November 13, 2009

We unpacked and started cleaning camp gear today. I am sore so moving real slow. I did all the laundry and washed all the dishes in the dishwasher and will repack them for storage tomorrow. RD took care of the tent, pack boxes and horse gear.

In the afternoon we found out the little house we are moving into has been vacated (we thought they wouldn’t be out until the end of the month) so we got the keys from Steve and went to take a look.  I, of course, was interested in things like what color are the countertops and how much room is there for my artwork…RD was interested in where he could put his gun safe and where would the best place be to put his new I-MAC computer.

It has an electric range but there is gas in the house so we are going to have a plumber come out and get it set up for a gas range because we both prefer cooking on gas. We also need to buy a washer and dryer but it has a fridge so hopefully we won’t have to replace that anytime soon. We also decided to replace the carpeting in the 2 bedroom’s and of course it needs window treatments. We’ll spend the next few days picking out that stuff and then get down to the hard work…painting. It has wood trim and wood floors throughout so there will be a ton of prep work just to keep that all protected.

November 14, 2009

RD and I ran around Helena today and finally found a used washer and dryer, a new gas range that was on sale, and a microwave. Then we got to the fun stuff…a new couch. I think I found one that will work, but tomorrow will bring in a small chair that has the same fabric as the two chairs that will be sitting in the living room with the couch, to make sure it all matches. Turns out the sales woman raises Pasa Fino horses (one of the breeds of horses I have been looking into for my next horse AND she is all for flexible saddles…RD and I have been having a running disagreement about my treeless saddle). I think she and I will be good frinds!

November 15, 2009

Bought all the supplies to start painting…except the paint. Steve (RD’s brother who runs the ranch) wants us to buy the paint from one particular store because he has an account there, unfortunately they are not open on the weekend so I can’t even get paint chips to start figuring out colors! I took the chair into the furniture store and it matches great, so we have a new couch (and a new dresser for the bedroom) that will be delivered on Thursday.

November 16, 2009

I ran into town and got a bunch of paint samples and ran back out to the house. In the meantime RD had started taping off all the wood window casings and trim. I picked a gold for the living room and office, a dark green gray for the bathroom and our bedroom and a lighter gray for the kitchen. After another trip to the paint store to buy paint and run to the hardware store to get a long list of odds and ends, I finally got back to the house. The gold I picked was way too light but the other two colors were perfect. I left RD to start with the paint available and took the light gold back with the hope that they could just add more colorant. No such luck, the next color darker on the chart used a mid-tone base instead of a pure white. When I finally got back to the house it was getting late so we finished up with the prep work and will come back tomorrow to start the painting.

November 17, 2009

Up and going early this morning…way too early, I’m still sore and moving pretty slow in the AM until I have time to loosen up a bit. As soon as I started to paint I realized that the “gold” was not gold at all but sunshine yellow. RD kept saying “keep painting, it will get darker”, I kept saying “oh my god I hate this color”. By the time we got the room done I was really depressed…it is awful. Tomorrow I will call my friend Thea who is a wizard with paint and get an emergency consult on how to fix this without repainting the whole room. Meanwhile the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen are looking great.

At 1:30 “The Blind Guy” came and measured the windows for blinds, and tomorrow a guy is coming to install the new carpeting in the bedroom and the office (what was there was nasty after having several renters in the place).

We met up with Bob and Barb for dinner at the Clancy Bar because we were all too tired to cook. Bob and Barb are busy logging. The beetle problem has hit the Lodge Pole Pine’s really hard here and they are going fast…so sad to watch.

November 18, 2009

I spoke with Thea this morning and she suggested putting a thin layer of a darker color with glaze over the top to tone down the yellow. So…back to the paint store I went, and also to another store to get a new bathroom mirror to replace the one RD broke when he took it down and put it in the tub... I picked out a few sample paint pots that looked like they might do the job and ran back to the house and just dry brushed the most likely choice on. It worked! After another trip into Helena I finally was able to get started. I ended up not doing a glaze and just dry brushing the paint on and then wiping the excess off with a damp rag. I was only able to get 1/3 of the living room done so it is going to be a slow process. There is a texture on the wall so it is getting an interesting depth, not the “labor intensive” process I would have chose but it will do the trick.

The carpet guys came at about 5:00 and in about an hour they whipped out the two rooms, by the time they were done I was dead tired.

November 19-24, 2009

The last 5 days have been a blur of finishing the painting, getting the new sofa delivered, hauling furniture down from the trailer, unpacking and repacking boxes (this house is about 1/3 the size of our last house so only 1/3 of our stuff will fit). The Tupperware is missing, I don’t remember what I did with the bath mats, and the scale was in Bob’s shop. On top of that, it’s amazing how much “little stuff” needs to be done, all involving a trip to town. A package of screws here, a light bulb there, new faucet, new shower head…we’ve spent over $500 at the hardware store alone! It took me two days just to get the grocery shopping done…Thanksgiving dinner complicated that little adventure. However, it is finally starting to look like “home”. RD’s Mom walked in tonight and said “it looks like Lisa”. We still need to get the artwork up but after that the major stuff will be done.

We just heard that our shipment from Qatar hit Los Angeles today so we may actually get it before Christmas…I wasn’t expecting it until January, it all depends on how slow customs is (and since it is coming from the Middle East I’m going to guess it will be slow).

November 25, 2009

The artwork is up (RD left Clancy to help me while he went into town because he say’s it’s a proven fact that husband and wife should not try to hang artwork together…probably true). I have about half of tomorrow’s dinner prepped so it should be a snap to get it all put together.

November 26, 2009

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I got to Bob and Barb’s house at about 8:30 (they are out of town for Thanksgiving so we are using their house since we only have a table for 2 and no TV…what’s Thanksgiving without football????) RD went hunting this AM so he was no help at all (since he took the SUV instead of the truck I don’t think he was very serious about hunting). I had done just enough prep that it all came together easily and was on the table at the exact time I had planned (perfectly done I might add). Justin & Dawn, a girlfriend of Dawns, and Clancy showed up 1 minute late but they brought a rhubarb pie so I forgave them. Since I cooked, RD had to do all the dishes (I’d rather cook than do dishes any day). All in all the day went off without a hitch!