A little catch up

The girls are back!

I love my little busy bees!  And, they certainly are busy!

Mr. Happy is still growing and blooming.....

This is the tree I got from Annies Annuals a year and a half ago.  It is making it in this drought.

It is hard to see it since it is so willowy.  My Dear Husband just planted another Mr. Happy behind the tree.

The floors are all refinished now and changes have been done.

 Most everything has been put away, although some little things still haven't found a home.

Ardenwood is especially beautiful at this time of the year.  And we had a huge bumper crop of babies, especially lambs.

A bunch of little lamb bottoms!

 The peacocks are pretty cocky since they are at the height of their prettiness.

And there is a lot to catch up with in my garden!  Not to mention my studio where boxes have been stored for the floor refinishing.  My sewing is still buried and I won't be getting to my first Regency dress any time soon.

The Little Things

Still trying to get all those "little things" put away.  I have 3 small boxes to go.  What a pain.  There are some books in there that I can"t part with, but haven't looked at them in years. Bummer.

We moved the RV back to the driveway this afternoon and I got 2 calls inquiring how much I wanted to sell it for....I have a "For Sale" sign in the window.  They are both coming over tomorrow evening.

I am in no big hurry to sell it but my dear husband would kind of like the spot in the driveway for a car.  Lucy, the RV, has certainly come in handy when we had the termite tenting and the refinishing of the floors.

I really want to take to time to clean out my studio and get back to sewing my first Regency gown.  It is already cut out and ready to sew.

A MUCH cleaner house!!

No matter how much plastic is put up to keep the dust out of other areas when refinishing floors, there is still tons of fine dust on everything.

Today, with the help of my new shark vacuum and Karina, the house is in decent shape.  Most of the stuff is back in its place.  Although there are still a couple of boxes to go through.

But I have still have pictures to hang and......I have a whole flat of plants from Mother's Day that need planting!  Tomorrow I hope to get to it.

Guess I didn't tell you about this!

My daughters and I are going on a cruise to Alaska on July 5 on the Golden Princess!

39 days and counting!!  We are so excited!

We are doing a little celebration of Aunt Edna's life.  She would have loved to do this with us.  She did go on a cruise to Panama with her second husband just before he realized his cancer had returned.

She sure did love to travel and went all over the world, hitting all the continents except arctic and antarctic.  She had to dip her foot into every new ocean and just about made them all.  Years ago sheand Uncle John took their trailer to Alaska and brought back tons of beautiful pictures.  We are taking her with us in spirit and symbol as we take this cruise.

Painting is done!

Finished painting about Noon and then after clean up I started putting together the storage cabinet.  That took a while since I was so tired.  Then we put the TV and all its wires together and the phone and cable box.  Then I called it quits.  I have tours at Ardenwood tomorrow and I'm going to bed early tonight.

Waiting for the last coat!

The 2nd coat on the study floor is on and the 3rd and final coat will be applied this afternoon!  I am getting really antsy......tired of furniture everywhere it is not supposed to be.

The doorbell just rang......the poor FedEx guy.  He just delivered the new cabinet that wasn't to be delivered till Wednesday.  No problem, but it will have to sit on the front porch until Sunday.

Saturday we will be able to move the furniture back into the study, but as much as I would like to I have to paint the walls first!  To be able to paint without any furniture in a room is too good to pass up.  I already bought the paint and am ready to start on Saturday morning!

Sunday will be move in the furniture day!!  I can't wait!  The bedroom finished in Part 1 had been emptied and once the floors were done in there some of the study furniture went in there so I haven't really enjoyed any finished floors yet.  Just a little longer....

Part 2 of refinishing floors has started!

This morning at 9am the guys were here and ready to go.  The study floor had a closet with cedar floor which we have opened up for more space in the room.  The cedar floor is gone and now has hardwood floor to match the rest of the floor.  The whole floor is sanded and the first coat of finish is on it.

Tomorrow they will be here at 7:30 for day 2 of part 2.  A light little sanding of the finish put on today and the 2nd coat of finish will be put on.  Then, the most exciting part!. . .They plan to come back tomorrow evening and light sand and install the 3rd coat!!!  So, by Saturday morning it should be dry enough to start moving stuff back in! Hurrah!

