Christmas 2011

All the decorations are done.  I added a snowman and a Mrs Santa to our yard ornaments this year.  Had thought about more but between my knee problems and a cold that just wouldn't go away that is all I got done.

Here is the snowman.

Mr. and Mrs. Santa

Pam does the tree.

Luckily we have had a pretty wet December and we needed it with the drought we have had the last year.  We are scheduled for more on Monday the 19th.  We still need about 18 inches to catch up to normal levels in the lakes.

If you want to check in my my carvings go to www.bruceandpamsspot.blogspot.com

Here is the link to my ETSY shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/brucecurran.  Shop name is Laughing Cat Woodcarving.

The shop is named after my cat Blaze that likes to supervise my work.  Here is  checking on me taking a picture of one of my carvings.  Blaze appears to have a smile stuck on his face and likes to walk around the house meowing for no particular reason.  So Pam and I have decided he is laughing.  Therefore Laughing Cat (weren't you just dying to know?).

Here are a few of the Santas I carved this year getting their finishing touches.

Pam and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have a great New Year.

Bruce and Pam

Happy Thanksgiving

Hard to believe it is already Holiday Time again.  Seems like it was just Thanksgiving a few weeks ago.  We are hosting at our house this year.  Our son Charles and his wife Heather will be here as will some longtime friends from San Antonio Tina and Mario.

We are planning a fairly tradional meal less the turkey.  We are having ham instead.  Not a big fan of roasted Turkey (my daughter in law shares my views)  I like turkey a lot of ways just not baked in the oven.  I made my trademark mac and cheese (7 different kinds of cheese), mashed potatoes and cooked the ham.  Pam made deviled eggs, a cheese tray and relish tray, Parker house rolls and green beans.  Heather made a peanutbutter pie.

Now for that nap

Hope your day is great.

Bruce an Pam

Remodeling On Kitchen Is Now Done

We finished the remodeling in the Kitchen (less the new Range Hood as we have not yet found what we wanted).  Pam and I both agree the Kitchen is now far more functional and it is a lot easier to load the dishwasher.  Unloading is still a pain but not because of the kitchen's layout  just because neither of us really wants to do it.

Here the new back splash is being installed.  I used the same pattern on the back splash as I did on the floor around this cabinet area.  Hopefully it pulls it all together.  We think it goes well with the new granite counter tops.

Other end of the cabinet.  I replaced all of the outlets as well.

Much more usable space.  The kitchen sink was also replaced.  You can see the back splash and the floor in this picture.

Pam is enjoying the enlarged island.  It is hard to believe how much difference two feet of counter space makes.

The new cook top is a hit as well.  You can see the black range hood we are looking to replace.  The builder of course used a cheap model and surprisingly it is not vented outside even though it is on an exterior wall.  That will change when we put in the new one.  Our problem is finding a Goldilocks vent.  All the we have found are either too complex,artsy and ridiculously expensive or too simple and cheap looking.  Doesn't seem to be a lot in that mid range (aka just right).

Any more signifcant remodeling is on hold for the moment.  Have to get my knee back in shape and that is turning out to be a bit more complicated than expected.  Rehab seems to somehow make it worse before it gets better.  At least that is what my therapist seems to think.  I am ready for the better (Pam probably even more so than me).

More later

Bruce and Pam

Remodeling Continued and an Unexpected Road Block

The remodeling continues as we have moved to the kitchen.  There we are removing a bad design choice by the builder.  The put wings angled into the kitchen.  Makes it hard to move around.  We didn't think much of it when we bought the house as we were not cooking much then.  As we have moved to be healthier in our eating choices we have started to cook at home most of the time.  We found a number of things about the arrangement of this kitchen that were less than optimal.  To this point the only thing we had done was replace the dishwasher and the refrigerator and the garbage disposal.  This round was a little more drastic.  The plan is to remove the wings straightening out the counter top.  To install new granite counter tops, extend the island and to install a new gas cook top.  This will also entail some work to the ceramic floor tile.

As usual I am not great at taking before pictures but here are few that will give you and idea while we were in progress with this change.

Here is what it looked like before.  Each side had these wings.

Here the wing has been removed.  And the dishwasher repositioned.

Another view post wings.

