Our New Abode - Week Six, dated April 10, 2003

I try to write an update on the work around here before the end of the week, so my brother can read about it. He's only home on the weekends. Originally his wife would pull down the email at work, however Jeff *finally* got his own email account and is actually using the dang thing. And he just turned 44 today. Hey, better late than never, right?

The house is getting there, bit by bit. Last Friday I had my first official guest over. Karen was up from Boulder CO for a model horse show and she stopped in on her way from the airport to the hotel. Although Karen hadn't seen the place before, she's been reading these emails, so she had a very good idea of what all we started out with. She was pleased with what all we've done with the place. And best of all, she couldn't smell cat pee! Yeah! I can still smell it a bit in two areas, so it's time for another application of Nature's Miracle before the flooring is put down in those areas. One area is in the kitchen and hopefully one of these years we'll be able to replace the linoleum tiles in there.

Larry and his wife came by on Saturday. Larry was over one day, while we were painting like crazy, so he was in on all that fun. He said that he could hardly recognize the place. At some point Cece and Amy (paint helpers from a month ago) want to come over to see the house in the in between stage and then after we're all done.

Today I got down on my knees with the Black and Decker hand scrubber and got the newspaper and paint off the floor, in front of the sink. Now the tile is a different color than the rest of the room, a slightly lighter shade of golden brown. Now it's not so brown. Gee, I wonder why. Could it be because it's CLEAN!?!?! Naw, can't be. HA!

The flooring is getting complete in the living room. Tonight hubby should finish up the section between the fireplace and the windows. I asked him to finish up that area first (before the area on the other side of the fireplace - actually a free standing wood stove), so I can set up my plants and all that. I've got a teak cabinet that was my mom's (I think it's almost as old as I am, as I remember my parents had it in Bellevue early on and we moved there in 1963). Both my brother and I like it, but I told him he could only have it after I kick off as for right now it's mine. One advantage of being able to haul things up from CA after Mom died and not flying back on a plane like he did. I plan to put plants on top of it, in front of the windows (with protection under the plants, of course). It's about the same height as the bottom of the windows, so it should work out pretty good. And since I only have a few plants, I guess I'll need to go purchase some more from Molbak's so it can be filled! Can't wait to do that. Love that store! (For those that don't live up here, it's this awesome nursery and plant store. I love their wide variety of plants, especially their African Violets.)

Today Mandy (my calico cat) realized that she can walk along the narrow window ledge. I think she's about the only cat that will be able to do that as the others are rather plumb or too wobbly on their feet (Guy), although Rocky might be able to manage it as well. And she did it with the blinds down. Interesting feat.

The other night hubby took some time off from flooring to sand off some of the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen so they'll shut easier. Most of the cabinets didn't even shut, but they do now, for the most part. Although when you shut one cabinet door, another in the same row usually pops open. Oh well, at least they're pretty much closed. I also took the time to finish scrubbing off the paint on the rest of the sink and counter, so I was able to finish setting up the kitchen counters.

Tonight I'll cook our first meal on the new radiant heat range. Yeah! It won't be anything exciting though. Just some warmed up frozen clam chowder, although the chowder is pretty tasty. I figured I'd start with something easy, instead of this huge project and then muck everything up. I don't know if there's much of a difference between using this type of range top and the coil type that I'm used to. Hey, at least my pan will be more level (well, as level as you can be in an old house) than it was with the other type, as the coils would never lay flat.

The picture hanger on the print that was missing one was put on yesterday, so my donkey/mule collection of prints doesn't look so off kilter in the bedroom any longer. Yeah! Hey, it's the small things that get you through in life, right?

I knew I was missing some of my books, so I went all the way through the storage units, back to the back walls. And I found 5 more boxes! 4 of them held reference books, which will have to wait until the regular bookcases are set up (as they can handle the weight better than the ones attached to the walls). So, now I can say with complete certainty that all of my books have been found and are out (except for the reference books). Yeah, got that chore completed. And a huge chore that was. It does look nice to have them all out and sorted by author, though.

Today I got all the stuff in the bathroom organized and sorted. Emptied out 4 more boxes doing that. So, a few less boxes in the store room to deal with. That room is pretty wadded full right now. Although once we get the flooring done in the living room we can bring over the entertainment center and get that set up. As well as the rest of the living room furniture. And then I can start flinging more artwork on the walls.

Yesterday I stopped in at Ikea. Boy, was it tough to come out of there without a whole bunch of their Billy bookcases and CD towers. I already have 4 of their CD towers, but want to purchase at least one more (maybe two), so I can put my mom's CDs in there and mingle them in with our CDs. Plus, there was one box of hubby's favorite CDs that we could never find when we were in Spokane. But it was found as I was emptying out the metal storage unit. It was literally the last box we took out of there (neighbor kids were helping me empty it out) and in small print my mom had written "CDs, records and books", or some such like that. And it was only on one side of the box. Well, no wonder we never found it. When I fill a box, I write on the top, as well as at least 2 sides, in large letters with black felt markers. Much easier to see. Anyway, hubby is thrilled beyond belief at finally finding them.

Now all we need is the CD player set up. I've hauled over all the components and speakers, but of course the speaker wire isn't with them, because I grabbed the wrong speakers.  I'll get the correct ones later on. I wanted to set up the CD towers, however I couldn't find the pegs that the shelves go on. So, I was hoping Ikea would have extras for sale, which they did. 24 in a bag for 95 cents. Gee, I could afford those, at least. So, I dragged home 7 bags, although I greatly wanted to bring home more stuff.  Of course, now that I bought the extras, I'll find the originals.  HA!  Isn't that the way it usually goes?

I plan to use their Billy bookcases (a type of bookcase they have) with glass shelves and two glass doors in the front. The doors meet in the middle, so it'll be real easy to put my collectibles inside and be protected from dust and cat hair. They also sell a set of 2 small halogen lights that fit in the top and on the fixed wooden shelf in the middle. And best of all is the price - a complete set up with 5 glass shelves is $199. I've been wanting these for years, but never had the room in Spokane for them. Now I do! Yeah! So, any bets on how many I can wad in here? As many as possible, that's for sure. And I can finally see my horse/cattle/cat collection the way they should be seen. With lots of glass around them and lots of light overhead. Yeah!

The cats have been settling in quite nicely. They got real excited when we brought their perches over and they spend quite a bit of time zipping up and down them. As well as sleeping on them. Plus, they're a great way to peer out on the passing world. Getting the couch set up also gave them another place to hang out, although they still like to pigpile on the bed. Especially since that's the warmest room in the morning since the heater is on and the living room is pretty nippy without any heat. When the library area gets floored, I'd like to bring in the day bed that was my mom's. It'll give them another place to hang out, as well as a place for someone to sleep on, if we have any company come over. We can't get the bed down the hallway, so this will be the next best place to put it.

Oooo - bird alert. Got the cats all excited as there was a chirping bird in the tree outside the window. I couldn't tell what type it was, so I'll have to look it up in my bird books. I get to learn a whole new set of birds, as I imagine some of them will be different from what I saw in Spokane.