The Brat's Uncle

There was this big plan back in May of 2007, my brother Rick was at our Aunt & Uncles in Calif. Our Uncle was battling lung cancer & my brother, in the wisdom of all good Germans, knew the best treatment was good beer. So, after what can only be described as one of the best medical treatments in the history of mankind, a day of consuming large quantities of beer, micro brews, draft, bottled...didn't matter...the cure was in the yeast!!! (or maybe the devil was in the details..Unc got thrush-an oral yeast infection) Apparently sometime during this process is when they decided to plan a surprise 60 something Birthday for our Aunt. The phone call I received during this "treatment" became the planning stages of the party. The fact that I was able to deduce & therefore start to plan while these two were under "treatment", says a lot about my German heritage. Birthday is in October-plenty of time to plan.. My Tom kicks into gear-we'll need the 2nd guest room done.... & our project completion time lines now change. Hey, you do it for family.
Unc always called his wife a "Brat" (with much love, of course) and frequently told me I was a younger version. Hey, I had a Hell of a role model to take after!
Our Uncle passed away on August 27 after a long struggle with cancer. He was at home with our Aunt who loved him, at his side; but much too damn soon.
That same Aunt is still going to be 60 something. (Some things don't change huh Barb?!)
But the Birthday party is now a Memorial and it will be a little later in the year. So we brought the Californians to New York in November...What were we thinking!?!?
It was a Beautiful Tribute to a man much loved! A chance for all to reminisce & share in our loss.
The "California" contingent got in a little sight seeing on the East Coast-had a great trip to Cooperstown & froze their tushes off at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
Despite the freezing rain, gusting winds (which destroyed 2 umbrellas) and cold wet mist from the falls, we had a rainbow !

Barb & Dani look like they're "Singing in the Rain"
Who needs Gene Kelly??? We have John!

Have Fire Pit, Will Travel

Oh how I miss our fire pit from our old house! I can't tell you how many nights I sat out there with a fire burning on a late summer night with my glass of wine, a good book & a book light. It wasn't unusual for me to stay up 'til 3 am reading. Well we've gone thru our 2nd summer here and it'll still be awhile (if ever) before we have a built-in fire pit like we had.
I asked more than once for a fire pit like they sell at Target or Home Depot but Tom said I can't have one on the wood deck ( oh yeah....forgot about that part, must be those blond highlights).
Well once again, that amazing man came up with a creative solution! He and Mandy built a rolling cart & filled the bottom with sand. He assembled a fire pit & set it in the cart & we now have a movable fire pit! So if we want a fire while we're in the hot tub we can roll it over, rather have one just outside the enclosed patio-no problem! Just don't get it too close to the vinyl(no I didn't do that)! Bright fire for the boaters to find your dock at night, we can do it!! Me to have a fire to read by I've got it!! Spoiled rotten & loved??? You Bet!

Goodbye MJ

04-01-91 thru 10-26-07

Eva's 2nd Birthday

We actually took some time off from the house work!
Eva's 2nd Birthday Party was a complete 360 from her "Princess Party" when she turned 1!
(I still say the princess party was really for her Mommy). This was a combination Birthday & Halloween Party. Just as much fun for the adults as the kids....The Birthday cake was a clever Pumpkin made by Mandy. One of the two adult contests consisted of the "grossest food" (all were quite creative), like the "Used kitty litter" which took first prize, made by Mandy's Aunt Donna.
The "eyeballs" were enough to give you nightmares, especially if you thought about them with the skeleton fingers coming out of the ground!
The other adult contest was the chili cook off & with the party being outside, the weather in the high 50's it was perfect. The adults dressed in some form of costume (& I use that term loosely) "Uncle Tom Cat" won the chili cook off.












And The Former Princess.......
Well this year she may have dressed as a Ladybug,
but she's still a Princess through & through!

2005 Flashback

Since the weather was holding, the 2nd story back patio is being tiled.
When the weather turns, believe it or not it's actually too warm! It was the 4th of October & it's so warm that Tom has to rig up a sun break so Mandy can keep tiling & the mortar doesn't dry too fast.
As usual though, the weather predictions aren't quite what they said. 2 Days later, Tom is rigging up tarps to protect the surface & the tiles that have already been placed, from the rain that's now predicted. It was going to be beautiful weather when they started this project.
Sure looks like the tarps from Oct 2005! Hard to believe we're stringing up tarps again 2 years later to the month!
Well the tiling is finished & the patio & railing look beautiful!

