The Foyer...It's Only Mostly Done

Well...the foyer is done...for now. I finished all I can do before I go back to work. I really hoped to have the whole thing finished. But as I am slowly realizing, I am not as young as I used to be. As I have progressed in age some weird things happen to me. I hurt every day. I can't understand why after two weeks of working I haven't built up even just an iota of stamina. I am just as sore today as I was weeks ago at the end of the day. Anyway, I digress.

So I finished the walls. They have been caulked and primed and now have two beautiful coats of egg-shell finish white paint. Man do they look good! I am very proud of the work I have done. I changed out the switches and the outlet that were in the hall. The three-way switch was little more difficult to do than the others but I did it! Randy helped put up the lights on the ceiling and installed the new doorbell. We have two doorbells, one at the front and one at the back. The way the old one worked we could never tell which one had been rung...one ding for the back door and two dings for the front...apparently I can't count. If I could, wouldn't I be able to tell the difference? So now the new one plays the Westminster bells for the front and one tone for the back, woohoo! Hopefully now I won't have to go running back and forth trying to figure out which door to answer. I know the image is making ME laugh just thinking about it. I spent a few hours cleaning and arranging. I put up several pictures (using Math!). I cleaned up the guest room so now my mother-in-law can walk around in it. Wink wink. If anyone has ever seen that room in its normal condition...let's just say it is a marked improvement. If only we had a basement we could stop storing junk in it. Oh well.

The trim will have to be done at some other point...say Thanksgiving or Winter break. If I get industrious I might work on it over a couple of weekends. We'll see how the school year goes!


In this picture you can see the pretty new light fixtures and the new doorbell on the left side. I am overwhelmed by how bright the hall is now with the new lights...and we used the compact fluorescent lights (there are two 60 watts in each fixture). Dude is it bright!

I had to make a decision on stopping point for my foyer. Why? Because the foyer actually extends up the stairs and into the upstairs hallway. I do not look forward to the day that I have to paint the facing wall of the stairs...it is really high up. So here was my not-so-clever solution. It probably looks pretty tacky...but what real choice did I have?

Update on the Foyer

Nathan and Grayson helped me work on the front foyer yesterday. We got the primer/sealer coat on all of the walls and trim. Boy does it look so much cleaner in there! Nathan did most of the helping though. Grayson thought it would be fun to help but quickly realized that it was messy and he suddenly decided he needed to be doing something else in another room. Randy helped him clean up from the mess while Nathan and I continued to work. Nathan soon found that painting wasn't as easy as he once thought. He did seem to enjoy helping me so that was nice. Unfortunately for him, I am a perfectionist when it comes to painting. There must be paint in every nook and cranny and it must be smooth with no drips or lumps. The way I see it is this: do it right the first time so there doesn't have to be a second. I would rather it be done right the first time than to ever have to do it again. I am priming and sealing, which was never done. I am caulking and filling holes, which was never done. I am putting on the best paint I can...the eggshell kind that is as tough as high gloss, but it is matte finish. I have it in the boys' rooms and I love it! I will hopefully have the walls done so I can get the fixtures up. My MIL is coming on Tuesday, a little earlier than I thought, so I won't have the darn thing finished before I go back to school. I will have to finish the trim (the high gloss paint) another time.

Randy Update

Randy had his second scope on Friday. It went really well. The doctor said that the ulcer is healed. Hooray! He is allowed to go back to a normal diet again. He is most excited about being able to drink carbonated beverages!!! Now maybe we can ease off of the fruit punch kool-aid. You know the one that stains everything it even brushes past? I promise you that there has not been one day this summer that I didn't find some sort of red stain from that stupid juice...on the counter, on the floor, on a shirt, on the table...ugh. Sorry I went off a tangent. The doctor did the biopsy and we should know something about the results in 10 days or so. He did say that it was unusual for someone of Randy's advanced age, I mean young age, to have these cells. So we will see I guess. One day at time.

Foyer Update

Ugh.

