We are in full swing on remodeling projects again. Clint installed the door and window trim, and will start on the baseboards as soon as they come in. It looks so nice!
We finally chose our cabinet hardware, so Clint is in the process of installing knobs and pulls. I think there are about 50 altogether for the kitchen and bath alone. We decided on a simple style matte black knob and handle that I found at Home Depot, and a copper knob for the bathroom. They were in the mid range as far as price, $2.50 for the knobs, and $5 for the handles. It was still shocking to see the cost though; it really added up, with all those pieces. The cabinets were becoming damaged because of the lack of handles. They aren't designed to be knob-less, although they look nice that way. They don't have any place to grab them, so fingernails bubm and dent the wood. We are still getting used to grabbing them by the knobs. Even half done, they look so much better!
We veered off the remodel path and onto home maintenance to repair the upstairs bathroom tub surround, which had water leaking behind the surround, damaging the studs and creating an ugly mildew problem. We decided to replace the tub as well as the surround, after discovering the tub was rusting through at the seam. After an afternoon of tub shopping, we brought home a replacement 2 piece fiberglass tub/surround, destined to resolve the mildew problems inherent in using a separate plastic surround. We went to great lengths to ensure that the pieces would fit through the bathroom door and into the space available, only to discover when we got it home that it would not make it up the stairs and around the sharp angle from the landing to the bathroom.
I was all for putting the old tub back in and putting up a cheap new plastic tub surround, and just replacing it every 5 or 6 years. But Clint felt the old tub was not useable, so it was back to the store to assess options for plan B. This time I let Clint handle it on his own. He came home with a very nice 4 piece plastic tub and surround. Of course it was three times as much as the 50% off fiberglass one we had purchased the week before. We've decided to keep that one for the downstairs bathroom remodel, which we are planning for July. There is no tub or bath in that room at all, thus the need for the remodel.
So, while Shelby and I spent Saturday on an all day trip to Pendleton for a seminar on "Raptor Rehabillitation and Wound Management Techniques", Clint installed the new tub and surround. It totally exceeds my expectations. The tub he chose is beautiful, and BIG. I may even be able to convince some of the kids to bathe up there instead of in my tub! And it's so clean! We aregued a bit on the fixtures. He wanted to replace them with the same old clear plastic knobs style that was there before. I wanted a more modern metal lever. Same price either way. I said I would rather put the old knob back on than spend money on a newer model with the same dated look. That made him mad! I think the issue was the plumbing valve for the different style lever. He was worried that it would require a plumber to change out the valve. But in the end, after the tub came out, he found it was not difficult to change out the valve at all.
This whole process involved ripping out drywall, sometihing we hadn't planned on. I was going to paint the bathroom as soon as the surround went in. Cilnt has replaced the drywall, but we will need a professional to tape and texture it if we want it to look right. I'm voting for leaving it like it is until we do the downstairs bathroom, since we will have the same situation once we move the sink and add the tub. Then we can just have someone come out once and do both bathrooms.
Last on our remodel list are installing the stone columns on the front porch, the baseboards,the bathroom remodel, and painting the exterior of the house, which needs to happen soon or the weather will start damaging the still unpainted siding. We plan to get all four projects done this spring and summer, before Clint's fall tournament schedule, which is very busy. My dream would be to finish all this AND start to work on the yard, which needs to be completely redone, but I'm thinking it's not realistic. It's a bummer to have a scrappy yard for another year, though. But there are limits to what is humanly possible.
Monday, April 25, 2005
An April Recap
I knew April would be a busy month when I looked at my calendar and there were only three days on the whole month without something happening on them. Still, since a fair amount of those things were routine, like dance classes, I figured it would be fine. And we are fine, but very busy these days!
Grandma Dorothy's brain surgery kept us busy at the beginning of April. We spent an afternnon cleaning her house for her while she was at the hospital. She is doing well (the tumor was benign) and has been told she can resume her normal activities, but the experience left her feeling emotionally weakened and in need of support, so we have been visiting her to keep her spirits up.
