That smell…

We knew we cleaned the entire house, yet we kept smelling just the slightest whiff of something. Most times it was as we opened up the basement door, or were headed downstairs. Cat? Mold? Something. We checked everything. Especially as we had a cat get back into the house about two weeks ago. Nothing. I just figured it was a ‘ghost’ stink. Dan on the other hand…. kept looking.

He’s been mapping the house in order to understand where everything is, goes and relates to. For example, the kitchen, breakfast nook, part of the dining and living room and hall all wrap around two chimneys that are side by side. It makes for an interesting ‘space’, that you might assume is a dead space. It isn’t. He checked the laundry room and chute. Yes, it has a chute that goes from the upstairs hall linen closet to the downstairs laundry room. Yes, all of my boys went down it at one time or another. It’s musty, but that wasn’t the smell.

Finally, Dan realized that the basement has one space he hadn’t looked at or inspected. The basement stairs has a right angled turn. four steps, two triangular steps turning right and then four more. While we replaced the top four, my ex and co. replaced the bottom four. He could only stand under the top four as the bottom are closed off. So, he pulled one tread, thinking he’d be able to look under and see what it was like.

Meanwhile, I’m upstairs working in the kitchen. We got the breakfast nook 95% done. I was working on cupboard doors when I hear him cuss. Then I hear boards being removed and Dan hollers for a trash can and bleach. Yes, he’d found the source of the smell. Trash, dirt, mold, a plastic crate they’d used as a step, and of course… cat shit. 90 minutes later, the area was shoveled, swept, and sanitized. Then he put the stairs back together.

Unbelievable.

Paint, paint, paint, paint, PAINT!

Life has been busy. Work for Dan, a school board conference and Saturday workshop for me, and lots of little interruptions. However, we’ve made progress on the house. We still have a lot to do, but in other ways we are so close to unpacking the rest of the boxes!

Since I last updated this blog, we have painted. Painted a lot. We had to go get more paint. Some for the touch ups in the hall corners and then more for the living room. I went ahead and did a crazy thing. I painted the dining room. With a really soft roller. It took about two hours, but… it looks beautiful. Very bright. 🙂

I’ve been stripping the cupboard doors and drawers in the kitchen and breakfast nook. I sanded a few, and realized that it was crazy. Since then, I have decided that Citrusstrip is my best friend! Ecological, smells nice, and it does not make me wheeze. I’ve done 11 drawers and I’ve done 9 of 16 doors. Tomorrow I will be doing the second coat of paint on the breakfast nook and kitchen. Oh, and stripping more doors.

Today I was on the ladder a lot. I cleared, cleaned and hung the light in the studio. I put up a curtain rod and attached the plate for the fire alarm. Pretty good for someone who has intermittent vertigo!

Here are some of the latest pics.

Of lumberjacks and interior decorations…

Today while I installed fixtures in the bathroom and tidied up things, Dan and Dayne cut back branches on two trees. We are due to have 60 to 80 mph winds tomorrow, and both of the trees had branches that rubbed on the house. I was sorry to have to trim them, but… it was needed.

Tomorrow while the wind blows and Dan fixes computers, I will be doing touch up work in the bathroom and begin to ready the kitchen and breakfast nook for paint! Once those rooms are painted, I can start unpacking a lot of boxes! Wheee!

Perfect!

We’ve been painting and repairing things at the house. Not new news, I know, but… We are actually getting somewhere. 🙂 The master bedroom is painted, has new electric plugs, plates and switch. It even has some furniture in it!

The bathroom is nearly done. We have to touch up the corners near the ceiling and put another coat on the inside of the shower stall. I’ve started painting trim. Yes, it is green, but it is a 1930’s kinda green, not neon lime. We still have a few wall repairs to do, but they won’t delay the painting.

The library… Paint. New electric plugs, plates and switch. Floor oiled and mopped, and… Furniture! We had a table at the old house that my grandpa had made out of a door and drills from the coal mine. We took it over to this house yesterday, and it looks like it was made to be there. Wow! Perfect! 🙂

I moved boxes today, and will be moving more furniture tomorrow. I’ll put three bookshelves in the library and start filling them with books. Ahhhh!

Visitors!

Yesterday was cold! We got about 4-5 inches of snow, and the sun slipped in and out of the clouds all day. Yet we had a wonderful surprise. Visitors! Granted, they were rather shy and just walked around the yard, but it was great. Pics below.

It was cold in the house today, and we lit our first fire in the fireplace. It was a little smokey, but we figured we’d need to clean the fireplace. Dan finished fixing the stairs, so the trip to the basement is no longer an accident waiting to happen. The paint in the library dried, and I will need to do a second coat. The bathroom needs a second coat as well. Once that is done, and a few touch ups are made in the guest room, we will begin to move things into place. Book cases, books, and furniture. We will be moving tools into the furnace/tool room as well. The house is really looking good.

Nearly There!

For the last few days, I have been helping Dan clean the furnace room. It’s taken longer because there was so much stored in there that belongs to my sons. We finally dragged it all out and began to pressure wash and bleach it.

