More Updates

A quiet day on Thursday. And I needed a quiet day too. Wednesday was also quiet.

Here are a few updated photos.
This is the brown coat of stucco. It really looks gray. It is the second coat in a 3 coat process. Next is the stucco which should be done on Monday as this needs 7 days of dry time.

This is just a close up of the brown coat. It has these unknown fibers in it. Looks kind of cool. This is just a sampling of the dust we have to deal with. This is the inside of the front door. I did dust a little the other day but it's back. It's everywhere. I'm really not worried though. Things will just continue to get dustier.
This photo was to show the new texture on the ceiling. It's the corner of the kitchen wall and a wall in the family room. The blue in the kitchen will be painted over in a few weeks. The blue wall in the family room will stay there to keep some color in the room. There was a beam that went across the ceiling in the opening between the kitchen and family room. It's gone now. Had to do some patch work.
Moving onto my favorite room at the moment. Although it is not done yet, I do like it. This is just a corner where I tried my best to get a photo of the ceiling and the walls. Even the floor. The walls are Navajo White, the ceiling is Swiss Coffee (no not Chai Tea Latte) The walls in the rest of the house (except bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen) will be Navajo White.

This is the new floor in the office. No, not really. But it is the new concrete, splattered with mold compound (used in the drywall process) and splattered primer and paint. Just add some dirty foot prints and it's good as new!

My friendly favorite painters look like they are finishing up the rest of the ceiling. Went fast with 4 of them. Normally there are 2 but they brought 2 friends. Sanded, primed, caulked, painted. Just about done! Went so much faster than Tom and I could have. Plus they know how to do it. We would have learned on the job, that is getting the sanding right, the caulking straight, etc... At least we don't really have to worry about the flooring. yet.

This weekend I hope we can get the rest of the walls painted. Also need to touch up the kids rooms. They are anxious to get their rooms back in order. Me too. That will hopefully free up a few boxes of stuff stashed in the garage. We need the boxes to pack up more stuff.

Thankfully Julie offered to pick up my kids from school. I feel like yuck. I did run 4 miles with Julie early this morning. I was ok the first and then felt like I was going to barf. My head has been pounding for close to a week and now my stomach is feeling yuck. this happens every few months or so and why my head chose this week to do this, well, who really knows.

Weekend plans:

Saturday: soccer game in morning, church festival in the afternoon/evening

Sunday: baseball practice morning, afternoon soccer game, fit in painting somewhere.

Have a fun and save weekend everyone. Thanks for all your nice comments. I love reading them.

Remembering 9-11

Let's all remember to take some time out of our busy days to take a few moments to pray for and remember those who lost their lives on this day. Let's also not forget all the people who came in to help out those in need. Let us also remember to families of those who lost a loved one and those who survived.

To quote President Bush from a CNN news article: "On a day when buildings fell, heroes rose," Bush said. "... One of the worst days in America's history saw some of the bravest acts in America's history."



We will never forget!!!




God Bless America!!!

Be a hero to someone today.

Gorgeous I tell you

That would be the office. It's gorgeous I tell you. The painters were here again Tuesday to finish up painting the office. Just the office was sealed off with plastic. The ceiling sanded, primed, painted and the walls painted. Lookin' good!


Miguel stopped by to check on things in the morning. I do believe by the end of next week we will be finished! But we still need to floor done so I'm not putting things back just yet.

Also, everything is very very dusty. I mean very dusty. I wiped down part of the office with a damp cloth this morning. I can see that I need to do it again. In fact, the entire house needs it. But I'm just not ready to do that yet. We still have more work to be done in more parts of the house.


I got a run down on how to sand the ceilings, paint, caulk and paint walls yesterday. But as the day went on was wondering if I really had the time to do it all. I do like to paint, but...... You have to sand in the same direction, just the right amount of pressure..... oh boy. Tom loves the way the inside of the office looks and agrees that we should hire our friendly painters back to do the ceiling. We can do the walls. I hope they want to come back to work on their own time, as we sure have put them through a lot lately.



I'll get pictures when I have more natural light in here. No bulbs in the new lights and too many shadows.



And you know, a funny thing happened to me on the way to work yesterday. Well, I really don't commute to work as I work at home. But it was still funny, in a not really funny way but only to me because I find that I just need to laugh at every situation these days.


Tom calls to tell me he has my car keys in his pocket. He is at work. Where are my other keys??? Well, those would be in my locked car which is parked on the street. Why in the car? Well, because last night I was tired and only thought to get out my purse and laptop from the car. And, why did you take my spare keys to work. He does not know. No problem, I'll call the roadside service folks that I have for the car.



