Our Flooring--DIY

As a side note to the projects we carefully lined out in our new home, I really wanted to refinish the hardwood floors. After all, it wouldn't be that expensive because I was planning to do the work myself. I planned a full 3 days for the sawdust--which was precious time, as we only had 2 weeks for projects before we moved in.

Here's what I started with:

A dingy, somewhat scratched, worn to wood dark hardwood floor that was probably original with the house in 1983. Yes, we could have lived with the floor. But I knew that for resale purposes, we really needed to refinish this floor. And the sawdust wasn't a mess I wanted to have while our things were in the house. So as a first priority, and as a footnote to all of our other projects, I took on the hardwood floor. It was supposed to be a quick precursor so we could move on to more important things like getting the air vents cleaned, the carpets cleaned and new carpet installed.

It turned out to be more than a precursor. Turns out that refinishing a hardwood floor is its own main event.

 This is what the boards looked like after 16 hours of sanding with the first rental sander--a 12x18 rectangular sander that vibrated across the floor. I asked our handyman to come take a look at our progress, and he showed me what a floor should look like after it's sanded.

 See the raw wood his small sander found in less than 30 seconds? He encouraged me to return the rented sander, get my money back (I had just called to extend my contract another 24 hours since I had made such little progress!) and find another sander that worked. He left me with his small belt sander, but cautioned me that it was not the proper tool--it  would burn out and take hours and hours and make the floor uneven. 

So I hurried and researched my options. I returned the first sander and rented a drum sander. The rental guys were very hesitant to rent it to me--they said this machine was only for hard core jobs like decks, not the beautiful fine sanding of an interior floor.  But they looked up the recommendations and saw that with 100 grit sandpaper, the drum sander could do interior floors. I thought I was set, so I waited for Sam to unload the heavy sander from our Corolla, and we worked late into the night on the sanding.

The drum sander did fast work, but the bolt of the lever to lift the drum kept falling off. So I'd get to a place where I  needed to lift the sander up, and the bolt would be in my hand, leaving the sander grinding into my floor. From this, we had several divets that were deep and ugly.

The next morning we called another reliable source--our woodworking friend. He brought over another handful of small sanders, and spent 4 hours sanding around the perimeter of the room. He got about half way done, then had to leave. Sam and I picked up where he left off, returned the drum  sander, gave up the idea of putting on stain that night, and kept sanding with small sanders. We were a joke. We were on our hands and knees sanding with a 4 inch square sander, and the work was slow going. Poor David was staying up late with us night after night while we worked on this, and our family was reaching a limit of exhaustion.

On Monday morning, I tackled the sanding again--we thought we were almost done. I reflected on how many man hours we had already put into this floor and how we didn't want a sloppy job after so much work. So I started calling professionals to come look, and please give me a quote to just put on the final coat of varnish on the floor, after I was done sanding.

They came. They saw. They laughed.

Some told me to call again when I was ready. Some gave me quotes for just replacing the entire floor. Some told me they wouldn't put their name on our floor, and they didn't even offer a quote. I was more than a little discouraged. The only thing they had in common was that they all said I needed to get all the color out before I put any kind of finish on the floor.

So I stopped inviting the professionals in to look at my work, I got on my hands and knees and kept sanding.

 See all that color on the board? That's what I had to take out with a 4" sander. It took hours and hours.

 Here's a contrast of the boards I had finished and the boards I still needed to do.

After I got all the color out, I called a few more professionals. Now there was really too much work in it to turn back. With my cleaner sanding (but still lots of divets, left from the drum) they entertained my floor as a job they could do. In the end, we went with the guys who would own the whole floor. They came in, used their fancy schmancy sanders to even out my work, made my floor as smooth as glass (except some of the divets, that only my eye can notice) and made our floor absolutely gorgeous--natural finish with a satin sheen.

Total time it took them laboring over our 450 square foot floor was 7 hours. They saved me another couple weeks worth of work in their 7 hours of labor--and their product is really outstanding. As they packed up, I asked them what other jobs they do. They had quite the resume--the Governor's mansion, gymnasiums all over the state, performing halls, etc. And they still did my tiny little job and made it look like a masterpiece. Thank you Kotts Flooring!

 I decided that while I could figure out how to maintain a newly refinished floor in the living room, hallway, and even dining room--I did not want hardwood in the kitchen. So my (unfinished) work is in the kitchen and their gorgeous work is in the forefront of the picture, in our dining room. I absolutely love our "new" floor.

