A Kitchen... Almost

The weekend was spent doing some smaller projects from our "to do" list including getting baseboard for the kitchen (which needed paint before we can install it) and putting in the last hinge on the master bath cabinet.  We both needed a break, so we actually took some time to sit down and watch some of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Dave came today to install the rest of the kitchen cabinets.  We now have an almost fully-functioning kitchen.  I say "almost" because we cannot install the kitchen sink and garbage disposal, nor can we hook up the dishwasher until the countertops come in.  For now, though, I have cupboards into which I can arrange all of my kitchen goods.  I even have an almost complete pantry. Two brackets were still missing from the final count, so we have to wait until Wednesday for those to come in.

Rick spent time over the weekend adding electrical outlets under the non-existent sink so we have electricity for the dishwasher.  Even though the position was not the most comfortable, it was still easier to wire an outlet under the sink without the sinking hanging overhead.  He also did not have to contend with what will be an almost coiled snake-like configuration of plumbing pipes under the sink.  The sink cabinet was moved to the left to accommodate a bank of drawers, and as a result, Rick is facing some interesting and rather difficult plumbing to get everything connected.  Pray, folks.  Lindsay does not call her father Chief Running Water for nothing!

I spent the morning prepping for classes at NWTC this fall, and Rick spent his time painting the above-mentioned baseboard.  As the morning progressed, the clouds started to roll in.  By this time, Rick was painting the first coat on the front doors.   The distant thunder reminded us that we were in Florida, and that this was, indeed, summertime.  As the skies darkened, the thunder roared louder like a lion steadily approaching his prey.  Just as we got the newly painted baseboard inside and Rick finished the first coat on the front doors, the skies opened up.  Thankfully, the front doors are pretty well protected with a two-foot overhang, so although the rain came from the west (the Gulf of Mexico), it was not accompanied by too strong of winds.  The front doors were safe. I will include a picture later after we get the blue painter's tape off the frame and door handles.  For now, though, Gladys is really starting to look pretty spiffy!

Cupboards full of dishes and an installed dishwasher are starting to make
this look like an inviting kitchen.

The missing cupboard (upper left of refrigerator) came in,
so dave was able to install the rest of the cupboards.

A full pantry gives me more space than I will
ever be able to fill with food.

After lunch, Dave finished the cabinets and departed.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out what was going where.  I still have an almost empty lazy-Susan in the lower corner, and at least four upper shelves that hold nothing.  My pull-out spice rack needed to have a shelf removed to realistically store things, but that still leaves me with more room than I have ever had for spices.  We also added a couple of shelves to two cabinets to better maximize the storage space.  The cupboard above the refrigerator is totally empty, and the one above the stove only holds two little plastic microwave dishes. I think I have enough room in this kitchen to last me a very long time.

Naturally, countertops on everything will be great.
The open-top spice rack cabinet next
to the stove makes access to the
salt very easy, however.

We both think that the transformation is incredible. What was once a tiny, inadequate 1960's kitchen that only filled half the room (since the other half was the eat-in part of the kitchen) is now a full kitchen which is open, airy, and very bright thanks to all of the windows.  And since the dining room is literally three steps away from the entry to the kitchen, we have a wonderful place to enjoy our meals without having to look at the stovetop, prep area, or sink.

The granite countertops come a week from today, so that only leaves me with one week before we fly home to enjoy a kitchen sink set in granite, a functioning dishwasher, and a new garbage disposal.  Ah, well, that will give me something to look forward to when we return to Gladys in January.

We haven't seen Sam in a very long time.  Perhaps he was avoiding our front yard since we have had trucks and workers coming and going, or perhaps he really was watching my new kitchen going in.  He may have been waiting until now to see if with a new kitchen I will be serving some delectable, sauteed screwdrivers soon!

Garbage and Granite

In the past two days, we have been working on little projects around the house.  We cleaned out the rest of the backyard (or so we thought), we moved in to what parts of the cabinets we could in the kitchen, and we met with the granite people for them to measure the kitchen.

The backyard was a jungle of pepper trees, cherry laurels, overgrown shrubs, and mother-in-law tongues when we bought the house.  We had the crew come in this past June to remove the pepper trees and cherry laurels.  They also were supposed to remove the stumps, but the rest of the garden was so overgrown that they could not get to most of the larger trunks.  We spent the last couple of days digging out the rest of the mother-in-law tongues and chopping down the worst of the bushes.  We called Boen Tree Service to come back in to give us a bid on removing the last tree and making good on our contract for stump removal.  Jeff from Boen talked to us about removing all of the vegetation that was left since the cactus and cherry laurel were both on the fence line that we want to add.  I have to admit that I would love to plant hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, and other colorful shrubs in the back yard.  So all of the remaining trees and shrubs go except for what I thought was a magnolia tree in the corner.  Turns out that is an old-fashioned gardenia bush/tree that Jeff suggested we just prune down to about 6 feet. Proves how much I know about vegetation.  Even with a book on Florida shrubs, I guess wrong.  The rest will go so we can start fresh with the back yard in the spring. Now if only I can get that money tree to grow when we get back to Wisconsin...

The upper cabinets needed Rick's attention
and several more Tapcon screws before I
would even THINK of adding a microwave.

The move into the kitchen still is not complete.  As we became more acquainted with the cabinets,  we found things that were again disappointing.  You must understand that when Rick builds anything, the lumber is solid, thick, and heavy.  These cupboards are NOT of that quality.  Although the doors are nice, the boxes of the cabinets are less than thick and heavy.  We have to remind ourselves that this is a vacation house, and that we will just need to treat the cabinets with tender, loving care. Rick added Tapcon screws to a couple of the upper cabinets which made me feel better about putting things inside them. We are not overly confident in the installer of the cabinets, either.  More screws will go into the walls before we will feel confident in their ability to hold our kitchen goods.  With Rick's intersession,  I know that the upper cabinets now will not fall off the wall.

Another item we have to purchase for the kitchen is a new microwave. We researched over-the-range microwaves and have decided that they are all pretty shoddy.  We have a countertop microwave that works, so we will wait until January to purchase a new microwave for the kitchen. We DID purchase and install a pull-out garbage can for one of the lower cabinets.  If we had bought the cabinet-maker's garbage can, it would have cost us $250.00, but I wanted one like I have in Green Bay which cost us less than $45.00 at Lowe's.

