Will Miracles Never Cease?

We just wrapped up our first vacation in our new house. It was an amazing week. We got so much done and had fun at the same time but that's not the miracle. The miracle was that I thoroughly enjoyed sanding, priming and painting the old sheet music cabinet to convert it into a nightstand- a lot! Way more fun than I ever thought possible. I woke up each morning and immediately checked it out-did it need more sanding? How many coats of paint would I need before the color stopped bleeding through? I'm sure the neighbors were thrilled that we set up a painting workshop on the tailgate of the truck each day. We love how it came out- pictures below. It's not perfect but it is going to do just fine in the guest room.

Now let's talk about the guest rooms. We had the carpet installed on Thursday. The crew of 3 (an older man, a slender (read not strong) woman and a 20 something guy had to get 2 15 foot rolls of carpet up to the second floor. I knew we were in trouble when they asked me to help them. Let's just say that the hard wood floor guy dropped off extra paint and the scratches in the railing will be repainted and the prisms that got knocked off the chandelier were easy to reattach. The fun didn't end there though. My husband spent the day driving to New Hampshire to pick up our new bed, queen sized mattress and box spring that we needed to get up the same staircase- groan!!! These are the kinds of situations that try the patience of a saint- forget the patience of a married couple with a newly scratched woodwork. We managed to get through it with better success than the carpet installers. The rooms looks fantastic- still needs some decorating help but we are light years ahead of where we were when we started.

On Tuesday, we had guys here installing our new generator. This was a big deal. Because we aren't here during the week, it gives us piece of mind that pipes won't freeze if we lose power in the winter and it also provides a sense of security that the sump pump will be able to do it's job if the power goes out. When the generator ran it's weekly test on Saturday morning, we stood in the window admiring this massive investment that I hope we never have to use. The inspector blessed the installation of the generator and 2 propane tanks on Thursday. The electrician came by on Friday and he'll be back next weekend to rewire some closet lights. Oh, the cable company also showed up unannounced to bury the line they ran back in December. It was like Grand Central Station all week.

There were two other minor miracles earlier in the week- we got our beach stickers and we FINALLY got a cable box that works!!! Trust me, neither was easy. If I had a first born, it would have been easier to give it to the woman at town hall in exchange for the stickers- not that I think she could have been bribed by such a gift. Boy do they take sticker distribution seriously!! A trip to the title company for copies of closing documents and more research at town hall finally resulted in two stickers for the 2013 season. The cable box was easier but no less miraculous. We were two boxes, two remotes, and a service call into this ordeal and we were still unable to change the station from my side of the bed or get any channel other than NECN. Third time was a charm! I didn't even have to cry which I was prepared to do. The woman took pity on us and opened the vault of non refurbished cable boxes and we were on our way.

We had visits from family and close friends, had some amazing meals, met some neighbors and spent plenty of time at the beach. One of the unexpected pleasures was getting to the bottom of the fire pit in our backyard. We burned lots of brush, leaves and low and behold, someone could see the Red Sox game through the bedroom window. Yay for the working cable box! It was a great week. It's Sunday night and I'm already looking forward to the weekend!

Trying to Move On

I have a long post about the events of the past week but I don't think I'll post it. Everyone has been saturated with the coverage. So, to the victims and their families, may God bless you. You all have long and painful roads ahead of you. I wish you the courage and strength to deal with your new world.

It feels weird going on with our usual lives but that what we need to do. We're on vacation this week. Happily spending our first real stretch of time at the house in Maine and have we been keeping busy! We have a long list of chores and we're chipping away at it. The floors were finished last week and they look fabulous!! We have more contractors coming in tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. There is furniture to be picked up on Wednesday and lots of things that haven't even made the list yet will be jammed in there somewhere.

