Painted floor project November 2009

This was our inspiration picture for our 3rd floor bedroom paint project in November 2009. This idea came from a June 2009 article in This Old House. According to the article this project (assuming 10-by-10 room, our room is bigger and was certainly not in perfect condition) "Time: 3 hours per day over 3 days and Difficulty: Easy to moderate. Calculating the pattern requires some math, but the painting is a cinch". I don't think this description is entirely accurate and I am sure I could never get the crisp lines that Karl did if I tried this myself. This next picture shows some a general idea of the steps involved. Next are a couple of pictures before John and I cleared out the room. As seen in these pictures we had never tried to coordinate much in this cluttered bedroom so this was a good opportunity to delete many things as well.

The moving dolly John purchased for this project helped us to be able to clear this room in 3 hours.

The dark brown test paint on the walls was there from when we were considering a different plan. In the end we went with a similar wall paint just slightly more yellow than before.

This is how the floor looked on Sunday November 29. Still some squares to paint (you can see on the left side) and the final urethane coat still to be applied. Karl painted the walls on Monday and was about 3 days into the floor part when this picture was taken.

Home again

This Thanksgiving we had more than usual to be thankful for as my mom's recovery (neck injury almost 12 weeks ago) is progressing well. We heard this good news on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I went to Bloomington early to go to my mom's neurosurgeon appointment and to help prepare the Thanksgiving meal for 22 people at my parents house on Thursday. After being gone for an entire week it was nice to come home. While we were away some of our long planned projects have started. Karl has almost finished the 3rd floor bedroom paint job. We found a note from him saying that he will be back tomorrow AM to finish. Just a couple floor squares need to be painted and then it can be urethaned. John and I are looking for a solid red rug for this room. Demolition of the sidewalk has begun as well. We aren't sure but it looks like the plumber did not get to the front downspout but I guess I'll find out tomorrow. Jim was hoping to start pouring on Tuesday. I am so happy this is well under way as I expected this would be a Spring 2010 project.

We got home around noon and Angie (pet nanny) was here taking care of Lucy. Apparently so many people have been around that Lucy never got lonely. Arranging for the pet nanny was unnecessary for this trip however when I made the appointment we did not know the contractors were going to start this soon.

Since we got home early enough John and I went to Findlay to get dinner for tonight (mahi mahi steaks) and the rest of the week.

Pre-made pastas and sauces help with a really simple mid week meal.

Lukens Fish Market.

The outdoor flower and produce sellers are not at Findlay on Sunday ... but there was a man playing the sax.

Anniversaries

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. We have dinner reservations at the Cincinnatian's Palace Restaurant. I've been there only once before for a business dinner a decade ago when I worked for Mercantile. It is a wonderful restaurant.

November 2009 has a lot of interesting anniversaries.

Here are a few:

40 years ago Dave Thomas opened his 1st Wendy's restaurant in downtown Columbus, Ohio right across the street from the Ohio Secretary of State office. I know that location because I had to go to Columbus to get Ken Blackwell's seal on our adoption dossier paperwork in 2006. Anyhow, our recent economic downturn lead to this flagship restaurant's closing last year.

Sesame Street celebrated it's 40th anniversary this month with special guest First Lady Michelle Obama.

November 9th, 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. I can not believe it has been 20 years. I was living in Dayton at the time of this event.

This black and white picture was taken on November 20, 1961 (exactly a year before I was born) and is of East German construction workers building the wall which started in June of that year.

The Berlin Wall coming down prompted the Velvet Revolution (November 16 - December 29, 1989) in Czechoslovakia which was a non-violent revolution that overthrew Communist government in that country. This picture shows protesters holding flowers up to the police. A friend and I took a trip to Eastern Europe in November 1992. We stayed in Prague with a very sweet local woman. I remember how proud she was of her little (and immaculate) home, the strength of the dollar at the time and how much the locals liked Americans and despised Russia. The same was true in Hungary. Unfortunately I lost my journal (along with the many addresses of some interesting people we met) on an overnight train on this trip.

50 years ago today the Sound of Music opened on Broadway. This was the first theatre movie and one of my all time favorites.

80 years ago the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened (building on the left behind the Plaza Hotel on the right) 9 days after the stock market crashed. The next picture shows the MoMA today.

100 years ago Orville (left) and Wilbur (below) Wright founded the Wright Company in Dayton to manufacture commercial aircraft. They moved their company to Columbus in 1910.