Hall
Miss Molly!
Here it is the end of February already. Where does the time go?
January
We finally took Dad's old recliner to Goodwill and the metal office work table. Still trying to sell things on Craig's list, but not having as much luck down here as up north. Sadly, I did sell the Mother's Day Plates both our Moms and then me, collected. From 1969 to 2002. Close to $3,000 worth sold for $150. I'll never collect things again.
Alissa took a trip up to Walnut Creek to meet up with her girlfriends, Kori and Robin. I decided to make the trip with her. I had a free night from all my stays at PIQF so it was a good use for it. Stayed at the Hyatt House in San Ramon in a 1 bedroom apartment suite. My BFF Selma came and spent the night and drove me around....since I didn't have a car. It was our own little mini retreat. We both got some applique work done and watched a number of movies.
While I was gone, Bruce got his office painted (good timing on my part!). It's all put back together. He still plans on doing something about doors on his "closet desk". I think barn doors would work great.
My sister Jill went into the hospital on the 17th. As always the doctors changed their minds from day to day whether she'd pull through this time. On the 24th she "celebrated", I use the term loosely, her 78th birthday. On the 27th she passed away. It had been years of struggling with both COPD and emphysema. She had always had so much energy and was always on the go. The last five years of her life she was on oxygen full time and wasn't able to play golf or fly to LasVegas; her two favorite pass times. As much as she'll be missed it was a blessing for her sake.
February
It's amazing how long it takes to prep and paint a hallway. But when you start counting up the doors you realize it's not that simple of a job. I painted 120 feet of door casings, 48 feet of baseboards and 60 feet of cove molding. Then there's all the cut-in around each door plus the linen closet and the furnace closet. The 4 bedroom doors and the hall bath door are all done, but not the casings on the hall side. We replaced the louvered door at the entrance to the hall, so it had to have casings on both sides. There is a huge hall closet that has two sliding doors that needed to be painted.
The hinges on the linen closet were just coated with paint. Took an hour to get the 20 screws out. As with most of the house "they" didn't prep well before painting. Unfortunately, they did wipe down the outside of the linen and furnace doors and casing, but not the inside. So the inside of those doors literally peeled off in big sheets of paint. The outside where it matters, had to be scrapped and chipped at; then puttied.
Once everything was painted I went back to do some edge work to straighten up the paint lines around all the doors. That stupid orange peel texture makes it hard to get all the spackle out that we used on the cracks. I found it easier just to paint over it than to try to wash it out....washing it just took off the paint, I found out the hard way.
The finished hall looks nice and fresh. Doesn't look all that different, but we know it's clean. It's nice to have doors on the closet rather than a make shift sheet hanging over the opening. Bruce put the recessed LED lights on a dimmer, which works as a nice night light when Molly spends the night. Except for the linen closet hinges, we have all new hinges and knobs. We had to strip the paint from the linen closet hinges because we couldn't find the right size.
The city sent out tree trimmers to our neighborhood to give all the tress a much needed trimming. Since we were home and Bruce has a way of relating well to workmen, we got a lot more trimmed off than most the trees. Even so, the tree is down right ugly. And in the spring the red bottle brush blooms will be back; so will hundreds of bees. Not to mention that the red stuff blows all over the place.
Bruce and I did take a trip to Jean, NV (45 minutes west of Las Vegas) to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary on January 29th. We went to the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings for lunch. Very interesting history. www.pioneersaloon.info/ We found a dirt road to explore. Apparently, it's where everyone in the area goes to do target practice. Signs all over the place to pick up your litter and bullet casings! And there were a lot of people out there shooting! Had a hamburger for our anniversary dinner, which is what we had on our wedding day, so it was appropriate. :)
In February we went to Thousand Oaks to see the Swing Dolls preform. Nick and Alissa gave us tickets on Christmas. It was a fun outing. Had dinner at a British pub before the show.
But the best part of the last two months, as always, was getting to spend time with our girls and son-in-law. They always take top priority. Pictures below.
We do such exciting things. Like helping Gramma fold laundry. Playing Rummikub at Grampa's tall table. Going to the park and drawing & playing in her shared room with Grampa. Bruce introduced her to the wonderful world of flash lights. Spend most of the day in a darken room make puppet shadows on the wall and looking into every dark spot she could find.
February
It's amazing how long it takes to prep and paint a hallway. But when you start counting up the doors you realize it's not that simple of a job. I painted 120 feet of door casings, 48 feet of baseboards and 60 feet of cove molding. Then there's all the cut-in around each door plus the linen closet and the furnace closet. The 4 bedroom doors and the hall bath door are all done, but not the casings on the hall side. We replaced the louvered door at the entrance to the hall, so it had to have casings on both sides. There is a huge hall closet that has two sliding doors that needed to be painted.
 |
| Don't think paint is suppose to do this |
The hinges on the linen closet were just coated with paint. Took an hour to get the 20 screws out. As with most of the house "they" didn't prep well before painting. Unfortunately, they did wipe down the outside of the linen and furnace doors and casing, but not the inside. So the inside of those doors literally peeled off in big sheets of paint. The outside where it matters, had to be scrapped and chipped at; then puttied.  |
| A "sheet" of paint pulled off the door. |
Once everything was painted I went back to do some edge work to straighten up the paint lines around all the doors. That stupid orange peel texture makes it hard to get all the spackle out that we used on the cracks. I found it easier just to paint over it than to try to wash it out....washing it just took off the paint, I found out the hard way.The finished hall looks nice and fresh. Doesn't look all that different, but we know it's clean. It's nice to have doors on the closet rather than a make shift sheet hanging over the opening. Bruce put the recessed LED lights on a dimmer, which works as a nice night light when Molly spends the night. Except for the linen closet hinges, we have all new hinges and knobs. We had to strip the paint from the linen closet hinges because we couldn't find the right size.The city sent out tree trimmers to our neighborhood to give all the tress a much needed trimming. Since we were home and Bruce has a way of relating well to workmen, we got a lot more trimmed off than most the trees. Even so, the tree is down right ugly. And in the spring the red bottle brush blooms will be back; so will hundreds of bees. Not to mention that the red stuff blows all over the place.Bruce and I did take a trip to Jean, NV (45 minutes west of Las Vegas) to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary on January 29th. We went to the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings for lunch. Very interesting history. www.pioneersaloon.info/ We found a dirt road to explore. Apparently, it's where everyone in the area goes to do target practice. Signs all over the place to pick up your litter and bullet casings! And there were a lot of people out there shooting! Had a hamburger for our anniversary dinner, which is what we had on our wedding day, so it was appropriate. :)
In February we went to Thousand Oaks to see the Swing Dolls preform. Nick and Alissa gave us tickets on Christmas. It was a fun outing. Had dinner at a British pub before the show.
But the best part of the last two months, as always, was getting to spend time with our girls and son-in-law. They always take top priority. Pictures below.
 |
| Help fold socks |
We do such exciting things. Like helping Gramma fold laundry. Playing Rummikub at Grampa's tall table. Going to the park and drawing & playing in her shared room with Grampa. Bruce introduced her to the wonderful world of flash lights. Spend most of the day in a darken room make puppet shadows on the wall and looking into every dark spot she could find. |
| Channel Islands Nt'l Park |
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