After we met with Jeff at Boen's, we travelled down to St. Petersburg to go to Depot Granite.  We were told when we selected the granite slabs that as soon as they came to make the template for the kitchen, we could come to the company and select what parts of the granite slabs we wanted to use for each portion of the kitchen.  We are so glad that we took this opportunity to choose exactly what we wanted since the bottom part of the slabs had a richer, deeper color than the top parts of the slab.  We both are excited with the results, and we cannot wait to see it all installed. Getting the granite installed also means that we can install the kitchen sink, garbage disposal, and dishwasher.  No more washing dishes in the bathroom sink.  Yeah! The Depot Granite scheduled our installation for Monday, August 6.

Before we left for the Depot Granite, we heard a knock on the door. (No one can figure out that that palm tree hanging on the entryway wall is really a doorbell!)  The person at the door was our neighbor who lives kitty-corner from us across the street.  She introduced herself as Barbie, and she turned out to be a delightful, although somewhat nosey, woman.  She knew that we were teachers from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and she shared all of the gossip of the neighborhood.  She said that she would keep an eye on our house and assured us that if anything seems out of place, she is not shy about calling the authorities.  I guess that is a good thing, although I now know that we cannot have any wild parties at a backyard Tiki bar unless we invite Barbie!

Yesterday, Rick took down the 2 x 4 structure that held my kitchen sink and countertop for the last year. That was gratifying for it showed that we were moving forward.  Today we took the sink out of the countertop, cut the remaining countertop into two pieces, and put it on top of the lower cabinets so that we temporarily have prep space in the kitchen.

Gladys is starting to look like the sun-filled house that we envisioned last June.  Most of the rooms are back into livable order (with the exception of the main bathroom that now doubles as a kitchen sink), and we are starting to put things "in their place" so we can actually find something when we need it.

My friend Rose said that as soon as we get Gladys' kitchen installed, all we will need to do is to buy her a corsage.  That corsage will come next year in the form of a purple crepe myrtle tree and pink and white hibiscus bushes in the backyard.

Before and After

After a toss-and-turn, mostly sleepless night -- Rick because his years-ago-crushed-thumb would not stop throbbing and me because I could not turn off my mind-- we got up early to await the arrival of our new kitchen cabinets.

Michael promised to be here between 8:30 and 9:30.  At 9:30 he called and said that they were just leaving St. Petersburg and would be here in about 20 minutes.  Michael and Dave, his nephew who would be installing the cabinets, arrived at the promised time with a trailer full of cabinets.  Our excitement was abated a little when Michael told us that as he was picking up the cabinets, "they" (whomever THEY is) told him that one of the cabinets was still missing as was our crown moulding for the whole kitchen.  The missing cabinet was the upper cabinet located to the left of the refrigerator; happily, since it is an upper unit, its lack of appearance will not slow down the granite people from making templates for the countertop. (SIde note: we called them to come in on Wednesday, but they are so busy they will not be able to measure until Thursday.)

Our kitchen has undergone quite a transformation. Rather than writing about it all, I will let the pictures do the talking for us.

The 1960's kitchen in March 2011 when we bought Gladys.

We have certainly come a long way with the way it was to what it has become now.

The kitchen from June 2011 until yesterday. Our dishes, silverware
and pots and pans have rested on a baker's rack for the last year.

The kitchen as we woke up to it this morning.

The kitchen as it looks tonight. The "hole" between the
two cabinets to the right is where the stove will go,
and the refrigerator will go next to the pantry.


                                                        

Looking south in the new kitchen.  The dishwasher will fill
this hole next to the sink cabinet.

The other accomplishment of the day was that Rick finished putting the
drawer fronts on the vanity in the bathroom.  Gladys is starting to look
like a real house!

Lessons Learned

We learned something yesterday: do not ever pick out a paint color, based on the paint swatches, while standing in the middle of the paint store.  We went to the "new" paint store we found in Seminole to seek other green paint.  We have decided that the green we tried two days ago just is not going to give us the look we want for this house.

When we went in, we took along a tag I had found hanging off the electrical meter on the back of the house.  That was more of the color I had in mind for the trim of the house.  The clerk at the store, a man with a deep New York accent named Frank, told me that the color of the tag was still going to be too yellow and that we would not be happy with that color either.  He then began to pull paint samples for us to look at, suggesting two in particular.  I thought, "Lord, no!" since both colors he pulled looked way too dark and too green/black drab.

"You can't judge them by how they look in the store," Frank said. "You have to get them out in the sunlight because that is how people are going to see them."  We took the sample of siding and the paint swatches out of the store into the bright sunlight. Wow!  What a difference!  The ugly, drab samples that I would not have picked out as even a possible color were now the deep, rich green that we had been looking for.  I would not have chosen either of those samples in a thousand years, but both Rick and I agreed that one called Rainforest Foliage was the color we both had in mind.

A better shade of green: Rainforest Foliage.

We brought the colors home, and Rick put a first coat on the back door.  We made the mistake of buying a too-fuzzy roller for the door, so we still have to remedy that situation with a shorter-knap roller, but a second coat should make the door finally turn out the color and texture that we want.

Of course, just as Rick was finishing the first coat of paint, the sky started to darken.  I looked to the east and said, "Ah, Rick, I think we need to finish soon.  We have a really nasty storm coming."

The old color (left) and the new color (right).

"It's not supposed to rain today," he said dismissively. Then I drew his attention to the eastern sky which was now a menacing shade of navy blue/ black. Just as we looked, the thunder rolled in from a distance.  While I brought the truck in closer to the house and covered the grill, Rick cleaned up the paint and ladders.  A flickering loss of power for an instant was enough to remind us to power down and unplug our computers, the printer, and the microwave.  I thought it best to be safe rather than sorry with the microwave since that may be our only means to heat food on Tuesday and Wednesday of the coming week while workers install my new kitchen cabinets.

The storm hit with all of the fury of Tropical Storm Debby.  We experienced 50 - 60 mile per hour winds (I am always amazed at how far palm trees can bend without breaking), torrential rain that came down in waterfall-like sheets of water, and window-shaking rumbles of thunder and lightning.  Thankfully, unlike Debby, the storm only lasted a couple of hours. We experienced no damage from this storm -- other than Rick's new paint job getting wet -- and a check of Steve and Chris' house today showed no damage to their structure either.

The last item to note deals with another lesson learned: if you find something in a store that you think might be right for your house, don't debate for half the summer before you buy it.  Just buy the darn thing, bring it home, and take it back if it does not work out.  (Sometimes we waste so much energy second-guessing ourselves!)  We found a mirror in our favorite consignment shop here in Dunedin that we thought might look nice over the sofa table near our front doors.  We were uncertain about the size though, so we did not buy it.  Further shopping this summer proved to us that the price was very reasonable, and nothing else that we saw seemed to be as nice as that mirror.  We visited the shop a second time, and the woman at the desk told us to bring it home and try it.  She said that they would take it back if it did not work.  We still hesitated.  Yesterday we went back for the third time, and this time we bought the mirror.  The owner of the store reiterated that if it was too large for the space, we could bring it back.

The new mirror in the living room entryway.

We brought it home, changed the wire on the back so it would hang horizontally, and put it up.  We had to do a little exchange from a table lamp to a floor lamp next to the table, but we are pleased with the results.

We have three weeks left here.  Part of us wants to stay and to take care of the million little tasks we have yet to complete here at the house, and part of us wants to return to family and friends in Green Bay.  Of course, the tickets are set for us to return to Wisconsin August 11, so we will be on the plane.  However, the lessons we have learned are life lessons that will serve us well no matter which state we wake up to in the morning.

Going Green

Today was a rather laid-back day without too much work, and it was a better day as a whole because we did not feel so defeated.

We started the day by doing a little planning and a little cleaning in anticipation of an invited guest.  Jen, our realtor who sold us this house (and probably thought we were nuts to buy it, although she was very diplomatic and never said a word), came for a visit. Although we are far from finished, she was able to see some of what I had dreamed the house could be when we bought it.  She looked well and spent the morning with us looking at what we had done with Gladys.  She brought us up to date on all that was going on in the real estate business and in her family life.  We all are facing challenges, all in our own ways, and somehow we all continue to move forward.  Rick's and my motto always has been, "Never look back." We had a good time, and we were really glad to see her.  We told her she will have to come back after we get the kitchen completed in the next couple of weeks.

The good news is that the real estate market is starting to pick up.  I asked Jen how much we could get for the house if we sold it today.  She did an off-the-top-of-her-head guess of about $135,000.  That would be a $50,000 profit over our purchase price but still $10,000 less than what we have now invested in the restoration of this house.  No matter.  The market is going up, and we have no intension of selling.  Hopefully, we will be able to enjoy this house for many years, possibly passing it on to our daughters. By that time, we hope that it will have appreciated substantially.

The new bedroom cushion.  Side note: Rick took a tin snips
and his miter saw to our too large blind and got them to work.

Speaking of improvements, we took a short ride after lunch to pick up the cushion for our bedroom bench.  I also bought a yard of material to make some throw pillows for the bed, too. The cushion is much more comfortable to sit on than the bare bench, and it should save the platform and edges of the bench from unwanted wear.

This afternoon we had our purchases from yesterday delivered.  Two very nice, strong young men rolled my new Bosch dishwasher into the garage.  It can now keep company with the kitchen sink that will have to go to the granite company when they come to make templates to cut the granite for our counter tops. We got an e-mail early this morning saying that the kitchen cabinet will be installed next Tuesday.  I can't wait.  Jen also confirmed that the honey-colored cabinets were a better choice than white since that is a universal color that does not get dated.

Pedestals under the washer/ dryer to save my aching back.

The other delivery was just as exciting. We bought two pedestals for our washer and dryer.  I am getting too old to have to almost crawl on the ground to get socks out of the back of the dryer, so I told Rick that the pedestals were a must.  I can get into the washer and dryer now, but 20 years from now (note my optimism that the washer and dryer will last that long!), I do not want to be on my hands and knees digging undies out of the washer!  The nice young men offered to set them up for us (even though the salesman told us they would not set them up since we did not buy the washer and dryer from their store), and we were not about to turn down an offer since the washer weighs a ton. The results are now two clean pedestals that made me realize how dusty and dirty my washer and dryer really were. Rick is itching to frame in the room to protect them, but that would mean less air flow into an already hot space, and we cannot afford the time or money right now to bring in air conditioning to the area.  That will have to wait until January.

The green back doors on the not-yet-yellow house.

Not being able to sit still, Rick then went out to the back yard and tried our new green paint on the back doors.  We do not want the house to be Packer green and gold, and it won't be since we have picked out a really bright (not gold) yellow for the house.  However, we are still not sure if this is the right green.  I know it is hard to tell from pictures (and the fact that the house is now still the dirty yellow/tan color), but what do you think?  Should we go darker?  Should we go more to a blue-green?  Should we say, "Nuts to the color" and paint them white?  We have not painted the front doors yet, but our plan was to paint them green --just the edges since they are full-light windows-- and then accent the house with green shutters.

The green garage door.  We still need to add
white paint to the board above the door.

The door to the Florida room.  Too green,
or just right for Florida?

We both admit that we are not good with picking out colors.  Give us some feedback, readers.  Do you think Gladys would look good all dolled up in a green and yellow dress with some pretty, colorful flowers eventually thrown in at the "hem"?

Defeated

We are defeated.  Everything that we have tried to do in the last couple of days has ended in disappointment and sometimes defeat. Rick is so discouraged right now that he would just as soon pack his bags and head back to Wisconsin.  This is partially due to overwork and burn-out, and partially due to one thing going wrong after another.

We started yesterday morning by getting ready to add an electrical outlet in the wall for the microwave that we want to install above the stove. Rick called the kitchen cabinet contractor and got the general measurement for where the outlet should be; he made the mistake of saying that this should be a fairly easy application since he could see the wall that we had to use from a ladder in the garage. (Hint to homeowners: NEVER say aloud that anything you are attempting to do will be easy.  Doing so awakens all of the remodeling gremlins waiting to pounce.)

When he climbed the ladder, he found about nine wires already snaking down that wall; apparently, if a Mack truck comes through the front kitchen wall and wipes out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, we will not have power in any of the rest of the house!  At any rate, he also found an unused access hole that he thought he could use for the new wire, so we really did think this would be an easy job.

He cut a very tidy square hole in the wall where he thought the plug should go.  OK, first problem: the hole revealed a stud wall and when Rick tried to flash a light down the access hole in the attic, I could not see the light in the new hole that he cut in the wall. Conclusion: the access hole in the attic lead to a space on the other side of the stud wall.  (Expletive deleted!)

He came back into the kitchen and cut another tidy hole in the wall on the opposite side of the stud in the wall.  Back in the garage, the flashlight again failed to reveal any light down into the kitchen.

"Forget it," Rick said.  "I'm just going to shove the wire down the wall.  You should be able to see it."  I dutifully stood by the new hole waiting for the wire to appear-- which it did, but it came out in the original hole that we had cut!

"I can see it," I yelled, "but you will not believe where it came out."  Rick reappeared in the kitchen, and a few more expletives filled the air.  He cut the first hole so perfectly that the electrical box fit right in with no plastering required.  However, now we had a second hole that had to be filled, mudded, sanded, and painted.  ARGHHH!

Since he is so sick of plastering that the sight of the bucket of mud makes him almost physically ill, the prospect of mudding another  patch was not appealing.  He filled the hole and mudded it so we could sand and add a second coat of mud today.

On to the next project.  Rick decided to replace the wobbly ceiling fan in our bedroom.  My ever-researching husband had narrowed the search down to one fan that got rave reviews. We purchased it and spent two and one-half hours getting it all installed.  He went back to the garage, flipped the breaker back on, and we had lights...no cameras... but also no action!  The fan motor was dead, so he took it down, rechecked all of the wire connections, and tried it again.  Lights told us that we had power to the fixture, but the fan blades still stood as still as a soldier guarding Buckingham Palace. More expletives.

Rick took the fan down, and we hauled it back to the store.  He was so angry that he let me do the talking at the returns desk. They apologized, told us that the fan had a very good reputation, and gave us a new one to take home.  By that time, it was too late (and Rick was still too upset), so wire nuts hung from the ceiling and a small fan sitting on the dresser tried to keep the air circulating in the bedroom overnight.

We went to bed last night feeling totally defeated.  No matter what we tried to do recently, there is always some problem with our first attempts.  Generally we can get things worked out, but not without additional hassles. Rick is ready to quit and to give it all up for this trip.  I have not worked as hard, and I am much more optimistic than he, so I still have some hope.

This morning we got up late, and rather than jump right back into tasks, we eased into the morning with some much-needed paperwork.  Rick filled in the forms to get rebates for the windows from the power company, and I called about our still-missing cushion on the bench in the bedroom.  The results?  We should get about $230 in rebates from the power company, and the bench cushion is supposed to be in the store tomorrow.

After the slow start, we decided to go to Lowe's to pick up our blinds for the master bedroom and bath. The blinds are great.  The first one went into the bathroom with no problems.  The end wall in the bedroom also was great.  Then we put in the two end panels on the bank of three windows in the front. When we went to fit in the middle section, it was about 1/4 inch too long.  We tried every which way to make them fit, but no luck.  All solutions that we tried came up with more problems.  Gladys is too fat to fit into the girdle of these blinds.

Two new and one very old set of curtains, nailed to the wall.

We left the two side panels up, and the middle one will have to go back to the store tomorrow.  More expletives. Tonight we have beautiful blinds in all the windows but the middle one. Now Rick was really ready to go home.

After that, I was ready to quit for the day, but he decided to put up the new fan in the bedroom.  I came out here to start this blog because I could not stand any more disappointment if this one failed.  Thankfully, this one worked just fine, and we now have a beautiful new clean, white, energy-efficient, quiet ceiling fan.

A new ceiling fan.  Yeah!

After dinner, we both needed to get out of here for a while.  We have had thunderstorms for the last two days, but the sun finally came out after dinner for a little while.  We went to Micky D's for an ice cream cone, and then down to the Marina.

Rather than go out on the pier, I told Rick that I wanted to walk down a street neither of us had been on before.  The street is Victoria Street, and it runs along the shoreline of Dunedin.  I originally wanted to walk down just as far as the first house, which is a turquoise-painted two-story Victorian house that used to be the clubhouse for the Marina. It is up for sale, and I wanted to take a closer look.  But then we saw that the street actually curved around and went further.  We discovered a whole neighborhood that is definitely a hidden historical district of Dunedin. The houses are all mammoth Southern plantation-style homes among native trees, private docks, and lots of old South charm.  Steve and Chris, if you have not walked down this street, this is a must-see... but don't do it right after a rain since the street goes into gravel with dips.  Also, don't go at low tide like we did since the neighborhood was rather fishy/ musty smelling.

We walked the whole street all the way from the Marina practically to Weaver Park.  I will definitely walk this again as it was quiet and very relaxing.  We needed that after the last two days.  We returned to the pier to watch the sunset. A pelican tried to butt into our discussion at one point, but other than that, we had a good end to the day.

We definitely have reached the point where we need to slow down, to take a few hours each day off from constant tasks, and perhaps to find some fun in Florida before we return to work in Wisconsin.

And the work goes on...

I know that I have not written for a few days, but that is not because we have not been busy.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  Each day Rick works on the ceiling and the walls in the kitchen first thing in the morning.  The overhead work is very hard on him both because his shoulder has not been "right" since his surgery a couple of years ago, and because his heart does not seem to be pumping the blood up into his arms when he works overhead for very long.  He gets very tired and very winded quickly.

Relocation of an outlet: it looks easy, but it took both
time and planning to make it safe and legal.

Of course, that does not mean he will stop.  In the last two days, he also has been working to change the electricity around in the kitchen.  When we paid a fortune for the electricians to come in last year, they installed a refrigerator outlet from the garage into the end wall of the kitchen and an oven outlet next to the door where the refrigerator used to reside.  Both outlets, we have learned, were wrong.  The refrigerator outlet was too far to the left and would be located under one of my new kitchen cabinets-- not the most ideal place to plug in a 'fridge!  The oven outlet also was about two inches too far to the left, also placing it under one of the proposed new cabinets.  Rick has spent lots of time and muscle breaking through concrete walls and moving both outlets.  He also had to move an upper outlet because it, too, was too low.  Originally, that outlet was in the "eat-in" part of the old kitchen, so its height on the wall was not an issue.  However, since that area now will hold a bank of pots and pans drawers, the outlet had to be relocated.  The picture shows that it only needed to be changed a few inches, but that still was a tiresome task to be completed.