The first question I am asked is if I am safe and out of harms way. Ummm, yes for the time being. I give the low down about where my keys are. They are very helpful. An hour later I hear a truck pull up out front. And the phone rings. It is a recording to let me know my friendly roadside service guy is here to help me out.



I go outside as he is getting out jumper cables. Ok I think. Some new way to open up a locked door? Attach it to the battery and burn a hole through the door? So, he says, "if you will pop the hood I'll get the battery started" Well, I say "If you want to jump the battery, you have to get the keys out of my locked car first" Hmmmm? He was told my car had a dead battery. But no problem. Out comes the slim jim and some other tool and in a matter of seconds he was had my car unlocked. Amazing. I'm glad he had a sense of humor.



But before that, he wanted to be reassured that my keys were in the car. I said, of course they are, see there, under the sunglasses, pen, piece of paper and other stuff, that silver thing, that's the key. And that's right where they were. Right where I put them so I would not forget to take them out of the car.

Another floor guy just left. We just wanted another estimate. I'm so ready to set up the new office. But I will admit, the paint splotched cement floor really does not look that bad.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Monday

Back to school after a event filled weekend!
Workers got here 8:30 ish. I packed up and headed to my mom's for the day to plug into her internet to work. (yes I do have wireless but can't remember the password on my computer to use it)
Got kids from school, came home, work in progress! Kids did homework in back yard. Changed clothes in the garage for riding lessons and baseball practice. Off to Longs to get cold drinks and Motrin.
Greg to baseball practice, Evy and I to drive by the house, to Target for some returns, then to riding lessons. Me back to the field to get Greg. Whew. Got there early and was able to sit and chat.
Back to the stables to meet Tom and Evy. Say hi to Roy :) He tried to eat Evy's riding helmet. He's a huge horse and Jessie's stall is next to Roys. To Chipolte for dinner. Back home to work in progress.
Go inside and blindly grab whatever clothes I can for the kids to change into. Off to Tom's parents so kids could change and sleep (I took a nap too) Back home, work is finishing up. I go back to get kids while Tom get's kids beds ready. Bring kids back home and put them to bed. Air out the house. close up the house. Plop into bed exhausted but unable to sleep. Forget getting up early to run. this gal needs some sleep.
Curse the alarm when it goes off at 6 amd (not 4:30 am), shower, dress, get kids up, make lunches, shoo everyong out the door. Vaccum house, feed dog, eat breakfast, read emails, read some blogs, do this blog. Check in with work.
and now I have to set up work someplace. Office is getting painted today. No one here yet. good. Gives me some more time.
Oh, and yesterday the brown coat went on the outside of the house. Next is the color coat. then painting the eves Adn the outside is done! Done!
Hark, I hear a car. I best be going.
One day at a time. That's all I ask for.

Things to do when you can't go into your house

Because it looks like something from a Twilight Zone episode inside. This was Saturday. We had the ceilings scrapped. All that yucky stuff. Whew. It's done (almost)

So, the guys show up about 9:30. I was so thankful for the extra 1/2 hour. I was still packing. While I was moving boxes they were taping up plastic. I got Greg out of the house, got my clothes changed and was out of the house. There was plastic everywhere. I do mean everywhere but for the ceiling. Plastic covered the door ways, with just a little space to squeeze through.

Greg hung out at the neighbors while I went to the bank and then to Starbucks for my venti iced chai non fat latte, please. Oh heaven! I could have drank 5 of them.

And this is what I did the rest of the day.

Go early to Greg's soccer game. Chat with the coach, sit in the shade and make some phone calls, read a book and start to fall asleep. Cheer on the team (won 7 - 0 and Greg scored a goal.)Greg played my favorite soccer position, mid defender or sweeper, last in line before the goalie. He smiled when I told him that was my soccer career position :) Greg played left forward the 2nd half and although the coach told the guys not to score any more goals (5 - 0 at half time) Greg couldn't resist.

After the game, go home to check on the house. Wow! What a mess but making progress. Leave Greg at the neighbors and go to Home Depot, again, for more plastic and tape, oh and paint, unload into garage. Then go to the store to order interior doors. Find out I need to get more info and can't order today. Drive to gas station and get gas, drive around for awhile and sit in a parking lot staring at nothing. (I was tired)

Go home and peek inside again. Wow! Wish I could have taken a picture.

Check on Greg. He is doing fine with out me.

Sit in back yard with dog, start to read but start to fall asleep instead.

