Restoring Window Trim

With Kendra's cloth diaper post pulling in 300+ visitors, as opposed to our usual 50 visitors, I have a tough act to follow here.  I get it-- people are more interested in parenting than they are in two DYI-challenged folks futzing around with a (nearly) 100-year-old house.  So consider this my effort to simultaneously yank this blog back on-topic and lose hundreds of viewers who might otherwise become regular readers.

After my last update, I was working to get the bathroom in finished shape.  Now that our bathroom is completely rebuilt and retiled, it's time that we start . . . wait, hold on.  My mistake, the bathroom is NOT done yet.  The walls are built and the joints are all taped and mortared, but there is still no tile.  The projected completion date is end of month, but, of course, I said that last month.

Let's forget about the bathroom for now.  With spring approaching, Kendra and I are contemplating what exterior work should be accomplished this year.  We've done quite a bit to the east (front) and west (back) sides of the house, but relatively little to the north and south sides.  Here's a view of the north side of the Peaches estate:

This side of the house really annoys us.  This picture actually looks more appealing than the house looks in real life, I think.  This side faces a street (I'm standing near the street in taking this picture), and we've struggled coming up with something to enhance the curb appeal.  So far, we've done a few small things -- you can see the stone wall around the AC unit.  There are also three nine bark bushes and three vibernums we planted last year (they are just sticks right now, but hopefully will be nice and bushy once spring arrives).  Otherwise, this side is just a large expanse of grungy vinyl.  Long-term the plan is to reside the entire house with new wood clapboards, but our empty piggy bank prevents us from moving on that right now.  Another part of the plan is to plant some trees on this side and let them grow, but that does nothing to help in the short term.  

Given the lack of curb appeal on this side coupled with its prominence to the street, Kendra and I discussed what small touches we could do to dress it up a bit.  We had settled on a modest plan: repaint the windows to the basement, perhaps paint the stone foundation, and paint the vinyl window trim.  That's when I got to really looking at the windows:

We often lament the vinyl siding that's on the house.  But look at that window--to me, it sure looks like we have some pretty ornate wood window trim lurking underneath that damn plastic.  You can even see that the bottom sill is not cut flush with the side trim, which makes me think that the original trim is fully intact under the vinyl.  After all, if they wanted to make the vinyl job easier, they would have squared off the windows, wouldn't they?

Taking all this into account, I think the new plan is to remove the vinyl from the windows and repaint/restore the exterior wood window trim.  This is, no doubt, a much larger project than just slapping some vinyl-friendly paint on there, but I think the finished product--if we can pull it off--will be more impressive.  Plus, I have already undertaken to restore our original wood windows, one at a time, and this will dovetail nicely with that project (more details on the window restoration in a later post).  

So what do you think, Peaches readers?  Does this have a shot of working?  Have any of you done this type of thing before and have any tips for us?  One of my biggest worries is flashing/waterproofing, but I think the siding and some caulk should take care of that for us.  Or is there something I'm overlooking?

Cloth Love

First off, Peaches readers, I know this is supposed to be a "house blog."  But it is also the closest thing to we have to a family blog, and every once in a while I dream about being a professional Mommy blogger when I grow up.    So I hope you will indulge me today, as I Mommy-blog my reflections on 6 months of cloth-diapering little Charlie (and my apologies in advance if you clicked over from Houseblogs.net, but please read on if one of your upcoming DIY projects is to install a diaper sprayer on your toilet).

Charlie's first cloth diaper: an unbleached Chinese prefold with an extra-small Thirsties cover.

