Painting Progress

As Leslie had said a little while ago, we're trying to get the three bedrooms (besides our bedroom, which is already done) upstairs painted before Thanksgiving. We've been working hard at it and the fantastic news is that we're done! This is why we didn't post on Friday... so hopefully you'll forgive us.

We started in last Saturday morning and managed to get two coats of ceiling paint on both of the smaller bedrooms. We also got some samples up and figured out what colours we would be using for sure. That was about all we got done that day since we also had to run a few errands and had game night with some friends that evening too.

Sunday was pretty productive. We got both coats on the ceiling finished in the big bedroom and got a coat of paint on the walls of both of the two smaller bedrooms, plus a coat of primer on the smallest room. Then on Monday we put the second coat on the smallest bedroom (one of three done!). Leslie even got a coat of white paint in that closet, which actually makes it look a ton better. I don't think I realized how much different some white paint could make a closet look.

Starting the trim in one of the closets

Then on Tuesday Leslie finished that closet off with a second coat and got a first coat on in another closet. We also got a coat on the walls in the largest bedroom. On Wednesday we were able to get a second coat on both bedrooms, which finished off the large bedroom, but the second bedroom needed just a bit more. The old colour was showing through a little on the edges, so we wanted to get another coat over those parts. I did that on Friday while Leslie did a second coat of closet paint. This meant that we had all three bedrooms done and two of the three closets done as of Friday night!

Small Bedroom

Medium Bedroom

Big Bedroom

One interesting thing that we did (unintentionally) was use a different brand of paint in each of the three bedrooms. We've been using a lot of Clark + Kensington from Ace, and they had a nice blue colour that we picked out for the largest bedroom. For the smallest bedroom we reused the blue/grey we had originally picked for downstairs but ended up not using (as written about here). This was Benjamin Moore Regal Select - basically Benjamin Moore's flagship product, and was their best until the newer Aura line. And, for the middle bedroom, Leslie found a Benjamin Moore colour she liked, but Ace didn't have the base to be able to make it. So, since she couldn't find a colour that would use the bases they had available, we decided to look elsewhere for yellow paint. Since there's a Lowe's very near to our house we stopped in there and got a sample. Leslie liked it so we ended up with Valspar paint thrown in the mix too.

How did they all do? Well, the C+K has always served us well. It provides good coverage, is nice to work with, and doesn't cost a fortune. We will use more of this for other painting jobs as they come up. The Benjamin Moore is... well... it costs a lot, but you get what you pay for. Simply, it's a joy to paint with. If it weren't so expensive we probably would have used it on everything. It's seriously good stuff. And finally, the Valspar. It was ok - coverage was adequate, the colour richness is good, and it went on pretty easily. Now, like I said, we had to go over parts of the room an extra time because the old colour was showing. I'm not sure that we can blame that on the paint since we picked a pretty light colour, but it is something to consider. I just don't think we'll be buying any more of this if we don't have to.

But anyway, we put some other finishing touches up in the bedrooms. We got new blinds up on the windows, put up smoke detectors, and replaced outlet / light switch covers. These rooms definitely look a lot more complete. Some of them don't really have any furniture in them... but they still look a lot more complete.

The cats wanted to help too

Since finishing up most of the painting, we spend the weekend running errands and putting up Christmas decorations. The house is really starting to look festive, but you'll have to wait for another post to see all that.

Also, we passed another significant milestone recently: over 5,000 views on the blog as of last week! So thanks for reading and keeping up with our lives. Hopefully we've been at least mildly entertaining. But unfortunately I think you'll probably be seeing less posts for the next few months. The holidays are nearly upon us, which means we'll be busy with celebrating, seeing family, going to parties, and all that other holiday stuff. It's also one of the busiest times for me at work, which means long hours, which means less time to work on the house or write about it. Don't worry, we'll still try to post. It just won't be the twice a week it's been. But I'm sure you understand.

So, until next time, thanks for reading and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Porky the Chops

So pork chops were on sale and we figured we would take advantage of that. We put together this nice meal, opened a bottle of wine, and had ourselves a good dinner.

The Recipes

Pork Chops:
Center Cut Chops, Bone-In

Vegetable Oil

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

Place a pan over medium-high heat on the stove and let it get nice and hot. Dry the pork chops off with a paper towel then drizzle a little oil on one side of each. Rub the oil on the meat so it coats it evenly, then flip the chops over and repeat. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Place the pork chops in the pan and allow to sit so a nice sear can form. Flip over after about 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cut. Allow to cook to an internal temperature of about 145 before pulling from the pan. Cover lightly with foil and allow to rest for five minutes.

Cinnamon Apples:

4 Apples (use some apples that are good for baking)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Water

Peel and slice apples, then combine apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix until the apples are well coated. Heat the butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the apple mixture and cook until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mixing in a bag is a good way to get even coverage and makes cleanup easy

Picture taken just after flipping them. Love those grill marks!

End Results

Everything came out very nicely. I've made pork chops before, but never cinnamon apples. The combination was great and Leslie liked it as much as I did. She also made asparagus and red potatoes to go with the pork and apples, but, as Alton Brown would say, that's another show.

We ended up with plenty of apples and, even after having them with the leftover chops the next couple of days, had enough to make another meal - brinner! I made pancakes and these worked very nicely as a topping on those.

