March 2014

March will go down as the month of doors. I was repainting 4 closet doors and 5 passage doors. The paint that was on them could be scratched off with a fingernail so I stripped them all down to bare wood, primed them and used a can of white oil based paint that was left at the house for a first coat. Then I put on the final coat, using new white enamel from Sherwin Williams that cost almost $20 a quart. 30 minutes later, the surfaced crackled. It would have been a cool surface if I wanted a crackle finish. NOT.

So…back down to bare wood, repeat the primer and initial coat. On the new enamel coat, I left out the Floetrol that I had added the first time, assuming it was a reaction to the Floetrol that had caused the crackle. (No insanity here…I wasn’t going to let it happen again.) But it crackled again. This time I caught the reaction after the third door. So I only had to strip those back down. Sherwin Williams was baffled, but they agreed that it was a reaction of some kind. They suggested that I let the doors “cure” for a few days. So after a week of airing, I applied the final coat for the third time. This time the reaction was minimal and I could handle the minor “boils” that popped up. It took a month of work, 3 quarts of paint and MUCH compassionate support from my better half to get them done, but the doors are now hung and the rooms can be protected from the sanding going on in the family room.

Meanwhile, Rog was battling his own challenges working on the new gas line. With the family room ceiling recessed, the line through the family room had to be raised up and then a stub to the new cooktop sent over to the kitchen wall. He had never worked on gas lines before, so this was virgin territory. PG&E was really helpful and by the end of the month, not only was the gas line up and running, but there were new electric outlets in the kitchen, and a water line to the new refrigerator location. We rented a drywall lift from Home Depot and got the ceiling sheetrock in place and then I climbed up into the attic to put the 10 bags of insulation back into the attic.

We sold the pellet stove through Craigslist, and with the money we got, we were able to buy a new oven at Restore and a gas cooktop through Craigslist. We had to buy a lawn mower as well, but it has been a pretty wet month with our drought here [:)] so we still have not used it. All in all, a very productive month as we move out of the demolition stage and into reconstruction. Rog has designed the kitchen cabinets and is looking forward to working with wood again.

It was Max’s month for a date and we went to a hobby store where we rented slot cars for a half hour of racing. He and Pops went at it, Max clearly the driver of a much faster car. After a stop for a cupcake treat, we headed over to the new house and pulled out the wax that my brother, Tom, had given us to make sculptures. Max made a number of animals, then took the leftovers home to make a few more. We will be sending them on to Tom for casting later this month.

Our Monday afternoons with the kids included some fun projects. We made polar bear cookies, St. Patty’s Day hats and bunnies in a jar. Rog enjoyed a morning breakfast with his good pal, Phil and finished up with Dr. Hearth removing some more of his neck tissue.

We searched the net reviews and picked a local auto shop. It just happened to be directly across the street from the Granite Rock Grill so we treated ourselves to breakfast out. The auto shop was great…if you need one, I highly recommend them. Holt’s on Pacific Street in downtown Rocklin. Nice, honest and efficient. Rog is tickled pink because they solved the nasty “respiratory problem” and the Aveo no longer coughs going uphill. We also took the truck into the upholstery shop and had the headliner replaced. The price was doggone reasonable and they did a super job.

We ended the month with the family room/kitchen ready for sheetrock taping and mud and the master bedroom the next room slated for painting. One more month until we move in…we may make it!!!