Us being Us...

Just some random pictures of what we've been up to...

 Our musical son... making music for his father's ears.

Our college son...

how many computers does a kid need???

Our youngest son... well, it's kinda hard to explain.

Tom's hard at work on his hobby...

ripping out door trims.

This is what happens when you decide to remodel two major rooms in the house.  It all ends up in your bedroom!  What a mess!  A good time for some serious spring cleaning... I loaded up two huge garbage bags for the landfill - and a big bag of stuff for the Grandma Shop!  I still have quite a lot to go through.  Our bed ended up squished in the far corner (it's hard to tell, I know).  That was so we could fit the piano and the huge desk in there.  All the books and everything from my 'craft' closet are in there, too.

I tried to take the quick ride down to the basement the other night.  We were walking around the living room talking about what we were going to do.  Tom forgot to put the vent cover back on the furnace vent, and I fell through - all the way up to above my knee.  I think I was in shock at first, then I realized that it really hurt!  Thank goodness I didn't break anything, just got a few scrapes and bruises.  The bad part was that once my leg was down that hole, I couldn't get myself back out.  Tom had to come to my rescue!  It was like "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"  It's the pits getting old! 

If it's worth doing...

... it's worth doing right!

I have been pretty busy this week, between work and this 'remodel' - so blogging hasn't been first on the list.  I'm sure everyone is anxious (really?) about how we're coming along.  It's pretty anti-climactic (sp)... (I'm too lazy to look it up right now).  The living room pretty much looks the same, except Tom took all the trim off the doors.  He decided it would be easier to refinish them that way.  He also took the plywood off the 'secret' door (YAY!)  And there was no secret stash of money found there (Darn!)  But we have plans for that 'secret' door.  I will reveal it all in good time.

The only other thing that changed was that Tom decided since he was refinishing the wood floor in the living room, he might as well do the den, too.  So EVERYTHING came out of the den and ended up in our bedroom. (BAH!)  We are scrunched like sardines in our room now.  And the living room and den are the cleanest rooms in the house - because there's nothing in them!  We're hoping to get a good jump on the floors next weekend.  Then we can do all the other things we have planned for the living room.

We have taken a little break to have a nice visit with Dan and Kelsay.  They stayed the weekend with us, and we've really enjoyed having them here.  Tomorrow is back to work, work, work.  But after that is SPRING BREAK!  I cannot wait... Keaton and Winston are pretty excited too.  Oh yeah, in other news, we lost one of our chickens this week.  Don't know for sure what got it.  We heard them making a lot of noise but when we looked out we didn't see anything.  There were no feathers laying around as a tell-tale sign of what happened.  We're guessing a big bird (like a hawk, owl or eagle) got hold of it and took off with it.  So we're down one less egg in the mornings.  Winston was very glad his Henny wasn't the one missing.  That's about it for us... for now.

Dust, Dust Everywhere (cough-cough)!

The remodeling is going quite slowly.  Tom has added another skill to his home improvement repertoire - wood floor stripping.  Hopefully the refinishing will go well, and a lot easier than the paint/stain/gunk removal.  But to start off, here's another lovely picture of myself (pulling staples out of the floor in my pajamas)...

While I was pulling out about a thousand staples, Tom was stripping the paint off of the door trim with the heat gun.  Both jobs took a loooong time.  Tom was only able to get one door done before he decided to work on something else.  Oh, and he's wearing pajamas too - even though you can't tell.  That's how we roll around here.

Slow and stead - and extremely boring work.

Here is the unloved hard wood floor.  It is soon to become Tom's masterpiece.  It really needed a lot of work.  We figured it out and this wood floor is about 113 years old.  That's a lot of wear and tear.  It's also about an inch-and-a-half thick!  They don't make flooring like that anymore!

