RIP Toby

Sadly we had to put our little pup Toby to sleep.  He became suddenly ill and after many tests and meds, there was nothing more we could do for him.  Fortunately, he lived to be 12 1/2 and had an awesome camping trip with us just last weekend and a couple last chances to chase and bark at some squirrels.  We will really miss that crazy old man.

Summer Projects

Of course, as summer is arriving, or at least we are hoping that it will someday (this weather sucks), Steve has switched gears and is now focusing on outdoor projects.  While it will be awesome to get some of those projects done, of course it also means that more almost finished projects get added to our to-do list.  Steve has been working his booty off digging dirt, measuring, leveling, dumping, scooping and putting in...a brick patio that is.  My brother, Ryan designed plans for our backyard several years ago and we  (or I should say Steve) is trying to finish up this "almost done" project this summer. 
Our friend, Chris, and Steve split the cost of renting a concrete cutter  2 weeks ago (which they also used to cut some concrete in the front yard (part of another almost finished project) that needed to be done in order to finish our slate path) to make a nice cut line to start the brick.  We got the brick in part from our own furnace chimney that we took out when we put in radiant floors and the rest comes from a dumpster diving trip a couple years ago.  Steve has been working on cleaning the mortar off the bricks (wet down, let sit and scrape) on and off for the last year.  
He plans to get it done over the next couple weekends and then get started on a new backyard deck, repainting some siding (after stripping and sanding) and putting in some more landscaping in the back (and front) yard.

R.I.P. Little mirror

I am happy to say that we finally have a mirror back up over our bathroom sink which means that we also have our door back up on the medicine cabinet.  Steve took off the door to strip the paint, patch holes, sand and repaint before Ben came in early April and well, as of early last week, we were still using a 5x6" mirror the we would move up and down on the shelves as we would get items out of the medicine cabinet or need to adjust for each of our heights (we have an 11" height difference). 

Our friends were in town two weeks ago and Katie accidentally dropped little mirror, cracking it in the corner and then I dropped it again, shattering it. 
With my sister coming last weekend and my parents this coming weekend (yes, my dad summited Mt. Everest and is safely home-Yea!), I told Steve that we needed it done by the next wave of guests.  It took him most nights during the week but it is done and looks amazing.  It even smoothly opens and closes now that layers of paint have been removed. 
Rejuvenation stopped selling the reproduction hinges that we wanted but I was lucky enough (with the help of my friend Chris) to find a polished nickel pair in salvage that was still nice and shiny and then purchased some new slot screws from Rejuvenation.   We already had the nob-a gift from friend Chris when we first moved into our house.