Insulation!!

Our initial plan was to do this ourselves.

We planned on spending an entire day blowing this stuff in.

We priced, figured out we needed to probably rent a U-Haul to get it all here .... all that good stuff.

We still have some more valuable than gold these days N95 masks that would keep our lungs safe.

And then hubby talked to someone who knew someone.

I have to tell you that I would recommend these guys in 13 seconds flat. 

They were here at 7:30 a.m. and done at 9:30. 

Four guys spraying while we watched and giggled. I think I can safely use the word giggled. 

The price was a no brainer for us and it was pure delight to watch that insulation fly up that hose into the attic.

And then they were done. 

13 inches of beautiful insulating fluff covered the attic that had become hubby's second home for months.

We spent that afternoon and the next day waiting for the air conditioner to kick on. Mind you, it was a cooler week which we took into consideration. We did have one week where the temps went over 100 and the a.c. ran ALL afternoon. Now ... it wasn't kicking on for HOURS!

I might be the only person in the Valley of the Sun anxiously awaiting my APS bills this summer. This house has thick block exterior walls, large patios, new air conditioner and ducting, new insulation. Next months electric bill should be a good assessment of the benefit of all this work, as long as the outside temps stay pretty much true to last years. Do it once and do it right and hopefully it takes care of us well into retirement. That's the hope!

If I could do cartwheels .... I'd be flipping them all over the place!

If you want a recommendation for the company ... drop me a line and I'll get it to you!

Patio prepping

Another pre-insulation project that needed to be finished was this.
This is the front patio of our home. Deliciously long and shields the house from afternoon sun in a beautiful way.
The patio ceiling sheetrock and was falling down in places. The plan was to match the back patio which as completed last year on Memorial Day weekend!

We had an estimate for someone other than us to do the work. Lifting huge sheets up on the ceiling is not an easy job for hubby and myself. Then COVID-19 hit this country, work slowed down and we started counting pennies. It didn't make sense to blow in insulation with completing this first. We could have blocked the access from attic to patio to keep insulation from blowing out but that didn't make much sense. The insulation HAD to be blown in before it gets hot. Ach!!!!

So we come up with a plan and tackled it ourselves. This part was quick ... bulk trash pickup was coming and we filled that side yard with the bagged ceiling.

Seriously .... isn't this patio just where a person needs to live life?

Then came the fun part. Occasionally we hit a snafu with the measuring business, but this kind of stuff ensued. Make puzzle pieces ....

Say a prayer and tuck it into place. YES!!! 

Note the little white box sitting on the top of the pillar? Electrical oulet! No more extension cords hanging for outdoor lights!! 

Another really bright feature of the placement of that outlet is that it is weather protected. Alexa, or some other app on our phones, runs most of our lights. I can tuck the little dot up there and keep it safe from kids' prying fingers and monsoon storms.

We do have lights on the front of the house wall, but I'm a fan of softer mood lighting myself.

The problem of lifting heavy sheets was still not solved. Hubby is not an "ask for help" kind of person. Nope! Going to get it done and going to do it ourselves. Advice? Yes, that he will ask for. Muscle help? Nope.

After doing three or four sheets with the physical muscle kind of work, he put his thinking cap on and came up with this idea. Seriously ingenious.

Hinges from an extra door that is sitting in the garage attached this large frame device to the beam. At the bottom of it, on each 2x4 was a screw that would hold the sheet in place. We would place the piece of sheeting on the "frame" and, followed by an easy lift up (as you'll note in the next photo), nudge it into place and secure.

Being spend thrifts, he used every bit of the frame to make blocking needed so that the edge pieces could be placed.

The entire ceiling was sheeted, there might be a wee bit of insulation escape space but virtually none.

Why are we sheeting the ceilings instead of using t&g?
I wanted matching patio ceilings and we are talking a great deal of space. Tongue and groove wood would certainly be beautiful, but the cost doesn't align with our budget. To be honest, if we just waited to accumulate funds to do it that way .... none of the other projects would get done around here.

Alrighty then! Paint coming some other day.

These projects don't just happen overnite. They aren't one day deals ... they're typically worked on after a day at work or on a Saturday. They take up time, yet time that we are more than willing to give. We would rather use our time and energy creating something than hire others to do it. There are projects that we aren't capable of doing and freely admit that. Ducting, for example, was not a job for us. We will hire out what we must, but the rest ... I call it a labor of love. The satisfaction of seeing it completed is so flat out rewarding it is unbelievable!

We are ready for insulation!!!

we are preppers

No, not that kind of prepper. I sometimes wish I was, but really I'm not.

