Something Old, Something New...

But not in that order!

Doug did get our fan up this last weekend. This is his idea of getting an area ready for work:

Like the insulation on the bed? Oooh, comfy! Not.

Putting up the fan was not fun. The junction box that was holding up our light was not appropriate for a fan, so Doug needed to change it out. Which means an attic trip.

Sexy legs...hey, I need to say something nice when he's doing all the work!

Yuck. Even better, the joists are pretty far apart, which means he had to build a bridge between them to hold the new junction box. You can buy those things, but they assume that the joists are not very far apart. And every time Doug moved around in the attic, more insulation floated down...onto our bed.

But eventually, we had our new fan (that's the something new).

He also tackled that wall that was almost finished (for about a year). Keep in mind, I am not throwing stones from my glass house here - I have those two chairs that are still awaiting me to finish the upholstery. Going on two years now. Go, Beckie.

Anyway, he finished up the wall (something old). Woot!

A new project and an old project. Perhaps I should take a lesson here. We'll see.

What's Bloomin': More Wildflowers

Yes, things did actually bloom around here while I was gone traipsing across the western country. Mostly this is still those seeds that I scattered randomly at the beginning of summer...it's kind of a kick to see what pops up each week...I may have to do that again next year!

Cute little yellow things - no idea what they're called

A boring marigold - but it is colorful!

A painted daisy, which I think is perennial (it comes back next year!)

And then there are some flowers that have really taken off. Like the black-eyed Susans:

Doug is a little disgusted that the ornamentals are doing well, while his garden is producing pretty much only zucchini. You know what I say: Try. A. Smaller. Garden. He might even be starting to listen!

Home Depot, Here We Come!

'Tain't nothing like a vacation to make you feel like you can conquer the entire world. And when I say that, I mean The. Entire. World.

Doug and I went shopping tonight. First, for a fan for our room. While we were on vacation, I set the thermostat at 85 degrees. Not bad, right? Except that it reset itself to 68 degrees. Not sure why. It ran the entire time, and completely froze itself. So we're dying of heat without a functional air conditioner, and Doug decides the time is now to install a bedroom fan. We have been discussing it for awhile, but now it is happening.

And that's not all. Oh, no. We also picked up a few more boards of knotty pine to finish up the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Remember that project? Yes, still unfinished.

Then there is the fence. Doug brought the subject up again, on our way home. He wants to have a living fence (score one for me!) and so he is going to install a chain link fence with cedar slats. Then we are going to cover it with vines and virginia creeper.

So, we need garden soil so I can propagate the creeper on our back fence. Oh, I love living fences. It may not look like much for the next year or two, but give me time - it will be fantastic.

Oh, and Doug also got a new gardening hat.

Well, I suppose I should get back to Project Central and get some work done (while we studiously ignore the projects we haven't finished yet).

Road Trip: Hales Family Reunion and Yellowstone!

You would think a trip to Jersey and back would be enough for us this summer, but oh, would you be wrong. It was certainly enough for Collin (who spent one morning of this trip with his hands against the car window crying: "I don't want to go! I don't want to go!").

The rest of us, though, happily (mostly) packed our bags and the car and hopped right back into trip mode. We started off going to Wyoming, to my sister-in-law's "cabin". It's really a homestead, with a farm and everything. I know, I know, I already told you this! But now I have pictures.

Jack in a rare moment of calm.

The canal

Everyone floating down the canal

I pretty well explained the goings-on in my last post, so I'll move on. The only major bummer with the reunion was the camping out. I love going to sleep under the starts. However, I dislike getting woken up multiple times in a night by a two-year-old who is unaccustomed to such sleeping arrangements. Argh.

So we packed up again and headed north, to a cabin in Idaho. Our friends own the cabin and graciously offered to let us use it. They insisted it was not a Taj Mahal, and gave us very little else to go on...I was hoping for a roof and a toilet.

The cabin

We were surprised (and not a little thrilled) to find not only a working toilet, but a shower, a dishwasher, a clothes washer and dryer, and seven comfortable beds. Heaven! There was even a television for Doug.

And there we stayed happily, and spent every day driving to Yellowstone - about 45 minutes away. We decided that Yellowstone is basically all about the water and the animals. There are thermal features (geysers, hot springs, mud pots and fumaroles - our new word for the trip) and waterfalls aplenty.

