07/08 BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER

My "pre-birthday" dinner was a classy affair in the midst of the rubble - ending with a FINE birthday cake from Dairy Queen.

Hey - we worked hard all day
we earned it


note my mom's antique goblet in the foreground

she was with us too












Meghan did a great job helping with the floors
she's a natural











































Carrie worked in my studio
these are the old upper cabinets from the Church Ladies kitchen. I took off the doors and was going to paint them white - but I ran out of time and - who cares? I'm just going to fill every inch of them with junk anyway ........ yeah, but it's good junk!













grouting is messy!! - and now I feel guilty for all those times over the last 35 years that I made some guy use two different colors of grout........

of course I'll still do it.













It's my birthday and the rule is - I get to choose the activities for the whole day


WOOHOO - sun's out - let's GARDEN


okay - the weeds got away from me a bit - no, I'm not on my knees -











we'd had a big storm and some huge limbs broke off the tree ......my trimmer was no match for the branch........neither of them

I have never mowed a lawn....I'm working up to it. In the meantime we just whack down the stuff any way we can.

For a group that had to wash their hair in the kitchen sink.....I think we clean-up mighty fine.

We are off to the big city to meet my brother Tim and sister(in-law) Gail for my birthday dinner.

06/08 LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED

FINALLY - I get to do something fun. After all the months of demolition and structural stuff - I want to do something pretty. It's an adventure because I've never done any of these things -but I've certainly been around the process for a million years ! It seems that something must have rubbed off along the way ........

"Ya Think?"









The lower-level guest suite will be the "Anguilla Suite". That island is such a big part of my life and the lives of my friends - I know it will make everyone happy.















The main level guest suite

now THIS is exiting - I won't have to go to the gas station any more!! Like my curtain?

06/08 A PUBLIC HANGING

I have to accept that I cannot hang all the doors and remaining drywall myself and I bring in the big boys. However - I did tile the floors!!


This closet is in the bedroom in the lower-level guest suite. Because natural light is limited I chose to use this closet as a room divider rather than put up walls.

One of three closets in my studio




All of the lower level and the main floor guest suite is finished with drywall, texture and paint.














Guest suite has original windows which also need to be painted and trimmed.














the closet and bath

it's actually starting to look like a house!

A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Yes I need some help from the pros

The rock is up and the taping done - but this main body of the church will have plastered walls. I'm leaving the wonderful beadboard wianscoting though it will probably get a new coat of paint. The plastering is something I am going to experiment with myself because I want it to look old but not contrived.









yes, someday this will be my fabulous kitchen.















the drywall crew left a horrific mess and then disappeared......but it's not the end of the world. For the most part I have been very pleased with my workers.

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Most of the problems or puzzles that have presented themselves to me have been "amendable" This is one of the few true disappointments I have encountered.

This amazing ceiling had been painted but the MLS stated that it was, in fact, copper. I asked to have this fact verified before signing the contract and was assured that it was true. After months of construction - it was time to deal with the ceiling.









Because of the delicacy of the panels I chose a new process rather like sand-blasting, but using baking soda. Much kinder to the surface. Well...as you can see........the ceiling is tin.

It is still wonderful - but tin rusts - as it already had and so the guys pulled off the job. They didn't want to be responsible for enlarging the holes that were already there due to years of leaking roof.








I am sad - it was an honest mistake - but when I make a mistake , I take responsibility for it. Also, in addition to having a ceiling less that I had hoped - I have life long maintenance concerns.

But how do you sue a church ?


there's a lightening bolt with my name on it

03/08 BIG MONTH - HUGE !

I have no interesting photos to go along with this month that relate to the church - I probably could find a few of Anguilla ( okay - I did ). I had passed all my inspections and the dry wall followed all that insulation......

In early March I had my final chemo-therapy treatment and closed the book on the most surreal year and a half of my life. And then I did what anyone would hope to do - I flew to the Caribbean and met my friend Twinkle and began a five week celebration. Okay - maybe there was a little work involved as I did have to finish her villa - and a few other friends came and went - but mostly it was -P-A-R-T-Y- and I earned it.

02/08 BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

And WET !

February 2008





OOPS















my future watercloset in the loft




















laundry room

During the torrential rains of August my builder pumped 80 gallons of water out of one corner in the basement. After months of construction and a long break over the holidays - it was time to insulate. We consulted with several and finally came up with a plan. Due to the greatest snowfalls since records were kept, we had many starts and stops - but finally got the place tightened up.

Closed-cell, waterproof spray-on foam insulation went in below ground level...... open cell, spray-on foam insulation above ground and blown-in cellulose in the attic. I had bats in my belfry for over 150 years so you can imagine what they had to clean out first. I stayed in bed that day, too.






























In this main room, where there was some old fake paneling (can't even use the word "faux"),
the crew cut holes and then filled the cavities with the foam. In those areas where I said you could see daylight - this foam insulation would expand and ooze through those cracks on the outside.......my newly painted lady has taken on the appearance of something from a horror movie. I'll have to get photos before knocking it all down.