Don't Tread on Me

Subtitle: Piso Mojado.

So goes the saga of our poor floors. We found them under two layers of disgusting carpet.






And a glued-down faux brick entryway.



I tried my hand at making repairs, with limited success. The bedroom closet area, which was a bathroom in the original construction and therefore had never had hardwoods, was incredibly intimidating. In the end, we called in the experts. They did the dusty and stinky work while we were away. Now they look like this:



The bedroom lace-in and finished product:





So cool! Now we can finish the base moulding up here and some final details, and we can start unpacking some stuff and decorating! Very exciting, and just the push we needed to get energized again. The kitchen awaits.

Sometimes a Great Notion

We're back from Oregon! It was great to see friends (Cass and Kevin) and family (the parents O and the grandparents Wolfe), and the festival was way cool. Here's a shot of the outdoor theatre where we saw Comedy of Errors adapted as a musical set in the Wild West (It was better than it sounds):



And Bren in Lithia Park:



That was Ashland. The most wonderful thing in Portland is this:



Voodoo donuts, in the Skidmore district. Famous for bacon maple bars, donuts with shots of Pepto Bismol or NyQuil in the center (to cure what ails you), and other frosting concoctions varying from cereal to candy bars to Kool-Aid mix.

We also visited IKEA, of course, and evidence of our looting will follow. Happily, there is also a Trader Joe's in Portland, and we scored several bottles of Two-Buck Chuck. Other scores included an ancient Shakspeare anthology from a used bookstore and a yellow-pink rose bush (Oregon is famous for its roses).

Overall, a nice vacation. But we're never driving 18 hours in one shot ever again. Oh, and gas? The most we paid was $4.29/gal. Sheesh!

Long Overdue...

It's been a while. Here's what happened. Bren and I sort of killed ourselves trying to get copious amounts of stuff done before a) our year anniversary of homeownership came and went, and b) Grammie came to visit and see the house for the first time.

The year came and went, Grammie came and went. Our last "wind" came and went. We're officially on break until after we get back from our trek to Oregon, but here's the latest scoop:







We put up double crown moulding (not shown) and wainscoting in the master bedroom. I did the wainscoting myself, cutting by hand. It's all finished now, and it looks like it's always been there. This room housed Miles for a few days of late, as he was in between residences, and now serves as Arwen and Brandon's vacation home away from home.

In the bathroom, we're down to the finishing touches:



Now, Bren is not a high-maintenance person, but TP placement is a crucial issue to him. It took some consideration to determine the perfect position.

In the kitchen, we have begun laying the cement board over the subfloor.



Almost ready for tile -- black and white 12X12s. In other kitchen news, we couldn't stand being without an oven anymore. We are cooks, and we miss baking, roasting, broiling, etc. Actually, we miss frozen pizza. So, Bren scored a brand new (if ugly) range on Best Buy's employee auction for $60. It's "biscuit" colored (gag), but by God we had frozen pizza tonight. And it was glorious.



Starting on Thursday, the hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, master bedroom and hallway will be repaired and refinished. We got three quotes, and knew we had the right guy when he walked in, looked at the floor, looked at Bren, and said, "So, what instrument do you play?"

For fun: the quotable quote of the month, courtesy of Adele, Carra and Jesse's beautiful little girl. When Chevy got tired of playing and hid under the table, she said matter-of-factly, "I think there's another happiness kitten upstairs." Incidentally, Chevy is suffering from teen angst and refuses to pose for pictures as "happiness kitten."

Instead, here's Bren:



Kids, this is your brain on Guitar Hero. And yours truly:



In desperate need of vacation. We're off on another nerdy literary adventure as of Saturday. Perhaps we'll still make headway on the house, though -- there's an IKEA in Portland. Shakespeare, bacon donuts and IKEA.

[Angelic choirs]