Painting the Laundry / Utility Room

While Reg is finishing the last bits and pieces of the kitchen cabinets I have started on the painting of the Utility / Laundry room. There is so much prep work - which is no fun at all. The walls have to be sanded and vacuumed first, then painted with "Kilz It" so that the paint can adhere to the vinyl wall paper and foam ceiling. Here I am painting over the "Kilta It" on the ceiling with "Ceiling White". Sydney and I picked out a nice green color - but Reg didn't like it - so I had it tinted to a different shade - still no success with Reg - then I added a pint of white to the gallon - Reg says he will live with it. They really know me well at the Home Depot Paint department. Yes - The pictures tell it all - I am doing a balancing act on the Ladder and the Washer and Dryer. Yesterday I fell on a paint bucket - what a mess to clean up - Short, plump Grandmas can really do a number on a plastic paint bucket. Yes, I do use a small roller - I don't have the strength to hold up a big roller without trembling - so the little roller is perfect for me.

Thursday Janet Pops in to Arizona

I was sorting out boxes and trying to organize wall cabinets (day after day, I am never moving again) when Janet called. She had just flown in to the new Gateway Airport from Washington State where she had been taking photos. We met at Superstition Springs and she treated me to Pizza and we gabbed and gabbed. Then she was off again. I asked a young man to get our picture.

Easter Sunday

Even Grandma got up early to go with Grandpa to Rob's house to watch the Avery and Audrey hunt for Easter Eggs, followed by a wonderful brunch whipped up by Chef Robert. The kids kept missing the eggs hidden in the Lime Tree, they were concentrating on ground level. And - Audrey and Avery found 2 of the strawberries were already ripe so they picked them for us all to taste. There were even Easter eggs in Pappa's Tomato Plants. Grandpa put Rabbit Ears on audrey in the last picture.

Good Friday with Grandkids

Good Friday I got to spend all day with Avery and Audrey and Kylee came over for a couple of hours too. Audrey had a tea party with her stoneware cups. We had tiny Carrot Cookies and Italian Bunnys & Chicks cookie cut outs from AJs. Avery and Audrey love playing Power Ranger Ninjas. Look at how fast they move - the camera can't catch them - they are a blur of speed. We played Hide and seek, sometimes in teams, and we played UNO. We also built snakes with dominos and then castles to knock down.

Last nights Disaster and last nights Success

Reg got off early yesterday so he started right in on continuing work on the kitchen. I was moving stuff and clearing the work table ( AKA the tempory Kitchen Counter table) and I tripped on one of the cartons on the floor and fell on a cabinet that Reg had put together but we hadn't wanted - it wasn't in our plan, we couldn't figure out how we had gotten it - and we were waiting to take it back to IKEA to get our partial refund - anyway, it crashed over onto 2 drawers I had just built and the back split pretty badly - so no it's no longer a concern to take back for a refund.
Reg built the drawered base cabinet that goes next to the refrigerator. Boy was that tricky. The directions jump from 1,2,3, to 10 !!!! But, as we opened the boxes for the small drawers, then the big drawers, we found directions 4 & 5, then 6 & 7, and on a strange piece of wood - wrapped in clear plastic that looked like a too fat shelf was direction 8, and a plastic wrapped long retangle pole had direction number 9 and direction 10 in the orginal booklet of the cabinet. There is a lot of detective work in building your own IKEA kitchen. We were also hesitant to open the packages because, although you can still return them, you get less money for the return of opened packages. As you can see from the picture of the drawered cabinet - it turned out great. Reg figured out how to do all the adjustments so the drawer fronts fit perfectly and they use those auto closer gadgets beautifully.

From the Top Down

Reg/Grandpa is almost finished with the top cabinets and now is finishing asembly of the base cabinets to be sure they will all fit correctly.

Sunday Morning

5:30 am (Good Grief - what Am I Doing up at this hour ?? ). Here's Reg with his Sunday paper. Today, in addition to his banana, I cut him up a plate of oranges from our tree for his breakfast. It was a little wet to pick them but well worth it.