Fine'

We completed our great room flooring project yesterday. We left weights on the T-moldings overnight; they are fastened by Liquid Nails and we wanted the stuff to cure for 24 hours. So this afternoon/early evening we put the room to rights. We think the room looks larger, but it may just be the elbow room we have now that all of the furniture is out of the two bedrooms and office! Here are some before and after pictures...

We're glad the interior rehabbing is done. We spent the day at TCS working on new school year stuff -- it's good to start getting back near the saddle again!

We've had a great deal of rain lately. To keep things all in perspective, the Lord gave us a roof leak -- again -- at the corner of the kitchen. I've roof tarred everything in sight, and called the roofing company -- again. To be continued...

Woohoo!

We took a ride for breakfast this morning -- left about 7:15 and rode up to the farmer's market at Winter Park. It's really an upscale market; after all, it's Winter Park! Lots of yard plants for sale, as well as generic bromeliads and orchids, the kind you see at the Home Depot garden center. What we like are the food vendors. We had stuffed croissants and coffee, and then a nice ride back home. We are getting more comfortable riding together. The good thing about early morning rides is that the temps are pleasant, the sun is out and there is no rain yet, and traffic has not ramped up for the day.

This morning I put a second coat of white on two doors at the back of the hallway, and also a second coat on three louvered closet doors...which was the end of my painting for the summer! There may well be some touch-up after all is back, but that hardly counts. I re-installed the kitchen pantry door this afternoon, so the kitchen is finished. I borrowed a neighbor friend's pickup this afternoon and picked up the flooring from Lowe's. I drove home in a rain shower, but it's only a mile. We dried the boxes off and left them spread out on the floor just to make sure that the cardboard dried. I don't think any of the boards got wet. I expect that the floor will be in and the stuff moved back by the end of Wednesday, barring any unexpected challenges...

Kitchen Completed

I finished the white trim (2 coats!) in the kitchen today. Except for the louvered closet door to the pantry, we're done with the kitchen. I put the ceiling picture in so you could see the contrast between the yellowed, tired ceiling and the new white. Painting this popcorn textured ceiling wasn't too bad. I just went slow and loaded on the paint. We used 4 1/2 gallons on the kitchen and great room ceiling and it took me a 1 1/2 days...truly, a pain in the neck!

We put the mineral red accent color on three walls -- the front window wall of the kitchen, the small wall next to the front door, and the high panel in the great room on the interior wall. The rest of the walls are covered in a color called parchment paper. With the white of the ceiling, it gives a bright, airy feel to the great room. I put in new wood plantation blinds in the two great room windows, and installed an under cupboard 18 inch light in the kitchen, in the corner between the stove and sink.

Pop Quiz

Sharpen your pencils (figuratively speaking), boys & girls. Even though it's summer your education is still of paramount importance. Enter your educated guesseses and I'll let you know...sooner or later...if you were correct.
1. What is the popcorn ceiling texture stuff made out of?
2. What is xeriscape and where did it come from?
3. What central Florida city had pea-sized hail yesterday?
4. What is hotter than riding a motorcycle in July in Florida at 9 AM?

So, take your best shot and let me know...

Waiting for Sunset

After supper we moved most of the furniture out of the great room so I could paint the ceiling tomorrow.
It got interesting trying to stuff large pieces of furniture into two bedrooms and an office.
We had the distinct feeling -- after cramming a couple of chairs, an extra lamp, the TV, and my laptop into our bedroom -- that we had seen rooms like this before. Somewhere...

Angry

I was working on the yard this afternoon, cutting grass and trimming bushes. I spent some time in the back yard and when I came back to the front to clean up, I noticed that my power washer was gone. I keep it close to the front of the garage, near the door along the wall. The hose that connects the spray wand with the pump is still hanging on its hook farther in the garage. So I made a report to our Neighborhood Watch and the Orlando Police Department. This machine was less than 3 years old, a Sears Craftsman 3.5 hp power washer. I can't remember when I saw it last...not the kind of thing I use every week. We keep our garage door shut. Someone came by and grabbed our washer right out of the garage. Brazen move. I am angry, upset, and hoping that the degenerate who ripped us off wakes up at night with sweats and nameless fears, is smitten by guilt, and has a conversion experience. God will judge. If, by some unlikely chance, the police catch the thief, I will prosecute.

