Usually when DH kisses me goodbye in the mornings at 4:35 or so, I go back to sleep for another hour-and-fifteen-minutes. This morning, I didn't. When our clocks struck 5:00, I was busily caulking the trim on the second window.
Today will be Paint Trim Day, after I get home from the church, where I will prepare the slideshow for Sunday's Contemporary Service. I usually do this on Wednesdays, but this week, worked out a delay til Thursday so I could focus on Finishing the Floor.
After I caulked the trim, I wiped down the now-shiny floor with clean damp paper towels to get up any tiny bits of dirt, then applied the last, final, sayanara-baby, coat of poly. It's either coat #7 or 8, I can't remember, but I don't think it's 9 and I am sure I'm past 6.
The doors are still sealed with plastic drop cloths and duct tape (if you buy disposable plastic sheets anywhere but Dollar Tree, you really need to try these...) although the duct tape's patience is wearing quite thin. Every time I re-stick it to the door frame, as I climb in and out, it sighs and says, "One more time? Ok, this had better be it."
So by 6:20 I was done with caulking and had the final coat of poly on the floor and was washing out the poly applicator AGAIN.
Note: I am not caulking the windows shut but filling the little cracks where ornamental molding has pulled away from the window frames for some reason over the past 70 years. Also cheated a teensy bit and used the caulk to fill the zillion nail holes left by countless curtain rods, some of them actually put there by moi. Also the diagonal seams where window frames meet at the top corners of the windows had cracks in them. Now they don't.
Time to shower, fix breakfast, pack LO's lunch, take her to school, and run to the church. When I get home at 10:30 or 11, will paint trim.
Hmm. Title was "no pics." Honestly I looked for the digicam to take pics of the floor this am. Got the camera but the batter & charger are either under the pile of clothes from her closet (in the office over the easy chair) or in a drawer somewhere. This place is truly CHAOS. Which is WHY I am staying up till 11 and getting up at dark-thirty to try and finish. Might be best to post pics when we are at a later phase..
Some of this typing is weird. The keyboard, being only NINE years old, sticks terribly, so that as I am typing, the words are appearing two or three words behind my actual keying speed. I will notice that this or that letter that did not get pressed hard enough and then I have to back space several words to repair, then type again. Sort of discourages blogging!
Thursday, May 25
Tuesday, May 23
Yet Another Project
Must blog this one quickly b/c I really have to get to the project. Having totally emptied Little One's room, I have been sanding and staining her floors. Her furniture, clothes, toys and shoes are everywhere in this house. So are tools, sandpaper, cleaner, ladders, stain, and dropcloths. It's crazy.
The sander is on long-term loan from our plaster man. He had mentioned one time that he had a good one and would be happy to let us have it for as long as we needed it, until he needed it back. I called him in November and it sat here for months. Last Friday, after watching the Varathane video like a zillion times (compelling video -- you must see it!), I started in. The video had lots of tips and tricks, and the guy actually had a precious sense of humor, so that watching it was not too deadly-boring. One cool example: fill a plastic bag with loosely crumpled newspaper. Stuff the bag into the heater duct so the ventilation system in your house does not become impregnated with sawdust. I never would've thought of that on my own.
This is hard work. I sanded the room a total of 6 times: 36-grit, then 20, then 36 again, and finally, 3 x of 80. Because the giant sander does not get a 1-inch margin around the edge of the room, I did each grit with a palm sander on my hands and knees to get the edges.
We vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed. Vacuumed after each sanding, and then vacuumed 3x with the shop vac after the final one. After the three shop vac runs, washed the walls and doorframes/windowframes, also shelves in closet. (Had already removed closet door so we are doing closet floor as part of project.) Then we hooked up the household vacuum and ran it several times. When I felt we had gotten everything, Little One used the Swiffer and it was coated with sawdust. So, we Swiffered about 10 times until it came clean.
The sander he lent us is great, and really does not kick up a lot of dust as other sanders do. When DH did the kitchen, it seemed the rest of the house was coated for weeks as I made my way through, cleaning. Sawdust was even in the tufts of the LR sofa where the little buttons are.
This sander is like a 130-pound palm sander. It just vibrates in place, rather than spinning. On Friday I sanded, vacuumed, and repeated over and over. On Saturday, I had the luxury of LO being in there with me to vacuum behind me as I sanded. That worked out much, much better. We had a little cord conflict on occasion, but it was worth it to have the work virtually cut in half.
