Textured hallway

Okay so this isnt textured, nor is it the hall and foyer which were textured yesterday. This is the kitchen, those who have been to my house know that there was some nasty wallpaper, and weird fake grape vine decorations on the wall. Now it is just painted a nice cream color! Really does lighten it up, make it look less 1970s. The cabinets are still dark and dated, but only 10 things at a time right?


Yesterday, Eric and the kids textured. I went to Lowes with Nathalie in the morning, to pick up what we would need and additional remodel items, Tad hung out with Eric riding the Harley and working on shop things at his house. I picked up a box of drywall mud and Eric (with the children's expert help-all 4 of them- mixed it with the right amount of water to make texture.


Why would I post 2 of the same pictures? They are not the same! It is just Eric's signature, "you really asked that question?" look and Tad gave several no-brainer questions out for the world.


"Dad!" Jeff alerts us to a forseen problem in the hall. We ignore him several times. Then Dad answers and goes down the hall, works on air compressor then comes back to finish mixing.


This hall is the one that I mudded the paneling lines on. 4 times. Sanded each time. Never could get it quite right. Primed it, painted 3 coats of cream color. It wasnt right still. Then some of the deeper lines cracked. Justina and Eric are expert at remodeling, they have done a lot of it. They both said texturing was the only answer. So here we are! I am so grateful that they had the tools, the time and the knowledge to help me (again.) seems they save me a lot???


I have a hard time getting pictures of Tristin, he doesnt pose much and he rarely smiles for photos. He smiles, laughs and jokes often just not when I grab a camera. He asked me 3 times yesterday how many photos did I possibly need!


Nathalie needs to get a closer view apparently, thankfully she didnt step in the additional mud. She managed to get mud on her new jeans though she didnt do any work!


Tristin helping dad mix, it has to be the consistency of oatmeal. Arguably different people like soupier oatmeal. So I would venture to say it has to be the consistency of the oatmeal that Eric makes.


Nathalie was gonna just climb into the bucket but Eric said she shouldnt this time. She also asked him what it tasted like, he told her Not Oatmeal! He said chalk, though I was surprised he didnt offer her a taste!


Now Jeff and Eric are working on the air compressor, it didnt like my house and it said no thanks to being helpful but they got it back on track. You can see to the right the first texture part. These photos are clearly out of order...


They mixed a small amount to start out with and then just mixed more. It didnt take long, the texture gun (I think it is called this) only uses a certain amount at once, then you refill it. It goes a long way also, such a small amount would spread over a huge amount of wall.


I believe Nathalie is giving me the evil eye here! What did I do??


Jeff steps in to help. He did all of the texturing himself. His dad helped him some, making suggestions but mostly he did it alone. He has done it once before but seen his parents doing it as well.


Aww look! I got a smile! I took about 20 pictures to get this one. He has a piece of candy in the side of his cheek, but its a smile! I didnt even sneak up on him to get it.


I taped off the door frames, well Jeff taped some last wk then we ran out, so I finished. I also taped off light switches and sockets. We took off their covers first. The floor has brown paper and plastic, but really the bits of mud that got on the carpet vaccum up easily.


The hall is hard because there is no space to stand back. If he steps into one doorway, then when he comes out he cannot get as far back from the next bit of wall. He did a great job staying even despite this.


Now Jeff is learning how to mix. He knew when it was too much/not enough water both by sight and mixing himself.


The drill here has a paint mixer on the end. I am glad Eric brought his as I forgot to get one. This is one of the things that we did have in the shop which of course we have no more.


If you look at both of them from the back you would swear that Jeff was the parent. He is already bigger than Eric! He will turn 16 in a few days. These two were telling me here how Mom is the expert at texturing. She wasnt here yet, she arrived from work shortly before the job was done.


Now how many people does it take to fix a garbage disposal? Really just one. Two of them are here to watch, one is here to help and be next to his wife, and the wife is the one who is the ultimate plumber.


She found a penny stuck in there, under something. I have tried to go fish and find what was in there, but without success. Partly because I hate garbage disposals and also because, I dont know what I am doing.


This picture is fuzzy I know, but I like to watch Tad and Jeff talk. Like his dad, Jeff needs his hands and facial expressions or I think he would be mute. When Tad is with him, he expresses himself much the same way as if it is contagious.


They used a flashlight, running water and a screwdriver. It took several minutes of messing around with it and Eric was ready to take it out/drop it down when she found the penny.

They also fixed some stuff in the bathroom, and Justina helped me figure out how the toilet flange repair should work. The flange is broken a little and I dont want to completely replace it.