Our work in the attic was almost done the other week. There were a few things that hubby felt needed to be done before insulation was blown in. One of those was removing the only return that had existed in the house with the old air conditioning/evap system. It sat in the ceiling of this small hall space. The ceiling had been lowered to pretty much door height to accommodate all the ducting running above.

Old ducting was removed and is awaiting bulk trash pick up. We place all this good stuff in our side yard at the street every quarter. The metal collecting guys will scarf it up real quick and the city will haul away what is left. Saves so many trips to the dump. With removing the ducting, we were able to raise the ceiling to 8 feet in this space!

This doorway had what, felt like, a very small arch in it. I went a little crazy with "just cut that doorway off as high as you can". That didn't last long. It got built back down to a good height, but it looks amazing! The vent hole to the right of the doorway was for the old system as well. In fact, all the old vents are removed and in the process of being retextured/painted.

This space is ready for texture and paint. I don't have a decent picture of it right now, so this is what you get until it's done ... which should be in several weeks.

"If you Give a Moose a Muffin" seems to be the way of house projects around here. Why just texture and paint this space when the other arch was going away as well? Why not do them at the same time and get it all done? Good plan. I'll share that with you later as well. The second arch is gone ... and when we get home from vacation (we are actually hopping on a plane this week!!) it will get finished.

Can you imagine the mess if this was left for after insulating? It would have been a disaster!

Check this one off the list!

To those who gave their lives

Great Sitkin Volcano welcomes you!

I made it!

Today I welcome you to the Great Sitkin Volcano on Great Sitkin Island. Her summit sits at 5,709 feet as she rises to meet the sun.  The link that is underlined and in color will bring you to learning more about her from the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Just helping you homeschooling parents out with Geography and Science class today.



Photos can be very deceiving when there is nothing for size comparison. This helicopter .... it looks like a miniature mosquito!




From here on in I am going to cheat a little. 

I am not going to hike down this mountain. I'm going to hop from the peak of this one to the same level of the next mountain. That in itself is a feat! It's a 501 foot hop over to the next volcano. 

See you there!

Flat land hiking for Arthritis

Last week my dear friend was over for an evening visit. We were discussing healthy eating, exercising and how it is a challenge to accomplish either one on a consistent basis. Making a plan that makes it easier achieves much greater success. She had heard/read somewhere that if one climbs stairs and does planks .. it might be all you need to do. At least it's a start!

That’s all it took. A quick walk through Google and I found I wasn’t the only one on planet Earth who was thinking of hiking mountains .. inside their own home. Check this one out! I guess we all can find different ways to deal with isolation!

We set a goal of completing a hike of Mt Everest by Labor Day because it sounded reasonable. Goals that are much too lofty just aren't going to happen. I'm only too aware of that!

Then my brain started its crazy again. What if I hiked volcanic summits in Alaska along the way?

I made a list, trying not to duplicate mountain ranges (although that was impossible!), made an Excel spreadsheet .. it calculated MY steps needed and I started. I chose to remove duplicate mountain ranges. Your science students might be overwhelmed.

I don’t have stairs in my home. What I have is a walking exercise video that at some points has you stepping high and walking forward and backward. So, in lieu of steps, I calculated my step height which is between 11 and 12 inches. This little activity does not include a quiet stroll around the outside of the house, rather it involves high stepping it the entire way .. my stair climb on flat earth. 

And then, because I have a close relationship with the not so lovely arthritis, I made the decision to summit my first peak in 4 days. After all ... today starts an entire month of arthritis business. 

This is not the peak I've chosen on this initial mission but it is the ultimate goal.

My hip might be doing a good job of playing along with me, but one of my knees decided it really wasn't crazy about it. 4 days didn't quite manage to happen.

I'll be back with my geography lesson real soon tho and I'm almost to my summit!

The desk top.

How many pins do you have on Pinterest?

I'll raise you and double that.

I wanted a desk top like one I found on Pinterest. Jari wasn't convinced that I wanted the "cracks" between the wood slices and for a moment I agreed with him. Then I went back to the original plan. This is the plan I sort of followed. We trimmed the boards down from 8 feet in length just to make them even. Otherwise, it is as close to 8 feet as possible. 

So this desk top isn't suppose to be siting like it is. I wanted either several drawer units from Ikea or one more file cabinet. Guess what? By the time I decided to just go for it and purchase the Ikea things, the store was closed and they were not shipping to Arizona. And by the time I was done building the desk I probably had spent about half of what one of those Ikea drawer units would have cost me. Not bad!

So desk top and stacking on top of what we had was the order of the weekend.

A trip to Home Depot yielded wood stuff for me and electrical stuff for hubby.

