Around the tudor...

We are entering week 8 of this bloody strike.  Travis is going to test and hopefully interview with another company this week.  Fingers crossed that something will happen, because Travis doesn't do idle time very well.  In saying that he has not been idle at all since this whole thing started.  Thankfully he has had a steady stream of small woodworking jobs.  He is happiest in his workshop, so along with making a little money his mind is occupied.

The laundry room is finished except for the tile on the opposite wall above the sink and washer...

Travis is usually here in the garage working on something...

Hunter celebrated his 14th birthday...

  It's amazing to me that just 13 years ago he looked like this...

like father, like son...

We have kept up with our traditional Tuesday night date night with these two...

Rodeo and Blake Shelton

 We celebrated World Down Syndrome Day...

at our GHFEDS party...

Created a new joke in the family about what it feels like to kiss my husband...

wokka, wokka, wokka...

Spring has sprung in Texas...

Back in February I was elected to our HOA board.  I was elected as VP, so my neighbor gave me this comic...

Hopefully this next week will bring an end to the strike or a new opportunity for Travis.   Good juju...

Keeping busy...

This strike time has been interesting to say the least.  I have been given a glimpse into what life may look like when Travis retires, and all I can say is that we are going to need a Reader's Digest sized calender and a clock.  We go to bed when we are tired and wake up when the light comes into our room each morning.  We yawn, kiss good morning and then inevitably one of us asks the other what day/date it is.  It's very surreal not living on a real work schedule.  It's also weird not keeping track of what time it is as the day goes on.  We eat when we are hungry, not when our "lunch" time is, and the result is that we have both lost weight.

Travis and I are keeping busy with a steady stream of handyman and woodworking projects.  I do the design consult/painting and then Travis does his woodworking magic.  It's not our usual paycheck, but it's enough for us to get by.  We are very lucky to have some skills to fall back on, not everyone affected by this strike can say the same.

This is one of our neighbor's kitchens- they had a HUGE microwave over the stove, but wanted a shelf for spices...

Painted this piece for a client in ASCP Coco...

Client piece painted in ASCP Paris Grey and Graphite...

Stair rails in ASCP Graphite- I love these painted!

 Travis is also working on our laundry room build.  He finished up all of the trim this morning, so now it's time to pooky, sand and paint...

It is nice having Travis around to work on math with Hunter.  He is neck deep into fractions and Travis is using his woodworking projects to let Hunter use his fraction knowledge in a real life way...

We live in home improvement stores...

Hunter is doing okay- if he's worried about his upcoming GI tests he doesn't let on.  He will turn 14 next Thursday and I keep thinking that at any moment he will outgrow the "I love you mom"'s and the "Your the best mom ever"'s, but he's not.  This guy is such a love bug...

 Gets it from his dad...

Yes, that is a five week strike beard.  I am married to a mountain man.  Or a Yeti...

This is one of his best friends, Dustin.  Also sporting the strike beard...

My older sister, Beverly, and her husband Mike came down from NJ to visit.   They brought their 7 month old puppy, Millie.  I fell in love with that dog on my last trip to NJ.  She is such a sweet heart...

We also had a lengthy discussion about the science behind this dress...

I'm kidding.  We all pretty much agreed it was ugly.


SO proud of our Anne, she was hired on by a high end salon and is headed to State Cosmetology competition at the end of the month.  Goal driven and very passionate about what she does...

So that has been our past few weeks.  Staying busy and trying to stay positive.  It is so true about the "when it rains it pours" saying.  My bank account was hacked into and Travis' truck is having issues- but we are going to be okay.  The sun is going to peek out soon and we will be better for it.

Have a great weekend!

Laundry room progress...

Since Travis has this chunk of time off due to the strike we decided to go ahead and finish out the laundry room.   This is a budget friendly redo and we didn't end up using some of the materials we had originally wanted.  The sink we were searching for never materialized, so we are going with a standard plastic utility sink, but we will frame it out and skirt it and I'm sure it will turn out just fine.

this was the sink we ordered from rejuvination.com but it was just too shallow.  They have the most amazing customer service though, and took it back with no hassle!

We started out with some planked wood...

The original walls were cinderblock.  This is the fire wall between the town homes, it has a subway-ish look to it, but I wanted something a little cleaner looking.  We decided to plank this wall along with the ceiling...

This is the ceiling planked.  There will be three small light fixtures in this room- one over the dryer and two over the washer/sink area.

Travis used 2x3's studs to create a base for the planks to attach to.

The planks are up, but a trim piece will be needed at the top to hide the not so straight wall.  Older home walls, heck even newer home walls, are just never straight!

Yesterday he worked on the dryer side of the room.  To the left will be the utility closet, similar to the one we built in our last laundry room...

To the right of the cabinet is the dryer.  We had to split up the washer and dryer because orignially the dryer was vented into the house.  Yes, INTO the house.  The only way to correctly run the vent to the outside was up and onto the flat roof over the garage.  This meant moving the dryer to the opposite wall.

I ended up selecting some lights from Barn Light Electric.  I've got several of their lights and they are my go to for style, function and price point.  At $30 a light this was a good choice...

The walls and cabinet will be painted out in SW White Duck with SW Iron Ore on the table tops over the washer and dryer.  Originally we were going to have the large slab of soapstone cut for this space, but given the strike and not wanting to spend extra money, we are just going to go with wood.  This can be changed later if we want to.  

So there you have it.  This little laundry room will always be known as the room the strike of 2015 built ;)

An interior window awning...

I'm the vision on our diy team.  I could see this piece before it was built.  Sara's window needed a bit of visual interest, and I knew that adding this striped awning would give it just that.

Travis started out using 1/2 inch cabinet grade plywood.  He measured the window and decided to come out 8 inches from the wall for the lower part of the awning and 3 inches out from each side of the window.  We wanted it to hang out a bit, but not block a lot of light from her room.  The side pieces were cut four inches at the top and eight inches at the bottom to give it a slope.

Travis used a 2x4 on the top piece (brace) to give it a bit more support in hanging it.

Once the sides were attached to the front, he cut another piece of wood for the very bottom of the awning front.  Then used a template and his skillsaw to cut the scallops.

The entire piece got a good sanding...

Then it was time to tape and paint.  We wanted to give it black and white stripes, so Travis taped off each piece lined up with the 4 inch scallops...

And this is the result...

Travis used four inch screws to secure the awning to the rafters.  He wanted to be sure that this piece didn't come crashing down...

I may add a fun little rug to her room, but for now this room is "finished"...