Cookie experiment

This week was very frustrating. I spent two whole days shopping (hate that.) One day was errands for the house and one was school shopping with the boys, and registering Nathaniel for school and getting Davis' schedule, books, PE clothes, freshman orientation, and I skipped the band parent meeting. Bleah. But, I got some things done. I painted the master bathroom, I spent two days scraping calcified gunk off the shower tile, and someone's sloppy grout job ( does it take so much time to wash the tiles off after you regrout? Come on!) The bathrooms are starting to come together, but there is a lot more to do. I have to prep the master bath floor for vinyl (pulling out nails, staples, removing base board molding), scrape more stalagmites out of the shower, and paint the hall bathroom. Then they will be clean and useable.
This picture is a closeup from a kitchen photo I posted earlier. I'll point out the problems with the range hood if they aren't obvious. There are gaping holes in the front where the fan blows out the air it just sucked in so it hits you in the face. Nice. And weirdly enough, there is a secret layer of tiles (that were covered in kitchen grease until I Goo-Gone - ed it) under the visible layer. It is the same tile pattern, but a slightly different color. I have no idea why. It looks like the upper layer was cut to fit a different sized range hood and the current hood isn't big enough to fill the space. So, off to Home Depot to get a new hood.

Chris installed the new hood. It is so fancy with a fan that actually vents outside instead into your face or in the cabinet above it (like our S.Pas one did.) The hood fits the space better, and if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the fantastic caulking job Chris did so you can't see the weird under-tile and it will clean up nicely. Yay!

Something I miss is the big gas Okeefe Merrit oven/range we had. I really liked that it would get hot fast. However, it had 7 pilot lights (4 range burners, one griddle, two ovens) and it would heat the kitchen up without us even using it. I was very skeptical of the electric ovens in the new house. How good could they be if you couldn't see any fire? Chris reminded me that they were modern appliances (that means younger than we are.) So I decided to test them out.

Here they are both at 375 degrees (note the oven thermometers in each - they each run a little hot so I set them about halfway between 375 and 350.) They each have 25 teaspoon size mini-morsel chocolate chip dough balls. I set the timer for 12 minutes.

After 12 minutes, the cookies in the bottom oven

and the cookies in the top oven are evenly and equally ... over cooked. That was my fault. 12 minutes is too long and I think I should have done 350 degrees. But the cookies are evenly done on all sides and the kitchen wasn't turned into a sauna in the process. I'd have to say the experiment is a success. I think I'll be ready to use both of them for Thanksgiving. Do you want to come? You are invited! I think I'll have unpacked by then... if I can make it through the first week of school.

Moved in (What a mess)

We drove Friday night to the house and slept in sleeping bags on the new carpet upstairs. Then, early in the morning, we got up and started the process of unloading. I helped with a few items and then I drove back to SPas to clean out the rental and turn in the keys (with terrific help from Laura, Kathy, and Tammy).
Chris and Davis unloaded the truck with help from the High Priests in our new ward (I'm not kidding - High Priests! Glad no one threw out their back.)

Davis was a super helper - much stronger than I am so much more useful. Here he is enjoying a Trader Joe's Cod Filet to refuel. Love TJ's, love the microwave/convection oven, love that kid.

This is what I came back to. A house full of furniture and boxes. So glad to have it in the house. Not looking forward to unpacking and sorting it all out.

The big appliances had to wait until I came back with the ratchet set so Chris could take the lid off the freezer and get it in the door of the laundry room. Chris was sliding them on extra pieces of carpet so they wouldn't scratch the floor.

Here's some stuff still in the garage. Very orderly, I thought.

The front room and entry. The piano will have to wait down there for the tile to go in around it. Its such a dirty floor now with the bare concrete and tufts of carpet padding still stuck on it. It makes the whole house dusty. Hope we can get to the tile soon.

But, important things first. I came up the stairs to find the boys had the Wii already set up in the loft.

Legos displayed on the hallway cabinet (I couldn't even find my own toothbrush and they already found and had all this out.)

Legos and a napping spot were set up in the guest room.

And Nathaniel had his playmobil water rescue team out ready to go into the jacuzzi.

Look Mom. The Georgetown rocker made it unharmed.
Chris and I are both so tired. I feel shaky after walking up the stairs. I don't think I want to unpack anything tomorrow - maybe I'll take the boys school shopping. (Do any of you know how much I dislike shopping?) But I can't find my shoes. They are in a box somewhere.

Packing up and moving out

We moved! Friday we loaded up the truck. We rented the biggest truck Uhaul had to offer and thought we'd have plenty of room for the stuff in our 2 BR house. Boy, that truck was packed to the rafters. Chris picked it up at 1pm and here it is below at 9pm when we finally got everything in it.
We had some help from some college students who were home for the summer. We'd never have gotten it done without them.