Isn't it gorgeous!?! I love the dark grain (naturally dark, not left over from the stain) that marbles throughout it.

Hey honey, remember that carpet remnant we bought that was too big to fit into our house? And remember how we kept getting it stuck in door jams and hallways, and it turned in to a laugh or cry moment? And it was late at night, we were both overly exhausted, and we wondered if we got in over our heads again? I'm so glad we laughed.

Stay tuned for how it goes in laying our own carpet. (In just the 2 smallest bedrooms--the rest of it is hired out already, I promise.)

Helper

David has been right here with me in doing projects at our new house. Sometimes he'll go outside and splash in the creek that runs along our property line, or dig in the dirt to chase after bugs.

Then he'll come in and ask, "Mom, do you have a David chore?" so I'll do my best to come up with some contribution he can make to our projects. Like removing face plates or helping me paint.

 Vacuuming up sawdust is a favorite, because he gets to use the "ear muffs" to protect his ears.

The other day David said, "Daddy, do you know that I have just as much fun when I work with you as when I play with you?" I love this age that wants so much to contribute to the work going on around him. David has such a mechanical mind that he wants to know all of the whys and what-fors on each project. So to include him in the work is truly his bowl of cherries.

The other day we spent a day away from the house to run errands and find somewhere to play. We chose gymnastics, and David enjoyed getting out his energy in a big way.

Work hard, Play hard. Two essential ingredients in a successful family.

Home

We're in to our new home.

All of our things are here, and we're kind of unpacking.

I was so pleased with myself that I packed overnight bags with enough clothes and toiletries to get us through two days. That way we wouldn't have the same panic as our previous move out of Norm Drive when we woke up Sunday morning and couldn't find any of the Sunday morning essentials.

It worked! We could shower and dress without a single hitch. Then David asked for breakfast. It took 1 1/2 hours to find a spoon to eat his cereal. Next time I'll pack a food box as well as our overnight bags.

Some sisters came over, and we used two years' worth of Magic Erasers just to clean the kitchen. And once the shelves were lined with paper, I felt a huge burden lifted because I could move in to my kitchen.

We have a few projects to finish--namely, finishing a hardwood floor and laying carpet--before we move in to our main floor. But we're home.

This is our fourth home in four months, and we are ready to feel settled into a permanent space.

The wild card with this home was that we weren't allowed to turn on the water before we took ownership. So while the foreclosure looked very promising, that's still kind of a big wild card. We ended up calling a plumber in to look at a suspciously behaving toilet, and he pulled out a full size pencil and a long comb  (left by the previous owner). Sam patiently worked with  another toilet that was leaking from the tank, and now we have 3 fully functioning bathrooms! Now about the hot water that fills our toilets--we'll fix the regulator valve sometime soon, but for now we're grateful that everything works.

The race is on to get the home ready for our final adoption inspection before we go pick up our baby girl in MN. The thought of wanting to bring a newborn home to everything set up keeps me at the projects. Like pulling carpet staples out of the subfloor until 11 pm, hours after exhaustion sets in. My knees hurt, my back hurt, and my fingers were shredded from grabbing at the pokey staples in dim light. Or pulling the dryer out at the end of a long day to reattach the vent pipe. We want baby girl to come in to a home, so we keep on keepin' on.

My Angel Grandmother--Janet Andersen Ray

On Friday afternoon, May 17 we got an email from Grandpa Ray that said Grandma had had a small stroke earlier that day. Over the next week, we received updates as we realized that Grandma was preparing for heaven. At one point, Grandpa's email said, "GM has repeatedly told me she is ready to go whenever she can't be servicable." Another time, he wrote, "FOR YEARS NOW MOTHER HAS SAID SHE WAS READY TO CHECK OUT AND I SAID YOU HAVE TO GO FIRST BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO NAIVE TO LEAVE ALONE.  SHE WON." (Grandpa is notorious for using all caps. Maybe it was so Grandma could hear his emails.)

On May 24, 2013 Grandma drew her last breath and heaven received one of the most perfect women to ever live. As a token of his faith, when Grandpa realized that Grandma was gone, he simply said, "Oh, Janet! Isn't that wonderful!" Grandma was 91 years old, and was about to celebrate her 69th wedding anniversary. She has 12 children (9 living), 88 grandchildren (87 living) and at the time of her funeral, she had 212 great grand children. She was losing some of her ability to make decisions in her mental capacity, but she always knew each of her posterity by name. Oh, how her eyes twinkled when she greeted her loved ones!

