Another in the Refurb jobs was on the porch. I had salvaged a kitchen cabinet from the side of the road a few years back. About two years ago, I did make it into the printer cabinet that I had envisioned it being. I cut off the toe kick and removed the one of the support bars (it was originally for 3 drawers). I had to repair the facing and did not do the best job. I made a top for it and a new drawer. I also installed the slide outs for the printers and then ran out of time. It was functionally, but not nice looking.
As part of the sunroom — multifunction room think office, playroom and soon schoolroom combo — Refurb, this item was also scheduled for completion. I had looked for doors at IKEA in the salvage room when we there in April and got the cabinets. No luck.
We went back to IKEA yesterday to return the 2 cabinets that we could not use. I went straight to salvage room and lucked out. For $7 a door and $3 for another odd sized door. I would use the $3 odd size to make a drawer front. I would have to cut the doors down to size. They already had the round European Hinge cut outs, but they were designed to go horizontally instead of vertically. I cut off 2 inches from each door and thus was then ready to drill in the new pocket hinges. I also had to replace the trim on what would be the bottom of the door and stain it.
As to the drawer front, I cut it larger to hide my earlier cabinet repair. I glued it and attached it with screws. I had help with this as Magoo wanted to help me. He did really well in handing screws to me and helping with the glue and being very interested in the project. Well we finished the cabinet refurb today. It has been great to unpack the table saw that sat boxed up for over two years and get some projects finished. We are next going to make slide drawers for the new pantry cabinet before moving on to making and installing slide outs in the rest of the kitchen cabinets.
Well not like the Beatles song, but a hole in the Laundry Room. The hole was cut by the plumber (more than 2 years ago). Yes, I am behind on the repairs. However this summer, I am making up for this. I have with the help of my partner been working on Operation Refurb. Well it was time for the hole to go.
It is now gone over the course of the last 2 weeks. Could have been done a little sooner, but had to start my college classes and at the same time finish the year at the high school. The hardest thing in teaching is start a class section and to close a year out. Doing both at once was a challenge and throw in having the Adoption Community over for the monthly meeting while in Refurb mode.
So the hole in the ceiling was patched before the meeting, but the next coat of plaster, the sanding and the finish coat would have to wait.
Well it is done. One more to do off the long list that has built up over time.
Do you have one or more rooms that when you have company are locked and off limits? We had one. It was the dual function, laundry room and pantry. It was hard to go in there. It was just poorly designed by the builder. Or perhaps it was us that poorly laid out the room when added an upright freezer next to stacked laundry unit.
Before the refurb, we had two steel bakers racks in the pantry and some ventillated shelving. These were an awkward fit and had a lot of wasted space, thus creating clutter. Well, our IKEA cabinets were due to be placed in one additional spot beside the sun porch. We were able to fit 3 across the wall opposite the laundry stack and the freezer. This would improve food storage and with the new pantry out in the kitchen would be more than enough for food storage.
I would raise the ventilated shelving and install 3 cabinets there. I was also able to get in a plastic organizer in the few inches that I had left over. I was also able to squeeze in a 4th cabinet between the laundry stack and the freezer. This would hold laundry supplies and separate them from the food storage.
The after pictures don’t really do it justice. It is a very hard room to photograph. The after room is now easy to walk in and has the clutter busted from sight. It is not just busted from sight, but items are organized into the correct cabinets or storage bins on the shelves.
Notice on one of the before photos the hole in the ceiling that has now been fixed. On one of the before photos, you can see the new light fixture sitting unused in the box on the top shelf.
Well I had a tricky days work on the porch to install the last cabinet and really finish the project. I would have to move an electrical switch for the fans. The old switch and box could easily be covered by a blank switch plate as it would be behind the last cabinet. No worries there. I could also easily move the clock which was the other obstacle.
The new switch location was just a few feet over and would be a good spot. However, I would have to run the wire behind the vinyl siding which would be hard to get behind. It would be tight work and the switch was not a simple one. It was actually two switches stacked on top of each other and there were two of these switches. So it was a double set of double switches. Complicated. It took we several hours of trial and error over two days to complete the task.
Then came the problem of switch plates. The low profile wiring box was a single box not a double outlet box. So I would have to try and fit two switch plates together. No such luck. Next I got an oversized plate and an undersized plate. I put the two together and it was an OK solution, but not aesthetically pleasing. I cut some molding and framed the switches and thus have a functional solution that is aesthetically pleasing.
So here are some photos of the completed project — all cabinets and the new switch along with the new clock location.
Tuesday was the last day for school this year. YEAH. It has been a hard school year. New administrators and severe state budget cutbacks. Nothing quite the same. Also never a feeling of knowing what was expected or what was coming next. Then came the budget debates with the politicians trying to cut funding on all agencies including Education. The county announced cuts including extended day supplements, and jobs. We had teachers who were Riffed (Reduction In Force). It was a scary time and may not have seen the end of these tight funds.
At the end of the year, I found another paying duty at school to offset the loss of teaching extended day. On the whole my salary will suffer just a small cut instead of realizing the last merit raise of my career. On the teaching salary scale, you get yearly merit raises in the beginning years then it shifts to every two years and once you enter the last third of your career, you max out on the scale. No additional paysteps are available from years 21 to 30. Oh well, it is what it is and I am thankful to have a job and not be looking at 25% paycut as was the worst possible scenario at one point. I only will loose about 3% or less.
Enough about that subject. Suffice to say it was a hard year and it is now over. The last days were hectic. I was told during the last week to pack everything in case your classroom would be moving. Well my students were behind in their work and worked right up to the last minute to complete their work and finals. This left me busily grading during the last week of school and no help from students to do the packing.
