Feeling Blue?

We all have our vulnerabilities and weaknesses. One of mine is getting into a bit of a funk in the winter. It's nothing serious really, but it's kind of a bummer (haha).

Out of curiosity, I googled the origin of the phrase "feeling blue" to see where it came from. After all, one could think of blue as a soothing color and feeling blue could then mean something like feeling peaceful.

But, when I saw the origin of the phrase, it makes sense.

I found the following explanation on a navy terminology website.

"If you are sad and describe yourself as "feeling blue," you are using a phrase coined from a custom among many old deepwater sailing ships. If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port."

Losing a comrade at sea- yeah that's pretty much of a downer and a ship bearing a blue lag and coming into port sounds pretty ominous too. It fits.

I know I miss working outside in my garden or working on house projects, which really dies down this time of year. I also tend to turn inward and find fault in what I am or am not doing in my life. The good thing is I know I am doing this and so I don't take it so seriously, but it still eats at me a bit.

I've been getting a bit more involved with our local Aldermanic election too, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand I meet neighbors and learn more about the issues. On the other hand, I see the meanness in politics even at a local level and it saddens me.

Part of what Steve and I are trying to create with our home is a sanctuary to retreat to. The times Steve and I are working side by side on a project all day on a Saturday, these are some of the happiest times I feel. Just being in the moment and just us and our dogs and our building. Our little world I guess.

Nostalgia...well, not quite

It's getting to be tax time, so Steve and I spent a few hours Sunday categorizing and sorting through all the receipts and invoices from the work that we did in 2006. Suffice it to say, there was ALOT of paper to sort through. Fortunately, we had managed to keep a level or organization through the process so we were not bad off at all.

Looking over all the invoices since paid and done with, I was reminded of just how much work we had done last year. It was alot. It was exciting. It was exhausting. It was, of course, more work than we thought it would be. Nerves frayed and tempers flared at times, but we survived to tell the tale.

And I found myself reliving some of the excitement and gratification that comes from big projects like we had going on last summmer. I found myself getting just a little hungry for the next big project.

The wheels starting turning about how much I want our basement finished off. Of course, the fact that Steve and I basically spent all day Saturday down there -him installing lathe and me weatherstripping 4 windows and cleaning out cobwebs- didn't help ease my growing urges.

I even started thinking that most dangerous of thoughts, "What can I do to move this project forward?" Now, I knew I was in trouble. I'm now scheming how I can come up with the funds to have the asbestos down there abated as soon as possible.


Now really, this is a good thing. For if Steve and I are to start working on anything down there on a regular basis, removing that dangerous element from the basement seems a wise move and one we will probably make.

But as for a total overhaul of our basement, there is only one thing that can save an obsessive project monger/house restorer such as myself from my own self. Lack of cash.

We will not be up for a big expense like that for a while, unless something dramatically changes in our finances.

In the meantime, we can do things little by little and bit by bit. Steve is repairing the plaster ceilings in a few places to make the rooms solvent. We don't need to live with holes in the ceiling for 5 years after all.

And we'll have the asbestos properly abated and I can work on things in the basement and not worry about cancer so much.

Otherwise, here are the projects we are planning to work on for the rest of winter:

Stripping the den/basement door and refinishing, Building out the pantry, correcting our swinging door installation, installing a few threshholds.

Furniture-wise, Steve is planning to make some new bed rails for a headboard my Mom bought. He's making them out of walnut to match the headboard. He is also going to make a stand to hold a large model boat for my Dad. And then, after he's done woodworking for others, the next item up is (for now) a plate rack for our kitchen.

This should keep us busy enough for a while...

Santa's Coming

I can't let the holiday go by without wishing all the housebloggers that continue to inspire and amaze a very Merry Christmas. And of course, to anyone who reads about us and our antics here.

I hope everyone does exactly what we are all supposed to do on the holidays, put your feet up and RELAX.