I missed taking photos of the first step but it's laid out very well in the link above. I probably added more supports than they did because I have a hubby who wants to make sure things are downright solid.

Somehow I got carried away and made some rather deep holes when countersinking the screws. Nothing that a little bit of wood filler won't fix. After the filler was dried and sanded (and let me tell you … I sanded with a belt sander and then my fabulous little round thing) both top and bottom were stained. It sat for a day and then got several coats of my favorite poly to top it off.

I'm all about Plan B. There's always a Plan B. The file cabinet got painted and went from black to white. The hardware on it went from silver to black. I really don't like spray paint. At. All. Then when I went to slide the drawers back in, I managed to nick some of the spray paint off. I'm calling it character until I come up with something different. The file cabinet is lower than the black Ikea unit, so the desk got a wee bit of propping action until I figure out something different. For now ... it works. And five years from now, it will probably still be working. 

Or ... when the world starts revolving again … perhaps I'll find another file cabinet real cheap like and have another go at spray paint! That might be far enough away that I completely forget how much I dislike the process!

The bar stool isn't in there anymore. This old back cannot handle that much bending over. Too many hours on that and my back was in straight up revolt mode. Too old for that business ... altho' the room is certainly convenient to set up a massage table!

just an explore ...

STAY HOME does not include being out in nature where you're alone. 

Unless you're in Michigan ... sorry guys!

We headed out for the day last Sunday. In retrospect, we should have gone somewhere else, but so it goes. There's always next time.

Cheez Its for Jari and coffee for me …

He may have lost me ...

I have a space in that bedroom we were working on in February.

For those who may know this house, this is the bedroom that is at the back of the house. There was one window that faced the carport which we have completely enclosed, causing fire escape issues. So, we added another window that exits to the back patio. All indirect sunlight but sunlight it is!

It isn't done done done, but it is done!

I have a place to play ... although the sewing machine has still gone to the kitchen table .. once. Will see if I eventually start sewing in here but for now .... the desk top is covered with "office" kind of stuff.

I'll share more posts with you about how I did some of these things, but the most important thing I want you all to know is that nearly everything in here was recycled. The only things that I purchased in order to put this room together were the wood for the desk top and the colorful little buckets (minus the wire handles and paint that I added from my stash) that came from Ikea for pretty much dirt cheap. Everything else ... I already had.

This wasn't my plan exactly, but I can't get the things I really wanted in this era of pandemic. Maybe someday I'll find them at a yard sale. I'll have to share Jari's office space with you sometime, but I wanted the same type of cabinet we got for him from Ikea. First I hunted everywhere and couldn't find used, then I decided I was going to buy them at Ikea ... and Ikea is closed and has no shipping to any address in Arizona. That settled it and I had to get creative. Creative ended up costing less than ONE cabinet at Ikea would have cost me. And I'm about the penny pinching thing. I'm not quite my mother-in-law penny pincher, but I like to save a nickel and get what I want.

Planners and pens and notebooks and computers and most importantly, a Wifi booster that gets me some pretty good internet connection in this room. 

And then there is color. I don't know what I need all those colored pencils for but I must have used them for something or another at some time. Paint brushes, markers, highlighters and my all time favorites ... colored ultra fine point Sharpies in every color imaginable.

He may have lost me to this room. I can't wait to add some plants and colorful works of positive inspiration to a few places. Maybe my magnetic board will become my dream board. Now ... that's an idea!

Life affected ..

Life got busy. We had a houseful of beautiful family who left as COVID-19 began its nastiness around the country. 

Parents who left with many plans, hopes and prayers from their family. They made it home safely and are back in their own familiar place of watching. Occasionally I get to hear Corona Virus jokes retold from their evening visits. They are as safe as can be. 

Children who made their way home across the country. They, too, are safe and sound in their own place. I was blessed to be able to send them with some food items and other things she wouldn’t take .. like 25 lbs of flour. 

We missed seeing friends who were in town but we had sort of quarantined our own home to keep our loved ones safe. There will be other visits .. other times. 

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. We ate at home with one dear friend who joined us. Due to sick little ones (normal sick), our family didn’t join us. We packed leftovers and delivered them for dinner instead. There will be other times for those get togethers as well. 

In the meantime, we are sort of hunkered down in our own way. A trip to the store when needed. Maybe a trip or two is something that others wouldn’t consider essential but who are they to tell me what my mental health requires. We have spent the last week working like dogs around the house. Do dogs really work? Regardless, we have been busy. I could post for months nonstop and yet I doubt I’ll find time for that. 

