Dan the Man

Dan and I are in full project mode this summer. It seems in the past two summers we have been so busy inviting people over to swim, that we really didn't get much done around here...So we have a lot of things that were falling behind.

Last week we started pressure washing the patio by the pool. We didn't get very far on this chore last year so we were anxious to finish it up and apply the sealer, so the job won't be so time-consuming in years to come. Dan and I each spent 1- 2 hours a day each day last week pressure washing the patio and it's still not done, so you can see why we are motivated to get it all sealed this year.

We also pressure washed the metal patio furniture in preparation for painting it...we're giving the patio set a makeover and you can see the results on my Paper Caper's blog.

Going, Going, Gone!

Yesterday Dan cut down the fir tree in the back that has been shading the pool beginning around 4 pm on. To cut the tree or leave the tree was something up for debate even when Dan's parents lived here. Although I liked the tree, I had to agree, it was really limiting the amount of time we could swim in the pool...what sold it for me was my hope that eventually we can put a little covered area like a gazebo or something back there in it's place!

The process of cutting a tree of this size down was no doubt stressful. Add to that, using a chainsaw that didn't want to cooperate, then borrowing another one from the neighbor, plus the fact that it stared to lean the wrong way...it was an exciting time at Ernstopia. Dan called his Dad up who came over to assess the situation. All that was really needed was a wedge and soon the tree was down. I saw it fall from inside the house and didn't even have time to get my camera rolling again...but was relieved to see the tree come down with only minimal damage...Now I can plant my raspberries!!! So Dad, can we borrow your wood chipper?




Here is our first burn from the burn pile back in June. After 2 years worth of yard debris had collected, it was getting heaped up pretty high. The other photo is of Dan showing off his amazing Bass collection. Dan isn't normally a fisherman, doesn't even have his own pole, but thanks to his brother Dylan who loaned him his pole, Dan caught somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 fish on his rafting trip down the John Day river last month...more than the guys who invited him along!

Has another week gone by aready?

I don't know how I went a whole week without blogging. I've thought about it, taken pictures to post, but never posted any of them. So here is a look back on some of what we have been doing.

A couple weekends ago, my sister Toni and I went to Ikea. Can you believe this was m first trip to the new Portland location? I was so excited to finally have an Ikea nearby, but it took me a long time to get there. Anyway, I bought a few storage things for the kids. These photos show the kids helping Dan assemble a table for Natalie's dollhouse... "So easy even a caveman can do it!" The table was perfect and it has a shelf to store all the doll furniture too (not bad for $30!) I also bought a shelf for Zander and Hayden's room, but we still need to buy some hardware to mount it on the wall.

Toni and I also went to Fubonn (Asian Market) not far from her house and I stocked up on some yummy food. (Curry sauce, sweet chili sauce, ramen noodles w/out that packet of salty stuff, sticky rice and fun snacks for the kids.) The prices are so much lower than what you can get at the chain grocery stores.

Late last week Toni informed me that all the winter things at Pennies (where she works) was on 70% off clearance (plus her discount on top of that)...so I went in ...twice— to stock up! The selection of 7 year old girls clothes wasn't very good, but I did manage to find this cute outfit. The leather jacket is too big really, but it was marked down from $60 to $6.99 and I couldn't pass it up. (we just roll up the sleeves). I don't recall how much the blouse was, but the shoes were $1.50!!! I also got a winter coat for Zander to wear next year, and a bunch of sweaters as well. Hayden got a new pair of pjs too.

Last Saturday, the kids and I went to my brother Aaron's house because Toni and Chucky were cooking up one of their yummy Thai feasts. Andrea was there too and I got to rock Brandon to sleep! Earlier that day I attended a yearbook workshop in SW Portland (I'm an advisor on Natalie's school yearbook) so I was pretty tired (mostly from the stressful drive over) and gladly accepted the invitation to have someone else cook for us!

Natalie was snacking on a spring roll before dinner was ready and lost her first top/front tooth. It has been wiggly since before Christmas, so I was relieved for it to finally come out. Now Natalie likes telling people she has a "window in her mouth" just like the rabbit in her book "Little rabbit's loose tooth."

Last week while talking on the phone, I got this strong urge to paint the walls in the hallway downstairs. I think I am really struggling with seasonal depression (no sun, cold house, cabin fever etc), so I wanted to do something to brighten up the place. Our home is great in the spring and summer, but can be a bit dark in the winter. Dan and I are planning to replace the front door with one that has a much bigger window to let more natural light in. As it is, I have to have the hall light on all the time for it to feel bright enough. We are also going to replace the dark green linoleum tiles with tiles in a lighter shade...but until all that gets started, I decided to paint the walls a lighter shade of brown; more of a taupe color. We also hope to get an entry table to hang a mirror above to reflect more light around.

