Category Archives: Before and After

Timber!

Trees etc 005Because of plans for a driveway this great old tree had to go. This is also a very messy tree with the pine needles that cover everything on this side of the shop.

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We got a very good bid to chop the tree down and get rid of the branches leaving us with the larger tree cuts for fire wood. Even though the driveway will be a 2015 project we decided to take advantage of the good price we got for the job.

2014-06-02 pine treeMonday at ten the work began. I watched from a safe distance capturing the moment the tree was felled.

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2014-06-02 pine tree1Timber!

2014-06-02 pine tree3Now the wood chipper was put to work. They tried to talk me into keeping the chips. It’s just not easy to unload them. I just smiled and said they could keep the chips.

2014-06-02 pine tree4It was hard enough to move all the little logs to a central location. Dear is away until tomorrow so I got the wheel barrow out and got to work.

2014-06-02 pine tree5I got my heart rate up in no time flat.

We will miss the lovely tree view we had but we will enjoy finally having a paved driveway to our garage and no pine needles to clean up.

Another view of the before and after looking down what will eventually be a driveway. This tree team probably underbid this job so I rounded up the cash payment I gave them and will have them back again to grind the stump down before work commences on the driveway.

Dear has been in Chicago at another conference since last Friday and I’m looking forward to his return early on Tuesday. This is the last trip that we will take separately for the rest of the year, Lord willing. Dear and I have had enough time apart this year.

We are having a great stretch of dry days with highs into the 70’s. Perfect weather for me. How are things in your world?

Juniper Tree

 

I committed the bloggy error of not taking recent photos of this juniper tree before we cut it down. That meant I had to go digging in the archives for photos I might have and this is the best one I could find.

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What we found out this past weekend is that raccoons were using our Juniper tree as a ladder to gain access to our roof. We did not like that idea at all. We have had problems with rats, too, so we thought it would be best not to have sturdy tree branches close enough to the house for varmints to access our roof.

I’ll miss the views it enhanced from my computer window and our living room window.

Trees etc 001We still have to deal with these stumps. I was joking around with Dear about carving something into these stumps for yard art. Taking the tree down also gives us more urgency to finally finish replacing the siding on our house. So many projects so little time when your handy man works full time!

Trees etc 004If we ever put a fire pit in somewhere on our property we could use this wood once it seasons. We have on more huge tree that we hired someone to take down and we’ll have lots more wood. I did take before photos of that tree and will share the proper before and afters of that tree.

Trees etc 007In the meantime we have lots of yard waste to deal with besides our weekly mowing the lawn yard waste. We have wondered on many occasions why yard waste is not collected every week during the summer months instead of every other week.

Thankfully when the tree guy comes to chop down our huge tree on Monday he will be putting all the branches through a chipper and taking the waste away with him. He will leave the large logs for us.

I’ll take some photos of the tree guys at work.

It’s June! How did that happen so fast? We have some fun events scheduled for June like our end of year barbecue with our small group, my niece and her husband are coming to visit, a fun day with the MGCC girls, and a wedding in Portland the end of June. In the midst of all that we have to demo our main bathroom and order all the new fixtures. What do you have going in June?

 

Sloppy or Neat?

I was a little tired of the window coverings in our living room so I went from sloppy to neat and I think I’ll enjoy the new look. Nothing major but a nice change for my eye.

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The new panels are on the right and the old look is on the left. I blew it and didn’t take clear photos of the old look before I took down the panels to replace them with the new more tailored look.

2014-02-26 panels1I went with very sheer panels because we like to have all the light we can come through into the room. The panels were very reasonably priced at Home Goods. I also got a new curtain rod that Dear has not had a chance to install yet. A set of 2 panels cost $14.99. I bought 4 panels, 2 for each side. The new curtain rod was $19.99. So for a little over $50.00 I have a new look. Do you have HomeGoods or HomeSense where you live? I have gotten some great products from this chain.

New look 001-001The old look…

new panels 001The New Look…

The thing that remains is that I take lousy photos of my front windows. Another thing that is different in the new look is the Blue Service Star flag/banner that you can see through the blinds. Our son in law is still actively deployed and that banner stays in the window until he returns from his deployment.

Have you changed something up at your place during this long Winter?

