Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Spring Break: Day 1

So today was just like most of my Saturdays except I started a list of things to accomplish this week. My big project for the week is to replace my tub. I attempted to replace it several years ago with no luck (tub returned). I'm hoping I have more success this time around. I did not get a tub that needed electricity this time-- no heated jets. Just a regular tub to soak in. I was able to get the tub home but not the surround stuff for the walls as it was too wide to fit into my truck. I'm going to need to get some rope and get it home on the roof, but I'm going to wait until Monday when there is less traffic. 

I took Balt for his dogwalk, got coffee, baked a loaf of bread today and went to hot yoga. I made a big fire this afternoon and watched a lot of nothing. I spent over an hour just looking and watching previews, then just turned on the tv to catch the news. 

Half of them work!

All four of my appliances are installed but the electrical upgrade for the microwave needs a real electrician that will come on Friday and the fridge needs water fed to it which will happen on Monday. So close!! The dishwasher got a trial run but the oven needed to thaw out before being able to be turned on. The fridge door handle has a big dent which needs to be replaced soon.  I can't wait until I can just enjoy my kitchen-- drink filtered water with ice, microwave leftovers, bake cookies and throw all the dishes into the dishwasher!

My school is going pretty nicely, luckily. All of my extra time has been spent dealing with my kitchen!

I have appliances

My appliances were delivered this morning but the guys who delivered were supposed to install my fridge and oven, but I was not informed of this information, so I told Erika (who worked from home today so that I could go to work) to tell them to leave the appliances in the garage for the install people to come, who I was told would come in the afternoon. This afternoon a man came to install the dishwasher and microwave-- both need electrical upgrades in my condo so neither are working. When I called about who was coming to install the fridge and oven, I was then told the guys who delivered were supposed to but of course did not volunteer that information when they were told to drop everything off in the garage. I'm sure they were happy to in and out so fast. To add to my problems, my oven is 1/4" too wide for my space. To say it was a frustrating day, is an understatement, but I survived and am closer to the end of this project. I spent the evening finishing up the floors in the dining room.

Tomorrow Ron, my handyman, is coming in to do the electrical upgrades, pull off my small counter to shave off 1/4 inch and prep the fridge box with water feeding tubes. Costco ordered the delivery guys to return but they won't be back until tomorrow night. In the meantime I need a few days off before getting back into it with the floors. My fingers are all very sore from the work and baseboards can wait until the weekend. Monika comes home next Monday night and the goal is to be all done by then. Boy, am I cutting it close! 

More Floor

After a pretty regular Monday, I came right home and got to work on the floors. The goal was to make sure I finished the kitchen and get as much of the dinning room done as I could. I got a bit more than half but I need to buy at least one more box of boards to finish the job as well baseboards. There's a lot of detail work to do too, which takes time. There were moments of frustration and the same finger smashed with a hammer, only in a different place. Still, it's looking pretty spectacular and I just can't wait until it's all done! I'm so close.

Floors

The day started pretty relaxing but after coffee sipping, news watching, a short dogwalk, hot yoga and going out to lunch, I got started on my kitchen floors. I got about 3/4 of the way done but want to also finish the dining room. After smashing my finger with a hammer, I decided it was getting late and I needed a break. My appliances get delivered on Tuesday, so I'll need to just make sure I get the kitchen done tomorrow night. I'll get to the baseboards next weekend and hopefully be completely done. 

 

Kitchen work

I worked all day on the kitchen-- from 6am to 8pm, with only a couple of breaks to walk Balt and eat.  I had to go to Menards twice which gave me a bit of a break as well. I cleaned the garage, which was a big mess with piles of cardboard and saw dust. I was glad to have a blower to get the most of the saw dust out. I had to paint both the pantry, shelves (photo) and the fridge box. I ran out of orange paint and needed to pick up another quart. I decided to add tile to my counter back splash and that took some time (and money). 

I ended the day exhausted with my back in desparate need of yoga. I'm already planning on being at the 5:30 hot tomorrow night with Dr. Ruddy.

I finally washed dishes!

Several years ago my mom asked my dad to buy her a new sink. He got her a faucet instead. The box never got opened until Thanksgiving weekend. My mom gave me the faucet for my new kitchen and it looks great with my new sink. Ron came in today to finish things up so I let him work and ran errands. I did some grocery shopping but without an oven, there's very little I need. I'm very eager to get to baking again, hopefully soon. 

After Ron left, I got to putting vinyl on all the shelves and putting dishes away. I'd like to get rid of stuff I don't use/need to lighten the load. There's still so much to do!!

Balt is 49 in dog years!

At some point this next year, Balt will become older than me! It is hard for me to believe but as I see the continuing grey gather around his muzzle, I know it's true. He's survived cancer and in order to schedule a tooth extraction this week, we had a blood work up done and he continues to be cancer free. We certainly are lucky to have him in our lives!

