My memories of you
are like the sweetest smile
in the midst of ones deepest depression.
like golden laughter
ringing out on my worst possible day.
Being near you
is as familiar and warm
as a steaming cup of cocoa
after a tiresome day of play in the blustery snow.
You are the raging fireplace of my heart.
Your arms embrace,
the ones I yearn for every moment
of everyday and every night.
All I need to see me through
whatever may block my path.
You are Love.
The light of my life.
Happy Valentines day
from the depths of my soul.

© Misty A. Roff

The renovations have slowed down a bit lately as regular work has taken over.  I start teaching this week (where has the summer gone?) and so have been prepping for that, whilst Rick has been working overtime doing computer-related stuff.  One thing that has not been working overtime is our lawnmower (did you like that segue? )

Although the lawn mower almost brand-spanking new -  we only bought it back in March and it has less than 10 riding hours on it – we’ve had to return it to the manufacturer to have it worked on.  Rick started using the mower and after a bit it stopped cutting.  When he inspected underneath, he noticed that the transaxle has a bunch of stress fractures.  Not good.  So while our lovely new mower is having plastic surgery, the dog run in our back yard currently look this:

and this

Don’t judge.  Luckily, it’s just the dog part of the yard that looks like this – we managed to get most of the lawn (the main bits that the neighbors can see) done before it conked out. We’re working on getting a loaner mower whilst ours is being repaired, so hopefully soon we’ll have a less “junglified” yard for the dogs.  In the meantime, I guess Rick is just going to have to get his wacker out.  Weed wacker, peeps.  Keep it clean

We’ve been making really good progress this week on our library header.  On Monday, I posted this video showing the crucial moment we removed the supporting 2×4 beams, thus revealing our new header.  Where once there was a wall, there is now space glorious space.

What I didn’t mention in detail in the video is the steps we took to make sure that the 20 feet expanse of wall was properly supported.  We installed a double header to fully ensure the attic floor boards above (which in turn support the roof) were being held in check.  Each header was made by sandwiching 2×8′s with wafer board. Both headers were joined together using these 1/2″ x 6″ hex bolts, secured with 1/2″ washers and nuts.

One of our future renovation plans is to convert the attic space into a guest suite (bedroom + bathroom).  So we wanted to be 200% sure that both spaces would be properly supported. When we performed the “stress test”, i.e. Rick and I both vigorously jumping up and down on the attic floor, there was a slight bit of movement on the library header.  After much discussion, we decided it would be better for the long term structural safety of the library and future attic-conversion that the long 20 foot expanse was a bit more supported.  So, we installed a support post… 

Next up was sheetrocking all the wood.  It didn’t take all that long to measure and cut the sheetrock and attach it to the walls with screws (we find screws better than nails as they are less likely to pop back out and damage the sheetrock). The sheetrock was mudded, left to set for a day or so…

and then sanded.  Hehe…

No, Rick doesn’t have a psoriasis problem, nor a cocaine habit.  He is also not trying out for the part of “Ghost of Christmas Past” in the local adaption of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.  Don’t you just love getting down and dirty.  For the sake of DIY, I mean .

I love my husband.  Insert gratuitous picture here:

Wishy woo. I married him because of his body mind DIY abilities.  My grandmother constantly reminds me how lucky I am because he saves me so much money.  You know, in gigolo fees.  Oh yeah, and not having to hire a plumber, electrician, or general contactor during our house makeover. What can I say? He is multi-talented.

When I left to visit my family in the UK for 9 weeks, I left him a to-do list, written on some old whiteboard we had hanging around from my PhD days:

Ok, I didn’t expect him to do ALL of this stuff.  Just most some of it.  I thought of the list as a good way to focus his attention on specific projects around the house.  You see, I know my husband.  Over the past 10 years of being together, I think we both have a pretty good handle on each other’s great and not-so-great characteristics.  Rick tends to have a little bit of “need-a-bit-of-get-up-and-go-itis” (aka “my-get-up-and-go-has-got-up-and-gone”), coupled with a smidge of DIY Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.).  I wasn’t too concerned about the former – Rick usually likes to keep really busy while I’m away as it makes the time go faster. I was a little worried about the DIY A.D.D.  In the past, he has had a tendency to start new projects… and there are many around our house … rather than finishing old ones.  Seeing as we outlined our renovation goals for 2010, I thought it would be useful to focus his more-than-capable DIY skills on these projects, rather than starting a new one.

It was a great idea. In theory. 

Two days after arriving in the UK, he informed me that he was working on a surprise project.  I need to mention for anyone that doesn’t know us as a couple, typically I am the pragmatist and Rick is the creative dreamer.  So a new project can range anywhere from “surprise, I installed a new faucet!”  to  ”surprise, I ripped down the garage and am building a new 3 story extension!”.

So, needless to say the surprise project was  not on the previously mentioned to-do list.  After a few days of working on said project, he finally let me in on the secret.

Yep, he’s sanding and restaining our stairs! The orangey pine-ish (that’s a word, right?) color is being replaced with a lovely deep chocolate walnut-ish color.  And eventually those white wooden spindles will be replaced with wrought iron ones.