April is a birthday month for us, so we were busy with gift shopping, party planning, party preparations, cake baking, gift wrapping...all the little things that go with birthdays. My brother celebrated his B-day with a BBQ. Clint and I played basketball with our kids and Henry and Chloe. It was a blast! For my birthday I engineered a shopping trip for the girls with Clint and made a special birthday dinner of lasagne with my favorite angel food cake with berries for dessert. I thought about spending my day doing something fun like scrapbooking, but I had too many chores to do. That's OK, it was an awesome day. The girls made me feel SO special. They bought me a new bread machine (yeah...my old one broke) and a new monitor for the old computer. Yipee! Now my computer has as awesome a screen as the girls' newer game computer. I can do all my work on the old computer now! They also bought me dangly earrings, scented candles, and a Japanese maple and columbines for my garden. They know all the things I like. I'm so lucky! A few days after my birthday was Tamzin's. We did Chuck E Cheese and a play date with two little girls one day, and then invited family over for a BBQ on her birthday. Clint's birthday was just a few days ago. We took him out to dinner one night, and then the next night we took him to Sportsman's Warehouse to choose his own birthday gift. This plan developed after a month of asking him for birthday ideas and getting NO response. I don't really care about getting him something, since I know he doesn't care, but the girls feel so disappointed when they don't have the chance to give a gift. He chose a pellet gun. He said he had always wanted one. I don't really get it, since we have a Red Ryder BB gun in the closet, but it was his choice, and he was very excited about it. He also took a day off work to go fishing for a B-day gift. The joys of self employment. And nothing bad happened on the job site while he was gone, thank goodness!
The girls started an Art Class through the Boys and Girls Clubs in Kennewick. It's an Art History class with a focus on tactile arts. Each week they will do a project related to an historical time period. They've done cave paintings and wood sculpting. Next week they will be doing Minoan period Frescos. Shelby and Rhiannon have been really enthusiastic about the class. I think it has exceeded their expectations. I'm not sure yet about Gillian. Tamzin is too young, so she and I have to find something to do for 1 1/2 hours in downtown Kennewick. We've played at McDonald's once and gone shopping at Fred Meyers once. This puts me at three days a week taking kids to classes and needing to find things to to while I wait for class to be over, and needing to be organized enough to have dinner planned and my household stuff under control so I'm not freaking out when I get home. I admit, I'm slipping. I'm not very on top of things at all right now.
Shelby has been volunteering at McNary Wildlife Refuge about 3 times a month. Driving her to and from is enjoyable, since we get time to visit without interruptions, but it does take some time. She likes helping out, and loves the Refuge.
I spent the first two weeks of the month frantically doing taxes. Not just income taxes, although that was the biggie, but also quarterly business taxes. With Clint's business in full swing again, I need to schedule in about 6-8 hours a week of office time to keep caught up, but it's tough to squeeze it in. Each task is small, but when I do them in peices I find I end up forgetting some stuff, which leads to disaster later. I had to do a California Tax Return, too, since they withheld $800 from his winnings from last year's big tournament. It was a pain in the neck, very complex. I had to call their tax board 5 times to get the full answer to one question about the method for distribution of business expenses by state, and in the end I had to look up the Ca tax code myself to be clear on the answer, since I got conflicting responses! But, it looks like I will get all the money back, so it was 5 hours well spent! I still need to file a Louisiana return, but I'm not sure it's worth the $30 they withheld. I think it will take about an hour. Hmm. Maybe it is worth it, if I can find the time.
Grandma Dorothy's brain surgery kept us busy at the beginning of April. We spent an afternnon cleaning her house for her while she was at the hospital. She is doing well (the tumor was benign) and has been told she can resume her normal activities, but the experience left her feeling emotionally weakened and in need of support, so we have been visiting her to keep her spirits up.