This is Charlie in his very first cloth diaper.  He was just 3 days old and weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces.  Why did we decide to cloth diaper him?  I don't really know.  We talked about cloth diapering Max, but never took the plunge.  It just seemed so overwhelming at the time.  But, over the 2 1/2 years or so that Max wore disposable diapers, I grew to dislike them.  First of all, they were expensive.  Like all babies, Max went through diapers like crazy, and seemed like we were always out of diapers, running to the store to buy more for home or daycare.  We always had a diaper pail full of stinky diapers, waiting to be taken to the trash.  I couldn't even think about the cubic feet of landfill space we were filling up with Max's Pampers.  And all those chemicals up against his skin 24 hours a day?  Ick!  The chemical-y smell of a fresh disposable diaper wasn't much better than the smell of a dirty one if you asked me.  So, when we were expecting Charlie, I knew I wanted to give cloth diapering a try and I convinced Joe - who was understandably skeptical - to join me in my cloth diaper experiment.  Once I started researching and reading, I quickly realized that - while cloth diapering is certainly cheaper than disposable diapering - there is quite an up-front investment (especially if you want to use some of the new-fangled fancy-pants diapers).  So we committed to trying cloth diapers for at least 6 months, both to make sure we recouped our initial costs but also to make sure we gave it a fair shot.  And today, Peaches readers, I will share our cloth diaper experience with you.

So what did it take to cloth diaper for 6 months?

This is our entire cloth diaper "stash," including almost everything we've used to diaper Charlie for the last 6 months.  It includes items we've used almost every day from the beginning of cloth diapering, items we used at different stages, and things we haven't used at all.

The primary cloth diaper "system" we decided to use with Charlie was GroVia (more on that later).  But their one-size diapers were just too bulky to use during those first few weeks, when Charlie was still so very tiny.  Luckily, we also had 22 unbleached Chinese prefold diapers (infant size) and found those worked best for about the first month of cloth diapering.  These old-school prefolds are what usually come to mind when you hear "cloth diaper."  But don't worry, folks - these aren't your Momma's cloth diapers.  Plastic pants have been replaced by breathable waterproof covers and there are lots of styles and cute patterns to choose from.  During the newborn phase, we adored our 3 extra-small Thirsties covers.  Not only did they fit Charlie's tiny body, but the double-gusseted design contained all the wetness - including runny newborn poo.  I don't think we ever had a single leak using prefolds and Thirsties covers!  We also had 2 small Bummis covers, but because they were more bulky and plastic-y than the Thirsties covers, we really only used them when the Thirsties covers were dirty.  Using prefold diapers and covers is easy.  Most of the time, we just lay the diaper in the cover, like so...

Regular (premium) infant prefold with one-size Blueberry Coverall.

...then secure the diaper and cover around Charlie, like so.

It will be just as easy for you to use a prefold and cover, but - unfortunately - your baby won't be as cute.  Sorry.

If we ever want to fasten the diaper before securing the cover (which I like to do but Joe doesn't), we use one of our 4 Snappis.

Diaper pins are a thing of the past!  I just fold the diaper into thirds (see picture above), give it a twist to reduce bulkiness between the legs, and fasten it in front with a Snappi.

The covers were wipeable and reusable (unless they got poo on them, of course), so we usually just alternated between two covers every day.

Once Charlie was back up to his birth weight of 8 pounds (about 2-3 weeks old), we were able to start using our one-size GroVia all-in-two diapers.  These GroVia diapers are a two-piece system consisting of an outer shell (we have 9 of them) and snap-in insert (we have 15).

The inside of a GroVia shell

GroVia shell with snap-in organic cotton insert.

Like the Thirsties covers, the GroVia shells can be reused throughout the day (until they get dirty).  We typically use 2-3 shells per day.  Early on, we struggled with occasional leaks with our GroVia diapers, but I discovered that they need to be washed and dried REPEATEDLY before reaching full absorbency.  I also discovered that the tags would occasionally slip out of the shell and wick out the moisture, so I cut out all the tags.  Since then, we rarely have leaks and we LOVE our GroVia diapers!  They are trim, made of organic cotton, and the 3 rows of snaps make the shell "one-size" so they have grown with Charlie from 8 to almost 20 pounds now.

One week old, about 7 pounds.  The GroVia diaper was still a bit too big.

2 weeks old, 8 pounds.  The GroVia diaper was a bit bulky, was was workable.

2 1/2 months old and about 14-15 pounds.  He is pictured wearing a GroVia snap shell here.

6 months old, just shy of 20 pounds, and happy as a clam in his GroVia diaper!  Compare to the newborn shots and note that we are now on the second row of snaps.  There are 3 rows of snaps to grow the diaper covers from newborn to infant to toddler sizes.  Genius!

