To Blog, or Not To Blog: A Continued Mellowing in 2016

I am hungover today. Truly. Yuck. Ringing in the new year last night, this lightweight got drunk. I hesitate to say "accidentally" because seriously. It's NYE. Typically, I'm a one to two drink gal. I take quality over quantity most of the time, and though I usually get "tipsy" when I drink, I was all out crazy dance floor balance isn't quite there drunk. Thankfully, my body said stop before I went too far down that rabbit hole. I'm actually looking forward to primarily drinking tea and water for the next several weeks.

ANYway...

Happy New Year, Friends! 2015 was a year of less frequent Mannsion posts, though there was some excitement like finishing the outside, building a garage over twice as big as the last one, and moving the in-laws' house with a crane. In 2016 I'm giving myself permission to shift away from the house blog. There are still and always will be things that need to be done, and every season we knock a few of them out. But I don't have that deep need to document every little thing at this point. Plus, I keep feeling like I'm repeating myself. It's like when I eventually stopped renewing my subscriptions to Shape and Runner's World because I felt like the same information was being recycled with a different model or photos. Like the television series, Dexter, some people just don't know when to quit.

Not that I'm quitting entirely. When we complete a bigger project don't worry, I'll let you know. The updates will most likely come a few times a year as opposed to a few times a month. Which is what it's been for the last year anyway.

I'm still waiting to throw that house-warming party but, at this rate, any old party will do. I mean, we have to get the rest of the kitchen cabinets in SOME day, right?!

Thank you to the friends and family who continue to support, compliment and read this blog. I sometimes get people I haven't seen in a while telling me they love reading about the house and that makes me truly happy.

See you in a little while.

Cheers, folks. Ugh wait...forget it. 

Introducing The Garage! aka The Mary Louise Berry* Memorial Church of the American V8**

Bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been almost three months since my last blog post. Since July, the leaves have all changed colors and, just a few short days ago, started to fall. We have intermittently moved the old garage, poured cement for the new, put up walls, a roof, and a few days ago we moved all the displaced garage materials and tools back into a covered garage. It won't be totally finished by winter, but will be covered and wrapped enough to protect people and things.

My one issue with this garage project is how it takes up much of what was the backyard. Two lots is not very much here in Creede, and my dreams of a yard for frolicking dogs has been dashed by a 500 square foot structure that I can't even park my car in. As it's been strictly designated for cars being worked on, not to live in.

How could I allow this to take place? Was this simply the outcome of a matrimonial war? Well, there are actually several benefits to having this particular garage. Firstly, the thing acts as a fence and blocks our view of the gas station across the alley. Something that, as summer tourism picked way up, became highly uncomfortable for us both. "Hi, Y'all!!! Whutcha doin'?!" Secondly, when the backyard is actually clear of all extra lumber and actually landscaped, it'll be a nice private area for hosting parties and enjoying peaceful, quiet evenings. We will also add grass to the east side of the house, expanding the green there. Thirdly, this gives RJ a real place of his own. If what he says is true, and he built The Mannsion just for me, then the garage is a sacred place he can call his own. And honestly, the amount of hours this guy has put towards this entire project is staggering. When you look at how much most people pay hourly for work like this, you realize how much he's given. AND, on top of his paying work in which he does the same damn thing. As long as I can store my bikes and have a say about outside wall decor, I'm pretty good. And what I love about this structure is how different it looks depending on from which point you're looking at it. It'll eventually have a patchwork of metal for the roof and board and batten siding. I'm hoping to find some cool lights for the deck and various vintage signs etc for the siding. Okay...it's gonna be pretty sweet. 

Walls go up quickly.

You don't even need to have any real walls up to start parking in your garage. All hail RJ's new baby "Little Elvis" a 1964 Ford short-bed pickup. 

Cool roof angles. 

And what we have today. This is the view from the alley.

View from our deck. I admit to standing on the bench. But should be a nice little party space.

View from our driveway. This will not house a door, rather a really cool window we found up at Extras in Denver.

*Mary Louise Berry was my oldest aunt on my father's side. She passed away last December from cancer and without her generosity, this project would not have been possible. 

Mary Louise Berry (1944-2014)

**With how easy it is for churches to become tax free entities we thought we'd also make it a church. Praise be to Ford. May your vehicles always run with vigor. (Seed money for well running engines appreciated). We'll pray for you.

Learning to Toss "The List"

I have to be completely honest with you, faithful audience. As I write this blog post I find myself falling into sameness. The last few posts have felt the "same". Update certain project I already posted about on Facebook...Try to make it unique...Maybe a swear word...Maybe a few swear words. But lately I've felt really dull. This project is never-ending and though I'm sure all 10 people still like checking it out from time to time, I feel soooooo booooring.

Momma, please don't be so zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Though, if NASA can finally get to Pluto after nine years, I can get my damn house finished...right? RIGHT!

Okay, so here's the update. Forgive me if it's blah and please continue to check out The Mannsion page on Facebook for smaller, more frequent and less self-deprecating updates.

*********************************************************************************

My mom likes lists. Ever since I can remember she's made lists on little slips of scratch paper she cuts up. I too like lists. There's something so satisfying about thoughtfully creating one and then crossing off each item when it's finally completed.

Don't get me wrong, lots of great things have been getting done. It's just that they're things that aren't quite at the top of my, very particular, list. Though getting cabinet doors below the kitchen sink were way up there. I mean, if I had my way, we'd have fully completed the outside (only two little spots remain unfinished) and inside (trim mostly, but the rest of the kitchen cabinets haunt my dreams). Honestly, the entire inside would be been-there-done-that. And also bookshelves. Lots of bookshelves.

