Mom's turn: Just a swingin'

My HH decided to try his hand at a new art, timber framing. Of course I was excited because I will be able to lounge in his finished product! This was an incredibly large undertaking, but I was amazed at how he made each joint like a pro! He spent hours planning, measuring, drilling, and chiseling the giant pieces of timber. I was enjoying his efforts until it came time for the “raising” of the structure…oh my, how intimidating!! With Christina on one side of the massive frame and me on the other, Travis started directing the placement so that the joints aligned enough that he could pound them in place with a mallet. I AM SUPERWOMAN!!! Well – Samson thinks so, anyway. Now we can all relax because he hung my cedar swing that he surprised me with from the Swamp Fest a few years ago…YAY!

Time to relax, right??? Not quite. His next venture was a “swing-in movie” – how cool is that on a beautiful clear, warm, winter night!!!! He has a projector he uses with his business presentations; with a quick surround sound adaptor set-up and a nice Egyptian cotton sheet, uh hum…grrrr, we had our own back yard theater. Of course his first movie choice was a Pink Floyd concert. I must admit – quite amazing in surround sound!

O'Malley found his spot

So feeling like he was on a roll, and while the weather was cooperating, he decided to start the picket fence he wants for the back yard,

fix the leaking pipe outside of the office, and fill in our very own personal moat that we’ve had for over a year.

WHEW, now it’s time to rest and enjoy our fabulous new paradise! I couldn’t have asked for a better Valentine’s weekend.

Now it's time to relax!

Mom's turn: Loft Revisions

Travis is at it again…

WATCH OUT FOR THOSE NAILS!!!

he pulled all of the carpet out of Teeny’s loft and was going to install hardwood flooring to make her loft a better place – hopefully allergy and dust free.

What's this for Daddy?? Can I help????? :-D

After he got the carpet out, though, he realized that he may have bit off more than he can chew as the original subflooring is incredibly uneven and doesn’t appear as though you can lay something rigid on it without problems. SOOO – now we have the hardwood floor stacked up in her room, the entire loft decor spread throughout the bedroom, living room, and dining room, and he’s done for the day…week…month?? ::SIGH:: It was a nice thought, but we are waiting on professional help now.

Mom's turn: Across the generations

We’ve been blessed so many ways this past year, but one in particular is by sharing with our ancestors. I’ve already mentioned that we inherited a piano from my MIL, but we also got a wonderful dining room suit with pieces from my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, and great-grandmother-in-law,

each seat was beautifully handstitched in a different floral pattern by Christina's great-great-grandmother as a gift. we are going to remove them from the chairs and frame them to hang as a collage on the far wall...a wonderful way to bring a bit of the garden inside year-round

a fabulous China set and a beautiful wing back chair from my great-grandmother-in-law,

i love to sit and knit in this chair knowing that Great-Great did the same thing all those years before me...

and several hand stitched quilts and knitted afghans from both great-grandmother-in-laws. We also used our Christmas money from my FIL to purchase curtains to finish up the room! I’m so excited – our house is starting to look like a home.

the finishing touch - my husband brought in some camellias from our garden to make the dinner table beautiful!

Mom's turn: The Queen is back!

Finally – I got my beautiful chair repaired. Travis and Teeny gave me this for Mother’s Day over 10 years ago…they said I was a queen and deserved to have a throne!! It’s a gorgeous handmade oversized cedar rocker. Unfortunately where we have lived previously it didn’t have much protection from the elements. So even though I took care of it and varnished it regularly, the rockers rotted and it's been unusable for more than a year. Travis took it several months ago to see if it could be repaired and they called to let him know it was ready…ahhhh, it feels good to be queen again! Now time to varnish!

Samson loves to keep me company outside and tear up the giant magnolia leaves

Mom's turn: Out of order!

Well – this sounds like a fun weekend project…NOT! 2 out of three bathrooms are out of order…great. The toilet in the office bathroom was running; quick fix, right? WRONG.

no more pictures because when the tools started flying I ran for cover :-D

Travis got the new guts for the inside from Home Depot and went to work…only to have everything else go wrong!!! It totally flooded the bathroom and now we are looking at the possibility of a whole new toilet. UGH – should have left it running!!!

THEN on to the master bathroom. The people who hung the previous door didn’t do a very good job…as a matter of fact, it was horrible!! The screws were screwed into nothing so every time you opened and shut the door it fell. I came home one day last week from the gym and Travis had had enough…it was off the wall and in the yard in many pieces! He has never hung a door before; no time like the present to learn!

Samson doesn't understand why it isn't time to play!

Back to Home Depot…and almost done. Still waiting on the door jam because now it swings all the way through :-/ Maybe that’s next weekend’s project???

NOW it's time...right???????

Mom's turn: Clever Closets

Life before Gustav…I had a closet evaluation from the greatest organization place ever – Ultimate Storage Systems. Needless to say, I was totally pumped to get my two closets organized and more functional. One of the quirks of living in an older house is the lack of storage space available.

Our closet:

CHRISTINA's Closet:

Amy, the designer, had some really great tips: lots of shoe space for my many pairs of shoes (that match my pajamas so wonderfully) and plenty of hanging space for Teeny! Then Gustav put everything on hold for several weeks. The true test of patience. Finally the day came when the installation crew could come and put in the closets I had been dreaming about.

First we had to clean out both closets. So what better time to go through your stuff and get rid of some out of date and unworn items?

can I eat them if you don't want them??

Then Travis decided he would get a jumpstart on tearing the old closet out (although this was included in the new installation process, he just can’t stand not doing something).

what 'cha doin' Daddy???

The guys came and managed two complete closet systems in just less than 8 hours.

OH MY GOODNESS...her door shuts! Any company that do THIS for a teenager's closet is a miracle worker in my book!

It looked great…until I started putting things back in and then realized some problems. But I will say their customer service is outstanding and I would still highly recommend them. They came back out to look at my concerns and then sent someone out to fix everything that wasn’t to my satisfaction. I also ordered 3 more shelves for my shoes. NOW it’s perfect!!