This Contractor Respects Nap Time

Today the roofers came and patched in all the places where the shingles have blown off since last time they were at the house.

I was in the back of the house when I heard them start up. I headed outside to make sure they had found the shingles in the barn. When I said I had just heard them Lucas said he had been here awhile with the lift. He had slowed way down before getting to the house because he figured the girls were napping.

How's that for service? I know you're jealous aren't you.

What Happens When You Don't Blog

This happened about a month ago...

Our friends Doug and Em came over and the first thing they say when getting out of the car is something to the effect of (I can't even closely remember the words since it was a month ago), You have a shed, that wasn't on the blog.

We had it built this winter as you can tell from the pictures.

It still needs a floor. We kind of ran out of money to do that.

I'm excited to get it finished though because then I can move all the tools and remodeling stuff we have acumulated over the years out of the libary and then turn that into a play room for the girls.

The contractor we had build it was named Molli (I think that's how you spell it). I think they were out of Cresco. They had built a shed for Tim's dad, and he really liked them. We really liked them too. I think they travel all over Iowa (maybe even the midwest?) so if you need a shed let me know.

So there. Now everyone finally knows.

When It Rains It Leaks

Image from JLG Lifts http://www.apisupplyinc.com/jlg.php

OK... so we've had these leaks for awhile now and we've been hoping that if we ignore them they will go away. Don't laugh. Yes, deep down we knew they wouldn't go away if we ignored them. But I did say hope didn't I. And hopes don't have to be realistic.

So I am to the point that I can't ignore them any more. Tim is still in denial. This is causing some marital tension, but then would it be a renovation if it didn't. So I am hoping. DON'T LAUGH AT ME... that we can attempt to solve this problem over the long holiday weekend. Notice I said attempt, that's because while I can slip into denial at times I tend to wake up to find myself practical again. So I realize that it is probably going to take a few tries to get these leaks back down to nothing, or at least to the point where we can happily ignore them again.

So I was thinking what we really need is a construction lift so we can check things out with out risking our lives hanging out windows. And then I got to wondering do others of you housebloggers wish you had one oh say in the garage or barn to pull out and use when you need it? Or is it just me who was stupid enough to buy a 52 ft. house. It's OK you can say it's just me. Can I ask for one for Christmas? Or will Santa get my letter, open it, and blow cocoa out his nose as he laughs calling the Elves over. I can see it now "What does she think we are Rent-A-Center!" he would say as his belly jiggled like a bowl full of jelly.

So maybe we'll do something on the house here in the next couple of days. Or maybe not.

And please don't respond with dire warnings of death by black mold. Yes I know. -sigh- But then again we all gotta die of something.

Picture Of The Girls With The House In The Background

The picture was taken two weeks ago. Can you see the problem we are hoping to fix this weekend?

hint: It's nothing to do with the house. Yes, that has problems, but luckily you can't see most of them at that distance.

Couple of Cute Little Girls

Thanks Jen!

Front Door/Back Door

Kelli over at Sugar Creek Farm tagged her readers the other day on pictures of your front and back doors. How perfect for you other housebloggers. So if you haven't done it yet, your it!

The front door opens up onto the porch we rebuilt a few years ago. As you can see we have most of the painting done on it, but we need to door the floor yet. So far it's been a good thing we haven't because it's become a place to run saws so we don't have a mess in the now finished portions of the house.

Once we have a warm weekend when I am not so busy I will clean off the wood scraps you see and give it a good sweeping. Then I will venture out into the play house and retrieve our porch furniture.

The swing was just put back up last week. Last year Molly was terrified of the thing. This year is no different. She cried until we took her out. Hoping to inspire her to give it another try the best way we know how we placed Elsie in it. She loved it! Tim had her swinging as high as his head and she was shrieking and giggling. She's going to be my wild child.

This shot is out the back door to the left. I didn't want to open the door all the way because the cats were trying to escape and it's not cat chasing weather (when is it ever?).

