It’s that time of year again! I took a class Thursday afternoon called Autumn Gifts which introduced this string art technique. It was a neat technique and I really like the center motif which I replicated in green on our practice piece. I haven’t started the full piece yet, we just practiced all the stitches.
Class piece
I didn’t get to do any shopping this year and couldn’t make any other classes so this was my shortest celebrations experience but we’ve had such an eventful weekend that I haven’t actually been able to miss it much. i do look forward to hearing about the class my friend Sarah took and I’m hoping to have some time to work on some stitching this weekend.
No pictures from this weekend unfortunately but we did get some small things done and we had lots of family up to visit.
Friday night Mom and Dad came up for dinner. Fitz was mostly the topic of conversation and attention.
Saturday morning we got a few small things done around the house. Ryan hung the tv in the gym. Dad fixed the bathroom door latch so it would close (deja vu), then he also chiseled out the door frame of the gym so that door would latch shut as well. So we had some fully functional doors for the weekend!
Aimee and Jason came at lunch time (although both have a very bad cold right now) and we had lunch. Fitz and Jovi got to meet and kind of play (Fitz wanted to play, Jovi not so much). They were good though. PJ and Erica came a little later and after everyone settled in we headed over to my uncle’s for easter dinner.
Dinner was wonderful and it’s always great hanging out with the whole extended family. Fitz did great (although he stayed on the leash, mostly laying under the table). It was a little loud for him and I didn’t want him to mark anyplace in the house so we kept him close. Aimee was really looking miserable so she and I headed back a little earlier than everyone else. Of course on the drive home my check engine light came on (yup, could have checked it at my uncle’s if it came on during the drive there instead of home!).
Sunday was a relaxed day, after a big breakfast everyone headed home and we relaxed for the day, although Fitz did get a nice long walk too (he gets about 2 a day on average). Unfortunately sitting around watching movies all day gave me a migraine so it was an early bedtime for me and Fitz (he was tuckered out for sure).
Not going to be a lot of house progress the next 2 weeks, since we’re away both weekends and I have some sewing for my soon-to-be nephew that I need to get cracking on, plus a dog bed to make. I anticipate more house progress in May though 🙂
I was in charge of drop off for doggy daycare today, which means I couldn’t leave too early (we drop him off around 8:15). So i had some time to kill this morning and with nice weather forcasted for today and tomorrow I decided to get the deck stained! Wasn’t hard since it was already sanded, just a vacuum, then stain it.
Deck in front of door - stained!
Fitz is at daycare for the day, hopefully getting tired out and a bit more house trained (it’s hard to house train a dog that doesn’t go in our house but does in other people’s houses) 🙂 This is the first week that Fitz had his new schedule, tues and wed he had the dog walker come over to play for an hour and thurs he goes to daycare. Fridays i work from home so he should be good, i can take him out at lunch time to play and every other week his trainer will come over.
Family weekend coming up! I can’t wait to see everyone and have Jovi meet Fitz finally. Going to be interesting 🙂
And vacation is over 🙁 However we did end the vacation with a pretty productive weekend which is always good!
Saturday I got the rest of the gym and bathroom touchups painted so they are both done except for doors. Ryan continued to lay decking and got all the way to the post on the other side of the door! Even in the cold! Sarah came up for a stitch and to meet Fitz. He slept while we stitched and chatted 🙂
Around dinner time Ryan called it quits on the deck and after dinner I put together the wall hanging for my sister’s nursery (I have to applique animals still but the top is pieced now!). So very productive.
Decking across the front door now!
Sunday was a beautiful day (very warm), so we did a nice long walk and since it was my birthday we worked on the cabinet/entertainment center I want to build for the gym! We got the box cut and put together! This picture of it is actually upside down because the top will be like a counter made of poplar. We still have to make the front face (stiles/rails) for it and then a drawer and feet. Finally it will be painted. It will hold the receiver, dvd player and have a drawer.
Cabinet for the gym entertainment pieces
After a break we decided to sand the decking and get it ready to stain, of course after sanding it, it started to rain so we covered it with a tarp again until better weather 🙂 We ended our vacation with some P&P on dvd, it was a great birthday!
