Another Month ALREADY?

I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. Sam and I discussed today how we have been in our new house for a half a year and we still have so many unfinished projects. I don't think we are feeling upset about it, but just realizing that if we are not deliberate about getting these things done, that pretty soon we will have been in our home for years and still not have an upstairs shower.

Because my hands were giving me some trouble, I abandoned the scraping of the fireplace for a little while. I think I am finally up for it again. So I will have to tackle some more of that this weekend (along with taking the hot tub and deck and old closet doors etc to the dumps...yes, we still need to do that too).

I have to include the picture from our beach day. Besides doing all the house stuff and life, we have to fit in some fun family time too. So it's not all work and no play over here.

 And just because she is so cute, I have to put Rachel's morning potty picture up. Poor girl...but she is sooo cute!

Last week Sam bought a pressure washer and he and the boys spent last weekend fixing it. 

Sam took them to a neat hardware store. There was a lot of interesting things for the boys to see.

Rachel sat so sweetly in the stroller while I worked in the front yard.

I pulled all the weeds and scraped the moss off the bricks in the front. All the bricks will eventually come up and the sand under them will be scooped away...

Then we moved all the rocks from that side area and put them down by the tree by the street.  It looks much better...I forgot to take a picture of it completed.

Sam even mended the fence in the back. About five boards were falling down, to the dismay of our neighbor in back of us. And after having pleasantries with her, I was glad that Sam was able to amend the situation. 

And Rachel thought she needed to come help...

Anyway, this weekend Sam is going to pick up the bullnose tiles for the upstairs bathroom so we know what tiles to order and what board to put up. Then we will order the tiles and start on that project. 

Just moving things around

Did some rearranging yesterday...and cleaning.
But I just wanted to show off my new space in our bedroom. With Rachel in the boy's room now, I was able to set up my easel (Sam bought it for me YEARS ago) and I put one of the tables we were using in the dining area for my desk.  So excited to use it!

I also rearranged our mantle...got some pictures out...trying new things.:) And yes, Ezekiel is about to hit Stephen with that toy when I snapped this picture.

How to cut up your hot tub!

It is amazing what we have accomplished in the last two weeks. Keep in mind that I have three kids under foot when I am busy scraping and cleaning. Rule number one: Make sure you have enough energy to clean up when you are done! So that means that I have to do things in mini sessions. Scrape for two hours, then clean up for thirty minutes. Then scrape off more paint for an hour. Then spend another thirty minutes cleaning up...you get it.

So here is the fire place with all the paint scraping done!

I still need to take a wire brush and see how much more I can get to come off. 

And Sam decided today was the day to start taking out the hot tub.

Ezekiel ran in to get his work gloves (ie snow gloves) and Stephen put on his snowboarding helmet with lab goggles. Had to be ready to help daddy!

And the boys found a snail...the poor guy did not make it to see the end of the hot tub removal, I am sorry to announce.

After Sam took the saw to the hot tub, Ezekiel got to pound that sucker! I will translate what Stephen said after Ezekiel knocked the top off: "My big helmet so me can do that!"

More sawing!

Thanks to a new blade, the rest of the job was relatively easy.

Our backyard now. Coming along.

My hands hurt

So yesterday, I tested the brick I had applied the stripper to the night before and was excited by these results!

But only having applied the stripping agent to the whole fireplace that morning, this was the dismal result I was getting after two hours.

Later in the day I tried again...this took hours!

So I waited until this morning and Sam found me a better tool too!

Ahh! Yes, much better.

This looks like I am just scrapping it and it comes off in big sheets, but in actuality I am pressing with two hands and full body weight (jerking up and down, side to side) to get these results.  Oh my hands hurt.

But I think it will be a good start if I can finish this today.

So here is what I did accomplish yesterday. Finished sanding.

Used a roller this time. Not sure why I didn't try this before. Faster and no more streaks of paint!

Oh yea.

Then I turned and saw my sad front doors. So I had to sand those down and paint them!

Well, wish my wrists, knuckles, fingers, and knees luck today.

More of the Same

If you want to do something, do it right the first time and make sure you have the right tools. Of course, I knew that, but I thought, "Well, it might work!" But no, it didn't. So I am sanding down the banister and railing before I paint it correctly. 

I started the sanding process and have a lot more hard work ahead of me.

I also went and bought more caulking and Frog Tape to help with cleaning up all my painting mishaps on the stairs. 

Once I got the process down, it started going a lot faster!

So far, I love the results!  So much better!

Left with a pile of tape and towels.

I have to retouch some painting before I finish the rest of the steps though, so I turned my attention to some more grunt work. Today I am undertaking the UNDERTAKING. That is what I am calling the process of trying to strip the paint from my fireplace.

I applied the stripper. I have the problem thinking that only really bad smelling, harsh for the environment products really get the grime and gunk off (and will strip paint). But because I have kids in the house, I am trying to go for more non-harmful (AND more expensive I might add) products for these things. My fingers are crossed.

After about an hour I went over with a razor blade and I am glad I did. I could tell what areas the stripper was not really working and applied a bunch more (all over).

Now I am sitting and waiting for a friend to pick up the kids so I can get to work :).  

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of some of my fun projects...

Painted my old vase thingy...

and made a magazine holder out of an oatmeal box, the Wall Street Journal, water and flour (paper mache), and glue and water...

Okay, So I will post pictures of the fireplace when done!