Out with the Old…

February 006Our dishwasher was over 10 years old and it started making noises and wasn’t pumping out all the water so we knew it was time to investigate something new. We ordered a new dishwasher and the service man came on Tuesday to take the old one out and replace it with our new one.

February 007Out with the Maytag and in with the Miele.

February 008I think we’ll be happy with our choice.

So much excitement around our town. Katie and I did not make it down to Seattle on Wednesday because my throat was acting up and it was cold. Traffic was gridlocked and they are saying that over 700,000 fans gathered downtown to welcome home the Seattle Seahawks and their Lombardy trophy. Here’s what our outdoor thermometer registered…

February 009That’s cold for the Seattle area! We sat and watched all the T.V. coverage of the parade and the welcome home rally at Century Link Field in our warm family room. Dear went into Seattle before the sun was up and came home with his work computer before the parade road closures started. That was a smart move as he made it home smoothly instead of being stuck in a traffic nightmare with 700,000 people trying to get out of Seattle after the parade.

I found a few more fun photos from our Super Bowl Sunday celebration.

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February 003February 001So much fun!

Needless to say my Wednesday was a wash. I did manage to feed the three of us two meals. I also used my time sitting in front of the T.V. scanning more old photos. I’m glad I have something to show for Wednesday. How did your Wednesday go?

A Joyful Heart…

…is good medicine.

I never want to lose the ability to laugh at myself. After complaining about my new hairdo last year a memory of a photo kept coming back to me from my early years.

2013-11-018Here’s my 6th grade photo from Fremont Elementary School in Montebello, California. The photo from November of 2013 isn’t the clearest but it does show how similar my hairdo is to my 6th grade years. Gave me a good chuckle.

We’ve had a relaxing weekend at this old house. Dear took Katie to the airport before the sun was up on Saturday. When I finally got up we had our coffee and I slowly got ready for the day. Our dishwasher is telling us it’s not long for this world so we went out to investigate what’s new in dishwasher world after 10 years. We had a good education and are considering a Miele to replace our Maytag. After church we tried a new spot for  brunch. I’m getting a little excited for Season 4 of Downton Abbey tonight. Are you a fan?

Before and After

Before we had the vinyl floor and this smaller area rug and our chairs still had the cloth upholstery on them.

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After with the wood floors, the larger area rug from the living room and our dining chairs recovered in leather. I should have put a less busy tablecloth on the table…

Before the new look with the kitchen cupboard open and Dear working in the kitchen.

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The new look in a new season judging from my bare feet instead of my comfy slippered feet.

This is the rug that was in the living room and is now in the dining area of our kitchen. We also gave the piano to our kids and moved a lot of stuff around.

Still the old look with yet another spot for the piano before we gave it away with the secretary in the far corner of the room. The antiqued white cabinet was still in it’s corner but we have decided to keep that piece out of the living room now.

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This is the new look with a smaller area rug we had elsewhere.  The Cabinet in the spot where the piano used to be will show in the next photos.

This is the before at this angle with the old floors.

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This is the new spot for the Secretary where the piano used to be.

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Before

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After

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Before

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After

That will be a wrap on the Before and Afters. It would have been good to take shots at the same angles but sometimes things just get away from you. Hope I didn’t make you dizzy or confused by the sequence. I know we will enjoy the new floors for years to come. We still have some finishing up of baseboards and closet work ongoing. It will be nice when this project is complete and we can enjoy nesting in this old house.

Still Working…

2013-08-14 TV +oldies

…on some before and afters of our floors. These are just a few of the changes that I’m enjoying. I really like our new smaller TV stand and that the TV now fits tucked in nicely under the stairwell.

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The stairs to the basement are a great improvement, too. The new chocolate carpet color enhances the walls and the tile in the basement.

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I’m still working on the right angles of the new shots of the living room compared to the old looks. I’ll share more soon. WE are really happy with the roomier feeling we’re getting in the living room.

We have had some “oye” moments around here. The Ikea storage units we bought for our closet in the spare room were off by 3/4 of an inch so now we need to make some adjustments to have them fit in the closet. Little things like that make a big impact on your planning.

My mom is hanging in there and my mom and pop have decided that they don’t need one of my siblings spending the night at the apartment anymore. My siblings still come by during the day to clean and cook for my parents. My pop is doing a lot better with the situation and walks to the store now that is close by to replenish milk, etc.

