2011: year of the blanket

First Ellie's blanket, then Mary's. Now this:

For Sarah.

Hopefully little Sarah will not be seeing this blanket for a while yet. She needs to keep cooking! But this blanket will be ready for her when she arrives.

I'm already back to my log cabin blanket. I have 6.5 sections to go! We're watching season one of Twin Peaks on Netflix streaming, so hopefully I'll get a lot of work done on it. I just don't have the motivation to paint.

Real life happens too.

I was plugging along on my bedroom. Then we heard that our new niece was planning an early arrival! I didn't have a gift. I was planning to make a baby blanket, but thought I had until September. I've knitted and crocheted my little heart out this week. I got almost half way done and hated it. There was nothing to do but start over. So much for winging a baby blanket on a deadline. Now it's done and blocking. Pictures to come when it is dry. I did it in time though, as baby Sarah decided to stay put another week. We're still hoping that she stays put for at least a couple more weeks until she would be considered full term. John's step-dad has also been sick, so I've been cooking and delivering food to them. Hopefully he's on the mend. If not, my stuff can always wait.

I'm down to the details of the bedroom. It seems so slow going. I couldn't get the doorknobs on right. John had to help. He did the hinges too. The bathroom door has always stuck, so he decided (after I'd painted it) to cut off the top. Now I haven to repaint the door. On my short term to do list are: repaint the ceiling (tried to love it, but it's just too dark), make a bedskirt, and make some pillow covers for the bed.

Way before.

During.

Today.

2010.

I made a dash to Ikea Saturday for new lamps!

I shoved most of the junk in the basement.


For Mandy. John's dresser when the room is clean.

Ikea frames with thrifted botanical prints.

As far as rooms go, we are down to the big one. The living room itself isn't that big (but it is so full of junk) but there's no stopping place so both hallways will have to be done then too. I'm waiting at least another two weeks before I hit John up for working on it. (Did you read that, John??? Huh? Did you??)

Mini make over and a WIP

Bed side table.

I bought this table at an antique store in Evansville a long time ago. It just had a glossy coat of polyurethane on it. I stripped that off so I could paint it.

After!

I just realized that picture is blurry. Well it was late at night when I took it.

Still need to get a knob.

I took some dark blue paint we had and mixed it with some yellow. After it dried, I sanded it down. Then I stained the top and the drawer with some dark stain. I wiped stain on over the paint too, so that the wood parts showing through would match the top and drawer.

I'm knitting until I can't see straight at night. I am so close to having my blanket done. When I'm knitting, I pretend the bedroom doors are painting themselves. Ugh. Maybe tomorrow night.

So close!

I just need to go around two more times. I'm at the top (off white) and need to do each color one more time. I'm not sure what kind of border to do yet. Or what color I am going to use.

Now, random stuff.

Woot! they are back! Best 10 bucks I ever spent (seeds).

Liatris.

Some of the coneflowers are as tall as me. The liatris is much taller than I expected. I think they are 4ft high. Maybe taller. They come up to the top of my chest.

Grow, Plummy, Grow!

Yes, our tree has a name. He's grown like mad this year. Too much really. He'll be getting a trim this fall.

Looking up at the sky.

So much to do! I need to get moving. Ellie took a long nap today (first nap in a couple weeks) so "my" evening won't start until about 9:30pm.

The four day weekend.

The next time John gets a four day weekend from work, he is going to say no thank you.

Friday morning, he got up and started making the new trim. He got the doors done, and then went to go get more boards and quarter round. He continued to work. Saturday he got all the baseboards in and the quarter round too. Sunday he cut and installed the new trim for the inside of the bathroom door. Last night he got the blinds hung up for me. I know there's more. Oh, like sanding the doors down to be painted, moving the hole for the new door knobs. Endless hours of watching the kids while I filled holes, primed, painted, caulked and painted more.

This morning.

Last night while I painted, I tried to go over what was left to do. I got overwhelmed. I have one coat of primer on the doors. They need another coat of primer, and probably 3 coats of paint. Then I can put on the new hinges and knobs. THEN I can paint the bathroom. THEN I can make the bedskirt. Like the step stool as a bedside table? The actual table getting a make over. That's what I did in my spare time this weekend. Guess what I didn't do? Sleep.

Last night I went into the bathroom to get a cloth wet. I turned on the light switch and waited a minute wondering why the water wasn't coming out yet. I just couldn't figure it out. Then I remembered the faucet needs to be turned on, not the light switch. Yeah, exhausted.

If I work every night (after the kids are in bed), I can have it done in......maybe another week.

The kitchen is not cleaning itself, and I can't imagine the cats are cooking lunch for us either.

Master bedroom....before.

I took this picture yesterday. I guess it isn't really a before shot as we are already working on the room.

Let's not forget the old fan that John replaced a year and a half ago.

January 2010

It already looks a million times better with the new windows and window trim.

I got one of the new Roman shades installed before we started to demo the room.

For four years, we lived with those green Roman shades that blocked half the window. John hated them as he blocked his view. These hang a lot higher, so the view is better.

Opposite side of the bed.

Junk corner. Grrr.

Master closet door on the left, master bathroom on the right.

Here's a real before of that side of the room:

That's right. The sink was in the room, and the person in bed (the room was empty when this picture was taken) could have a chat with the person on the pooper.

We had the bathroom redone before we moved in. Now the view into the bathroom is the sink.

I got new dining room curtains. Don't mind the piles of crap. Hello, Ellie!

Yesterday morning, I got started. I cleaned out half the junk before I even took any pictures. Ellie and I carried it all into the dining room. I took out all the little stuff, the black trunk, the ottoman, the bedside tables. I was feeling good. Then I just could not get the rocking chair. I got it out of the bedroom, down the hall, and needed to make one more turn into the dining room. No matter how many times I tried to flip it (almost impossible) or pivot it, it just wasn't going. I had to get John's help. He made it look so simple.

Next up was ripping out the old trim. It was going pretty well. The girls were playing in the bed. I was the voice of fake puppy and fake kitty. There was a baseboard that was stuck. (skip to the end of this paragraph if you are easily grossed out!!!) I pulled. I tugged. I used the hammer and crow bar again. I pulled really hard. It came loose, but moved so fast and with so much force.......it hit me in the.......toenail. It ripped it all the way back to the nail bed. Holy heck it hurt. I couldn't play fake puppy. I told Mary to get me a band aid. I put that sucker on and took the rest of the baseboards out. I took the band aid off and looked. It was nasty. Gah. I'll live.

Then Mary wanted me to paint so I'd keep playing puppies and kitties. I edged in the ceiling. I rolled it when John got off work. After Ellie was in bed, I cut in the wall paint. I filled the nail holes.

John started installing the new trim this morning. He has the doorways almost done. He's off getting more 1x4s and quarter round right now. I'm hoping to roll the walls tonight.

The kids are "resting" aka fighting. I thought for sure Ellie would nap today (it has been a week), but she did not.

Outside we go!