what's next

"What's next?" seems to be my question of the day these past few days. We are trying to get a list in "propriety" order and get the most important things done.. trouble is, everything needs to be done and it's all " important"!!! But for me, are the cabinets to be done first, or should I finish the upstairs bathroom and hallway... or should the windows get done??? I just don't know... but painting is "my life" and I just chug along as best I can!!!





Brother-in-law John to the rescue!!! Ed wasn't too certain how the stairs needed to go together, stairs are tricky things. So, we gave John a call (he has stair experience) and up he came to give us a hand in figuring this stair thing out. He has even volunteered to help which is so huge for us right now (THANKS a million JOHN!!!) Here Ed and John work on figuring the posts and what will soon be the railings.....














They took up the "floor" in the hallway... didn't think I would see this again!!!, but it gives them a good solid base to work off. Next week, there will be wooden floors over this sub floor, so if it needs to come up.. now's the time. I am excited about the railings, this "open" hallway gives me the creeps and I have to be very brave to walk here!!!!





The kitchen is really pulling together. Another good thing, because we need these cabinets out of the way for when the floor folk come next week. I have almost all the kitchen cabinets primed now, and think I have decided on a "color" for them.

Just bring a few appliances... get the finish painting done, and we will be in business here....

The "island" still needs to go in, and we'll need counter tops and a sink, but overall.. this project is going very well. "supper anyone??"

explosion!!

It's Thursday morning, near 8:00 am, I should be off to "work" and not "playing here" on my blog, but I just needed to show off what we have done in the past 48 hours!!! As I pretty much figured, it seemed as though we went "days without much happening" and now as the ending projects arise, they are all happening at once, and we hardly have a chance to catch our breaths. I was SO excited when the cabinets arrived.. we brought them into the house, and they were "everywhere". Next project was to get them primed and ready to hang... THEN a call comes in from the floor folks.. they want to deliver the flooring!!!

Fine.. except, we have cabinets everywhere... where will this flooring go. So.. nothing doing, Ed says, we need to get the kitchen tiling done, so we can get the cabinets in place. Quick.. decide a on a tile, get the tile... get to work. Ed started the tiling Tuesday afternoon. I helped where I could, but since I had dog classes to teach, I had to leave.

I got home around 9:00 pm to find my dear hubby still on the floor, tiling. With me not there, he had to do it all... measuring, cutting, gluing, laying out the pattern... and as we found out, this really isn't a one man job. I of course, stayed, and together we finished it up around 11:00 pm. Long day, but when we saw the finished project.. it was well worth it. I am now priming like mad and getting those cabinets ready to go up into place.

And, as promised, here is the new floor. It sits in the sewing room for the moment. (there is no other place for it).. did you know that these types of floors have to "live in the new environment for at least a week?".. I guess the floor needs time to adjust to the humidity of the new place, so the floor will sit here and just breath. But actually this week is what we need!!! We'll have to have things in place (cabinets up and house cleared out) for when the guys come to do this.

Look who gets the honors here...

Miss Abbie has the title of "first person to walk on the new floor" (she looks pretty happy about that)

THEN... who calls next.. the appliance folk.. wanting to know if we might be ready for delivery. Sure... why not? So up pulls the big truck and two guys begin to unload all kinds of goodies.

The washer and dryer will be upstairs int he "master bath" (no more running to the basement for me!!!) We asked if they would haul them up the stairs, even though we are not ready to install them just yet, they are at least where they need to be.. and we don't have to lug them.

Ed checking out the double oven. I CANT wait to bake again.. haven't' done that in the past 19 months (who has had time).. I love to bake and this new oven, well I can't wait. Think all my friends and family better get ready to pack on a few pounds when I get going!!!!

It's a little hard to think all this "mess" will be transformed into a real home in less than a month!!! well, that is if I get moving here...

so.. off I go... it's really happening!!!!

Memorial Day

Today we celebrated Memorial Day.. a weekend that typically means "three days off from work".. but ever since our son in law, Nate, having served with the Marine Corps for four years... my view of Memorial Day is very clear. We also know several young men and women who are currently serving our country.. and I am very grateful to them and the ones before and the ones to come... thank you just seems so small compared to what they do for us... but I sincerely mean it.