One thing I really appreciate about the GroVia system is the versatility.  We can use the shell and insert together, or can use the shell as a cover for a prefold diaper (which we did quite often early on, when prefolds seemed to do a better job containing the runny breastfed baby poo).  They also sell BioSoakers, which are biodegradable, disposable inserts you can use to make GroVia a "hybrid" diapering system.  We have a 50-pack of BioSoakers, but haven't really used them.  I imagine they would be great for traveling, sitters who are uncomfortable dealing with cloth, or if you were someone who wasn't ready to totally take the cloth diaper plunge.

2 months old.  Wearing a GroVia cover over an infant prefold fastened with a Snappi (take my word for it).

In addition to our GroVia diapers, we also have 9 regular (premium)-size prefold diapers in our current rotation with 2 Blueberry one-size covers.  The prefold/cover combo isn't as trim as GroVia, but they work very well and we probably use them every 2-3 days, when all the GroVia diapers are in the wash.

5 months old and about 17-18 pounds, wearing a regular size prefold with a one-size Blueberry Coverall.  

Although GroVia and prefolds with covers have been our "go-to" cloth diapers, we also dabbled in a variety of pocket diapers.  Pocket diapers are just as they sound - they are cloth diapers with a pocket that you stuff with inserts.  They allow you to customize your absorbancy by stuffing as much or little as you want, and cut down drying time because the inserts are separate from the rest of the diaper.  Charlie has always been a very heavy wetter, and the problem I had with pocket diapers, across the board, was that they seemed to leak after about an hour, no matter how much I stuffed them. So none of them worked well for us.  Luckily, Joe's cousin Tamera (who I refer to as the cloth diaper fairy) gave us a lot of hand-me-down pocket diapers the she used with her daughter, so we were able to try most of these risk-free.  I'm glad we did, because I would have been very disappointed if we would have purchased a bunch of these right off the bat.  Of the pocket diapers we tried, my favorite were Swaddlebees.

Small Swaddlebees stuffed with two inserts.  2 months old, approximately 14-15 pounds.

They were trim, soft, and usually didn't leak as long as I stuffed them with at least two inserts and made sure to change them every 2 hours or so.

Also included in our "stash" of pocket diapers were 5 extra small Fuzzibunz.

Wearing an x-small Fuzzibunz at 3 weeks old, approximately 9-10 pounds.

The Fuzzibunz were cute and very trim, but leaked every time.  Didn't matter how much I stuffed them (and I stuffed them as much as I could), Charlie would wear them an hour and then be covered in pee (but they did contain the poo).

We also had 6 Happy Heiny's (4 size small, 2 size x-small).  We absolutely hated these.  The legs weren't gusseted and did not contain runny newborn poo.  And it seemed like my breastfed baby was pooing about every 10 minutes, so that's exactly how long one of these diapers would last.  Maybe they would've worked better for an older baby.  We never used our two Very Baby pocket diapers, but they looked almost exactly like the Happy Heiny's so I imagine I would have hated them too.

In addition to the diapers themselves, there are several cloth diapering accessories that have made cloth diapering possible (and, dare I say, easy).  Here are all the extras we've used along the way:

Three rolls of liners.  We've used Imse Vimse and Kushies.  These flushable, biodegradable liners lay right on top of the cloth diaper and are great for catching poo so you don't have to dunk, scrape, or spray it off in the toilet.

GroVia shell and insert with a Kushies liner on top.

Incidentally, breastfed baby poo is totally water soluble, so you can just toss poopy breastfed diapers in the washing machine without any rinsing.  So these liners are only necessary when you have to start getting rid of the poo before you wash.  Since Charlie is an exclusively breastfed baby, we didn't start using liners until he started solid food at about 4 1/2 months.  And we don't use the liners all the time since we installed a diaper sprayer on our toilet, which is an easy and pretty clean way to wash the poo off the diapers and into the toilet.  Sure beats the old dunk-flush-repeat method our mothers used.

Our Bumgenius diaper sprayer mounts right to our toilet.