Do some gardening.

Wash fake plants with the hose

Take a picture of my cool new shoe

Take a picture of the dog laying at the gate

Read some more

Make some calls

Try to peek through the windows to see what it looks like inside

Scratch the dog

Hook up the rainbow sprinkler and watch it water the grass.

Watch the kids run through the sprinkler

Pick apples from apple tree

Not this one!

Eat dinner with neighbors (thank you !!!)

Check in with workers, see if they want me to get them dinner but they are fine and almost done

Hang out at neighbors and try not to fall asleep on the couch. Thanks again for our unexpected drop in and hang out with you day :)

Talk with workers when they are done (8 pm) and thank them over and over and over for their hard work. Seriously, they did a great job and worked a long day. Figure out what time they will be here on Monday to finish.

Have a short lived panic attack.

Watch Greg climb into the Wii throne and play his video games.

Watch dog try to figure out how to get onto her couch even though other furniture is piled on it and then opt to lay as close to a couch as she can.

Vacuum up the stuff that didn't get picked up in the plastic.

Drink half a bottle of wine (not all at once!)

Crawl into bed and watch TV and fall asleep without brushing teeth.

Sound fun? Well, I just kept praying to get through this day. One day at a time. I know pretty soon it will all be over. I do know.

Like I told Traci, it's like packing up your house to move but you don't move. It all has to go in the garage only to be unpacked again. Stay tuned for our garage sale!!

But the ceiling looks great. It's all scraped and taped and mudded. Monday some finishing touches as I see some old tape coming off. It will be sanded and the texture coat put on. Oh, and the house will be draped in plastic again. I plan to work elsewhere.

This is what the hall looks like. Pretty cool huh.

I typed up this post Sunday night. I am tired. It's late and I must be up early. I ran tonight and it was great. Tom and Evy had a great time and are tired, as usual. Greg's friend came over and I was so thankful. They planned this out at church this morning. I plan to post the pix I took early Monday and get this posted Monday. (and here you have it)

Thanks for hanging out on our journey. When all is said and done, I will do a very happy dance and want to have a party. when it's all done. And again, I am so happy with the quality of work that we are getting. If you are in the need of any work, let me know and I'll hook you up with Miguel. Chai tea latte :)

A friendly sighting

I managed to sneak out of the house today, alone, to go grocery shopping. I had already run errands with Greg after church, packed up the rest of the empty boxes that I had, cleaned and scrubbed out the fridge and pantry, cleaned the kitchen floor and tried to read the paper.

So off to my favorite grocery store in my cleaning clothes, hair in pony tail and hat on my head. I hear this voice, this unmistakenable voice. MELANIE is here! Oh my how long has it been?? Way too long. And now I know just how out of touch I have been.

We had a great catch up chat. Great to see you gal! You look great as always. :) I looked like the clenaing lady. And you shop at the best grocery store too :)Will have to meet you at Starbucks one Saturday morning when I get some of my sanity back.

P.S. I did get a lake run in this evening. I need it too!

Why pay for a gym membership.....

When you have had a day like mine.
Started off with an early morning 3.1 mile run around the beautiful lake.
Back home to take the dog for a walk, and it's up hills too.
Then, I can no longer spin in my chair from my lap top to the printer to the desk top. I have to get up, walk a few steps and then get to something.
Trip to Home Depot next. Those 47 lb boxes of joint compound sure make a great arm work out. Then try pushing a cart with 6 of them (282 lbs) plus 2 large boxes of plastic, masking tape and drywall tape, not to mention a 10 year old son who asks "Does the cart feel lighter when I ride on it while you push?" Dah, what do you think. Oh no, now it's over 300 lbs! How about I ride on the cart and you push! Great strengthening exercise. Not to mention, I have to unload these boxes from my car and carry them into the garage. Oh vey!
Later in the day, we hit the sauna for about 30 minutes. The black asphalt stand in line at the recycling center sauna. Our turn, and it was time for the squats and arm curls putting those bags upon bags of recyclables in the machine so the kids could earn some money.
Back home to another sauna stint. It was hot and I couldn't really turn on the air. The office was all enclosed in plastic earlier in the day. Now it was closed up, hot and smelly. Time to get to the mall for some power walking.
Got some cute shoes at Vans, endured a mind over matter mental battle with a teenage punk employee at the game store, scarfed down a almost hard as a rock piece of pizza (lunch consisted on an In n' Out cheeseburger and other than breakfast that was all I had eaten) then a power walk from one end of the mall to the other where we were parked with a Crate & Barrel table in a bag stylishly slung over my shoulder.
One more trip to Home Depot to power lift packing boxes.
Back home to the sauna to start packing. That's an overall body work out.