The week has just flown by! But not without some house progress to show however. Thursday was a day of errands, Ryan had his leadership thing in the morning so I ran errands. At lunch time we went over and picked up more decking now that it was in. Then we took Fitz to the vet (while he seems house broken at our house, he certainly still marks at other places – he peed twice at the vet) 🙂
Then we packed up and headed down to uncle mark’s for a sleepover (with Fitz). He got to meet Buddy and we kept a very close eye on him so he wouldn’t pee in the house (he did lift his leg once the rascal). He was very good however and even the car ride back didn’t seem too scary for him.
Home friday, Ryan got to work laying the new decking!
New decking down!Halfway across the front door.
While he worked on that, I puttered around the house, doing some small drywall patches in the bathroom and gym so those could be really finished. And I finished stripping the first side of the gym door, vacuumed, did laundry etc. At 1pm the trainer came over to discuss our contract and to do some training.
For the first two weeks we are working on sit, stay, come as well as how to walk on a leash properly and some relationship building (humans lead the way out of (and into) the house, he sits for food and basically anything and he only has 15 minutes to eat in the morning and night or else he doesn’t get his food. Also eye contact, we need to build his confidence by making him look at us more. We were working on most of these things already so we have seen some progress and hopefully in 2 weeks we’ll be ready for some more advanced training (sitting while there are distractions around etc), staying for longer, laying down.
The training session was very good and now I know how we should be walking him and I’m more comfortable with our long walks. Speaking of walks, the spoiled boy gets 2 long walks a day during vacation. During the week he’ll have the trainer come by twice a week to walk him as well and one day a week we’ll try out doggie day care. Spoiled! We’ll see how this goes throughout the 12 weeks of training and then re-evaluate his needs.
Anyway, today Ryan is back to the decking, I’m painting touchups and the trim around the gym door (wanted to wait until the treadmill was in). We have company coming today, Sarah is coming up and Uncle Pete is going to stop by with the Georgia to meet Fitz and see the progress. Too bad it’s cold out today 🙁 Well I’m going to run down to the corner store quick before Sarah comes, then finish my painting. I plan to get some stitching time today for sure!
Thank goodness Ryan was feeling better today! And with it being a rainy day we decided to take today as our day off. We slept in (well Fitz gets me up at 6 for a walk and breakfast but he then let us sleep in once he got that). Then we went to Millstores to look for a small entertainment center for the gym. We actually couldn’t find anything I really liked but got the idea to try building something. Should be fun.
After a nice lunch out we came home and set up the gym! There are still some touchups I want to do in the gym and the trim needs a coat of paint around the door (I wanted to wait until we got the treadmill in, just in case we dinged it up). So the gym isn’t completely done but it looks done!
We didn’t do much else today but relax (Fitz got another nice long walk the spoiled dog) 🙂
Here are some pictures of the gym all set up. I also designed out what i want for a small entertainment center and I ordered the wall mount for the tv so I’m looking forward to getting that part in there as well.
Treadmill in the gym!Weights and bench set up - those small weights on the sides are my new bday gift 🙂A view of the door.
I really like the gym mats we got, they are hard to keep looking clean since they collect dirt but they are very sturdy and will really protect our new floor! The small entertainment center I plan to build will sit in front of the treadmill.
Tomorrow the weather should improve and hopefully we can pick up more decking in the afternoon. Ryan has a leadership class in the morning and I have a dr. appt. Then in the afternoon Fitz has his Vet appt and then we’re going down to dinner with family. Fitz gets to meet Buddy tomorrow night!
Poor Ryan woke up coming down with a cold on his birthday 🙁 We still got up early and did some work (finished leveling the porch) while Maribeth and I worked on making a new compost bin that i’ve had planned since last summer. We got the bin part done, just need to make a top for it now.
The porch is all level, we bought some decking but they didn’t have enough when we were at the lumber yard so we’ll have to go back later this week to see if their shipment comes in.
After Mark and Maribeth left, Ryan and I took a little break to watch a movie (ryan’s head was really pounding), so we watched Date Night which was okay.
Fitz was pretty stinky (really he needs his teeth brushed) but we’ve been meaning to give him a bath since we got him so I took him out and washed him (he wasn’t loving it but did okay). Here he is all fluffy and clean (smells like oatmeal!)