One diaper pail.  A cheapie Safety First model from Babies R Us.  It is the same one we used with Max's disposable diapers, and is basically just a glorified trash can.  You certainly don't need any special diaper pail for cloth diapers.  You do, however, need...

Two Planet Wise diaper pail liners.  Gone are the days of the "wet pail," where you throw dirty diapers in a solution of water and cleaners to soak until laundry day.  We use the "dry pail" method, and just throw our dirty diapers in the pail lined with these washable liners.  They make diaper laundry (which we do every other day) oh-so-easy - just throw the bag in the washer with the diapers and wash away!  Which brings me to...

Front-loader washing machine and Rockin Green laundry soap.  Cloth diapers and front-loader washing machines are both environmentally friendly, so you'd think they'd work well together.  The irony, however, is that a front-loader washer generally does a pretty crappy (no pun intended) job of washing cloth diapers.  You see, cloth diapers need water - lots and lots of water - to get really clean, and front-loader washers use less water.  This can lead to unclean, stinky diapers.  There is no "best" wash routine for cloth diapers.  It really depends on your washing machine and water quality.  It has taken a little bit of experimentation and problem-solving, but we seem to have figured out the best routine for washing our diapers ( cold short cycle with no soap & extra rinse + hot long cycle with soap & extra rinse).  Occasionally, if the diapers start to get that not-so-fresh smell, I run another cold short cycle with no soap & extra rinse and that takes care of it.  We've also experimented with soap.  I've had the best luck with Rockin' Green, regular Tide, and Charlie's Soap (in that order).  But the Rockin' Green is far and away my favorite.

Two medium-sized zip-top wet bags.  We have one made by Planet Wise and one made by Wahmies.  These waterproof bags are essential for keeping dirty diapers and all their wetness and smells contained while you're out-and-about or on days when baby is with Grandma or the sitter.  Wet bags are handy even if you don't cloth diaper - I've used them to keep wet/dirty clothes and bibs from floating around the diaper bag.

A few packages of Pampers.  Charlie is a heavy wetter and gets really upset when he's wearing a wet cloth diaper.  We just haven't quite figured out how to keep him cloth-diapered at night without leaks or fussiness.  There are special overnight cloth diapers out there, but I haven't explored them.  So he wears one disposable diaper overnight every night, and I think we've purchased about one package a month since his birth.  I'm only human.

So there you have it.  Am I glad we took the cloth diaper plunge?  Yep.  Do I plan to continue?  Absolutely.  My plan is to keep little Charlie in cloth diapers until he potty trains (which may not be long since research shows that cloth-diapered babies potty train earlier).  If (and that's a BIG IF) we have another child, they'll be cloth-diapered, too.  Cloth diapers are cheap.  All told, I think we've spent just under $300 on cloth diapers that will carry us through potty training, so they've been a very good economical choice.  They're good for the environment and - after I got over the initial shock of all the options and accessories - it has been surprisingly easy to cloth diaper, even as a working Mom (thanks to our sitter, Pam, for being open-minded and trying cloth diapers with us).

And, besides, what's cuter than a chubby baby in a cloth diaper?

Nothing!

It's always something...

...and here are our 3 somethings this week.

1) The lower spray arm on our dishwasher.  Somehow, it came in contact with the heating element and melted.  This has left us without a dishwasher until the new part comes in (2-5 business days, we're told)  It was only a $25 part, so not a major head ache.  Just annoying and time-consuming to have to wash dishes by hand.  And since our New Year's Resolution was to cut our extra spending, especially in regards to groceries and eating out, a week of take-out isn't an option.  How did people ever live this way???

2) The upstairs shower is leaking.  This picture is of the downstairs hall ceiling, directly underneath the shower in the upstairs bathroom.  Joe thinks some caulk with fix this problem.  I am less optimistic.  Nothing is ever that easy.

3) Our refrigerator ice maker.  Hasn't made any ice for the last 24+ hours.  We realized this after breakfast this morning, so we haven't investigated very thoroughly.  Hopefully more ice will just appear and we won't have to worry about it.