Tom, running the drum sander.  They warned us when we picked it up at the rental place that this machine was pretty powerful - to be careful because it would sand the wood right down to a stick.  Tom told them that it's just what we were looking for.  It had to be able to do a tough job.  It worked pretty slick, too!  While Tom ran the sander, Winston and I took turns running the shop vac.  Even with the vacuming, hanging plastic and closing doors, we had dust EVERYWHERE!  We also looked like real dust bunnies ourselves.  It's definitely a dirty job!

And the hard work pays off!  Tom had to do a little finishing here and there with the belt sander.  He also wasn't able to get all of the "gunk" out of the corners because the heat gun died.  He's having it looked at by the resident genius from work.  Then he can finish the job.  But even just the sanded floor looks awesome!  Can't wait to add a little stain and poly to it.  Next weekend we hope to start the sheet rock work.  I also have to paint the ceiling.  There's enough here to keep us busy for a good month at least!

Guess What We're Doing Again!

We're relieving Tom's Winter boredome!!!

So... we had been discussing that since the price of gas went up we should stay home for Spring Break and do some work on the house.  Then we talked about re-doing the stairs and upper hall (which are badly in need of some TLC).  It just kind of progressed into the living room and what needed to be done there.  So we got up from the dinner table and got to work!  We are not afraid... what comes apart can be put together again - with lots of elbow grease and a little mulah.  And it's always a challenge fixing up a hundred-plus year old home - we're always up for a challenge!

Of course Winston was VERY excited to be involved.  He got to help take down the coverplates on the switches and outlets.  He really wanted to take the crowbar to the walls - but his Dad made him take it one thing at a time.  Boys love destruction.

The mantle is down.  Take one last look at this 'lovely' but dated look.  And that awful paneling is going the way of the dump.  I've had enough of trying to make it look good.  Cosmetics only go so far.

Okay, it's about this time that I'm thinking... "What did we do???"  Underneath the old paneling was even older lath & plaster that had been painted the ugliest green these eyes have ever seen.  This picture does not tell the true tale.  That green is very bright and blaring.  Here it just looks pale.  We also rolled up the carpet with the intention of possibly putting it back in.  But once it was rolled and we saw the real condition of it - yuk!  I spared you the sight of it.  That carpet will not be coming back.  We are thinking about finishing the hardwood floor - although that WILL take a lot of work.  It's been unloved for a long time.

We came across a large 'secret' door in the kitchen wall.  We think it was either the original front door - and the kitchen was built later than the rest of the house... or it's just an alternate door to the kitchen.  Not sure which.  I would love to pull that piece of plywood off and see if there's anything 'interesting' behind it, but my husband says no.  He doesn't want the extra aggravation of trying to patch it up again. 

We did locate the teenagers (who were mysteriously being scarce) and put them to work.  Yes... they can work.  Don't they look like they're having a great time?

I will keep you updated on our progress.  Today Tom is stripping paint off of all the wood trim with a heat gun.  (Messy job, that).  I have been pulling staples out of the wood floor.  There's a LOT of them!  It's pretty much going to take me the whole day.  

We've started our Spring Break project -

and it's not even Spring Break yet! 

Kiss Me ~ I'm Irish!

Well... maybe some diluted part of me is, anyway.

Usually for St. Patrick's Day we wear green and I make the traditional dinner.  That's about all we do.  But it's a dinner we all enjoy and look forward to.  Corned Beef, Colcannon, Cabbage... and of course the green Jello.  Yummm!  The boys had 7-Up and Tom and I had water to drink.  For anyone who might not know what Colcannon is, it's potatos, sausage and cabbage fried together.  Tom's on a heart-healthy diet, so he and I skipped the Colcannon this year.

Getting ready for the Corned Beef and Cabbage!

And I made this lovely little cake.  It's really quite tiny - but just enough for all of us to have a taste.

Yep!  It's "Rainbow" cake!

(It was an experiment that actually turned out great!)

THAT'S what I'M talkin' about!

Sunshine and blue skies - YESSSSS!!!

Don't know how long it will last - it's supposed to be raining now.  We'll take what we can get!

