Bitten By The Spring Bug

I don't know about anyone else but I've been bitten by the "spring bug" and I've thrown open the windows to let the fresh air blow through the house. As a kid I used to laugh when I'd hear someone talk about doing their spring cleaning but I am long since over that because over the years I've come to appreciate the meaning of those words. You want to get in there and clean every nook and cranny, to  get out all the stale smells that accumulated in  your home from being closed up all winter long. The sun is shining and you want to open all the curtains and let it shine into your home,  the warm glow it creates as the beams of light come streaming across your freshly polished floor.

Many people go through an entire redecorating phase at this time of the year. Some will think about painting, be it one room or the entire house. Others will be adding light colored slipcovers to furniture, changing out throw pillows, getting out the light weight curtains and adding spring colored spreads to their beds.

Spring is a the beginning of life anew; be it the start of new grass and flowers growing, to that of the birth of farm animals, the return of the robins or domestic animals looking for a mate. We emerge from winter, wanting to shed all the extra layers of clothing and the heaviness of multiple blankets and comforters on our beds that kept us warm for the past few months. Spring is wanting to go out and dig in the dirt or run through mud puddles after a rainstorm and the clean fresh smells that the rain brought with it.

It is a good time to be cleaning out your closets and drawers, to give things to a charity, offer them to some one in need or have a garage sale and earn a few extra bucks.Now you can reorganize those closets and cabinets with ease.

I am so anxious to get busy with a paint brush it isn't funny. I have a large bookcase shelf unit that needs some repair work first and then a fresh coat of paint. Then I am bringing it indoors, putting it in my laundry room to become my pantry shelves. After that is done, I need to put a fresh coat of paint on the little country bench that sits on my front porch. 

What projects are you going to tackle?

Spring Is In The Air!

Finally, we are getting some beautiful weather and I am finally able to get out into the yard and putter around! It has felt so good to be able to open up the house, the windows wide and let the curtains blow in the breeze!

I finally was able to get outside and start on some yard work. I went ahead and began with the backyard because the grass was getting way out of control back there. I still need to go ahead and do all the timing around the edges of the yard and then it will really look nice.

I notice the bird feeder that stands on a pole in the middle of a small flowerbed in the middle of the yard is looking a might tacky! Guess it is time to add a coat of paint to it. I don't think the birds will notice that I've spruced it up for them but I am sure the neighbors might.

The bell peppers have been planted last week and this Thursday the plan is to get the jalapeno peppers out there also.

I still need to buy some tomato plant starters so that we can have some fresh tomatoes soon.

I hope it isn't too late to get the onions and potatoes out. I totally forgot about getting those started! Can you tell I am a first year gardener? I figure heck, throw it in the ground and it'll grow, no matter when you plant it. Somehow I don't think that is right!

It still needs to warm up a little bit more before I pull out the paint brush and give the patio a coat of paint. Now that is where my expertise lies.... give me a paint brush, a hammer and some nails and wood and I am happy! I have a feeling I need one of these books really badly! and of course one of these! I've heard everyone lives by the Farmer's Almanac

Snow, Snow and More Snow!

 

I can't believe it!  More snow is predicted for Thursday and Friday of this week and then the weatherman says very casually, hold onto your hats folks, if weather patterns don't change we will have snow all next week as well!

I don't know about any of you, but I am so anxious for spring I can't stand it.  I want warmth and sunshine!  I am one of these creatures that can handle heat much better than I can handle the cold!  Never thought I'd say it, but I think I can actually handle the spring threats of tornado warnings better than all this snow and ice!  Of course I am also one of those "chickens" that has an underground tornado shelter to run to!

I am so anxious to get outside and till up the ground and get my garden growing and get out the paint brush and do the painting that needs to be done on the enclosure to the patio.  I want to be able to go outside and grill a burger and mow the grass!

Come on Spring!

The Final Week

We have wrapped up the final week of work on the house. Not to bad, only 14 days past the projected finish date! With all the rain that we have had, it is a wonder we finally finished.

This was the week of where all the odds and ends, the final "punch list" items were completed.

The gutter company did come out on Friday and installed the gutters, but forgot that there were to be leaf screens put on them, so they do have to come back and do that.

I also noticed that the fellas forgot to put my house numbers back up on the porch post, but hey, I can still sling a hammer with the best of them so I can put those back up!

I started moving some of the shelf units back into the laundry room yesterday. I need to wash them down good and organize them.

Now I need to get myself in gear and finish up the very last of the painting in the laundry room and hope that I don't run out of paint!

Men really are from Mars and Women from Venus

I swear, as long as I have lived and have had men in and out of my life, I am beginning to think that most of them are made from the very same mold! At least when it comes to communication skills that is.

"We'll be there to work tomorrow" .... well does that mean at 8AM or 10AM or more like 1PM?