Here's hoping those are all the "somethings" we'll have to deal with for awhile.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to clean up lunch dishes, take a shower, and make myself an ice cold drink.  Damn.  

Involuntary Bathroom Remodeling Part II

In my last post, I discussed the suddenly urgent need to completely redo our downstairs bathtub/shower, and the accompanying demolition.  With everything demo'd to dry wood, I had to contemplate rebuilding everything to support the new tub and shower enclosure.

The first order of business was figuring out what tub to put in the space.  The old tub was a 60" jetted "drop-in" that, you will recall, (1) didn't have working jets, (2) wasn't properly supported by the framing, and (3) didn't fit into the 57" space--the tub protruded three inches into the closet in the adjoining room.  Kendra and I decided we would buy a 54" tub instead, which is harder to find than a standard 60" tub.  We finally settled on a 54" tub at Menard's, primarily because it was available without special ordering.

This still left us with a size problem -- a 54" tub to go in a 57" space.  The best solution I could think of was to build a three-inch shelf out at the top of the tub.  This meant more carpentry (ugh)* but seemed very doable.  Since 2x lumber is actually 1.5", that means I just needed to nail a couple 2x8 to the framing to create the shelf.  It all seemed very easy, until Kendra mentioned that she'd like to install shower doors in the finished space, instead of a shower curtain.  Now, my simple shelf project turned into a new wall projecting three inches out from the old wall.  Ugh, more carpentry.

*The reason I say "ugh" is not because I hate carpentry, it's just that I'm really bad at it.  Driving a nail usually is a two- or three-take process for me.  Which makes me hate carpentry.

I set to work reconstructing the space so that we could set the tub.  First, I needed to reinforce the floor joists, which had significant (although not catastrophic) water rot, so I sistered some 2x8s to the existing joists.  Underneath the bathroom is crawlspace, which made the work more difficult in that I was flat on my back the whole time, yet also easier in that I didn't need to reach straight over my head to work.  Due to the bathroom being located on an exterior wall, I was able to rest one end of the 2x8s on the sill plate, which should make them hold better (I think).   After reinforcing the joists, I cut a piece of OSB board to fit the opening in the floor and screwed it to the joists.

After a little bit of framing to correct the hole in the wall the old tub was shoved into, and then installing two 2x8s to create the proper width for the tub alcove, it was time to install the tub.  I cut and fastened a 2x4 ledger board on the back wall to support the tub.  Then  I enlisted Kendra's help to lift the tub into place.  It took quite a bit of coaxing, shoving, and pushing, but we finally got the tub set on the floor.  I doubt we had a quarter-inch of space to spare.  I used some shims to level the tub, and then we were set.

The tub snugly in place.  You can see the new framing at both the right and left-hand sides of the tub.

After getting the tub in, I turned my attention to the new, 3" deep wall I would need to build out to accommodate our future shower doors.  I decided I would attach horizontal 2x4s to the existing studs, then attach vertical 2x4s on top of that to run the length of the new "wall."  This successfully narrowed the tub alcove from 57" to 54", and resulted in a plumb-enough new structure for installing the cement board.

The cement board was surprisingly easy to work with, although there was some drama along the way.  First, I needed to clean up some of the wiring by removing the switch and wires that worked the nonfunctioning jetted tub.  In the switch's place, I installed a GFCI outlet, located in the same electrical box as the switch for running the exhaust fan.  It doesn't really makes sense to have an outlet in that particular spot, but I didn't know what else to put in the box.  I guess this will leave a power source in case we want to put in a 42" TV right across from the toilet.

After the wiring, I called and had Cooter's Plumbing come over and replace some of the old PVC pipe that ran to the tub and shower with PEX pipe.  They also installed the new shower valve and made the drain connections.  With the wiring and plumbing done, it was time to cover the walls.

I attached 4 mil plastic sheeting on top of the lathe board to act as a waterproof barrier to the framing underneath.  I decided to install the cement board on the long wall first, because it would require the least cutting and let me practice my technique before moving on to the more delicate pieces.

One wall down, two to go!