I am so glad that Rick knows how to do all of this.  I would have to hire an electrician to come in, and at this point, the budget will not support that kind of spending.  We still have to tackle the front wall of the kitchen.  We have brought the wire down into the room, but yet another outlet needs to be raised to right below the windows. That could lead to some interesting structural problems tomorrow.  I also would like a second outlet put in to be in the corner that has never held cabinets before.  This transformation will be very interesting, to say the least.

The soon to be blue kitchen.  To cover the green will
definitely take too coats of paint!

In order to see some completed results, Rick took the new paint and put it on a couple of the kitchen walls.  The picture shows the new blue ("Innocence") and the old green which we thought we would like but have decided against.  Obviously, we have a bit more to complete.

While he has been working in the kitchen, I have been trying to paint the totally unfinished (as in "never painted or varnished") bedroom closet doors.  The upper cabinet doors are in pretty rough shape, but for now they will suffice.  Perhaps in January we can get a bit more serious about changing them to something else.

Oh, I almost forgot to add pictures of the bedroom transformation.  I had mentioned earlier that we bought really fun, funky pineapple-topped furniture for the bedroom.  Although it is really cheap, I smile when I go into the room, and it does afford us more room and storage.  The old bedroom furniture is now in the guest bedroom.  We still are waiting for the new white 2" blinds for both the bedroom and the master bath.  That will help to totally change the look of the room.  Note the "before" and "after" pictures.

The "before" view with the old tables and dressers removed.

And "after" with the pineapple bedroom furniture. We
are waiting for a dark teal cushion yet for the bench and
new white blinds for the windows.

The dresser for the new bedroom, complete with pineapples
at the top of the mirror!

Each day we see new changes in Gladys, and they all are for the good.  We picked up some paint samples today for the house and new doors, but we have not found the right combination yet.  We liked one bright yellow for the house, but neighbors all voted for a more darker yellow hue.  The green we chose for the door is not going to work out, so we are back to square one on that decision.

We also looked at Best Buy for a new dishwasher and an over-the-oven microwave.  The microwaves all get terrible reviews, and Best Buy was outrageous on their prices.  We probably will get both appliances at a big-box store like Lowe's.   Did you get stock in Lowe's yet, like I told you to buy earlier?  You are missing humongous profits because what Rick and I have spent there this summer has certainly raised their stock value!

Out, Damned Soffit! Out, I Say!

Today was a three-sweat-band day.  For those of you who do not hang around Rick often, let me tell you that the man has the world's best cooling system. The minute that he starts to really work, his "air conditioner" kicks in as his pores open and sweat pours out. He seriously sweat out three heavy-duty, tennis-approved, Nike sweatbands today.

We started to prep the kitchen today for new cabinets by tearing out the useless, 1960's soffits. While I generally am not opposed to soffits, the original kitchen floor plan for this house had a wall oven where I want my modern-day pantry installed.  The wall ovens called for a much broader and deeper cabinet than the pantry, so the soffit on the right side of the end wall was oversized for my current kitchen plans.  The kitchen contractor, Michael, also suggested that we remove the soffits so I could have taller cabinets for even more storage space.

For those of you familiar with the Bard, you get the joke of the title of this blog.  For those of you who think I just choose weird titles, check out Act V of Macbeth for a little context. Believe me, about mid-day today, I wanted to scream those lines as we ran into a small electrical problem...

We started early by going into the garage to scoop out the blown-in insulation that filled the open cavities of the soffits.  While we got most of it out, we did have to contend with fluffy white insulation occasionally floating down every now and then through the open soffit areas.

Last view of the soffits in the kitchen.

Our not-so-efficient plastic draped area. The front
of the soffits are torn out.

Rick did most of the hard tear-down work since we had limited room to work, and I have learned long ago to always stay clear of swinging hammers, prying crowbars, and crumbling plaster.  Yesterday my house was pristine clean as I did not want the inspector to find tell-tale plaster dust anywhere.  Today, even though Rick tried to tape off the work area, plaster dust coats every surface. The joys of home remodeling!

He tackled the front of the soffits first and found few surprises in the typically framed soffits.  A few old nails and wire mesh on which the plaster was put gave us a little resistance, but for the most part, the structures were coming down nicely.

Beware of killer black wires that try to crawl out of the wall.

At the very middle of the end wall, we found an electrical box that we knew was in the soffit. I think at one time a 1960's owner probably had a now-vintage clock plugged in up there.  The wires were dead long ago, so that was easy to remove.  A second wire ran from the area over to the left-hand side wall.  When Rick opened that up, he found the remains of that black wire and also a white wire.  We knew that the white wire is hooked up to either the overhead lights or the outlets near the counter top, so we left those in place.  The black wire, Rick said, was the remains of the other one and was dead.  He took a wire cutters to snip it off, and POP! Thankfully, Rick was holding an insulated wire cutter and did not get blown off the ladder, because the wire very clearly sent him a message that it was far from dead, although it was not above trying to put Rick into that state of being.

He turned off all the circuits, did his magical electrical thing, and was able to cut the now definitely expired wire out of the way. He ran to the store to get other boxes because in removing the soffits we had to reroute a couple of wires that were, alas, too short.  By noon, the score card read Rick 1, Electricity 0.

Well, almost zero. As is typical in Florida in the summer, the afternoon brought another very loud thunderstorm complete with lots of God's original electricity and torrential rains. Thankfully, we did not lose power, although that is always a possibility.

The afternoon found all of the soffits out, and the drywall ceiling was ready to replace.  We had to cover more territory than we thought we would because in trying to take down a stubborn 2 x 4, Rick pulled a bit too hard and a whole section of ceiling decided not to let go of the falling wood.  Ah, well, I always wanted to spend money on a new ceiling that no one will see because it will be above the new cabinets...

When we got to the left-hand wall, I said, "As long as we have the wall open, why don't we run some wire down the wall for our new dishwasher and other outlets?"

New drywall on the ceiling, but original block walls still
showing on the back and right-hand walls.