The Guest Suite Is Ready!!!

Well the guest room is finally finished & a damn fine job if I do say so myself! Tom, Mandy & I make a heck of a team! Despite all the setbacks we had it ready in time for our company.

Guest Bath tile smash!!!

So the insulation has been blown in & now we can can finally finish tiling the guest bath. Looking good...the ceiling tiles were installed in the shower and one sneaky tile came crashing down while their backs were turned! One is all it takes...the tile shattered & chipped one of the white floor tiles leaving a gouge about the size of a quarter.
It's Friday...I say leave it, the floor mat will cover it, Tom is insistent that he'll chip out the tile & replace it. OK...well he tried on the w/e to chip it out, ended up chipping the tile next to it & one of the glass tiles. Decided he'd leave it for Mandy, she's a bit more detail oriented. Mandy comes in Monday, tackles the tiles & 8 white tiles & 2 glass tiles later, another trip to the Home Depot & we're re-tiling the floor. Remember...company's coming soon! Floor once again looks like it should. Now can we finish the bath???

More blown in insulation.....

We have had beautiful fall weather and are able to continue to fix problems in the original construction, so we don't have the same problems we had last winter of the ice damning & water damage. Tom sent Mandy into the attic to take pictures & determined that there were some areas that due to construction of the wall heights, there were areas with minimal insulation. In order to fix it we'll need to blow in more insulation.

So guess who's on the outside filling the hopper & managing the hose & who got to go thru the little hole in the ceiling of the guest room bathroom shower? What a trooper Mandy is, the stuff swirling in the attic looked like snow & she looked like the abominable snowman when she was done! We couldn't finish tiling the ceiling in the guest bath until the insulation was blown in. We can now finish the guest bath & hopefully that will take care of the ice damning.

Eva's First Temper Tantrum

Well at least for Aunt Martha....After not having Eva most of August & Sept, her first visit back showed me she certainly thought the only way to do things is Ebee's way.
(Her cousin Margaret, who is 3 months younger called her Ebee because she couldn't say Eva.) Everything is Ebee do it, Ebee want, etc. So the first time Auntie Martha asked her to pick up her toys, I got a "No". A second request resulted in her throwing herself on the rug outside & crying until I was out of sight. Well I was laughing so hard I had to get my camera, when I came back & she saw me again the crying started in earnest. I do believe the Terrible Two's are on their way!!!

Upstairs Patio

The patio railing was hoisted up from the lower deck in pieces & assembled in place. Assembled in place I said, not bolted. Mandy, always looking toward the next project; leans against the railing to look at the roof where the peaks meet (there's a leak needing repair). The railing & Mandy ( who is also not attached) are tilting & heading to the edge of the patio! Thankfully Tom was there & grabbed the railing hauling Mandy back with it. Mandy's safe, railing's still here. All is once again right with our world or should I say "Upright" with our world.

Upstairs Guest Bed & Bath

Back in June, we had a tentative completion date for the beginning of Oct. Well it's the end of Sept & Tom & Mandy are diligently working on the bedroom, installing the trim, framing in the built in bookshelf, installing the ceiling fan. Still some work to do-but we're getting there! We have some very special guests coming Nov 1 and we'll be ready!!!

Sit Down-I've Got Some News!

Tom comes into the kitchen while I'm eating breakfast & says "Good thing your sitting down....You're not going to believe this-Craig's here!" (He's the framer who called on 9/19). "Yeah right-Ha Ha."No, I'm serious" he said. In hopes of the fantastic, I go to the window-Holy Smokes, they're here! And there's 2 of them! Tom & Mandy get a reprieve.


The trim work was finished & the remaining posts for the porch were installed. Better late than never, unfortunately the side porch roof had shifted over last winter a bit & we have some nail pops in the "Martha" room that now have to be repaired. But I'm not whining....we're moving forward!
They didn't finish the garage door, but Tom & Mandy did, Mandy being the detail oriented person that she is, this was a wiser choice!

The Framer Saga is finished!

