Home Improvements - Again.

It seems with this old house that the home improvements never end. Yesterday I finally finished painting my kitchen. I got rid of all the old cow wallpaper and changed colors. I went to pick out a wall color, using a piece of our oak cabinets to match it to. I wanted a warm tan color. I found one that looked really nice in the store and bought it. When I put it on the walls at home, at first - next to the old white - it looked like, well, not what I expected. It has a definite 'gold' cast to it. But I paid a lot for it and Tom said I should paint at least a corner to see if I still didn't like it. So I did. And I let it sit for a couple of days. Then I kind of started to like it, so I kept painting. Then we put up white wainscoating over the lower half of our walls. Together, the wainscoating and the paint look terrific together. Now I really love it. I think it was the color that was meant to be for my kitchen - for now...

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During our kitchen re-do, I asked Tom to move a couple of outlets that were under the kitchen window. I thought maybe we would like to put in a larger window someday, and it would be nice to have those out of the way, just in case. So he went to move them, broke into the wall and found two older outlets with the old-old-old wiring in them. One of them was still hot! So he decided to junction it off to fix the problem. Somewhere in the process of all this, it caused the boys' bathroom, all the way upstairs, to lose power. Uuuughhh! Thus began phase 2 of our home improvement saga!

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So yesterday, as Tom was tracing out the power problem, he broke into a wall in the upstairs bathroom. The good news is that he was able to restore the power by re-routing some things. The not so good news is that since he had a hole in the wall, we decided to go ahead and begin the tear-out phase to remodel that bathroom. Winston really loved that! We have been talking about doing it for a long time, so here was our opportunity! Out went the bathtub and old shower enclosure. In came a new window. The plan is to tile in a walk-in shower. We already have the tile left over from our other bathroom remodel, so we just have to get the other parts to make it work. I think we will have plenty to do for the next few weeks - or months.

Busy, Busy, Busy - and Moore Busy

We've been back from vacation over two weeks and it feels like forever. Spring is always such a busy time of year for us. Not only do we have LOTS of yard work to do, but the kids all seem to have more activities. The boys have had three track meets. Preston placed 2nd in triple jump at the home meet the other day. He has beat his personal record to jump 38 feet, 5 inches. Keaton placed 4th in the pole vault, jumping 8-1/2 feet. He jumped 9 feet during practice one day. They have been practicing very hard every day after school, sometimes putting in a little more time than necessary because the coaches have been willing to work with them a little longer. It's really neat to see their dedication to the sport.

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Keaton started driver's ed in March. He has qualified to get his driver's permit. I need to get him in to get it so he can finish. We also need to get Preston in to take his driving test, then he will have a real driver's license - and he can drive his brother to Jazz Band first thing in the mornings, and I can relax for an extra half-hour before work.

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Speaking of Jazz Band, we went to the spring concert and Keaton played his trombone with the Jazz Band in it. They played some Count Bassie (sp) "Shiny Stockings" and some other Jazzy songs. They were amazing. They recently competed in a CBC Band competition and placed 3rd. They also placed a +1 in a mass band competition which is an extremely good score. They really sounded professional. There was one point where all of the trombones stood up and played a solo part. It was great!

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Winston has been busy building again. Lately he's been moving furniture - disassembling his bunk bed (much to my surprise when I went to tuck him into bed one night). The living room has been re-arranged several times. He has also been installing lights and switches all over the house. He draws them out on paper and cuts them out, then tapes them to the walls where he thinks we need new lights, or new light switches. We have "New" lights all over the house, in practically every room. I have been very surprised to see some of these 'paper' lights in some very high places. He certainly keeps life entertaining.

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As for Tom and I, besides work - both of us getting extra time in at both of our jobs lately - we've also been redecorating the kitchen. I decided the old peeling wallpaper had to go, so I removed it (cows and all) and repainted the walls with a tannish-gold color. Then we put up wainscoating and painted it white. It looks very nice - a lot less cluttered - and should be easier to maintain. When the fingerprints get too deep, we can just paint over them! It's taken us a couple of weeks to get most of it done, and we are very tired, but satisfied with the results. There is never an end to the work that needs to be done to these old farm houses - it's a good thing we both enjoy this kind of a hobby.

we love the ocean!

Having a great time, seeing the waves, dodging the rain - but enjoying great company!