Office Redo

Another week, another room...We moved back into the completed room this morning. This project was an enjoyable challenge. An 8 ft ceiling made painting the popcorn texture reasonable and the Arabian Sand color covered the light blue walls in one coat. I did put two coats on the white trim -- apparently the previous trim was either not bright white or it had dulled. The 135 square feet of floor made the ceramic tile job one of the "easier" tiling projects we have done. I also bought a pair of non-marking knee pads, which really helped! We laid all of the whole tiles, and then I rented a wet saw and we cut the perimeter pieces. Finally, we mixed the last of the thin set cement and set the pieces. That was a long day, but not a back breaker. We had a morning meeting at school so we started around 1 PM, took a break for supper, and were done with the clean-up by 10:15 PM. We waited two days and then did the grouting. (Lesson learned: Start with the recommended amount of water and slowly add a little of the thin set or grout, stir it in completely, and then add more. This bit by bit process keeps the mortar or grout from getting dry lumps.) After three days we sealed the grout with two coats of sealer. The colors of the room seem to have warmed it and really complement our Southwest mementos. We were able to squeeze our 2-drawer file cabinet into the closet by moving the shelves up 4 inches. Gotta love those movable shelf tracks!

We have the colors for the kitchen / great room picked out, as well as the flooring for the great room. I think we'll pull up the carpet tonight so we can get it out for the trash pickup tomorrow. The popcorn ceiling will be a challenge again, but I did buy some fluffier roller covers. We'll see if that helps. Only about 1/3 of the ceiling is really high; it does slope down quickly, so I should be able to reach most of it from the floor with my roller extension. The interesting logistical problem will be where to put the furniture while the ceiling gets painted!

Rolling Along

At church this morning, Wycliffe friends of ours gave a brief synopsis of their next assignment. They will be leaving in January for southern China. To highlight the diversity of China's languages, Steve said that two people next to each other on a train might be reading the same article in the same newspaper and still not be able to converse with each other. I said to Gayle that the same thing could be said for people in the Southern United States! The paper today was full of the stories of the NASCAR Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach. One picture showed a man playing "Redneck Horseshoes" -- the shoes were cut down toilet seats and the targets were traffic cones. I guess it's safer than lawn darts...


We finished painting our bedroom; used the same colors as the bathroom, ivory and blue-green. There were several challenges to this room also. The ceiling is 16 ft at the peak, so to cover the dreaded popcorn texture, I was on an 8 ft step ladder with a 6 ft roller extension. I had to cover the ceiling fan with tape and paper to keep the paint splatters and "popcorn rain" off. One coat of ceiling white, heavily applied, was all it took. Thankfully! We did need to do two coats on the walls -- the yellow in the ivory mandated that. We finished everything except the baseboards by Friday afternoon. I then cleaned the carpet; thank you, Bissell brother! On Saturday morning, I installed the new plantation blinds (I was glad to see the mini-blinds go!) and painted the baseboards. I painted the louvered closet doors in the garage -- had the garage ceiling fan on. It was mid-90's yesterday and no afternoon rainstorm. Not to complain though; this past week we had about 5.5 inches of rain.

Next target is the office. We have the paint and ceramic tile for the floor. The tile should make the transition from the garage to the house much easier for cleaning.

Philosophy Question

Why do closets look so large when they're empty? Why does it feel good to organize stuff? And how in the world did we get so much stuff? I was thinking deep thoughts as GB and I painted our closet this morning...We don't have a huge master closet, but Tim and I lived in a room together that was just 2.5 times larger than our closet! We had a number of holes and one small shelf that we removed, so there was some spackling - 2 coats for a couple of larger holes. The ceiling was a medium popcorn texture; hateful stuff! I'm going to do the bedroom ceiling tomorrow afternoon, and I shudder to think what will happen with that *&%$##@ popcorn stuff. (*crummy) We'll have to move all of the furniture out and completely cover the floor. After the ceiling white is on, the walls and trim should be a cake walk. We're using the same colors as the bathroom - ivory for most of the walls and trim, and the blue/green for the wall panel above the closet. I think we can be done by Saturday.

We had a blinger of a thunderstorm this afternoon -- we're finally getting into the summer cycle of AM blue sky and PM showers. We had 5 inches of rain in less than 2 hours! I think the tree frogs thought they had died and gone to heaven! Ominous weather news: the first tropical wave of the year was on the weather report tonight. Too much dry air near it so it won't do much, but that's the first of many. And, the water temps in the Gulf and in the Atlantic / near east side of Florida are warm...