Last night after below freezing temperatures made our bed too cold to sleep in, we decided to move it away from the drafty windows and over to a different wall. It made all the difference in the world! The night before I had 4 blankets on, socks, slippers, a sweatshirt and another smaller blanket around my neck and it was still hard to get warm. I told Dan I think there are things in the refrigerator that are warmer than I am!!! We are still going to apply a window film to help save on our energy bill.


Natalie's Science fair was last night and we got to walk around and see what other kids put together. It is optional to participate in the Science fair, but she really wanted to, so we did a little experiment with water density using maple syrup, colored water and cooking oil. We also learned that different objects float in different fluids depending on the density of the object. She was nervous to talk to the principal about her experiment, but afterwards she was telling Zander how neat it was to get to talk to him. (Then Zander was cute and asked me if we were going to invite him over for dinner sometime!)

So that brings me to today...and what's for dinner?

We're having a roast compliments of my handy-dandy crock pot. Hope you are all doing great and staying warm. On our trip to get groceries in Troutdale yesterday (as I was being blown around) I was thinking about how extremely thankful I was not to have to live through another icy cold, windy Troutdale winter...garbage cans blown over, garbage blown and stuck to the fences etc.

Well, that's all for now...happy Thursday!

Serious problems with plumbing here at Ernstopia

Man...I love our home, but sometimes it feels like a huge money pit. Here's what has gone wrong in the past 24 hours:

• Last night we realized that the small trickle of water under our kitchen sink is now a constant drip and has leaked all over everything under the sink. Upon closer inspection it seems the pipes have rusted all the way through leaving holes in the pipe where water can leak out anytime the kitchen sink is used.
• For some reason all the water downstairs is ice cold. Dan thinks it could be the pilot light in the hot water heater that has gone out. An easy fix...I think.
  
• This morning the toilet in our master bath overflowed all over the floor before church.
  
• And then after coming home from a Christmas party at our next door neighbors, Dan discovered that our basement was completely flooded...about 4" of standing water...EVERYWHERE! With all the rain we've been having, water has been building up.
  

When I got home from the gym this evening, Dan was under the sink trying to fix the leak.

Here's Dan trying to rescue the insulation from the wet basement floor.

As you can see, it's all the way to the stairs! See the mop we bought today at Home Depot (on the bottom step). At the time I thought it would be a good thing to have to mop up the puddles...little did we know we should have been buying a sump-pump!!!

Our friend Scott called sometime after 10:30 pm and offered to come over and help with our flooded basement. I went to find Dan to see what help he needed, but he was no where to be found. About 15-20 minutes later Dan knocks on the door with this. He pulled it out of the drainage pipes down where the driveway meets the road.

It appears to be some kind of root system all matted up with other organic matter.

Dan thought it would make a nice hair piece. I had to agree, but told him it couldn't come in the house!!!

I guess we were just spoiled in our first home which was only 2 years old when we bought it. In the short time we've lived here, we've been faced with some pretty costly issues to fix. Remember our major ant infestation? It cost several hundreds of dollars just to minimize (yes they are still getting in). Our central vac began not working over a year ago, but it's not real high on our list of things to fix. During the winter months we have a horrible draft coming from about 90% of the windows in the house causing the house (especially the floors) to be super cold until about noon (when the heat has been on a while). Windows are not in our budget right now either, so Dan bought that plastic film (you use a hair dryer to seal up your window) and I hope it does the trick. Between the damp basement and the drafty windows it's no wonder we've been so sick since we've moved here.

I am trying to look at the bright side of this...I mean, at least we didn't have anything on the floor of the basement. And hey if it gets cold enough, we could have our own ice skating rink! Maybe if we charge admission we can come up with enough money to repair all the water damage!

Sorry this was such a bummer of a post. I'm sure I'll be better by tomorrow. I just really needed to vent...carry on!

I can see clearly now, the cabinets gone...

Kitchen Upgrade: Phase I

When we first moved in, I purposely didn't put anything in these above cabinets because I knew I wanted them taken down. It's been something I've been pretty vocal about and I've even had several of my girlfriends offer to come over and help me tear them down. Well, finally 1 year, 4 months and 3 days later, I finally got those darn cabinets out of my way. Good riddens cabinets...you will NOT be missed!!! No more cupboard door hanging right in my face when I'm trying to cook, no ducking down below the cabinets when having a conversation with someone seated at the table and no more light being blocked by the cabinets either. I was a giddy as a school girl yesterday during demolition!!!

Before:

During:

Aahhhh After!!!

What an amazing difference it makes not having those big dark cabinets hanging down in the middle of the kitchen. I can't even tell you how happy this makes me! My kitchen went from feeling dark and depressing to bright and spacious thanks to Dan, Scott and John (who came over in just in time to help pull it all down).