Summer Projects 101

I realized something about myself today.

I don't know if it's a norm for all of us writer people out there, or if, well...I'm just strange.

I talk to myself.

I've caught myself quite a few times today doing it. I don't know why all of a sudden I'm so aware of it, but it's been the weirdest thing today.

Do all of you do this too? (Please say 'yes'!)

Here's what I was talking to myself about today.

I realized that everytime I chop something, like today when I was making another batch of homemade salsa, that I count each cut.

So tomato after tomato it sounded alot like this in my head, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Turn. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5."

"huh? I didn't cut those the same number of times. That's kind of odd."

Then, this evening while I was trying to relax while enjoying a nice hot, quiet bath, I began to think about summer. It went a little like this,

"Summer is coming to an end. What have we done this summer? We haven't gone anywhere exciting, mostly just work around the house. You know, that would be a great thing to write about. Yeah! Okay, I can do a post about all of our exciting projects we've done. I need a bigger bathtub."

No joke, it went just like that.

And at no point in either of those conversations did I think to myself, "It's kind of odd that I'm talking to myself."

I took Sociology and Psychology in College and for some reason don't recall food bloggers being listed under multiple personality disorders or paranoid schitzophrenia.

Although it was First Quarter, Freshman Year, Monday Mornings, 8:00 am.

(Who does that? Apparently a naieve, over-anxious, Freshman)

I probably don't remember alot from that class anyways.

So after that last conversation with myself I decided to let all of you see just what we've been up to this summer.

Summer is starting to wind down, although you wouldn't know it by looking at the thermometer around her, it's hotter than...well...it's hot!

Like I mentioned to myself earlier this evening, we didn't really go anywhere exciting, no big vacation away, but we've done alot of cool projects around the house this year.

Here's our first one!

Box 1 of 6, completely filled with wood pieces,screws, bolts, and a 34 page instruction manual. Oh yeah, it mentioned that it would take two moderatly skilled adults 24-30 hours to complete this project.

 

Day 3, the roof going on the club house.

These guys worked their butts off for our kids!

The Crew!

Sophie cristening her new "wing"

 This project would have never happend if it wasn't for our amazing friends and family!

After 4 days, 26 hours, with 4 skilled men, and 1 slightly less skilled 7 year old, Operation Clubhouse was finally finished!

 

Darryl & Tony we can't thank you enough for all of your hard work!

(oh yeah, we started this project the weekend after dear hubby had emergency surgery for kidney stones and wasn't allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs. Great planning on our part!)

 

And what's better to do than a 26 hour outdoor project? How about starting a bathroom remodel at the EXACT. SAME. TIME!

I'm starting to realize we're not great at timing these projects or planning too well!

I can honestly say, we have the World's Smallest Bathroom!

Okay, maybe not, but it's pretty darn close.

I'm starting to realize that the bathroom probably wasn't the best designed portion of this house, luckily I can blame that on someone else. But, we knew it was that big when we bought the house, and we still bought it. I guess the humungoid back yard kind of threw us off!

When we first bought the house I had the brilliant idea to paint the bathroom yellow.

Do any of you realize what it's like to wake up at 5:00 am, and walk into a 10 x 6 room painted bright yellow?

It's like you've landed on the sun, people!

And that's not a good thing!

Let's just say it didn't stay yellow for too long.

Since 2004 the bathroom has been white.

White.

Plain White.

White on white.

I know, exciting right?!

I decided it was time for a change.

Then I found this! I knew that this was going to be my bathroom.

Why you ask?

Well, because bascially this bathroom, is my bathroom.

Well, it's not MY bathroom, but my bathroom is an exact copy of this bathroom.

In fact, my shower curtain was the same one too, only in a different color scheme.

 So project number 2 was underway.

Here's what happened!

How we started. See, white on white. Okay so there's some wood color!

We taped off the room, and started painting.

Then it was time for the power tools to come out! Yes, I used the sawhorses and circular saw all by myself!

After the paint was dry, we installed the board and batten with some Liquid Nails. Easy Peasy!

Updated the hardware to all silver knobs.

And last but not least, finally added the accent I was most excited about!

The final look!

What cha think?

I was a little concerned at first about using such a dark color in such a small room, but to be honest, it really felt like it opened it up alot. Almost as if it's a blue sky around the top of the room.

I love it!

I'm so happy the way that it turned out.

And I'm even more proud of myself for maintaning all 10 fingers while the circular saw was out.

So those were our two big projects this summer.

All of the painting in the bathroom has inspired me to move into the kitchen...

I have one paint color picked out...

Okay, I have both paint colors picked out, now it's convincing hubby that it's going to turn out as well as this one did!

So remember, it's not completely crazy if you talk to yourself.

Heck, it's not even crazy if you answer yourself.

We are just going to chalk it up to being a creative writer!

"Right?"

"Yep!"