Almost There

 

 We now have 2/3 of the floor done. The place is still a mess but at least we could shift some stuff around so we could move around again and eat at a table. 

I hated to do it but I had to get out the roll of plastic yesterday for the bit we have left to do today. I couldn't keep Pup off the dirty plywood. Hopefully by tonight the floor will be done and all this mess will history. I don't want to see that plywood or that plastic ever again.

We didn't work the whole day. We did get out for a walk before the sun went down. We are both on the brink of needing another day off so we got out for some fresh air before things starting breaking on us again. At our age pacing ourselves is very important. 

Back in Business

 

After our day of healing The Mister and I were raring to go yesterday morning.  I actually enjoyed crawling around on the floor all day. It was nice to have something other than dirty plywood under me. 

It's tediously slow work but at least we feel like we know what we are doing now. We've got a system and it's working. We should have it done on Monday if we can keep up this pace. 

This is my living room covered in all the junk and furniture we had to haul out of the dining/kitchen area. I think I can stand the mess a few more days. It was really starting to get to me....and that is saying a lot considering what I've been through for the past three years. 

Ouch

 

I did myself in. See all those planks? They are really heavy.  I lifted them up and down for hours all last week moving them from place to place so it was no surprise when I woke up at 5 am yesterday in the worse pain from my neck to my lower back. Between The Mister's knees and my neck and shoulders we took the day off and had some serious couch time. We did get two whole rows down the day before. I think we've cracked the code. Now we just have to heal.  

Early Mornings and Late Nights

 

The Mister is in construction mode which means I don't have a minute to myself these days. I was feeling grumpy about not doing anything fun so yesterday I got up really early and worked on my recent artsy projects in the downstairs craft room.

In that lovely quiet I even got a bit more done on Rainbow Kitty. See those lines? That's the border. It's getting closer.

I've tried in vain to get some knitting done while The Mister does his usual morning hemming and hawing over the floor issue. He wakes up full of ideas on how to do things differently so I just listen then proceed to show him why he's crazy. We got nothing done again yesterday but lots of measuring, moving stuff around and yelling. Good times. 

The night before I stayed up late and after everyone was asleep found enough quiet time to finish the first sleeve on advent sweater Number 7. I can't keep this pace up for very long but at least I didn't go the whole week with nothing to show for it. 

Floorwork Part 2

 

Yesterday we spent the day measuring. We know the walls are not straight so we had to figure out how to get the floor planks going in a straight line. It was another morning of watching videos and yelling at each other but the weather was beautiful so none of it seemed as dire as the day before. 

The Mister had given me this tool bag filled with tools and yesterday I had them out. I was ready to work.

He also got me this tool kit but I have no idea what most of this does.

We got some things figured out but as I mentioned it was 73 degrees out so we knocked off early to take Pup for a walk, do a grocery pick up and...

....get some takeout for dinner. But the best thing? Mr. DIY or Die called the floor place to see about getting an estimate to put it down if we can't figure it out. Hell must have frozen over.

Speaking of frozen over, spring seems to have sprung but the flora hasn't been keeping up with the weather reports. Tomorrow we're back in the deep freeze.

Floorwork

Yesterday was the day we got serious about putting down the floor. 
 

We set up a place to do the cutting of the short ends on my dining table using my cutting mats. So far, so good. They snapped off pretty easily.

Before we could get to work we had to put down some of the under layer. It wasn't as easy as we thought. It was like wrestling an octopus. It was slippery and rolled the wrong way to be able to just give it a kick. It bunched up and wouldn't lay flat. I was not amused.

The long cuts were done outside. It was drizzly but warm. It made a ridiculous mess. The Mister and the deck were covered in whatever that is those planks are made of and we only had three planks to cut. I had to scrub the deck off when we were done. 

After about 6 hours we didn't even have one row officially down. Why you might ask? We couldn't figure out how to snap the planks together so they would lock in and stay that way. We read the directions over and over. We watched a zillion videos and couldn't figure it out to save our lives. 

To make matter worse we had just decided to throw in the towel with the whole smelly stove thing. After 45 minutes of being on hold for the hundredth time and getting nowhere we decided to take the loss, have it hauled out and just buy another brand. It's pretty clear Frigidaire has no intention of doing anything but running out the clock on our warranty and I don't want my house filled with anymore fumes. I had a headache for three days after the last time. 

I'm pretty sure yesterday was our lowest point ever with this whole kitchen thing. If I could go back in time and get my old kitchen back I would do it in a heartbeat. It might have been ugly and outdated but there was a lot of love in that room. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

It's been a while since I've done any stitching but I did get the big goose finished this week. Her little flock of babies are next in line. 

I did another row of alphabet on the bookmark and brought the border down the sides. This is pretty close to being done. 

I even almost finished another row on the hexie runner. I only need three more on this row and then I have to decide where to go from here. I must have spring fever because it's been a real struggle to get interested in anything other than naps and binge watching lately. I sure hope this is not the new me resigning to the new normal because I'm really boring and really bored. 

