As the Wall Tumbles

I left Paul at home when I went to volunteer at the school. When I got back, I got this surprise:

So, we decided to take it down and just sheetrock. We took the paneling down on the fireplace wall. No wonder we were cold! That light spot in the middle of this picture... that's the outside! All that was between us and out was beaver board! We'll insulate and put the paneling back up and paint.


We also found several wasp nests and webs and weeds.

But we do now have insulation. The weather is gorgeous outside today... 70* so perfect day to keep the doors open and haul stuff outside.

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Remodel surprise #1

I totally dislike this 'iron work' that is the hand railing for the stairs and this 'thing'. I have never liked it. It is also a flower box. When we moved in it was full of dirt and fake flowers. I took the flowers out, but never took the dirt out. I put cardboard over it and a table runner. Today, it came out. They cut out the carpet and one layer of wood flooring, so it looks like we are at sub
floor, but it's hard to tell. But it feels so much more open with that horrid thing gone.

Mom's Birthday Dinner

Saturday we celebrated my Mom's 60th Birthday with a dinner party at their church. There were about 28 people there. Paul and I "catered". We made roast pork loin, braised cabbage, mushroom rice pilaf, and garlic cheese rolls. We made it all there in the parsonage, and mmm did it smell gooood! Everyone told us they liked the food, and we fed everyone, and sent leftovers home with some, for less than $50. Sweet, eh? Paul and I had a great time doing the food. We are a pretty good team.

Happy Birthday, Mom, now and again on Tuesday, when you really turn 60. I love you!!

My (not so) Secret Obsession

Easter is over, but the sales aren't! I bought several bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs before Easter arrived, but now that they are 50% off, I've added to my wee stash.

Demo day 2

I worked on the wall to the left of the window on Monday afternoon after Paul went to work. On Tuesday afternoon my parents came over and we did the rest together. I am working on a time capsule to put in the wall for when someone in the future redoes the walls.

Notice the different wood on the right, by the door? That area to where I'm standing to take the picture used to be a porch. They closed it in to make a bigger living room. Still no insulation.

Demo Day One

We started the demolition today. Lots of lovely stuff back there. Like black mold. How we stayed healthy, I'm not so sure. One layer was newspaper dated 1926. There was wallpaper and beaverboard. Then plaster on top. We did pull one 1x10 off so we can put insulation behind it. I think we will take down the boards on the rest of that wall so we can insulate. Most of the wall is very soft.

Paul got called in to work as we were covered in dust. So we cleaned up and work will continue with him in a week or two. My parents will still come over Tuesday and help with some of it. Paul did hurt his left hand at work on Friday with a big splinter under his skin in his palm. The doc couldn't get it out and gave him abx to keep infection away. He had a follow up appt today but I haven't heard anything yet.

Here are some paint choices we brought home. We are leaning towards the 3 bottom ones.

Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza

Although it was a lovely 43 degrees out, we had our own egg hunt.

Choosing colors isn't easy!

Check out my totally wicked photo shop abilities!

So it begins...

...Our Spring Break Remodel

Paul is taking next week off and my Volunteer-Hard-Work-Spirit Parents are coming to help.

Beginning:

We aren't sure what we are doing 100% just yet. Will we just patch and texture the walls and then paint? Will we sheetrock and then texture and paint?

We think we'll paint an ecru/vanilla on the 3 walls and paint the fireplace wall a deep cranberry or green, to match the furniture.

I also need decorating ideas. I think I'll get 6 flower pictures, paint them in PrintShop and get them printed and group them above the couch.

We do have lovely water damage from the window leaking. Also debating if we take down the paneling and rock that.

So I Say It's My Birthday

In 35 minutes I will be 35. How weird is that? To celebrate, I will:

1) Go volunteer at Karen's school, because it's Thursday

2) Eat chocolate, but that's not really any different than yesterday

3) Not change any diapers (cuz he's potty trained!)((and had 3 successful poop-in-the-toilet-days!))

4) Watch Survivor (because it's Thursday) and the Apprentice

5) Talk to Paul on the phone (because he's in L.A.)

6) Have a church meeting with the pastor's wife and a friend (because we have a TV for the video) ((this is not typical fun-for-your-birthday fare))

7) Listen to my mom sing, cuz she calls every year and does :oD

Pictures I have recently taken this week:

EDITED @ 10:58am

So plans changed today. Just as I was getting ready to go to school, the school called and said Karen had a 101* temperature. So I picked her up and we came home. I colored my hair instead. woooo. But, I did get 2 bouquets of flowers from Paul and my parents. I am still eating chocolate.

Photo Learning Time

I finally uploaded Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and used it for the first time yesterday. Here's what I did.

Read this post after the next post you read first.

I'm back from Rite Aid.

I got: milk
jerky for C
Febreze noticable warmer
Chex mix
Venus razor
2 cans dog food
and Old Spice body wash for P.

I spent $3.08.

sigh I love coupons.

March Update

Nothing really exciting going on, but wanted to update for the few wondeful people who check this thing.

-- I'm 90% done being 34. I'll have my birthday in 9 days. Paul will be gone to L.A. again, but I'm sure he'll make it up to me!

-- Curtis is 90% potty trained. Potties are no troubles, but poops, that's a whole other story! This morning he announced he needed to "poopoo toilet". So I set him up there. He pees and says he's done. "No, you said poopoo." So he sits and pushes, and toots. "All done!" "No, you said poopoo. I think there's still poop in your tummy." He sits some more, pushes some more... and poops in the toilet! So he flushes (a treat I tell ya) and we do the Happy Poopoo Dance. I call Paul to tell him the good news. I walk back into the bathroom... and he's pooped on the floor and on my bathrobe (we were getting ready for a shower). I told Paul never mind and got to cleaning up the mess. But we're getting closer!!

-- The weather is 90% better. The kids have been able to play outside and Paul has his seeds started. Last night did get windy, but not as bad as in January. It was noisy enough it made Karen nervous.

-- Gas is 90% too high. It's up to $3.30. I now plan my trips 'to town' to try and save money. I have to have at least 3 things to do to make it worth the gas. I sent Paul with my coupons and a list for Albertson's since it's a 15 mile trip and he works just blocks from the store. He is also buying black ink. Since we're:

-- 10% out of ink. My black ran out last night. We printed all 6 credit reports and it uses a lot of paper, therefore a lot of ink, even on econo-fast mode. We have very good credit! $3,000 left on the van and $41,000 on the house! woot! So, Paul will take our empties in to trade in on new ink cartridges.

-- Milk is 10% off today. You know how I love to save money. Today at Rite Aid, everything not on sale is 10% off. I try to buy my milk on Tuesdays since it's $2.51 today. I also have a rebate check coming that is $45.49 and one here already to spend that is $8.50. Chex Mix is $.88 today and I have a .50 coupon. Score!! mmmm.

-- I am 100% better. Last week I caught whatever minor bug Curtis had and amplified it 90%. I spent most of Tuesday on the couch with the flu ache. (No pukies, thank the Lord!) Then it turned into a chest cold. I woke up every night coughing (sorry Paul) and last night was the first night I didn't.

-- I love Paul 100%! I am so grateful for him. **smooch**

Chili Cookoff, 2008

This Sunday was our church's Annual Chili Cookoff. I entered again... did not place--again. Paul was in L.A., so he didn't get to enter. Karen entered for the first time... Third place!

Here she is finding out:

And two other goofy pictures of the kids: