Fun at Work

My husband has fun at work sometimes. The girls at work had pigtail day and Rod wondered if his hair was long enough to join in. Sadly, it was! The fun part was he wore it that way the rest of the day. The boys track came in next and made fun of him the whole time. One kid went on a rant about how "...Rod is confident enough in himself to not care what we think. He understands his masculinity enough to never be ashamed..." It went on and on.

My husband is never ashamed :)

I kind of love him for it.

Springtime!

It is springtime and everything is blooming! This is our dwarf nectarine tree! (Maybe it is peach I can't seem to remember). We lost our other apple tree to a storm a couple days ago so now we have 2 peach, 2 nectarine, pomegranate bush, and a pear tree. We want to add a cherry , an almond (to remind me of California), and our shade tree-probably Mulberry.

So we got into the spirit of things...

We both ripped open bags and bags and bags of dirt. Then spread it round so we have something for our grass to grow on. The man who owned the house before filled the place with red cinders and then our neighbors told us that he used to pour DIESEL on the ground so nothing would grow...well hopefully we don't have any side effects from that...like mutant fruit.

Then we went and bought then loaded stone after stone after stone from STAR NURSERY...I love that place. I wish I had a green thumb. Our at least I hope I learn to keep plants alive.

We are making a pathway from our front to our driveway.
Here is Rod breaking his back.

Then we started landscaping in the front. Ok, ok I helped load and unload bricks, pavers, and rocks...so Rod started landscaping the front.

And we got a few more evergreen plants. We will have an OASIS in the desert!! No cacti and rock for us!!

We got my ivy for the front!! I am so excited!

Here is the front with our stone and brick pathway!

Little bit of old and a little new.

It snowed over a month ago. It stayed for about a week which is not common for the area. It has warmed up a lot since then but I had to share a photo. Pretty incredible isn't it?

Now that it is warm Rod has started installing a sprinkler system. He started a couple weeks ago only to find that he unearthed a buried line of some sort so he had to start all over. Now it is coming together. It will be so nice to have grass in our yard!

Here is Scully hanging out.

And the little bit of new is a result of infrequent spontaneity. I really wanted to do something different with my hair. I should have just gotten a cut. I can't decide whether I like it or not but I am jumping at the chance to make it brown again and then never dye my hair again. I am too old to make bad decisions such as dying my hair black.

Rod took some religious photos of me for his paintings, which is why I am posing. I promise that we are not just freaks. And I definitely swear that I am not going goth.

Best Free Posting on Craigslist Ever!

This is Scully, the newest addition to our family. She is an 8 year old standard poodle. She is very sweet and quiet and has the sweetest face!

Rod's best friend was his black standard poodle Coal who his family lost to cancer a few months ago. They are rated #2 on the smartest dogs list, are great family dogs, and they don't shed! We wanted to get one, but they are a little outside of our budget. So we were going to save up but we were lucky to find this little lady.

It is amazing what you can find for free on craigslist. We just found a new best friend!

You can always change your mind

So Rod and I had a change of heart when it came to our walls. They were too dark so we painted them white and then stained them. It made the perfect value and all in all we are happier with the finished results.

Here is Rod destroying our walls. We decided to start this project on a Saturday night.

We wanted to do faux rock so here I am painting away. This took me until about 10:30 p.m.
It is about 2 a.m. now...I wasn't very happy but it turned out nice!The finished results with stain-no bright white and some awesome faux rockin'

Our finished living room!
And finished kitchen-we are going to add some rock here too but it hasn't happened quite yet. But the tile looks amazing and I finally have a sink!

The Afters!

And After...
Honestly, these pictures are enhanced by Aunt Maurie's decorating skills. The upstairs has a full kitchen, diningroom/livingroom, master bedroom and bathroom, a den, 2 more bedrooms and another bathroom. I took photos of the main living space...not wanting to intrude in on our renters :).
This is the new and improved hardwood staircase and handrail all built by Rod. If you look at the blog post before this one you can see the treacherous tile before.
We also glazed the door. It is a bright yellow stain, now it is much more interesting and beautiful.

Moving on....to the living room!Ceiling, and walls with new paint. New wood doors. The first door is a closet and the other is the den (which Maurie has turned into an office/beautiful guest room.
We only kept one of the fans (which we want to find new dark wood ones) All the light fixtures are like the one you see below.

And the kitchen/dining room. We painted/distressed/stained the cabinets
and Rod tiled the counter.

The new stove! Pretend like the eyesore of a white microwave isn't there-envision a stainless steel one-hold on to that image because we will replace it when we can...which is not now. A detail of our cute back splash.

There is more-a hand-built cabinet in the bathroom/new mirrors/light fixtures/Rod's hardwood floor in the den/new carpet...but you need to just come and see it!
And it took only about 5 1/2 weeks!