The Ongoing Framer Saga

Tom & Mandy started finishing off the front of the house, installing the J channel, the F channel & the soffit on Monday & Tuesday. On Wed morning just before I was leaving the house (they really didn't need me except to take pictures), the framer who had left after a 1/2 day almost 2 weeks ago,called & said he had another helper & would call back about 3:30 to let Tom know when they'd be here. Good thing none of us held our breath! Haven't heard back-now really-why did he bother to call to begin with???

The Yard

Well the side yard is sectioned off , planting areas have been defined, the walkway is laid out, the landscape paper is down & the soaker hoses are ready to be buried. Some stone is laid to hold the paper down. Oh-excuse me-did I say some stone?? That was the original plan. We'd lay the landscape paper, weigh it down with some stone, lay out the soaker hoses, then I would plant the plants, protect them with leftover cool whip containers & we would lay the rest of the stone.
I foolishly left the house & returned to find the planting beds full of landscape stone. Mandy & Tom are diligently working to spread this stone (which is quite heavy) while Stan dumps buckets full from the loader. I am in awe & grab a rake to help. As I do, my brain is processing the fact that I now have to move all this stone, cut thru the landscape paper, dig a hole & plant the plants. I have 75 plants to plant. This rake in my hands is now taking on the persona of a dangerous weapon.It's not a good thing to mess with a woman whose hormones cannot decide if they want to be pre menopausal or menopausal!
I had spent weeks choosing flowers & plants, measuring, laying it all out on graph paper, our gardens were gonna be awesome! Now I'm digging thru 5-6inches of stone & I'm not a happy lady. In fact I'm downright miserable. Tom, knowing when to be diplomatic offers his & Mandy's help to scrape away stone so I at least don't have to do that. Great! Mandy gets to the first area & there's only an inch of stone & in her helpful way says "What's the big deal, there's nothing here" She is still alive to raise her children, the rake wasn't handy. Apparently the bed was raised there & a minimal amount of stone was needed. So the plants are in & protected by a multitude of yogurt containers so the stones don't crush their fragile little bodies.

The front gardens are laid out, paper went down, soaker hoses on & the stone is in! Therefore the yard ornaments are no longer in the front door view! Don't get excited-they're not gone-just moved. The yard has been raked, we may even seed before snow fall!
We're getting there!

The other side yard has had a fence installed due to the dog, there's a rough layout of the planting areas, walkway & small patio.This is the view from our bedroom sliding glass door.
How cool that with the angle of the slats in the fence we still get a view of the river!
I'm thinking ...Martha reading garden?!? Nice breeze, shade, for all those hot flashes.....Hmmmmnmn

First Upstairs Guest Bath Bather

The upstairs guest bath is on it's way to being complete. Tom & Mandy filled the Jacuzzi tub to test it out just about the same time Eva & I went up to "Supervise". While the tub was filling, Eva got so excited splashing at the water coming out of the jets and laughing we had to just strip her down and let her at it! This is definitely a water baby!

Maybe some outside progress???

This was the end of July, when I thought we were getting close to starting the outside again. My brother Dan came over & put up the tar paper & metal lathe so we could start stoning the front of the house. Silly Girl!

Did he or didn't he????

Well here we are, contractor # 3 never came back. Met with contractor #4 , willing to do the job, can fit us in in a couple of weeks-OK-yada-yada-yada. Pardon me if I don't get too excited. Oops-can't make it-son's baseball game.
He's going to do this after his regular job, Oops, hit a deer with his car, can't make it until car is fixed. All fixed -Tom confirms with him on Sunday-he'll be here Tues eve. August 21st about 5. It's now Wednesday eve, no call-no show. And we're moving on........
Tom now has a message into contractor #5. Could #5 be our lucky number??? Well #5 is supposed to meet Tom @ 5 pm Friday, finally showed up at 6:30. He'll be here Wed morning. OK-here we go again....showed up Wed 8/29 worked for the day, said couldn't work Thurs had to go to the State Fair and would come back Fri. He omitted to say Friday of the following week! Showed up Sept 7th at about 10am, worked for about an hour & a half, left for lunch & hasn't been back since-no call, no show! Looks like Mandy & I are going to be Tom's little helpers!

Let's get you back inside & show you the progress on the guest room. The shower has been partially tiled for about a year now-Tom & Mandy had misplaced their (read MY) priorities and had begun tiling the guest bath before working on the main living areas. Some gentle encouragement (like "What the heck are you thinking?!?") had the desired effect, we found their misplaced priorities in Martha's "House To-Do" list & they were both back on track. It's now a year later, the majority of the living space is, if not completed, certainly quite livable. We're planning on company here in October, so were focusing on the 2nd guest room. Tom is now asking me where the floor tiles are-don't know, don't recall seeing them (now mind you I had made tile & lighting selections a year ago....). Tom, Mandy & I look all over off & on for about 2 weeks. Tom's sure he bought them, we have 1 case, why would he not have bought all he needed at that time? 'Tis a puzzlement.
No problem, we'll just go get more-WRONG- they've been discontinued. So I'm back out shopping for floor tiles, I had loved the ones we had & am frustrated that I can't find anything like it ; have to come up with another plan.
Finally I find a tile I'm happy with & Tom & Mandy approve-it's a go! Tom goes out to pick up the cases of tile we'll need & brings them all home. They open the first box, 10 out of the 12 are chipped. If they chip that easily in shipping, we don't want them on the floor.
Back to shopping, the next tiles are gorgeous & look awesome with the shower tiles-slight problem, they're not in stock in the warehouse, 2-3 week delivery time-OK-I certainly would have kept Tom & Mandy busy until they came in but they hit me with the sticker shock....over a thousand dollars to tile the guest bathroom floor???!!!??? No offense to our guests, but I can spend a $1,000.00 on more fun things than a floor!
Back to square one-literally-I had looked at plain white basic tile in the beginning but canceled it out because of the white grout being so hard to keep clean.
I'm looking at white tiles with glass accent tiles-it works, it fits, it's in the price range-and with the new acrylic grout, cleaning is a snap-Do It!

Where is our yard???

We (& I use that term loosely) started grading the front yard on the 29th of May, more top soil was brought in, more grading, I was quite optimistic in the beginning of June-there were those who laughed at me-but I was- things seemed to be going so well.......The grading begins & it's starting to actually look like a front yard

Don't worry-we'll just move the neighbors car if it's in the way!!!

A yard!

A yard in progress (OK-same yard-new weeds)

Side yard next to our wonderful new neighbors (can they still be new after almost 2 years?) and by the Martha room

Side yard by the neighbors' whose dog bites Tom,
needs some work yet (so does the dog).

My very unique summer lawn ornaments~
if they're still here next year I'll hang flower arrangements off them!
Please disregard the camera date-apparently it's tired of taking pics & has reset itself,
the yard ornaments are still in the front yard as of the 15th of August!

The Framer & That Unfinished Siding Business

Are you all just groaning 'cause you just can't believe this is still going on or was that a moan of sympathy?
Numerous phone calls were made to the framer who built our house & finished about 95% of the siding last fall. They either went unanswered or we were told "I'll be there next week".
Not that we held our breath of course, 'cause he didn't show.
Well don't you know, in June (maybe it was May-weeks run together) he calls Tom, there was a large saw he left here all winter that belonged to a friend of his and now he needs to come over & pick it up. "Would Tom be home?" Darn right he will & they proceed to have quite the discussion . By the time they're done, the framer agrees to be here afternoons until he finishes the job he's on, then he's here until this one is done. Now mind you, he has 2 of his workers with him saying it won't take any time to knock the rest of this off. Still not holding my breath. He showed up the next day for an hour & a half and we haven't seen or heard from him since!
Most contractors do not like to take over some one else's unfinished job. Don't know why they walked off...did we not pay??... problem to work for or with???...bitchy wife??? etc., etc., etc..
So the hunt is on for some one to finish, Prospect #1 good candidate, can't possibly start until October. OK, another problem most have all there work lined up already-we do have a short season here.
Met with #2, he's done work for Tom in the past, all set, will start Tues June 5th at 9am.
Still not holding my breath....good thing , never showed, never called!
It's now the middle of June, the 15th to be exact & my Birthday; we're staying home to await yet another contractor (#3) to look at & let us know if he'll take on the job. Going out to dinner is no longer as important as is finding someone who will finish the outside of this Damn House!(Besides-Tom is a great cook.)
No-he didn't show............He did call the next day and apologized; rescheduled
though; rescheduled again after that. OK, it's a go, he can fit us in between jobs,they'll start the middle of July.
One guy shows up on Wed., July 11th, actually seems to know what he's doing, Tom's happy with him.
YIPPEE!!! We might just get this finished before the snow flies. He brings another helper the next day & they knock off quite a bit. Even seem a bit amused I took pictures. On Friday they actually came back! I batted my big brown eyes & asked them ever so sweetly, if they could possibly wash the outside of that peak window while they were up there??? "No problem-just give us the stuff to clean it with". They got their check at the end of the day Friday & said they'll be back in a couple of weeks. Will they???