Jellybean - the fat cat, sunbathing

Sunday Gems

John 15:13  "Greater Love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Jesus loved us so much he laid down his life so that we could have a place with God.  In return, we give our life to him.  To give our life is to let go of self.  When we do that, the love of God can increase within us and we can truly be fruitful before God: verse 8, "Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."

I really enjoyed Tom's thoughts this morning about keys.  He talked about how, especially at work, every building has a set of keys that open individual doors.  And most buildings have a master key that opens all doors.  Spiritually, Jesus is the Master Key.  He makes it possible for us to open doors that we, with our own nature, could not do on our own.  When you open the door of Love, you close the door on hate.  When you open the door of Faith, you close the door on doubt.  Those are doors that we difinitely need the Master Key for, and thankful that Jesus is willing to be the Master Key for us when we seek him.

Keaton spoke on Moses, always turning to God.  Moses was able to do things that were impossible for him to do because he was continually turning to God - and God delivered him.  We may feel like we can handle things on our own, some things we can... but it's so much better when we turn to God and allow him to be involved.

Preston spoke on having the peace of God dwelling in our hearts.  Showing God we are thankful helps us to have that peace of God.

I hate my treadmill...

I really hate my treadmill.  When I'm not using it, it sits in the corner and mocks me.  When I am using it, it tries to kill me.  I'm trying to come to terms with some ugly truths... and make amends for years of neglect.  Thank goodness I'm not alone in this.  Tom is struggling with the same things, and we are a team.  Middle age... bah!  BUT... my mp3 player has become my new best friend.  It gets me through the torture.  I love you MP3 player!!!

Child-Half-Teenager!

Winston informed us today that he's growing up... and he's a Child-Half-Teenager.  He put his hands on each side of his head and proceeded to tell us that the left half of his body is still a child.  The right side of his body is a "Half-Teenager".  I think that explains a lot!

We're BA*ACK...

We got home at about 7:00 tonight.  Had some rough snowy road just by Mom and Dad's house.  The rest of the way was clear.  We had a lovely visit with lots of my family.  Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for putting us up - and putting up with us!  Got to see Grandma Chick and Grandma and Grandpa Larson.  Also enjoyed seeing Tracy and Shelli along with Macy and Luke.  Had a hilarious time visiting with Josh and Katie - I haven't laughed that hard in a long time (Thanks Katie!).  Also enjoyed getting lots of visiting in with Kendall and girls.  Wish we could have spent more time with Jeremy, but we're glad for the time we got to see him.  Also got to talk to Melyni for a short time... and Erik & Jill too... over the phone.  Anyways, we're back home again!  Glad we got to go!

Clearing the Air...

Tom's car this morning...

Last night there was not one speck of snow on it.

This was at 7:00 this morning.  I took the truck to work.

Here's the kicker.  I've been planning for a month to go see my parents.  Things were looking really great about getting down to see them.  Then Old Man Winter decided to throw a curve ball.  I NEED to see my family.  I have been doing everything possible to make it happen.  Tom has been great about helping me make it happen, including buying studded tires for my car.  But even those will only go so far.  So... I will see what Old Man Winter has planned, and hopefully I can find a window of opportunity.

That has been my frustration.  I feel like I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping my chin up and staying positive (as best I can).

That being my frame of mind, there is something that has been digging into that positive attitude.  I don't usually write about these things, and I will probably wish I hadn't as soon as I submit it.  Here goes...

I do and say some really stupid things.  Sometimes those things offend people - it seems it's unavoidable.  I want to make it very clear to all who know me, I genuinely have a care and love for each and everyone I know.  Even those who may find it hard to love me back.  It pains me deeply to find that something I've said or done has hurt someone else.  Please know that I can't think of a time that there was ever that intention in my heart.  If at any time I have done so to you I appologize, please forgive me.  All I can say further is that I will try to learn from my mistakes.

My Little Ray of Sunshine

(who, by example, teaches me to love unconditionally every day)