Addition update...flooring...

We really hadn't done much work in the addition until recently when Peter started installing the wood floor. That was yet another challenge, not as much the installation of the floor but rather locating the wood. It was beginning to seem that we were the only ones still using real wood flooring rather than pre-fab stuff.
The place we got the wood from before didn't have any in stock and they didn't know when they would be doing another run, we were looking for 3-1/4 inch white oak flooring. We contacted a number of places but no one had the amount we needed and the amount we needed wasn't enough for them to do a run just for us. We did locate some in Pennsylvania but with the delivery cost it would have been really expensive. We finally located a place in Ruckersville that had the flooring and we make arrangements to have it delivered.
When the wood was delivered we looked at it, Peter helped carry it in, it looked really nice, very good quality. They stacked all the wood in the addition, Peter opened the bundles to spread the wood out a little and then we waited for the wood to acclimate to the house. The following week he started to install the flooring. He was planning to start in the kitchen area where we had torn the wall out. We wanted to get that flooring down so that it wasn't such a trip hazard. As part of the prep work Peter ripped out existing strips of flooring so that he could tie in the new flooring. However, when he went to install the new flooring it was too narrow! The new flooring was 3 inches wide instead of 3-1/4. There was just no way to make it work in the kitchen area so he moved on to the addition. The flooring in the addition was going to have to run the opposite direction of the existing house flooring because the floor joists in the addition run opposite of the house. Peter put a threshold at the beginning of the hallway into the addition and started the flooring there. The flooring worked great for the addition, you don't even notice the 1/4 inch difference in width. Peter did a really good job on the flooring, it looks great and is very straight - that is important to me!  I like straight lines and right angles, my husband likes everything to curve....not like that could ever be an issue....(forced smile)
We were able to locate enough wood to finish the kitchen at a lumber mill in Winchester. I took the kids up there one day and picked that up, I don't recommend taking two toddlers to a lumber mill...they found it entertaining but I'm sure it wouldn't meet most peoples idea of a "safe" playground.  I was very glad to get the kitchen floor put back together before anyone got hurt!  It is kind of hard to walk on a floor where every other 3 inch strip is missing!

helping daddy install the flooring

Miss A making some marks for daddy

one last measurement

Wythe playing in the sawdust

'til next time...

Reading...Ellen Crosby

"The Chardonnay Charade"

This is the 2nd book in Crosby's Wine Country Mystery Series. I first picked up the series because of the titles, who can resist titles that are named after wine!  But the series further interested me because it is set locally and mentions many places I am familiar with.

As a mystery it is not my favorite series but it is a very enjoyable, light read and I look forward to reading more!

'til next time...

My little mess maker...

My daughter is my mess maker, oh my son makes messes too but not like my daughter. She is sneaky, she disappears and by the time you realize she is missing she has completely unloaded a cabinet/drawer/laundry hamper...you name it!  That seems to be her favorite occupation, unloading things, although at times she does like to reload as well. 

One of her recent tricks is to pull all of the tissues out of the tissue box, tear them into shreds and then stuff the pieces back into a box. At first glance you would never know that something was wrong until you reach for a tissue and pull out a piece that is actually smaller than your nose, then you pull out another shred....and another....till eventually you have enough shreds of tissue to hopefully wipe your nose without getting your fingers wet.

We don't have locks on our kitchen cabinets so that is fun for her!  Some days I don't mind her pulling out the pots and pans and plastic containers but other days you get really tired of reloading cabinets. I have put the food cabinet off limits, I think the first or second time she poured rice all over the floor I decided that was just too much fun for all parties involved! The funny thing is her older brother gets really upset by this behaviour. he tells her to stop making messes and tells me that she needs to "go to the corner". It is funny to see a 2-1/2 year old trying to set the rules for a 15 month old!

unloading the trash bags

"what??"

'til next time...