Stimulating the Economy

As the stock market plunged, we stimulated the economy by buying click flooring and an air conditioner for the bandroom and some tasteful accent lighting for the kitchen.

Awning Windows In

The windows are in!

And the soffit and fascia is done!

I'm happy!

Kitchen Drywall

Kenny the drywall guy smoothed things out in our kitchen on Saturday.
Smooth!

Weekend Shots

Johnny!
Joe!
Rob and Johnny on the ladder; Joe, Jimmy & Nellie.

Windows

Picked up the windows Monday evening.

Sunday Dry In

Hey Mimi!

More Foot Shots

Julian's feet at a birthday party.

Julian's foot at an angle.
The Ultra-close-up.

Hey, those are Jimmy's feet!
And those are Maddie's!

My family seeks fame through foot portraiture...

Saturday Afternoon

Saturday Morning: Framing the Bandroom Roof

A lot happened today. Here's what the bandroom looked like around 10 a.m.

Door Shopping

We went to Tampa Door on Friday and "choiced" a new front door. Here's a photo from the catalog. Ours will have 6 little panes of glass, not the beveled work seen here. It's fiberglass but it looks like wood.

Nani's 82nd

Nani turned 82 on Thursday and we had a nice dinner with her and Nano. Aunt Gabi and Aunt Marie came by also. Nani wore the tiara and opened gifts of pretty rocks and seashells from the kids. It was a really nice night.

Here she is with her great-granddaughter and a new pink Dyson!

Wednesday & Thursday

Scott and Jimmy (not Rice) worked on the soffit & fascia project. They replaced most of it, leaving Olive's corner as it has always been. She guarded her perch for the week and did remarkably well considering the nail gun/compressor noises.

Rocket Fan update

We heard back from Harbor Breeze this week and it turns out they are NOT the manufacturer of the Rocket Fan. They were very helpful and told us to call the Lowe's 1-800 service line.

The Lowe's folks were really helpful and gave our info to the Waters Ave. store, where we bought the fan. Someone from the store called within an hour and told us that, while there is no replacement kit for that model, we can bring our fan back (without the box) and they will exchange it for a different fan.

Now it's up to us. What do we want to do?

Some-One's Callin' You....

Joe's a popular guy. Here he is taking a call on the treehouse phone.

The Front Door

I know, it's a beautiful door. Why are we replacing it? Well, it swells and shrinks. It's not square (more of a parallelogram). We have a diagonal reinforcement that we have to fidget with all the time to get the deadbolt to line up. The door jam is falling apart, due to termites and our cat, who thinks that it is his scratching post. It looks like hell.
And yeah, I feel guilty for replacing it.

Hot day, Scott?

Phase 4: New Soffit, Fascia & Molding

Today we started another project: replacing the rotten soffit and fascia wood around the house, as a prelude to gutters.... Scott on mitre saw.
Opening up the can of worms...

Jimmy (not Rice) on trim and paint.
Beadboard drying in the sun.

Bandroom Walls are UP!

Sunday morning ....

Joe and Kevin

Saturday Bandroom Progress

Joe & Kevin built the walls this week.

Front wall under construction.

Rocket Fan

Over the summer I issued a challenge to the kids involving math. Each was offered certain incentives to finish a level of math work. Julian's prize was to be the coveted 44" Brushed Nickel Rocket Fan.

Julian threw himself into the work and finished it before summer ended. We bought the fan at Lowe's and installed it with much pomp and circumstance. It was so exciting and beautiful, with it's upper light projecting stars and moons on the walls of the room, with it's rocket lights flashing blue, red, green, with it's tiny astronaut and earth pull chains, with it's clear lucite fan blades.

But some time has gone by now and we are sick of NOT BEING ABLE TO SEE ANYTHING in Julian's room after dark. We've brought a few lamps into the room, sure. Some of them get super hot and scare me. Some of them get manhandled and yanked around the room. Some of them don't put off much light anyway. And then there's the camping lantern...

So tonight I emailed Harbor Breeze, a company that makes fans for Lowe's. (They also go by the name Hampton Bay, but those fans are sold through Home Depot.) I asked if they offer some sort of replacement kit for their enormous nite-lite.

It is kind of interesting to see a four-year-old try so hard for something, and be disappointed, and ask to have his plain white fan re-installed.

He's a bright kid. He needs a bright light.

New Roof Frame

Joe and Kevin building the "walls" that will top the cinder block walls.

Ike

As these charts show, Ike is pretty far away. However,
it's windy and overcast and I've been seeing tree limbs
on the ground and on top of cars. Not huge tree limbs,
but enough to scratch the paint or maybe make a little
dent. Last night's progress was shut down by a very intense
squall that lasted about 20 minutes.

Julian's Feet (again)

Featuring shark pajama bottoms and the camera leash...