On Sunday we stained the floor. I truly believe she enjoyed helping! I had filled some cracks with a wood filler that purported to be stainable, yet when we stained the floors, the filler showed up as bright ivory in the dark brown floor. We attempted a number of fixes for this problem, and finally found a small bottle of craft acrylic paint in the studio, chocolate brown, and rubbed a drop of it into each of the filled cracks. Voila! (or, walla, as I am seeing it spelled nowadays)...success.
I duct-taped a clear dropcloth across the door to her room from the start, which I am sure helped in the dust control. I am sure it has helped me NOT to have cat-prints across the house as well.
I am going to damp-mop the floor now (teensy bit of damp) so that I can poly today. Will post pics maybe tomorrow or next day.
The sander is on long-term loan from our plaster man. He had mentioned one time that he had a good one and would be happy to let us have it for as long as we needed it, until he needed it back. I called him in November and it sat here for months. Last Friday, after watching the Varathane video like a zillion times (compelling video -- you must see it!), I started in. The video had lots of tips and tricks, and the guy actually had a precious sense of humor, so that watching it was not too deadly-boring. One cool example: fill a plastic bag with loosely crumpled newspaper. Stuff the bag into the heater duct so the ventilation system in your house does not become impregnated with sawdust. I never would've thought of that on my own.
This is hard work. I sanded the room a total of 6 times: 36-grit, then 20, then 36 again, and finally, 3 x of 80. Because the giant sander does not get a 1-inch margin around the edge of the room, I did each grit with a palm sander on my hands and knees to get the edges.
We vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed. Vacuumed after each sanding, and then vacuumed 3x with the shop vac after the final one. After the three shop vac runs, washed the walls and doorframes/windowframes, also shelves in closet. (Had already removed closet door so we are doing closet floor as part of project.) Then we hooked up the household vacuum and ran it several times. When I felt we had gotten everything, Little One used the Swiffer and it was coated with sawdust. So, we Swiffered about 10 times until it came clean.
The sander he lent us is great, and really does not kick up a lot of dust as other sanders do. When DH did the kitchen, it seemed the rest of the house was coated for weeks as I made my way through, cleaning. Sawdust was even in the tufts of the LR sofa where the little buttons are.
This sander is like a 130-pound palm sander. It just vibrates in place, rather than spinning. On Friday I sanded, vacuumed, and repeated over and over. On Saturday, I had the luxury of LO being in there with me to vacuum behind me as I sanded. That worked out much, much better. We had a little cord conflict on occasion, but it was worth it to have the work virtually cut in half.
On Sunday we stained the floor. I truly believe she enjoyed helping! I had filled some cracks with a wood filler that purported to be stainable, yet when we stained the floors, the filler showed up as bright ivory in the dark brown floor. We attempted a number of fixes for this problem, and finally found a small bottle of craft acrylic paint in the studio, chocolate brown, and rubbed a drop of it into each of the filled cracks. Voila! (or, walla, as I am seeing it spelled nowadays)...success.
I duct-taped a clear dropcloth across the door to her room from the start, which I am sure helped in the dust control. I am sure it has helped me NOT to have cat-prints across the house as well.
I am going to damp-mop the floor now (teensy bit of damp) so that I can poly today. Will post pics maybe tomorrow or next day.
The Perfect Morning
Took the Little White Dog with me this morning to take Little One to school. She (Little One, not dog) is in the midst of End-of-Year testing, which is very stressful for her. She frets and worries about it. We have been supportive by getting her to bed extra-early, keeping her physical activity up (relieves stress), and cooking high-protein breakfasts.
So after lots of hugs and kisses and finally watching her march up that long sidewalk to school, Little White Dog and I parked the car and took a walk on the town's Greenway. The stretch that we walk (not all the portions are connected yet; ours is about 2 miles long) has a variety of systems along it, including grassy fields, woods, swamp and bogs, and a good low wide creek.
LWD has some instinct hinting back to her forebears, but most of it seems to have been domesticated out of her. For example, she is so busy sniffing and wagging about racoon scat beside the trail, that she totally misses the brown rabbit running across the path 4 feet in front of us. As we progress, and she actually comes to the warm scent of the rabbit, she bounces around like the great hunter she is not, looking at me and saying, "A rabbit just went by! I'm sure of it!"