I am so glad that they came to help me, the hallway looked quite terrible. Last night the kids and I (kids couldnt sleep) sprayed down the door frame parts that I didnt paint and wiped them down, the excess texture wipes right off with a wet cloth 2 min after I spray it with charlies cleaner. Today I need to prime and paint the walls in there and then it is done except molding. Then my bathroom still needs tile! Work is endless right?

Your mom

Tomorrow Tad will be going to Salina (about 25 miles away) with Eric. On the back of a Harley. I called it a motorcycle and my son gently corrected me. Twice. Apparently there are motorcycles, and Harleys. He needed a new jacket as the only one that fits from last yr is a bit thin and worn. This photo is washed out because one-I dont know my camera. 2- he has really white hair and skin and there is a white board behind him.


He really struggles to look mean. It is hard work. Both his military ID and passport photos make him look like a criminal. He is mean and scary looking. No, really, his military ID scares me. His jacket is made of windpro-waterproof and windproof fleece.


Oh okay here he laughs. I made a joke that I wont repeat here. I dont know what all of you guys are used to hearing...this boy of mine, he thinks some crazy things are funny. Like this one time...Just kidding. I will keep that one to myself.

Wow this kid has a lot of hair. No, seriously we were in the Post office yesterday and a guy walked in. Tad had his back to him. The guy says, "How are you ladies today?" About the THREE of us. Nathalie looked up at him with big eyes, Tad looked around at him and the poor man looked startled and I said, "yeah sometimes I mistake him with all that hair." Poor fellow. Tad doesnt mind, he understands that some amount of flack and trash talk will occur due to his style choices.


I dont think he is saluting me, though he often does. He does this sometimes in the morning, and when I say goodmorning back he says, "your mom." I think that here, he is saluting his father. Granted, he doesnt do it quite right yet, see a bit too much palm. But he is still saying hey to daddy. We miss you.

Oh and Tad says, "your mom."

Yes, I know, your mom sounds pretty rude. My son is 10, and very respectful and kind hearted. We do allow some joking, trash talk and just being silly in our house. As long as it doesnt approach disrespect, or transfer outside of our home towards other adults. We feel that its pretty normal, and within our home its kinda funny.

Great camera!

The cut in ceilings that I was paiting, now all of my furniture is moved to the middle of the living room. Yesterday I painted the dining room, kitchen and part of the living room.



The right of the photo is the living room wall, the left by the chair and beyond is the dining room. Sadly there is paneling in part of the dining room.


"Mama, it would be easier to find your tools if you organized them by type."
"I cant understand you punk, speak english."
"Nevermind I will do it myself." Since the shop burned down, we have bought only needed tools. We will replace the rest of our tools in Ak. Due to having no shop, and needing the tools constantly we made the school table into our shop table in the house. The benches and chairs function as short scaffolding or additional tool/paint storage area.


Just showing the mess to you. We do clean the house, completely. We make it sparkly and nice! It is pretty well organized, partly because we dont have a lot of stuff and I clean up and organize each room that I finish. Right now the main house is being painted so its a huge mess!


View into the kitchen, and vaulted dining room wall. I painted this whole wall before I ran out of paint, part of the living room was painted and the other part, far right here, was primed yesterday. This is the first part of priming. The wall on that side only is super dark, the rest was white/cream.


Inside the kitchen. You can see the paneling, it isnt pretty but I doubt we will take it down/mud paint-there are a few options with paneling leaving it up or taking it down. The dining room/living room have several windows and high cream colored walls so it helps the darkness. The hall/foyer had to be painted, they were dark in daylight.


This wall in the kitchen had wallpaper. I do not know why someone was possessed to do that to one wall but it was horrible. I peeled what would peel easily, mudded and sanded edges, primed and painted. The cabinets are dark, and if we had/have time we will pull the doors off, take the weird fronts off, paint and put new hardware. A cheap way to lighten up the kitchen. We may have time to do this when Frank gets home.


Kitchen desk shelves, the desk is built in so I taped and painted here, I also painted inside that little wooden plate shelf around 2 walls of the kitchen... bit of a pain!


While Nathalie organized tools and tried to straighten our main house mess, Tad unloaded the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. They clean the kitchen better than some adults! They understand this means reload, wipe down counters, clean stove top, put away any extra counter top items and sweep if needed. I think he is pretty tired in this photo.


Nathalie, still making life easier. It really does, she makes it all set up so I can grab whatever I need. She also discovers things that are not tools, usually things that I set amongst the tools and lost.


The mess, and the primed wall compared to the original color. It will be a cream color when I get to lowes for more paint (friday).


Look at my sunset! If only work time was over... but it wasnt. We worked until 9, read stories and the kids went to bed then I worked on painting, homework (my college) grading their work, sewing and reading until 3 a.m.


Mudded holes from the violins hanging on the wall. We have hooks specifically for violins and guitars, they left huge holes!