While lots of folks in America were enjoying an extra hour of sleep, my animals woke me up at 4am. I got up and started organizing my week. By 7am, we were out running errands. I purchased paint finally and started prepping to paint. I went to yoga, had lunch with Erika and then got to work. I'm going to need to do at least another coat, most likely two more to get a true color without the blotches of my previous yellow with orange rag-roll. I decided to go with a very light blue eggshell ceiling and top edge with a semi-gloss true orange for the walls. I wanted warmth and boy, I got it. I'm wondering if I should lighted it up with a glazing effect? The cabinets will be lighter, so that should help.

And so it begins...

Today was kind of a typical Saturday. I got up at 5am, watched some news and then took Balt for a long walk. He really likes going to the school. I'm sure because so much food is left around the campus!? I did a quick grocery run and then make pumpkin scones before going to hot yoga at 11am. I came home and made soup for lunch and then started cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and unscrewing them to prep them for removal. On Friday, Ron, the guy I hired to install my new cabinets will come to remove everything I haven't been able to. The more I can do, the less I will have to pay him to do. I got three fully done, three more to go (and four more drawers). I also started removing the wall paper and I'm struggling to decide on what color to paint the kitchen. My peach plan ended up looking awful-- too much like flesh tone. It made me think of Silence of the Lambs. Monika says teal, I'm thinking lettuce colored, but I've had so much warmth in there (bright yellow with rolled orange over), that I'm afraid to change it to a cool color. I also have to decide on a my counter tops-- butcher block wood or tile or what? Anyway, it's all beginning to really happen!

I ended my day with a fire and the first episode of Stranger Things, season 2. I had design work to do, bills to pay and other computer work to do as well, so I wanted to make sure I got most of the stuff on my long list of things to do done! Yearbook t-shirts are ready to be ordered on Monday (see below).

Weekend Work

Over the summer, while I was away, my cats started peeing on the stairway landing. Eventually Erika just put a sandbox on the corner they were peeing on. Once I got home and saw the soaked carpet, I ripped it out and began to drench the wood below with different cleaning supplies. I had a throw carpet on it for the last couple of months and finally decided it was time to do something. I had hoped to hire someone to re-do all the floors but for now, this will do. As I prepped the corner, I could still the smell the urine and doused the wood with pure bleach, scrubbed it and then left a fan blowing to dry it out. After doing a few errands and a hot yoga class, I added more bleach and started prepping the job, cutting wood, etc. I only purchased one case of laminate to match my old living room floors. I eventually would like to redo all the floors with real wood but that will have to wait until after I do my kitchen (priorities!). I ended up with one plank but two fronts, that I decided to paint instead. I ran out of 1/4 round but that will be an easy pick up for next weekend. For now I'm done! And yes, the cat box goes back in the corner-- I don't want to take any risks!

The Bagster

Today was a busy day! We had 3 men from the Men's Tabernacle Ministry come to finish taking down the stairs and to cut down the oleanders on the side of our house. My mom had purchased a "Bagster" which is a dumpster in a bag-- simple to set up and strong enough to hold up to 3,300 lb of debris or waste. I ended up having to run to Lowe's to buy a second one. I also ran to the library today to unload an 11th truckload of books from my mom's library-- mostly self help books. After taking down all the stairs completely, we came to find the corner of the house behind the stairs has wood rot. We will need to hire a construction person to fix the problem quickly. My mom knew the corner leaked when it rained and that my dad had tried to fix with various methods but it looks like his fixes only made things worse. At times the projects seem unending and a bit overwhelming, but I remind myself that we have accomplished a lot and we will eventually get everything done. We hired a "pool-guy" today who will come in weekly to take care of the pool for my mom. We've decided to wait until summer to get new fencing put in, but my brother will start on a new retaining wall after I've left.

It was wonderful to jump in the pool after the work was done and cleaned up. I met up with my brother-in-law for dinner to catch up. It had been quite a while since I had talked with him and it was very nice to connect again. The evening cooled off and it was a perfect night for a walk around downtown Newhall. I very much enjoyed the night out, 

Another Hot Summer Day

The sun doesn't rise until after 6AM so I haven't been getting out quite as early this week.   Still, the mornings are quite glorious and usually stay in the 70s until late morning. I've been able to trick Balt in to going up some milder hills by taking different routes.  This morning my mom and I got out to run errands by 9 AM and were home by noon. My brother was waiting for me and then the two of us went on a mission to purchase  plumbing supplies for a backyard project. The handles on the backyard hose and watering system needed to be exchanged so that they were easier for my mother to turn.  When she told me she was going to call a plumber, I asked my brother if that was something we could tackle and he assured me it was easy enough for us to do. We spent nearly $80 in new fixtures but got the job done well (See below).  The rest of the late afternoon was spent lounging and dipping into the pool to cool off and then lounging again. When the temps get over 100, it's really hard to be productive. It got to 105 today!

