Come on Hallmark. Please, no more movies about a multi-generational family inn with parents that are secretly selling to a big corporate resort company without telling or asking their New York based single daughter who is home for Christmas if she wants to run it. I swear I have seen 4 or 5 movies with this identical theme this year. Luckily, in each case the daughter falls in love with the corporate guy (who happens to be the son of the owner) and everything works out and everyone lives happily ever after. You would think that they would come up with a few more plots than that. We did see one good one this week called Noel Diary or something like that. It was on Netflix and it was a nice change of pace from your typical G rated Hallmark movie.
Although it looks like Christmas inside our house. Outside, not so much. No snow here yet, the temps have actually been quite mild with upper 40's this week but it looks like that may all change in the next few days.
This week, Barb and I spent 5 days helping Kevin put a T&G ceiling in one of the houses he is building. He can do most things on his project by himself but there are several things that he needs an additional hand with. This being one of them.
We started with the easiest section. A standard 8' ceiling in the kitchen area.
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| Barb and Kevin taking a break |
Then we moved on to the great room. I'll tell you right now it was not as fun as it looks. I am typically not afraid of heights but the last couple of years I have become less of a fan. I had a death grip on something the entire time I was up there.
We had scaffolding for one side, but the other side was just a plank on a ladder. I rock, paper, scissored Kevin for the scaffolding side. You can see who lost.... Kevin said, "I thought rock crushed scissors?". Not today it doesn't, walk the plank!
The high stuff was slow and tedious but luckily Barb was cutting and handing us boards, so we did not have to get up and down constantly. Even with that, we would only make about 10'-15' in 6 hours. Day by day we whittled away and eventually got to the top on both sides.
While Kevin may be used to working all week, we are not. We were exhausted at the end of each day. The finished product looks great, the owner should be happy.
We only got one project done at home, but it is one that I have been excited to get done. Putting stairs up to the loft! This will allow us to get up and down without climbing a ladder which is no fun while carrying totes!
I took a 2x12 and cut the stair jacks.
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| She actually looks embarrassed to be wearing the Jets jersey |
I don’t think we could force ourselves to sit thru a Hallmark movie. 😉 Kevin is a lucky man having you guys as helpers! We are rooting for Arizona and a surprise visit to Q…just sayin. 👍
ReplyDeleteNow you will have to watch one just to say you did! You two are one of the main reasons we are thinking about a trip to Arizona. It has been way too long since our last beer tasting!
DeleteVery good of you folks to help Kevin. Fantastic photos Barb of Jim standing on the scaffolding appearing to work.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Dakota finds the floors cool or the tile cold. Zoey doesn’t look happy at all, maybe she’s not a football fan.
Just curious but why not run the stairs up the side of the work shop, or along the outer wall at the end instead of landing them in the open space of the garage? You could still use the hinges and pull them up if necessary but they would be tucked out of the way then and would probably never need to be raised.
No idea about the phone. So far I am very fortunate and mine hasn’t lost anything. It has however made my hotspot hidden which I don’t know how to turn off. I dislike that very much.
Deb
We looked at a couple of configurations for the stairs. We would not put them sideways (which makes the most sense) as I needed to leave 36' of garage space for the Class C Barb thinks she is getting in a few years. The beauty of putting them on hinges is that we can move them easily if we decide that this spot just does not make sense.
DeleteIt’s Gay…the ceiling is gorgeous. Great job and it’s so nice to have friends/family to help each other out. Awesome job on the garage steps too…much easier and safer. Beautiful photo of Dakota and the Christmas tree. And Zoeys expression is way cute in the Jets T. Can you believe our forecast calls for rain/ snow next week and a very chilly 25 degrees…and this is Arizona!
ReplyDeleteI do not remember what year it was, but we had snow showers in Quartzsite one year.
DeleteNIce of you to help Kevin but of course he is there when you need him too. Great to have such good friends. Merry Christmas you too. If you come to Q in January we will get a chance to see you. :)
ReplyDeleteIt would be awesome to see all our Q friends, it has been too long!
DeleteI have a solution! Get an iPhone! That way you’ll have my contact number to send me Zoey-in-a-Lions-jersey photos!
ReplyDeleteWe had iPhones for years, then we switched to Samsung. It took us forever to get used to them. Switching now would confuse us even more! You think Zoey looked miserable in the Jet's jersey, just think how she would feel in a Lion's one!
DeleteWalking the plank ... how fun. See, you and Barb are two of those Godsend people. I too am tired of seeing the same Hallmark theme every time, not to mention the exact same movie time after time after ... well not any more because they took it off my programming unless I pay. My Cooper is the same as Dakota. He hates hardwood floors, so I have rugs and blankets spread out everywhere!! LOVE those stairs ... it's what I need to get into my attic!
ReplyDeleteIf we had to pay for that channel, we would never would, but we find it entertaining enough for free. The stairs were actually pretty easy. The hardest part is calculating the height of the jacks, I bet you could get it done for less than $500.
DeleteGood news for you. Tonight on Hallmark there is a movie that is right up your alley. It is called "The Holiday Sitter". Did we inspire you to work full time again? You still owe me zero beers now. Merry Christmas! Jitterbug offers a really neat flip phone that you may be able to figure out. How about a fun trip to MN?
ReplyDeleteI think it order to call it an actual job, you need to get paid. The way I see it, you now owe me beers for forcing me to look at your bruised and disfigured thigh in your last post. I would think a case would help me forget what I saw, at least temporarily.