Then the big job was patching the tiles.  I did not realize it was going to be a big job.  The reason I thought I had enough matching tile.  Only to find out when removing from the attic that I did not have what I thought.  Apparently there was a box of tile in our attic from another house in the subdivision.  So then the fun started. We knew who made the tile Interceramic so we went to them.  There we found out they had not only suspended the tile but no longer made that size.  We were able to locate an Interceramic that had some of the discontinued tile in a similar color still in stock.  So we trotted over there and bought all they had which was 75 square feet.  The reason being is that I could buy all of it for fifty dollars or just what I needed for 75.  Pam was still looking at me like I was crazy as I happily bought all they had.  So now all I had to do was chisel up some additional perfectly good tiles so I could make a pattern that looked like we had planned it this way all along.

Before Chiseling

After Chiseling

Now I tried removing these tiles several ways but ended up using and air hammer.  A very noisy proposition and it just took me two days.  It turns out one of the things the builder had done very well was put these tiles down.

So then I needed to put the tile back.  What I finally set on was installing the tile and adding a diamond detail to it so it would blend with the old tile.

Here the tile is installed but not yet completely grouted.

So here is where the unexpected road block comes in.  I know you thought it was the tile but surprise it was me.  We decided we were doing OK for time on the remodel and we would take Tuesday Oct 18th and go to the State Fair of Texas (more on the fair later).  We hadn't been in about 15 years and could now take the Dart Train from Plano near our house to Fair Park.  One of the things about the fair is that it is a slightly seedy part of old downtown Dallas.  As it was built in the twenties that is not a surprise to us but it is not the greatest place to park your car.  So we hopped on the train patted ourselves on the back for being so progressive and riding down to the fair.  We got out right in front of the fair gate and proceeded to have a pleasant day with plenty of walking.  My knee was a bit sore but that was not unusual and we kept going.  As we walked out of the fairgrounds and were about to get on the train my right knee went out (as in I can't walk on it).  So I limped on the train with Pam's help and much to the chagrin of those around us.  I am not sure what they had thought had happened but its public transit so who knows.   We make it back to the station and Pam's goes for the car.  A quick trip to my doctor the next day sends me to an orthopedist who does an MRI on my kneed and turns out it needs surgery.  The kitchen is still not ready for the counter tops that are coming in on the 26th and my surgery is scheduled for the 28th.

Now in our 35 years together Pam and I have done our fair share of remodeling including building on house from scratch.  So you would think she is OK with it right.  Wrong.  She hates remodeling just likes the results.  And to this point I had managed to keep her involvement in this project to a minimum.  But that would change.  Since I know have limited mobility she has to help me get the rest of the counters out and to enlarge the island before the new counter tops come in.  Luckily the builder had not been as conscientious install the counter tops as he had the flooring and they were held on with just a few screws.



Old Island

Modified Island

Island with new counter top

Old Cook top and counter top

New Cook top and counter top

The tile got grouted (Pam's handiwork)

The new sink.  Back splash and trim still need to be done but that may have to wait a week or so.

Ta Da the largely finished kitchen.  We have the new vent found but the trim back splash and vent hood will have to wait until I am back in sparing condition.  You can now tell this is actually a pretty big kitchen  Before Pam and I had a hard time working in it at the same time.

I will be putting the same diamond design in the back splash by the sink to help tie in the new floor tiles.

And the surgery on my knee went by the books so hopefully in the next few weeks I can put the finishing touches on this project then no more remodeling until after the first of the year.

More later

Bruce and Pam

Remodeling

When Pam and I bought the house we currently live in we never dreamed we would still be there 9 years later.  Much to Pam's chagrin we have moved quite a bit in our married life.  Mostly due to my advancement.  Even with my retirement in 2005 from education and 2010 from real estate we expected to move.  The problem is we haven't found any place we want to go.  In the past the choice was always clear as there was a job driving to move.

We had given some thought to the Texas Hill Country but with this years drought and the downturn in the economy it didn't seem like the right time.  Pam has now retired which should make things easier, right.  Not the case.  She has a specific set of requirements (that probably can never be met) for a new location and home.

Realizing that we are here for a number more years at the least we have begun another round of remodeling.  The last before this was Oct 2010 when I remodeled the craft room and we converted the second guest bedroom into an office.