The blue was azure blue, as they say in the poem about the Mighty Casey, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Although I usually listen to the birds and bugs and sounds of nature, Tuesday is mowing day on the grassy fields I mentioned above, so I had the Ipod along. The songs lined themselves up in perfect form: Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," "I'll Fly Away," (this version from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack), Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," and the Scherzo from Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Who can beat a lineup like that??
When we got the creek, things got even better. This creek is about 25 to 30 feet wide, and the Greenway has a lovely covered bridge that arcs across it. This thing is SUBSTANTIAL. When you walk on it, your footsteps take on this lovely deep timbre because of the thick wood. LWD knows that when we reach the center of the bridge, I like to stand at the edge and watch the water for a while. My breathing slows as I watch the ripples, look for wildlife, notice the changes in foliage, and study the play of light on the water.
Today, the sun in the east was shining brilliantly on a large tree beside the creek. The leaves glowed as if lit from within. But I was not looking up at them -- I was looking at their reflection in the water. It was heavenly, and Joe Cocker sang through my head, "You Are So Beautiful to Me."
We walked the 2-mile stretch, twice, and came on home, to work on yet another project. That one deserves a blogcast of its own.
So after lots of hugs and kisses and finally watching her march up that long sidewalk to school, Little White Dog and I parked the car and took a walk on the town's Greenway. The stretch that we walk (not all the portions are connected yet; ours is about 2 miles long) has a variety of systems along it, including grassy fields, woods, swamp and bogs, and a good low wide creek.
LWD has some instinct hinting back to her forebears, but most of it seems to have been domesticated out of her. For example, she is so busy sniffing and wagging about racoon scat beside the trail, that she totally misses the brown rabbit running across the path 4 feet in front of us. As we progress, and she actually comes to the warm scent of the rabbit, she bounces around like the great hunter she is not, looking at me and saying, "A rabbit just went by! I'm sure of it!"
The blue was azure blue, as they say in the poem about the Mighty Casey, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Although I usually listen to the birds and bugs and sounds of nature, Tuesday is mowing day on the grassy fields I mentioned above, so I had the Ipod along. The songs lined themselves up in perfect form: Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," "I'll Fly Away," (this version from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack), Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone," and the Scherzo from Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Who can beat a lineup like that??
When we got the creek, things got even better. This creek is about 25 to 30 feet wide, and the Greenway has a lovely covered bridge that arcs across it. This thing is SUBSTANTIAL. When you walk on it, your footsteps take on this lovely deep timbre because of the thick wood. LWD knows that when we reach the center of the bridge, I like to stand at the edge and watch the water for a while. My breathing slows as I watch the ripples, look for wildlife, notice the changes in foliage, and study the play of light on the water.
Today, the sun in the east was shining brilliantly on a large tree beside the creek. The leaves glowed as if lit from within. But I was not looking up at them -- I was looking at their reflection in the water. It was heavenly, and Joe Cocker sang through my head, "You Are So Beautiful to Me."
We walked the 2-mile stretch, twice, and came on home, to work on yet another project. That one deserves a blogcast of its own.
Saturday, May 20
Brazilian
I am quite weary of the mentality that you cannot be both a liberal and a Christian. Come ON.
I read the following and laughed til I cried. To my ultra-conservative friends (do I have any?) and my dear sons: no apologies. This could be true!!!
Donald Rumsfeld is briefing George Bush in the Oval Office.
"Oh and finally, sir, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq today."
Bush goes pale, his jaw hanging open in stunned disbelief. He buries his
face in his hands, muttering "My God...My God".
"Mr. President," says Cheney, "We lose soldiers all the time, and it's
terrible. But I've never seen you so upset. What's the matter?"
Bush looks up and says..."How many is a Brazilian?"
I read the following and laughed til I cried. To my ultra-conservative friends (do I have any?) and my dear sons: no apologies. This could be true!!!
Donald Rumsfeld is briefing George Bush in the Oval Office.
"Oh and finally, sir, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq today."
Bush goes pale, his jaw hanging open in stunned disbelief. He buries his
face in his hands, muttering "My God...My God".
"Mr. President," says Cheney, "We lose soldiers all the time, and it's
terrible. But I've never seen you so upset. What's the matter?"
Bush looks up and says..."How many is a Brazilian?"