Today we finished up bleaching and pressure washing the laundry room, hall, furnace room and the stairwell. I sorted through books too. It was very hard to throw some of the damaged ones away. I hope I can find replacements. I also took about 15 to the library for the FOL. (Friends of the Library)

Tomorrow, we finish! Well, at least the cleaning part. We still have a mountain of trash to get rid of, and lots of painting and repair work. However, we are getting there!

We had a surprise too when we got home. My Auntie Janie sent us a set of teacups and saucers to go with the teapot! I can’t wait to have a cuppa on the balcony!

Aunty's prezzies1 Aunty's prezzies2

Little Improvements

I’ve been painting. 🙂 We have two rooms done. Well, nearly done. There are a few touch ups to do in the room that was turquoise. I’ve started painting over that green in the bathroom too.

Today, Dan fixed the little telephone niche that is in the hall. The top was very beaten up. So, today he made a new one. He made a relief in the top, where the cords will come up so that we can recharge our phones there.

We worked on the Furnace room too. It was the last ‘dirty’ place. While I’ve been painting, he’s been cleaning out the basement. What a slog. What a mess! Rotten food, cat shit, trash, discarded clothing, etc. Horrid. Well, today I helped in the furnace room. I did my best to sort out trash from treasure. Sometimes I found treasure, but it was fouled. Yeah, you can guess by what. We also checked out the furnace. It reportedly didn’t work. Well, if you don’t add water, and don’t bleed the lines, it doesn’t work as well. As soon as the room is clean and we have propane, we will have heat!

The worst was the books. My books, that had been left behind. Ludlum’s, Mitchner’s, all sorts of books. Some were in boxes. Others were just dumped on the floor. Some are only good for decoupage or distressed book art. grrrrr… I am not happy. Those two were librarians, and they let these and other books just be destroyed. Akkkk!

Tomorrow, we will finish the furnace room and begin to sanitize the basement. We will haul out all of the salvageable stuff, clean it and then once the basement is clean, bring it back in. Gah!

Here are the latest pictures:

Our House…

Is a very very very improved house! With a trash pile in the yard. Life use to be so hard, now everything is easy ’cause we’ve cleaned!

Sorry for the filk, but the song has been running though my head today. We’ve gotten a lot done. All the holes in the walls are spackled. We found a rot spot and will have to fix that in the ceiling of the library, but that’s it. Sunday we sanded the floors with the help of a friend. Monday we took a trip to  Pueblo as Dan caught a virus and felt horrid. We got all kinds of bits and pieces for the house. Then while he went to bed, I swept, mopped, and started oiling floors.

Tuesday was more of the same. Sweeping, mopping and oiling. Today I had a lot of stuff to do outside of the house, but I finished oiling the living room and dining room floor. All that is left is the library floor. That won’t get done until Dan fixes the ceiling. I also began to tape rooms for painting. Wheeee! Yes, I’m crazy, but I actually like painting. My big fear is just how much paint it is going to take to cover the green and yellow paint.

Dan started working in the basement today. Ugh! While he was taking out a partition wall, one of the 2×4’s that was under tension snapped and broke his hand and killed the saw. It’s just a small bone in his pinky finger, but it hurts. He hauled out 6 mattresses and took them to the dump. He let me into the basement for the first time, and oh… oh my… oh my gods what a mess! We will salvage what we can, but :::shudder:::

This evening, we went to an SCA shire meeting tonight too. We discussed what we are going to do for various events. Best of all… two of our friends offered to help us paint!

Here are some pictures of our progress.

Viking Vinter Vonderland

We had a great time. It was held at Pueblo Mt. Park. The drive up was nice after the hectic morning of preparing the last of the food and packing up the truck. We left 40 minutes late, but we weren’t the only ones a bit late.

We took our little campstove, and while Dan heated up bread rolls in the oven, I began to roll/flatten out the rye flatbreads. We cooked about 50-60 of them. While it was a little cold, it wasn’t too bad.

The donation luncheon and challenge table was filled with luscious food. I contributed cabbage and venison soup, rye flat bread, a salad, plum cake with plum sauce, a Viking version of deviled eggs, tea, milk and sugar.

There was lots of good conversation and fun. I participated in a persona challenge. I was asked questions about Unna Farulfsdottir, and it was very interesting. I didn’t win, but it gave me a lot to think about. I also participated in the largess contest. I entered my 5 Valkyries. I got a penannular brooch in return for participating.

Finally, we headed home around 5pm. We were happy and worn out. A great day.

Another milestone

The main level of the house is CLEAN. I was a bit of a slow mover as I felt horrid today, Dan went above and beyond. He pressure washed the ceiling in the shower stall. After that, he used the pressure washer on the living room and dining room walls. They are rough stucco, so it was just about the only way to clean them.

We are taking a two day break. First to get over the whole clean everything with bleach until it dies, and secondly, to attend an SCA event called Viking Vinter Vonderland. 🙂

Sunday we sand the floors and then oil them. Monday we spackle and then start painting. We aren’t sure how far 10 gallons of paint will go, but we will see. Once the paint is dry, I will start moving things in, and Dan will begin cleaning the basement.