Final Thoughts

This was all really good. The cinnamon apples were great with the pork and I think we'll be making these again (maybe even if some of you come visit!). I liked cooking the pork on the stove because it felt like I had a little more control instead of if I had just put it in the oven. Plus the nice sear on the outside is hard to beat. As for the apples, I don't think I'll be adjusting the recipe much. More sugar could probably be added if you wanted a little thicker syrup, but I thought it was about right. Overall, this menu is definitely a keeper.

For the Children

Sorry we didn't post on Tuesday. We were doing this instead! Plus we haven't been up to a ton otherwise, so we figured it would probably be ok to just post on Friday.

We recently joined a Life Group at our church and have begun to do stuff with them. To help spread the Christmas cheer the group decided to participate in Operation Christmas Child. What this involves is packing a box with gifts and then it's delivered to kids throughout the world. There are six couples in the group so we decided to do 12 boxes. We had everyone pick out a few different things with enough of each item for all the boxes and then we got together at one of the family's homes for dinner and to pack boxes. Leslie and I picked up a bunch of toothbrush kits, coloured pens and notepads, and (my favorite gift) glow sticks. Other couples got things like crayons, blankets, kazoos, and water bottles. We also packed everything in plastic boxes instead of shoe boxes so that they would be getting useful boxes in addition to all the fun stuff inside them.

Wrapping Paper Liner

Piles of Presents!

Somehow Everything Managed to Fit

Ready to Send

And that's it for now. More exciting stuff coming next week, so stay tuned!

Canadian Band, Eh?

The only thing we've been up to lately that's truly blog-worthy is a concert last weekend. Most of you probably aren't fans of City and Colour (says hipster Jeremy), but oh man... good stuff. It's basically just Dallas Green's solo act (get it, cuz his name...), and you might, but probably don't, recognize him from Alexisonfire.

They put on a good show at the Egyptian Room and we had a fun time, even with all the drunk kids "dancing" around. The only real negative part was the opening band. They were... well, not good. Probably the worst band I've ever seen at a concert. Or maybe I'm just getting too old for the noise that passes for music today.

Anyway, it was a good time. We'll be back to working on the house this coming week like Leslie said. Time to get the paint brushes going again! So thanks for reading and we'll be back next week!

Painting Goals

We have a goal, and I'm hoping that by writing this we'll stick to it!

We have three bedrooms and closets to paint upstairs that require no extra special work other than to finish filling in and sanding miscellaneous nail holes. We plan to get this done by Thanksgiving, which seems pretty reasonable, as we have two free weekends between now and then. However, sometimes watching "Mad Men" just sounds more appealing!

We were able to get some paint samples (and pick up a lot of paint chips!) from our neighborhood Ace Hardware this past weekend. Sadly, none of our buddies from the summer were working. When we were there about three times a week, we would walk in and immediately get greeted with hellos and questions about how the house was coming. I guess we've been absent for too long! 

For the smallest of our three bedrooms, we will be using the color that we initially painted our kitchen. I like it (just not for the kitchen) so I am glad that we are able to use paint we've already bought. For the largest bedroom, we will paint it a light blue to go with the quilt my mom made me that's on the twin bed (it's pink and blue, but I didn't really want to put pink on the walls). The last room (the kitty room as we call it) was the hardest to choose a color for. I'm trying to keep the colors in the whole house cohesive yet not all the same. Jeremy came up with the idea of doing it a light yellow - it will keep the room light, yet it's neutral enough to go with the rest of the house. We'll have pictures soon!

This should be a relatively quick process once we get all the paint we need. Jeremy and I have painting together down to an art. For the ceiling, I do around the edges and Jeremy rolls. I tried rolling the first time we did a ceiling, and things did not go well! For the walls, I cut in around the trim while he rolls, and when I'm done, I take over rolling. Then Jeremy cuts in around the ceiling, while I finish rolling and start cleaning up. Jeremy has a much steadier hand then I do, so he gets a really straight line next to the ceiling. I have to tape off the trim and try not to make a huge mess when I cut in!

So, here's to setting goals and obtaining them, whether large or small!

Also, here's some cat pictures for you all:

Mega Desk

Got my project done this week and I'm pretty pleased. What is it? Well, as the title says, it's... MEGA DESK!!! Or at least that's the working title.

I wanted an awesome desk to go with my awesome computer and I didn't want to spend a fortune on it. My solution? Make one myself. The desk space on this thing is pretty big - 80" x 30". The top is made of a solid core door slab, so it's also got some good weight to it.

I wanted the keyboard to be at a good height, but the monitors would be a little too low then. I decided a good way to fix this problem was to build an additional shelf on the desktop. The also provides a nice little storage area for things like hard drives, headphones, office supplies, and the like. Another thing I wanted was a better way to manage cables in the back so they weren't just all over the place. I mounted the power strip on the desk and added a few hooks to keep cables up. I've still got some zip-tying to do to get everything more out of the way, but we're getting there.

Building it wasn't too bad. It took about three weeks from the time I started until it was finished, working only when I felt like it. This past week was most of the work - sanding, staining, and sealing.

I also think I did pretty well accomplishing my goal of getting a great desk without spending a fortune. Total cost was low - maybe around $125 total, most of which was the door followed by the Minwax products - wood conditioner, stain, polyurethane. And now my setup is now complete - let the awesome begin!