November Challenges

Here it is. Thanksgiving is just 3 weeks away and I can't wait to be with my family all together again. October has been a bit on the lonely side. I'm missing having family close by. At least the weather has been wonderful. Balt and I started our morning with a long walk in the sunshine. It was a mellow day, paying bills, cleaning house, and doing some writing.

November is write a novel month and I've been challenged once again to get back to writing mine, but the truth is, I'm not ready to stick my head into that project. I'm still trying to wrap my head around my own world and the life I'm living. I managed to get to 26 yoga classes last month for my 30 day yoga challenge, which Erika encouraged me to change into a 5 day a week yoga practice for the winter and I've stepped up to that. I have loved going into the yoga studio, not only to practice my own yoga but often to see Erika at work and occasionally practice next to her. I'm still tweeting daily quotes on happiness which has been a nice project. I'm 40 tweets into my #50daysofhappyposts.

So, am I up for another 30 day challenge? I'm not so sure. Instead of writing a novel in one month, I thought about writing 30 essays instead of one 50,000-word novel. I would try to write each essay with about 1500 words (in order to match the novel challenge). They would be about meaningful topics I have been thinking about lately, but every day this month?? I'm not so sure I can make that happen. I thought I'd get a head start and I managed to get one started last week-- just one and just started. And if I count this as an essay, I'm only about 300 words in. It's a lot of time spent, not just writing, but hashing out what I'm writing about, or editing some older writings. 

There's a Ted Talk by Matt Cutts on 30 Day Challenges that I listened to a couple of years ago and I got hooked into the idea that it was good for me. In 2012 I made it a New Year's resolution-- to have a 30 day challenge every month for the year. I got to April, maybe. I kicked it off with a 30 day yoga challenge that I only got to 20 before having to start again in February. I challenged myself that month to give up Facebook, but ended up using Twitter to fill the void. I'd like to think giving up something for 30 days is a lot easier than adding something into your life, unless it's sugar. Giving up sugar for any amount of time is a tough one, because it's in so much of the food most people eat. Once you do it, though, it can be life changing.  If you google 30 day challenges you'll find millions of sites, mostly fitness related challenges but there are articles everywhere about these challenges with ideas of what to do, and what to give up.

As for the 30-day yoga challenge, I've tried it 3 times and have yet to get in 30 straight days of practice, which brings me to the sticky part of this whole idea. Difficult challenges set me up for failure. Interestingly, I believe that the Catholics invented the 30 day challenge, only they called it Lent and it was for 40 days. What I really like about Lent and the idea of giving up something for a long period of time is that the church gave people Sundays off and a couple of other days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday that I'm not clear on. Anyway, I think I have to go into a 30 day challenge knowing I'm going to need a day off here or there. Of course, there is the idea of doubling up to make missed days, which I have had to do with my #50daysofhappyposts. The yoga studio I belong to (and Erika works at) encourages seasonal challenges called Personal Revolutions, and allows doubling up to make up missed days. It's still a great challenge and I love that there's a bit of flexibility built in, especially for something that is so physical. 

So am I in for 30 days of essay writing? I'm still not sure and it's day one. I've got a lot on my plate and a lot on my mind. Not everything I'm thinking about is ready to be fully explored in an essay and I'm telling you, 1500 words is a lot to explore. (I'm only a bit over 750 now in this fully in depth discussion of whether I need another 30 day challenge in my life). I have encouragement though. Both Melissa and Josh keep bugging me to get back to writing. For various reasons, I've had to set it aside and just deal with life. Part of me feels setting aside time each day and writing in depth may actually help me deal with some of what life has thrown at me. On my list of things to discuss this month; women at work, college tuition, the love of a dog, family, adversity, giving, sleep, synchronicity, generations, girl power, and rejection. Throw in the fact that I have parent teacher conferences, I'm traveling later this month, seeing my mom, and cooking Thanksgiving dinner in California; I've got a lot going on, either to write about or to keep me from writing. Either way, I'm looking at a busy month.

At the root of the 30-day challenge, I believe, is to improve ourselves, to create new habits, give up bad ones and just become a better person. If you listen to the Ted Talk, Matt's last point is that small changes equalled sustainable changes. In other words, a difficult 30 day challenge will end and on day 31 will most likely revert back to life before the challenge. My wish to write a novel will not come true if I spend the next 30 days writing it because I know it will be a piece of crap, but I'd be further along. My wish to be a better writer in order to someday write a novel was what got me writing my blog every night. It has become a sustained habit because I have flexibility with it and it isn't so big of a challenge. Writing a 1500 word essay every night for 30 days is no easy task and won't necessarily make me a better a writer. And the truth is, I'm not sure my blog readers (my mom) really want to wade through such long posts while missing out on my daily happenings.Granted, there's not a lot of excitement happening on a daily basis to write about. 