Until last week, we were both working. We were suppose to be in North Dakota for Easter but those plans are put off for another time as well. The airlines have been gracious in easily offering vouchers for travel. Let’s just hope the airline is still in business when I want to travel next! Because of travel plans, we had taken days off work and rather than making ourselves available for work .. we REALLY worked. If you know us .. we really did get stuff done around here. More on that later as well! The days I wasn’t scheduled off ... I had no hours at work. This coming week looks like another one of the same. No work for me. Hubby continues to work in a fashion that is safe as possible. Much of his work is done at home in a cool work space that we put together before visitors arrived. 

We have a roof over our heads, food on our table, good health and a gracious God who is watching over us. What more do we need in the middle of this chaos?

Belated Easter blessings to you and yours. I wish for you days that are peaceful, hopeful and filled with infusions of positive goodness. 

Be well my friends!

Am I the only one?

It's Friday the 13th today.
I'm planning on having a fabulous day.

Dust and diamonds

Lots, and I mean LOTS, of dust.
Kids, dirt and shovels ... at least last week it was.
This week is suppose to be rain. Let's see if we have mud.

Moments of diamonds in the rough?
Lots, and I mean LOTS, of them.

Getting me ice cream

Do you try clothes on over the clothes you're wearing?
Or do you head to the fitting room?

We did it this way. Anna got a comfy shirt and I left the one I'm wearing in the store.

I have a problem with finding clothing I like. If I wasn't such a spend thrift .. it might not be a big problem. I wear black. I wear gray. I wear jeans. I have a closet full of dress clothes, but not much in the middle. I want these pants! They look so comfy and cheap!

And ... I would need to eat lots of ice cream to make them fit.

So much for that.

I'm heading to North Dakota for Easter.
They have a thrift store that treats me well every time.
Wish me luck.

Just a swingin’

Last summer sometime, when it was croaking hot, we worked on this porch swing. I had purchased one off some online thing and it probably sat in the backyard for several years. Hubby even moved it to the new house for me. Then he told me that the wood was too shot to even hang up the swing. Well, shucks! He figured it should be able to hold the weight of several generations in one sitting. I think it does now! 

The arms were redone and the body of the swing is made of 2x4's. Seriously sturdy! We hung it out on the back patio and I never got around to finishing it up until last week.

White porch and floor paint from Sherwin Williams is my go to paint for almost anything now. Very hard drying paint for furniture and seems to last very well. The challenge is that the swing also gets rained on when weather happens here. Admittedly, that doesn't happen too often, but it does!

While laundry was spinning, or something equivalent was happening, last week, I added a bit of paint to the ends of each piece of wood. We prepainted before putting the swing together. And then it sat. Why does that happen?!

Anyway, added a wee bit of paint. Sanded some more to make all of it look a bit older than it actually is. Then came several coats of sealer. Now it should be weather proof and easily cleaned.

I know. I have a little white paint on the black metal. I did use some serious tape when I painted and it still got away from me. It will wear off over time and if it doesn't ... I really don't care.

We can still sit and swing our cares away.
Swing our babies to sleep.
Swing just because we all should spend some time on a swing.

Happy Weekend!

Little loves

Here they are!
My precious grandcharmers.

Anna rolled into town last Saturday evening after trekking across the country. We thought she was driving alone with her kids and had no clue that she had extras on her ride. Bridget had hopped in with her three littles as well!!

We have had some times of kids not getting along so well. Is it the ages of these kiddos that make togetherness a treat right now? I don't know what it is, but I love it! Sunday they were all here and it was laughter ringing everywhere. Thankfully, I have a yard that is a great place for them to play. There are 7 boys in that group and 5 are old enough to appreciate a shovel mixed with dirt.

Paisley wasn't feeling so well and was not cooperating with the attempt to get a picture of all of them.
And, of course, I didn't notice all the shadows until we were past done with the business.
God bless photographers who can make a tribe like this sit still for a minute.

Yogurt ... oh yeah, I got this!

Landscape rock, transformers and cars. 

Is there really a need for anything else in life?

I don't think you can understand the depth of my appreciation for this home of ours.

This is what I want. This is what I need.
Okay, sometimes I really just might need complete silence and other times it might just be a nap.
Other than that, what I really want is the ability for my grandchildren to play here. To be children here. To explore. To create. To live as children ought to live. Creatively and at one with the earth God gave us to use.

These three heads are the firstborns of three of our children. I share the firstborn thing with them. I wonder if they will all be alpha children. Each of them has siblings. Each of them walks by a littler one having a momentary problem/challenge and soothes. Each one will have, or already has,  frustrations galore when their projects are interrupted. Each one is going to be an example for the younger ones. They just don't know it yet.

For now, their job is to play.

Imagine how fast 20 years flies by in life.
20 years from now I'm going to sit them down in the dirt and retake this picture.