Who Dat, Who Dat Birthday Boy?

(The way it was, 1997)

Jim Darling!!  I realize that as I unveil more and more of your extreme talents, the sheer wonderment of you is likely to start making my blogging buddies puke. But that’s a chance I’m willing to take.

For instance, this room you built with your own two hands, the first of our 4 additions to this once-humble bungalow — how sweet is this space!?! Even tho it’s now a bit torn up as we morph it into a master bedroom, its all for the greater good.

(Stained glass window install, 1995)

And how sweet are your model railroad buildings!!

Yes, peeps, directly below is a MODEL, one of many Jim has scratch-built since I met him. From sills to roofcap, his H.O. scale “M. Chase & Sons” abandoned general store stands about 5″ high. Jim named it after Kelly’s godfather. He also named another little structure after my dad!

(Puking yet?)  🙂

Alas, Jim, the unveiling of your Uniquely Jimmy Disco Steps will have to wait for a future post — too much too soon might send readers running in disbelief that any one mortal could be this awesome.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Jimmy!!!  We love you more than anything.

Jannie and Kelly.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

(San Diego, 2005)

The Queen Of Remodeling Patience, Chapter 1 — “Front Room” View-A

How do I even start this whole series?

The old fireplace seems a good spot. Guess I’ll just jump on in.

But let me douse the flames first. Ouch!

🙂

Above was Christmas Eve 1992 with our now deceased friend, Nick. Gee, this is off to a cheery start.

Anyway…

We enjoyed that fireplace for quite a few years until we demolished it.

I think the photo directly below must’ve been from about 1997, because the one after it was from 1998 when Mom and Dad visited.

And there was the fireplace…

… Gone!

That’s Dad standing on the ladder in the corner where it had been. And I see we’d already started on the new kitchen, as per the white cabinet off to the left. (Much of the remodeling projects on this house have overlapped over the years!)

Then… Dad and Jim knocked that wall down, thankfully not a supporting one!  Thus, our old master bedroom (that area with the one little window) became part of the front (entry) room too.

Then… we busted out from the old master to a new addition at the far end, making the whole shebang one room, with the archway for style, of course.

And — Ta-Da!  Finished room here below…

Judging from Kelly’s toddler toys off in the distance, I’d say the directly above was from c. 2003.

I’d show you a photo of the area now but I want to de-clutter it a bit first — I’ve furniture and a dozen big storage bins full of Kelly’s stuff there, hanging out while her room gets the penguin update. So, you’ll need remodeling patience too until I show you these wonders, all no later than 2014. 🙂

The carpet on the other side of the archway Jim built?  That’s the stuff our pets so enjoying puking on!!!   (We don’t even have that dark green area rug anymore, the pets did not treat it kindly. )

Sooooo, that’s one view of our house as you walk in our front door!  Except said door will actually become a window, because we’ve built a breezeway with a new entryway at the front of the house, with the breezeway connected to a new 2-car garage with a living room up over it.  That will be our “final” living / theater room — started over 6 years ago, but not yet finished.  Hey, why rush into finishing these additions, we say?! Mind you, Jim does this house stuff in his spare time.  And he does tend to have a few projects on the go simultaneously.  Never a dull moment here with my wonderful Jim!  🙂

Did I mention the plan is to sell this house, move back to Canada and start the whole remodeling thing all over again.  Oy!

But back to this house….

As you can well imagine, there was a fair amount of ruckus involved in our front room remodel, over the approximately FIVE YEARS it took for this project from start to finish!!!  🙂

These next two photos depict just a bit of said ruckus.

There is a lovely new fireplace in the back corner, I will showcase it some day. (Have a little de-cluttering to do there too!)

Lots of fun!!  🙂

And remember a few paragraphs above I told you we added a piece onto the old master bedroom, which then became part of the whole front room scenario?  Here are a couple shots of that addition during construction…

Framing…

And even earlier — me helping Jim level the first floor joists.

Oh, and check this out! The adjacent room (with the circle-top window over French doors) was actually the very first of the 4 additions we’ve made to this house. (And I’m not even including the tree house in those 4.) Said first addition was erected between c. 1994 to 1996 — a room to be featured in upcoming posts. It was originally planned to be our main living room, but will be the master bedroom when it’s finished — yes, we’re even now remodeling the remodel!  But it WAS a completely finished living room indeed for a good few years, which was joyful beyond compare!

hoo-woo!

So that’s it!!

Did I lose you, anywhere, Sweeties??

Oh, and I must add that once Jim gets the calling and tells me he MUST build something else, we basically design these additions together, and go for them. I generally plan the room lay-outs and features and he builds them for me, with me helping, and usually with not too much grumbling on my part!  🙂  I so pine to live in a finished house,  Friends. I really do! And have pined for some years now.  I mentioned we’ve been working on this house for 17 years, right??

Btw, Jim does ALL this woodwork himself  (remember our dining room, which used to be a bedroom?)

He does hire helpers for slabs, framing, drywall, plumbing and electrical.   And I do a lot of the painting. And all the decorating!

Oh, and a couple of you newer readers have asked why I’m called “The Queen Of Remodeling Patience.”  That was Patricia Wisdom’s entry in my Jannie Funster tagline “contest” some moons ago. Patricia ended up being one of the five top finalists, with Lance the grand prize winner for his entry of “Singing For Beer And Donuts.”

Well, if you still have an atom of energy left after getting through this whole post, have you any questions?  Comments?

xoxo

Updating Her Nursery Decor, Chapter 2

The day Jim took that polaroid of me, I took the above of him.