So, I got quite the work out today. Think I deserved that very small scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. There was hardly any left and I was nice and split it with the son.

This afternoon the nice guy who is doing a great job on the drywall and who got rid of the yucky cottage popcorn cheese in the office said he will start on the rest of the house Saturday. Yeah! This means packing up things. Although the entire room/house will be draped in plastic it is still very dusty. Ugh. I am glad I did not vacuum the carpet today. Or dust the house like I had intended to do.

I really had to spend some quality time with other things I have been neglecting,like the mail and bills. So, this means no sleeping in and getting up early to pack up the family room stuff before 9 am. If there is time, I will pull out stuff from the closets so those can be done too. If I can't get to it, then the closets will have to wait. And Greg has a soccer game in the afternoon.

Tom and Evelyn sure picked a great weekend to go to Catalina.

If you would like to work out with me, come on by. The gym is open. But let me know you are going to be here so I can dust and vacuum first.

Gump gets Dumped

Well, it has to happen sometime. And today was the day. Actually the second time. I'm not talking about Forest, Forest Gump. I'm talking about Andy, Andy Gump. The lovely bathroom addition that sits in my driveway. And by the way, the kids decided it would make a good hiding place yesterday evening when they were playing hide and seek. Ewww!

I was sitting in the office with the window wide open. Enjoying the nice warm summer breeze blowing through and swatting off the flies. I hear a noise. Hark. Who is it now. Sqeeky brakes and a truck pulls up in front of the house. Oh, this again. Plug your noses!


This guy hops out, gloves up, pulls out this long hose and goes to work dumping the gump. Only took about a minute or so. Puts away the hose and off he goes.


I did manage to snap a photo with my secret spy telephoto lense. I was somewhat shy about taking these pictures.



The Gump Dump truck.

And update pix, taken in the day light. I just love all the new space in here. It echos when I type on the key board. K had fun sniffing around and putting her nose out the window.


This is the office drapped in plastic. My work sapce has moved from the nice big desk to a small little space in the corner by the lamp. I know it's only temporary.
This is the front of the house in the day light.
And this is the new roof. I had to stand in the neighbors driveway to get this photo. I love the line of the new roof. It totally changes the front of the house.


It's hard to tell the difference between the old and new roof material and that's a good thing.

Daily thought

First of all, I ran 5 miles this morning. Hilly miles, and mostly up hill!!! Of course I ran with Julie. :)
Stucco guys come back this afternoon as do the painters to do some more work on the inside of the office. I am happy :)
I read this great daily thought today:

Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.
— Corita Kent

I like it. It's a good thought. I want to paint it on my wall.
I am ready to start my day. A little late but starting. Have to get a lot of work done before my 10 am conference call AND find a new temporary office for me to work from. I don't think it will be very comfortable to work under plastic. have a super day and live each moment.

More progress, much more

Today was a big milestone here. The roof is done! Yes, done. Can't see it yet as it was dark when I finally got a chance to take some pictures.

The first coat of stucco went on, it's the scratch coat. Has to cure before the next coat can go on. Not sure when that will be. A day or so I guess.



The painters got here this evening as they wanted to start mudding and taping the drywall inside. Yes, inside! My new office is finally getting finished inside! There is a sheet of plastic draped over part of the big desk. They wanted to get it done this evening so it could dry and they could do more work tomorrow afternoon. Yep, that's right. Next coat goes on and the ceiling in the old office gets scrapped. Good bye ugly popcorn cottage cheese bumpy ceiling stuff. Good bye!

I have to find another temporary home for my work office now. Hmmm. Living room?


We are having the rest of the ceiling scrapped too. Might start on Friday. But not sure yet.


So close to getting done. I can't wait to see it when it's all done! But a lot of work to do still and more projects to get scheduled. I suppose this weekend will be spent packing up the rest of the house and taking things down from the walls. Oh what fun that is. But I know that in about 2 months it will all be done. At least that I what I am wishing for.

Updates, and many of them

Life has just been crazy busy and that's why I haven't been around much. I have so many emails and stuff to do but there are other priorities.

Evelyn spent some time at a beach house in Oceanside last week with her bff and family. They had such a great time at the beach.

We were all there on Sunday. Then Evelyn went back a few days. Greg had fun in the waves too. I had my camera on some other setting and the pictures came out very light. Didn't know this till I looked at the photos later.

