Happy Thanksgiving

When do holidays become a time for rest and relaxation?

Jamie spent the afternoon putting up my Christmas lights while I hustled around the kitchen trying to put together a turkey dinner. I always get so stressed trying to get everything timed just right.

I did get my pictures for my Christmas card (to follow later when Christmas cards go out) and only had to bribe Violet with a few gel stickers to get her to pose with me.

Thanksgiving is over and it's on to finish decorating and shopping for Christmas. The menagerie is small this year and Santa and the snowman no longer light up. Before you know it I'll be taking down all the decorations and cleaning up again. Where does the time go?

Day 8 - We Did It!

After 8 days and a little over 40 hours, Michael and I have successfully finished tiling the basement. And it looks beautiful.

Most people who do a DIY tile laying project, usually start with a small bathroom. Not me! I have to tackle an 850 square foot basement. But it was worth every sore muscle, aching knees and rough dry hands. I also ruined 2 pairs of my comfy, lay around the house pants.

I love the transition from the 17x17 grey tiles to the 12x24 lighter tiles in the kitchen area.

The transition continues into the bedroom and bathroom.

Even though the quarter round still needs to go down, the doors hung and the toilet set, I couldn't wait to add the carpet touches to the bedroom. My Black Friday shopping will be on the internet searching for great deals on area rugs for the living area. Would I do it again? NO!!!!!!!

Day 7 - Cinderella

Today we started grouting the tile. I say started because we couldn't finish. The bedroom furniture was blocking about a third of the basement. Michael spread the grout and I cleaned the tiles.

For an OCD person, spreading grout and cleaning tile is not the best thing to do. No matter how many times I rinsed the sponge, there was still a thin film of white residue. After wiping the floor about 4 times, I felt like Cinderella. But I finally got it all up. Michael will be back tomorrow and we should be done. Then all that's left is the quarter round. I must say, it does look beautiful.

Day 6 - Last Tile Laid

It's day 6 and we finally finished laying all the tile.

The bedroom closet was almost as hard as the bathroom. Michael had a couple of "tetris" pieces but after 7 long hours today, the last pieces was laid.

You can obviously tell who did the most work! Now it's on to grouting.

Christmas Train

Since next week is Thanksgiving, I wanted to get my Christmas tree up in hopes of getting some sort of picture for my Christmas card.

Each year I try to cut back on the amount of decorations I put out but it's just too hard to decide who stays in the box.

Teresa gave me an early birthday present of a train you mount in your tree.

I spent over 4 hours trying to put this thing together. And persistence paid off. This is such a cute little addition to all my decorations. I'm crossing my fingers I can get a cute picture for my Christmas card.

Day 5 - Basement Tile Progressing Slowly

Michael literally spent 3 hours cutting tile to finish the bathroom while I hid upstairs to stay out of his way.

He calls this piece his Tetris piece. He not only had the toilet to cut out but also the cabinet. I'm amazed at how patient he is.

I'm glad I bought the extra tile to put it all the way into the bathroom closet. It looks so much neater.

We're now starting on our last room - the bedroom. I had to add this picture of myself just to prove that I did help. One more day of tile then we can start grouting. 

A Very "Goofy" Birthday

Today Lincoln turned 2 years old.

It seems like yesterday we were flying down the highway trying to get to the hospital before Melissa had the baby - and she was driving.

Lincoln woke up to a mountain of presents including his brand new scooter.

We all gathered at Ted's Cafe Escondido for Lincoln's birthday dinner. Michael and Ashley...

Teresa and Brad...

After Lincoln's trip to Disney a few months ago, he's been obsessed with Goofy. Even though he's only 2, he wanted to open his Goofy video at the table.

Ted's is famous for serving sopapillas after every meal. But Melissa brought a cookie cake. After Lincoln's several attempts at blowing out the candle and a few spurts of spit landing on the cookie, we all chose the sopapillas.

Even the people at other tables joined in to sing happy birthday to Lincoln.

