The New and Improved Dungeon

It's clean, it's painted, it's organized... it's the dungeon! Over the past week I have smiled every single time I walk by it - and I keep smiling when I actually spend time on the treadmill or use the newly purchased exercise ball.

Kitchen Facelift

Before

Blame it on the cold weather over the last few weeks, but as a direct result I've spent a lot of time bundled up in the family room with the television turned to one home improvement channel or another. And now we've got new cabinet hardware to show for it.

After
As you can tell by the "coffee station" I'm still working on getting the hinges changed out - but give me a break as I had to buy 18 knobs, 15 pulls, and 36 hinges. Only 22 hinges left to go and we'll call it good.

It's not one of those things most people will probably even notice - but I feel like it's more of a match now. The knobs, pulls and hinges match the stove and dishwasher now instead of being gold brass. Now, if only a new counter was in the budget. Hmmmmm... I think that'll cost more than the $115 I spent on hardware, don't you think?

February Events

Weekend Getaway with Mitch, Jackie, Zach and Maggie There was a whole lot of outside time, inside time and watching hockey time. Oh, and there was the "skinning the squirrel time" where Sophie held the book, Dangerous Book for Boys open to page 239 and read the directions for skinning a squirrel to Zach as he gave it a go. Meanwhile I was inside the house trying to keep my breakfast down.

Fat Tuesday Party
Our friends Michelle and Paul lived in New Orleans for quite a few years and fell in love with the city - so much so the walls of their house are painted in Mardi Gras colors... in a very rich and tasteful way. They hosted a party where the kids decorated masks, made floats and had a parade for all the adults. Our "prizes" from the party decorated the dining room table for the next few weeks.

Valentine's Day Fondue
After months of searching for a vintage fondue pot I gave up and bought a new one from Target. I would much prefer the orange or yellow or brown kind to the polished line of the stainless steel one but Valentine's Day was approaching and I wanted to start a new tradition here on Belmont Road. So I splurged and we had a wonderful fondue on Valentine's Day - complete with homemade angel food cake, big marshmallows, and bananas and strawberries. Yummy!


BRRRRRR! February here was unseasonably cold - even for us North Dakotans - and we spent A LOT of time hanging out by the fire. One night Dave called me into the family room so I could see that the girls had found the perfect mix - reading by a warm fire. After that there were often four of us reclining on the floor with books in hand - Dave still preferred the chair over the floor.

As of Sunday I think we're done with indoor fires until fall - during one of Dave's roaring fires the glass of one of the doors blew out. Luckily nobody was in front of the fire at the time and the glass blew into the fire. Then yesterday morning, while everybody was in the kitchen having breakfast, there was again the sound of shattering glass and Dave found a mess of glass all over the front of the fireplace. I called a local business, they sent a repairman over and the glass is getting fixed. But he told us one very important piece of advice I'll pass on - do not use the fire starter bricks in indoor fireplaces. Apparently they're made of wood shavings that are glued together - but the glue, when it melts, sticks all over the place and causes uneven heating that is dangerous. He suggested buying a packet of shims and using those for firestarters instead.

817 Here they are - the two guys that made it all happen. I tried to help as much as I could but I'm no match for these two. The house looks fabulous and Charlie and John deserve oh so very much of the credit. As for Charlie calling me an "old shoe" I'm still not sure how I feel about that - but he insists it was meant as a compliment. :)

Two Months of Tuesdays
Caprice, Anna and I finally finished Theresa's quilt yesterday and got it delivered. The ironic part is we delivered it to her on a day where it hit 40 degrees above zero and we were walking around without coats on. But I'm sure she'll still cuddle up in it and know how much she's loved and cared for.

Updated Pics from 817 (The BIG Project)

As requested by Lori, Jeff and others, here are some pics of 817. (Just for you Jeff - our house is the brick one on the left, while 817 is the white house on the right.) Compare these photos of the dining room, living room, and kitchen to the ones here and I'm thinking you'll notice a change. I still have a second coat of paint to do on the entire upstairs, then sand that floor and paint it. I should probably also do a third coat in the main floor hallway because it turns out my color-blind husband is correct when he emphatically states, "I'm not a painter!". Then, I should paint the pantry, the cupboard under the stairs, the basement stairwell and the entryway. I guess I should also paint the patching that was done after the switchplates were put up. But all in due time, all in due time.

I'll be back - just not tonight...

We’ve had a rough go of it lately – chills, fevers and vomiting. Tummy aches and sore muscles. Then sore throats and hoarse voices. Besides that we’ve been plugging away next door.

Since I last blogged the project has turned into a home away from home. It has desks and chairs and rugs and bathtowels. It has painted walls, freshly sanded and varnished floors and new mopboard in every room. It has a brand-new bathroom on the second floor. It has pictures waiting to be hung. It has closets still needing painting and it still has a half-finished second floor – one more coat of paint to go on the hallway and bedrooms and then it’s time to sand that floor and give it a fresh coat of paint.

