April 20, 2009

Trying to even out the meal tally...I was reminded that we work midnights...so we fired up the grill. We threw on potatoes and italian sausage and had an awesome brunch - even though it was barely 8:00 am! Total for the weekend...thumbs down = 4 and thumbs up = 3!

We left by 10:30 - later than usual; but traffic seemed better. We both had to work and were glad to be home by 2:00. I will be returning after work in the morning.

April 19, 2009

Pancakes and sausage started our day. Although we didn't make enough; tally up one in the thumbs up column!!!! Paul stopped by for coffee, so once again - off to a late start. 

Carlo situated the electric - which is always problematic but with his knowledge and (IMO) guts, he got it wired properly. 

While Carlo ran to the store, I cleaned up from breakfast, finished attaching the pine to the walls and put the dishes and such back into the cabinets that we rehung before he left. When he returned, he finished with the outlets and the switch. Even though there are always problems, he has - again - resolved them and continued on to do a great job.

We took out the old sink and counter top and replaced the flooring under the sink with a piece of masonite. But, as our luck would have it, while sliding the piece into place, the drain pipe broke. Luckily, it was a piece under the cabin that snapped apart and can easily be fixed - however - Carlo had to head back to the store again! We hate when these things happen, especially on a Sunday - it seems every place opens late and closes early. Good thing Carlo has a lot of patience. He reworked the plumbing and was able to re-use everything - making it fit along the way. He is just like McGuyver - very resourceful! He made it look easy but he wasn't happy with the amount of time it all took. The counters were a lot easier to cut than we anticipated and once we got going, things went surprisingly well! We cut the counter to fit the space then needed to cut the opening for the drop-in sink. 

We attached the faucets to the sink prior to putting the sink into the counter top. 

A little caulk to help hold everything in place!

Connecting the plumbing from below.

Amazing difference.

Let's see if this thing shoots water!

Ready for the new top.

Cutting the counter for the smaller cabinet.

And it's attached!

We gave the old counters to our neighbor Steve for his work shed. It seemed to take forever to clean up but once we got it done we enjoyed an O'Wich Skillet. Chalk up number two in the thumbs up column! It's four to two and crappy is still in the lead.

We got a few things ready for my return trip on Tuesday so I can start the next step of this project - tiling!

It was nice to stop moving after dinner was over and soon I was fast asleep on the recliner!

April 18, 2009

After a cereal breakfast, we drove into Lake Delton to go to Home Depot. We picked up the rest of what we needed to do the kitchen - a counter top, drains and many miscellaneous items. We purchased the sink and faucet from the Home Depot by home to be sure we could get what we wanted. We have since learned that most stores carry all the same items. Next time, we'll buy everything in Wisconsin. The sales tax is about 1/2 of what it is in Illinois.

There is always something armed with flags that we need to transport!

We decided to get a quick lunch so we could get to work right away when we got back. We went to Arby's - (Burger King had an ambulance in their lot) - and if you have your pencil and paper handy - mark it! Lunch sucked. Crappy meal number three!

When we got back we ran into some issues - of course! What would working on the cabin without issues be? The electrical needed to be moved. Since the cabin is made of logs, there is no space to run the wiring and it needs to be surface mounted. To not interfere with the layout of the tile, the tile design had to be adjusted. The electrical was moved a little easier and although redesigning did cause me to have a bit of an emotional moment - it was worth it and we saved a little money on using less tiles. Carlo studded out the window opening and covered it with plywood. It is almost ready to be covered with pine and a tiled backsplash!

The old stainless sink, green counters, hole in the wall from the previous window - covered with the cranberry blind - are soon to be gone - FOREVER! What's funny is that when we first bought the cabin, we liked the kitchen and then we ended up hating it!

Short of the long - after several interuptions; visits with our neighbors, three seperate visitors -the electrical and the installation of the pine tongue and groove boards was complete and we decided to call it quits until morning. Can't work on electric in the dark! We had snacks and left over Arby's - tally is up to four for the sucky food consumption. One can only hope tomorrow will go better!

April 17, 2009

This trip was like all the others....lots of stuff to bring! We stopped at the oasis for lunch - it sucked. I tried Panda Express and Carlo got his food from a greek vendor! He had a gyro. The best part of lunch were the cinnamon sugar pretzels with the messy sticky dipping sauce that we bought at the pretzel kiosk - but they made a huge mess and of course we decided to eat them while driving! 