If you have read this far, you've gotten through 1125 words and I'm done writing about 30 day challenges for tonight. I have a feeling that is going to be my problem this month. I don't want to spend a lot of time rambling or ranting in order to catch up to a word count. That's where flexibility is needed. What I'm saying is I'm not guaranteeing an essay every night and I certainly won't inflict 1500 words needlessly.

Sunday Project

I got to sleep last night around 2am. Balt had me up at 6am, so I knew a nap would be in order today. I built a fire, enjoyed coffee and watched the news. I waited until 9am to go out for a 5 mile walk. I came home and got back to work on my t-shirt quilt. I'm making a king size blanket, so it's a big project. I started cutting up t-shirts last winter and they sat in a basket all year. I got a lot accomplished, but it's far from finished. I cleaned up in order to go to a power yoga class that was so good. I came home, showered, made potato pancakes for dinner, and gluten free squash muffins. I worked on a power point presentation for tomorrow while watching the news and will be in bed early tonight.

Bitterly Cold

Luckily I had signed Balt up for daycare today. He hasn't had a walk since Sunday. He runs out to do his business and skips back in quickly. I ordered some boots for him today on Amazon so that once this bitter cold is over we can get out asap. I spent my morning prep time grading. I brought in my lunch of berries, yogurt and gluten free granola and a student thought it was so pretty, "like something on pintrest!" It's the first time I heard that!

After school I went to mail a couple of boxes for Jessika full of snacks and Christmas gifts. She's back at the Naval Academy finally after fun in the sun. Her coach post photos (see below) on Facebook and I enjoyed downloading ones with Jessi in them. They will be perfect for next year's scrapbook. Last year's book is in the mail! It'll be the 4th digital one to add to my mix. I came home and made a big stir fry for Monika and me then watched LOTR Return of the King. If I knew for sure I did not have school tomorrow, I'd stay up to watch it all but at this point, I'm pretty sure I'll be at work tomorrow.

Work Day

Day 2 for P90 started with a sculpt workout using bands and weights. I have one 5lb and one 10lb dumbbell. I obviously need to get another 5lb to start out with. I'm' using a red band and I'm pretty sure I need to get something a bit easier but I did my best. I will only get better. 

My students are starting to finish stained glass projects already. My #100happydays pic for the day is of one-- projects that students are proud of always make me very happy. We will move into mosaics next and then get out the kiln for the week before the winter break. I'm hoping to start making icles this year for the holiday sale. I was going to go into the studio this evening to start, but I just felt so cold and so tired, I cuddled with Balt pn my lap and watched tv instead. Having a 80lb dog on your lap is a good excuse not to get up. Although I finished the day kind of lazy, I actually was quite productive. I finished both the parent newsletter and the boys basketball program today. I helped problem solve posting the student newspaper and worked on the senior section of the yearbook, I returned a few items and purchased a few items during my lunch hour. I'm hoping to be finished with Christmas shopping soon. 

Made for Framing

My #100happydays photo for today is of Erika holding her UW-Madison Business degree diploma-- for real. It finally came in the mail and is ready for framing! She served a lot of pizzas paying for that tiny piece of paper. Nothing makes me happier then to see that kind of pride on my loved one's face, so much accomplishment, so much hard work. 

My Wednesday was non-eventful. It was raining when I got up a bit later then normal, so I got on the treadmill for a quick mile hike, but then by the time I was ready to go, the rain had stopped so I took Balt for another quick mile walk around the block. I prepped screens today, getting ready for screen printing, during my prep time. After school, I took Balt to the dog park. Although it wasn't raining, it was wet. I came home, made a couple of tostadas and watched the news.

I framed and hung the "Purple Hamsa" print, although Erika said she liked the green ones better. I sat by the fire drawing out my new Mayan self portrait with a sharpie marker. It is an interpretation taken from an actual Mayan stone tablet I photographed at the National Gallery in London. Both characters in the scene are me. I'm looking at my duality-- the subservient Teri vs the domineering Teri in this particular art work.  I am working in linoleum, like my hamsa print. I have never made a large lino self portrait print before. I'm quite excited to see how it all works out. I did a large wood cut self-portrait in college and another large wood cut of Erika about 10 years ago. I haven't really worked with linoleum since I taught middle school. It's a creamier than wood, but not as buttery as rubber. I had to force myself to stop around 9:30pm in order to get going on the blog and get to bed early. I could easily keep drawing until it's done, or midnight, but I'd rather not be blurried eyed tomorrow.

