Finished wood Floor

First, many THANK YOU'S to all these friends and family who have helped and or contributed to this project, and our home: Jim and Barbara, John and Gayle, Joanne and Barry, Jan and Hilary, Derek and Sara, thank you all so much!


This is our floor after the first application of oil. It is solid oak tongue and groove that was installed by Brent with help from Jim and Barbara B. Then Brent sanded it several times with both a rented sander and a hand sander til it was nice and smooth. Next it was given two coats of shellac (which I have found is a natural/somewhat treated product!). Then sanded back down to the wood (shellac was for filling the grain), and finally coated in treated flax, or linseed oil as it is called. This picture was after the first oil application. We did 3 in total, Brent applied it with cloths, and I came behind (an hour later) rubbing up the excess oil.

TA-DA!!
We now have a lounge-able living room!! Whoopie! :):):):):)
Move-in day was last Wednesday, the 12th.

Presenting, our new dining area! I think it all looks rather smashing on yon nice wood floor :):)
* don't look too close or you will notice we still haven't done the trim so it looks dreadful down there!! ;p* teehehehe

Ooooo I think it looks so nice! Soon we will have blinds, and we are also working on curtains and an area rug. Oh my this is FUN!! :):)

This is the view from the front door, the side of the living room that you have not really seen is not particularly pretty because we have matching gray love seats, and only one really fits, so currently they are sort of squashed in and the boys are having a ball climbing on them :)

Meet Our New Family Member!

This is Angel, so named because her foster family's daughter said she must have had a guardian angel!
She is around 6-7 months old, and a Lab mix, probably with a smaller breed as she is only around 25-30lbs. Angel is from California, she was thrown/fell out of a vehicle and was hit by the car behind. It was the driver of the car that hit her who took her to a vet, so she was probably thrown as her owners didn't stop. Her back leg was broken so she was on her way to an euthanizing center when someone took pity on her, and somehow she was sent to Castlerock, where a really great foster family took her in. Angel went to a new family, but they were going through a divorce and had a difficult schedule, so she didn't get enough care and developed pneumonia, so she went back to her foster family. We heard about her through Nikki W. who sent us her picture and sad story. Three weeks later here she is, cast off, and all better, thanks to her awesome foster family!!

This was yesterday evening, her first hours at our house. Caleb gave her the cellulose sponge, it was dry and she quite liked to chew on it.
The boys have to sit on the stairs to calm down when they misbehave, and so far today Angie (as she has been nicknamed) has joined them every time. A very sympathetic pup :)

Caleb, playing the excellent host was so good as to point out her food for her, however he took it a bit far when in the confusion he managed to taste it for her as well!! She was not very interested, and remained indifferent this morning, unlike Caleb who went for seconds.
Score; Caleb 2, Angie 0
Since then we discovered what she likes and she polished off a bowel, thankfully, without Caleb's help!

>>>>>>October 25th 2008<<<<<<

Caleb's birthday

Upon waking up this morning I announced "Happy Birthday Caleb!"
He said "Tank you!", in a sweet sing song voice.
Derek sat up in bed and said "Happy Birthday Caleb!"
He replied "Tank you, Der-ek!".
Then asked "Have, party?",
I said "Yes, with Mimi and Grampa!"
Caleb queried "Have, cake?"
"Yes" I said,
"Very yummy!?" He asked excitedly with anticipation :D
Tehehehe, it still makes me smile.
His sweet little "Tank You!" was repeated several times in the day when his Grandparents called to wish him a happy b-day it was sooooo cute!

Caleb is TWO this year!

This sweetie is grinning, not because he WILL get cake but because unlike last year, he has not only attempted, but succeeded in getting his face in it!!!
(please note the little mouth indent directly below his chin)
We can assume he approves of the flavor :)
It was quite hilarious, Derek helpfully blew out the candles before we got to sing, so we re-lit them, sang (once again out of harmony, but Caleb discreetly held a poker face, with the faintest hint of a pleased smile ;D), Derek promptly blew out one candle, and with much puffing, Caleb got the other one. Then I turned around to get the plates and knife, and looked back in time to see Caleb with his mouth chomped onto the edge of his cake!! We all hooted with "wait Caleb's!" and laughter so he relinquished his bite :D:D:D Guess which piece Caleb got? :D:D

Silly grins and closed eyes! YUM!
Caleb got a ladybug balloon for his b-day and it was well loved, although Dad suspected it was following him around the house at face level, just to drive him crazy :D
We all finished our cake, including the "seconds", and went on to do other things, but Caleb stayed at the counter for a long time finishing off all the cake within range, regardless of who it belonged too! My word can this little one EAT! :D:D
A good time was had by all :)

Happy Be-lated Birthday Caleb!!!

Look at who is TWO!

Not yet one day old (new), Caleb is getting kisses from Derek, so sweet.

This is the next day, Uncle Derek and Auntie Sara came to meet Caleb, and of course provided us with beautiful pictures of Caleb :) Many thanks :)

Teehehehe, he has such a cute nose, and ours are HUGE!!! :D:D:D:D

This picture is from the next year when Caleb turned ONE!

Unfortunately Derek fell and broke his collar bone just a day? days? before Caleb's birthday. So his party was delayed and then I was too busy and never managed to post any pictures :( We will now attempt to make up for that ;)
Derek was such a tough little nut he never cried after the first day, adjusted his playing to compensate, and was mostly his usual self while definately in pain. Here he posed with Caleb's banana cream Birthday cake!

Here is the ONE year old birthday boy HIMSELF! Wait, what is this, no smiles.....?

"Y'all call this singing?!?"

Yup, all Grandparents and Parents were there but apparently no two people could sing in harmony!! ;p Hahaha, poor Caleb :D:D:D He was really concerned :D:D

But cake makes everything alllll better :D Mastering the spoon technique...

Abandoning it in favor of the fingers-and-whole-hand-if-necessary technique....

Grandpa stepped in with a little help and guidance :D:D:D

The climbing-on-table-to-get-face-closer-to-cake technique being expertly demonstrated by Caleb, with helpful tugs of redirection from Grandpa :D

"So I am ONE now and they got me a rocking horse....huh."

"Heyyy! This thing is alright, pretty fun! :)"

WHOOPEE!!!!!!
"TEEHEHEHEHE! This is so fun my diaper is wet and I DON'T CARE! :D:D:D:D:D"