Once we got to the cabin and got situated, we went down to the river for a walk and after that I needed a nap and slept a couple of hours before we went to dinner. We wanted the fish fry at a local family restaurant but after seeing the food on the buffet table, we opted to order off the menu. A reuben for Carlo and corned beef for me - it sucked! Crappy meal number two; if you're counting! We picked up our groceries after that and were looking forward to some home cooked food! When we got back we watched a little TV and while Carlo watched Rescue Me, I went to bed. I would've liked to have watched the show, but my eyelids were much more appealing!

April 8, 2009

We got up around 8:00. After cereal and fruit we got busy playing Monet ~ or was it Rembrandt?!

It took all day, but we got our painting on! Laurie was very generous in helping with this project. We had a lot of fun painting. The doors took five coats of Fluffy Biscuit semi-gloss and they look great! Our friend Wayne likes to call the color Soggy Biscuit! We needed to take several breaks while waiting for each of the coats of paint to dry. While painting, we were swatting at the wasps that took a liking to Laurie...too bad she left that special medicine at home. Thank goodness, we didn't need it! 

Here is a photo of the current kitchen, the finished doors and an idea of what the project "goal" is...we are getting a new counter, new sink, new faucet and I am tiling the backsplash. The rendering is pretty close to the vision. The cranberry color is gone and has been replaced with the lighter color. The backsplash will be 3 rows of 2" tiles along the top and bottom; separated by 6" tiles that will have designs of deers and tracks on them. I am getting a lot of help with this project. Big kudos to Carlo and Laurie. And of course Wayne for putting the designs into my hands for the deCOUpage process!!!

             

One our our breaks was coffee down by the river and we checked out additional damage to another tree thanks to the beavers.

 

We found a woodpecker condo along the easement and these birds were pretty angry that we were looking around. I teased Laurie about being part of the Audubon Society and much to my amazement...she is! She knew a lot about the birds and even what kind they were as they were making their presence known to us.

Another break was for another delicious meal. BBQ chicken breasts, garlic bread and salad. Yummy!

After the painting project was cleaned up, we played Scrabble and kicked back until it was time to cook dinner. On this menu: Steak, baked potatoes, garlic bread and simmered onions & mushrooms. We eat good here! 

Laurie bought new slippers while at Wal-Mart but there seemed to be a problem with them...oh, no, not with the slippers, silly me! Just a problem with knowing left from right...hum, problem walking? There's an arch in there for a reason. Hmmmm!

After another delicious meal, we attempted to play backgammon but couldn't recall the initial set-up so we played six rounds of Boggle! We had a great evening and called it an early night so we could hit the road early in the morning!

April 7, 2009

We both woke up around 7:00 am - the sun was coming up and we were happy to have gotten so much sleep. Nothing new for me though! I love to sleep. And O'Wich is a great place to catch up on your sleep.

We had pancakes, sausages & strawberries for breakfast and relaxed with some coffee before my painting chore began. 

Laurie enjoyed coffee and a book while I sanded the doors to dull the paint before I could paint them. I washed them down a couple of times and left them on the deck to dry. As we were preparing for lunch, I was unable to find the recipe for the amount of ingredients for the O'Wich Skillet...so I put in a call to Bobbie Flay (aka Tom) and once I had the list, we started to cook. As usual, it was delicious.

After lunch, Laurie caught up on some reading and I attempted to remove the haze from the tiles in the bathroom and unfortunately it didn't come out as well as expected. I'll have to try it again another time. 

We both got ready to go out and started at Fashion Bug - they had some cute things and good sales. Then it was time for dinner at Tamarack - they have fantastic burgers! After we ate it was off to WalMart to walk off the good meal!

We played Yahtzee and chatted after we got back until our eyes couldn't stay open!

April 6, 2009

My friend Laurie made the trip with me this visit. After getting the truck loaded, we were on our way by 8:00 am. We both worked the night before so the first stop was for coffee! Fifteen minutes into the trip our first stop was Dunkin Donuts which held us over until our second stop at the Belvidere Oasis! That stop held us over until the Way Side just before Portage! We arrived shortly after 11:00, unpacked, opened the house and then left for errands. We checked out the re-sale shops and I got a few deals at the first place. Then we went to LaTolteca for an early dinner and then to Pierce's for groceries.

We relaxed when we got back and by 8:00 pm we were both fast asleep - in the midst of conversation.