Mandy in the Chimney

For a little change of pace Tom & Mandy are working outside this day. Since there are already 2 gas hookups for fireplaces in our new home & we really loved the wood burning fireplace we had at our old home, we decided that the fireplace in the family room was going to be wood burning. We had originally plumbed it up for gas, so Tom & Mandy are outside in the chimney disconnecting the gas lines. Mandy being the thinner of the two gets the dubious honor of being boosted up into the chimney cavity. A successful endeavor despite the small working space. We will now have a wood burning fireplace should the family room be finished in the not too distant future! Damn-isn't she a trooper! (and cute too)

And Yet More Kitchen

We are definitely getting to the finish line on the kitchen. The trim work, the base board & the built in book shelves for all Tom's cookbooks were painted a beautiful metallic silver-grey. The color was chosen to compliment the trim on the island, the back splash & pull the grey out of the floor.
Tom & Mandy did an awesome job on building, installing & focusing on the woodworking details of the book shelves.

Then there are the extremely choice knickknacks given to us by those who know us
(not to detract from the workmanship but really, the decorating is the fun part!), Tom got this really unique metal art sculpture (upper left pic) from our friends TerryLynn & Mike of this guy at the grill. Just perfect! Holds his shelf of grill books in place-Go figure?
I got a cookbook titled "Eat , Bitch & Wine" from my Aunt Barb in California, who professes to love me. Definitely a good example of that love.
Please notice it does have a place of honor amongst Tom's cookbooks. Nice of him to share his shelves.

And More Kitchen........

The finishing trim is going up! While Tom was out Mandy & I took advantage & hung a few decorations on the wall! Actually, I said where I wanted them, Mandy hung them & Eva played in the shipping boxes. Hey~we all have our specialties! Tom came back & the trim installation continued.





Close ups of the smiling fruits & veggies we hung on the wall

Pantry floor

I can't believe how close we are getting to actually finishing the kitchen & pantry! We carried the same tiles from the kitchen into the pantry & they look beautiful! With the floor all grouted & sealed, the kick plate will be installed next,then stove goes back in. The rest of the shelving will go in & we're good to go!

More Kitchen..........

Now that the kitchen floor is finished, Mandy wanted to get off her knees & do something fun! So we decided to faux finish the one wall in the kitchen that overlooks the river. She pulled all the colors out of the floor tile & melded them all together for this beautiful wall!





Unfortunately for her, the fun didn't last long. Her & Tom were right back at it, on their knees (well at least Mandy was) again tiling the island.

Kitchen -Phase 2 ........May 9-12

The floor is leveled & the appliances moved out (along with MJ's food & water bowls, he's quite confused), it's time to get the kitchen floor in.
Let the tiling begin! Giving up the kitchen for over a week is not a hardship since we have the "Pantry" to fall back on as a back-up kitchen.
Tom & Mandy are doing the floor in sections, therefore we can grout & seal after a section is done. It's a lot of floor to do all at once.
Looking Damn Good!

