Saturday, April 24, 2010

Kitchen Floor Part 2...and Done!

We did the corner where the fridge sits first, so that we could put the fridge pack there and get it out of the middle of the kitchen.
Here are Dad and I in action.
Once we got the new floor on, and put the threshold back on, the door would no longer shut (as the floor is now just a little bit higher...). Scott tried sanding the bottom just a little bit, but it wasn't very effecting. He went to True Value to buy a planer...but it started raining, so we were not able to finish that task today. But, we got a new tool!
Here I am putting in the "honorary" last tile.

And here is the actual last tile...a tiny piece only a centimeter wide to fill in the floor to the edge.

After we finished putting down the floor, Scott and I went to Menard's in Ottumwa to find some baseboard edging. We opted to go with vinyl, since that is what was on there before, and the bottom of the walls aren't very pretty. We found some edging that matches our trim very nicely! When we got home we put on the edging, and put everything back into the kitchen! Done!


Here's a close-up of the vinyl edging next to the trim.
We also found another special at Menard's...we don't currently have a good ladder, and we saw a 22 foot multi-use extension ladder on sale...so we bought it on a splurge.
And now we're going to sit on the sofa and veg for the rest of the evening.

Kitchen Floor

This weekend my Dad is coming over to help us put down our new flooring in the kitchen. In the last couple days we took up all the baseboard trim (the lovely black plastic trim along the floor in this picture). We also decided to empty out the big pantry cupboard...which I didn't do when I painted the kitchen because it was too heavy for me to move by myself. So of course there is a giant white square now. Interestingly, we discovered that there is an outlet on the wall next to the cupboard; we also discovered the access panel if we ever need to do any work on the bathtub plumbing.Last night I got out the paint and rolled the wall, so the white square is gone (on the right side in this picture). we might move the big pantry cupboard to the opposite wall, and put the microwave cart where the pantry was before, next to the outlet. I also spackled the bottom of all the walls and painted over that. We may put up the same thick trim, but now we also have the option to get a thinner trim.
This morning Scott mopped the floor so we have a clean surface for our new flooring...now we are just waiting for Dad to get here!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

On Friday evening, Scott and I have a double date with Sara and Chris Johnson. We ate supper at Kaldera in Pella, then went to the Union Street Players production of "KOLD Radio." It was a very funny play, and I think Scott even laughed out loud! I had a cheeseburgerolpolous at Kaldera for supper--a cheeseburger with gyro meat, tsatziki sauce, and feta cheese. It was delicious...but by bedtime I was remembering why I no longer eat ground beef, my tummy hurt!
Saturday morning we had CERT training at church. That stands for Community Emergency Response Team. Our church is starting a team that will serve primarily Mahaska County, but also surrounding areas in case of a disaster, whether it is weather related, or a disease, or terrorism, etc. We have already completed our CPR/First Aid training, and yesterday we learned about fire safety, as well as how to triage in the event of a mass casualty incident.
After we got home, Scott and I spent most of the rest of the day working in the yard. Scott is on a mission to have a green, vibrant lawn, so he did some "over-seeding," and filled in some bare patches on the lawn. I dug up a gazillion tiger lilies (aka: ditch lilies, aka: the devil's spawn). They are pretty flowers, but when you want them out of a bed, it is next to impossible! I dug about a million of them up last fall, and in that same bed, they came up as thick as ever! Yesterday I got out most of the roots and bulbs, so they may not come back quite as much...
One of our friends moved recently, and donated this chair to us for helping load the truck (and I'm guessing so they didn't have to put it IN the truck). Now we just need another one so we can sit on the porch like an old married couple! We also put up the trellis, finally. I planted sugar snap peas, lettuce, and spinach here in the flower garden...we have yet to put any flowers in this area, so I figured I might as well use it for something useful! This is the side door to our house, and hasn't always been used much. There is an ugly concrete square, and it was almost buried by lilies. After digging it out, I put out a few pots and planted basil, oregano, chives, and cilantro in the pots. I also planted radishes in front of the steps...hopefully the radishes will be able to compete against whatever lily is still buried...
On the other side of the concrete will be the rest of the vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, possible zucchini or summer squash. There were some other weeds in this patch last year (along with the lilies), and after digging everything up last autumn, I put down a couple layers of newspaper, and a whole bunch of leaves. Only a few plants came up this year! I will be buying actual tomato plants from the store eventually, and once those go in, the leaves and newspaper will remain as compost, and i'll put down a layer of straw to keep the weeds from coming back.

Here I am resting on the new chair after a hard day's work in the yard.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Easter 2010

We had a busy, but fun Easter weekend. On Saturday we made a trip over to Creston for Grandma Burkhalter's 90th birthday party! Melanie was not able to come for the whole party, but came earlier in the day to wish Grandma a Happy Birthday and to have lunch with us.We had an open house at a local church for a couple hours, and I got to meet a lot of Scott's relatives--some I had met before, and some for the first time!


On Easter Sunday after church we went to my parents' house to celebrate with my family--all of my siblings, their husbands, and children made it! We made brats on the grill, and had chips, watermelon, guacamole, and...well, we had cheesy potatoes in the oven, but forgot about them until AFTER all the dishes were cleaned up, and we were full!
This has happened before. We had cheesy potatoes for supper instead. :)

I hid Easter eggs in the front yard, and after lunch we sent the girls out to find eggs.


I planted a set of eggs filled with chocolate, but also a set of numbered eggs telling the Easter story. After we found them all, we sat on the front porch and opened the eggs in order. Each one had a Bible verse, and an object to correspond with the verse: palm branches, bread (Lord's supper), nails, a cross, silver pieces, funeral spices, etc. The last egg was empty--because the tomb was empty!


My parents had gotten a new toilet, and since it is spring clean-up week in Pella, they had the old toilet and a few other items by the street to be picked up with the trash. Of course, Scott couldn't let a wonderful picture opportunity pass him by!


Friday, April 2, 2010

April Fool's??

Last night when I got home from work, I was unloading my car, and saw something out of the corner of my eye. On my neighbor's front porch was what appeared to be a thin person in a dirty shirt staring into their front window! I looked more closely, then walked a little closer, and finally saw that it was a mannequin! Maybe it was an April Fool's joke?I will say that now it is April 2, the mannequin is still there, and it is a little disturbing.



A Wedding

My former roommate Sara Statema got married a couple weeks ago to Chris Johnson, and Scott and I went to their wedding. They got married as part of the Sunday morning church service at The Bridge in Ottumwa. It was really cool how they integrated the wedding ceremony into the service, and it was a very unique wedding!
Sara wore her mother's wedding dress, but I'm pretty sure these weren't her mother's socks or shoes...