I spent 4-5 long hours working on the front hall today. I took down the fixtures (2 lights and the smoke alarm) along with all the plates for the switches and outlets. Surprise! Look what I found when I took the intake vent off the wall:


Can you say Gross!?!
I immediately had to stop what I was doing to grab the vacuum. Oh and the camera. I didn't think anyone would believe it unless I took a picture to document it. Just think how healthy we would all be if the whole duct system looks like this! Hooray. Once I got the vent vacuumed out I could see just how huge the gaping holes were around the vent. If I tell you that I used a tube and a half of caulk on this one area, would you believe me? I think I am single-handedly keeping Dap in business right now.


The gap between the vent and the wallboard was at least as wide as my finger! Gee and we wonder where all our cool air goes in the summer time? Once I finished caulking the intake vent I still had the air vent area to do and all of the switches and outlets. Someone must have been drunk when they did the double outlet because the hole is wide enough for two to fit in there. Sheez. I didn't finish all of the caulking because in order to totally fill all the holes I would have to caulk the switches into place or take them out. I was not ready to do that yet, but I will replace them all towards the end of the project. My goal is to have every room done using as much caulk as I can! Just kidding...though I will seal as many of the holes in this house as I can if it is the last thing I do. Today's total: 2 1/2 tubes of caulk.

Once I finished caulking, I started cutting in on the ceiling. I went ahead and bought a primer/sealer to help ease the amount of paint I was going to have to use; good paint is expensive to say the least! Our ceiling has the funky designs in stucco(?), so I have to use a special roller with a big nap on it. It took me almost three hours to do the cutting in and the coat of primer on the ceiling. And it is not even that large of an area. The worst part of it is making sure you get the paint into all the little creases and crevices. Good grief! In the picture you can see the design in the ceiling and the actual color of the walls. It almost seems mustard-like in color compared to the white primer. Yuck! It's so dreary and dismal...I really like white because it is bright and fun. Anyway, hopefully the painting will go easier with the primer on and I get the ceiling done on Wednesday.



I only have two more weeks before I go back to school. I can't believe how fast the times flies, even if you're not having fun necessarily. I have to go to work tomorrow and try to get my office in some sort of order. My office-mate will be in so we can sort out space and set up. I hope I find all my stuff tomorrow. Last time I spent an hour scouring the building looking for my chair...never did find it. Fun, fun.

Redoing the Front Foyer

I have decided that my project this summer, other than trying to organize stuff, is to redo the front foyer. To say that the house is in bad shape is an understatement. The people that lived here before us were not the handy sort of people. Here is what I have found in the hallway just today:
1. Any and all patched areas were never sanded before being painted.
2. All patched areas were painted over with a gloss paint, very unlike the paint that was original.
3. These people have never even heard of caulk, let alone used it.

Apparently, when the house was built they didn't believe in using paint unless absolutely necessary. By this I mean that they came through with a sprayer on the highest water to paint ratio and barely sprayed a single coat over the wallboard. How do I know this you might ask? Because so far, every room we have redone had to have three coats of white paint OVER off-white to cover. This is because the paint just soaks into the wallboard on the first coat. They didn't believe in trim paint...to them paint was paint. Ugh. There are several spots that actually never got any paint, like on the underside of the trim. As I noticed today because I have eyes.

I spent a few hours organizing my painting and caulking supplies (so I had to find a few items and re-bin them and put labels on the bins...). I then began to caulk. I caulked the entire length of the ceiling/wall connection. I caulked all the places where settling had pulled the molding apart. I found a HUGE-MONGOUS gap behind the top of the door molding. I seriously used about half the tube of caulk just filling the hole. I am going to have to go back over it again tomorrow after the shrinkage occurs to fill the rest in. The picture is a little blurry (one of these days I will figure out how to do close-ups with this camera) but you can see the gap was as wide as the darn molding itself. Ugh. It was instantly cooler in the hall when I finished filling the hole!

I patched all the holes I could find, as well as indentions from various objects striking the wall. Next I sanded and sanded and sanded some more. Like I mentioned earlier, these people didn't bother to sand before they "painted" over the patches nor did they wipe anything down before they painted nor did they clean up any drips or spills nor did they pull any stray brush hairs (at least that is what I am telling myself...anything else would totally gross me out!) out of the paint before it dried. I have my work cut out for me. I am including some before pictures so I can beam about how great it looks when I am done. Yay me!

