Springtime craziness

Okay, okay - I haven't updated the blog lately. I have a list of excuses a mile long. It includes running around in circles every day. When I have been slaving away over at the house, I haven't remembered to take pictures. I think I have a few. But first here's the pics we had taken of the cousins Easter weekend. We had them taken at Portrait Innovations and they give you a CD of the pics. I see they give you the pics uncropped, but you get the idea of how beautiful they are. Jackie, 13, Cassie, 11, Josie, 9, and Harry, 9. I should just scan the good pics we bought in. In this picture is my mom w/ the grandbabies.

And here's a pic of me and the girls. Do they look like me?!?

Steve just called from the house. He went over to finish painting the basement stairs. He had to buy a plank from Lowe's, so he could reach the ceiling. Not one of my jobs. Looks like this weekend will be nice to put the clear coats on the trim. I'll check the camera for new pics and update later.

Spring Break

Spring break was nice, but I was too tired to blog. I painted from Sun. to Sat. and I think after this I won't ever want to paint again. This is the Easter get together at Butler Haynes Park on Sat. 04/04. Jackie's not too old to hunt for candy.

On Monday, we couldn't paint until the drywall guys were done and cleaned up. The girls got haircuts at Great Clips where my cousin Patrick works. Jackie got a trim and Josie got about 3 inches off. It looks cute though and doesn't tangle as much.On Tues. we started painting after my hair appt. Here's Josie taking a break in the tub. She didn't last long painting.Picnic in the dining room. On Wed. they brought over the DVD player and watched movies while I painted. Thurs. Dad, Jackie and I stained > 3/4 of the trim in the basement. There was stain everywhere. I think we might do the clear coating outside. Friday the Barretts got here around 12. The kids stayed w/ Grandma at my house, and Tami and I painted. Erik wasn't feeling well, so he bailed.

Here's Cassie and Jo painting Josie's room blue.

Harry is trimming the corners.

Jackie is a very hard worker! She has primed walls, stained trim and painted walls this week. I told her we should work on her Home Improvement badge for Girl Scouts. She also doesn't complain. Josie on the other hand is tired after about 15 minutes of painting.

We had the cousins pictures taken on Sat. morning. They turned out really good. I'll have to add them later after I scan them in. The kids are getting so big.

Sunday - Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Josie is searching.

Cassie and Jackie are dashing for eggs. Harry wasn't feeling well, so he didn't pick up much. Erik, Grandma and I went after they were done and found some candy too.

The concrete guys put the forms in on Thurs., but it has been too rainy to pour the driveway and sidwalks. Hopefully tomorrow. Derrick the electrician called on Mon. afternoon, and they are going to put in the can lights and some more outlets tomorrow, which will help alot.

All the walls are primed and ceilings painted (except the basement stairs). Jackie and Josie's rooms are done. Now we are working on the kitchen/greatroom/foyer/dining room.

Taping and Mudding

Jackie helped Dad and I plane the 500 linear ft of base. The 1X6 lumber had to go thru the planer twice. It only took us 2 hrs. and then we went to McDs for breakfast. She was a great help. It helped to have another pair of hands to move the lumber around.
They finished the drywall and cleaned up the garage. It is ready for the cabinets to be delivered. The taper guys set up their stuff on Thurs, but couldn't get started, because they needed a water faucet installed in the basement. Plumber installed the faucet on Fri., so they can start on Mon.

Look at all the "mud".

These are the stilts they use to do the ceilings. I should have went over during the week to see this process, but I'm swamped at work. Trying to wrap up 3 experiments, so I can take next week off. I may have to go in for a couple hours during spring break, but I will probably need a break from painting.

I'm still trying to imagine what the island is going to look like. We are also still discussing the dilemma of tile vs. wood in the kitchen. Wood will be the easiest, but not my first choice.

They are keeping the house at 70o. It is so toasty in there. Makes me want to stay. They are trying get the moisture out of the house. On Friday the dehumidifier in the basement said 83% and by Sunday it was 70%. I think we are going to have to purchase a dehumidifier, because I think the basement is always going to stay "wet".