The guys were so careful and put plastic and tape to contain the dust but we had some good wind and some dust still got out and there is a fine layer on everything in the house.  Then, this morning my vacuum decided to die.  Tomorrow morning I will be heading to the mall to by a new vacuum.

I am getting very anxious to go through all the stuff before putting it back and really doing a clean-out!

My new cabinet that is to take place of the book cases is supposed to arrive next week - that will be like Chrstmas!  Poor FedEx guy, it weighs a lot.

Floors, Part 1 is finished!

The hall and bedroom floors look great!

Now. . .  the interim between Parts 1 and 2.

All the stuff in the study now needs to be move out so Part 2 can begin.  I moved a lot of stuff tonight but tomorrow the big things have to be moved!

Lucy, the RV,  has been great during this time, though Missy is very happy to be back in the house!

Part One - Floors Refinished

Over a year ago we had our living room, dining room, and entry floor refinished.  And at the same time we put in a new kitchen floor in.  We had furniture all over, and the refrigerator in the hall!  We could only use the hall and the bedrooms and bathrooms..period.  That meant there was no way to go in and out of the house through a door.  So, my dear hubby made a set of stairs to get in and out of our bedroom window.  It worked just fine.

Now we have a bedroom, the study and the hall to be refinished.  That means that the bathrooms will not be accessible.  So, Lucy, the RV, to the rescue.  We used her when the house was tented for termites for four days.  So, she is helping us out again.  She has wonderful sleeping areas and a bathroom, a kitchen with micowave, stove, and refrigerator.  We are set even though it is a change for dear hubby, and he does not like change!

So, the guys arrived at 9am and are sanding the bedroom and repairing a place in the hall to the kitchen where the water heater had leaked.  By the end of the day the floor will have it's first  of three coats of finish!

I can't move!!!

I can't even get to my sewing machine!  I have been moving stuff from a bedroom and study are all being stored in my studio/sewing room.  Can't wait till the floors are done and everything can go back to it's place.


Wonder what this is all about!???

????

Guess what!

Still catching up...

I've still been catching up on all sorts of home projects that had been on hold quite a while.

Next week all the furniture has to be moved from the front bedroom so the floor can be refinished a week later.  There isn't that much to move so I am not worried about it.  The next room though is another story.....there are full bookcases, big chairs the big tv stand and a very heavy filing cabinet have to be out of there....and where? That is the question!

So, what have I been doing...

Well, spring cleaning.

For lots of reasons, I have really gotten behind in cleaning, gardening and just general getting-rid-of-stuff.  So with help the house looks clean (lots of drawers and closets to clean out though).

And we have been fixing-up too.  You know, all those little things that need attention but are on a low priority to spending time on.

And then there is paperwork, bills, and that sort of thing.  I am pretty much caught up on everything in that category for now.  A second round of Aunt Edna paper work has been done.

Now I am cleaning up and simplifying my studio/sewing room.  It was quite the disaster this afternoon!  Stuff was all over and barely room to move at all.  It is about one third put back and I can see part of the rug!

Meanwhile our dryer has just not been drying correctly.  It was taking so long to dry and I was looking for a new dryer.  But, my Dear decided to check it out when I told him I found a dryer I liked.  Turns out the vent pipe carrying the hot air, moisture and lint (lint not caught in the trap) to the outside was rather plugged up.  We bought a lint vent brush to clean out the vent and are in the process of re-hooking up the vent to the dryer.

Then, MAY 17, our hall and a bedroom floor will be refinished.  Then, the study floor will be refinished later.  So that means a lot of stuff has to be moved, gone through and tossed.  All and all, my Regency project is now a lower priority!  I don't really plan on any Regency event until August so it shouldn't be a problem.

And the garden!  I was doing so well out there, until we just hit a hot streak.  Then I haven't gotten to it.  It is supposed to be getting cooler tomorrow so maybe I will get out there a bit.

So, that is why I have been hit and miss with blog entries!