It's hard to see, but where there is no grass is our pile of dirt that we have been using to landscape and fill in the last few years. I can't wait to be done with it and get rid of the weedy mess.

The little cream colored structure is Molly's play house. I don't think I've done a post on it yet. You'll have to wait until later this spring when we get it moved on to the pad we poured.

If I had taken the picture directly out the door you would have seen the spot where one day, hopefully, there will be a garage. Then this door, and the mudroom will get much more use as this will be the primary door the family uses. Someday I hope to have a lovely winding sidewalk to the garage and a herb/cutting garden planted around it.

As you can tell by the pictures it is raining here. Want to know why? Well because I chose today to pick up the trees forever plants. Yes, I'm having flash backs to Halloween when it seems to rain every year and mom always made me wear a coat over my costume. What's the point then?!? When I got up this morning I thought maybe I could get away with planting in what looked like a gentle mist, but by the time the girls and I got going it was a all out rain shower. So I stuck the plants in the wet hay covering the foundation of the playhouse, and will wait for the next sunny day.

wwjbd

or What Would James Bond Do

So of course the morning I do a post on how the furnace hasn't gone out it goes out that evening, and doesn't stay lit. So last night Tim gets home, eats, and then gets suited up to do battle in the cold. In the mean time I'm cleaning up after supper when his phone vibrates. I pick it up and say, "That's funny it didn't ring, I was standing here the whole time." I then turn around and continue wiping. A couple of seconds later I turn back and see him poking at the phone with his hand over the screen. "Are you texting?" I asked in an amazed voice.

Ok, I know this makes me so totally uncool, but I believe that texting is best left to people who are not grown men. Something about it really turns me off. Picture someone who is the epitiamy of manhood, like James Bond, poking at his phone using stupid abbreviations. You can't right? I rest my case.

So back to our conversation. He shows me his screen. "wtf," I exclaim. "What are you a sixteen year old girl." "Your just jealous you don't know anyone who text messages," he replies.

Which is not true. Tom and Jen text message. For some reason I accept this. Maybe because when they started they were actually teenagers. Maybe because they are so darned cute because for some strange reason they seem to still want to talk to each other after being married for two+ years. I think of them as young and cute. I don't want to think of my husband as young and cute. I want him to be a tool wielding, furnace fixing machine. And this text messaging crap is interfering with both.

The phone vibrates again. "idk, what does that mean?" he asks. I feel a little better because if he doesn't know all the slang maybe he's just starting down this dark path and he can still be saved. "I don't know, maybe," I reply. He types away furiously for a bit and then heads down to the basement. I assume he is going to get tools, but after the minutes drag by I figure out he's down there texting where I can't see him. So the situation has gone from weird to creepy and no one is fixing the heat. -sigh-

James Bond wouldn't sit in his basement text messaging. And you know what, James Bond wouldn't come to bed smelling like burnt corn either. But I suppose I'm disappointing in ways too. I imagine Bond girls shave their legs more than once a month.

Corn Furnace Update

I'm sorry I said I hate contractors. That was a little extreme. Like I said there are a few that we couldn't live without and are very pleasant to work with. But unfortunately we have found that to be a very small number. For awhile we figured it was because we had made the mistake of not hiring the expensive contractor. This corn furnace has taught us that price does not a good experience make. We've come to the conclusion that for us doing the work ourselves has been much more rewarding than hiring it done. That being said if the furnace continues to not keep up we have decided that we will purchase another heating manifold and install it ourselves. So no, I don't hate contractors, I hate working with them.

I think like todd said in the last post it was a case of bad communication. The plumbers we had out to do the work seemed experienced in what they were doing, and were much better (honest?) in answering our questions. I wish that we could have dealt with them from the beginning instead of the owner/salesperson combo we talked to. So maybe that's a secret. You need to stick with smaller/local businesses. But then again that's bitten us in the butt too. And as for recommendations we learned how unfortunate those could be with our roof debacle. I don't know what the answer is. I just have to go on with the belief that people who mislead others are going to have to answer for that someday, and be happy in that knowledge.