We took our friends over on Sunday after pizza to check it out. The kids played hide and seek.

Dan called today while I was home with Josie. (She stayed home with a touch of the stomach bug.) There are some wall texture examples in the kitchen they want us to decide on. 1 called stomp for the ceiling of plain walls, 1 called orange peel (as seen above) and 1 called knock down. I think we are going to go with orange peel.

Everything looks good and smooth. Ready for painting. I'm ready to get started.

Saturday Dad and I are going shopping for a paint sprayer and stain sprayer, and the primer. I hope to get started on Sat. Steve has to work and the kids are going to a Easter get-together, so it will just be me. I love it!!

Springfield Field Trip

Wed. Mar. 18th we left for Springfield from Northmoor around 8 am on a Peoria Charter bus. We watched Horton Hears A Who. I chaperoned Josie, Jennifer and Jensen.

First stop was the Lincoln museum. Here they are w/ young Lincoln near his log cabin home.

This is Mrs. Lincoln's attic where the kids can try on clothes.

Here are the girls w/ the Lincoln family in front of the White House. The shows at the Lincoln museum are cool if you ever get to visit.

Next we went to the Illinois State Museum.

Then we went to Lincoln's tomb.

I had to lift a lot of kids to touch Mr. Lincoln's nose.

This is Josie and her friend, Hayley. She just got a leg cast off the day before and she was having trouble getting around. Her chaperone found wheel chairs at the museums, so she could get around faster.

This is 2/3 rds of the 4th grade class. The other 1/3 went to the site earlier.

Last stop, Lincoln's home in Springfield. It was kind of boring, because we could not go inside. Back on the bus to travel back to Peoria. We watched Madagascar on the way back and I took a little nap. We got back around 4:30. It was a fun day!

Trim

They finished the siding on the garage on Tues. the 17th. It looks so pretty. I think it looks good w/ the brick.
The porches are poured.

This is the front porch. Now we don't have to jump to the front door.

Sat. 7 am, Dad and I met at LS Lumber in Bartonville to plane the 1X4 oak case. 500 linear ft. The headers don't have to be planed, so they are 3/4 inch. The legs of the doors and windows were planed down 1/8 inch to have a reveal on the headers. It only took us approx. 1 1/2 hrs. Dad and I are a good team. Next weekend we are going to work on the 500 linear ft. of 1X6 oak base. It needs to be planed down 1/4 inch to have a reveal on the legs of the doors. So we will need to do 2 passes through the planer, and maybe another set of hands. We are thinking of having Jackie help us.

The sawdust is flying. I do have my safety glasses on. I don't want anything to happen to my $3000 eyes. I forgot ear protection though. I will have to remember that for next weekend, because they were ringing a little after we were done.

Lots of oak sawdust to clean up. It filled 1 1/2 barrels. I even put some in a bag for bedding for our hamster.

I have a blood blister from stacking the finished boards and getting a little skin caught between them. No splinters though.

I called Dan on Monday to check if the furnace has been turned on to dry out the basement before we bring the trim in. It's on and we talked about bringing in a dehumidifier also. I really don't want 1000 linear ft of oak trim to get warped.

Tues. Mar. 24th - left work to meet the truck from LS delivering the planed case. The wall for the island is up. I looks kind of weird out in the middle of the room. The drywaller was there putting corners up. It is getting cleaned up a little too.

They installed the door from the garage to the house.

The delivery truck came around 1:30. Steve and I took it from the garage to the basement, so we can start staining soon.

The plumber, Darrin, was working on the tub and the plumbing downstairs. Steve had to check out the tub. I can't wait for my first bath. OOOOHHH!!

So the next steps are dry wall taping and mudding. Dan is having the cabinets delivered, so no large trucks will be delivering after the driveway is poured. No driving on it for 2 weeks. Of course, they won't be able to pour the driveway until it stops raining. After the driveway is poured the excavator, Fred, will come and grade the yard. (When the yard dries out!)

Steve and I are working on flooring. I'm picking out paint colors. We need to check out KBL for lighting fixtures.