In this round we are working on bathrooms, carpet and the master shower. The first of remodeling the master shower was undertaken last week and involved taking in some space from the Master closet and reconfiguring the master closet.  That closet had been weirdly shaped poorly configured.  Pam however was never willing to let me correct it until now.  And of course the reconfiguring of a closet entailed cleaning out a lot of what was in there.

We also put new counter tops in our bathrooms.  The old counter tops had an integrated shell sink and were cultured marble.  They have been replaced with new granite counter tops with drop in sinks and new faucets.

Guest Bathroom

Pam's New Vanity

My New Vanity

And of course all work must be supervised.  Here is our resident project manager at work.  Notice the intensity with which does his work.

Next comes new carpet for the guest bedroom and office.  I will try to be better about taking before pictures.  For some reason I am always to busy starting the project to remember to take pictures.

Hope all is well in your world.

Bruce and Pam

It Has Been A Long Hot Summer

We are just a few days away from taking the record from 1980 as the hottest summer on record for the Dallas area.  This has been a miserable one with 65 days over a hundred degrees and a feels like temperature of 110 for most of those days.  We went from a windy spring to a still stifling summer.
We also are now the driest year on record. 

Pam retired on May and we have worked through the summer rearranging our lives to deal with the two of us being retired.  Nothing drastic but there are a surprising number of thinks that need to be taken care of.  We have a pretty good financial advisor and insurance people so we have been working through many things.  We also have the advantage of several friends and family who have recently retired to build on.

Pam has taken a part time job with our church teaching preschoolers how to read (or more correctly pre reading skills). It will keep her busy several days a week from mid morning to mid afternoon.  I still have not committed to anything and have been carving a lot due to the heat.  I have a lot of projects around the house but it is just to hot to do them.

Hopefully this weather pattern will break soon and I can get to some of them before winter sets in.  So in parting here are Smokey and Blaze engaged in their favorite pastime sitting in our laps.

Hope all is well.

Bruce and Pam

The Heat Goes On

Dallas continues to be in the grips of a record setting summer.  By Friday 8/12/2011 we will have tied the record for the longest consecutive number of days over 100 and there is no end in sight.  The bad thing is it is not really cooling down at night.  10 pm and it is still at or near 100.  Lows are staying in the high 80s.  To add to the problem after a spring where we thought we would blow away no there is no wind at all. 

In the midst of all this Charles and Heather have moved back to Dallas.  Charles has taken a position with a new firm and they found an apartment in the Northpark area.  Pam and I are glad to have them back but moving in the heat was less than fun.  Heather is currently finishing up with her job and will join Charles here at the end of the month.  She is looking forward to starting a new career as of yet undetermined.  After four years of litigating for the State of Kansas on child support cases she is looking for something more up beat.

Pam has decided on her retirement career.  She will be working with our Church and its Pre-K programs teaching reading skills three days a week.  I am still undecided.  I have been spending a lot of time carving and am being told by those who have seen the product to sell them.  I may play with that a while before committing to anything else.  I have surprised my self so far having taken no lessons and only reading a few books (Reading my be a bit overstated as most carving books are mostly pictures.

I am currently grand dog sitting and it is funny to watch our two spoiled cats share their castle with Sophie.  Sophie is a LapsaPoo and wants to be friends with the cats in the worst way.  Sophie is the only dog our cat Smokey has ever seen and since we got him as a kitten from a friend who fosters for the ASPCA he hasn't been around that many cats.  Blaze who we got from the Plano animal shelter was the cat used by the shelter to test dogs to see if they would tolerate a cat.  That is how I found him at the shelter he was in the room with a couple and a dog.  I wanted a gray and white cat that was calm.  He seemed to be undaunted by the dog and the couple.  When I asked the attendant if they were adopting the cat he said oh no Blaze was their test cat. He got along well with dogs so they would bring him in when someone wanted to know if the dog would get along with a cat.  Oddly enough in our house Blaze is the shy one.  He also has a different outlook on dogs these days.  It seems he knew how to get adopted.  Oh yeah the calm thing didn't turn out to be true either.  He tears around the house like a banshee doing acrobatics and then looking to see if I was impressed.

Off to take the dog for a walk.

Hope you have a great day.

Bruce