I’ve got hands that have to work to unclench themselves from a paint roller. I’ve got knees that are still black and blue because I thought I could “tough it out” and didn’t need to wear kneepads to be on my hands and knees hand sanding 1,300 square feet of hardwood floor.

And I’ve got a husband who, at 5 am or some other ungodly hour of the morning, will walk out our back door, stroll across the yard and through the side gate and find himself at work. Then, at about 7:15 he’ll join us at home for breakfast and we’ll walk the kids to school.

And the best thing is – he’s been so gracious about all we’ve (as in Charlie, John and I) done at the house and that’s helped make every single ache and pain of the past two months worthwhile.

Laundry Troubles...

After a week of cleaning, scraping and painting the basement laundry room and forgoing laundry duty I was excited to see the two grumpy men delivering our new washer and dryer last Friday. The deliverymen were unbelievably rude and crabby - and this after being 2 1/2 hours late in the delivery time. I won't go into it here but let's just say that I really believe that if Dave had been the one at home instead of me and the kids, they would have acted totally different. Maybe even (GASP!) a little courteous.

After they succeeded in getting the washer and dryer down the steps and setting it up they commented that a "cheap" part that holds the hose into the drain broke and I should get it fixed (see pic).

They then left with the words, "The dryer has been in the truck all day, it'll take a little while to heat up." I thought it was a strange remark but at the same time just wanted them to be gone. I got a load of laundry going (remember -we were without a w/d for an entire week - there was LOTS of laundry to do) and later on, when the same load was still damp after 1 1/2 hours in the dryer I became frustrated. It only got worse the next day when we realized there was, in fact, no heat whatsoever coming from the dryer. Finally, on Sunday I called the store and told them I needed a technician immediately.

The technician, Don, showed up today. From past experience I know he's a great guy and very helpful. It was no different today and he told me he thought the problem must have to do with the electricity so I then called an electrician. Russ came over and within a few minutes he came back upstairs and told me the problem was fixed - he'd plugged the dryer all the way into the 220 outlet.

I can't believe it; Don, I'm sure, can't believe it, and the store rep we were working with certainly couldn't believe it. We'd already had a long conversation about the two characters that delivered the set - but I'm sure he's had yet another one with them by now. He was wonderful though and immediately told me the store would pay for the electrician's bill when we get it. He then called Dave and apoligized to him as well.

I was just happy to having a working pair, thrilled in fact. I put in a load of laundry and couldn't wait to get it into the dryer - just to check things out. Imagine my surprise when I went to move the clothes to the dryer and this is what I saw in the laundry room: Apparently the hose that needed the cheap part came out of the drain and sprayed water all over the freshly painted floor.

I just cried, and then as I mopped up the floor and some of the new paint came bubbling off, I cried some more. Then when I moved the washer to dry out underneath it and the paint came right off in tracks, I cried even more. Throughout this whole ordeal I've gone through such a range of emotions - but the crying didn't come until today. Because, really, they did warn me about the cheap part so I'll take the blame for this one. But man, I'm ready for this to be over.

A house project in late November... are we crazy?!?!

Yes. I think the answer is yes. But as with every other answer in the affirmative, there are reasons and justifications. You see our dryer is on the blink and this family of five really, really needs to have a working dryer. It's not like we didn't know this day was coming; three years ago when the dryer first began squealing like a pig when it started we got it fixed - to the tune of about $300. In other words, with the money spent repairing it we could have just bought a new one. We vowed not to make that mistake again - so for the last three years I've been researching washers and dryers, top loader vs. front loader, etc... so when the squealing started again we'd be ready.

That day came a few weeks ago and the brand new frontloader Maytag Epic will be delivered on Friday. But now we have to get the laundry room ready. There's my excuse for doing a house project in late November when I should be writing Christmas cards instead of painting. After lots of scraping and vacuuming (that's Dave going crazy with the vacuum) and 3 gallons of dry-lock waterproofing paint, I'm ready for the final coat - something called Vanillum - and then I'll paint the floor. It should be all dry and ready for Friday and the new washer and dryer.

Our laundry hamper will certainly be ready for help by then too.

You know I'm unmotivated when...

