Technology is so bipolar.   You put it in the center of the house as recommended and it hot and then cold, hot and then cold.





Here's our cleaning closet.  This was taken from the laundry room hallway.  I'm hoping to store my jetpack vacuum in this handy closet. My cabinet guy and contractor thought this closet was way too deep, but if I've got the space, I'm going to use it, said the woman.  I can store crockpots, ice cream makers, children, and extra appliances in there.  The space will be used.



This week, work on tongue and groove for front room, get a measurement on windows and wait 3wks for them to come in, and maybe, just maybe, I can paint the ceilings. Oh yeah, and about that marathon I was supposed to be training for Saturday, I'll give it my best shot.  How's that? (bad timing for a marathon)

Front Door

Our front door was delivered today! A beautiful walnut boy, standing at 8ft tall.




7:13 AM my front entry windows were torn out from their seams. The shattering of the last of our 1 pane glass was ear piercing, but exciting.



I've always had an open door policy.



Here's the new framing going in-tricky ladder trick don't you think?




And now our open door policy has been refuted to a closed-no-way-to-get in policy.

I had to laugh because when the cousins stopped by Sunday they remembered us not having any stairs to the upstairs (now fixed), and now we don't have a front door.  These young kids must think their aunt's house is sure strange.

Other News

Becket has been quite funny lately.  I came across these posters.







I also found him practicing his piano with his pet boa wrapped around him



Nonetheless, he has been as sweet as ever with Mother's Day coming up.

He made me this chair



And placed this note on it



Then this crazy girl!



She writes me this sweet note at the Mother's Day picnic at school. I love the "I really wanted to see what the earth would be like."



I will keep it forever!

Gretchen also left me a cute note by my bedside.



And, she also wrote a letter of apology to her siblings after she freaked out at them after she didn't get the first choice for jobs.  She's reigning in her anger, slowly.



Mat has gotten some fun time.  I worry about him always working and I'm glad he took time to go and do something enjoyable.  This is the Buckskin Gulch down by Kanab.  Beautiful huh.





And look at this cute wall hanging Dannielle made for our new home. School of Rock! Thanks so much Dannielle. I will have to find a great place to hang it, probably under some spotlight.

The Front Room, or as we call it, the Mod

The Mod is coming along.  Our brown beams floating above were changed to white after realizing that striping them was going to be super labor intensive and putting glue lam over them was not going to look right.



You feel like a bird perched way up high on the scaffolding. That, or a tightrope walker.



We are also getting ready to cover the fireplace with burned wood called:

Shou-Sugi-Ban--

Type it in on Houzz if you're wanting to see pictures right away.  It will be a while before we get ours up.

I did need to stretch a quart of black paint over the wood face to account for the places that the wood did not cover.

You can kind of see some paint on the side of the brick.  We're toying with the idea to paint the brick.  It just leads into so much more that I am downing it, but I may have to compromise.