Last one for tonight

The spaces at each side will be finished off with trim pieces.

It begins to take shape

After a weekend's worth of work, we have progress. The floor has been laid and the wallpapering is done. It'll be painted in a few days, after it's set on the walls a bit.



Hubby is having to do a lot of plumbing to make this new set up work. He's pretty clever about it all, I think. There's still a lot to do, though.





The countertop slab is in place, for the most part, the sides pieces aren't in yet, and we just set the sinks on top to get an idea of how it will look. I think it's lovely. Hubby's holding one of the faucets we'll be using; doesn't he look thrilled to have his picture taken?

Destruction ensues

Hubby and I gutted our dressing room. It's something we've wanted to do since we moved into this house back in 1999. It had a hideous brown laminate countertop going from wall to wall, with a brown cast iron sink (which disappeared when we tossed it at the side of the curb), and wallpaper that made me cringe everytime I looked at it.


See the wallpaper? Embossed floral. Not my cup of tea. This was the same pattern the previous owners used in the entry hall. It's going to be replaced with a patterned wallpaper designed to be painted, and we'll use the yellow scheme from the rest of the house.

The new countertop will be delivered tomorrow, it's a lovely varigated green that will tie in with the bedroom colors nicely. Hubby has to re-plumb everything so that we can go from the old one-bowl setup to the new two-bowl design. It's a flat slab of material that he'll drill the drainholes into, so the new frosted glass sinks can sit on top of the counter, and not be sunk down into it. I'm very excited about this!

The cabinetry is white, which should set off beautifully the wooden flooring we'll continue on in from the bedroom through the dressing room. (We finished putting the wooden flooring down in the bedroom about a month ago.)









































Our plan is to have this all finished before the in-laws arrive for their visit next month. They come all the way from England, and stay for about a month; it will be nice for them to be able to enjoy the new dressing room.

Holy Mismatch, Batman!

Calm yourself, Robin. I'm working on two pairs of socks at once, albeit in different locations. The brown cabled sock (KnitPicks Risata in colorway Cocoa, 42% Cotton, 39% Superwash Merino Wool, 13% Polyamide, 6% Elite Elastic) is my current Bus Socks (on the heel of #2), and the black tweedy sock (KnitPicks Stroll Tweed in colorway Black, 65% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon, 10% Donegal) is what I knitted up during our drive to and from Fort Knox. I almost finished the first tweed sock on that trip! Now the second sock is getting knitted on at home.

I'm loving how the Risata yarn hugs my leg, ever so gently. It's the elastic that's doing it, plus the cable pattern helps, too. The Stroll Tweed isn't as huggy, but it makes up for it by being so so soft.

Mad Dogs rule!

Our son graduated August 2 from a month long ROTC Leaders Training Course conducted in Fort Knox, Kentucky. During this time the Cadets learned "what right looks like" from their Cadre of 2nd Lts. LTC is an intense four-week introduction to Army life and leadership training of the reserve Officers' Training Corps; the aim of the course is to motivate and qualify Cadets for entry into the Senior ROTC program.

It was quite an experience, both physically and mentally. He succeeded marvelously - we're very proud of him!



being blindfolded before jumping off the diving board during water survival exercises



doing sit ups with fellow cadet


waiting to be released for family day (we drove to Fort Knox to celebrate his graduation)


after a rather muddy exercise


his platoon won four of the five streamers in the field exercises - go Mad Dogs!!!



Battle Buddies


My father is a retired Lt Col in the Air Force. He was very proud to be at his grandson's graduation.