Busy Weekend

This weekend was an eventful one (at least for me). I agreed to help out with the worship music at our church again -- I've played 3 of the past 4 weekends... Anyway, after church I ate lunch with Todd at Taco Roc and then enjoyed a nice nap at home. That evening we hung out with Jay & Christina and his family, eating snacks and playing games late into the night.

Then, Sunday morning Todd and I decided to go for a morning bike ride at Booker T. Washington State Park, just a few minutes down the road. The trail is about 6 miles long and winds through the woods around the edge of Chicamauga Lake. This was our second time on this trail (click here to read about the first time). There are some pretty decent hills to climb and some nice down-hill sections with banked corners which were quite fun. Here's a map of the trail. When we got back to the car we were both dripping with sweat!

After dropping Todd off back at his house, I came home and mowed the front lawn and weeded our flower beds before finally taking a refreshing shower.

Also today I checked in on the Cayabyab cats (I'm cat-sitting for the weekend), fixed myself a lunch, and painted a second coat on the walls & door.

....so all in all, it was a rather eventful day/weekend.

See more cell phone photos of the weekend here

The Living Room Project (part 2)

So while Jane11 is off exploring the jungles of Peru, Er!c is busy working on the new living room project... .Hmmm. . Anyway, one week down & one more to go!

This week I started putting up the crown molding which turned out to be more of a challenge than I had originally thought. After making a few wrong cuts, I finally figured out how to make the compounded 45 degree cuts with my handy dandy miter saw. I also added three decorative corner blocks to kick things up a notch.

I also cut and nailed up the door trim for the new French doors. After of that was in place I painted a base coat of "bright white" on the doors & trim along with a coat of beige on the walls. Now there is definite contrast between the walls and the trim/ceiling (see the before photos).

Anyway, the house is still a bit of a wreck, but I'm happy with how the progress is going! I still have to continue the crown molding through the kitchen and along the last wall of the living room. Then one more coat of paint on the walls & trim and I can start putting the furniture back in place! Woohoo!!!

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For more current and up-to-the-minute photos you can check out our new JanEr!c Album at Phanfare.com where we can post photos directly from our camera phones! Pretty sweet!

The Living Room Project (part 1)

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were starting our new home improvement project and since then several of you have asked us about it. Well, it hasn't been going nearly as quickly as I had originally hoped so I figured I would go ahead and post a couple photos of the project (in progress). See also this post from our previous living room project.

This first photo is of our living room before the project started. For those of you unfamiliar with our house, the wall to the left of the TV nook is a closet for the room on the backside of that wall. The only access to that room is either through the garage or the sun room and therefore isn't very usable and has therefore become our "storage room". The plan was to knock out that wall and connect the living room to this other room and turn it into a more-usable space.

This second photo (please excuse the mess) shows how the living room looks as of today (July 19, 2008). We knocked out the closet wall giving the living room another 18 sq ft of floorspace. That may not sound like all that much but it already makes the living room feel noticeably roomier! Especially with the new glass French doors. Along with ripping out the closet wall, we also removed the painted-over wood paneling on that wall, and put up new drywall. We will also add new crown molding and trim, as well as a new paint job... Oh, and also two new single doors going out to the sun room.

The plan for the new "den/family room" is to also drywall that room too which is currently wood paneling & pegboard covered with painted-over wallpaper... (yeah, quite lovely isn't it?). When finished, the den will host a big storage/book shelf, a couple reading chairs computer desk, & Jane11's sewing machine & table.

Jane11 is actually on a mission trip in Peru for 2 weeks, so I'm going to try to see if I can't get this thing finished before her return... (sound familiar?) . :)

Afternoon Bike Ride

It's been another busy week and therefore nothing too exciting to blog about. However, yesterday afternoon we decided to go bike part of the Chattanooga Riverwalk along with Gil, Jen, & Todd. On our way to the Riverwalk (a 10 minute drive) we drove through some pretty heavy rain which thankfully stopped before we got to our destination. But more storm clouds loomed on the horizon...

We headed west towards downtown Chattanooga following the Riverwalk as it meandered over the river and through the woods. It's a very scenic ride (or walk, if you must). We rode about 3 miles of the 10+ mile Riverwalk before we decided to turn back and avoid getting zapped by lightning!

After dropping our bikes off at home we headed over to Bryan & Ame's house where we all enjoyed a very scrumptious supper!

Happy Thanksgiving... (July, 08)

Last Sabbath morning I noticed a U-Haul truck in the "fence neighbors'" driveway just before we left for church. It didn't seem like a very big truck so I didn't think that they could actually be moving... And then this weekend while I was out wandering around the yard, I noticed a FOR SALE sign in their front yard! Wooohoooo!!! This officially ends the infamous property line dispute of '07!

Here's a little recap:

• (1.) Destruction of Property!!!
• (2.) I Reclaim This Land In The Name Of...
• (3.) Let's Make A Deal
• (4.) The Downside of Neighbors
• (5.) Map of Destruction
• (6.) The Fence Saga Continues...
  

4th of July Celebrations

To celebrate Independence Day this year we invited Todd over for an afternoon backyard BBQ of veggie burgers, roasted corn on the cob, grilled yellow squash, and watermelon. We then took a walk around the neighborhood with our cups of frozen Italian Ice (or perhaps we should call it, "Freedom Ice"?)

Once it had gotten dark we set off the rest of last year's leftover fireworks and enjoyed watching all the other backyard neighborhood fireworks shows happening all around us. :)

We also started our latest home improvement project... Stay tuned for more info!