And so Miss Abbie, we bring you to your first parade, and though this is a celebration today, I can assure you that your "Grandmother" is going to teach you what this holiday is all about. And how blessed you are that you were born here in the United States!!!!








Before the parade, we had a tail gate party of sorts... coffee and donuts!!! The day was just beautiful and this was a great way to start it out...










The honor guard opened the parade... it was "interesting" to see how many people paid their respect when the flag went by. I did see a few hats removed, hands placed over the heart.. and some even stood up from chairs... but not as many as should have. Maybe people don't know what the "rules" are anymore.. and that's a shame... but, you teach by example, so I made sure that I was paying attention when the colors passed by.




This was also a good opportunity for Chester to do some training. He was quite interested at first, but by the time the parade was about half over, he just sat and watched. No big deal......










After the parade, the kids came back to the camp for a cookout and a swim. Nate helped Ed get all the lawns mowed (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!). Everything looked so nice and neat at the end of the day.












Charlie keeping a careful watch on his Mom and baby Abbie.....













tired little girl.. it was long and exciting day....











We then went down to the farm. Ed had asked the boys if they would help him move the cabinets in. Both Nate and Tom were a great help and got them all inside for us. Now I can begin to paint them and get them ready to be installed..










Ed did a rough lay out, and this certainly gives me a good idea of what my kitchen is going to look like (so exciting!!!). Tomorrow we plan to get the tile put down in the kitchen area, and as I already said... it will be a big week of painting for me... but it's getting close~~~~





And it's because people chose and served our country.. and keep us "free", I get to enjoy things like building a new home, and living in the place that I chose... and though it does seem "small".. I truly say THANK YOU to our wonderful "service people" and God Bless America!!!!

bloggin'

As I pretty much figured, working a full week at the post office was more than enough for me. Not that it wasn't a "good" week.. and/or "interesting week" because it was, but I am glad that it's done and I can go back to my usual five hours a week. The "thing" about working like that, is, it doesn't fit into my life, and I don't know how "full time folk" do it week after week. I guess that maybe they don't have seven dogs to fuss over, or a barn of horses that need tending, or are trying to build a house, and keep up with the work in the house that you live in. Still I do know, they have things that they like to do aside from work... I just don't know how it's done...


Now I have to get this blog brought up to date for my loyal readers, so here we go. Last Sunday Kas asked us down for a bite of supper, after having worked at the house all day (tiling a floor no less) we were pretty happy to accept that invitation. It was a hot day - just like summer - so, I said to Ed, let's take the bike!!! It was a great ride down, though once we hit the coast and that sea breeze, we actually had to pull over to put sweaters on.....




We had a nice supper and visit with all the Flagg's (Kas asked Deb and Dave as well)... the evening flew by and before we knew it, it was dark and we needed to get back to the farm.










The weather had really cooled off!!! I was glad that I had packed even more than just my sweater!!! I threw on another sweatshirt, and then Ed's firefighters vest on top of that. We thought the reflective tape would also help cars spot us.. I didn't know just "how reflective" it was until I saw this shot!!! The ride home was cool, but it was beautiful.. the moon was almost full and the traffic was light, so we really enjoyed it. We need to get out on the bike more this summer.. so many fun things await us!!!!!




Course, I would be working inside while we were having one of the best weeks weather wise. It was HOT!!! I was so bummed to get out for an hour lunch and see what I was missing. One lunch break I got home and found some pretty miserable dogs!!! I knew what they needed.. especially Trevor... a jump in the lake. All I had to say was "let's go swimmin'..." and there was a mad dash to the lake. Trev was the first one in and just swam in big circles....




Chester was pretty interested in all this activity. He sat on the shore for a while and watched, then got a big drink of water... Trev came up for a little break and as he headed back into the water, Chester seem to get his courage up......










And followed him in. He seemed a little surprised and unsure about it all, but he's a good swimmer.
He got back up on the shore, and decided that was enough for one day (and a first swim).. and sadly, it had to be enough because I needed to get back to work. Wished I could have joined them... but.... the post was waiting.....

blog, blog

I decided that I would postpone my dog classes while working. I figured that after being on my feet all day, I wouldn't be up for classes as well. I like to give my students the very best, and being tired, I wouldn't be able to do that. But one thing is, by postponing classes, I could do the "evening things" that I often miss out on... One being steak night!!!! The kids came too, since we would all be together... Kas kept Abbie entertained with this mirror that was behind our table!!!