Thank you matt for the offer of help. As of right now I'm hoping we won't need it. As for a cleaner we were told that we wouldn't need one with this system. Which was another reason why we bought it.

When the plumbers came back out they removed the solid auger we had been using and replaced it with a hallow one. They said they don't install solid ones on corn furnaces anymore and don't know how that one made it on our unit. -sigh- It seems to have made the difference. Tim had noted that even how it burns seems better and we haven't had a problem with it going out since. This is the longest it has consecutively run ever. My dad made a good observation. He said that the auger probably makes the difference because a hallow one wouldn't conduct heat as much as a solid one. The solid one was probably conducting the heat and causing condensation (which he had noticed outside the tube and thought was strange) which caused the feed to gum up.

The fact that it is now running after the replacement makes me feel better because these guys had my husband and I feeling like a couple of morons. They kept telling us how they had retired farmers who ran the thing with no problems and didn't understand why we had problems. Well, from what we can tell now it's because YOUR auger.

Other minor issues you should know if you are thinking about getting one. They are NOT maintenance free. The salesperson made it sound like you just had to clean out once a month or so and otherwise you didn't have to pay any attention to it. Wrong. We have to poke around at the fire twice a day. Tim does it first thing in the morning before leaving for work and then in the evening after supper. So don't expect to take an overnight away and it still be working when you return. That being said the technician we had out here said what the owner told us about having someone around to watch it constantly is a bunch of baloney. That people are able to leave there stoves and go to friends houses for play-dates and return to find them working. We've also found that you can't adjust the thermostat. I'm one of those people who loves it cold when the sleep. So I had a programmable thermostat that dropped way down at night and then warmed it self back up before I was up in the morning. We can't do that right now. In fact, if we mess with the thermostat setting at all it seems to lead to problems so we no longer touch it. I don't know if this we be better once we have the shed built and have a heaver load on the system. I'll have to let you know.

I Hate Contractors

Things are pretty glum around the farm house these days. We don't understand. Are all contractors jerks? I mean I think we are pretty good judges of character, we seem to have so many lovely friends and family. Then why are we incapable of picking a decent contractor? OK, not all of them have been horrible (we love you Wedeking Electric please come soon to wire the dining room), but it seems we get more bad apples than good.

For the last three days the furnace has not kept lit over 6 hours. Last week it worked fine for us. Tim would go out every night and stir the pot a bit and things were a nice and toasty 72 degrees. And when the weather turned so did our luck.

They sent a guy out yesterday. When Tim called last night Mick (the owner of the company) said that we had bad corn and just the slightest crack can cause the furnace not to work. Now isn't that something you should tell the customer before they purchase corn? Also, he was upset to find that I was not home. The girls and I had gone for 4 hours to a friends for a play date. I guess you are not supposed to leave the furnace. Isn't that something they should have told us? Now if someone said to you you can't leave the house for the furnace to work effectively would you buy the furnace? I think not.

So we got up this morning to our cold house and Tim called Mick again. He said that this is the last time he is sending a guy out for free and we just have to face the fact that we have a bad batch of corn. Now here's my solution. We will waste even more of our time (Tim was supposed to be a work hours ago, but he's here waiting for the contractor) draining the bin. We will then purchase "approved" corn from the contractor and then see if the damn thing works. Or I am seriously tempted to say to them take the damn furnace and the coil that you put in that is too small to heat the house and we'll just pay for the work plumbing the two together. Then we'll go to another contractor and start over again.

I am so tempted to e-mail the company a link to this post and a copy of my site stats. Let them know just how fast word of mouth can travel when you have a houseblog. I suppose I had better just settle down though.

Waste of Fricking Money

I want to call my husband and scream and yell. But I won't because I am a good wife.

They came Monday and installed the corn furnace the rest of the way and the last few days have been a constant battle with it. If it actually stays lit, it doesn't keep the house warm. I let the temperature fall to 63 and then I'd bump the propane on to catch it up so I don't know just how low the thing would fall before it would keep up.