I feel so grateful to have the legacy of being a grand daughter to Grandma Ray. 

I have to pause and share some of the highlights of gathering together for Grandma's funeral.

• I always wondered if Grandpa would go at the same time as Grandma. I kind of thought she would go first, and I wondered if he would simply go with her, like sometimes older couples will do. But when I heard the conviction of his testimony he shared at Grandma's funeral, I realized that Grandpa felt the full weight of bearing testimony with so many of his posterity gathered. It was powerful, his voice was strong like he was a couple decades younger. Those in attendance had no doubt of where Grandpa stands in his belief in His Savior, Jesus Christ and the importance of eternal families. It was wonderful to witness.

Grandpa talked to his family at a gathering the evening before the funeral. Oh, it was sad to see from sitting behind, Grandpa's sweet white head without Grandma's perfectly white halo next to him.

•  Ever the florist, I had to capture the spray for Grandma's casket. Grandma lost 2 daughters early in her marriage and went on to have 12 children all together. Every year for Mother's Day, Grandpa would Give Grandma a dozen roses, with 2 of them being white to represent their angel daughters. In 2003, they lost another daughter to cancer, and Grandpa then increased the white roses to 3. So of course her casket spray would represent their family circle--those daughters who greeted her as she slipped away from mortality.

•  Of Grandma's 88 grandchildren, 69 of us were at the funeral. We sang "Love at Home" together as a musical number, and it was one of the sweetest moments we had together. Grandma has a beautiful alto voice, and was known to "always have a song on her lips." I'm sure she was just thrilled to see so many of her posterity sing together in a song that represented the most important thing Grandma created for her family--love in her home.
• There were also numbers sung by Grandma's daughters, her sons and daughters combined, as well as her children-in-law. Lots of music to honor Grandma's life!! 

Grandma's 7 living daughters--Aunt Sharon, Aunt Norene, Aunt Launette, Aunt Judene, Aunt Beverly, Aunt Carol, and Aunt Joyce. Aunt Lana, Aunt Linda and Aunt Judianne are the sisters in heaven. Uncle Delwyn and Uncle Stan were very much a part of everything, but not pictured here.

•  There were a few funny mix ups with the youngest great grandchildren with understanding which Grandma had died. It was funny to see the poor kids understand that they were going to Great Grandma's funeral, and then they would show up and be so relieved to see their Grandma still around.
• At one point, David approached one of my aunts and said, "Have you seen my Grandma?" Aunt Carol responded, "Well, I don't know, who is your grandma?" David said, "Well, I'm not looking for the Grandma that died, I'm looking for my other one." Carol coaxed David into saying the name of his mother, and he was reunited with his Grandma. In a room full of Grandmas, many of them looking very similar to each other, that reunion was a great relief to my little guy.
• I have to include that Grandma was never idle. Even in her old age, she was hand quilting quilts to keep her serving heart happy. The week before she had her stroke, she was staying with my parents between weddings of grandchildren on 2 consecutive weekends. While she was in her home, Mom had Grandma help her with some quilts for humanitarian purposes. In 7 days, Grandma hand quilted 7 quilts. Through the years, Grandma has quilted literally thousands of quilts. She made scraps of fabric turn beautiful, and all of us are a little richer for it (and warmer, too!).  Grandpa Ray would say, "Mother spends all of her daytime hours sewing on a quilt, and all of her night time hours sleeping under a quilt." Yep, that sums it up perfectly.

 I'll look forward to seeing you again, Grandma!

Trip to AZ--part 5: Trip to Mesa

While I spent extra time in Arizona, one of my days was spent back in Mesa, visiting with Grandpa and a former college roommate.

I loved seeing this pairing of Grandma's scriptures and her glasses. While I know it was Aunt Beverly that left them on this little table, not Grandma, they are two symbols of her life and I loved it. Grandma always wore large glasses because she couldn't stand the thought of being limited in her vision by her frames. Oh, how her blue eyes twinkled with love behind those frames!

This will forever be a memory of mine--Grandma and Grandpa's formal living room with that huge mirrored wall and those velvety soft couches. Those couches are probably about 60 years old, and in excellent condition!