House. Tuesday the new roof was started. Inspector was here on Tuesday morning to inspect the drywal nailing and the building paper and chicken wire on the side of the house. The roof should be done today. Scratch and lath and then final coat for the stucco. Drywall taping, mud and final finish inside.

The front of the house sure has changed. I just love it! Our neighbor says it looks lovely.

This is the chicken wire over the building paper. I just thought it looked kinda neat as a photo.



This is Evelyn's room It was hard to get a good picture. Her room is done in stripes. It looks so cool! A lighter blue with darker blue stripes.

I did some painting inside, hall and entry. Need to still do the family room and living room. But big furniture to move and things to box up and ran out of boxes.

Sunday, mom mom and Evelyn and I headed to the Valley to visit with my cousin and her family. Her youngest is a year older than Evelyn and the girls get along so great. The baked cookies, chatted, did each other's hair and made lots and lots of plans. We will see them again in October at our family reunion. We had a great visit with them :)

Monday, hung out and did some things around the house and got ready for school. Then headed to a bbq with family and chilled out for awhile.

Running and boot camp. I finished up 2 weeks of boot camp last Friday. I will miss it. But still running. I ran 6.2 miles Saturday in San Clemente. The last 2 were along the path along the beach. I have the best running friends! Monday I ran a 5K (3.1 miles) in RSM. Julie and I ran. My time was 30:40 (30 min, 40 sec) It's been so long since I last ran a 5K that I can't remember my last time. But this time was pretty good. I couldn't figure out where the finish was and probably could have gotten close to 30 minutes or below if I knew. Oh well, there is always next time.

Julie's husband was at the race and got some photos of us. He must have done some great editing because they really don't look that bad. I was wondering what I looked like running, all sweaty and smelly and out of breath.

Tuesday, Julie and I ran the lake at 5:30 am. We made pretty good time too. I was going to run this morning but when the alarm went off, my body refused to get out of bed. Maybe I will run tonight.

First day of school went great. When I picked up the kids they were non stop chatting about this and that and the power went out and this person and that person and teachers and need this and that and you have to read this and fill this out. Oh, information over load! We went to TJ's to stock up on cereal and other must haves. Dashed home to unload groceries, have a snack and get ready for the rest of the day. Oh, the fun just never stops does it. But why should it.

Greg had his first soccer practice Tuesday. A buddy in his class is on his team! Awesome. The boys all seemd to get along and play really well together. First game is Saturday.

Mucho things to do still today. I am counting down the weeks and days until the work is all done around here. I can't wait to see the final results and get things put away again. We are running out of room in the garage! But one day at a time or my brain will totally explode. Don't need that happening now do we.

See the picture of the monkey guy. Cute, ain't she. Greg picked it out at Kohl's and it was in his back pack. Don't need to be taking that monkey to school. I guess that could be a likeness of me? Hanging on by a veggie peeler?

Hey, it's Wednesday, and as Michele says, hump day. So Happy Hump Day and enjoy the rest of your week.

Back to school

Happy day and sad day all mixed together.

The kids started back to school today.

Happy that the kids will be back together with all their friends and happy that the house will be quiet again.

Sad because I really miss them. I miss the noise in the house (other than the pounding that started around noon) I miss being with my kids. K misses her kids too. She looks sad today. :(

Normally I take photos by the front door. Well, couldn't do that today so found a new photo spot. Had to say please many times to get a quick chance for a picture.

Greg in 4th grade. Greg is thrilled to have the teacher he has. He knows the other boys in his class but none of his best friends are in his class. That is ok. He will see them at recess and lunch. Plus the kids switch teachers for reading and math groups. I am sure his buds will be in his reading or math group.

Evelyn is in 6th grade which is middle school at our school. The classrooms (portables) are in "the village" The middle school building is in the process of being built so we will get to see it's progress through out the year. Evelyn is thrilled to have the homeroom teacher she has. None of her girl friends are in her homeroom class. She knows some of the girls. She seemed a bit sad but knows that homeroom is only for like 15 minutes a day. Then they switch for all their classes and Evelyn knows she will see more friends there. Also at recess and lunch. This is a good chance for Evelyn to make some new friends too.

Parents can go to the kids classes on the first day of school. School doesn't start until 8:30 so we had one more day of kinda sleepin in. we went to Greg's class first and he found his desk. Then to Evelyn's class with Greg coming along too.

It was nice to see some of my mom friends again too and briefly catch up with people. I am closely watching my clock so I won't be late for pick up. Looking forward to a new and exciting (really??) school year.