Yesterday morning the contractor came out to start the fire because Tim had to get to work and we couldn't figure out why it would have gone out (he said it was feed that plugged the auger, but when Tim looked at it this morning after it went out again he said the auger is not sitting right and it's grinding the corn up into feed). I talked to him about it not keeping up and how maybe we need a bigger exchanger on the furnace. He told me that the exchanger was more than big enough for area this size in that "Don't be stupid" tone of voice. I wanted to make a nasty comment, but not only am I a nice wife, I am a good person so I just smiled sweetly at him bottling my anger deep, deep inside.

What really burns me is we used a really expensive contractor. And it's still not right. Arrrrrrrrg@!#$

Well today that anger is itching to get out. I need to get somethings tonight at the store and I just know Tim is going to make a fuss about price and not having any money. Well at least the camera case I plan on buying will work unlike that stupid corn furnace he bought. There I said it, and hopefully that will be enough and I won't have to have a complete melt down in the middle of the Target store.

I wish I had a time machine. I'd hop in it and travel back to October and forbid Tim from buying that stupid corn furnace. Instead I'd take the money and buy a Wii and the Guitar Hero game (I played it with my cousin last weekend and fell in love, I even dreamed about it last night, serious). Then if I was angry I'd just rock out until my anger subsided...

Slow Ride -da dum dumb, da dum dumb-

Take It Easy -da dum dumb, da dum dumb-

I'm In The Mood...

Corn Furnace Day Two

Well here's the furnace in it's new home. It's just sitting there now unattached because we don't have our bin that we purchased yet. The guy we bought it from called this morning and he still hasn't heard anything about it. They had sent it in to have some parts replaced so hopefully it will be a decent bin for quite awhile even though we bought it used. Now that I'm looking at that picture I wonder how close that is to the wedding tree... Not that I can do anything about it now.

Here's the new insert in the furnace. As you can see it still needs to be wired up. When they left yesterday afternoon they said they had a couple more hours of work left that they would finish when they came to tie the bin in.

Isn't all the new copper pretty?

Here's where it enters into the water heater.

On an unrelated subject it's now final. We are having the Brinkman Christmas this year. My Uncle Mark's family were the only ones not able to make it so we will have 33 people total. Our biggest party yet! So this afternoon we are headed out to Osage to the Mennonite Bulk Food Store to buy candy making supplies. And then up to Stacyville to visit the grandparents.

Corn Furnace Day One

So yesterday morning the plumbing contractors showed up to start work on the corn furnace. Yesterday Tim also read that corn is supposed to get up to $5. -sigh-

This is them digging the trench. The dug from the back of the house where the pad sits over to the north side and into the plywood we have up over the old coal chute. This chute has proven to be quite handy and we've ended up using it as an inlet to the house many times now. Good thing we didn't get around to landscaping that side of the house last spring, huh?

Here's the pad this morning before the arrived. Ignore the gray thing in the foreground. It's just the table saw that died on us a year ago (I know, it's white trashy).

And here's the new corn furnace. It's green. I wanted gray, but since Tim has become manic about getting this project done he pretty much stopped consulting me on anything about it. I had to take a picture though because isn't the little trailer they have to haul it nifty. It's suspended on a cable in the center see?

As I was making lunch yesterday I was thinking to myself. I sure hope they don't try to pressure test the lines after they work with them. See we never had that done since we did the plumbing ourselves. And with our luck I picture them pressuring up and the whole house exploding in a giant fountain of water. Yeah, things are pretty good here at the Newton house and we're waiting for the next disaster to rear it's ugly head.

Cement Pads

Today Tim took the day off of work to pour the concrete pads for Molly's play house and the corn burning stove. We haven't had the cement truck out here since we poured the footings for the front porch. Tim says he remembers cement being $40 then (~3 years ago), he's interested to see what it's going to be now. Did you know that when you have concrete poured at this time of the year there is a winter charge? I guess that is for heating the water, the different blend of cement, etc. So my advise would be to wait and do it at a more typical temperature/time. But those of you who know Tim know that when he decides he wants something he wants it RIGHT NOW.

