...and, a new week begins....

Well, another week has started and this past weekend, it was warm enough (or so I thought) for me to make the trek to the cabin... Saturday was warm, Sunday was a little cold, and Jim and I decided that it was too cold to visit until it warms up... But, this weekend, as short as it was, had lots of fun things happening....

After a lot of calls to and from Home Depot, the 2nd piece of maple counter top finally showed up.  We went to pick it up last week, and we found that it was the wrong size.  So, Jim left it at the store and they reordered another.  On Thursday, I looked up the progress on the order and it didn't even show on my purchases listings... So, I called Home Depot and told them I don't even see where it's been reordered... After a few minutes, the woman comes back on the line and says that she found it, and it was reordered, and amazingly it was already in the store.  So, I call Jim and tell him that he can go to the store and pick it up.  After work, he swings by the store and is told that they can't find it... But, they'll keep in touch... seriously?  The next day, I get a call from the store, and they tell me that the countertop is in, the manager has checked it, it's the right size and we can pick it up.. At this point, I am seriously hesitant and don't believe them, but, tell Jim to go by the store anyways... He goes by, and sure enough, it's there... amazing!  He loads the piece and we take it to the cabin...  He sent me a picture from the store...

 We had a little bit of prep work to do to get the countertop ready... including gluing the pieces together...

After the glue dried over night, Jim sanded the pieces until they were so smooth...

Jim wiped the whole top down with Tung oil and it changed the colour a little bit, but I really love it.

The corners were square and kinda sharp, so we used this exclusive "corner making template tool" to mark them round.   giggle.

And, we had to cut a little bit off the one end...

And, here's the finished project.... there is going to be three pop-up outlets on the top, a little bar sink with a disposal and a glass cooktop.  I want it to be the ultimate work surface.  As I told Jim, I've had some hairbrained ideas in my life, but this butcher block counter top is one of my better ones.  Check out those precision rounded corners!

Jim and I decided that we want the one end of the island to drop down folding on hinges.  This is the piece that is going to go under that piece to hold it on place.  It has a mahogany stain on it right now, but that stain is about to disappear and it will match the maple.

We are still collecting brick for the patio, and, I came across an old house being demolished that we already have history with... This house is on my way to work, so last week, in the morning, I stopped and asked if I could buy some of the brick... the guy who was doing the demolition said I could just take whatever I wanted, so on Saturday morning, Jim and I went by and picked up some of the brick and took it to the cabin...

Here's one of the piles of brick that we had to choose from. A couple of years ago, I was scouting for an interesting place to have family pictures taken at, and this old house came to mind.  It was really in bad shape, but the house itself, and the porch and all the outbuildings were really interesting.  The house was really in bad shape, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it... I had talked to our photographer, and Heidi said that I probably should get a photographers release from the owner and we would be good to go...  So, the next morning, I stopped and knocked on the door.. no answer.. I did this repeatedly morning and afternoon for several weeks.  I figured maybe the owner was already at work or something.  So, I decided to change my tact, and start leaving a note.  So, I wrote a note just saying who I was and what I needed and could they give me a call... and left my number... still nothing.  About a week before the shoot, I was going by in the morning, and I saw a lady in the back of the house, so I stopped, with my paper in hand, and asked her to sign it and asked her if we could use her property as our back drop.. she was really nice and signed the paper...

On the day of the shoot, we all show up and there's nobody home, but it's not a big deal because I have the release in hand... we have the session photographed and Heidi did a fantastic job.... A couple of weeks later, as I'm driving to work, I see a truck beside the house so I thought I would stop and thank the owner for letting us use the property, and this old guy looks at me like I'm crazy.  He tells me that nobody lives in the house that it's scheduled for demolition.  I'm just standing there like a nutcase and I told him I left notes etc. and I got a photographers release... and, all he says is, "Damned squatters... I wish I could keep them out of the house... one of them is gonna get killed!"  So, in short, I was stalking squatters to get a photographers release on a house they were living in illegally...They were in the house all the time I was knocking on the door...  small wonder they weren't there when we came by for photos...  so embarrassing..

Here's what our pictures at that "abandoned" house looked like!

The cement truck is supposed to show up on Tuesday to pour the pad for the propane tank, and the forms for the deck foundation.  And, we're all prepared.. We had to do a little adjusting to the Sonotubes as it seems they weren't tall enough, but that's been remedied and we're ready to roll.

I think they look like little graves...

I am always super nervous about each new stage in the process... with all the ups and downs we've had, I don't want to get my expectations too high, and then be let down when the whole thing falls apart.  So, here's hoping for good things in the next couple of weeks...

The adventure continues,

Love, Jim and Cheri