Posts by Chuck Curtis
Today was the final for Melodifestivalen 2014 – Sweden’s music competition for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Susanna is a huge fan of the contest.
The time zone difference means that it is a 2pm show local time. We pushed the streaming video to the house TV and the whole family watched. Susanna and Ben both dressed up for the show. Will, Targa, Tucker and I didn’t so much. But we all enjoyed the concert. It helped that the songs we liked did well in the end.
Today Susanna and I took a day for ourselves. My Christmas present from her was a gift certificate at the Spa at Norwich Inn – not too far down the road from us. We headed out the door shortly after the boys left for school.
Our first appointment was a yoga class (and not I am not very flexible at all… I would probably benefit from some more yoga) followed by swimming and enjoying the hot tub/sauna/steam rooms. After a wonderful lunch at the restaurant upstairs, we had an afternoon massage session, followed by more time in the hot tub/sauna/steam room.
We finished up around 5pm, with plenty of time in the day to enjoy the cold Connecticut weather.
What a perfect way to start the week! It also means a short 4 day work week.
This morning, Ben had a soccer game for one of the two leagues he plays on. Susanna isn’t feeling well tonight, so I figured I would try my hand at making a very short video of Ben playing. It is at least a little more creative than watching TV. The video was made on my iPhone, and edited on OpenShot.
Ben was the goalie for the first half, and then a forward for part of the second half of the game.
I finished touching up the paint in the front hallway. The hall has been cleaned (though the walls could use another wiping down after the paint fully cures). I think we can call the project finished!
Over the past few years I have been trying to write down what paint color we use when we are painting rooms (or the outside of the house). It finally paid off. When painting the trim around the ceiling in the hallway, I went to the basement to search for the trim paint, “I’m sure I have some of that left over around here somewhere…”
Of course, none could be found. So a reasonably quick Google search of this blog digs up “Classic Ivory” trim paint. Voilà. A quick trip to Sherwin-Williams and we have matching trim paint.
So, I figure I’ll record paint colors (as best as I know them) for the house:
Exterior:
All interior trim is Classic Ivory (SW 0051, semi-gloss) except where noted. Ceilings are white (Sherwin-Williams ceiling paint)
One of the things I love about Sherwin-Williams is that all of their colors are on the Internet. And if I can’t find the colors there – they have a record of my previous paint purchases. I have been very happy with the quality of the paint and the service and will not buy paint from anywhere else.
Dogs are good for snuggling on cold Saturday mornings…
The boys convinced Susanna to join them playing Minecraft. I helped them set up a small server so they can all wander around the same Minecraft world. I think Tucker is just along for the ride and warm space on the couch. Time to “kick” them so they will go brush their teeth and go to bed.
It is a beautiful day outside. The sun is out and it is 50-degrees out. So, it seems like a perfect day to work inside on the trim. I can at least look outside at the nice weather. I also get to enjoy it in small bits as I go back and forth to the workshop. Of course the beautiful weather means the boys want to play inside.
Okay, that last part isn’t totally true. They are enjoying some time outside. But the warm weather also means mud. And lots of mud. Maybe it would be better to play inside.
I am working on the trim around the ceiling. I decided to skip the traditional crown molding, and use a decorative half-round piece of trim attached on top of a 3/8″x3″ piece of trim. The trim will be painted to match the rest of the trim in the room. I have been milling the 3/8 x 3 piece from random pieces of lumber I have in the garage. I think some of it is cedar, and the rest out of maple. It will all look the same when it is painted.
I’m not quite done yet; I have two more pieces to mill and attach and a long stretch for the half-round molding.
Susanna is snuggling in bed. The boys are playing on their electronics, and I am playing on the computer. Targa and Tucker are sleeping. After breakfast we will put down the electronics, and enjoy what looks to be a beautiful day. I’ll just pretend that I’m outside when I’m sanding the ceiling in the hallway.
There was nothing really special about this morning. We put Tucker out early. Targa was still sleeping in Will’s room.
The weather was cool and rainy, and Tucker was barking to get back inside not too much later. When Targa got up, he went out and Tucker followed. That was the start of the problem.
I brought Targa back in a few minutes later, but Tucker was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t returned 45 minutes later when it was time for the boys to head out to the bus stop and me to work.
We waited at the stop. I waited for my neighbor to arrive. The plan was to ask her to put Tucker back in the house if she saw him during the day. But before I could ask her, I saw a slightly overweight beagle mix wandering down our road. Just in time.
So, thank you Tucker for making the morning just a little bit more stressful than it needed to be.