"helping" Daddy around the house

Rodney and David are off from school all this week. So the have been home with me. Today I got them busy “helping” me around the house. I had them do some cleaning of there rooms (witch is moving toys from one spot to the other with out putting them away). Then they shoveled the drive way (pushed the snow around the drive way rather than remove it from the drive). Then they helped me paint the walls in our master bedroom leading into the bath (they moved the roller long enough for me to get a photo).

Back to work on the bathroom

Well I finally got back to work on the bathroom this week. We had some money and I got a gift certificate for Christmas, so I was able to invest in some paint this week. I had a long time to think about the colors. I try a lot of them, however in the end I ended up using my artist intuition for the colors. The photos really don’t do it justice; the colors really work well with the floor tile. I’m down to painting the other walls and ceiling white. Then I will get the vanity and the wall tile. I’m thinking of how I can add some more of the artist in me to the room. I may add some kind of mural of bamboo around the room in the white and red areas. The room really has a different feel now that it has the light and paint up

All most done!

Bathroom and Family update.

Well my dad and I have the walls all built for the bathroom closet. We put up the dry wall and now I’m working on mudding the seems and holes. This will take me a few days to do as I have to let the plaster dry between coats and sanding. (also it is a little hot to be stuck in there for to long After I’m done with all that, I will continue the tile then paint then build the shelves in the closet.



Rodney and David have been taking ice skating. (This is really great on hot days) Rod has gotten quite good and Dave has just started. Both seem to really like it. We like to let the boys choose what sport they participate in. Rod choose Ice Skating, and David choose it after Rodney was doing it for a wile.

Wired

Well I we have really progressed on the bathroom. We moved the pluming, added the hardy backer to the rest of the floor, started on the linen closet and did most of the wiring. We have very little left. We need to finish the wiring, put up new dry wall, plaster the seems, finish the floor tile, paint, add shelves to the closet install a new vanity (yet to be purchased, we need about $ 500) do the tile around the tub, tile the wall around the floor with a bull nose tile, and trim the door and ceiling. We should have it all done in time for Christmas.

I’m also getting a lot out of this whole thing. One, I’m spending lots of time with my dad. More time than I have in more than 10 years. Two, I’m learning a lot about home repair and remolding. (Thanks dad) Three, my Maleness has really gone up. Nothing makes a guy fell more like a man than home repair. (Of course I was also doing the laundry, doing the dishes, fixing meals, and taking care of the kids wile doing my best Tool time Impression) Any way I will have much to post when we get back from up north. Check out my flickr acount for more images

Bathroom Remodel updates

We added the grout today. go my Flickr account to see more. If you click on the photes you will see my notes

Today I took a break from working on the bathroom and hung around the house and pool. The last two days my dad and I got about half of the tile put in place. We have to do the hard parts next. Go to my flickr account to se what I'm talking about.

Getting a little messy

Today with our bathroom remodel we added some more plaster to the walls and added thinsalit (cement) to the seems of the hardibacker. We mad a little to much cement so we stared to lay some of the tile down. With all the plaster and cement we worked with we both got a little messy.

Adding the dry wall

Today we added the dry wall around the hardibacker cement board. Because the hardibacker only comes in 3’x5’ and we are only putting the board in the area we are tiling we had to cut the dry wall to fit in the area needed. (The dry wall is 4’x8’) We also had to cut the board at an angle for the inside walls. After we got all the boards in place we started to add plaster (mud) to the seems and screw holes. I may start adding the floor tile this week. If you go to my flickr site you can see more images and notes on the bathroom

Moving things around

This week end we spent it clean out the boys room and moving Rodney to the other room. It was time for them to each have there own room. Mostly for all of our sanity. One thing I did to help them clean their room that seemed to work well was to sweep every thing on the floor in to the center of the room. I then told them that if they wanted any thing in the pile they had better putt it away or I was going to through it away. I really worked they picked up most of the toys and I got to get ride of some of the clutter in their rooms. We also took advantage of the mild weather to go to the park with the boys after we were done.

Also my dad and I are progressing on the bathroom. We have stared to add the wall boards. Go to my flickr account to see all of the images of the work we have done. You can see note on the Images by clicking on them.

Rodney new room

Davids New Room

Walls!!!!

My continuing adventure in to bathroom Remodeling

Today we put in the backer board around the plumbing, it was very hard work. We had to Cut the Boards in half and shape out the holes. This took all morning for us to do.

In the after noon we had to add studs to the walls due to the fact that when our home was built poorly. The Backer board needs lot of support form the walls so we can add the tile.

If you go over to my Flickr account I have a photo set of the remodeling we are doing. Each of the photos has notes about what is going on, so click on each photo to see them.

Ware Have I Been?

Well I have not posted since Monday, June 11th (more then a week). I have been really busy and this is the first time I have had the energy to sit down and write a new blog. So I’ll be give my updates by event

Tuesday June 12th was Amy and mine 8th Wedding anniversary. All it was the last day both boys would be in school all day. Amy took the day off for a dental appointment, and time for us together. This was the one thing we really wanted was to spent time alone with out the kids. We had a god day together. After the boys got out of school we took them to their therapy appointments the to dinner. That night we had scouts. Some ware in there I had time to work on some design work for my biggest client.

The next day was David’s last day of kindergarten. He only had a half day and I went and sent some of the time with him at school. The kids were all very quite a reserved, even David my ADHD child. I think each of the kids were a little sadden by this being there last day. David even got a great big hug form his teacher that almost brought him to tears. By the time we got home I was ready to sit and do NOTHING.

Thursday was Rodney’s last day and I once again went up to see him for his last day. Rodney being different about handling his emotions from David. He was not really sad and just continued on like it was another day. He even didn’t really say goodbye to his teacher or any of his friends. We did however see a lot of behaviors here at home this week. He is one of those kids who do not handle change very well. His life has been full of change. After school I took both boys to Burger King.

Saturday we had my parents of for a cook out and some family time. I spent the whole day getting ready by cleaning and getting the food ready. It was a nice time.

Sunday was fathers day, I got to sleep in and had breakfast in bed. My day was spent puttering around the house. I can’t wait until the boys are old enough to do some of these things (like mow the lawn)


So now on to my big project of the past week. Friday my dad came down to help my look at the damage to my bathroom. We stared by removing the garden tub, then some of the walls then the sheet linoleum. Boy was there a lot of water damage. So we went to Home Dept to get a game plan and work out coast. We got a few supplies and took them back to my home. So Saturday and Sunday I worked on cleaning up and pulling nails from the walls and floor.

Both yesterday and today we worked on finishing the pull out of the bad wood and insulation. (The Garbage Men are really going to love me)I really got a chance to see how poorly modular homes are put together. Then we put in new plywood and isolation. Then we stared to add some water proofing to the room so I would never have to do this again. Today we added cement board to the floor. I'll be putting all of the photos Of the bathroom here

Also my Cone Flowers are staring to bloom.


And to top off our day to day we had a little visitor… and ugly visitor