A Good Tuesday

Winker came in today for Newland. It made for an exciting day. We had lunch together and I snuck out of class several times to chat. My #100happydays photo for today of us because my friendship with Melissa makes me VERY happy.

I finally finished my hamsa print and started my Mayan Self Portait print-- which is huge and will take me a while to finish. I finished my work day with a photo shoot of the tennis team. I miss Monika being a part of the mix, but I'm so happy to have made these connections with athletic teams because of my daughters. The gymnastics coach came to ask if I'd take photos and make their poster this year, which I am very excited to do. 

It rained most of the day but oddly it stayed dry early this morning for me to take Balt for a good walk and again this afternoon for us to go to the dog park for a while. I came home and moved a few items out of the garage, cleaned a few items, worked on my print by the fire, ate left overs for dinner and watched a bit of Netflix. Yes, it was a good Tuesday.

New Dining Room Set!

My dining room table and chairs were delivered today after school. I had a delivery time of between 4pm and 8pm. I was very glad it came around 5:30pm. I had taken Balt for a walk around the block, knowing I would get a call 15-20 minutes before the truck arrived. The boxed were brought right into my dining room but I had to do all the building. I started shortly before 6pm and finished shortly before 11pm. I had to do a bit of rearrainging and clean up once everything was built. Of course, I love the new set. I've wanted a new dining room table for years. Our old was purchased the year Monika was born, I believe. It has certainly served us well. It's currently on Craig's list for $100. 

My work day was great. I worked on my mini hamsa print during my prep hour, got the October paper and went around school delivering copies. My classes were all kind of quiet since there was ninth grade testing. There was a staff meeting afterschool and then I went home to wait for my new furniture. My parents have been so very generous this year. I still have to finish up a bathroom upstairs with some tub fixtures and then I will be done for the season. Next year I hope to attack the kitchen, but I will stop for a while with all the remodeling and redecorating. I have a lot of art to make and a book to write.

Finishing Touches

When I sent a photo of the living room to Erika, she reply, "you gotto to get rid of that yellow!!" Yeah, yeah, it's going but I just didn't have time for it this time around. Today I took care of getting the student newspaper to print and finishing up home projects for a bit. I go back to school tomorrow, just for professional development, meetings and prep, but it's back to work. I went to Home Depot for a new carpet but didn't find anything so made my way to Menards. I ended up texting Erika pictures and let her pick. Its a bit loud, but I like it. I spent mid afternoon hanging all my pictures salon style in the hallway. I have an Ikea frame with 5 slots that I want to fill and add to the mix as well. So I;m going to have to do some digging to get something different.

At 5pm I made my way to the West Side pool for our staff kick off school party/BBQ. I got into the pool with Joe and his daughter Harper, talked shop (photo) while splashing with his 11 month old. It was pretty nice way to end the summer. I got lots of chit-chat in with teachers and was one of the last to leave. 

Erika snapchatted and called. It's nice to hear from the girls while everyone is away. She having a good time visiting with her aunt in Newport. Monika is incommunicado while river rafting. I hope to hear from her tomorrow. Jessi has 6 classes a day and spends the rest of her time at swim practice or studying. She doesn't have much time for fun or snapchatting. After tonight, I won't have much time either.

Let's talk about color.

Balt and I got out at 6am to beat the heat and the rain. Both came on strong today. It was in the 90's today with 100% humidity making it feel like 100 degrees. We had a strong storm mid morning but I stayed in most of the day working on painting. I hired an alumni to help in order to get most of the job done in one day and we did. We painted the upstairs hallway and the living room.

Erika called our home a "clown house" once. She said because there was too much color in it. I like color-- a lot of color. My parents' home and all the rentals I have ever lived in all have had "egg shell" colored walls. As soon as I could add color, I did. I'm not picky about color, I just like it, so I didn't pick the colors for the condo. I wasn't ever a fan of the jalapeno green. It was too dark for the hallway. I let Erika pick the colors this time around and she went with plum and tan. The trim is still white-- not egg shell white, but ultra white. I like my whites to be bright too! The tan over the jalapeno needed three coats. Having Sean help meant I could do all the cutting in and edging while he did all the rolling. We made a great team. Once he finished a coat all around, he went back and added a second. We painted for 3 hours and then ran out of the tan. I ran a bunch of errands mid afternoon, after Sean left, which included getting more tan paint, picking up a large collage poster I made with photos of the girls, and going to post office to mail Jessi a box. I got home and got right back to painting. I wanted to be done by the end of the evening. It made for  a long day but I am happy with the end results. There's still more to do-- the entryway, dining room and hallway going downstairs to the basement, but those areas can wait for another time. For now I feel like I am starting the new school year with new colors around me. I love the plum-- it's dark but happy.