The Remodel Before

Rod and I began on the remodel upstairs just 5 short weeks ago (honestly it feels like an eternity considering how much we have done). Timber and Angel moved! Sad day! So Rod's friend Blake moved in-and Rod's Aunt and Family moved in just this last week!
Below is the scary tile staircase that was there before. Rod's mother even fell down them when she came to visit! Thankfully Rod was there to catch her!
This is the upstairs living room. We ripped off all the tile trim and Rod made beautiful wood base and installed wood doors that Rod stained and glazed. We also ripped out all the old carpet and pads and got new ones. Rod retextured the walls and we painted them Basket Beige.

Here is the kitchen...not the prettiest but we improved it! We painted the cabinets white, got new hardware and Rod tiled the counter-top! We also bought a new stove...but that is a story in itself...THE STOVE SAGA.Here are the wood stairs! We took a couple days to rip out the tile base and Rod made these! They look absolutely beautiful!
For the after pictures...I need to ask Maurie if I can take photos of her home! It looks so amazing! I love the sounds of people running up and down the stairs. It was so quiet when Timber and Angel had to move! NOw Rod and I are not as lonely anymore.

This picture is the results of a remodel. I don't feed my husband so he resorts to this. Can you see his bite marks?

Cute.

The sink and stitches

Much has happened in our little lives since Rod's birthday. Considering it has been about a month, you would hope so.
Rod and I took a break for about 2 weeks and slowly worked on the house instead of working at mind-numbing hours. Rod began the kitchen counter downstairs.
Rod has never done tile but it is looking good. He always figures out how to do everything.

TA-DA!!!

But the tile required Rod to take out the sink. The sink is old and worn and he stuck it outside our back door. Well things started to get difficult and he accidentally knocked over a garbage can. Next thing I know he is screaming and running around the backyard like a crazy person saying that he cut his leg.
MIND YOU THIS PICTURE IS GROSS. LOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK!!



It cut his shin clear down to the bone on that sink sitting right outside the door. For the next hour he convinced himself that he didn't need to go to the doctor (because he didn't want to get a shot). So as soon as we got to work the principal and I found the school nurse and she ripped of his "ghetto" bandage (her words, not mine). Although, I do agree considering it was toilet paper with a piece of leather binding it together.
So he went to the Instacare and has to get about 10 stitches.


Haha they had to shave his leg!
Much better though.

Happy Birthday!

So much has happened! I can never seem to stay caught up on all the things that Rod's
intense motivation and determination can allow us to accomplish. So I made a giant post to celebrate what we have done and RODS BIRTHDAY!

Rod turned 25 September 17th!
So here are 25 things to celebrate him.

1. He loves me enough to go all the way to Vegas to pick us up a fridge! He is the master craiglist watcher.

2. He is the sexiest rock climber alive...
3. He forgives me when I chicken out...even if I have done the climb before...sad I know.

4. He let's me read and inspired me to read his favorite fiction...The Work and the Glory

5. He lost some of his equipment so happy birthday! Quick-draws and runners for you my dear. Did I mention that he lost them because we went together and I distracted him...we left without getting them back...and when we went this last time we almost forgot them again due to a craving for frozen yogurt :) Thanks Angel for searching in the dark with him.

6. He builds me things....like a pantry in our laundry room :)

6. He builds cupboards too. He is amazingly talented!

7. He never leaves anything unfinished...see where the hole used to be??? Nope you don't.
8. He is a wonderful teacher and he teaches me anything and everything he knows. Like how to caulk and paint this here cabinet...

9. He loves pizza, so I learned to make crust and breadsticks!
10. He can install doors!
11. He sees and creates beauty. Look at those doors!

12. He loves fruit trees and he finds amazing deals, $10 a tree: 2 peach 2 nectarine 2 apple and a pomegranate bush...later we even got a pear! The pear tree took a turn for the worst but we think it will make it. We also lost an apple tree to a wind storm :(

13. He makes sacrifices...his beloved dirt bike he traded for our fridge and...

14. a basketball hoop! Because he loves basketball!
15. He gets everything done quickly and does a quality job! He dug this hole in 1 day. And by one day, I mean in about an hour before we had to go to work.

16. So he can plant his favorite part of his birthday...a SWEET in-ground basketball hoop.17. He never gives up
18. He believes strongly in our little family
19. He loves the gospel
20. Rod loves me as much as I love him
21. Rod is the best best friend you could ask for
22. He is intelligent, logical, yet creative and intuitive
23. He refuses to let life pass by and makes things work even when it is hard
24. He is grateful-he doesn't take anything we have for granted
25. Rod Peterson is the love of my life!

I have been whining around about all the work we have to get done on the house. Now that things are getting closer to done I am surprised that it does feel good. Rod and I were talking and he said "I am excited because now our lives can really start."
I am ready to put up posts of Rod painting...cause that is when the fun really begins!!