New tip for my fellow remodelers out there. When you hang your light fixture make sure you give enough clearance in case you are ever the recipient of a ridiculously huge bouquet of flowers.
Toilet pictures next time I promise!
Sorry it's taken awhile to get this post off, but things are pretty busy around here even though we technically aren't even doing anything.
I'm trying to get a schedule going, which is made more difficult by the fact that Tim has taken another job. He's now going to be running the privet pilot operations at the Waterloo airport. It will move him from second to first shift. Which wouldn't be such a hard transition if we could just do it, but he had the week we had Elsa off and ran a first shift schedule and then transitioned back to second. Now this week he has off at Deere and he's working the airport job and then next week he'll go back to Deere to finish his final week. -sigh- It wears me out just to type it.
So down to business.
Here's Miss Elsa two days ago. She's a very sweet baby. Much easier than Molly who had colic so bad. The only problem is while she is sweet tempered she is also VERY clingy. And she is definitely a mommas girl. That and her constantly wanting to eat. She completely freaks out if you don't feed her every two hours and she when she finally eats she just kind of munches along not really that into it. So it takes at least a half hour to feed her if not more. I am breast feeding so I am spending 1/4 of my life feeding her. Which drives a busy body like my self nuts.
Here she is on the day she was born. I can't believe we got this shot. Molly was only that close to her for about five seconds. Long enough to decide she wanted nothing to do with this thing with the silly bow on it's head. She's doing much better now. In fact she now can say Elsa and is the first thing she says when she gets up. And then she's not happy until we've found Elsa and make sue she's OK. After that she pretty well ignores her, we'll unless Grandma or Grandpa have her. Then we get a major case of the jealousies.
Here's the big sister yesterday. She was all wrapped up in her blanket trying to get my shoes on. Definitely a girlie-girl.
P.S. Tim did get the toilet in so expect a post on that soon!
So I was catching up on some blogs and I noticed Greg over at the Perch house put a "deadbolt type lock" on his bathroom door. That got me thinking. Should I have locks on my bathroom doors? People who have visited is that a concern? Did you leave saying to yourself, "Gee, I'm going to remember to use the bathroom before I get to her house next time." Just the thought of this leaves me slightly panicked and embarrassed. What would Martha say?
I grew up in a farm house with one bathroom that was directly off the kitchen. I remember brushing my teeth in front of company, and it never even occurred to me to be embarrassed that someone might hear me pee. The door did kind of have a lock on it. A hook and ring sort of deal that was about six foot off the ground. Most of my time living there I wasn't tall enough to even reach it.
So in the spirit of democracy here's a poll for everyone out there with a burning desire to make your opinion known (i.e. the four people who still read the blog since I've stopped posting so often: Doug, Em, my mother, and my crazy sister Mary).
#7- The 3-holer out house. Yes, you and two of your closest friends can share the joy of the call of nature together. Pass the Sears catalog please.
#6- The mysterious locked freezer. Which became less mysterious when we discovered weeks later it was not really locked, but we were to stupid to figure out how to open it.
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Wow. Now that I'm reading over this post I've noticed 3 of the 7 wonders are toilet related. I must be a little more stressed out about the up coming baby and the lack of a toilet downstairs than I had realized. What would Freud say?
It's about the food chain and it gives you tons of things to think about. What really hit me is the sustainable ag farmer he followed said that it's not about starting a movement, but giving people who want a choice that choice. You need to read this book! And if you do and want to see a local couple's attempt at keeping things local visit Tim's cousin's web site- Sugar Creek Farm.And on a related note, what goes in must come out.
This afternoon we went toilet shopping. We had actually been before and picked out which toilet we wanted for the downstairs bathroom. Unfortunately that toilet was $600+ dollars and now that we are a one income family that wasn't going to fly. So back we went.
Kohler's Iron Works Tellieur elongated toilet
I really wanted a Kohler. That's what we have in our master bathroom and I'm really happy with it. I don't remember what brand we have in the guest bathroom upstairs, but it's a dud. So I think this is what we are going to settle with. Although it's always hard to say until the thing is purchased and sometimes you still can't say even when it's in place.
Kohler's Devonshire elongated toiletAnd to make mom happy (and maintain the plumbing theme) here's Molly a couple of months back helping load the dishwasher. She's so helpful it's annoying.
"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.
They are having a birthday party for Frank Lloyd Wright with cake (you know I wonder exactly what Mr. Wright's favorite flavor of cake was?) and tours of the Park Inn. I was really thinking about going, but now it turns out I have to take Tim to Waterloo (the opposite direction of Mason City from our house for those of you not familiar with Iowa) to pick up the VW. I toured the hotel two summers ago and I was really excited to see the progress that had been made, so if anyone goes let me know what I missed -sigh-
Here's the article from the paper, you have to skip down to the bottom past the band info to get the details. Wright birthday celebration scheduled
We had two parties this weekend. One Sunday night with some college friends and one Monday night with a bunch of Tim's relatives and family friends. Both parties we started by people inviting themselves over.