House Update and Genetics Update

The electrician came out last night. He checked the box and found a loose breaker, which he put back in. Otherwise everything on the panel looked fine. He said it was far from being overloaded (I think he said 30 out of a possible 200 amps were used at the peak time of day!) Two of our switches were bad so he replaced those: the one in the boys' bathroom and the one in our bathroom. He checked the outside link to the house and found nothing of consequence other than the fact that he noticed the meter spinning too fast for what we were using. So he suggested I call the power company and have them check the meter and the power box in the yard to make sure everything was working properly. Hooray! Again, I am no expert, but I assumed our huge power bill was because of the dinosaur air conditioners and all of our old appliances. Who knows. I called the power company like the electrician told me to do. They are sending someone out possibly as early as tomorrow to check the meter and such. I really hope they find something, because the alternative...replacing the air conditioner...does sound appealing right now. Plus the lady I talked to told me that if it is the meter or any of their equipment, we would be issued a refund of some sort. That would be nice. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Oh and just so you know, because I didn't, there is a tag on your meter that is sealed. If you have ever thought about cutting it off, DON'T! The electrician told me that the fine for it being off is $400, billable to you! I didn't even know the meter had a tag, let alone that you shouldn't cut it off. If you ever have someone tell you they will cut it off and they are not the power company, don't let them do it.

I called the genetics place today. Apparently, to see the doctor there will be a long time waiting! They said once they get the paperwork from the pediatrician it may not be until October or November before they could get in to see the doctor there. Sheez. Not only that but to try to get both of them in together may be even longer (having two appointments back-to-back). So I may have to try to figure out which one is more important to get done faster...how do I do that? That is like asking me, "Which one of your children is more important?" I suppose we will need to decide which one is more urgent...perhaps once they get the information from the pediatrician, the nurse there will help me with that one. Ugh. Fun, fun in the life of the Joiners.

The House

We bought our house in 2002. It was built in 1986/7 so it would be about 20 years old at this time. To say we have issues with the house would be an understatement. Yesterday, while cleaning up my desk (for all of you that know me, you know this was a MAJOR task!) I found the home warranty information. I have had it, but I have never read it...sound familiar to anyone? I do this all the time with my electronic stuff where I just play with it until I figure out how it works. So, I digress. I found by reading this gem of a book that we have a few things that are covered that I didn't know were covered! Hooray! The electrical system and the plumbing.

The electrical system...hmmm...where do I begin? For a long time I blamed all the weird stuff that happened with light fixtures, sockets, and switches on the fact that I believed the builders used the cheapest stuff they could find. Thus all of those items didn't work properly. At some point I bought a UPS for my computer and I noticed that it would tell me when there were surges or spikes and that they seemed to happening often...without my ever having realized it of course. Mental note to self, it was odd. I also started noticing that some of the outlets seemed "broken". By broken I mean they either don't work at all, only about half of the outlet works, or it works sometimes. I noticed this happening in the kitchen, the dining room, and in the den occasionally. Mental note to self, it was odd. Recently, we started noticing a popping sound when we would turn on the light in the master bath. Note to self, it was odd. Next came the phantom in the boys' bathroom. You would turn on the light and magically while Nathan was in the shower, it would turn itself off. Now I know what you might be thinking, and no it was not Randy and I playing tricks on him...thought it is tempting. Note to self, it was odd. A week or so ago, I went into the downstairs bath, turned on the switch and presto...nothing happened. I switched off and on a few times to no avail and almost gave up when presto...the light came on. Note to self...odd. As I was talking to Randy's mother last night it occurred to me another oddity: All of the bulbs in the two front porch lights had burned out, except for ONE, all at the same time. Again, I have always thought it was the fixtures being cheap because the bulbs would burn out so quickly. You have to realize that I am not an electricity expert, so I don't really think twice or add all of this up until last night when Michelle told me I should have it looked at before there was a fire in the house. I put in for someone to come look at the wiring and lo and behold they called me today and are coming out! It will be interesting to see what the guy says. Keep your fingers crossed that it is something that is easily fixable...though with our track record I fear the worst.

I think I will wait to call the plumber! Does a house just suddenly fall apart at 20 years old? All I can think about right now is that movie with Shelly Long and Tom Hanks called The Money Pit. Ever seen it?