1. a Lucky Charm "anchor" has sat in the little spot between the fridge and the wall since the last week in May
2. coffe ground leftovers mark the front of the garbage can door and have been there since sometime in May
3. weeds have become the new type of flower in our garden
4. the desk looks as though the mischievious "paper fairy" arrived in the night and threw the papers all around
5. you just expect to step on some playmobil knight or pirate when you say good-night to John
6. the 9 roll toilet paper pack has sat in front of the bathroom sink instead of inside the cupboard for the past few days
7. the kids' bathroom sinks are a strange mixture of orange (grapefruit scented handsoap) and blue (toothpaste)

BUT... instead of taking care of this messy house today Lucy, Sophie and I started sewing a quilt for the baby dolls. If you know me, sewing in itself is highly uncharacteristic but to actually attempt a project instead of a simple button...well, I definitely must be procrastinating... and I am. There's always tomorrow for cleaning, right?!

Residue of the 1997 Flood

The kids and I spent most of yesterday cleaning out the basement - not regular organizational cleaning but the kind of "pick up an item, determine if it's salvagable and either toss or save it" type of cleaning. Yep, you guessed it, we had a wet basement and most of the carpet for the kids' toy room area got wet. Unfortunately we hadn't cleaned anything up before bedtime so there were papers and toys strewn about the entire carpeted area. I spent most of the afternoon hunched over the wet vac trying to suck up the water from the carpet, but by suppertime I realized I just wasn't making much progress. So after a phone call with Dave (he's in Alaska) I got out the utility knife and started cutting up the carpet and hauling it out to the garbage. (That's the first picture - the basement with 2/3 of the carpet gone and the 1911 concrete showing its age.)

Then I called Yvonne and Jim, some friends from church, and asked if they could use a dresser, nightstand, headboard and various other furniture items for the annual garage sale in a couple of weeks. Hence the second picture - some of the stuff heading to Holy Family's garage sale.

When a friend came over later I think she was surprised by the determination in which I decided to tear out the carpet and give away furniture. I was way too tired to articulate anything last night at 9:30, but here's what I came to during my sleep - it's all related to the 1997 flood. At that time we lived 1 1/2 blocks away in a wonderful house with a dry basement. When warnings of a flood came, we prepared for seepage and put everything (including two couches and the washer and dryer) up on 2x4's and moved things up off the ground. I distinctly remember taking my rollerblades off the floor of the closet and putting them up on the top shelf so they'd be safe (yeah right). In the meantime Dave and Dad spent their time building a ring dike around the house. Suddenly the Red River of the North crested eight feet above predictions, the basement completely filled with water, I hauled my 7 1/2 month pregnant self off to Mom and Dad's, and Dave stayed south of town so he could keep working.

Once the waters receded Dave had the job of pumping water out and hauling out every single thing from the basement and placing it on the berm for pick up at a much later date. Out went the couches, the coffee table, the fridge, the air conditioners, the washer and dryer, boxes and boxes of my second grade teaching supplies, and all our Christmas decorations. Then the basement was sanitized, we moved back in a month after the flood, electricity was then restored, I defended my dissertation and became Doctor, Sophie was born, the berm pile was hauled away, new grass was planted where all our belongings had sat, the Salvation Army finally stopped making meal deliveries in our neighborhood, and exactly five months after the flood we got heat back on for the first time. So, I guess you can blame the Flood of 97 for my distaste of wet basements and my willingness to get rid of belongings we no longer necessarily need or use. At least this time they don't need to go to a landfill - they'll help support our church, its mission and people in need.

What the laundry chute holds, one never knows...

After reading Rachel's blog, I decided to write my own laundry chute story. Two and half years ago we moved one block east and 1/2 block west to this house - our second house with a beloved laundry chute. Within a month, the inevitable happened and one of the kids put three too many sheets and blankets down the chute at one time. Armed with a broom, a long stick and a mop, three of us stood guard at the chute doors - Lucy on the second floor, me on the main floor and Sophie in the basement. The mass finally came down with a plop onto Sophie's head. As we were transferring everything into the washer Sophie told me there was a bra hanging from a wire in the chute. Indeed, upon further inspection, there most definitely was a bra. It proved much harder to get out but after standing on a stool with 3/4 of her body in the chute, Sophie managed to get it out.

Surprise, surprise - it wasn't mine. Still, soon enough, it went in the wash with the other delicates and the next time I saw Sarah (the previous owner) at a writing project meeting, I handed it back over to her, along with a few pieces of mail.

Bathroom Pics

Finally, here are some pictures of the remodeled bathrooms. Although the second floor bathroom ended up being tighter than planned (No matter what they say, 6 -8 inches is a big deal!) this family of five is pretty happy to be back to more than one bathroom. The one with John in the bathtub is the second floor bathroom, the other is the attic master bedroom/bathroom. My favorite features are the heated tile floors in both bathrooms and the block window in the second floor one.


Dave and I have been loving our attic bedroom - it's great to wake up and get showered right away in the morning versus squeezing a shower in when there's time. As we've yet to figure out how to get a bed up there, we're still sleeping on the futon. Once we get the bed situation figured out, it'll be time to paint the staircase and the red dressers. For now, I'm taking a break from painting!