"I hadn't thought of that, but that is a brilliant idea," Rick said.  "Go out to the garage and bring in the large wire."  I went out to the garage and found a large bundle of smaller wire and a small roll of fat, larger wire.  Of course, I brought in the wrong one.  However, by that time Rick had knocked a hole in the wall in a location that will someday be within one of my new cabinets, and he and I fished two wires from the upper to the lower walls. We will use those wires later this week to install additional outlets required in the new kitchen plan.

By dinner time, all of the new drywall was up.  After dinner, I put the four bags of insulation we took out of the attic back into the attic over the new "ceiling" while Rick added a coat of plaster "mud" to the concrete block walls that the old soffits used to cover.

The end of the three-sweat-band day shows drywall on the
ceiling and plaster mud on the walls.

The soffits are out, so Phase One of the kitchen remodel is complete.  Tomorrow we add another coat of mud, we tape and add mud to the ceiling, and we start to tackle the additional electrical outlets in the room.  Once we get this prep work done, we can call the kitchen contractor and tell him to come and install the new cabinets. Once those are in, then we can contact the granite people to measure for the counter tops.

The kitchen was the first room that we gutted last year after we moved into the house, and it is the second-to-the-last room (the main bath being the very last) that we are working to renovate.  Last week the master bath was a remarkable transformation, and I think that once we give Gladys a new kitchen, she will be a pretty classy old doll.

No Rest for the Possessed

The Bible says that Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but I think that Rick skipped that particular passage.  He agreed to try his new pants today for going to church, but since church did not start until 10:00 a.m., we could not possibly "waste" all of the time before the service, so we went to Home Depot first to buy a counter top for the main bathroom.  Since it is only 72" long, it easily fit into the bed of the truck, so from there we were off to church.

I have never felt more welcomed than I have in going to Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Clearwater.  The congregation is small, and most of the congregation is elderly, but the church does support a school so there are a few younger families in the mix also.  When we went in, the pastor saw us sitting in a pew.  Before the service started, he came over, sat next to Rick, and welcomed us back. A nice woman named Gretchen sat in front of us all last year when we were here, and she welcomed us back also.  After service, the pastor's wife asked us if we were the "teachers from Wisconsin."  She said that she and her husband were just discussing us this week, wondering if we had made it back to Florida.  (We did not take the time to relate the story of Sam and the pants.)  We just said that we were glad to be back. Once we come back in January, we will officially change our membership from Messiah in Green Bay to Christ the Lord in Clearwater.  We think that this congregation can use our help and financial support more than Messiah (which has grown quite large), and the change will help us support our claim of Florida domicile.

Our new vanity, mirror, light, and working faucet!
Note the new towel rack and toilet paper holder
to the left of the sink.

The repositioned cabinet--the picture is
crooked, not the cabinet!

After church, my darling husband was back to work.  He is paranoid about the inspector coming in on Tuesday.  He wanted the whole master bathroom finished, so he is obsessed with getting everything in place.  He works like a man possessed by some demon that drives him forward.  The two pictures show the transformed master bathroom.  You will note that the cabinet, which we thought would open toward the toilet, is now positioned so that it opens toward the center of the room.  The reposition makes the upper shelves accessible, but we had to sacrifice the plug inside the cabinet in the process.

Today (Monday), Rick was further obsessed with getting the vanity up and running in the main bathroom.  He always underestimates the time it will take to complete a project.  He envisioned having the whole cabinet complete with drawers, doors, and a working sink by noon.  Ha!  Right... and I will totally re-landscape the back yard,  build a lanai, dig a pool, and re-roof the house in that time, too.  He is SO unrealistic with time.  I estimated the vanity as an all-day job with no working sink, and in the end we were both wrong.

The main bathroom vanity, with drawer slides in place,
awaiting the counter top.

First, I must admit that the vanity drawer slides fought Rick every step of the way.  He measured correctly, made templates, and did everything else right to make sure the slides were an easy task. However, the cabinet gremlins of the world all conspired against him, and the slides did not go smoothly.  I will spare you the gory details; let's just say that if the vanity had ears, it would now possess an entirely unprintable blue vocabulary.  In the end, Rick triumphed by getting the drawers all in, and he even had time and determination left to cut the vanity counter top, set in the sink, and get the plumbing flowing smoothly!

He still has to add drawer fronts and handles, and cabinet doors tomorrow, but right now I am thrilled to have a working vanity in the master bathroom.  The pink sink in this bathroom was one that we found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Green Bay.  It is a cast iron Kohler sink in beautiful shape.  Originally, the sink was very expensive, but its color and age have made it "outdated"; however, the materials and care that it received from the last owner make this the bargain of the year.  Oh, yeah, and the price was right too: we paid $10.00 for this gem.  I told my brother-in-law that when we get rid of it in a few years, I will sell it on Craig's List for $50.00.  (Just kidding... when we are finished with it, I will donate it back to the Habitat for Humanity Restore to get sold once again.)

Vanity with a counter top and working plumbing.

                                                               

                                                                                The $10.00 Habitat for Humanity Restore pink sink.

We still have some work to do before the window inspector comes tomorrow, but the last two days of hard work have resulted in complete transformations of both bathrooms in the house.  The main bath still needs lots of work and attention (eventually the tile and the pink will be a wistful memory), but our renovation of the main bath will have to wait until we have the time, energy, and most of all, budget to complete.

Let there Be Light

We have been very busy the last few days trying to finish the master bathroom while we also are shopping for new ceiling fans, staining the vanity for the main bath, and generally just bouncing from job to job.  Sam the stork has not been back to our yard, so perhaps his taste of electrician's screwdrivers was enough for him to ban us from his list of fine dining front yards.

We have been hearing for almost the last two weeks of the horrible heat wave in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.  While we are having high 80's with a breeze most days here in Florida, they are having 100+ degree days with horribly high humidity.   That all changed as of yesterday.  Summer (read: humidity) has arrived in Florida.

On Saturdays, Dunedin holds a Farmer's Market (they call it "Green Market"), and we love to go down to get fresh fruits and veggies.  Rick got homemade pickles last year, but the pickle vendor has not been there yet this year.  However, a young couple has a booth where they sell homemade breads, bagels, rolls, and other wonderful delicacies.  We bought a few goodies and then ventured further to partake in the Third Annual Orange Festival.  Free orange juice and a quick walk around the booths was enough for us.  By 9:30 this morning, the heat was oppressive, and the paramedics were already attending to one elderly lady. We were going to go onward to get our daily Home Depot and Lowe's fix, but a phone call changed our plans. (More on that later.)