Happy Holidays to all!

from,

Steve & Jocelyn

Quite Strange

I was walking through our dining room today and noticed this vase of mums from the garden. They were the last of the flowers and I cut them for Thanksgiving. Mums tend to last a while.

What struck me as strange was that everything outside is now completely and utterly dead. We got several inches of snow this week and things have gotten decidedly colder. Overnight all the remaining growing things just dropped dead on the spot.

Yet here I have this little bunch saved from Jack Frost. How long will they last?

Closure

I have been somewhat remiss on blogging lately. It's probably due to the change in seasons and having such an all-involving project as the 2nd floor winding down to completion. Believe it or not, we still have a few things to do up there.

Steve installed the stairway railing this weekend and it was a real bear of a project. We used a drill attachment with a buffing pad to buff the grout haze off the bathroom tile. One of those things our contractor should have done, but we didn't notice it until he was gone. It was kind of a "rats!" moment when we realized that and as you can see we procrastinated it for a while.

I worked on cleaning up the basement more and various small and sundry tasks. All that remains to be done upstairs is to clean and wax the bathroom floor and replace the broken mirror in the medicine cabinet. Oh, and we still need to break down the drying rack in the garage.

It's amazing how many little things we had on our punch list. Everything from polyurethaning window sills and shelving to caulking the holes around the radiator pipes to installing a paper towel holder to installing a dimmer switch and on and on. Steve kept adding to it. He's really a perfectionist and he sometimes suffers for it. I know he's really glad to be done with this project. I was over it 3 weeks ago!

Anyway, I have some great news to report and that is that we have found our tenants and they signed the lease on Tuesday! They will be moving in mid-December. They really seem to appreciate the apartment and we are hoping it will work out well. I have a good feeling and I suspect that karma-wise we are due for a better experience than the last one.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Getting Back to Normal

At the end of May, we moved Steve's office from the basement to our dining room for the post replacement. Truth be told, I never liked him working down there. We have asbestos piping still and I felt relieved having him out of there.

The dining room got even more cluttered when we moved everything out of our den (for gutting) and into it as well. It was one of those cases where you kind of have a pathway through a room and no longer have a room. It was kind of embarrassing to me so I never posted a photo of the mess. The picture here was taken on a good day, when our dining room table was clear of any clutter.

This weekend we got our dining room back. We kind of need it for Thanksgiving, it was just in time. The table in the corner is only a temporary side table for Thanksgiving. We had to keep my desk there also because of limited space in the den. Eventually, we are hoping to build a longer desk in the den and fit my workstation there also. Or maybe I'll get a laptop and we won't need this desk anymore!

We moved Steve's office into the den. We still need to install picture molding and hang pictures in there and some of the furniture etc... is only temporary, but it's not too bad for a temporary solution.


Things feel alot more organized now and I'm breathing easier.

Update on 2nd floor etc...

Last weekend, Steve & I worked on installing the stairwell railing. He used manual Jorgenson miter saw to cut the angles. And he installed the hardware. He stained it today and will poly the railing tomorrow.

I cleaned the front entry floor(see left) with an abrasive disc attachment on a drill and Comet. I got up the stains and paint residue, but I didn't want it too clean. After all, it's 100 years old and it shouldn't look brand new.

The only trick to this project was that I had to paper off all the walls and doors because the stuff splatters everywhere.

We also showed the apartment to a couple of youngsters and they absolutely loved it. It's a guy and girl and they've been friends since high school and now are out of college and 23 years old and moving to the city from the burbs.

I had my "quiet building" talk with them and told them some about some of our previous tenants bad behavior. Their eyes got very wide and they were sympathetic. They said they are computer nerds and the only noise they might make would be video games and they would turn them down if asked. I liked them.

We were trying to avoid younger people because they can be more loud we think, but they seem okay and we are willing to give them a try.

They haven't signed a lease yet, but probably will soon. I will be so relieved to have this task accomplished and am hoping for the best.