We're planning on a breakfast ride tomorrow morning. The idea is to do the outdoors stuff before traffic and heat get too stiff and be back home before the rains begin again. Should be fun! Hope the rains stop before the fireworks are scheduled to go off tomorrow night. :)

A Week in the Bathroom

No, we weren't sick! It took us a week of good work to renew our master bathroom. We were tired of the wallpaper and bland look, and the room just needed attention. Here is a before picture -- the blinds are already down.











As with any home project, there are curve balls. We found that the previous owners had painted over one of the several layers of borders that topped the wall paper. We tired several methods but the most effective was water and elbow grease.

We also found some wall repairs under the paper -- probably why there was wallpaper in the first place. I got out my trowels and joint compound, and also used a new spray-on texture product to try and match the original. It worked well, but it took me longer to tape and mask than it did to spray the texture! I did primer the wallboard first, then spray the texture, and then I primed again. Time consuming but worth the effort...













We used to have a six foot mirror above the sinks. I paid a couple of yard workers in the neighborhood $5 each to help me take the mirror down and bring it to the garage. This also shows a repaired wall after the texture / priming.

We chose an ivory for the ceiling and three of the walls. We didn't realize how much gray was in the original paint. By the way, I used my 8 ft step ladder and the extention ladder to reach the ceiling and cut in the walls. That's not easy in a small room, working around the tub and the other fixtures!

The room is almost completed. We put in new lights and sink fixtures. Two mirrors are on order.












Here is the wall opposite the sinks. Another rod will go above and to the outside of the tub tile to hold the quilt top that Gayle is finishing. This was a good week's work. Next on the to-do list is our bedroom...

The Empty Suitcase -- We're Home!

We were grateful to be able to swing up to Michigan last Monday. We went to the funeral of Gayle's dear Uncle Elmer Monday afternoon. Elmer Meiste was a saintly 81 and God called him home as he slept. He will be missed!
Last Tuesday morning we visited Mom & Art one more time. Mom took us to see Aunt Bea also. We were glad to have this unanticipated short visit also. After leaving Jenison we headed southeast toward Maryland. We planned on staying overnight in the Pittsburgh area, but had not factored in the US Open golf tournament. We ended up traveling another hour to Somerset in central PA and stayed there overnight. We went to Gettysburg and spent about 3 hours at the Civil War battlefield memorial...could have spent much more time there! I took many pictures, with one eye on my 5th grade social studies curriculum. It's a challenge to make an historical event more than 140 years old become real to 10 year olds.

Got in to Berwyn Heights, MD late afternoon on Wednesday and enjoyed 4 days with the kids and grandkids. Luke is still enjoying books, trucks, his little pool in the backyard, and an occasional roughhouse with Grandpa. Erin has grown dramatically since we saw her in April. She likes to sit up, holds her head up well, and even stands while we hold her. She is beginning to coo and is a happy little girl. We were delighted to witness Erin's baptism Sunday morning. Dr. Clark did an excellent job and Erin was bright-eyed and alert the whole time. While he talked about God's promises, Dr. Clark held her and walked around the congregation. Luke walked with them!

We left for home Monday morning; I-95 was actually rather kind this time. No problems, traffic moved well, and we got to Savannah, GA Monday evening. We arrived home around noon Tuesday. The Camry ran well, got around 33 mpg for the trip, and traveled 5150 miles in 23 days. We thank God for His providence and care!

Some more pictures for your enjoyment...

Life in a Suitcase - Work & Play

So, we traveled 1,100 miles, driving two cars, to get to Emily in Lansing, IL on the way to Grand Rapids, MI to move Bob to Denver. We rented a small U-Haul truck and towing dolly, loaded the truck and cars with Bob's earthly possessions, and drove west for two days and another 1,100 miles to Denver / Aurora, CO. We unloaded Bob's stuff at sister Beth's house and helped him get settled. We spent some time cleaning three cars (thank you, Florida love bugs!), finding some book cases and other storage shelving for Bob, and helping Beth with a back yard planting project.

This past Monday we traveled 1,100 miles back to Lansing, IL in two days and have spent the balance of this week with Emily. Tuesday evening we heard a concert at Millenium Park in downtown Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Yo Yo Ma. It was a cool concert in every sense of the word! The breeze was quite cool, Gayle had gloves on, and the concert was outstanding. We had great fun afterwards looking at the Cloud Gate sculpture - sort of looks like a shiny bean.