Everything came out and was piled in the garage until it could be packed into the truck.

Here are Andrew and Jonathan. They were so cheerful - even when we asked them to move the washing machine.

Haley helped move boxes and pack the odds and ends left in drawers and cupboards. It was a hot day so we tried to keep everyone supplied with drinks, fruit, and popsicles.

I think they used every available space. Thanks Andrew, Jonathan, and Haley! You were great.

Things I'll miss (just some)

Aside from the people we will leave behind in S.Pas. (and the people who have left us behind already) I'm coming across all the things we will miss. One of the big ones is my utility sink. I didn't think you wanted to see a picture of it, but I have been washing paint rollers in the bathtub. I wish I had a utility sink.

We'll miss the farmers market on Thursdays. The roasted corn, the bratwurst, falafel, peaches, dates, mmm...

The corn is really big!

And everyone is happy. Hey! I think that guy singing was in our youth sunday school class 10 years ago.

Carpet is in!

I'm done painting upstairs (the rooms that I really wanted to be painted before the carpet goes in. I still have to paint the bathrooms and the cupboard doors for the hallway but I can do them in the garage and there is no carpet in the bathroom. Yay.)
I am kind of disappointed in our room. I thought the wall color would be dark enough to contrast with the carpet. It is a very light colored room. Oh well, I'll change it sometime in the future. The important thing is the walls are not black and the room isn't stinky. I still need to clean the fireplace though - messy.

I really like the carpet in the guest room. Its my favorite. So, when are you coming to visit?

Davis' room turned out great. I love that he and Nathaniel chose such bright colors. I'm not very brave with colors. I'm going to try to make up for it in the kitchen. I'm worried I'll end up with a kitchen that looks like a burger king though.

I also love the western facing doors in the boys rooms. The rooms are so cheerful and bright in the evening.

The cupboards in the hall are now a dark brown instead of white. Make your wagers on how long it takes me to paint and re-install the doors. We may have a show-and-tell linen cabinet for some time to come.

I love the loft. The bay window faces east. It is going to be a cheerful reading/homework area. What do you want to bet it also becomes a wrestling spot.

The entry wall is not nearly as dark as I thought it would be. (The one below the stairs isn't painted yet. It still needs primer and I didn't get to it yet.) But, it is painted and clean upstairs.

I spent two more days cleaning the kitchen cabinets and finished up today. Tomorrow I pick up the truck and we load up. Saturday Chris will take the truck to the new house to unload while I clean the S.Pas. house. (Lousy luck that we have the leave the rental house clean and clean our new house too!) I'm so tired and my knuckles are swollen. I'm looking forward to Sunday. After church I'm going to nap on the new carpet and then microwave frozen dinner items from Trader Joes that are already in the freezer. Yay Trader Joes! Yay microwave and paper plates!

In-ground Spa

This is the in-ground spa in our yard. It's pretty big - 12 ft at it's longest side and 9 ft across at its widest point. I did not want a pool or spa in the yard - not excited about the expense and potential liability. But, it came with the house, so I'm sure we'll learn to enjoy it. I thought it would be like a home chemistry project - add some chlorine, adjust the pH, test with little color strips. However, this spa was messed up. The previous owner completely neglected it and so when the green goop started growing, the realtor dumped an unmeasured amount of chlorine and acid into it. So, it was crystal clear - and totally toxic. The acid started eating away the copper pipes in the spa heater so there was way too much metal in the water.
I spent a whole week going to the pool supply store every day to have my water tested and buy some product to fix the water - metal remover (a chelator), "alkaline-up" (just a buffer, really it's just baking soda), dry acid, chlorine tabs, "conditioner" (not for your hair, it keeps the chlorine from evaporating so fast.) Still, the water was murky and weird.
So I called pool services for quotes. I needed someone to get it into shape. I am completely ignoring the yard. I'll get to it after we move in and work on it gradually (even though some patches of grass are thigh-high). But, acidic water can ruin the spa equipment and cost us a lot of money. If I can get a pool guy to clean it up (and vacuum out the dirt at the bottom), I can probably maintain the chemicals from there with Nathaniel scooping out leaves for me.
After 4 days of the pool guy coming every day, it's ready! But I didn't bring my suit. Darn!

Paint Colors

Last night was the first night we spent in the house. We haven't actually moved in. Davis was going with the Varsity Scouts in our new ward to Mammoth Lakes to go mountain biking, rock climbing, fishing and such. They were leaving at 5:30am and I didn't want to leave at 4:30am to get him there. So we all camped out in the house. Here are the boys on their sleeping bags while Chris gets a netflix movie set up on the laptop.
Of course, the internet was the first "utility" we had installed. Where would we be without it? How would I find a pool guy or a hardware store or grocery store? And, what would Nathaniel do with Davis gone for 3 days?