My step-father came out this morning to help. Tim was really worried. Almost to the point he was going to refuse his help. I wasn't too happy about that. I'm pretty sure Bruce has been working with concrete since he was in diapers. Generations of his family have run the cement plant here in Greene. Why would you refuse free help from an expert.

Well, Tim was worried his forms were not up to snuff and, even though he didn't admit it, I think he was worried Bruce would try to discourage him from pouring it today. But I talked him into letting Bruce give him a hand and I know he's pretty happy I did. The concrete was firm enough to gently walk on late this afternoon and it's now covered in a nice blanket of straw and tarps for the night.

If you read this Bruce thank you again!

This is the pad for Molly's play house. It will face the kitchen door/window so I can keep an eye on the girls while they play in it. The little out butting in the front is a step. Tim nicely rounded out all of the corners so nothing was sharper than it needed to be.

I forgot to take the camera when I went out to look at the pad for the corn furnace. It will sit behind the house where the burn barrel used to be. We put it there because it was decided since we were going through all the cost of putting this furnace in for the new shed we might as well buy a little bigger one and heat the house with it too. Everyone we've talked to who has one likes their corn burner.

We're going to have to take the electric heat insert we got for free off of the top of the furnace to install it, but that thing has proven to be a dud so I'm not to upset. Plus, it was free so we're only out the labor and installation supplies for installing it.

The Aftermath or Why Tim Had To Call 911 Again

Tim decided he wanted the new shed to go where the grainery is standing so he chose yesterday afternoon to burn it down.

Here it is before the fire. We didn't take it down when we tore the rest of the outbuildings out because the little lean-to on the side was a nice place for Tim to store the Oliver we mow with. Well, now the plan is for the Oliver to be kept in the new shed so bye-bye grainery.

It's sad to see these old out building go. It really affects the look of the place, but we can't afford to maintain them. We decided when we bought the place that we'd do everything we could to try and save the barn, but we just wouldn't be able to save it all. It's hard, but you learn as you go through one of these renovations that sometime you have to let things go so save something else.

We had spent yesterday morning at my mom's house because Tim had put the second coat of finish on the dining room floor and it was kind of stinky at the house. I really wanted to see the fire, but Molly has been teething and not sleeping well and she had just settled down for a nap and Elsa need to eat soon so I had to pass. Tim wanted to get it started fairly early because we were supposed to go to his folks house for supper. I told Tim to take lots of pictures.

I called him about an hour after he left to see how it was going. He said fine, but the camera had run out of space on the card so he only got one picture. I asked why he didn't delete old photos. He said he didn't know how. I sighed and resisted beating myself on the head with the phone out of frustration. I then asked if he was about ready to leave for his folks. He replied that it was burning fast and to give him about a half and hour. I started to say something to the effect of how to delete photos on the camera but he cut me off saying, "****, I've got to go, I really gotta go." And since he tends to be a little over dramatic I hung up the phone and went to get Molly up for a snack.

For your viewing pleasure, the only photo taken of the burning building...

About a half hour later I got the girls packed up. I headed outside to tell my mom and step-dad good bye. They were working on landscaping around the new addition they built last year. Molly was happy to be outside with all the crunchy leaves and I had trouble getting her to leave because she was busy helping Papa "drive" his tractor. I jokingly said we had to go see if the house was still standing because of Tim's parting words. Mom said that they had heard the fire department leave town and we all had a good laugh.

I finally got my daughter in the car and headed north towards the house. No big cloud of smoke that direction, things were good. I was on the road just at the base of the hill before you see our house when Bubba, one of the local firemen came over the hill. When he saw it was me he laughed and waved. It was then that I got the sick feeling in my stomach. As I crested the hill I saw the house was still standing but the towns entire fleet of fire engines were headed down the road back towards home. Tim is in the yard by a smoking pile of rubble talking agitatedly on his cell phone.

The aftermath, taken this morning...