When they show up, most of the time they don't ring the door bell to let me know that they are here. All of a sudden I hear noises out on my patio and look out the window to catch a glimpse of one of them laying down their utility bag! It's just a good thing that I'm not a gun-toten' granny or they would end up with buckshot in their behinds! A shoot first, ask questions later type of gal!

Then of course when they leave, do I ever hear "good bye" or a word as to if I am gonna see them tomorrow or several days from now? They just quietly pack up their things and steal away. At least the do lock the back door!

If I sound angry, I really am not, I just have to laugh because I keep telling my daughters that they have to TELL their husbands what they want done around the house, or the help that they need with the children. Don't expect them to be mind readers because they aren't, they are totally clueless unless you explicitly tell them!

When we started this project, I did make it clear to the General Contractor that communication with me was of paramount importance because I have a daughter who is having a difficult pregnancy and I will need to go out and help her and may need to be called away at a moment's notice. Evidently that communication went by the wayside as it went down the chain of command! I guess tomorrow me and the crew are gonna have a little talk here as to what is expected in the way of communication!

As you can tell, we are running over schedule, they were supposed to be done with this project yesterday. I continue to try to be patient realizing that you have to work around other projects and the rains.

Quite a bit was accomplished today with extra workers here to assist with the painting of the primer coat on the outside of the house. Part of the new utility closet for the water heater was constructed and they did get the washing machine moved so that I can finish up laying the vinyl floor squares and then they can return the washer to where it belongs tomorrow.

I have put together my "punch list" of the things that still need to be finished and I hope I haven't missed anything. I do know that Keith from the City will be coming by shortly with his list and checking off things also so at least we will have two of us comparing items.

Okay, I am off to go finish laying the flooring, check back in with you tomorrow.... maybe at 8ish or 10ish but who knows, it could be more like after noon!

Disappointing Week

Well I am feeling kind of bummed out right now and hoping that with the sunrise and a new week ahead that things will progress along more this week than last.

Once again we had lots of rain, which of course delayed much of the work that is necessary to be completed outside. What does upset me is that there are things inside that still could have been completed but have been done as yet. I doing my best to be patient and understanding but at times I find it difficult because patience is not one of my better personality traits. I have to remember that my house is not the only construction job that they have going at this time. There is another little house they are working on which once they got into it turned out to have some major problems that no one had counted on. Consequently, more time and repairs are needed there than originally anticipated. The owner of the home moved out while they are working on the house and it is important to get him back in as soon as possible so of course the house has to take priority.

There were a few disappointments this past week. The electrician came back and changed out the 220 cord and outlet. The cord he originally used did not meet our city's code requirements. They also added the two electrical outlet switches to the lights out in the garage and storage area rather than leave them on pull chains. The City Electrical Inspector arrived on Friday and they still didn't pass final inspection because they forgot to change out the plug on the patio outside wall which was to be a GFI outlet! So once again they will have to return and change that out and call for an inspection again.

The plumbing inspector still hasn't come out to check the changes that he requested to be made on the installation of the water heater. In fact I don't even know if that has been requested to be done yet. I need to call Monte!

One of the men brought over the paint for doing the outside. I was kidding around with him and stated that maybe I needed to check it out just to make sure that they brought the right colors and it is a good thing I did because the gray paint was not the right shade. I had given them a very dark shade of gray, like deep charcoal gray and the color on the top of the can was very light gray! At least the light green shade for the shutters and trim was the right color.

Today I am going to take time to rearrange my bedroom back to where it belongs. I had pushed my bed over to the outside corner of the room so that they would have unobstructed access to both the windows in that room. I will need to once again unload the 2 bookcases before attempting to move them but that is not that big of a chore. It will seem good to once again put the room back in order. I notice that I am going to have some touch up painting to do...... now where is that can of raspberry color paint????

New Flooring Going Down

Wednesday evening I started to lay the new flooring in the laundry room. You always start out by finding the center of your room, by taking measurements of the width and length of your room. Divide your measurements in half and that becomes your starting point. Lay out plumb lines in both directions and begin laying the first tile at the junction of these lines. All of your "self-stick" tile boxes will have instructions on the box, including how to cut your tiles when you get to the edges of you room.

By Thursday I had almost all of the room completed except for the tiles at the edge where I have to start the tedious part of cutting and fitting the final tiles that meet the walls. I do have to move the washing machine out so that I can tile underneath where it is sitting.  I will need to put the leveling feet onto pieces of cardboard so that when I move it I won't damage the surface of the new flooring. My goal is to get that done on Friday and then move it back into place.  I also want to get the edge tiles completed on the wall where the dryer will be placed so that will be done when the workers bring the dryer inside.

I would love it if I could begin painting out there this weekend but since the new sheetrocked wall is not textured yet and we won't be able to sheetrock the wall where the dryer is to go because of a problem there that didn't pass inspection, I think painting is going to have to be put off for a little bit. But who knows what might happen....... I am impulsive!