Our new front porch light that thinks it is a beacon
on a lighthouse!

One of the accomplishments of yesterday was getting a new light installed for our front door.  I found a marine-quality light that was guaranteed not to rust, rot, corrode, or otherwise fall to pieces due to the salt air that daily bombards our neighborhood. We wanted to have something with at least two bulbs because I hate having a wimpy light outside that does not even allow me to find the door's keyhole.  We were pleased with the look of the light I chose, and thanks to Rick's expertise, we soon had it installed where the old industrial spotlights that the previous owner had used once hung.  Once the evening came, Rick said, "Let's see how our new light works." He hit the switch next to the door. "Holy Wha!" he said.

Not only our doorway, but approximately half of the front yard was suddenly illuminated like a Broadway stage on opening night. In a bad storm, a Boeing 747 could use our front light to make an emergency landing on our street.  "Ah, Rick," I said, "I think it's bright enough..."

He always like to try the new "toys" in the house!

Another accomplishment was to get the wiring completed for the central vacuum.  As the picture shows, Rick took the vacuum for a successful test drive. (Note his chic paint pants!) We ended up with a 35 foot hose, so with the intake port in the center of the house, we now can vacuum every spider out of every nook and cranny in the entire house.

Andy, applying the stucco around the new front door.
He was a true master with stucco.

The completed stucco work around the new front door.

We were told by Jeff, the contractor that we worked with for our doors and windows, that he would send "his stucco guy" to our house to finish off the front door. Today when we were at the Orange Festival, Rick received a call from Andy, Jeff's "stucco guy."  We met him at home, and he assessed the job.  As Rick has often mentioned, the young people today do not want to learn the hard labor jobs.  He has long lamented that in the future we will be desperately short of masons, electricians, plumbers, and other manual tradesmen.  Jeff, who is 62, told us that Andy was older than he, and I must say that Jeff was not exaggerating.  As the picture shows, Andy was a short little old man (70+ for sure) who really knew his trade.  Rick asked him when he would like to schedule the job, and he said that he could start today. (Remember the heat that I just mentioned?)  He said that he would work as long as he was in the shade and as long as the slight breeze held out.  We agreed on a very reasonable price since he also found a section of the house next to the door that needed repair, and he started to work.  Rick and I ate lunch, ran some errands, and when we got home, we found a note on the door that said, "Work finished, $175.00." We will coordinate with Jeff to get that bill paid, but we are very pleased with the results.  We will have to paint the stucco as soon as it dries, but he did us a great favor by stuccoing under the door.  Now we can tie in a slab of cement with the existing porch and worry about adding tile to the whole thing when we return in January.

Our new bathroom light: what a change from the old one!

We wimpy young people decided to work in the air conditioned house.  Rick got tired of trying to paint around the old bathroom light, so he took it out.  Remember the 1960's row of bulbs, all covered by a three-sided square of glass that was held in place by white plastic screws? Yep, that's what hit the garbage can today.  The pictures show the new light that we installed.  It is not the most expensive or glamorous in the world, but it is modern, bright, clean, and really adds a bright jewel in Gladys' hair.  I smile each time I turn it on and enter the room.

The giant cabinet in the crooked little room.

Our last task of the day was to put the "feet" on the big white cabinet and to then hold our breath as we tried to stand it upright in the bathroom.  With a little finagling, we put it into position. Success... sort of. The cabinet did not sit level, so Rick got his level out.  First he saw how much the cabinet needed shifting.  He checked everything for level. The cabinet?  Check.  The new wall that he just built? Check.  The floor?  Well, not level but not too bad.  The old wall?  Ugh!  From bottom to top, the old wall is off by 3/4 of an inch. Like all little old ladies, Gladys sags and droops a bit in a few places. It's not fair, but our beautiful, level, plumb cabinet will have to be shimmed on one side to sit "level" in our cozy, crooked, little old house.

Since Sam still has not returned Rick's missing pants, our final task of today was to go to Kohl's to buy his some dress pants.  We actually plan on going to church tomorrow; that will be a familiar routine that I have missed in the past few weeks.  We have made such progress that we can afford to take a little time off for us and for some of the things that we want (rather than need) to do.

Health Problems and Small Accomplishments

The Fourth of July was a true bomb at our house.  The day started OK, although I could not convince Rick to take the day off.  We are under a couple of deadlines-- one to get the master bathroom finished so we can get the windows inspected, and one to get the kitchen prepped in time for the cupboards to be installed.

By late morning, I began to really feel awful.  I was exhausted, nauseated, and out of sorts.  I took my blood sugar and discovered that I was in the high 300's. (Normal is 80 - 100.)  I took a bolus of insulin and continued to push myself to keep going.  By 11:30, I tested again and found I had reached over 400.  I took another bolus and asked Rick to watch my insulin Pod as the medication (supposedly) went through the cannula into my system.  I had the Pod on my upper left arm, so he could easily see it.  He told me that the cannula was completely out of my arm which is why my blood sugar was going up even though I was trying to take more medication.

I changed my Pod which I hate to do early since I have to toss it out complete with the insulin that is still inside it.  Wasting insulin kills me because I know how expensive both the Pods and the medication are.  With a new Pod in place, I took a massive dose of insulin and had a light lunch.  By mid-afternoon I was getting back to normal and starting to feel a little better, but Rick was still fretting about my health.  That makes me feel both good to know that he really cares and terrible because I feel guilty for not being totally in control, even though I know this was an equipment malfunction.

By late afternoon, my blood sugar has swung the opposite way, and I was faced with a low reading.  Both high and low readings really take a toll on my body, and both make me feel like crap.  We had a light dinner as I struggled once again to gain control.

Rick asked what I felt like doing that evening, and I told him I wanted to go down to the Marina to watch the fireworks. We parked a few blocks away by the gelato shop so we did not have to hassle with trying to park the truck in a crowded area.  As we walked toward the Marina, we stopped at the local ice cream shop called Strachan's.  While their ice cream is good, it also is terribly expensive.  The shop is a cash-only enterprise, and as we stood in line awaiting our turn, we watched families in front of us with three or four children easily pay up to $5.00 for a couple of scoops of ice cream on sugar-laden cones. Six people, all ordering ice cream, at $5.00+ each.  You do the math!  Rick and I usually do not pay that much money for an entire meal.