 

Steam Cleaned and Mint Green

Today was steamy! Balt and I were out the door walking before 6am. I knew that we would need to get out early if we wanted to get a good walk in. I walked 3 miles and came drenched in sweat. I got right to painting. When we first moved in 8 years ago, I painted one wall in Monika's room half blue and half white in order to show where the half way mark was for her and Jessi, in order to assist in the sharing of the room. I decided to paint over the blue with the white and needed about 4 coats of paint, which meant needing to wait between coats for paint to dry. I went to the pool for a while mid morning while paint was drying. It may be the funnest way to wait for paint to dry ever! Balt loved helping me out and by the end of the day had all over. I will be honest, there is a ton of dog hair rolled up on those walls. 

In between the 3rd and 4th coat of paint coats, I finished steam cleaning the carpets. There is a pretty residue of mint green left behind, but it is not that obnoxious. I can live with it for a year. I had planned to redo the floors downstairs next year, I'll just have to get an overhaul upstairs too. As my mother reminded me today, it's only money. There are some things you can't replace. I ordered birch tree decals for the green wall from Amazon but they will not be delivered for a few weeks which is dissappointing but  in the mean time, I need new sheets and more pillows. I may go to Johnson Creek tomorrow. I finished the day enjoying a short walk, watching a movie with Balt and having cheese and rice crackers for dinner. I worked a bit on the school paper and made plans for a yearbook meeting. I'll be in bed early tonight so that Balt and I can get up early again tomorrow to beat the heat!

My Comedy of Errors

Today went from bad to worse. While it didn't quite match up to the worse day in my life, it may be one of my more expensive days. The day started with my waking up because my cat peed on me. Different cat from before, different place-- he peed on my leg. I got up and gathered the bed sheets and took them downstairs to the washing machine. I put my pajama pants in there with the sheets, set the dial for "disinfect" and turned the machine on. I went up stairs, put new sheets on my bed and then realized I could not find my phone. As I walked down to the basement, I could hear the clunk-clunk of my phone being tossed around in the boiling hot water. I pulled it out of a puddle of water and set into a bowl of rice under a lamp and hoped for the best. At least it was insured still. I was upset but that was just the start of the day.

I had to be at school by 7:30am for registration. The kid who said he'd man the newspaper station was sick and I had too much going on, so I left the table unmanned. No one took our candy or signed up, but oh well. At 9am I had a photo-shoot for the swim team (pictures above). I very much enjoyed reconnecting with the girls. They are a great group and I do think swim team girls are special since they work harder than any other team out there, really. After the shoot I met up with the news kids in the photo lab, I met Grace in the art room and then had a meeting with our school principal. I applied for the yearbook adviser position and got the job. Staying busy while the girls are away just got stepped up a notch. I've wanted to work on the yearbook since I got to JMM 12 years ago. I will certainly have some work to do this year!

I got home hungry and eager to check on my phone. It was still dead, so I took a trip to AT&T. I made an insurance claim and brought in an old iPhone 4 we had laying around to use while I wait for my new 5 to ship out. While I don't have to pay $500 for a new one, there is still a $100 deductible- ouch. After AT&T, I went to Menards to pick out the green paint for Monika's room. Little did I know the paint would not just be in Monika's room. This is where things really started getting comical. I poured out the paint on the banister, mistake number one. I didn't have it on the rail completely and it flipped over and flew all over my stair well. I poured hot water all over the stairs, then ran to U-haul to get a steam cleaner. I kept pouring hot water on the carpets and sucked it up but then knocked over the bucket of paint onto the hallway on the other side of the banister! Yes, I did it again and then it got even worse. I let the steam cleaner collector bucket run over and it spilled all over the carpet in front of my bedroom and of course, stained the carpet green. At this point I should just dye all the carpets green!? My mom thought adding other colors might look nice too. It'll be at least $500 to re-carpet the stairs and hallway. When the first flip-out happened, I started crying, I was just sick about it. But when the second one happened, I started laughing. It just felt so crazy. I spent 4 hours steam cleaning the carpets. I finally got to painting the bed room. Yes, there was still a bit of paint left but not much.

The New Vanity

Balt and I got up early and went to the dog park after a quick stop at Starbucks. I earned a free drink, so I added an extra shot of espresso and a few pumps of sugar-free mocha. By the end of my walk, I was buzzing. I dropped off Balt and made my way to Menards. I had to decide between a 36 inch vanity or a 48 inch, and I needed to decide between a dark wood colored or just plan white. I decided on the smaller vanity in white with a granite counter until I realized the counter was 150 pounds. Doing home improvement projects all by myself means needing to make a few practical sacrifices. I dumped the granite for a sandstone, which was much lighter. It was also the reason I went with the smaller size, I had to lug it up the stairs.