I found the board easy to cut and work with, but my efforts were not without problems.  After hanging the first piece--the one on the top in the picture above--I realized I had forgotten to cut out the opening for the exhaust fan.  Luckily I was able to punch out an opening with the use of a utility knife and cold chisel.  It added some work, but not an ungodly amount.

Yesterday, after a couple weeks of no progress, I was finally able to hang the rest of the cement board.  Here are a couple shots; this picture shows a straight-ahead view:

And here is a photo showing the new 3" wall:

As of today, we are almost ready to start tiling.  I still need to mortar the cement board joints, and finish the perimeter with joint compound.  And we still don't have the tile yet, although it's supposed to come in this week.  After two months of no downstairs tub, and I'm guessing 40 hours of labor, we are getting close to finishing this project.

Snowpocalypse, Snowmageddon, Snotorious BIG, Snoprah Winfrey, Snow joke, SnOMG...

Whatever you call it, we survived.  Here are a few pics of our winter wonderland.

Our old house and about a foot of snow (before drifts).  Also a nice shot of our new roof.

Riding the snow drift wave!

Wading through the snow.

Joe had a whole lot of shovelin' to do.

The freshly shoveled path between our garage and the back porch.

The dog, the boy, and a big pile of snow.

Snow angels!

Just relaxin' in the snow.

Max and Charlie wore nothing but pajamas for four days.
I DID make them wear a different pair every day in case you were wondering.

Watching movies and snuggling.  Not a bad way to spend a few snowy days.

Involuntary Bathroom Remodeling

"What's THIS?!" we heard Max bellow from the bathtub.  We had a suspicion something was wrong, but we had no idea what was ahead of us.

It was about two months ago that Kendra and I rushed into the bathroom to see what Max had found during bath time.  In his hand was a small plastic sliver--which, unfortunately, had chipped off the bottom of the bath tub. As we inspected the tub, it became obvious that the tub's useful life had ended quite some time ago.  We always knew the tub would need replacing soon, but it wasn't really a project that was on the front burner.  But with the cracked bottom the tub was now unusable. It was decided--we'd install a new tub, with a new tile surround.

The first order of business was demo.  Since I didn't take any "before" pictures, I'll have to describe the old setup.  Our bathroom walls are textured plaster.  We had a tub/shower combo, with the tub being a non-functional whirlpool tub.  There was vinyl paneling on the shower walls for waterproofing.  Demo started with removing the vinyl paneling.  Unfortunately, this involved just peeling the panels off the walls, as they were stuck directly to the plaster with some type of adhesive.  That was the extent of the wall waterproofing, and it showed.  When I removed the panels, I was greeted by soggy plaster and drywall, which just crumbled off the wall in places.  It made demo easier, but it was more than a little concerning how much water was passing through to the structural elements of the house.  With the help of my craftsman multitool, I was able to cut out plaster from the area to be tiled.  The multitool gave me a nice, straight cut, which should make the cement board installation that much easier:

After cutting/demoing down to the wood lathe, it was time to remove the tub.  As I started to take a closer look at things, I noticed that the old tub actually penetrated one of the walls.  I guess I always knew this, but before now I never paid much attention.  You see, the wall-to-wall measurement is 57 inches, 3 inches too short for your standard 60 inch tub.  That didn't stop one of the previous homeowners from "installing" a 60 inch, drop-in style jetted tub, though -- just shove it three inches into the wall and call it good.  This would not do for our replacement, so this was one area we'd need to address during the new install.

After getting the tub out, I was able to assess the floor.  It was awful.  The tub was resting on a piece of plywood, which was so rotted I was able to fold it in half like a piece of cardboard.  Tongue-in-groove hardwood flooring was laid underneath the plywood.  It also appeared a little wet, so I poked at it with my finger--and a chunk of the flooring crumbled and fell into the basement below.  On the optimistic side, the rotted wood made for an easier demolition, and soon I had removed the existing subfloor.  I could peer into the basement (which is a crawlspace under that particular part of the house) and see the floor joists.  Unfortunately, what I could see was that the top 1" or so of several joists was also rotted.  When the demo was finished, here's how things looked:

The amount of water damage wasn't really surprising, but it was disappointing.  With substantial rebuilding required before I could even start replacing the tub, the "new tub" project was taking on much more of a carpentry feel than I would prefer.  But that's probably enough for now.  You'll have to wait for the next blog post to see how the carpentry went.

