Oreos

John usually leaves to work on the Lacey house at 6am. Sometimes that is a little too early for Audrey to get out of bed on a summer morning. Today John left but asked that I drop her off on my way to work (I work about 10 blocks from the Lacey house). But I work at 7AM, so not a lot more time for Audrey to sleep in. I gave her the last "I'm leaving" warning at which time she told me she had not even had time to eat breakfast! And of course there was "nothing" to eat in our house (according to Audrey). I usually have a lovely breakfast of hot Zoom every morning, but she thinks that does not sound yummy. In desperation I said "Just grab some of those Oreos and some milk, that will at least get something in your tummy". This is the funny part, especially knowing my daughter...

"Mom, Oreos aren't healthy!!"

Yeah, tell me something I don't know!

Painter Chick

So, my little painter chick, Audrey, was out on the front porch painting one day when someone stopped by. He told her she did good work and "Would you like a job?" She basically told him she was working for her dad and would be starting school soon, so "no thank you". But we were very proud that her hard work was noticed by someone besides us. She has been a HUGE help on the painting of the house, especially the trim and detail stuff. She has a set of painting clothes that she wears and I kidded her the other day that all the pictures I take look the same!

Lacey - Kitchen

OK, I've been a little too tired to update my blog as we've been working our tails off to get this house finished before summer ends. The kitchen is probably my favorite room. When we first purchased, it was probably my least favorite room. Might have had something to do with cleaning up others messes? Below is what the kitchen looked like after the renter departed. Nice, huh? One of the areas that John has spent a ton of time on are the kitchen cupboards. The kitchen did have a built in china cupboard and he has added two more built-ins to match. He also made all the door fronts on the cupboards in the same style. Here is an example of what one corner used to look like and what it looks like now: Below is another picture of the kitchen. This showcases the island and counters that John built. I especially liked the kitchen lights we chose. We still have some touch up painting to do, but the kitchen (except the original built in) is all new. We put in new faucet, sink, counters, door fronts and tile floor. Also installed a dishwasher (none before).

Hell Boy

Sheesh, what a scary sounding movie... Anyway, the Par-Tay van took a road trip to Newport, about 50 miles up the road. (The Par-Tay van being driven by Grandma) We went with Grandma, Mariska and Dakota to the Roxy Theatre in Newport Saturday night. It is a place that holds some fun memories for me as "my" Grandma Whisler would take us there when we stayed at her house for a week each summer. This movie was another (on the list of movies) that I personally would not have chosen to see. But I was (again) pleasantly surprised. The basic premise is that Prince Nuada breaks an ancient truce with the mystical world and the humans in order to rule the Earth (and release the Golden Army), so Hellboy and his team must save the world. Hellboy's team includes his pyrokinetic girlfriend, Liz, an aquatic empath, Abe, and a protoplasmic mystic, Johan. It wasn't scary at all. More of a sci-fi action movie with a bunch of comedy thrown in. It was pretty funny. Take the time that Abe and Hellboy were commiserating over their loves and started singing along with Barry Manilow's "Can't Smile Without You". Our audience was great as they sang along also. In fact, the closing credits were to that song. ...Can't smile without you. I can't smile without you. I can't laugh and I can't sing. I'm finding it hard to do anything you see I ... (Yes, I was a big Barry Manilow fan while growing up and did not have to look up those lyrics at all).

Lacey - Dining Room

Here is the BEFORE picture of the dining room. Had cream colored carpet that was ruined by the tenant with the two Rottweilers, three cats and her cigarette smoking habit. You can see where her throw rug saved the cream color in the center of the carpet, but it was literally black along the edges. Funny, the rental contract called for no pets and no smoking. The ceilings were painted a really dark burnt mustard orange and the walls were a beige/yellow. Afraid I have not found a picture showcasing this ceiling color in my archives. Sorry. Some items that were fixed in this room were: Widening the doorway between the dining room and kitchen (so the folks in the kitchen don't feel left out); Changing the old apartment entry door to just an entry way; Fixing a couple of broken window panes; and removing the bedroom door (as the layout of the dining room had the bay windows on one wall, pocket door on the next wall, two doors on the third wall and a doorway on the fourth wall. Way too many things on the walls leaving no blank wall space for even a picture). The main floor bedroom had two doors, so now it has one that goes into the hallway near the main floor bathroom. DURING picture. We just hauled away the last of the old carpet last week (it was really handy to use as a paint tarp) and we were able to see that the wood underneath might be salvageable. The edges looked like the linoleum floor had been adhered there, so we were hopeful it would eventually come off. John spent time with solvent working on that. STILL DURING picture. This was after John spent 15 plus hours sanding the floor with various sizes / grits of sandpaper. This picture is funny to me as the walls are actually a light beige, but in this picture they look yellow, and almost the original color. They are not. Next step: stain and varnish the floors. The floors extend from the dining room into the front parlour and into the front entry hall so when they are done, it will look marvelous!

Lacey - Front Porch

To get the TRUE picture of what has been changed on the front porch (and how much work has been put into it), I thought I'd post this picture of what the porch looked like days after we bought the house in June 2007. Below is a collage of things that Audrey & John have been working on. Some of the items that have changed: the OSB sheeting that used to be the flooring on the porch was replaced with 6" tongue and groove; cement cores were poured underneath all pillars so that the weight of the house was not resting on the porch; all the pillars were wrapped with smooth sheeting & trimmed out (see detail); the old 2x4 with 1x1 post railing was replaced with a new railing (slats, trim pieces, router details, etc). We still have the second coat of paint on the rails and the deck wash & seal to do next week. But I think it looks much better!

Dark Knight

Audrey and John worked all day on Lacey (and got the front porch railing on), so to relax and have a treat, we went to see the new Batman movie "Dark Knight". It was great! Lots of intensity and action. Plot was excellent. We had a fun time as a family. Audrey even treated us to popcorn and pop, what a great kid!