I get out of the car and make him hang up the phone so I can find out what happened. It turns out while he was talking to me the ditch across the road started on fire. After he hung up the phone he headed across the road to put it out with a shovel. Well, the shovel broke and the fire spread to the corn stalks in the field. He ended up calling 911 (what is strange is this is the second time this month he's had to call, there was a cow in the road that someone hit coming home a few nights before) and they sent out every engine the town of Greene owns. He's like, "Yeah, you missed it Kip and Bubba where here. I didn't ask Kip about the wedding but..." like I had just missed some friends stopping by for a beer. They had put of the fire in the field and then by law put out his building fire. Luckily the building was pretty well gone by that point so he won't have to try to burn it again.

Later on that night as we're getting ready for bed he's telling me that the firemen were pretty serious when they showed up. He was standing along the road to talk to them and they just drove right by him and started putting out the fires. I must have looked at him with what could only be called amazement and said, "You thought they'd chat before they went to work?" "Well yeah," he replied. "A quick conversation, maybe say hi."

-sigh-

Barn Update and Cool Barn Artist

Here's the library. It's the last room to be worked on here at the farmhouse. There for it has become storage. Though you can't tell, a lot of what is being stored here are tools. The rest of what we have collected is down in the basement which floods every spring. It's not a good situation.

That's why I haven't protested too much when Tim told me he wants to build a shed this fall. I thought we had a kind of un-said agreement that the house would be finished before we started on the exterior structures. But I'm really looking forward to this shed. I can picture tools put nicely away in tool boxes and hanging on peg boards. Tim plans to insulate and run water to the shed so I also picture a nice faucet on the side that I can use to water the garden (this year I would make 5+ trips from the kitchen faucet to the garden). I can use it to clean my fancy paint brush!

He's still pricing and looking at options, he started off wanted to turn the barn into one. But after much angst we decided it wouldn't be the best option for the barn. Plus, for what that would cost we could build a standard tin shed and roof the barn too. So that is what we decided to do. The only problem is the guy we want to do the barn roof is busy until next spring so we'll have to cross our fingers and hold our breath that it survives another winter. He's also looked at options like changing the pitch of the shed's roof to give it a more old fashioned look, but people look at him funny and ask why you'd do something stupid like that (i.e. spend more money to not gain any room).

On to the barn artist. I think I have been a good girl this year. So Santa, if you read this, I would like to find one done for my barn in my stocking please.

Here's the article from Iowa Farmer Today.

Punch List Revisited

Back in 2006 I made punch lists to go along with my anniversary posts. Now I am setting up the nifty project tracker bars on Houseblogs so I need to revisit those lists. Would you care to join me? Note: It ain't gonna be pretty.

Exterior:

• new roof -major leaks have been replaced
  install peak shingles
  touch up paint
  re-do north porch
  fill animal hole
  build stairs
  install trim work on porch bottoms -DONE, see post
  landscaping -started, see post, and post
  finish siding
  screen doors -two purchased and partially installed

Kitchen:

• refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean up door hardware
  seal doors
  hang curtains -done

Pantry:

• refinish window
  install door hardware
  hang curtain -done

Dining Room:

• install trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  find swinging door hardware
  clean-up door hardware
  prime and paint
  refinish floor
  install light fixture
  hang curtains
  install outlets

Downstairs Bathroom:

• install trim -done
  fill nail holes
  refinish window -done
  refinish doors -they are refinished, but not hung
• clean up door hardware
  purchase and install light fixture
  install wall tile -just some touch-up work to do here
  install outlets

Foyer:

• prime and paint stairwell
  install trim -about 75% finished
  fill nail holes
  seal window/build storm -ended up buying a storm
  clean up door hardware
  wall paper
  order door chimes
  refinish exterior door

Living Room:

• install trim -done, see post
  fill nail holes
  seal windows/make storm -ended up buying a storm
  refinish exterior door
  clean-up door hardware
  wall paper -done, see post
  install light fixture

Master Bedroom:

• fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint

Master Bathroom:

• order curtain
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  attach shower plate

Laundry Room:

• install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish window
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint

The Girl's Room:

• fill nail holes
  refinish windows
  refinish doors -all that is left is the closet door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  install light in closet
  install outlets

Guest Bathroom:

• install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  refinish window
  refinish door
  clean-up door hardware
  touch up paint
  fix shower head

Up-stairs Hallway:

• refinish windows
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  touch up paint
  install outlets
  install register

Guest Bedroom:

• refinish window
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install missing trim
  fill nail holes
  touch up paint
  install outlets

Hobby Room:

• refinish window
  refinish doors
  clean-up door hardware
  install light fixture
  touch-up paint
  install outlets

Back Stairwell:

• patch walls
  prime and paint
  install light fixtures
  install outlets
  install missing trim
  refinish stairs
  fill nail holes

Mudroom:

• refinish doors -all that's left is the exterior door
  clean-up door hardware
  install shelves
  install sink

Office:

• install threshold plate -it is purchased
  hang curtain -DONE
  clean-up door hardware

And of course the past couple of years have added more projects to these lists. However, if you look at the big picture, compare what we've done with what we have left, like I have when doing my project tracker it doesn't seem quite as bad.

Mums

My plan was to share these for the Autumn feature entry in Houseblogs, but didn't meet the deadline. Plus, it's not the greatest composition in the world. I was kind of in a hurry when I took it- hungry baby. Tim bought them this spring at Home Depot (I wanted nothing to do with them because I was a little leery of the quality of plant you purchase from said store). I might have to be a little more accepting of the big box store garden centers now because these puppies flourished. There isn't a square inch that isn't covered with flowers.

I love Martha Stewarts pages on how to care for particular plants (OK so I just love Martha Stewart all around). Here is her page on mums although I have to say I did nothing that she suggests. They pretty much got planted and watered every other day when it was dry.

I'd Guess These to Be From Early July 2003...

What a surprise! Tim's aunt sent these two photos along with Molly's birthday present. They really bring back memories. It seems like things move so slowly anymore, but these pictures are less than 5 years old. We don't even own the black truck and silver car anymore.

I think that today I will try to make it into town to buy Molly one of these. The girl LOVES tractors. OK, yes that's a combine, not a tractor. But lets not make things confusing for the one year old.

It's Coming Up Roses

"I'm a rose gardener, I'm a rose gardener!" I say. -picture me doing a happy little dance while I say this. Sorry no photo of the dance, I don't want to get hits from people searching for photo's of pregnant dancing ladies :)

I have never in my life tried to grow roses, but I always pictured this little area of the landscape off the kitchen porch as a rose garden. This spring Tim surprised me with three plants, all of them hybrid teas. Both of them pictured above are from the Gurney's mail order catalog. The orange one on the left is called Mojave and the yellow one on the right is King's Ransom. Like I said I know nothing of roses but they seem to be beautiful bushes, they came to us as bare root stock.

Tim also purchased one from the mail order company Michigan Bulb Co. We planted this rose at the same time as these and nothing ever came of it. A month or so ago we called MBC and requested a new plant be sent. They told us they were back ordered until Spring of 2008. Well, much to my surprise the new rose (Double Delight) showed up the beginning of this week. It is planted and hopefully will catch up with it's bed-mates soon. I worry though because it had some new growth started when we planted it and now this appears to be dying off. If this one doesn't take I think I will ask to use to money for something else and by a replacement from Gurney's.

Next year I plan to place two climbing bushes on trellises on either side of the mudroom window. I've decided to take this garden one step at a time so I don't become over-whelmed trying to get a bunch of finicky plants started.

If all goes well I might also consider starting some sort of ground cover rose. My only worry with that is we have black landscaping fabric under the mulch and I don't know if the ground covers need to be able to reach the soil at points to start new root systems. Something to look into at Molly's next nap time I guess.