Violet was excited to help Lincoln open all his presents and doubly excited that Teresa brought her a new coloring book.

Happy Birthday, Lincoln! May your mother survive the terrible two's!

Day 4 - We Ran Out of Tile

I thought I was 1 tile short in finishing the bathroom...but actually I'm 2 tiles short.

So it doesn't bother me that I have to buy a whole box of tile. A little change in plans. I was going to tile the bathroom closet with the less expensive tile. Now that I have to buy another box of tile to complete the bathroom, the closet has been upgraded!

Michael did all the work in the bathroom.

I finished the living area and replaced the broken tiles. Really, I didn't even get that all done. We ran out of mortar and didn't want to start another bucket. Our 5-1/2 hours of working was more than I could handle. That standing around and watching Michael lay tile is tiresome work!

I also trimmed the tile to fit around the door. Trying to get those cuts exactly right, took me almost as long as it did for Michael to tile the bathroom. No work tomorrow because of Lincoln's birthday dinner. But we'll be at it again on Wednesday!

Another Step on Tiling the Basement

Before Michal and I could continue with our tile project, we needed Jamie's help cutting the door jambs so the tile would slide under smoothly.

Jamie has any tool you might need. Going to his garage is like shopping at Home Depot. Thanks for the help, Jamie. I can hardly wait for Monday to continue with this massive project!

Build A Bear Birthday Party

In the quest to find the perfect birthday party for a 2 year old, Melissa chose inviting a few of Lincoln's friends to Build A Bear.

The first step is choosing your new friend. Build A Bear has a wide selection of not only bears, but all sorts of creatures. Lincoln chose a dog.

Violet chose a kitty cat.

Hailey chose a troll doll which was one of my favorites.

And Liam chose a dinosaur. His helmet made me think of Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs.

Then it's on to the stuffing station. The process is very interactive with the kids being able to push the pedal to control the amount of stuffing.

Next there's the heart ceremony. Each Build A Bear has a small heart inserted inside before the final stitching. You shake the heart to get it beating, rub your back so your bear has your back, kiss the heart and make a wish.

On to the washing station, even though there's no water, before you dress your pet in a wide selection of clothes, shoes and accessories.

The last step is making a personalized birth certificate. Lincoln named his dog Goofy since that's his favorite Disney character and Violet named her kitty Meow. I couldn't help but buy additional accessories of a dog and cat bed and leashes. I'm the grandmother; what would you expect.

Build A Bear supplied back packs for each of the kids to carry their friend around.

In keeping with the theme of the party, Jamie and I wore our Goofy shirts.

Since Build A Bear is at the mall and doesn't have a party room, we headed downstairs to the food court for cookie cake.

This says it all. Happy (early) Birthday Lincoln!

Basement Tile Project - Day 3

The day barely started and I was already dreading our third day of laying tile.

As Michael and I walked around the basement admiring our handiwork, we cracked a tile...

And found a couple of loose tiles. Apparently the mortar had set a little too long before we got around to laying these pieces.

But we didn't let those little set backs stop us from completing the main area of the basement. We purposely didn't lay tiles by the doors. We're waiting for Jamie to come trim the door jams.

I was real proud of myself on the cuts I made for the pieces right by the stairs.

Just to prove Michael wasn't the only one working, I had him take a picture of me laying tile.

While I cleaned up, Michael prepped the area so we could replace the tiles we cracked. Some of this was my fault for not pressing down hard enough. Some of the fault can be placed on the slight unevenness of the floor.

I thought it was funny that we appear to have as much mortar on our clothes as there is on the floor. Even though I'm spending the rest of the evening recovering (it takes longer each day) I'm extremely impressed by the beauty of our work. Now I can rest for 4 days before we start again.

Tiling the Basement - Day 2

Good golly, what have I got myself into.

Michael and I just finished for the day and I'm feeling every hour of my age. We may look happy but I had to crawl up the basement steps.

We put in another 4 hours, then had to stop. I'm hoping we get done by Christmas!