Our gals!!!!!!










Abbie with Uncle Coz!!! She loves him!!!













The other big event for the week... arrival of kitchen cabinets!!!! This is very exciting!! because all the appliances are waiting in a warehouse for us... so.. once we get going, we're going to have a REAL kitchen!!!









Just waiting for me to get them painted... ah, yes... more painting!!!!!











Saturday evening, we were invited to the neighbors for a BBQ. They had sent their "piggie to market" and had a nice roast for the neighborhood. Everything was so good and we had such fun visiting with everyone. It's one of those things that you should do more often... getting to know your neighbors... and this might be the start of something good...








Course you know, you must have a fire at such events.. and why is it the moment you set it, the wind picks up off the lake??? This looks pretty bad, but really it was only like this for a few moments, and once there was a nice bed of coals.. you know we made s'mores!!!!








Abbie didn't last for the whole party, and what's better than being snuggled in your Grandfather's sweatshirt????




















We enjoyed a beautiful sunset....














and were entertained by the calling of the loons....sort of hated to see the day come to a close.

blogs, blogs , blogs

We're in big trouble now.. Abbie is officially on the move!!! She has been practicing for weeks, with this crawling business and I think now - she has it under control. There will be no rest for the weary now!!!









All the dogs are so wonderful with her. Chester is such a sweetie pie!! and he loves it when she is in the "scootie". She loves him too, and with all the talking she doing now, I think the word "dog" will soon be heard!!!!!










Today was a big house work day. We got the grout work done in the mudroom!!! Another tile floor... done and finished!!! I am really pleased with the way it turned out... now just a bit of trim board and this room will be DONE!!!!














Ed couldn't wait to "see" a cabinet in place. So he brought one in from the garage and held it in place. Now I really want to get them painted!!! I can't wait to have them in place for real!!!!











Between helping Ed with the floor, I worked on getting some windows painted. Did pretty well, got three windows all primed. I'll give them the night to dry and hopefully tomorrow, will put the first coat of finish paint on them. Then Ed can put the frame work up... one more coat of paint, and they'll go on the done list.....








And the last thing we did today before calling it a "night".. was hang the door to the down stair bathroom. We have had this door for almost seven months, and it sure was fun to see it go into place....

Bit of trim work, some paint (more!!!) stain on the door.. and that will go on the done list. Seems like things are beginning to get on "that" list.... I like the sound of that!!!!!

And you know that summer has really come to the lake when you hear that familiar tune... the ice cream truck. This is certainly a good weekend to be selling your wares, because I think everyone is here at their camps!!! This place is hopping... I am almost not used to seeing so many cars!!!!

Well, you know that Abbie just had to have her very first ice cream truck treat, so we ran out to wait for his return......

A treat of "shaved ice"... just perfect!!!!

Tomorrow is Memorial Day... and summer has begun. Lots of exciting things coming up, lots of deadlines to meet... lots of everything......

bye bye brown bunny

We had some sad news on the farm yesterday... "AJ" (ie Apple Jacks aka Brown Bunny) passed away. I think the extreme heat we have had over the past couple of days was more than he could handle. We were very careful that "everyone" had plenty of water, and shelter... because this kind of weather certainly takes it toll on creatures... on everyone!!!







I don't really know how old "brown bunny" was... we got him from Kassy's preschool because he wasn't turning out to be a good pet to the kids there. Kass thinks he was a couple of years old when we got him, and I think we had him six years... so guessing, I would say he was at least 8, and maybe even a bit older than that. He was a nice little bunny, didn't mind being held (as long as you held him correctly) and very friendly, always hopping over to the door to visit and get his treats. He loved his hutch that Ed made for him, and was always re arranging it, which I found interesting.

Any ways, I'm going to miss the little guy, and I hope he had a happy life with us. "Bye, Bye.. brown Bunny, happy Hopping in Heaven."