I put paper down, I often dont when its just me but the kids were helping. I ran out of tape so they stopped at this point because I cut in the molding and windows. They cannot cut in yet.

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Putting away cups. If you could look closer you would see boot prints all over the counter tops! Last night Nathalie suggested we eat elsewhere... I did walk all along the counter tops, and stools placed strategically around the kitchen in order to paint the area along the plate shelf.


He is cute isnt he...


This is the laundry room bathroom-we still have a grow light hanging in here. We will take that down/pack it. They are expensive! I took off wall paper from this room, fixed drywall, patched, mudded where needed, sanded, painted and it still look poor. The mud and wallpaper lines still just showed, so I textured it. You cant see the texture, nor can you see mud lines which you could in photos before I textured.


Same bathroom, needs it fixtures and socket covers back on. The previous owners painted the socket/outlet covers and it has been terrible. They are hard to remove and nasty looking so they will all be replaced. This room, and the laundry room next to it, had new tile put in by us last yr. I painted the laundry room also. These rooms along with many others need molding, caulk (bathrooms only) and outlet covers in order to be finished.


Nathalie doing seterra, a free geography download. They do all sorts of maps on here, it isnt their geography per se just a supplement. Nathalie was getting in some extra time trying to beat Tad.


Tad using his free time for DS, he can have 30 min a day though usually doesnt take it. Today he was playing "My French Coach" which I found on ebay for 20$. It is 60$ new! He loves it and learns so much from it, he cannot hear himself with head phones but he has a fine accent. They both sound good speaking French.

Thats all for now, I am off to tile the next bathroom.

Music and math

(Overheard from the living room from my boy who is dancing hip hop next to his math book...with a pencil in hand)
"Last night a DJ saved my life, singin' ahh ahh ahh ahh stayin' alive! 7 times 120 is 700 plus 14 with a zero so 140 which is 840 saying ahh ahh ahh ahh -insert Italian rap- stayin' alive." He has an mp3 playing techno next to him while he works. His math gets done twice as fast. He is doing fractions.
(Heard later while he is playing Legos) "3x6 is 18 6x6 is 36, two 18s makes 36 so 18/6 is 3 and 36/6 is 6..." he continues. It all sounds like freestyle, or rap I guess. We dont listen to rap, never have but he does freestyle on his own. Anything music is appealing to him. It is amazing to me that I can ask him, what is 6x6 and he will stare at me. However if I write it into a "song" or he does, he knows the answer. Somehow it sets things to order in his brain. He asked for me to buy several Italian techno songs which I did, and he learned them! He learned the German, Italian and Chinese lessons on a disc that came with their French program. The CD was an example of the other languages they offer. Anything put to a beat in his brain is learned, I wonder if he will always have to rap his multiplication tables? Will he have to dance while teaching his children or can he stand still? I am not sure...

Legos

Nathalie got new Legos in the mail. They are from daddy and me, but I think if you ask her they are from daddy. Tad got an electric guitar and amp, both for playing 1 yr + (and playing well) and for being a huge help this year. Nathalie chose Legos. She spent much time with a catalogue going over her choices, and we have some sort of village here.

And the boat, fisherman, and fisherman's son. There is another set too, it is in progress. Both kids love Legos and spend many hours building.

I snapped this with my new camera, not on purpose. I mean I did push the button on purpose but just to see what it would do. This is what I got, he is such a big person now! He will be bigger than me very soon. He is learning to beat box, something I would have minded a few years ago. He has an ability to copy any sound that he hears, sounds that are not really human. He can make the sounds that keyboards make, he does thunderstorm sounds, light saber noises, alien voices, the sounds of battle and now, beat box. I believe it was at my suggestion, really joking but partially serious. I do not mind how it sounds and it appeals to his musical mind. Nathalie is the puzzler for sure, she was overheard telling him multiple times that he was putting the wrong pieces in the wrong spots for the Lego build. She doesnt need directions for building or for puzzles, she can solve any puzzle and tie/untie any knot. Skills that I do not have... I can, however, beat box!

Cutting in

I think someone else should come and clean the fan. It is wicked dusty. Eric loaned his ladder to me, not to kill me (when I fall off) but because I needed to cut in. He wouldnt want to kill me despite my mean jokes towards him Sunday night. They were funny jokes, I mean I am funny.

The kids were using the new camera, they took about 75 photos between the two of them. All of their mama standing a million feet in the air, at 9 p.m. cutting in the vaulted ceiling. I mean didnt they have ANYTHING better to do? No mama our lego sets are nearly all built and daddy said he wanted some pictures of you. If we take a bunch now we dont have to pay any attention later.

So here you go baby, these are all the pictures you are going to get. The ceiling is cut in all the way around the dining room and kitchen, and the kitchen is mostly painted! One more job off the list.