Oh snow you didn't!

A peek outside our back door during the now-infamous Midwest Snowpocalypse 2011.

I'm dreaming of the landscaping and patio expansion projects we're planning once the grass turns green.

2010 Year in Review

Our year* in less than 5 minutes

After multiple technology failures and a whole lotta drama, I finally got this posted.  It's bugging the heck out of me that you have to click on it again after you get to Web Albums to view it, but I really think this is the best I can do.  Seriously, I could write a blog post about how this simple little movie was such a pain to get posted.  But I won't.  Just enjoy the movie.  

*note: I know this is supposed to be a house blog, but I didn't really find any of our home improvements this year (landscaping, furnace repair, insulating, new toilets, pipe repair, new roof, bathroom remodel in progress) interesting enough for our YIR.  Stay tuned for updates on our DIY projects.

Let's do this!

Joe's right.  I long ago declared the blog dead.  As many of you may painfully remember, my last post was October 23, 2009.  The day our daughter, Lucy, was due.  I was overwhelmed by the support and feedback I got from that post, and I truly planned to continue posting to our little blog about our house and our lives.  But every time I thought about opening up the blog and making a new post, I just couldn't do it.  Somehow, it just felt wrong to me to follow-up the post about our dead daughter with something about installing new toilets...  So one day recently, Joe brought up the blog (again) and I finally told him why I haven't posted for over a year.  I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure my husband has the most beautiful soul I've ever known.  I'm not sure if he understood my feelings at all, but he acted as though he did.  And he made a simple offer that actually meant quite a lot to me.  He asked me, if he redesigned the blog and made the first post-Lucy entry, if I thought I could keep going.  I said yes.  So he did.  And I will.  And I just read Lucy's Garden for the first time since posting it almost 15 months ago.  I have to say, I'm pretty damn proud of the words I wrote and the clarity in which I was able to express myself in such a time of grief.  And reading the post allowed me to reflect on how far we - me, Joe, our family, and the house - have come since then.  This house and - more importantly - our family have stories to tell, and I think this is a great place to do it.  

So I say to you, Joe, resurrector of the blog, let's do this!  Let's bring the blog back.  For real.  None of this wash, rinse, repeat stuff.  As I type, I am brainstorming a pictoral Peaches "year in review" post...

And let me be the first to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Charlie, who entered our lives quickly, a bit unexpectedly, and absolutely perfectly last September.

GMaCP (gratuitous Max and Charlie picture)

Redesign, and a (Possible) Return to Posting

It all sounds familiar, doesn't it?  A blog falls out of use, and then the author comes after 6 months and says he or she will resume posting, and then stops blogging for 6 months, then says he or she will resume posting . . . wash, rinse, repeat.

I spent a bit of time redesigning the site (and by redesigning, I mean changing the default Blogger template) in the hopes that it will jumpstart me on providing regular updates.  The last year has soon a lot of work done to the house, and a new addition to the family--our four-month-old son, Charlie.  Right now we are in the middle of a tub/shower overhaul that is consuming a lot of time, and we recently put on a new roof, which consumed a lot of money.  Stay tuned for some substantive posts; if nothing else, I need to post just to prove Kendra wrong, who has long proclaimed this blog as dead.

So what type of posts are on tap?  Here is a short list of improvements in the works or that have been completed since we last updated:

*Refurbishing the first of 12 old windows

*New roof

*Extensive landscaping

*Minor exterior repairs

*Insulation of pipes (because they burst!)

*New tub/shower/tile job in downstairs bathroom

*Removing four loads of tree trimmings from our beautiful maple trees

*Construction of outdoor play set (not an improvement to the home, but a major construction project nevertheless)

I'm guessing that we can also get some pretty serious "before" and "after" shots done.  But in any case, I feel like I owe it to someone (who, I don't know; the house maybe?) to keep this blog going.