Harrison's Room

We got Harrison a new toddler bed, which he actually sleeps in now (for a while he was falling asleep in the rocking chair in his room) and I finally finished his bedding in August.


I looked everywhere for Robot fabric. But since my local options are very limited I found nothing and had to look on line. And still most of the stuff I found was the wrong color scheme. So when I stumbled across this rocket fabric series (called "Rocket Scientist") in the color I was looking for, I snatched it up. I "quilted" it on my sewing machine, using the only fancy stitch my machine has - which is a big zig-zag - And did horizontal lines strait across every couple of inches. Good Enough. Finished it with black binding, made a pillowcase and voila!


And I know. I am probably committing some huge designing faux pas by mixing my decor like this. His room now has robots AND rockets. I like to walk on the wild side!

Oh, let's see. I also better tell about this little picture I made, since it tickles me so much.


I wanted to do something to picture all the most famous robots through history, and a time-line seemed like the best way to go. I bought this frame with a time-line in mind, found pictures of all these robots online and traced them. I had it matted at Michael's to finish it off, but next time I think we can find a cheaper alternative, like THIS.

And, that's all.

Ode to a Bed.

Well, my two year old figured out how to climb out of his crib sometime in August. I actually thought this day might not ever come. He is very little. The crib walls still come up to his armpits. I thought we were safe. But one night we put him to bed, grabbed the baby monitor and went to work in the yard. And when we came back in the house an hour later he was wandering around the living room! He had not only figured out how to escape, but he had also done it without making any noise at all.

So, obviously, it was time. I wanted to go out and get him a bed, but Richard said he wants to build one. That is fine. It will no doubt be very awesome. Whenever he actually gets around to it. Someday.

We put his little mattress on the floor, but I thought the whole GOING TO BED thing might be more effective if it looked more like a bed, so I convinced Richard to let me get a little something, just until he has time to do his building. So I found a cheap little metal thing on KSL and made it mine!! Then I bought a can of spray paint at the local 5 and dime, and got to work. And I learned things about painting a bed that I didn't know before. And I want you to know them too. So HERE:

1. Obtain a bed. You might think that this step goes without saying, but let's stay on the safe side, and say it anyway. Just in case. And don't spray paint the mattress. We're talking about the bed frame here. Again, this should be a given, but I find it is safest to cover all our bases. And despite how this bed looks, it definitely needed a paint job. It is the sun, and not the bed's intrinsic beauty making it glow like that.
2. Sand away any rough patches and imperfections on the bed frame. Lightly sand any existing paint so that new paint will stick to it. This only took me about 30 minutes to do. It would have been even faster, but I sanded for about 15 minutes using the wrong side of the sand paper, so I had to do it over again.
3. Use the right side of the sand paper.
   

1. As much as possible, work out on your front porch or in the front yard so that your neighbors and passersby will think you are a hard worker. Dramatically wipe your brow from time to time so that they will take pity on you and offer you a cold glass of lemonade.
   
2. Protect those surfaces you DON'T want painted. I laid a sheet of plywood down so that I wouldn't get paint all over the ground. Our "Lawn" is pretty (see fig. 1), and must be protected at all cost.
3. Just Go For It: This was really my first time spray painting. (Not counting back in the day, when I used to spray paint things under the overpass, like "Modest is the Hottest" and "Have you see my Cat?" and things like that.) But I figured I really couldn't mess it up. What could be easier? All I had to do was press a button and wave my hand around. And I've been doing that with the TV remote for years!
4. Do 2 or more LIGHT coats: About 3 minutes into it I realized that I COULD mess it up and I probably already had. That stuff coats fast and it will start dripping down the sides before you know it. That is when you thank your lucky stars that you only paid $15.00 for this silly bed and it really doesn't matter that much!!!
5. Overestimate. I figured it would take me about a half a can of spray paint to do the bed, and planned to have enough left over to paint a little set of table and chairs as well. I was wrong of course. It took me a little less than 4 cans of spray paint. And because I kept figuring that SURELY this can would do it, I had to go back to the store 3 times. Argh!

