Thursday, November 26, 2009

Feast for a "King" City Fireman

Thanksgiving was spent loading and unloading mutliple trips in the van...in the typical NW drizzly rain, along with a little bit of painting because when I get an idea in my head I want to roll with it right away!

We headed out to Todd's station out in King City around 2 p.m. for a Thanksgiving feast along with 5 of the other firefighters, their family and a King City Police officer.
I am sorry right now to whom I may offend, but this was probably the most delicious Thanksgiving dinners I have had! Todd even went so far as to purchase me some saurcraute! He did not make the dinner, the guy to his right did. The yams, oh my. The stuffing with artichoke and rosemary, me oh my....and I don't like stuffing. Homemade rolls, turkey on the traeger, which was so flavorful and moist. Desserts aplenty. Pecan pie with real whipping cream. I do think I was sick. Then again, my tummy may have shrunk from being so busy these last few days and barely having time to eat! I think it's all stretched back out now.


It's nice being able to visit with these other families, moms who share the same schedule and time away from hubbys and dads on holidays like we do. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours.
Once Brody took his pants off and started to dance, it was time to head home.
Kids helped me packing up their clothes.

Yes! My house CAN look messy!

I've been too busy to bed sad. That is a good thing. I've been too busy to sleep. That is a bad thing. The kids want me to start decorating for Christmas. Normally I would have had it ALL done by now. First I need to unpack! AFTER we put a few beds together.
Our new buyers are great. I feel like I'm friends with this gal just through our emails and I've not said more than "hello" to her in person when they came to look at the house. She even told me not to worry about the nail holes. Now I really love her!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Today on....This Old House

On any given day during these last few weeks Elmers place has been hopping with electricians, sheetrockers, surveyers, inspecters, renovating bids and so forth. Arlon has been running a well oiled machine out at this place! I may have to put him on payroll. The sheetrock in the garage is 98% complete! Just a bit more taping on Friday and it will be complete.
The pad and carpet was laid today. They worked from 9:30 to 5:30. He said the job was taking longer than he anticipated because it is a "tough, durable" carpet. Yes, that's what we paid for!

They called it quits when it got too dark (and too tired) to continue. I continued on my cleaning streak. It smells SO good in there! I have one bathroom left to tackle, but want to wait until these handymen are all done in there.
Todd is working today and Thanksgiving so I was calling him with updates and questions throughout the day. While cleaning the laundry room I called and said "I am so in love!!!" Yes, with him, but also with this charming old house. Especially now that I have it scoured and dusted. I never saw a speck of dust when Cindy resided here, but boys.....you gotta love em, they just don't have that domestic instinct. (Unless your name is Todd Lake or Mike Jensen).


Thanks to Nicole Jackson and crew for an 8:45-5:00 jobber with all 4 kids. Wowza, I did love that!!!!
Next edition: Carpet in the apartment and moving of boxes.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Today on....This Old House

Todd spent 2 1/2 hours last night as well as 12 hours today out at the Elmers house ("our house" sounds strange to me), tearing out carpet and disposing of it. His fingers are a bit raw!!! Now he has to work a 48 hour shift Wed and Thurs, then move our home Friday and Saturday. Good thing this boy likes projects! Arlon called to see if we wanted to keep this tanning bed. Mmm, no. It's a nice touch out here on the front porch though. I guess it won't clash with the Christmas decor if I just turn it on to light up the night.
I helped Todd load these rolls and pad....well he did 75% of it. 450 square yards of each! I can't believe he got it all in this truck and trailer in one load! Plus he had to unload it himself at the recycle center....tough work.

It was near 60 this afternoon. It felt like one of those cool summer mornings. I only sat for about 1 minute before Todd put me on another assignment. His hired hand for the day got layed up in the hospital, poor guy....so I stepped up at helping Todd out, although I kept gravitating toward cleaning in the kitchen.
You know in home magazines when there is a renovation project and they discover hardwoods underneath old carpet? Tah-dah!! Todd wasn't amused when I announed that I wanted to restore the hardwood and forgo the carpets. It could be done, but it would take a LOT of work and even more money....one day, 10 years down the road perhaps.

My project of the day was cleaning out the kitchen. I am a clean fridge snob. I've said this before...... It's pretty gross when one never wipes out the inside. We wipe off counters and sinks, but what about where all your food is stored day in and day out? People come on! Lastly I went over the floors after the tear out collecting staples and dust. We finally came home after the kids had called to say they were STARVING to have a yummy dinner. I whipped up a batch of cookies while Todd delivered the new pad to Elmer's house and the kids and I watched one of our reality TV shows while Todd hit the sack!
Thanks to Ashley May and Baylor for babysitting Brody. A special thanks to Griffin for watching his brother who is really good at being a two year old. And an additional shout out to Jackson's for letting us borrow this shop vac.
On our next edition: Carpet!!! And lots of it.