So far, he’s done most of the sanding and has stained the rails…

I think it’s going to look fantastic! When it is finished. So, I guess we’ve just added another project to our 2010 to-do list

I was super excited to get a F1.8 50mm lens for Christmas this year (so excited that I broke it out a little early to try it out).  However, much to my disapointment, I haven’t had much time to try the sucker out.  What can I say, I’m a busy girl. 

Rick did manage to snap a couple of adorable photos of my niece, Grace, when we were in the UK.  My favorite pic is this candid shot of her pulling a funny face:

Rick also took a pretty cool picture of my brother’s fiber optic Christmas tree.

I could really see this sparkly and abstract photo being printed out and hung as art in our home.  One of these days, anyway. You know, when we actually have walls to hang art on.

I (Rick) wanted to write a post about my partner for life. I don’t usually add any words to this blog, just some of the labor that completes the work that Amy is always posting. I have heard a lot of comments lately about how hard I work trying to get these rennovations done on the weekends and the evenings during the week. I just wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I don’t do all of the labor that goes into these projects. It is true that I work hard (when Amy can get me motivated to work on them), but she is the real trooper when it comes to getting things done.  I add in a lot of the technical know-how to complete things, but Amy puts a lot of her elbow grease and her designing skills into every project. After all, amongst other things, she is the one that tiled the whole bathroom downstairs. Once I show her how to use a power tool, she does not hesitate to use it and she is great at all of the things she attempts.

Amy teaches 4 Psychology courses during the week and she is very busy every evening getting her lectures, exams and grading completed, as well as, trying to answer all the questions that her students may have. She also works as a research assistant for her Ph.D. Supervisor in which she is sometimes busy with doing loads of statistics. Even with all of this, she still finds time to motivate me in assisting her complete the DIY stuff around the house. I keep trying to get her into the pictures of the work she does around the house, but she refuses to let me put her on the blog. So, she’s going to be mad when she sees I have posted this message, plus this picture of us.

After hearing all the comments all the time about how good of a job I have done working on something, I have realized that maybe I am just the luckiest man on earth. I feel this way because I have a lovely wife who is extremely intelligent, dedicated (to me and to her work), passionate (about me and her work), loving, caring and one of the hardest working people that anyone could ever meet. Who is not afraid of rolling up her sleeves and getting elbow deep into any kind of work that is necessary.

And I am the lucky git that she chose to call her partner for life.

In the words of Bridget Jones, today I am feeling a “smug married”. In that, I am married to the most wonderful man and I am smug about it (not in the Bridget Jones-esque sense of a person who looks upon single, or separated or divorced friends with a sort of condescending pity). When I woke up to go to work the other morning, my darling husband had left me a little present:

Not only had he taken the time to make me a PB&J sandwich so I could eat breakfast on the way to work (most mornings I forget breakfast), but he also wrote me a love note on it.  Food and love in one neat little package. What more can a girl want? So my dear husband Rick, I say thank you.  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for these gestures that show me you are thinking about me. Thank you for making the last 9 years of our life together the best of my life.  I love you too, with all my heart. PB&J right back atcha.

With Amy being away in England, one of the first projects I have tackled is switching out our thermostats. The original thermostats that were in the house were the simplest form of digital thermostat available. They had the switch to turn the fan on auto/off/on, a switch to turn it to heat/off/cool , a button to turn the temperature up, and finally a button to turn the temperature down. Where this is a step up from the old coil thermostats it still did not allow for climate control.

We’ve decided to install a digital touchscreen thermostat by Honeywell (model RTH7600B / RTH7600D) – one on each floor of the house.  This thermostat allows for programming 4 high and low temperatures for each day and 7 days a week can all be different. The ”Smart response technology” continually adjusts the heating/cooling of the house so that the home stays comfortable and is adjustable according to the programming you have set. So if you set a high temperature of 70 degrees, the Air Conditioner will automatically come on when the temperature reaches 70. If you set a low temperature of 60 degrees then the Heater will automatically kick in to make sure the temperatures stay above 60 degrees. With the backup battery the settings are always maintained even during a power outage. Plus, the digital touchscreen is a nice feature, making setup and programming simple.

These thermostats regularly sell for around $100.00 at Home Depot or Lowes. We found them on Amazon at the bargain price of $59.88. At almost half price, it is like buying one and getting one free. These thermostats should also save us money by being energy efficient.  If programmed as directed, the manufacturers claim that the thermostat will save up to 33-percent on annual heating and cooling costs (depending on the geographic region you live in and your energy usage). And it is ENERGY STAR rated in recognition of its energy saving capability.

First task today was to finish the trench for the landscape lighting cable.  I was relaxing, I mean, supervising Rick from the comforts of our porch on our new rocking chair (another great bargain found on sale at Big Lots), when I spied two visitors just across from our front lawn.

In the first picture, you can just about see two deer on our neighbor’s drive.  Luckily, I had my camera to hand and snapped a couple of photos. Seeing that I needed the telescopic lens, I ran inside, changed the zoom and took the second close-up.  I guess this is one of the joys of country living – having such fab wildlife in your front yard!

 

Anyhoodles, after that little bit of excitement, Rick and I got on with finishing the landscape lighting. Following the steps we outlined here, we now have fully functional and maintainably tuft-free lights.  Now all we have to do is figure out how to get Number Five out of our yard!