Chain Reaction

 

I got up really early to watch the live stream of the Closing Ceremonies yesterday so I had a lot of time to kill for the rest of the day. What I did was chain piece. A lot. 

I'm a real slow poke when it comes to piecing but yesterday I decided to finish up the last two blocks all at one time. I'm not sure why I didn't do this before because it didn't seem to take any longer to piece two at a time than it did to just do one. 

Ta da....the last of the blocks are done. Now I have what looks like about a million white strips to cut and sew on to put them all together. That looks like no fun at all. 

And.....I found this on Twitter last night and thought of Val and all her pots. Can you imagine walking into someone's porch and seeing this? Yikes.

In Closing

 

I can guarantee that I was bawling this morning. When they do the handover over to the next country and put out that flame I always go to pieces. 

I had some serious knitting mojo going on for the first week. I cast on socks.....

....finished advent sweater Number 6 and finished the body on Number 7.

I really don't want to discuss the ill fated Holm mitten but I had to laugh at this photo. It looks like a demon here doesn't it? I'm scared to pick it up again. I think it's possessed. 

Bye, bye Beijing. It as a great two weeks minus the skating thing. I'm proud of the fact that I've refrained from saying what I thought about that here but if you think for one minute that dramatic outcome was not planned and choreographed well in advance once certain people got caught...I've got a bridge to sell you. 

The Run Around

 

I knew it was too good to be true. There doesn't seem to be a new stove in our future-not anytime soon anyway. All week long The Mister fought with Lowes and Fridgedaire and it seems that even if the technician says it needs replacing it counts for nothing when it comes to the folks in the office. Lowes literally laughed when we gave them the file number the tech gave us for an exchange. Frigidaire said that they don't replace ovens for smelling bad and didn't understand why the tech would tell us otherwise. I did some research online and found lots and lots of folks mad about their smelly Frigidaire ovens and none got anywhere trying to replace them even when they had photos of burning insulation inside them.  Sigh....

Oh, well we'll fight on but today I'd rather ramble on about some other thoughts I have about the kitchen remodel. Even though it is far from finished I'm just starting to feel comfortable with all this new stuff. It was a bit intimidating at first. I love the big drawers for storing stuff. I used to just have under counter cabinets but the drawers are so much better for organizing.

My industrial behind the stove backsplash has been so handy. I keep all the stuff I reach for all the time right where I can get it. 

My new sink is a love/hate affair. I love the size of it but it is a pain to keep clean. It also scratches easily. I keep a plastic dishpan in it so I don't have to put stuff right on it and I even keep a towel under that. I tried some sink protecting mats but they left marks. 

I opted for the extra tall cabinets and I have to say you really can't reach those top shelves. Most of mine are empty at the moment. I still haven't organized the rest of the new cabinets because I still have two plate and cup racks to put up whenever we get the floor down and the dining area put back together. 

Speaking of the floor I've had a few weeks now of walking on the planks that we will eventually put down. We were waiting for the stove issue to be resolved but might as well get started. At least that's what The Mister said yesterday.

I think I am going to like this floor. The cats and Pup have done their worst on it and it's still looking pretty good. When the sun shines on it sometimes it can look spotty which reminds me to go mop it up which is easy enough. It hides dirt a little too well for my liking-but it's probably something I can get used to.

Hope Springs Eternal

 

I've been down in the dumps lately. Between dodging the virus and this awful weather this winter has been no fun. But yesterday I found.........crocus!

In fact, all my spring bulbs are up. Now that's just crazy. It was 70 degrees yesterday but it was just a brief respite from the cold I'm sad to say. 40's and 50's are normal around here for this time of year. You can keep your 20's and 30's. I hate them and we've had more than our fair share. 

Camilia is also doing her thing even though she's losing blooms to the frost. Poor thing. It's still nice to know she's thinking about spring. I know I am. I want off this crazy roller coaster.

And....some of you asked about my new quilting doohickey. It's Quilt in a Day's Sew Straight template. It's stiff plastic and it sticks on your machine bed nicely but you can take it on and off when you need to. I found it on Amazon for $10.95 and it's worth every penny to not have to mark all those little squares. 

Sunflowers

 

I just had to turn off the Olympics yesterday and get off the couch for a while. I headed off to the sewing room and picked up a familiar WIP. I've been working on the Sunflower quilt for ages. It's a kit from Connecting Threads. I started working on it in the spring of 2019. 

It was the first time I used this new little doohickey and it worked like a charm. I saw it on one of Val's posts and it sure made sewing all those corners on easier. I used to have to take the time to mark everyone. Not anymore. 

I've got a very big pile of these blocks now. I think I have three more to go before I can start assembling. I never meant to make them all because something this big is going to be a royal pain to machine quilt but they are just too much fun to make. 

I also got to use my new cutter from Connecting Threads for the first time. I got it for a great price on their Black Friday sale and I have to say it's the best cutter I've ever used. Now I want to cut up all the things.