Sorry this is such a low resolution - I should never let the kids play with my phone!

Collin decided the sulphur smell was a bit much,
and brought his handkerchief after the first day

The girls in front of a hot spring

The animals were plentiful, also - bison, elk, pelicans, a hawk, and even a black bear and a rabbit.

Those dark spots are all bison

After three days of driving around the park - that sucker is huge! - we decided to call it a vacation. Five hours of driving later, we pulled into our own driveway. Ah, home.

What's Bloomin'

Once again, I have no idea what is in bloom at my house.

This is because, once again, we are on the road. We spent the weekend at the Hales' Family Reunion (the 10th one, wahoo!). It was held in a little town in Wyoming. Their property had a granary, a tack and feed shed, a hay barn, and newly cut fields. Also plenty of land for us to pitch a tent, which is where we slept.

The reunion was great: good food planned by my sister-in-law, who trained to be a chef, tons of kids for my kids to play with, canals to float down, motorbikes to ride, lots of catching-up to do among the adults. We even went to a town party where candy was thrown from an airplane - seriously - for all the kids to catch.

Collin caught at least 2 pounds of candy.

Now, we are in Yellowstone playing with our kids. I am updating the blog from my Kindle, which has some serious limitations as far as pictures...I will have to share those later this week.

But my flowers are on their own. Again. Hope you're having fun watching flowers or travelling or whatever is keeping you busy this summer!

Hangin' It Up

Many moons ago, I bought lots of items for hanging on our walls. Mirrors. Hooks. Canopies for the girls' beds. Curtains. Not pictures, since I have so many of those that haven't made it up yet anyway.

And these items have sat around...waiting for, well, hanging. So it was my intention to actually "get on that" this week. What has been stopping me, you ask? Other than the kids?

Drywall anchors. Not my favorite thing. Honestly, I like to just hammer something in and walk away. Lazy, that's me. But these things require anchors. Don't really want to see a mirror crashing on Sophia's head. Or mine, to be honest. So I walked all the way out to Doug's shop and found some anchors. Whew!

With said anchors, I could hang the canopy in Malena's room. She has been after me and Doug for a loooong time to get this done. What bugs me about this: she calls it a can-OH-py. I told her once she could say it correctly, I could put it up. And here is the CAN-o-py:

I also needed anchors for the two mirrors that I bought for both my and Bonnie's rooms. This is what I looked at for several months:

And now:

Bonnie's is pretty much the same, so I won't bore you with pictures of her mirror.  Then I hung hooks in Malena's and Collin's rooms:

And finally, I got around to curtains for the girls' rooms. Malena's:

And Bonnie's:

The problem with both sets is that they let in too much light. I need another curtain rod for both rooms to hang liners. Since they are sheers, I think they'd look strange with blackout lining tacked onto the panels themselves.

And am I done with hanging? Of course not. There's still Bonnie's white board and her canopy...and Jack's mirrors...maybe I won't think about it and they'll get hung by themselves. Yes, that's what I'll do...

Things That Make You Go...Hmmm.

Yup, digging into the song titles now.

The kids decided it was time to move rooms again. I know, why do I agree to this?!? Actually, I've been wanting to start deep cleaning (a Summer Sweep, if you will), and this worked into my plans. Doug is also tired of the girls sharing a room...and the only way Malena would agree to her own room is if it were upstairs. She is convinced the downstairs is overrun with bugs.

It's not. But an occasional spider is a certainty if you leave candy wrappers under your bed. Just sayin'.

So Collin went downstairs. Malena upstairs. Jack into Collin's beautiful yellow room. And Bonnie now has her own room back.

But, oh, the fun things we found when cleaning (hence the title of this post)! For instance, popcorn kernels in the top of Collin's closet. Apparently, he likes to hide up there...and take snacks while hiding.

Sophia demonstrating the hiding place in the closet

We also found Bonnie's shoe - for which she has been frantically looking for at least two weeks - under Collin's bed. Hmmm.

I could go on, but instead, I'll just treat you to pictures of their newly-moved rooms. I should have taken pictures of the chaos, but it was just too much for one day.

Malena's new room:

Jack's new room:

Yup, he's the occupant of the official guest room.