I got to pack on Monday and Tuesday in addition to going to long meetings and doing last minute paperwork along with double checking final grades. I could have left today at noon, but my work was not done. I left at 1:30 overcome with what was still to be done. I got home and grabbed a sandwich. Bekah was home and so enlisted her to go back with me to finish. Two of us were able to complete the task in an hour. It would have taken me several as I was moving really slow.
We came back home and no sooner than I got to work on a project here, the phone rang and there was a missing report. I got to a stopping point and went back with Magoo. We returned home at 3:30pm I sat down for 20 minutes and it was off to the University to teach my night classes. I would return home after my second class at 11:45pm. A truly long day.
However, I finished and was FREE for the next several weeks. We are planning to go to the Zoo tomorrow. Thursday, we have a hearing test for Sheridan followed by a PT/OT evaluation on Friday. So we still have a busy week. I will be working on the To Do List around the house along with catching a movie or two through the Redbox rentals at Walmart. One Dollar a day is my idea of a good deal.
I had post planning at school today with the task of completing required reports, packing the classroom and getting ready to start the summer break. We had been invited to Ice Cream after school with our Professional Teacher Organization as a thank you for my service during the year. We were off to ColdStone. This was Magoo’s first trip. Bekah came with us and we had a great time with the Ice Cream. Magoo got a waffle bowl with Chocolate coating and sprinkles along with Ghirardelli Chocolate Ice Cream with Oreo and Sprinkles mixed in. I had Homemade Vanilla with Cake batter and white chocolate chips in a Waffle Bowl. Bekah had the same except for different mix-ins inside her Ice Cream.
We went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner afterwards and had a quiet rest of the night. Magoo enjoys playing at the Chick-Fil-A and of course eating.
We have had one of the hard talks with Sheridan and it happened riding in the van. YeYe’s dog is old and has lost his sight along with his sense of smell. Sheridan said that Barkley was dead. We told him that no, he was not dead. YeYe and Nana are coming to the conclusion that Barkley may have to be put down. It is not an easy decision, but his quality of life has drastically dropped and he is also beginning not to eat as well as no longer leaving the garage.
Sheridan said that Barkley would go to God. What a great concept for him to already grasp. He then asked if he would hurt anymore then. We said no, God would make him all better. Here is where the leap took place. He began talking about Rainbow and would she go to God. We told him that Rainbow would go to God, but not for several years. You could tell that he was concerned and sad by the catch in his voice as he talked about her. I told her that we would all be very sad when that day came.
It was the first of those difficult conversations you have with your children about life’s harder concepts. I know that more will follow and these will be sooner rather than later. I pray for the wisdom to have the answers in the right form to his questions. I am also a little sad what marks the beginning of the end of his innocence about the hard realities of life.
This is hard to say. MaMa was talking to me tonight about a post on another blog and many people wrote what their 4 year old could do instead of sending a list of what to expect a 4 year old to know.
The things that we have taught him so far are not all in a book or academic skills though there are some of those. He solves puzzles and always has questions. He is so close to reading and is a whiz at his computerized educational games. He loves to learn and to be taught new things. He soaks this up like a sponge.
Most of what we have taught him so far is not in a book. We have taught him to be kind and thoughtful concerning others. We have taught him to think and reason in order to solve problems. He has learned to share and take turns. He uses manners and can hold conversations with adults. He has learned to interact with his world and to investigate it always trying to figure out how things work.
We have taught to love and be loved. He dances through life with a big grin on his face and his happiness is so contagious it fills every room when he enters it. He wakes up with a smile on his face and goes to bed with a song on his lips.
He makes us smile, laugh and see the world with wonder. What a gift he has given to us.
On our last Adoption Option meeting in May at Ms. Donna’s, Magoo got to ride and drive in her giant playground. He had a great time with the motorized jeep. We saw how much fun he was having. Saturday we got up and went Garage Saleing at the annual sale in one of our large developments. This is a a massive development and we have always had a good time and good bargain hunting at this sale.
We got up early and off we went. I saw this motorized jeep at the top of this driveway. There was one other fellow slightly ahead of me and he went to look at the jeep. I went straight to the mother who was selling the items instead. I asked about the price and paid for it. The other fellow was then tried to buy the jeep from the grandmother only to be told from the mother that it was sold. Magoo got to test drive and we came back later in the day to pick it up.
He has enjoyed it and knew that this was his Birthday Present. Happy Birthday son. You will be 4 tomorrow or as he says only 1 more sleep. We will be celebrating his birthday as a family with a hibachi dinner at home featuring shrimp (his favorite) along with ice cream and cake.
We played baseball with the rec league today for the last day of the class. We have been outside on the ball field the last two classes and this has been much better. Sheridan is getting better at fielding and can knock down the grounders. He knows about running the bases and about all parts of the game. He will need to work on catching and throwing. However, he is now at a point where we can play some this summer.
After the ball class, we went home and after dinner continued to work on the Spring Refurbishing which has taken on aspects of clutter busting and house purging. We are going to have things to sell on Craig’s list, Ebay and a large garage sale along with some items for the fall consignment sale. We will look forward to getting rid of the clutter that has slowly built in the house due in part to my pack-rat nature.
Step 1 is done. We have busted the clutter on the porch and made room for MaMa to have storage for school which begins in the Fall for Sheridan in MaMa’s home school. He loves to learn and have schooltime. He is just on the verge of reading and wants to learn to crack the code so badly.
Here as promised are the before and after photos along with some photos of Sheridan as he looks at the new cabinets.
We have been married for 26 years, and have been blessed with our youngest son from China. Our oldest son is from Nicaragua. He and his wife have given us two outstanding grandchildren. Our daughter is Thai and is married to a wonderful son-in-law.
This is the chronicle of our adventures as a family with Sheridan.
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