We wanted to leave Grandpa's refrigerator full of the tangerines that he loves so he could enjoy their juice. So on this day in 115* heat, we took our Alaskan-tempered selves out to the trees and picked tangerines for Grandpa. David was red in the face and hot, but he was a good trooper in spite of the heat.

Never to be one that idly sits by while others do work for him, Grandpa the Great was out there with us as well. At 93 years old, he was lifting a full bucket of oranges.

I climbed a tree for only one reason--not because it was fun, or easy, or had a nice cool breeze to enjoy. I climbed a tree under that penetrating sun to pick oranges for Grandpa. I tossed the oranges gently into a bucket as I picked them, then when I was back on the ground I saw that all of those oranges were so hot that they split open when I tossed them into the bucket. I hope we didn't leave a bigger mess for Grandpa, hopefully he was able to juice them before those hot oranges went bad.

As I said goodbye to Grandpa, he kept asking me, "Are you sure you can't use any more of Grandma's fabric?" I had taken a small stash, so I thanked him and went on my way.  Grandma was a quilter. And she bought fabric, and stored it in every nook and cranny in her house. Grandpa was happy to give away the fabric, but he really wanted it to go to someone who loved Grandma, and not to just goodwill. When I dug through the fabric, it was a large trailer overflowing with boxes of fabric.

Two days later I returned to Mesa again, and I said, "Grandpa, I think I'd like to take another look at the fabric!" He was giddy with excitement, and had me follow him home from church. With sweat dripping down our backs, Grandpa would pull a piece out and say, "There now, wouldn't that make a lovely blouse?" Oh, it was treasured time together. Then he handed me a half-used package of snaps and said, "Would these be helpful to you?" Of course! I would have taken the whole lot of it if I could-- I found a few more pieces to take home with me, and Grandpa was so pleased that I could use more fabric.

Another thing I want to capture about my visit with Grandpa was how he sensed when I was about to leave (we were all gathered at Aunt Carol's for her youngest son's mission farewell.) and Grandpa stood patiently by the door while I said my round of goodbyes. He gave me a hug, and walked me to the front porch while telling me his tricks about how to stay awake on my long drive the next day. "If you eat popcorn, it will keep you awake, and it doesn't fill you up like peanuts do." and "When I drive to Utah, I like to have home movies playing in the seat directly behind me. I can't see the pictures, but I can hear the voices while I drive, and those memories keep me company and they keep me alert." How grateful I felt for Grandpa's concern and counsel as we parted ways. Oh, how I love Grandpa Ray!

On Sunday evening, I slipped away from family to visit a dear and treasured friend. Amy was a college roommate, and one of the dearest people to me! David and I enjoyed being in her home with her sweet family, and Amy's ability to express her love lifted me and helped me remember those carefree college days. I love your guts, Amy Ann!

Trip to AZ--part 4: Pool Party with the Gilstraps

I called up Sam's sister who lives in Prescott, and they were wonderful to drive the 1 1/2 hours to see us in Phoenix. We had a fun BBQ and pool party. Then I thought I would show them the ways of visiting Glendale, and I introduced them to the chocolate factory in downtown Glendale.

Evelyn and Elyce were great little swimmers! They each got braver with each pass across the pool, and they encourage David to improve his stroke by showing him what they were learning in swim class.

Thank you, Uncle Andrew, for being the Daddy figure and letting David jump off the wall to you. David was getting very comfortable in the water at this point, and jumping to Andrew took him to the next level.

I have to say that Matt and Monica were gracious to let us host a party in their house when we were their house guests! Matt has a gift at the BBQ and made us some delicious steaks. I didn't see how he did it, but I know that a whole cube of butter disappeared from the kitchen while he was outside at the grill--so I knew better than to ask too many questions. The food was melt in your mouth good, and we had the best chef on the block at our service! Thanks for your hospitality, and your extended hospitality, Harmons!

Trip to AZ--part 3: Staying with the Harmons

Since we were in town for a couple of days, I decided to stay for an extra week. My sister Monica, and her family were wonderful to host us. I lived in Arizona for 17 years, then my family moved to Utah the summer before my senior year of high school. My visits to Arizona seem to be about every 5 years, and it's usually an intense walk down memory lane, as well as a chance to get reconnected with friends.

I was able to visit my best friend from high school and her darling family. Becca is the best example and friend a girl could ever ask for. It's wonderful to pick up where we left off, even though we only get to catch up every few years. No pictures, but David and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and family night in her home.