Collin's new room:

The library is still located here until Doug is done wall-boarding the basement

And Bonnie's room:

There's still a lot of work to be done (of course!)...but at least their rooms are clean. Excepting, of course, the library shelves in Collin's room that have to wait for the basement finishing...sigh.

Next step? Taking stock of what actually needs to be done! Malena would make a great secretary while I list things, don't you think?

What's Blooming!

Before we left on the long trip of the summer, I weeded all my garden beds. Really. Then I sprinkled all the flower seeds I have collected since we moved in on the empty spaces. 

When we came back, the beds were a mess of weeds - well, it was over three weeks. This week, though, a few flowers have started blooming. I'm not sure what some of them are, since many of them came from "collections" - one package of many different types of flowers. Feel free to speak up if you recognize them!

This one I know: a volunteer sunflower in the middle of the garden!

A true blue flower

This is candytuft

Baby's breath (gypsophila)

These are actually pink, although they look almost white here

So I guess it's good I haven't gotten around to aggressively weeding, right? Hope you have a good week - keep cool!

The Cat Played...and Did a Little Work

Doug had Three Whole Weeks without family at home. A quiet house. No one to steal his tools.

Did he take advantage of that time? Well, sort of.

He did change out the thermostat, which was on its last legs.

It did show that I didn't take off the old thermostat to paint, though. Argh.

He did start insulating the ceiling in the great room downstairs.

He also cut a hole in the shelves in the kitchen so that our office area could be better organized. Here it is before:

And after:

See the difference? I know, not much of one. But the printer is now above, and the CPU is now below the desk. Makes for a less-crowded work area.

And...that's about it. Mostly, he says, he sat in front of the TV. I think he's earned the right to veg, but it's still amusing to me that he would miss us enough to be that bored. Anyway, you are now caught up on house projects - time to get started on finishing the unfinished projects!

The Bald Brothers and a Little Sophie

Haircut time, again. The boys were a little shaggy after the trip, so I took them both to the salon. Okay, it was Great Clips. Still, it cost money. Jack sat down first, satisfied to have a normal haircut. Collin, however, wanted to be bald. I agreed - it is summer, right?

Collin spent his time waiting by playing with the cords for the window shades. Sophia, entranced, decided to try it, too. The hairdresser was not amused. Finally, Collin went in the chair and the first crisis was over.

And he got a very short buzz. Finished, Jack realized that Collin had the cooler haircut. And started whining. And crying. I got him out of there, but just barely, before the hairdresser also had a meltdown. Poor girl didn't look like she was ready for the Collin-Jack combo.

Jack and I had words on the way home...and after we got home...and most of the morning. He finally got his act together. Later that night, he asked me very nicely for a cut "like Collin's". So now he's bald, too.

Let me tell you, though, that I am still annoyed at paying for a haircut that I could have done at home. And that goes for both boys.

And that leads us to Sophia, another sore spot in my week of haircuts. Last week, Collin cut off an inch along the right side of Sophie's hair. So I trimmed it. No big deal, small annoyance and a long talk about scissors and hair and how they don't go together unless mom is holding the scissors.

This week, Jack got the scissors. And went for Sophie's bangs. Oh, yes. Not so easily fixable.

Good thing she still has those big blue eyes. Good thing for the boys they are cute too, or they'd be missing a few fingers. Cut hair, lose a finger...doesn't that sound like an appropriate punishment? Ah well, a mother can dream...

Blooming And Hailing

This was not the week for showy flowers. The white lavendar bloomed:

Not that exciting. My hostas also bloomed:

The plant really isn't know for its flowers, although I think they are lyrical, balancing as they do atop a long stem over the open palms of the leaves below. Okay, waxing poetic, but not very well. Moving on...

A few yellow asiatic lilies also bloomed, but they are looking pretty sad now.

That is because of a freak hail storm on Saturday, that left most of the basements in my neighborhood flooded. That storm also took the mulch out of my beds along the street and the petals off my lilies.

We're glad for the rain. We're not so glad for the "opportunity" to clean up. Luckily, our basement only got about 10 gallons, all on cement. Others were not so lucky, let me tell you. Doug spent this evening digging, hoping to fend off the next flood. I'll let you know how that goes.

Have a happy (and hopefully not-too-hot) week!