Since we do not get out often, my scoop of Butterfinger and my scoop of black cherry ice cream really was good.  We got two scoops in a cup with two spoons and had the entire thing gone in the few blocks it took us to walk to the Marina.

One thing you should know about Dunedin.  While it is located in a very populated area (sort of like living in a suburb of a large city), the community itself is very quaint.  The locals are proud Scotsmen, artists, and small business owners.  The city streets are all lined with cobblestone sidewalks, and even later at night, one feels safe walking among the one-story, old-fashioned shops, bakeries, and numerous restaurants and cafes.

The crowds at the Marina were surprisingly light. We walked out on the pier a short distance, listened to the live band that was performing at Bon Appetite, a local restaurant, and waited for the fireworks to begin.  The Marina looks out over St. Joseph's Sound, a bay of water that is rimmed by a peninsula containing small beach communities.  Those communities back up to the Gulf of Mexico.  From our position on the pier, we could enjoy the fireworks across the Sound from four or five beach communities (including Treasure Island, Indian Rock, and Clearwater Beach) and the city of Clearwater.  We also had prime views of Dunedin's fireworks, so we saw various fireworks shows all from one prime location.

Locals tell us that the fireworks from Safety Harbor are the best.   Unfortunately, since Safety Harbor was directly behind us, we were not able to see their display, but we were not disappointed with the show we saw last night.

After living with them for a couple of days now, we have noticed that our new front doors, while they are heavy and look beautiful, may not be installed in the most secure of positions.  To accommodate the sill plate from the front porch, Chris positioned the door over treated lumber.  That leaves the bolts of the semi-stationary door inserted into lumber instead of concrete.  The door is sound now, but we both question how secure it would really be in a hurricane. That is one thing we will question when the contractor comes next week.  We may have more hassles with those doors yet.

Rick spent this morning with a power sander and the shop vac in the master bathroom trying to get the room ready for primer and paint.  We want to finish the bathroom by Sunday evening at the latest.  Rick spent a frustrating couple of hours yesterday putting in the pocket door handles and pull, so this afternoon he was able to put the moulding and jamb for the door in place.  Tomorrow, hopefully, we can prime and paint the walls, reserving Saturday and Sunday for adding the new light, the new mirror, installing the cabinet, finishing the electrical, and adding towel racks and toilet paper holders. Our new sink is supposed to arrive on Saturday, so if that comes in in time, we may be able to install that also.

I worked in the hallway and living room prepping the lower walls so they are set for new baseboard.  The living room and dining room are now ready; however, we have more wall space than we have prepared baseboard at this time.

Rick also spent part of today varnishing the main bathroom vanity that he and I stained cherry yesterday.  We have the little Kohler pink sink to install, but lots of work assembling and hanging the drawers and doors await us before that project is complete.

We also bought a new ceiling fan for the bedroom today, so now we have two bedroom fans that await installation.  As you can note, we have many more projects than we have hours in the day.  Once again, I am writing this late at night while an exhausted Rick snoozes in front of the TV.

However, the changes in Gladys are evident on a daily basis.  This is quickly becoming a very livable home, and the addition of bedroom furniture and kitchen cabinets in the next two weeks will transform it even further.

As I mentioned earlier, Gladys keeps getting a facelift and appears younger while Rick and I are battered, strained, cut up, and bruised.  Our muscles ache, Rick has re-injured his right shoulder, and we both feel the toll of our daily abuse of these getting-older bodies.  Hopefully, we will one day have a snug little house that will shelter our slowed-down, retired bodies in the wintertime so we can enjoy some of the hobbies that lay untouched yet in our "retirement" home.

New Doors

Chris and Frank came back today to install the Florida Room door and the new double doors in our main entrance. We really like the results, although the light streaming in the front of the house now from the setting Western sun is almost overwhelming.

My new central vacuum system! Sometimes
Rick's work really sucks!

I have to back up to yesterday when I could not get my husband to quit for the day.  We ended up installing my central vacuum until quite late in the night.  We still have to pick up some wire to make final connections, but the vac is now safely installed in the garage, complete with an exhaust pipe that reaches into the rafters.  The exhaust pipe probably will just look like a convenient place for geckos to hide in, so this could be an interesting venture unless we buy some screening to go over the end!  If nothing else, one must always keep the critters in mind when living in Florida.  I have not  really had a chance to try it yet, both because of the missing wiring and because the instructions clearly state that plaster dust will ruin the motor.  At the rate we are going with Gladys, I may be stuck using the shop vac for the rest of the decade.

We set the alarm for early today because Chris and Frank were set to arrive by 8:00 a.m.  They told us that to load our new double doors onto the truck took four men and a lot of muscle power.  When they unloaded it, they actually had to take the doors out of the frame and unload it in three component parts. I will say that then we close the door now, it makes a really reassuring thud!

During the day Rick and I took turns walking down to the barber shop around the corner from our house to get much needed haircuts.  We cannot believe the prices here.  While building materials and groceries are higher than Wisconsin's prices, haircut prices are not.  I usually pay 30 for a haircut in Wisconsin, and here they charged me $12 for just as good of a cut.  At that rate, I could even afford a good tip.

The new Florida room door with a stunning view
of our garbage can in the back yard!

I went first, so when I got home the Florida door was already installed. The Florida room door has a half-light in it with internal blinds.  The old door was solid and was rusting out, and the new one now is fiberglass (no rotting or rusting) and seems to "fit" the room better.  The opposite side of the room (south side) has two windows, so the north side wall with the one window and now a windowed door better balances the room.  I hope someday to have a lanai out this door rather than a wonderful view of our garbage can!

The new front doors completely transform the front of the house.  The doors seem to be a grand entrance to a wonderful home, so I hope that when people enter they are not too disappointed in the interior of Gladys. She is coming along nicely, and we are happy that the living room now seems to be filled with as much light as the Florida room.  Gladys is now secure on all fronts and hopefully will be a delightful, sunny, inviting place to call home.

Our new front doors!

Looking from the inside out.  Unfortunately, we cannot remove
the red tags in the doors until after the inspector approves
them.