fountain time

Slade, Graham, Seby, Olive, & I helped install the fountain today. Well, really Slade did it - but at certain points he needed us to help. Seby filled it with water, Olive thought it was a huge bowl of water for her and came to drink up when Seby was filling. I guess I can't really say that she helped in that manner - but she had fun watching. This isn't exactly the kind of a fountain I wanted for the front - but we put off buying one for so long and we found this one on such a great clearance price that we just had to do it. I think it looks great, even if the style isn't "classic" like the rest of the house. Right now we just have an cord giving it power - tomorrow the electrician arrives to finish installing the outlet, then we can cover the base with dirt and plant!



Here is Olive with her summer buzz cut. Well, really I forgot to give her a frontline treatment before we went up to the lake house last weekend. When so many of us were finding ticks and I couldn't find one on her I knew they were hiding. So off I took her to the groomer who shaved her down. Then I found 10 ticks! I just gave her the first monthly applications she will get until November 1st. Too bad they don't make frontline for humans! Actually that sounds gross, never mind.

Bath tub time!

The master bathroom is almost done. The tub was the first to be installed - as it was the biggest piece to get in. Now we have all the fixtures in! The painting will be finished on Monday, and the access panel (behind the tub) will be finished - then we are done. Well actually we still need to find mirrors and a storage device for between our sinks - but we don't care about that yet. We just want workmen out of our house! After the painters do the master bath they will move on to the master bedroom - oh my gosh - I can't believe it.

Cody had a couple friends sleep over last night and they broke in the almost finished basement - we just can't wait for it all to get done and we are sooooooo close!

Zane rides a bike!

Cody is helping Zane to ride a bike. This isn't the best video, I admit. But, there we were really taking Olive to the dog park and Zane was just going to goof around with his first attempts to ride a bike. Next thing we know the kid is really riding. Ok, so most of the video is really Cody trying to show him how to start off on his own (which is his big struggle) - but the kid can really ride. The video was also taken with my phone (had a I realized we were going to witness such a big event I really would of brought the camera). But here it is just a taste (from far away) of the last of our tribe learning how to ride.

the garden

The garden is coming back. Last year we only had one peony! This year we not only have more peony plants in the ground - but the plant that only gave us one flower has many ready to open this year. The crabapple trees are full of blooms and the tulips are started to pop up.





The various garden beds in the front are all starting to show their plants too.



We bought a bunch of plants at our school's plant sale and got most of our annuals planted - then we saw the weather report of 35 for last night. I decided to hold off on the rest and we put them and some of the smaller pots into the carriage house to wait for some warmer weather!

fencing & basement

We had to do two trips to Farm & Fleet (and now Slade is on his third trip) to purchase some garden fencing to keep Miss Olive out of the bedding plants and from digging up the irrigation system! While there there was too good of a sale on a canoe that Slade couldn't pass it up. Last summer he took the kids and the cousins on a very exciting river ride in the canoe that resulted in much damage to the canoe. It is in need of much repair before it can be used again.



Here is the current status of the basement - so close to being done. There is just a punch list of items to make it complete - but we hope by the end of the week we can start moving into the space - of course at that time we will head up the lake house for Memorial Day weekend - but it should be finished.

You can see from the lovely "stain glass" in the bathroom - the "brick" wall with indian head and horse head - we kept some of the older "features" to the basement. We just couldn't demolish everything and start anew - so we kept the bathroom as simple as possible - we ended up just painting all the ugly wood siding and we promise we will replace the bright orange toilet seat.





The fireplace is just an electric deal to add some heat to the space - and it looks pretty cool. There is also an old "relief" that was in the basement when we bought the house and we will mount this above the fireplace.

We are ready to have a family movie night down there! And I see some sleepovers coming our way as well.

Master Bath/Bedroom

The master bath/bedroom are so close to being done - yet, it isn't. Today the big dilemma was that the last box of glass tile (that we are using as a three tile high stripe around the shower) was a slightly larger tile than the 5 previous boxes. ugh. Nasty person on the phone when I called to try and figure it out - I was so pissed that I just hung up on her. I was quickly swept up in other issues that needed my attention - from the basement - which also is so close to being done. Luckily a more prepared customer service person called me to figure out the tile issue. They think they have the correct ones and are shipping them to us. We only need 11 tiles to finish the job.



I am so excited about using these green glass tiles. I have always wanted to use glass tiles and am glad that we have finally found the right project for them. We are also very happy about how the wainscoting is turning out. We probably have another full day of trim work to be finished in the bathroom and bedroom. All the baseboard trim had to be removed in the master bedroom when we re-wired the room.





Can you see where we replaced a huge area of tiles in the 2nd floor bathroom? We salvaged all the old tile from the master bath and just didn't have enough to finish off the job - and we made many changes to use less tiles. So, at the last minute (when we were told there weren't enough) I made the executive decision to "steal" the same kind of old tile from our existing bathroom on the 2nd floor - the only bathroom we use. They took quite a bit and I made them PROMISE to replace them immediately with any tile they could find as a match. I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out and am glad that Slade has been out of town for it and didn't have to shower with a huge patch of tile missing from the bath. He really didn't want to do it this way - but like I said I had to make the executive decision.

When we are done with the project how soon do you think we will start another one? Slade keeps saying "when" we finish the third floor - and I have started to say "never."

this morning

So, this morning we are getting ready for school. I'm cooking breakfast, it is almost ready. "Seby, Zane, where are you guys?" I yell - well if I just turned my head slightly to the right I would see them - hanging out waiting for the sausage to be cooked up. Well, actually Seby was waiting for eggs, toast & sausage and Zane was waiting for ravioli. We try and get whatever we can into them before they head off for school! They love Miss Olive and she is so good with them.

Mother's Day

Here is my Mommy - quite a bit to live up to! All my spunk comes from her. Well, some from Daddy too - but that crazy, wacky side - that comes from Mom. Here's to you, Mom, on Mother's Day! Wishing we could be with you to celebrate the day! We all love you soooo, soooo much!

Love, Michelle (and the rest of the gang - Slade, Cody, Graham, Sebastian, Zane, & Olive!)

More flooring

More flooring from today. This is what got started in the basement. It is fake hardwood - laminate. I think it looks pretty good! This flooring should get finished tomorrow - then Monday the doors will start to get installed and they actually all (7) arrived today!

Tile Floor!

We have a new tile flooring for our new master bathroom! It is the project that will never end!

My contractor had the gaul this morning to suggest we use Home Depot tiles for our new shower - instead of the old salvaged subway tiles that we paid his guys to lovingly remove from the old bathroom! He is thinking (at this late hour) that there will not be enough tiles for the master shower. Fine time for him to think about that I replied. Better start going thru the pile and FIGURE out how many are usable and how many are not. Really I wanted to wring his neck - but I thought it better for him to keep working on the bathroom instead. The gaul of him! Oh, let's just see how it goes he says - but maybe we won't have enough. No, I say FIGURE it out and don't make me repeat myself! Ugh. We loved him when we fixed our falling down carriage house - but now the love is seeping out.