The project took the whole day; I opted out of going to the pool or out for yoga in order to get the majority of the work done today. I still need to add nobs to the doors and drawers in order to keep the white cabinettes cleaner and I've sent a series of bath, pool and beach photos of the girls to be printed for the side wall above the toilet (see below). I have spa tub paid for but I want to remove the old tub before I go pick it up. Monika wants me to wait until she's gone before my doing the tub just in case I mess things up, but I'm eager to get it done. I've asked several different people to assist me but no one seems available. Tomorrow I take the day off to have some fun and do some youtube research on installing tubs. Depending on what I find out, I may or may not need a plumber. 

I finished the day running out to pick up my vegetables. I made a tomato zucinni saute with lots of onion and garlic. I served it with wild rice. Monika and I enjoyed a very nice sit down dinner together. I took Balt for his evening walk which he seems to thoroughly enjoy. I came home and decided to turn on the air conditioner for the evening. It's still 80 degrees outside and it's after 8pm. We were supposed to get thunderstorms but it looks like they have vanished, so the heat is here for while longer.

Home Improvement Part 2

After I walked Balt, I went to Menards to get the paint for the upstairs bathroom. I realized the toilet was ready for the trash pick up but I wanted to get the vanity out there too. Monika was able to help and within a 1/2 of tossing it out the trash truck came and took it away. As I prepped to paint, I was shocked at the thickness of hair product and dust on the walls. It was super gross. I had to really scrub and rinse several times. I realized that painting meant saying goodbye to the girls markings on the wall. They failed to put the year on all the earlier posts for how tall they were, but they made sure to put the day, so it looks like Jessi grew 6 inches from a Friday to a Sunday. 

I decided to paint until I was drenched in sweat. By the time I was drenched, I was almost done. I made it to the pool by 4pm and swam for 1/2 hour, showered and got home by 5pm. Monika and her friend went to Costco with me to pick up the toilet and it was installed by 9pm. I would have had it in earlier but I had to go back to Menards to pick up another nut that I accidently dropped down the drain hole. Tomorrow I look for a vanity and order a tub. 

Home Improvements

I woke up at 5am and sipped coffee for a short time and then got to work. I painted second coats of paint and started setting up the new toilet waiting for Sean to get up. I picked him and together we went to Menards to buy the vanity. They were all out of the one I wanted, so I was able to get the display for half price! Sean and I installed the toilet and got started on the sink when we found the trap would not fit since the sink was not the same size. I took Monika and Sean out to lunch and then went back to Menards for a few last minute fixes. Here's the cost run down = $84.07 for paint + $201.20 for new toilet and supplies + $256.63 for the new vanity, facet and supplies + $41.67 for odd fixes, vanity brackets for safely and a door lock + $100 for Sean's labor + for new towels. So the bathroom that had a $5000 bid to get remodeled got a quick pick me up for a just a bit under $700! Not bad, if I do say so myself. I think Sean and I are ready to tackle the upstairs bathroom now!

At 4pm I was done and needing to get ready to run to the airport to pick up Jessi. While she made it amazingly, her luggage did not. Her connecting flight home was just too tight. I knew it was going to be tight, but miraculously the flight was delayed so she had no problem making it. I had to wait an hour for her to take care of the luggage situation. I had hoped they would ship it to Madison, but because she flew to Milwaukee, they would only ship it there. Oh well. Luckily she doesn't need any of it. We had a wonderful time catching up in the car. She had an amazing adventure in San Diego and thoroughly enjoyed her time there (who would not love California??). She was very hungry upon her arrival home and luckily, there was lots of fruit and veggies for her. We are in for a month of fun now that she's home!

Bathroom Remodel; Day 2

I was up by 5am to enjoy the cool of the morning with Balt. I was so tired from lack of sleep as last night had been quite hot and it's so difficult to get to sleep in the stuffy, sweaty, heat, so I am stayed up past midnight putzing around on the computer. This morning, I managed to get Balt out for a short walk before the rain started pouring again. I went into school today to get some mail, turn in some paperwork and meet up with a friend. We chatted for quite some time and then I went into Menards to get paint. I started painting the bathroom, "Simpson Sky Blue" --that's my name for it not the official name. Sean, a student of mine from last year, came over by at 2pm to help me get the bowl and vanity out as well as to go shopping with me for a new bowl. We had to buy a crowbar to pull out the vanity. I had watched several videos on youtube on the how-to's so I felt I knew what needed to happen, I just didn't have the strength. Sean, had the strength and was great at following my directions. Tomorrow he will return to help put the new stuff in, after I am done with the painting. It needed several coats to cover the old golden swirl.

By 5pm, I had to get to the pool for laps and to cool off. Painting had me drenched in sweat. After my swim, I came home and made stir fry for Monika and my dinner and then I took Balt for a very long evening walk. He's been pretty lazy lately, I think because of the heat. Sean said Balt looked like he was walking around like an old man, which has me a little worried but he's still recovering from a bad ear infection and may still be in some pain from that. Balt's been doing fine on his diet, which has surprised me but with the heat, it's easy not to be quite as hungry-- although I keep craving ice cream. The evening was beautiful,much cooler, but still a bitsteamy. I'll be in bed early tonight for sure as it was a very full day.