The Furniture Dance

Now, we've gotten quite good at moving furniture.... we moved all the furniture out of the Martha room into the dining room, then when the Martha room was done we moved the furniture back, then moved the furniture from the dining room to the kitchen and used the dining room to stain doors on sawhorse tables. Door staining was done in the guest room previously, but when the Martha room was done, it was time to paint the guest room.When the guest room was finished it was time to tackle the kitchen, now all the dining room & kitchen furniture is in the dining room (along with all Eva's stuff), the saw horses are upstairs in the loft & door staining is now moved upstairs. Are you with me so far?????Whew...Damn Mandy has a lot of doors to stain!!!! I hope I know where all the furniture goes back to!
Now, I'm sure you never though of it, but when I said the kitchen furniture is being moved I also meant the appliances!
The stove is now in the family room (or what will be some day), the refrigerator is in the foyer and Phase 2 of the kitchen is about to begin......The concrete floor is cleaned & ready for tiling except we have some areas that are not level (think "Concrete Dust") and need to be taken care of. Tom & Mandy have it under control-I am getting out of Dodge for the day! It's the 9th of May, a lovely spring day, I come home & find the house all closed up!
Mandy & Tom are done and nowhere to be found & the fumes from the self leveler are enough to about knock you on your %*#! I know, I know...bitch, bitch, bitch.
But on a positive note the floor is level! We can begin phase 2 of the kitchen!

Over the Edge????

It started like such a normal day......I'm going to work out, then go shopping, Mandy's got the day off & she's at the zoo with Collin's (her son) class (of course Eva gets to go).
Tom has a project he wants to tackle while we're out of the house & we talk about it before I leave, I (of course) have a couple of suggestions on how he can do his project "differently" than he planned.
There is a small section of the kitchen floor that is not level and needs to be "smoothed out". This needs to occur before the floor is cleaned, the self-leveler applied, etc., etc.. He has talked to a couple of companies that rent power tools (not sounding good), has it all figured out-we're good to go! So I leave, but not before I once more add my two sense. "Maybe some nails for the sheet for your using for a tent over the area will help contain the flying concrete shards as you're leveling the floor??" Of course he already thought of it...so I leave....
I come home from working out,(now mind you,I'm not gone more than 90 min) plan on taking a shower & leaving, when I notice my foot prints on the floor in the foyer???? There seems to be an unusually thick coat of dust on the floor.... As I walk into the kitchen a bit perplexed, I see my once cute husband, covered in concrete dust, along with everything else in the kitchen, and the pantry, and the dining room, and the office, and "The Martha Room", and the bathrooms and our bedroom and our walk-in closet, and-Well you get the idea.... you see before he decided that he needed to saw thru the concrete in the kitchen floor, his plan was to collect his tools & make his tent....it never crossed his mind to close doors, never thinking to contain the concrete dust or that it would be so bad.
As I stood in our kitchen, knowing I wasn't going shopping, looking at the mess, knowing he didn't do it intentionally, he really did not think it was going to be that bad, I stood there with tears running down my face 'cause I didn't know where to start, knowing that you can't just wash away concrete dust cause it scratches ( & we have all these new corian counter tops) and it all has to be vacuumed first before you can wipe it down and I have to start from the top & work my way down and knowing he really does feel bad,
I was still going to hurt him if he didn't get the hell out of the house.
I am not the all forgiving, easy going woman you think I am.
This man was going to come to some serious harm if he didn't get out of the house....now.
Yes, some of it did get cleaned up, the foyer was first so it didn't keep getting tracked thru, the kitchen was next, I started at the top of the "auction" cabinets (which are 8 ft high) and worked my way down, I am slowly working my way thru the rest of the house. I did let Tom in thru the front door when he came home that night, he did after all have a Peace offering of steak & lobster tail,I was too damn tired to eat then, but we enjoyed the next night.
If we've made it this far, I'm thinking this marriage is meant to last! Can't wait to see what's around the next corner.....

The Guest Room

After we moved out of the guest room, it became the room we set up the assembly line for the oak doors to be sanded, stained & the polyurethane applied in. After completing 9 doors, it was time to move the assembly line to the dining room. The den furniture went back in the den & the dining room furniture was now in the kitchen. It's time to finish the guest room-Hey-we might actually have someone come & want to stay in a construction zone!
The water damage was repaired, time to paint, install molding & hang doors.
We (meaning Mandy painted-I said I want....) painted one wall & the carried the same color in a stripe all around the room. When I decided the guest bath was too blah, we carried the stripe thru the vanity area, then since I wanted to tie it all together, Mandy painted a nutmeg stripe (which is the color in the shower/toilet area) under the bedroom green stripe.
Damn we make a hell of a team!!!! Time to move in furniture, hang pictures & decorate!