But now it is done! The little boy is thrilled which is worth every minute spent. And if we stay a nice comfortable distance away it really looks pretty good. And with the white sheet and pillow on it it reminds me of a bed in a mental institution. Which is rather fitting.

Welcome home, Bed.

The New Shed: So Far

You might be surprised to learn that not only did we plan to build a new shed, but we actually started building it. I think Richard started on September 19th.

Leveled the ground. Placed cinder blocks and gravel as supports. Leveled some more. Built floor. Built trusses for roof. Built walls. Put the walls up.


I'm pretty sure Harrison liked it better without any walls. I know the local cats did. Every time I looked outside there was a different cat sitting right in the middle of the floor, like it was sitting on a throne.


On Saturday, 10/17/09, Faralee and Charlie came and helped us put the trusses up. And thank goodness they did, because we never could have done it by ourselves! Only a few things left to do!


Won't be too long now! It is supposed to snow this week which is going to put a cramp in things.

9/13/09

For a while now we have been talking about building a new shed. The one we have right now is an aluminum shed that came out of a box. It has served us for 5 years. We put it up at night, in the pouring rain. I guess we were pretty desperate for a little storage space.
But we have out grown it. I wish I had taken a picture of it before. It was full to bursting. Holding the two mantles we pulled out of the house, a few huge bags of insulation, and a million other odd items.

Saturday, we decided it was time to clean the Shed out. And, in doing so, decide once and for all if we needed a new one. So we pulled everything out of it and separated it into categories:
Boy, this picture just doesn't do it justice. There was so much crap in there! And we got rid of quite a bit, but there was still all of this left.

Like this pile of gas-cans for instance. They say you can never have too many.

I'm not sure it is true though. They seem to be multiplying!

Here we have a pile of automotive bric-a-brac. Can I use that word when I'm talking about car stuff? I think the car lovers of the world might object. But too bad. I'm not even sure what most of this stuff is.


Then we have this:

Gee, do you think I have enough pots there?

And finally, some camping stuff. The one pile of crap that we actually use. Good for us!

Of course, that isn't everything, but you more than get the idea. We pulled all the stuff out of the shed and spread it all over the yard, grateful that it was such a sunny, cloudless day, so that we could leave it all out there for a while.

Then Richard hoisted the tin shed up on his massive forearms, and carried it across the yard. We want to build the new shed right where the old one was. The new one is going to be twice as big, and tall enough to stand up in. I'm pretty excited.

Elesa's Remodeling

So, it may not be considered "remodeling" or "work", but I did it all by myself. First thing in the morning I hung up my broom rack. It is made to attach to drywall, but I really wanted it attached to the fridge. I wasn't sure how to do so, but finally thought of using these spiffy hooks that attach with double-sided tape.

And Voila!

Good Times.

Yeah, it has been a year

I know.I would apologize, but that is sort of like apologizing to my diary for not writing often enough, so let's just move on.

OK, let's take stock of the house and just see where we are?

Last October, General Conference time, Richard put the last window in the Kitchen. Harrison helped.



Then we finally got back to the crawl space. We got it all dug out the summer of 2007, but didn't get back to it until the fall of '08. Richard had to do so much stuff down there. I couldn't even begin to tell you what. Cuz I don't really know. All I know is he spent every Saturday crawling around under the house and having himself a real swell time/hating life.

When it was ready for cement, Richard wheeled the gravel in by the wheel barrel full, pushed it up a ramp and dumped it through the window. So here it is, all gravel-covered:


Then we covered it with plastic and on Dec. 23rd we rented a cement mixer and poured cement in the crawl space by the shovel full. Good times. So here it is. Richard sealed the walls and then cemented them too. In this picture the floor has been put down in the room above and everything.

Laundry Closet - Sep. 08

We have been so close to having all the plumbing done for a long time now. And then while I was at the General Relief Society Broadcast a few weeks ago Richard surprised me by getting everything hooked up and moving the washer and dryer upstairs. Hallelujah!! They have been in the Dining Room for years. And now they are in this little closet right outside my bedroom door. Could I ask for anything more?
This picture was taken right after they were installed. Notice we wasted no time in washing some clothes!