Another Step Towards Lowering Our Heating Bills

Tim did do quite a few other things this weekend besides bring the wrath of Becky down on his head. Like install these two storm windows we got from the lumber yard a couple of months ago. I'm not sure what company they are, Tim made that trip with out me. But it is a different one than the windows, but unless you get really close the colors match up pretty decent. Here's the living room window:I noticed while taking these pictures that now the bar separating the smaller and larger panes of glass sticks out like a sore thumb being the lighter paint color. Luckily these storms swing out so I will be able to remedy this problem along with clean the interior of the glass.

Here's the foyer window. The other day when I pulled up into the drive I noticed how ugly the back of the sofa looks in the window. I really need to get something figured out curtain-wise because for some reason one of my biggest pet peeves is the back of a sofa showing in a picture window. There's this house in a near by town that we pass each time we go for a pregnancy check-up that has this same problem and it's like nails on a chalk board to me.

The only problem is I can't pick out curtains with out knowing what color my wall paper is going to be. And wallpapering the foyer is now just a distant unattainable memory since I've quit.

But I hope you all had a good mother's day. Ours was pretty low key. I worked on catching up on some of my favorite blogs and cleaned the downstairs, I had good help though :)

We Have "Issues" In Our Marriage,

lots of issues so it's a long post:WARNING: This post contains an annoying amount of parenthesis.

I think we all know that remodeling or building a house can cause a little marital stress. Maybe magnify the "issues" you have with one another or bring to the limelight "issues" you weren't even aware you had.

One of these issues in our relationship is the fact that Tim will agree with you as to what should be done or bought and then once you go to do or buy that something will "surprise" you with what he all along wanted to do, usually the complete opposite of the "plan." I, of course, see this trickery as lying and this usually leads to some pretty heated "debates" in public places. One of the reasons that I am sure all of our friends have us pegged as Most Likely To Get Divorced.

We needed some sort of wall built around the future rose garden to prevent run off of the dirt. We agreed that with our current financial situation the only thing we could afford was concrete pavers. That was the end of all agreement. After lengthy "conversations" in the privacy of our own home I thought I had gotten Tim on board with using the same brick pavers we were using for the sidewalk. I should have known better when he refused to use the pavers we had on hand and opted to go buy new. So we get to the place that sells them and he springs on me that it is a "physical impossibility" to build a wall using bricks -insert your eye rolls here, and that we will have to get this type of paver. Well after "discussions" I cave like usual. The only thing is I was set on using the same color as the bricks because he had already bought 3 different colors/types of landscaping materials and I'm thinking the front of the house is starting to resemble a patch work quilt (which by the way he said he understood/agreed with in previous "conversations"). So after much more walking around the yard "conversing" I again caved and we now have another color of landscaping -sigh-.

I now realize that the photo I have above only shows the new blocks and not the other colors we have and now it's too dark to take another picture. Sorry.

So this "issue" brings up another "issue" with in our marriage. The fact that Tim says I'm an insensitive harpy who is never happy no matter how hard someone works for me. OK- so he doesn't say that exactly. But that's pretty much what he's thinking maybe with fewer mythological references and more dirty words. And that is so not fair. I can't help my above average taste and the fact that I know exactly what I want and am not afraid to say I'm unhappy when I'm forcibly tricked in a public place during a huge sale with hundreds of people standing there while we "discuss" things.

So yes, he did a very nice job at laying the stones. And yes I'm sure they were very heavy and he physically asserted himself to a maximum to place those stones to protect those little rose plants I insisted on having (but must point out had no say in choosing he "surprised" me with the purchase after I insisted I didn't want any plants bought until I was good and ready to take care of them- read not when I'm in the third trimester of a second pregnancy in two years). But wouldn't nice small, black bricks look better?

So here's were I need your support. Send me lots of comments about how much better those pavers would look if they were black. I know. It's mean and harpyesque (hey- I'm not perfect and when you show your overwhelming support for me he can at least be right about the harpy part as consolation), especially since I don't think he knows how to post a comment in his own defence. But it's mother's day weekend, not father's day and that should have trumped any "discussions" right then and there, right?

-sigh- I feel better now.