Notice that Kelly did indeed have a window treatment in her room at one time!  But sadly, that blind and valance went missing the same day as my good can opener, my blue Sharpie and all my freshly-knit kelp tube socks. I still think it was the butler, but he’s too long-gone to Mexico to ever know for sure.

Anyway… back to the above fuzzy photo!

Chance, the poochie at Jim’s feet, was our firstborn — a puppy Jim surprised me with in 1992. And the poochie in Jim’s arms is Chance’s firstborn, Peach.  Beloved Chancie died from complications of an attack by either a coyote or large dog when Kelly was 2. But Peach is still with us!  She’s 12 now, and sweet as ever.  Still very active.  And still excellent at puking on carpet instead of tile.

Directly below, flash forward to January 1st, 2010… Not so tidy of a corner.

But… January 5th saw things looking better in the olde clearing-out-and-making-over-Kelly’s-room plan!

And yesterday saw the room as below (‘cept I’m not happy with the lighting in the first photo, boo hoo.)  Oh well….. I’ll survive.

But this one is nice, I think!

So there you have it!  The current state of Kelly’s closet corner, as we embark upon ousting the decor I so lovingly prepared during my pregnancy to usher in the new Club Penguin era.  Are you excited!?!?!?

Can I get a whoopity-whoo, or two ?!?!

Have you ever wall papered a room?  Or decorated one?

Have you ever had a can opener go missing, even if just a manual one?  Quite frankly — I like manual can openers, have used them exclusively for years.  They are best overall, don’t you think? Or do you?

Well, by golly — let’s do up a poll and find out just what Jannie Funster readers think!

And don’t forget to come back and see how your can opener life experience compares with your peers, as more and more votes pour in. 🙂

xoxo

Before. Later. And Now.

polaroid credit:  Jimmy Funster

“Your face looks the same and your hair was darker, but no offense, Mom —  you were really fat in that picture.”

“I was 8 months pregnant with you.”

“Oh.”

As I was saying last post, Kelly’s room is undergoing a complete overhaul.  Bye-bye sweet teddy bear wall paper, boo hoo.

Hello Club Penguin ??  🙂   Whoo-hoo!!

I can’t remember which I found first — the wall paper or the “Kelly” peg-shelf, but they matched and that was good enough for me.   The peg-shelf  (is that what you’d call it?) has not been moved since I hung it up back in the summer of  ’01!  (A Lilian Vernon purchase, I think.)

Here’s how that corner looked yesterday…

And below — brace yourself — here’s how that window wall looked a few days ago… (Dear Lord.)

But….  here’s how it looks this morning!  Ahhhhhh — Progress!

So tell me (ladies — obviously,) did you get chubby all over during your pregnancies too — even your legs?!

Has your kid’s (or your) bedroom ever gotten that wild (second to last photo, obviously) ??   😉   But Vered, Blogger For Hire is exempt from this question, because I KNOW her kids’ rooms would NEVER EVER look like that.  Right, dear Vered??   🙂

Have you ever shopped Lilian Vernon??

Have you ever been to Spain?  I never have, but I really really really like the music!

xoxo

“Doll Bed With Wine,” “For A Dear Friend” & “Kelly’s Korner, About Two Hours Ago”

Part 1… Two days ago I posted (wow has it really been 2 days already?? Seems like last year!) about my doll trunk stenciling.

Today I present The Bed.

This first part could also be called, “I Painted And Stenciled A Doll Bed And Drank A Little Wine, Tho Not Necessarily In That Order And Not Necessarily At The Same Time, But I May Well Have A Glass Of Wine Later On Today — Probably In The Bathtub, As Soon As I Post This.

PART 2…

And today is New Year’s Day!

2010 — whee-haw! Bla,bla,bla.

I was born in 1964.   What year were YOU born in?

Anyway… as to the new year…

A wonderful blogging friend sent me a desk calendar for Christmas, wow — even after her first mail to me was rejected!  (I’d forgotten to tell you guys I’d let my P.O.box go.) Thank you very much, Dot!  It’s beautiful and I’ll enjoy it every day over the next 12 months and no doubt will be sharing pages of it here.

I wish my photography did justice to how pretty the card is, with sparkles.  The matching little envelope sticker is such a sweet touch too.

BEAUTIFUL!!

“Just like a white winged dove, sings a song, song that she’s singing.”   —  Stevie Nicks.

And…..  I swear I did not know about today’s calendar quote (below) when I took the above doll bed / wine pics much earlier today. Wow, talk about cool!!

And finally, or Part Three —  below is a picture of Kelly’s bedroom as it looks now.  When I was 6 months pregnant with her I painted and wall papered what you see below — teddy bears in hammocks and general teddy bear cavortation, if the latter is even a real word.

But now…  I am embarking on redecorating her room, the teddy bears having run their course! (I planned on starting the redo last May —  but why rush into these things??)   🙂

Kelly has mentioned a Club Penguin theme for the decorating, but I think that will date too fast or she’ll tire of it, so I suggested maybe flowers or butterflies.  What do you think?  Any ideas?

I apologize for the fuzzy picture of the bedrooom corner but I’m too lazy to get up, take another one, and do the whole uploading / resizing / USB switching thing [from my iPhone].   I’ll post some clear pics of that wall paper one day, and the complete bedroom befores and afters — of course!

All in due time, Grasshopper.   All in due time.

(Oh, I painted that old dresser too, about the same era I was decorating her nursery — June 2001.)

And…  one more picture to ’round this all out.

Wait!  One more — of our dining room, a couple hours ago too.

Blessings, now and always!

Wine and a bath await.

xo