Making our way through May

We had a nice start to the week with a fire in the backyard pit and a meal of roasted bratwurst with side salads, chips, and s'mores for dessert.  The missionaries cannot have dinners in people's homes but they can be with people outside (doing outdoor projects, etc.) so we invited the two sets of missionaries assigned to our ward to join us for dinner - along with Steven and Tamara.  The night was perfect, the fire was lovely (kept going by a very enthusiastic Elder Hawkins! - we actually had to have him hold back or he would have burned all of our wood), and the food was great.  Elder Hawkins is in the tan hoodie, Elder Pottle in the red hat, Sister Park with the longer hair and Sister Hinerman with the peach skirt.

Remember the robin that kept trying to build a nest above our front door?  Well, after we screened off that area, she built her nest above our family room window

and look what is inside!

I hope they grow up quickly and fly away because exterior painting has begun!  James started the first of last week and Steve and I will start this coming week.  James is tackling the high areas and we are doing the lower non-ladder-requiring areas.  You can already see a difference between the old and new...

I washed the shutters and took one down to the hardware store to match the color in order to repaint the front door that had so many chinks in it caused by cello cases through the years.  

 My plan was to remove the front door and paint both sides yesterday - Saturday - and have it up and hung by the time we went to bed.  Twas not meant to be.  First of all, Steve and I could not get the doorknob removed.  Thankfully, James was going to be in our part of town so he came over and managed to get it off and pronounced it so old that we really should get a new one.  So, that item went on a Menard's list.  Then, I washed the interior part of the door to get ready to paint it and look what started to happen....



Yep - the paint just started to peel off like old skin after a sunburn.  Only, it didn't completely peel off and what remained was hard to remove.  I looked up how to remove old latex paint and found ammonia - so, that went on to my Menards list.  But, since Steve had the car right then, I couldn't go shopping so I turned the door over and started painting the exterior side.  It ultimately took three coats and the rest of the day.



I tried the ammonia this morning - thinking it would be a quick fix - and it DID remove the remaining yellow latex paint (however not as easily as I had hoped) but it also removed the paint layer underneath wherever the ammonia touched!  What seemed like a simple project to do today just got more complicated so I have shelved it and will think about it tomorrow - when I can consult with James....

Another complication was that when James took out our old kitchen countertop and installed the new one, look what was wrong... 



Yeah, a back splash where it shouldn't be.  When we ordered this countertop, it was at the beginning of the stay-at-home orders and Home Depot could not send anyone to the house to do the measuring.  So, they had to depend upon amateurs to give them the information.  The measurements ARE actually correct but somehow the word "peninsula" never came up.  So, James took the new countertop off, put most of the old one back in along with the sink so we can have a functioning kitchen while he tries to iron out the problem with the Home Depot employee who wrote up the order (this happened on Thursday - she was off until Saturday - ugh) and while we wait for a new section to be made.  I do love how the new countertop is going to look, though.  Here it is while it was still up...

One positive home improvement note - Claudine Barner, mother to one of my cello students and someone who has a LOT of energy, has told me at least three times that she would be happy to finish painting our entryway that required climbing on a very tall ladder.  After I transcribed four solos from violin to cello (treble to bass clef) this week, I made her an offer - my time on Finale for her painting and she accepted.  She and her husband, John, came over yesterday afternoon and got the first coat on.  They will return tomorrow to paint coat number two and for Ethan to have a cello lesson.  Thus saving a bit of money we would have paid James.

  Of course, we continue to spend money on home items not planned for - like a new garbage disposal to replace the one that was probably original to the house.  And, to pay for a right front tire plus front struts and a right front wheel bearing after Steve accidently ran into a curb yesterday while running some errands.  The car won't be ready until late Monday or maybe not until Tuesday and it is going to be a pricy fix!  Sigh.  But, I really can't put Steve in the doghouse because it could have just as easily happened to me.  And, he outdid himself with a late Mother's Day gift last night:  THREE cards (he couldn't choose which one so he got all three), a lovely miniature potted yellow rose, a bag of Lindor truffles and a pount box of Russel Stover chocolates.  My hero.

Another hero is Steven who first met Steve at Plaza Tire and brought him home and who, later in the day, took me to Menards to buy my doorknob and ammonia.  So, weighing the week, I still think we came out on the positive side.