Winter proofing

Foamco came and insulated in the pastry shop and upstairs bedroom last week. It looks like the rooms are covered in blue ice cream. Yum!

We got a quote from the sheetrock guy and he will spackle and prime as well. Good deal. Then we pick a floor and paint colors!

We have a slightly different plan for this wall. My sister and Gizmo are in the process of building a garage that also holds a workshop and a small boutique. They used this paneling in the boutique. 

They are unfinished painted boards.

This is their bedrom and these boards are stained. We want the same look for the one wall in the pastry shop and I think we want to stain it blue.

Also thinking about doing it to the 2 short walls in the NOW laundry room THEN super cosy kitchen nook. Whenever we get to that...

We got new contractors and the porch molding is finally done. 

I drove all the way to Pleasant Valley in the rain to pick up these bricks. I acted like an absolute craigslist crazy showing up with no money thinking this guy was the one with the free bricks. He took me on a drive that was just a little too long for comfort up behind his house and there was definitely a moment when I was getting ready to tuck and roll. But then the tables turned and I started asking about the nearest ATM. In the middle of the woods. I googled my way to a bank and came back and loaded up the car.

I am going to line the flower bed over on the other corner of the house as well but as long as the weather is good all energy goes into getting this house painted.

Fall is coming on like gangbusters and this is lovely Maple Ave in color!

Tomorrow I go to the Doorjamb to buy a new basement door. And since it is raining I am sanding the front door and all the trim around it. It's the only task that is under a roof. If I am lucky I will also have time for a dump run! This weekend is supposed to be nice so maybe I will get to finish sanding the porch and to mow the last bit of grass. Just in time to start raking leaves. James is coming in tomorrow night and will get to work first thing on saturday with caulking and priming. And sanding and painting.

It is so relaxing to have a house in the country.

Outsmarted by a groundhog

I just stepped in one of his damn holes in the garage and almost twisted my ankle. I don't think it was his intention but I really wish he could just dig elsewhere. There's so much dirt around. C'MON!


It was a rainy weekend and our painting was put on hold. Instead we took on some yard work and watched movies.

This morning we got up and were quickly on the go up to Shokan where we buy our paint. We took the scenic route through the mountains which are already turning beautiful colors. Through sweet, sweet Stone Ridge and gorgeous Hurley.

Our first destination was Woodstock and food. We ended up at Oriole 9 where I had a tasty omelette and James had lentil soup and a Cuban sandwich. With happy bellies we continued down Route 28. We stopped in at Woodstock Landscaping to see if we could buy some Rhododendrons that we are planting where the half bay window was. They were very helpful and we left with 4 bushes.

We were looking for a hardy, flowering evergreen and our research brought us to PJM Rhododendrons, the best ones to grow in the area. This is the north east corner of the house and it gets little sun, but these guys are supposed to like it. Early fall is a good time to plant them and next spring they will hopefully go CRAZY with purple flowers.

I also stuffed 2 Hydrangea (haha! very silly homepage but oh so informative! I link a lot of these things so my Swedes know what I am talking about) bushes in the ground by the pastry shop entrance. This is NOT the best time to plant these so I'm going to have to pay extra special attention to them during the winter but I just HAD to do it. Ask any Kallerusian - patient I am not.

I've always had this useless skill at being GOOD at puzzles. We can't have them in the house - I get too obsessed, but today it came in handy. We keep digging out stones in the yard. They are everywhere! A lot of them a really pretty and today I used some of them to make an edge for the Hydrangeas. 

Big things are happening next week. We are insulating the pastry shop and the upstairs bedroom and bathroom. The dudes are coming from Foamco and will spray the walls to the outside. Then we will take a deep breath and start planning for sheetrock. In preparation for the spraying we had to cover up the opening to the crawl space that is above the kitchen and dining room. Could be our least favorite part of this house, but a little cool too cause the beams still have bark on them. James braved the nastiness and we stapled up some paper.

When I made tomato soup I bought plantable basil at Hannies and finally got to use my sister's herb sticks. 

IIIIIII know I could probably remember that this here is Basil but the sticks make the pot so much prettier. The mugs are also by her. And go here to see more of Kajsa's stuff!

And the weekend movie review by the angry critic... 

We tried to watch Boondock Saints and it's so bad it's not even funny, like funny-bad, so we turned it off and I packed it up in it's nifty little red envelope and James had to hold me back so I didn't run off to the post office in the middle of the night to mail it back to the slimepit from wherest it came. I suggest you just watch the documentary Overnight instead, which is about the dope who made the movie. Now THAT is funny. 

So instead we gave Taken a try. And that was at least FUNNY-BAD. One guffaw moment after another and the best inspiration we could ever get for writing screenplays. This sh*t gets made? Whu? Oh boy. Alright, so Liam Neeson's daughter gets kidnapped by the first guy she meets off the plane in Paris. But thank god, Liam is an EX CIA agent and he won't stop until he finds her. Yawn. 

Today we were slightly redeemed by That Evening Sun, mega slow Southern drama that some bad marketeerers would mislabel a thriller. When it's really just an emotional, simple story about forgiveness, redemption and letting go. Yeah to Hal Holbrook and Ray McKinnon!!!

We also plowed through Das Boot. In 2 sittings. Boy that is a long movie. But boy is that a good movie.

Finally, an early fall portrait of 19 Maple Ave.