Needless to say, April has been an expensive month thus far. I'm trying to get the guest rooms furnished without holding a bake sale for my cause. What to do, what to do? Pinterest of course! My "success" with the mason jar spice containers has emboldened me to consider refinishing a night stand and a bureau or two. There are multiple sites that say it's so easy, that even I should be able to do this. Ha! As I've mentioned previously, I have ZERO experience with home improvement arts and crafts. ZERO! But somehow, I'm convincing myself that this is a good idea. We've scoured the local antique and thrift shops to no avail. My guess is that in a beach town there are few furnishings going cheap. Or if they are, they are immediately snapped up by folks trying to furnish the hundreds of rental homes lining the beach.

We had Red Sox tickets for Sunday night ( game was rescheduled due to the city being shut down on Friday) so we hit a few out of the way places in New Hampshire on our way to Fenway. Bingo! We scored an old sheet music cabinet that is going to change professions late and life and become a night stand, for only $25! In theory anyway...

So, I'm adding another project to the list this week and if all goes well, there may be some bureaus in our future. Or a bake sale.

Pictures

OK folks, please bear with me as I experiment with adding photos. I'm attempting to show before and after pictures of the staircase.

Stairs, Seals, and Spices

We always look forward to Friday's but this one was different. We've had the hardwood floor contractor in the house during the week to start work on the staircase and upstairs hallway and we couldn't wait to see the progress.  Wouldn't you know we got yet another storm on Friday? Rain and sleet at home but more sleet and snow in Maine. So although we were anxious to see the place, we made the trip up on Saturday morning.

To get ready for the floor guy, we put the finishing touches on the guest rooms last weekend, which was a full day of work. We had to paint the closets and trim. Who knew such small spaces would take so much time? Anyway, they're done and awaiting new carpet to truly complete the rooms. The floor guy was going to be ripping up the old, stained carpet on the stairs and the hallway and putting down hardwood. But before he could do that he had to have a painter come in and deal with the railing and "skirt." The former owner must not have cared for the original railing so she stained them black.  The most cost effective remedy to fix it was to sand it down and paint it white- so that's what we opted for and it looks fantastic!!  Or as my husband says, like adults live here. When I figure out how to post pictures, I'll add a few so you can check it out.  He'll be back on Monday to finish that and begin refinishing the floors in the entry way, first floor hallway and family room.   I can't even begin to imagine how much dust will be waiting for us.  Good thing the gold threaded carpet doesn't get installed until the following week.

I noticed it was low tide when I was driving into town so we headed to the beach for a walk. We're learning that the day after a storm equals rough surf and lots of waves. We chose a beach in a residential neighborhood on the harbor. We walked out on the jetty- waves crashing on the right but sand and beach on the left side until you get out far enough and then the ocean is on either side of you. Waves crashing on either side of the jetty makes you feel small and vulnerable so we decided to head for safer ground. There are a few lobster trap markers in the channel and a big hunk of wood floating around- but wait a second.. that's a harbor seal!! In all my years of frequenting beaches in New England, I've never seen anything but seagulls and the occasional crab being antagonized by children with buckets. This was so cool!! We watched him as he swam out of the harbor to open water.  Now freezing, we jumped onto the beach and started walking and eventually cut through to the street for a less windy walk back to the truck. On the way, we found a harbor beach that led to marshes. I'm mentally filing this location away for the summer. And while we were exploring we saw another seal playing in the water. We got  pictures of this one and hopefully I can post them too.

A quick lunch and back home to check on the project I began last weekend.  I've discovered Pinterest and bravely attempted a mason jar spice container that I found posted by Raisinguprubies.blogspot.com. This required me to use yet another form of paint- spray paint. Haven't messed with spray paint since I was about 10 years old. And this was no regular paint- it was chalk board paint. The top of the mason jar is turned into a chalk board allowing you to easily identify the particular spice quickly. Genius!!

Monday is Patriot's Day in New England- we're commemorating Paul Revere's famous ride, "the British are coming, the British are coming!" We celebrate with a re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord followed a few hours later by the running of the Boston Marathon and an early day Red Sox game. Enjoy the rest of this long weekend.  The carpets are coming, the carpets are coming...