I was also able to drive by the house where I grew up, my former elementary school, as well as my high school. I was surprised at how excited I was to see everything--mostly unchanged.

Monica was the hostess with the mostest while we were with her, and took us to this chocolate factory in downtown Glendale--three times in 4 days. Ceretta's has the best mint chocolates I've ever eaten. Mr. Ceretta himself was working the line when we toured this simple demonstration--he's the man with the white hair.

Here are the boys standing next to a giant Oompa Loompa made of solid chocolate.

This Santa is a solid 500 lbs.

David and I went swimming in Auntie's pool every day we were in town, twice a day. I began my day by doing laps in the morning, and by the time I was done with the rigor of the exercise, David was ready to join me for a swim lesson. One morning when I was doing my laps, my brother in law, Matt, walked out and said, "What is this! A polar bear dip!?!?" He was only half kidding. After all, it was 8 am, and the thermometer had only reached a mere 88 degrees. To an Alaskan, that is summer in full throttle. To an Arizonan, that is too cold to go swimming. He waited until it got hot before he jumped in.

The first time David got into the pool, I let him walk down the stairs and sink like a rock. I wanted him to know that the water is to be respected. We worked together on a few tricks to help him get accustomed to handling his body in the water. After about 45 minutes, I put him on the stairs and asked him to stay put while I went to get a noodle from the other side of the pool. Half way across the pool, I felt I needed to turn back and check on David. I immediately turned around, and didn't see him on the steps. I scanned the water, and saw him struggling underwater right next to his uncle. It was during the pool party with all of the cousins, so there was so much commotion that Uncle Matt didn't even realize that David was right next to him, struggling. I called Matt's name three times. Matt just looked at me, a little confused. Then I said, "David can't swim!" and then Matt looked down to see what I saw. Uncle Logan and Uncle Matt were on David in a hurry, and no harm was done. Except for the near heart attack it gave every adult that saw him brought up and gasp for breath. It did, however, give David a very healthy respect of the water. After that incident, he didn't try to do more in the water than what he could safely handle.

All of that happened our first day in the pool. After being in Arizona for a whole week, David was a little shark. I kept trying to call him my salmon, but he corrected me--he's a shark.

He willingly dove down again and again to get sink toys from various depths of the pool. While David was learning how to swim, I was learning from Monica about how to teach him to swim. She coached me on how to take him through the baby steps of getting  him comfortable in the water, and encourage him to improve his skill level. From the game of sending him after sink toys, I learned that it's better to give his little shoulders a shove down towards the toy when he goes after it--so he can spend more time working on getting his head above the water again instead of expending all of his air and energy going down. Everything about swimming seems to be teaching David to come back up for air, so anything I could do to encourage that along was a step in the right direction.

This picture has David going after a sink toy that was just on the stairs. (Oh, and goggles really helped him feel confident under water as well!)

I count myself as a strong swimmer, but the design of this pool was deeper than I could comfortably stay afloat and keep David moving around like he needed to in order to learn. So I discovered the wonderful world of the "noodle seat." It saved me tremendous energy in keeping both of us afloat when my feet were barely touching the bottom of the pool!

David eventually got confident enough to jump off the side of the pool--a huge improvement from that first day when he sunk like a rock, then followed me off the steps.

His dive in action--then he figured out how to get his arms out, his feet kicking, his bubbles were huge underwater, and David was an absolute natural. Now we need to just get him to come up on his own for a breath, then he can swim the length of the pool. In my family growing up, anyone who could swim the length  of the pool on their own got to go for ice cream, and they got a double scoop on top of a cone. More importantly, swimming the full length of the pool meant you were strong enough that you could play in the pool, not just hold on to the sides and stay on the steps. I am so grateful we had the time in the pool, and that Monica spent time to help both of us learn better our part so David could learn how to swim.

The Harmons also did David the favor of introducing him to Star Wars, light sabers, and jedi training.

The boys were learning from the best as the movie went along!

Monica also took us over to the Challenger Center--a museum on space exploration, named for the Challenger space shuttle. It was well done and all three boys really enjoyed themselves.

I had so much fun watching David interact with these two cute boy cousins. There were some moments when David had to figure out a few social skills--but I guess that comes with the territory. He doesn't have siblings to teach him, so we look to cousins for some of that. I am so grateful that David has so many dear boys his age in our extended family. I can imagine that in the coming years, their friendship will be a source of strength for each other.