April is a birthday month for us, so we were busy with gift shopping, party planning, party preparations, cake baking, gift wrapping...all the little things that go with birthdays. My brother celebrated his B-day with a BBQ. Clint and I played basketball with our kids and Henry and Chloe. It was a blast! For my birthday I engineered a shopping trip for the girls with Clint and made a special birthday dinner of lasagne with my favorite angel food cake with berries for dessert. I thought about spending my day doing something fun like scrapbooking, but I had too many chores to do. That's OK, it was an awesome day. The girls made me feel SO special. They bought me a new bread machine (yeah...my old one broke) and a new monitor for the old computer. Yipee! Now my computer has as awesome a screen as the girls' newer game computer. I can do all my work on the old computer now! They also bought me dangly earrings, scented candles, and a Japanese maple and columbines for my garden. They know all the things I like. I'm so lucky! A few days after my birthday was Tamzin's. We did Chuck E Cheese and a play date with two little girls one day, and then invited family over for a BBQ on her birthday. Clint's birthday was just a few days ago. We took him out to dinner one night, and then the next night we took him to Sportsman's Warehouse to choose his own birthday gift. This plan developed after a month of asking him for birthday ideas and getting NO response. I don't really care about getting him something, since I know he doesn't care, but the girls feel so disappointed when they don't have the chance to give a gift. He chose a pellet gun. He said he had always wanted one. I don't really get it, since we have a Red Ryder BB gun in the closet, but it was his choice, and he was very excited about it. He also took a day off work to go fishing for a B-day gift. The joys of self employment. And nothing bad happened on the job site while he was gone, thank goodness!
The girls started an Art Class through the Boys and Girls Clubs in Kennewick. It's an Art History class with a focus on tactile arts. Each week they will do a project related to an historical time period. They've done cave paintings and wood sculpting. Next week they will be doing Minoan period Frescos. Shelby and Rhiannon have been really enthusiastic about the class. I think it has exceeded their expectations. I'm not sure yet about Gillian. Tamzin is too young, so she and I have to find something to do for 1 1/2 hours in downtown Kennewick. We've played at McDonald's once and gone shopping at Fred Meyers once. This puts me at three days a week taking kids to classes and needing to find things to to while I wait for class to be over, and needing to be organized enough to have dinner planned and my household stuff under control so I'm not freaking out when I get home. I admit, I'm slipping. I'm not very on top of things at all right now.
Shelby has been volunteering at McNary Wildlife Refuge about 3 times a month. Driving her to and from is enjoyable, since we get time to visit without interruptions, but it does take some time. She likes helping out, and loves the Refuge.
I spent the first two weeks of the month frantically doing taxes. Not just income taxes, although that was the biggie, but also quarterly business taxes. With Clint's business in full swing again, I need to schedule in about 6-8 hours a week of office time to keep caught up, but it's tough to squeeze it in. Each task is small, but when I do them in peices I find I end up forgetting some stuff, which leads to disaster later. I had to do a California Tax Return, too, since they withheld $800 from his winnings from last year's big tournament. It was a pain in the neck, very complex. I had to call their tax board 5 times to get the full answer to one question about the method for distribution of business expenses by state, and in the end I had to look up the Ca tax code myself to be clear on the answer, since I got conflicting responses! But, it looks like I will get all the money back, so it was 5 hours well spent! I still need to file a Louisiana return, but I'm not sure it's worth the $30 they withheld. I think it will take about an hour. Hmm. Maybe it is worth it, if I can find the time.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Where Have I Been?!
Aaaackkk! Where have I been? I must've dropped off into blog oblivion! I'll have to think about it and post later.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Brain Surgery
Clint's mom has a brain tumor. They discovered it Wednesday when she went in to ER with unusually high blood pressure. They took her by ambulance to Seattle's UW hospital yesterday, and she went into surgery today. Clint went over last night to be with her. The girls and I are waiting to hear how she does.
The doctor told her removing brain tumors is the only surgery he performs. He does about 200 a year, and has never lost a patient on the operating table. I guess you can't ask for more reassurance than that, under the circumstances.
Update: Dorothy is out of surgery and has regained consciousness. She is able to chat a bit, but has a headache.
The doctor told her removing brain tumors is the only surgery he performs. He does about 200 a year, and has never lost a patient on the operating table. I guess you can't ask for more reassurance than that, under the circumstances.
Update: Dorothy is out of surgery and has regained consciousness. She is able to chat a bit, but has a headache.
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