Deletehehehehe...zoey looks plain old mad to me, and the jets are not doing too bad this season!! i had a fear of heights when i was younger, not anymore. i went on a hot air balloon ride, loved it. zip lining over niagara falls, loved that more!! the ceiling looks great for "one of the houses he is building"?? looks like a lot of work if he is building the house to sell!! hopefully, it is for himself!!
ReplyDeleteYou are right, this is the first year in a while that the Jet's have had a winning record. I do not mind hot air ballooning, zip lining scares the hell out of me but I do it anyway. Going over Niagra Falls sounds like a bucket list item for sure!
DeleteI forgot to answer your last question. Kevin is building two houses for clients and one for himself which he is going to rent out for some additional income. As soon as he gets these done, he already has two more lined up!
DeleteWe've seen those exact same movies! LOL. Did see one called Love Hard, it was pretty cute, kept ya guessing at first! Love that pic of Zoey! The house you helped Kevin on is absolutely breathtaking! Could never get up that high! Very nice that he has you and Barb to help out when needed! The stairs look awesome!
ReplyDeleteLove Hard sounds familiar but I cannot remember the plot. I will have to look it up again. As you may have guessed we like a lot of wood in our houses up here so that one should fit right in!
DeleteLet us know if you come to Arizona!! We would love to see you two.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome, we would love to see your new place!
DeleteZoey does not look happy in the Jets shirt.😅 I love the picture of Dakota by the tree. What a model! The TG looks amazing. It's so nice to have friends to help you and vice versa. We're stuck in MN this winter since our place in Florida is destroyed. Not happy! We're going to put a new one on but have to wait until the rush is done. Might be awhile.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, Dakota was watching Barb cooking and was hoping for a treat, that is about as close as she will get to the kitchen. My sisters place in Fort Myers got hit as well. They are in the process of repairing it but we thought we would stay away for the year with everything going on down there.
DeleteYear to year the plots are the same. Even if they followed up some of the couples they’ve connected, at least they could pursue other plot line…what am I thinking? They’d still be losing an inn etc.
ReplyDeleteThe pups are such beauties. Those faces…gotta love ‘em.
Great carpentry work!
That's funny right there! How could they follow up on those characters when they are the same actors from movie to movie? So confusing!
DeleteThat ceiling is WAY TOO TALL for me to get up to. Heights did not bother me until the mid-1990's when we were visiting Shasta Dam (first wife and our kids and all of her six brothers and sisters and their children). One of my nieces ran up and jumped up to the railing to look over, and all I saw (in my mind) was this little rug rat headed down to the river 600 feet below. I grabbed her butt, pulled her back down, got chewed out from her mother (who later understood why I did what I did but at the time thought I was being overbearing). Ever since that day, I can not take heights like I use to...I still have visions of that little girl falling all the way down to the river below.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how an incident like the one with your niece affects how you react to things in the future? I used to handle just anything stress wise without breaking a sweat. Now a days I want nothing to do with stress and it affects me like it never did in the past.
DeleteWhy are you watching Hallmark movies? Everyone knows the one and only true Christmas movie is Die Hard. You can watch it on repeat. It never gets old. Yippee-kiy-your-welcome.
ReplyDeleteYou might just have a point there. At least with Die Hard there is suspense, intrigue and bloodshed!
DeleteFantastic job on the ceilings and making those stairs. They look pretty sturdy for carrying heavy items up. Zoey does look unsure of herself in that new outfit. As to the mystery of the dropping contacts, can't help. We bought a Samsung a couple of years ago and it rests in a drawer. We like our iPhones better. However, Samsung makes good TVs.
ReplyDeleteWe may be handy at some things, but I really admire what you two are doing. I wish I understood electrical and mechanical engineering like you guys!
DeleteWow! That is an amazing ceiling. Someone is going to be very pleased. Love the look on Zoey's face. Definitely not a shirt or Jet fan! What an adorable photo of Dakota by the tree. Such a lady.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize that Zoey had that expression on her face until I looked at the picture afterwards. It is priceless!
DeleteWow, your just another Norm. You need to send in your resume to " This Old House"
ReplyDeleteBut then we would have to interact with humans, we stay as far away from most humans as possible.
Deletelol Zoey. Jets are playing surprisingly well this year while the Giants (which my family root for) continue to just suck. Continue to hold on tight.. you look very very high on a not too wide plank. I can't remember the last time I watched a Hallmark movie.. I can't handle all the cheese.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants have had their years, this is just not one of them. I am kinda liking Buffalo this year as well!
DeleteI wouldn’t want to be working on that ceiling! Tree snd doggies look cute!
ReplyDeleteI didn't love it either but it wasn't horrible.
DeleteLove your Christmasy home and all the memory ornaments - I love putting ours up and remembering all the fun we had where we bought them. The interior of the workshop looks so good! Saying you had a busy week is NOT a surprise :-))) That ceiling is stunning, I'm sure the owners will love it. Ladders do make stairs seem so much better :-))
ReplyDeleteBarb decorates a day or two after Thanksgiving and it all comes down before Christmas, by then we are ready for it to come down.
DeleteThose Christmas movies sound rather dreadful, but I suppose if there was nothing else to do I could sit through them. Not something we seem to have a lot of here.
ReplyDeleteWell done to all of you for getting that high ceiling finished. It looks great, but what a difficult job to do :)
It would be interesting to experience a New Zealand Christmas but we would definitely miss the snow!
DeleteWork is fine, it is that job thing I don't want.
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly right. I would not even mind getting a job if I could work when I wanted to, for as long as I wanted to with no expectations of time or commitment. But, I do not think such a job exists.
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