Super Busy Week!

We did a ton of work this week – but it doesn’t always look impressive in pictures. 

In the bathroom we finished tiling the shower and most of the “baseboard” tile.  Chris put in more drywall compound in a few big areas.  I painted the door and finished painting the top of the wall (near the ceiling).  We installed one of the medicine cabinets.  I started grouting the shower. 

Grouting is going to take a lot more time and then we will be able to start installing fixtures.  We have quite a bit of work on the vanity before it will be ready to install though. 

The weekend weather was wonderful so we actually got a lot done outside.  We finally finished cleaning and bundling up the branches from “Hurricane Chris.”  I put landscaping fabric around the hops and some garden plants.  Chris strung up his hops.  We had our first garden harvest – some salad greens, peas, and strawberries (they are all delicious!).

The landscaper finally came back to remove the rocks/roots and to spread out the topsoil.  We had hoped that they would have covered all the roots in the front yard but unfortunately it didn’t cover them all.  We asked them to bring more topsoil so we’ll see if it happens.  It does look much better than it did before.  

During the week I did some more “crafty” things.  Chris’ parent’s 50^th anniversary is coming up in June and his siblings are throwing a party.  I offered to make the invitations so I was busy putting them together and doing some calligraphy (I’m not very good at it though!).  It was a nice change of pace.

For the last couple years my parents have been yearning for an old house they found for sale right near the Allegheny River.  Through a lot of drama, they finally ended up buying “The River House” on Monday.  It is a very old house and it needs a ton of work but they plan on taking their time as it will be a place they can go to relax when they are retired.

It is not “river front” property but it is as close as you can get.  There is a great view of the water and it’s only steps away from their house.  

The house has 4 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and basement.  The bathroom is actually a bath house that is detached from the house.  There is also a nice size garage behind the house.  There are a lot of original items in the house and the whole property was poorly maintained for many years.  We have never been inside the house but look forward to it soon.  However, I know we’ll have to pay them back for all the work they’ve done on the Money Pit!

In Samantha news, she started squealing in delight this week.  She is doing a lot of laughing, cooing, razzing, and smiling.  She has already doubled her birth weight (she was 14 lb. 1 oz. Sunday night).  She is also starting to play more with toys – she was hugging her stuffed monkey today.  She is such a happy girl and we’re so blessed to have her!

I wanted to post a few pictures from a couple weeks ago.  She was staying with our friends while we were at a wedding.  Jared is 2 ½ years old and Scott is 8 months.  It’s hard to believe Samantha will be that big soon!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Let’s hope I can finish grouting this week!