Just the beginning...

It was after 1am when I finally went to bed last night. So this morning when 5am rolled around, I got up and started cleaning but by 6am, I started dozing off. I fell asleep on the couch until after 8am. Monika needed to get ready for a camping trip and Erika was up getting ready for a trip out to Colorado with friends. It was really the first day for me with nothing really scheduled but plenty planned. Summer really began today. I had some clean up still from last night’s party to attend to. I returned chairs I had borrowed from school. I made an appointment for a new piercing and went to the pool to read and swim.  

I came home and began working on the bathroom. It is Summer project #1. I watched videos on pulling out an old toilet and installing a new one. It should be the easiest part of the project. Tomorrow I have student coming over to help me pull out the bowl and the vanity and then go with me to Menard to pick up new stuff. I will paint before putting new stuff in. I decided to keep the tile as there are no signs of damage and I certainly don't need the extra expense or work.

Erika and I sat down for an early dinner together and had a wonderful woman to woman conversation, just the two of us. We talk a lot about the future. I am so lucky to have her around this next year and she seems to be happy to stay around. 

I took Balt out for an evening walk by the lake so he could get a swim in to cool off. With a high of 87, he was one hot dog. As I type this evening, it is still in the 80's but we are in for strong storms rolling in-- which should make for some fun for Monika on her camping trip. 

Countdowns are starting

There are 3 days left of the 3rd quarter and less then 3 weeks until Spring Break. Girls are starting to talk about Prom-- it's more than 6 weeks away. And the end of year celebrations and events are starting to get put on the calendar. Even though we are still having below freezing weather, spring sports are in action and I can't wait to enjoy watching some spring sports! Kids in my advanced metals/glass class are finishing up mosaic projects which is certainly an indication of spring. I think it's one of my favorite projects of all the kids make-- they always come out so pretty. 

After school I stayed way late with Monika and the newspaper kids working on the April issue layout. I heard one of the kids say, "I can't believe we only have two issues left this year!" Now is the time I begin to think about next year's leadership and who will run the paper next year. Each year's editors bring a different flavor and further our efforts to becoming a richer part of the school fabric. I no longer have children I can force to participate, from now on kids are going to have volunteer. I'm joking really-- both Jessika and Monika were very passionate about their involvement with the newspaper and I'll be lucky to get anyone as committed and/or talented as they are.

Monika had to get home to finish up a bit of homework before soccer tryouts that started at 8pm. Instead of early morning captian's practices, this week there are late practices. I let her take the car while I stay home and get ready for bed. Last night she came home exhausted. As for my own eshaustion, I now know I am up quite a bit in the night with restlessness-- up to 20x a night. It's not only a lot of yawning now, but constant eye twitching. I'm not quite sure I know what to do. I'm trying to drink more water during the day, stay away from caffine but it's hard since I love coffee and chocolate. I think what I need most is summer.

The T-shirt Quilt

I started working on creating a t-shirt quilt of some sort last year, but I wasn't sure what I wanted. Well, now that Jessi isn't around to wear the hundreds of t-shirts stacked in the basement, I decided to make her a quilt with all of the old shirts she won't be able to wear. Monika thinks she won't be happy to find I've cut up her old swim team shirts, but when'll she ever have the time to wear them now? She's in uniform and pretty much gone for the next 10 years. Now she can wear all of them all at once every night!

Here's how I did it:

1) I used a 12x12 sheet of scrapbook paper to cut up about 40 squares, making sure the design was centered.  I used about 30 shirts since some had backs that I could use, but most did not. I doubled up fabric for thin and white shirts. 

2) I ironed on fusible interface to all of the backs of the t-shirt designs to add a bit of stiffness for handling. 
3) I laid out the squares onto a 60X90 piece of fleece I had purchased for this project this morning.

4) I used a ball point needle on my sewing machine with quilting thread to sew up each strip of 8 squares (I cheated and squeezed more then 8 on the first strip). 

5) I sewed the 5 strips to each other and turned it face down onto the fleece and sewed 3 of the 4 sides together. I turned it right side up and sewed the bottom up and added an sewed edge to other three for a more finished look.

6) I'm thinking I will add green string into each of the corners tomorrow to help keep the two sides joined, as well as a bit of flare. It looks great on Jessi's bed!!

I managed to get the whole project done in one day after walking Balt this morning, a break at 1pm for a swim and another break at 5pm for a walk to Starbucks and an iced tea break. I ordered pizza for dinner. I love getting a big project like this done! That's what summer is for.