I have come to the realization that this is the only way that I will extend an invitation to others. Yes, you have to invite yourself. While it seems un-Emily Post it works for me because I have a slight perfectionist issue. I'm always telling myself I'll have a party as soon as I ______ (fill in blank). And as soon as the blank is filled another issue pops up that impedes partying. And while I was just a teeny bit stressed and unbearable on Saturday it was all worth it. We had a great weekend and afterwards commented that we should do this every weekend so the house stays clean and we are motivated to do house projects. So this is us inviting you to invite yourself over sometime, make sense :)
Tim was a saint this weekend* helping me clean out the disgusting back rooms that I haven't really set foot in since Molly was born. He even got some of the doors that were refinished back in March of 2006 up. Check these puppies out:
The door to the back stairwell in the mudroom 
This door knob isn't original to the house. At the time we couldn't find the one that went here (if there was one- we are missing some). I must say I do like the black with the blue door so it might stay. It was from an old house Tim's aunt and uncle tore down last year.
The door to the back stairwell in the bead board room (notice how "off" it is at the top) 
And last, but definitely not least the door from the hallway to Molly's room. Sorry for the bad picture, but I'm not taking any chances of waking a sleeping baby.
*but I don't know if it was enough to make up for the box of Volkswagen parts I found on the kitchen table when I got home this afternoon.
Sunday night Tim was fusing with the old VW Rabbit he bought and in the process was down in the basement. The next afternoon I went to wash some dishes and there was no hot water. Assuming that Tim had messed with the temperature setting to afford more car parts I waited a few hours. A few hours later still no hot water. So I called Tim and discovered he hadn't messed with the temperature setting after all. I reset the electrical, but even that didn't give me any hot water.
So here are photos of what the down stairs bathroom currently looks like. You'll notice that it did not get finished by Molly's birth or even her first birthday. No one is surprised.
We had the tub refinished. Unfortunately, I cannot find any before pictures, but trust me those of you who didn't see it. It was bad. The little spots you see now are lady bugs. 8 months pregnant=don't bend unless absolutely necessary.
We are very happy with how it turned out and would recommend it to others. But in the back of my mind there is still that little voice that reminds me of the horror stories I've heard about it all falling off one year later. So maybe I will wait a few more months before singing its praises. I am no longer the optimistic/trusting person I was four years ago because of certain run-ins with contractors on this house (can't talk about it yet-should be resolved soon though -sigh-).
Isn't it beautiful!
Yesterday afternoon we headed out after lunch to the local farm center because mulch was on sale there for the same price we've seen it at the big box stores. We lucked out even farther because they had some ripped bags that they gave us for 25% off. Unfortunately since we sold the truck we had taken the old red Taurus and could only fit nine bags in.
After that we headed to Osage to the Happy Acres nursery where we used our Christmas gift certificate from Tim's folks and learned that $100 doesn't go as far as you think it would towards plants.
Sideshow Bob aka Robert Terwilliger from the Simpsons!
Kelli is that who you meant? Not that you win anything, well I guess my respect, and that's pretty hard to get if you note the post a few days ago.
Forever hunting for landscaping plant ideas in my free Internet time I ran across this Flowering Almond bush at the Michigan Bulb Company site. Anyone out there have any experience with one of these puppies? And here's what I'm thinking:
The pink bush shaped scribbles are the flowering almonds. I always heard that when placing things they should be an uneven number because that is more visually pleasing. The only thing I don't know is if that placing applies if you move one across from the other two like this. Plus if you click on the link you notice you get a deal on three. I'm a sucker for deals like this. All you have to do is mark something up and tell me you get a deal buying multiples and I'm piling the shopping cart full.
Notice too that Tim got the trellis I got for Christmas from my mom two years ago up this weekend. Actually he had it up three weekends ago, but the puny brackets they sent to put it in the ground with bent the first night. He bought some angled metal pieces and welded some re bar to it to help drive them into the ground and so far this had held up nicely. The only problem is the trellis was used as a ladder at some point breaking the corner brackets. I think that if they are replaced the whole thing will stand up to the wind much better.
Also notice the pretty trumpet vine I drew in. They had them on this years Trees Forever order for like $2 a plant (I saw them for $7 at the Wal-mart) and so of course we got them. I placed on at each leg on the left hand side of the trellis. One is starting to leaf and the other one looks like it's a no-grow. I think that will be fine because they're pretty invasive plants from what I heard so I figure this one will be more than able to cover the trellis to the top. And what about the right side you ask? A clematis. I just don't have one chosen yet.
Today I worked on cleaning out the closet, replacing our winter things with the summer stuff stored away. I HATE this job. You would think I wouldn't being a girl (stereotype=likes cloths) who likes to organize things. I think it's because it is depressing because Tim has three times the amount of cloths I do, and most of what I have remaining bears scars from remodeling. I just can't fathom why one man would need 30+ polo/button down shirts and 15+ pairs of jeans.
I love TLC's What Not to Wear. I shouldn't, the way I dress leaves no room for mocking those poor helpless souls chosen by their "loving" families. And why would you spend money on cloths when things like this beauty exist begging to be given a loving home with a girl who likes to organize things.
It's the Gerstner International 3 Unit Roller Cabinet Set. I spied it in the new Van Dyke's Restorers catalog this morning. Purrrrrrrrrrr!