On Weds / Thurs / Fri we transformed Emily's living room and kitchen. We pulled out the old carpet, underlayment, and linoleum and put down wood flooring. It was hard work, our legs were sore, but the results were great! The rooms look larger and the beautiful oak planks compliment her kitchen cabinets and decor.

We took a break on Saturday and went to Chicago again for the day. We took the Metra train in to Millenium Station (the old Randolph Street) and walked to Navy Pier, where we had our lunch in front of a fountain. We then took an hour long architectural boat tour down the Chicago River - an excellent and informative guide gave us a truly impressive amount of information on the history of Chicago and its buildings. We also walked the length of Navy Pier and enjoyed the sights from the ferris wheel. Emily had made dinner reservations at a Thai restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed - four appetizers, two main courses, and two desserts. Finally, a leisurely walk to the train station and the trip home. Great day! Yep, we got a lot of sun...

School Is Out!

My fifth grade room is closed up - the kids are gone, the walls are bare, and the desks are stacked. My end of the year To Do list is checked off. I helped Gayle for a while this morning. She has a great mound of materials to be moved up to the third floor third grade room, but that has to wait until the current teacher has cleared her materials out.

I'm a little sad this year. I liked my fifth graders, they worked hard, didn't quit, and even professed to appreciate my puns. At least that's what I got out of one comment: "I didn't think your puns were that bad." I truly enjoyed the routine of the year and feel somewhat at a loss now that vacation has begun. God affirmed strongly that we are right where we need to be - teaching at The Christ School in downtown Orlando. I am looking forward to the challenges that next year's class will bring, and I'm already aware of a few of them...by name!

I know that this feeling will change as we begin our vacation in a couple of days. I am looking forward to the travel (gas prices are coming down!) and seeing all of the kids and grandkids in the space of two weeks. I have our pastor's 15 year old son taking care of the yard while we're gone, so that's a great relief. I know he will do a good job. And I'm looking forward to doing some interior painting when we get back home. We may even put down some new flooring while we're at it!

Addendum

I realized after I posted yesterday that I had missed a couple of flowers in the yard. This is our coral honeysuckle - we have lots of blossoms on the lattice house.

When I stand in the driveway, the smell of the Confederate Jasmine is glorious!

We still have haze today - thank you, SE Georgia, for the smoke...

Spring Has Sprang

We have highs in the mid-80's and lows in the mid-60's predicted for this week. Temp is 86 degrees but it's tolerable because the humidity is low. It's hazy - we have smoke in the air from the SE Georgia fire 200 miles north of us. It's a reminder that we're in the dry season, and probably will smell smoke again and again before the summer rains begin. I took a walk around our yard with my camera after church today, and chronicled the flowers blooming. The first one is a hoya in flower. It's about 3 inches in diameter and has a waxy look to it.

Did you ever see a caladium flower? We have 4 varieties of

caladium and they all have these flowers right now.

Our "Charlie Rose" - the one that got flattened by Hurricane Charley in 2004 - has two blooms. This is the fresher of the two!

The Rangoon Creeper has begun blooming. White in the morning, pink by afternoon, and red the second day...It's not a sweet scent, but it's unique!

The second of our three gardenias has begun to bloom. Tiny insects seem to like the blooms, so you have to be careful not to sniff too deeply!

We have two bougainvillea in bloom. The red one at the back of the property is perhaps a tad less spectacular than this purple boug at the back of the house.

I have a bromeliad - Aechmea 'Gympie Gold' - in a large pot on the deck. I've had at least 8 flower stalks this spring, and this is the latest edition.

I have one orchid in bloom - it's a white 'Skinnerii' cattleya with 25 blossoms!

We have a variegated ornamental ginger in the front yard. It is full of waxy white clumps of flowers on the ends of each frond.

Our bed of amaryllis continue to bloom. Hard to remember, but at least 4 weeks of blooms.

Two of our three hibiscus are blooming. This red single bloom in the back yard took a slightly better picture than the pink single bloom in the front. Our fire & ice hibiscus in the front got whacked back significantly last week, so no flowers for a while!

...and our passion vine is giving us blooms on the front corner of the house. They are spectacular, complicated flowers.