Weekend, Monday, and Tuesday

So this weekend was general conference, and I had tons to do. In typical conference weekend weather, it got cold and rainy/snowy. That kept me from working outdoors.

The wife wanted to make some bread, so I looked around and found a simple recipe for Amish White Bread. I let her sleep in and made the bread. By the time she was awake my kids had polished off one loaf, and each batch makes two. Shortly after we finished the second. So, I made more bread. Those two loaves were gone by Sunday morning. So I made another batch that was finished by Monday morning. In under 48 hours my family ate six loaves of bread.

Now time for a kitchen update. I had ordered some new hinges for our cabinets, because our old ones had been painted over and I had to use an extractor to get the screws out of over half of them. Turns out I ordered the wrong hinges, so I set about removing the paint. After soaking them in paint remover for a few hours I soaked them in mineral spirits. They looked pretty good. I finished antiquing the cabinet boxes themselves by painting them our cream color and then using a stain over the top. I have re-mounted the doors, but have not antiques the exterior face yet. Right now I don't have any pictures of the installed doors, but I'll update the post later with some.

I spent some time cleaning and the normal weekend activities.

As for Monday of this week we had a soccer scrimmage, and this was the first time the oldest got to play since his concussion. He had spent the day skateboarding and his legs were tired. We played a really good team and they picked us apart. One of our coaches was really discouraged, but our best trainer showed up a little late and was able to get some good play out of our team. I think after we've played a few games we'll be okay.

Tuesday I had a cardio day at the gym. My weight-loss has plateaued and I spent some time talking with the trainer about why this is. One thing he asked was if I had any fitness related goals. Last year I did. I wanted to run a 5k and wakeboard. I did both of these things. Now, it's like I've made it. So, I'm now setting my sites on a sprint triathlon. My bike isn't the best for this, it's a mountain bike with big knobby tires, but it will work. I have access to a pool for swimming. But to start I need to run more. We have a fitness room at work, and for $5 a month I can use it. I think I'll start the Couch to 5k program. I know it isn't great to train on a treadmill, but we do enough running at the gym to get in street running three times a week. This program takes eight weeks.

There is a tri in Bountiful that is popular, but one is run in May, and I think they usually do one later in the summer. If not, I'll find one. By the way, if you know of one in the SLC area in August let me know.

I spent most of Tuesday evening cooking. I got complaints about the smell, but the kids ate everything. The reason they complained? Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar. I made BBQ chicken and some pan fried garlic potatoes.

Ad for today? I guess I'll write about that tomorrow.

Weekend wainscot

I decided to use the time on Saturday, before the storm hit, to work on the wainscoting.

Luckily, I had ripped enough MDF down that I didn't need to move the car out of the garage. I only needed my miter box.

I focused on the upstairs hall, and was able to get it done quite quickly. The problem is its hard to take pictures of, but here is what I have.

!

I also painted the backs and sides of the cabinet doors. I have unique hinges, and they have been painted over, so I had to drill out the screws. Looks like I'll be replacing them.

I started painting the wainscoting in the kitchen. Originally we were going to paint this white, but I'm painting it the same cream as the cabinets. Not sure if we'll antique this or not, but after the cabinets are done I'll see how it looks.

It is starting to come together

Wainscoting

We've had a lot going on in our house. The wife has me doing some home improvement. It started when our youngest, who's autistic, figured out he could peel the paint off the walls. This went on for some time, and he peeled all of the paint off of our stairwell and most of our main hall. He then moved into the kitchen. This led to a big drywall repair session.

Basically, I skim coated all of the walls. In turn, this meant a ton of dust from the sanding.

After the sanding, I two-tone painted all of the walls. The bottom is white. The top of the hall is a tan, and in the kitchen a colonial blue.

I drew up the plans on Google Sketch Up, and got them approved by the planning board (the wife.). I started in the kitchen, using 1/2 inch MDF (multidensity fiberboard.). This paints well, and is relatively cheep. The only negative is that the cut sides need to be sealed. The cost effective way to do this is with drywall compound. You simply apply a thin coat. This will dry hard and take paint very well. here is the first wall.

I then moved on to the pantry.

I still have to buy some more paint to finish the wainscoting.

From there the foreman asked for some more changes. Our house was built in the 70's, and we have slab front, contractor grade cabinets. I found some small accent moulding at the Lowes. I don't understand the rules of English that make you add the extra 'the' in front of hardware stores, but it exists. Before:

After:

I am now painting them a cream color, then we will be antiquing them.

We then decided to move our pan storage. We had a wall mounted hook rack that blocked our window. We ran out to Ikea and bought some wall mounted ones. We now have out of the way pan storage.

Then, Saturday night I caught the youngest trying to peel the paint on our stairwell. I had repaired this, and repainted it. The hallway, and stairs are stage two of the wainscoting project, and I know I didn't do the best around the edges (as they would be covered.) So I grabbed the last of the 1/2 inch MDF I had, and did this:

Needless the say, the wife is happy, and excited for the rest to go in. She can't wait for the paint. I'll post more pics as I go. Enjoy!