Out and About - February 2015

♫Vivaldi's Winter♫

February is a short month, but I think it's been the longest month on record for me.  It's the month of our youngest's birthday, our anniversary, and Valentine's Day.  I needed to have some dental work done, but that was all that was on our agenda.  The month started off quietly enough as I finished preparations for my Tasha Tudor gathering on the 5th.  We made Sparrow Post boxes and Valentines. . . . .

This is when my short month began turning into the longest month on record.  While down on my hands and knees washing my 20-year-old dingy vinyl kitchen floor for my Tasha Tudor gathering I made the decision then and there to get a new floor....not only in the kitchen but in the dining room as well.  We've talked about redoing the dining room for most of the 34 years we've lived here.  It is cork tiles and is 63 years old.  This is what it looks like...discolored and riddled with holes. . . .

This meant we had to go shopping, decide what we wanted, and then wait for the floor guy to come out and measure so they could give us a bid.  This is the sample of the floor--antique heart pine (the darker color) we finally picked. . . .

Since the dining room had to be totally emptied I decided it would be a good time to repaint the walls.  This was an energy drain in itself--going to several paint stores, looking through all my decorating books, and trying to "see" what the colors would look like on the walls.  And since I felt a wood floor and the wood counter tops we hope to get would be just too much wood, I decided my kitchen cabinets needed to be painted. This would also cover up the worn areas on these 40-year-old cabinets.

Meanwhile I had my dentist appointment on Thursday, the 12th, to have a temporary crown put on, which decided to fall out on Saturday, of course, when the dentist did not have office hours.  The next day, the 15th, we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary by going to Leesburg, VA because it was on the way to the airport where we'd be picking up our son later in the evening.  He and several friends were returning from a week in Iceland, where it had been warmer than the 18 degrees here that day!  We browsed the antique shops looking for bargain-priced red transferware dishes (no luck) and had dinner at Lightfoot Restaurant where we were greeted by a mannequin.  Our waiter was much more attentive.  Our table was graced with tulips....a nice reminder that Spring will eventually come.....and our meal was good. . . .

The next morning we woke up to no water.  Ken turned on a heater in the basement hoping to warm up the pipes while I went to the dentist to have my temporary crown re-cemented in.  Then I was off again before noon with my neighbor to join the dulcimer group she and her husband play with.   I had practiced beforehand with Edie so I was able to keep up for the most part.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon. . . .

I got a call from Ken late in the afternoon that he might not be there when I got home.  He had to go buy a new pump for the well.  It wasn't frozen pipes.  He'd spent several hours down in our pit well working on it and then all the next day putting in a new pump.  We finally had water Wednesday morning. . . .

Meanwhile we'd gotten more snow (hence the blue tarp over the opening to the pit) so I let Gabriel out to do his run through the woods. . . .

Back inside I settled down to spend a very relaxing afternoon drawing and painting. . . .

In anticipation of having to move dishes out of my sideboard in order to move it I packed up my service for 12 "Bonnie Brae" Pfaltzgraff dishes because I'm planning to put it up for sale on Craigslist. . . .or it may just go in the attic and wait to be rediscovered in a few years when it will once again feel like new to me. . . .

That next weekend we belatedly celebrated our youngest son's birthday, but because we got another 10 inches of snow that Saturday we had to postpone our family gathering to the next day.   I made him a strawberry cheesecake. . . . 

While the guys were all there they helped move the hutch out of the dining room into the living room along with the table since I was going to start painting the next day.  The side board went into the hallway, and everything else was stashed in a guestroom.  We took the doors off the cabinets in the kitchen.  I have to say, it's really handy not having to open doors to get things out of my cupboards.  And with everything off the counters and no window coverings the kitchen feels much larger.  I will have to clean everything before I put things back in both rooms.  I told Ken this may make me into a minimalist by the time I'm done. . . .

I painted the dining room Monday and Tuesday.  Because the water pressure was so low we had a plumber come out to look at the well.  It sounded like there was also a problem with the jet pump that was down in the water.  He came Wednesday morning early and said yep, that was what the problem was.  He'd come back the next day and replace that because it wasn't something Ken could do.  Then we went off to babysat Olivia June for the day.  Here she is playing in the tunnel I found for her at a yard sale last summer. . . .

Gabriel had to get into the fun, too. . . .

The next day the plumber came while I deglossed my kitchen cabinets.  That's the hose that runs down into the well.  We got more bad news.  The pump Ken installed, even though it was the same specs as the old pump, it was not powerful enough to handle the depth of our well.  So that had to be replaced, but the good news is I finally have some water pressure in my shower. . . .

I was without water most of the day again, so I waited till Friday to paint the cabinets.  I woke up this morning with my body in a no-manual-labor rebellion, so we took today off to drive out into the country to a Mennonite lumber mill to order the wood for our countertops.   Finally, some good news--they'll be ready in 2 to 3 weeks and the charge is only $300.  A wood place in Baltimore wanted $6,000.  I'll have to stain them and put on a protective coating myself, and Ken will install them, but we think we'll be very happy with the end results.  I'm also having them make me a mantle and brackets for the fireplace.  In my eagerness to put the old mantle back up I did not hang the plaster sconce properly I was using as a bracket, and it came crashing down on my foot breaking into a gazillion pieces (the sconce, not my foot, thankfully). Tomorrow I paint the doors to the cabinets and put up fresh wallpaper under the cabinets (I still have some left from the roll when I put it up 20 years ago).  The floor gets installed starting Monday!  Here's a tease of what the dining room and kitchen cabinets will look like. . . .

I have to say, I'm loving all the clean woodwork.  Every knickknack and wall hanging will be dusted.  Even though it's a bit early I'm going to decorate for Spring when I put everything back.  I will have to repaint the hallway since it looks shabby now and I've been wanting to repaint the bathroom (it's been 20 years, too), so I'm not done by any means.  But I have to get it all done this coming month because I know come April I'll be out and about in my garden.

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Take Joy!