Katie and Andrew have made it to Denver and will be in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. We’re hoping to see them here by Saturday.

So many bloggy friends are talking about Fall already and I’m so surprised to hear about kids starting school. Are you looking ahead to Fall or are you still enjoying the long days of summer?

Happy Workers…

I love workers that smile and we had 4 of them at our house yesterday.

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When the workers arrived the head honcho asked me to come out to the truck and make sure the carpeting was what I ordered. I knew it would be a fun time after he tried to trick me and showed me someone else’s carpeting first. Funny guy!

carpet 009They put a big tarp down on our front lawn for their cutting center. Good thing the sun was shining all day long and things are very dry around here. Mr. Shadow was smiling, too, at the crazy lady with the camera that kept snapping away.

carpet 010I didn’t realize we picked carpeting that all the vacuum strokes will show up on. Oh well, at least you’ll know we vacuumed just before you arrived at our door. We also picked darker carpet than we had before with a deeper tone to it for a little contrast to the new wood floors. Or maybe we wanted the color of dirt so you wouldn’t know just how dirty the carpets are after a few years?

Do you vacuum before company arrives or after they leave? Maybe you are really organized and have a special day each week when you vacuum? Or are you like a client of mine that I had in the past that vacuumed everyday because she liked having vacuum lines on her carpet? Do tell…

So yesterday was another day that Dear and I plopped down exhausted at the end of the day with no energy left to burn. After the carpeting install, Dear and I worked very hard to get the two guest rooms set up so we could get the mattress sets out of our kitchen area and we got the master bedroom semi organized.

We also had added emotional strain with news during the day that my mom had 3 near death episodes yesterday. It was a rough day for 3 of my sisters and my pop who were at her bedside for these episodes but this is the progression that is expected. These “episodes” are expected but very hard to experience.  Just wanted to give you all an update on my mom and to thank you again and again for thinking and praying for her and my pop and all of us as we wait on God’s timing for her homecoming. I love my bloggy friends!

August…

named after Augustus.

Here’s what’s happening or can be seen around this old house in the beginning of August…

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This rug used to be in our living room hiding as much of the old worn carpeting we had in that room. Now that we are replacing the carpeting in the living room this area rug will not work in there. We were happy to see that it would work nicely in the eating area of our kitchen. The dining table will sit on top of it with room for the chairs, too. Until the carpeting is installed we will have to stack all our mattresses here, not the table that is living out in the garage right now. Fun times. Just to show you the reality of it all this last photo is the living room with the mattresses. This weekend we’ll move those mattresses to the kitchen…

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I actually am cooking this afternoon trying a new recipe for chicken thighs. I hope to share it in the near future. My apple tree is shedding it’s apples so maybe I should cook up some apple recipes in my kitchen. That won’t be happening until after the mattresses can move back to their own rooms…

A Little Glimpse…

…and once the baseboards are all done and the carpeting is in I’ll make a proper post of the before and afters…

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We are happy with the varied light, medium and darker hickory. It has character which we enjoy. The baseboard installing and finishing is taking a back seat to emptying out the rooms that are going to be re-carpeted. Dear is removing the old carpet and padding and dumping it in the back of the pickup for a trip to the Transfer Station.

I talk to my mom and pop everyday. My mom is showing some very typical signs of failing that seasoned Hospice caregivers affirm. She is starting to see people who have gone before her. She had a dream she was sitting around and having a meal with them. She has more periods of disorientation. She still has her humor and cracks us all up with some of her comebacks. One of my sister-in-laws is Mexican/American and after she told my mom that her son Tony was having cravings right along with his pregnant wife my mom raised her hands and said “Aye Dios Mio”! That’s a first for her! Last night my mom coached my brother Steve as he made a birthday meal for my sister Lana at my mom and pop’s apartment. She chose the dishes to make and was pleased with Steve’s expertise in the kitchen. He even made a chocolate mousse for dessert. Lana enjoyed her birthday dinner and then was on board for being the extra care giver last night and through the day today. I’m so thankful for my brothers and sisters and how they are pulling together and taking turns to be with my mom and pop every night. What a blessing for my parents and for them, too!

Someone needs to coach me into making a meal in my own kitchen. That has gone by the wayside. What have you been enjoying from your kitchen these last few days of July?