Nathaniel played games on the computer in the kitchen where we have a card table and chairs - the only furniture in the house.

This is my favorite gadget - the corner painter. However, there are just too few right angle concave corners to paint. There are lots of convex corners, and plenty of concave corners with obtuse angles (as opposed to acute angles), but this gadget isn't helpful for them. In the hallway and master bedroom there were only 3 full corners that I could use this on. How does that work (geometrically)?

I am really liking the colors in the house now. Davis chose "Jersey Shore Blue".

And Nathaniel said he wanted walls the color of spicy mustard and decided that ochre was just right.

The guest bedroom is now "Sandy Beach" instead of lichen-green.

Our room is much brighter without the Halloweenie wall paper. It is sort of oatmeal colored - but much warmer and not very lumpy.

The hall is the same color as our bedroom instead of a flat white paint. I'm doing eggshell paint throughout the house because I am so tired of flat white paint that is impossible to wash.

I really like the beams brown instead of white. The only color I'm not sure about is the color over the stairs. I wanted a dark warm taupy-brown. It looks kind of green though. We'll see what it looks like when the living room and entry way are painted and the carpet is in.

I still have a lot to do. None of the downstairs has been started and I need to paint the loft and do some second coats upstairs. We pushed back our move-in date a week. Anyone want to come for a paint party Saturday? I'll buy pizza. I'll even bring doughnuts from the best doughnut shop in Los Angeles. Anyone? Anyone?

Progress

We are starting to make progress on the house. I felt overwhelmed the first few days. How would we get enough done to move in? After lots of prep work, the boys painted their own rooms today (with colors they selected themselves.) I did edge work and touch ups. Combine that with the carpet installers taking out the old carpet and I feel like we are starting to get somewhere. If we can get the whole upstairs painted before the new carpet goes in next week (I'm giving the floors a week to air out first) then I think we'll be ready (except for the industrial scouring of the kitchen cabinets and the upstairs bathrooms and the wood trim and doors....)

The boys did a great job painting. Does it look like I'm a mean mom to have Nathaniel paint his own ceiling?

Prep and painting

Today was lots of prep time getting the boys' rooms ready to paint. We washed, sanded, spackled, and taped. When Nathaniel gets a break he heads to the front yard. He sits on the mailbox and watches for people on the street. He remains hopeful that there will be kids his age in the neighborhood.

Here is the front room all decked out for painting.

And Davis' room is ready too. We bought paint this afternoon.

Davis used a leaf rake to get the pieces of wallpaper gathered up. Today we also got internet installed so I can bring my laptop with me. Today felt like we actually got something done. We'll see how smoothly the painting goes tomorrow.

The "before" Photos

Here's the newest project. We bought a house that needs some serious cosmetic work before we move in. We are hoping to move in two weeks. Unless I end up working all night or just plain lose my mind, I'll try to blog the progress. So, here are some before pics. I'll start with the best one.
This is the master bedroom. Yes, it's black wall paper. Could you sleep here? It has to come down.

This is the loft at the top of the stairs. The bay window faces East so it is bright and cheery (unlike the master bedroom).

Looking down the stairs at the front door on the left, front room and dining room off to the right. The rust carpet is on its way out. I actually ripped it off the tack strips this afternoon.

This is the entryway and stairs. Why did the previous owner stop painting in the middle of the first wall you see coming in the house? The house was built in 1977 and that wall paper is original. There are even extra rolls if I want to keep it and patch it. What you may not be able to see is that the heat vent is also wall papered. Nice.

This is the kitchen. All original. I've already done some porcelain patching in the sink. Any updating will have to wait so the only thing that will change in the kitchen is the color for now.

This will be Davis' room. There are double doors going out onto a narrow balcony. Davis helped me take the wall paper border off the wall today. Tomorrow we spackle, sand, and tape so it is ready to paint.

This is Nathaniel's room. His doors go out onto the same balcony as Davis'.

This will be the guest room - for you!

This is the master bath. Carpet - eeewww. This is actually designed to be a shower/tub. I could lie flat in this as a tub. But it has square sides (so comfy) and we suspect it might not be totally water tight at the corners, so I don't think this will be used as a tub.

And this is the vanity area of the master bath. More nice black wallpaper. The goal is to get the carpet replaced and painting done before we move in. At least the upstairs (all the bedrooms and baths) painted. We can do the living areas downstairs after we move in. How much do you think we'll get done? Place your bets...