Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! This year I am thankful that I beat my neighbor to the finish in the great ground floor renovation: New kitchen; redone floors; moldings; windows; paint; bathroom for her, laundry room for me - the same upheavals and stress. She started long after me, but her crew is bigger. We were both behind schedule but the last coat of paint dried on our back stairs while her guys were still going strong. November 11 2010 at 4 PM was the exact moment I closed the garage door on the last contractor, which marks the official end of the project. Unless, of course, you count that missing baseboard in the closet...

Modern Art or.....

What is it?


Maybe if we look at it from a different angle...


Hmmmm. Does anybody know?
The clue is it has something to do with staining the redwood siding. And that it's taken us a couple of weeks to put on a second coat....

A round up of recent chores

We knocked a few off the punch-list, we even hope not to have to do a couple of them again for at least a few days, weeks months - or EVER!
1) Secure the fence. Again. It blew down during the storms over the weekend. It's happened at least once a year since we moved in. In the past we've re-nailed it, re-braced it, shored it up and bracketed it. This time we have two pieces of cedar on either side of the fence acting as supports, plus one branch that snapped off a Dogwood. I have no confidence that this will be equal to a stiff breeze. The only way to fix this is to re-fence.
2) Screw the hinge back on the mudroom door. Again. This time we not only used longer screws, we also glued them into the wood. It has a 50% chance of being a permanent solution.
3) Straighten the drive post light. Again. The one the local hooligan hit with a baseball bat two summers ago. This time I took a piece of bluestone and rammed it down the side of the post to prop it up. The bluestone will be hidden by the hostas in another month. Probability of success? 75-80%. I don't think this will move unless someone swings on it. Or swings at it with a blunt instrument.
4) Refinish the back door. The one with the dog scratches made not by our puppies but the dog of the previous owner, and the nicks that were made when we had the tempered glass put in. I used Restore-a-Finish, it took almost no time and little effort. Now you can't see the scratches. I went over the entire door. It gleams. I was so impressed I did the laundry door, the window in the kitchen, the sliding door and assorted pieces of baseboard. I love this product.
The only downside is that you can really tell where you used the product so to avoid the tell-tale "I got bored and achey and went off to have a Martini" line on the woodwork you have to keep going. And when you have 70' linear of baseboard Martini time can seem a long way off.

Five minute fix

Cabot walnut stain
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I've mentioned this before, but it's amazing how history repeats itself around here, there is nothing like someone announcing they'd like to visit your house for you to fix those little chores you've been putting off since, oh I don't know, June 2004.
This evening I stained this piece of molding that was missing for three years and has been begging to be finished for the past two months. Hurrah for me.
I also dusted, washed floors and vacuumed, even though I know that by tomorrow morning the two dogs and four cats will have shed enough to cover every surface with a thick layer of fur, and if I'm very lucky one of the kittens will have coughed up a pink or green fur ball on the white carpet and the other will have peed on my new duvet cover.
I'm glad someone gave me the impetus to do this though. Who knows how long we might have been living with an 2' untreated piece of wood otherwise?