Check-ups!

Nathan and Grayson went for their annual check-ups yesterday. Both of them got shots...and both of them did very well. Nathan cried more before he got the shots than during. Go figure. Poor Grayson had 5 of them! He agreed to only two, and when the others came on the left arm he was not happy. But they both got ice cream for their pain and they were happy.

Both boys are being sent to a geneticist. Nathan for the fact that he has many signs of Albinism. We visited this issue two years ago when the eye doctor said that he had a very light retina (more pink than red). We went to a pediatric ophthalmologist who said he didn't think Nathan had it. After we did the eye exam last week and it was such a dramatic change I decided to revisit the Albinism information. Nathan has many signs, that could be just coincidence of course, but too many to be ignored at this point. The only real way of knowing is to do a genetic test. He has patches of white hair on his head near his temples and one at the back. It is funny because my cousin's son had the same thing but his hair is actually brown so it shows more. Anyway, the patches are called poliosis. If you would like to, there is a great article on the subject. Apparently, the patches can be an indication of an underlying condition, not an actual condition themselves. So this is on tick on the possible Albinism scale. He has the "blonde fundus" which is tick two on the Albinism scale. He now has at least the minimum visual impairment for tick three on that scale. So I just really really want to be sure that he does or does not have Albinism. Apparently there are different types, and the one we are looking for is not your typical Albino disease that you know about with bleached skin, pink eyes etc. The one we are looking into is called Ocular Albinism. If you are interested in learning more here is a link that can give you good information.
Nathan's "spot"

Grayson is being sent to be tested for the markers of hemachromatosis. The pediatrician agreed that is something that we don't want to wait to see if he has. Whatever we can do to prevent organ damage, the better off he will be if he has it. Just knowing will be half of the battle and knowing early will be so good for him. Basically we can watch his iron levels, and when he gets old enough he can begin giving blood once a month as a way to get rid of high iron stores. Heavy metals don't leave the body in easy ways...he would have to bleed it out. If he were a girl we wouldn't have to worry about it until he reached menopause because women "bleed" every month naturally. Apparently too much iron is toxic just like lead or mercury. So it is important to get this information as soon as we can so we can avoid major problems in the future.

Both boys are lean. Nathan is now 51 and 1/4 inches tall (about 4'3") and weighs 57 pounds. That puts him in the 16th percentile...which for him is about his normal...except for when he was a baby and in the 75th percentile! Now the boy eats and eats and who knows where it all goes. Grayson is 39 and 1/4 inches tall (about 3'3") and weighs 33 pounds. He is in the 3rd percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. The medicine for the eating has definitely increased his appetite, but omigosh is he hyper! The pediatrician was in awe of his movement and overall activity during the visit yesterday as opposed to all the other times we have been there...and that is saying a LOT. She told us to back down the periactin to only once a day. Apparently he is having some adverse effects! Now I know what an ADD child really looks like. I am so thankful that he is not normally like this, holy moley am I glad! It seems to me that while he is eating more, he is definitely burning more off by running at full speed all the time. In three weeks he has gained a half a pound. So we are only going to give him the medicine once a day instead and see how he does.

Jen's Eye

Three years ago at a routine eye exam the doctor told me that I have a "freckle" on my retina. It isn't too big, but I have to have it checked by an ophthalmologist every year. I go in, they put drops in my eyes (too many if you ask me!), make me wait for twenty minutes or so, and then take me into a small room with a large camera. They take a picture of the back of my eye! I wish I could say that this is a thrilling experience, but it's not. If you think you get spots from a regular camera...you should try this sometime. This time the boys got to come with me. Nathan and Grayson have now seen the inside of me from my eye to my back to my tummy. Anyway, I go back every year so they can photograph it and decide if it has changed or not. They call it a Choroidal Nevus. The link will give you a pretty good idea of what it is and show you a picture. Mine kind of looks like a space-ship...pointy at one end and two spikes at the other. Even my retina is "spacey". This year the doctor told me that we will watch it yearly for five years and then if it hasn't changed, we can go to every other year. I keep my fingers crossed every time I go because just like your regular skin, you can develop skin cancer even in your eye. I don't relish the idea of them telling me that one day.