Friday, May 5
Moving Up
With Little One completing the fifth grade this year, we are having several "moving up" ceremonies. One of these was just this Wednesday, as the Children's Group at our church recognized the 5th graders and bade them farewell as they prepare to move up to Middle School. The program for children at our church is called First Kids because our church is called First Presbyterian, and it's a fantastic program.
The children meet every Wednesday night from September through May, with a couple weeks off at Christmas and Easter. They eat dinner together, recognize birthdays, sing, play, study the Bible stories, and learn verses. The program began three years ago and Little One has missed less than 3 evenings in the three years. She can't stand to miss. On occasion, if she had a lot of homework, or was really tired from her schedule, I have suggested, 'maybe it's a good idea to stay home from First Kids tonight and get your homework/rest/take a break,' depending on the situation. This suggestion has always prompted a quick refusal. "I'll work extra hard and get my homework done!" or -- "I'll go straight to bed when I get home at 7:45!"
The leaders are three women who have been involved from its inception in 2003. They plan, purchase, teach, encourage, discipline, and play with our children. They are supported by several folks who lead the music, two more who serve the dinner, and two more who serve as assistants to the primary leaders. The original ladies actually enjoy what they do, and have already agreed to lead again next year.
Wednesday night, the new hall was decorated and ready for dinner. Lovely plants in flowerpots served as centerpieces on the tables. The big screen was up with the First Kids graphic prominently displayed. Our new tables seat ten per and the kids sat with kids and the parents sat with parents. After dinner, we had The Great Spoon-Off, a contest to see who could balance a spoon hanging from his nose the longest. Then we had the graduation.
One of the leaders had prepared so carefully and had a dedication to each of the seven fifth-graders. She featured each of the seven individually and made remarks as to that child's talents and gifts. Little One was featured as bringing Energy and Excitement to the group. She spoke of Little One growing up so beautifully and being so confident. At the end, they presented a gift to each of the graduates -- LO's was a book on "The Christian Girl's Guide to Growing Up Right" and we all had lots of hugs and tears.
It was a lovely night. The graduates' parents were encouraged to take home the centerpieces as a gift for our being supportive and bringing the children to the program.
Next "closing ceremony": I am planning a tea for the 6 girls who have been so close this year. We are having it the 3rd weekend in May at the park. ALL the girls are worried about being able to open their lockers at Middle School next year; in the favor bags will be combination locks so they can practice this summer! More to come on this...
The children meet every Wednesday night from September through May, with a couple weeks off at Christmas and Easter. They eat dinner together, recognize birthdays, sing, play, study the Bible stories, and learn verses. The program began three years ago and Little One has missed less than 3 evenings in the three years. She can't stand to miss. On occasion, if she had a lot of homework, or was really tired from her schedule, I have suggested, 'maybe it's a good idea to stay home from First Kids tonight and get your homework/rest/take a break,' depending on the situation. This suggestion has always prompted a quick refusal. "I'll work extra hard and get my homework done!" or -- "I'll go straight to bed when I get home at 7:45!"
The leaders are three women who have been involved from its inception in 2003. They plan, purchase, teach, encourage, discipline, and play with our children. They are supported by several folks who lead the music, two more who serve the dinner, and two more who serve as assistants to the primary leaders. The original ladies actually enjoy what they do, and have already agreed to lead again next year.
Wednesday night, the new hall was decorated and ready for dinner. Lovely plants in flowerpots served as centerpieces on the tables. The big screen was up with the First Kids graphic prominently displayed. Our new tables seat ten per and the kids sat with kids and the parents sat with parents. After dinner, we had The Great Spoon-Off, a contest to see who could balance a spoon hanging from his nose the longest. Then we had the graduation.
One of the leaders had prepared so carefully and had a dedication to each of the seven fifth-graders. She featured each of the seven individually and made remarks as to that child's talents and gifts. Little One was featured as bringing Energy and Excitement to the group. She spoke of Little One growing up so beautifully and being so confident. At the end, they presented a gift to each of the graduates -- LO's was a book on "The Christian Girl's Guide to Growing Up Right" and we all had lots of hugs and tears.
It was a lovely night. The graduates' parents were encouraged to take home the centerpieces as a gift for our being supportive and bringing the children to the program.
Next "closing ceremony": I am planning a tea for the 6 girls who have been so close this year. We are having it the 3rd weekend in May at the park. ALL the girls are worried about being able to open their lockers at Middle School next year; in the favor bags will be combination locks so they can practice this summer! More to come on this...
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