Fitz is clean!And he's off
Here are some pictures of the porch all leveled out!
The side of the porch leveledNew front cornerLook how level that porch is!
I can’t believe the rain has held off this long, we really have had some wonderful weather to start off our vacation. I think it’s going to be raining tomorrow, if ryan is feeling better maybe we’ll do some indoor projects or just relax for the day.
Thursday Fitz goes to the Vet and Friday he has a trainer. So tomorrow is our last completely free day!
Sunday was Family day! Mark and Maribeth got here early (I was still out at home depot and the grocery store). And when I got home, work on the porch had already started! The weather was great, so Mark and Ryan started working on getting the porch more leveled out and supporting it all the way across the front.
I got the dog runner set up and as i was doing that and Maribeth was raking, Becca and the girls showed up! The rest of the day centered around the girls! We played with the dog, we ate some lunch, then we went to the Carnival! There was a one week Carnival at Hollman Stadium, no entrance fee, just tickets to purchase and rides to ride. Emily rode every ride she was big enough for and she was worn out after such a long day!
We ended the evening by going out to dinner, then watching some Mary Poppins before bedtime (sleepover!) Morning brought cinnamon buns and then a walk to the park before the girls headed home. The guys got back to work on the porch.
The rest of Monday has been Ryan and Mark continuing to work on the porch (see tons of pictures below) and I finished all the outlets in the gym. The gym is basically done, although I found a few spots I want to touch up now 🙂
And now for the pictures…
Outlets and covers all on!Gym just about finished!
And the porch project, no idea what the order is but I have plenty of pictures 🙂
Supporting the roofThe right side is level now!Removing the carpenter ant eaten woodA new cornerWhere'd the deck go?? And the other side is straight!
Maribeth and I got the backyard and side yard all raked up and after all that work, I ended my day by cooking a late lunch and then baking an apple pie for Maribeth’s bday.
Happy Birthday Maribeth!
I didn’t have my regular crust mix so I tried out a new recipe for the crust, the first half tasted a bit sweet so I cut back on the sugar for the second half. Hopefully it’s a nice flaky crust.
And now I’m finally putting my feet up for the day and the guys are still hammering out on the front porch 🙂
It’s that time again – stay-cation time that is. And we kicked the weekend/week off strong.
I got the final coat on the gym walls! The gym is so close now!
Final coat of paint done!Another view
While I was painting Ryan was getting the tv ready to mount on the wall. We had to install the outlet as well as a cable and ethernet drop up by the tv (antenna and internet stream directly to the tv). Then we hung the tv which took about 5 tries and some extra wood blocking to move it away from the wall and level it.
Tv hanging - and Fitz sitting like a good boy
I think we’re going to end up lowering it later on, it’s a bit high, we actually centered it above where the cabinets will be but we decided it will just have to be un-centered so it’s more watchable. It works for now and it’s gotten ryan motivated to start the built-ins this week!
Starting the base to the built-ins
I’m going to go install the outlets in the gym and get that room looking finished, then we’ll put down the gym floor mats and move the treadmill in! I’d like to do some yard work today, i think it’s going to rain a bit this week and the yard really needs to be cleaned up. I spent this morning doing a quick vacuum/cleanup of the house since we have family coming and not everyone enjoys Fitz hair everywhere 🙂
Fitz likes work from home days, no kennel for him, he can wander around, play with toys and sleep wherever he wants…
Morning…
Fitz, working hard
And lunch time…
Still sleeping
This little guy has no idea what the next week brings. First the weekend, a much more active day than he’s used to currently (maybe he’ll sleep all night!) and very little kennel time. Then we’re on vacation next week – that will be a real treat for him.
Come friday he starts his first real training session (we are hiring someone that will help us with 1-on-1 training for 6 sessions). In the mean time we are still working on ‘come’ and ‘sit’ and he’s definitely making progress. He met the trainer today and really liked her (and her dog). He wasn’t scared at all which is a great sign. He wasn’t as happy about the furnace cleaning guy who came up from the basement and made lots of noise down there 🙂
And back to work (for me), back to sleep time (for Fitz), wish I could join him in an afternoon nap!