When RJ and I agreed to give our neighbors our old garage, I thought, "Great! What a nice project for next year". Little did I know that he was talking about now. Originally, RJ wanted to move the garage to Mike and Deb's house two houses over and build himself (yes, himself--apparently this garage will ensure he gets out of his tv chair and into a project) a new one. Then we got caught up worrying about budget and that plan was nixed. We would redo the ugly garage that was falling apart. But THEN, with the help of my Aunt's generosity post-mortem, Plan A was on again. So, a few weeks ago, we cleaned out the garage once and for all, RJ and Jess braced it as well as they could, and pulled its rickety ass over to Mike and Deb's. It's a miracle it survived.

New Home!

But now it's leveled and much less rickety. Mike and Deb have plans for a tool shed/big deck. And they're keeping the "WoMen Working Asses Off" sign up. Yay.

Yesterday we poured most of the concrete for the new garage. We were a couple yards short, so the final truck will be coming tomorrow. It's hard to get a good estimate of how much concrete you'll need. Unless it's ALL you do, you usually have too much or too little. And it costs more for every truck you have as there is a delivery fee. So with any extra, we're putting a little pad off to the west side to store lawn mowers, bikes and such.

Though I'm still in awe of what seems like starting a really huge project BEFORE we've finished what I want to get finished--this is actually great. Once the bones are up, RJ will have a place to store tools. He'll have a car and workshop so he can work inside despite how cold it is outside. This will expand and enhance his business. And with a near fully equipped wood shop up at his parent's property, he'll be able to get our inside trim done in a flash.

So. Boring lesson of the day: Sometimes compromise ends up being more beneficial than you thought.

<sigh>

But there are still times when I wish for a genie. Or a wand. Or a shotgun. Kidding.

Yay for new (to us) tools!

John workin', RJ standin'

Be Our Guest: And Join Me for a Shower!

We hit a milestone on Wednesday. We finished the bathroom downstairs. Which means, except for the cabinetry in the kitchen, we are finished with all the large projects.

...

I'm just gonna...excuse me for a second...

<runs outside> "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
<runs back inside>

AND. Last week, leading up to this current milestone, we finished the guest bedroom. One major change was that we dropped the ceiling in order to sound proof the room. Originally, the beams and 2 inch tongue and groove were a cheap yet decorative option. But we noticed as time went on, that you could here everything upstairs. And I'm not being pervy, it was just noisy. Every dang little step or bump was audible!

So, the soundproofing consisted of dropping down the ceiling by adding insulation up there, and putting up more blue-stained (aka beetle kill) pine. We do love it so (plus it's cheap). RJ finished the closet and added some gorgeous trim. He also made a simple, yet custom, bed frame. Add a pillow-top cover (courtesy of my Aunt Mary Lou), a fancied up IKEA dresser, and we're ready for guests! Plus, as a lovely guest, you'll no longer hear the tv blaring upstairs. Or the dog run upstairs and flopping down clumsily on the floor above you. Yay.

Ooooooooooo

Ahhhhhhh

Eeeeeeeeeee! 

Shhhhhhhhhhh

Now to the icing on top. This shower...is awesome. It fits two people comfortably if you ever need to be efficient (or sexy.) It has a great shower head and, most importantly, it's beautiful. And that is because of John Stynchula--our friend and the best tiler in Creede. A huge thank you to John and Allie Quiller, who, along with RJ and myself on tile cutting duty, put this bad boy up last week.

I won't waste any more of your time blabbering. Here are some pictures:

The shower pan. Two layers of blue stuff (my term) that protects the floor of the shower. You then need flexible pieces of tile, as the shower pan is ever so slightly a funnel to lead the water to the drain.

John starts on wall number one. 

John came over after paying work, several evenings last weeks. As well as a few days spent finishing and grouting.

Second wall. Easily hundreds of pieces have to be measured and cut.

Closer...

Once all the tile is laid down with mortar and dries for a day, you can grout. This fills in the space between tiles. 

Drying.

Then, about 48 hours later, you can add the shower kit (head and nozzle) and the door. Done. 

PS. I have created a Facebook page titled, The Mannsion, where I post day to day updates of projects. Check it out.

Doo says, "good job, guys!"

A Finicky Fact About Finishing

I love completion. I love closure. So, you can imagine an ongoing house project like ours has been a challenge for me. I have to break things down into little victories. Because with this thing, it often seems like the more you finish, the more you notice what ISN'T finished. A prime example was yesterday afternoon when RJ and I bickered about which paint colors to update on what part of which piece of trim. That then turned into a discussion that the paint color for the addition is actually quite different from the main part of the house (the hardware changed paint formulas in the 2 years between paintings) and that we should try to paint it all the same color...now THAT is something I can postpone. Let's get the remaining 3.8% of the house painted first for the love of...!!!

But. I digress. Let's focus on the positive, which is always the better choice, though slightly less amusing. 

We finished the back of the house!!! This means that all the soffit and trim is up, painted and ready for prime time. This led us to the hard truth that with the back looking so pretty, we REALLY need a deck ASAP. (Keep it positive, Berry!)

C'est Fini!

Flair.

We also trimmed out most of the windows on the rest of the house. This was something, due to time and money, we postponed. We had initially just painted the wood around the windows to look like it was finished when we were trying to increase curb appeal for an appraisal.

Ooooooo...

Ahhhhhh...

RJ also surprised me with a couple of projects that weren't even on my list, but really fantastic to see. He got some bricks from a friend for cheap and created a walkway to the front door. And, he built us a bed frame. Because of my disdain for cheap, metal bed frames, I have kept my mattress on the floor since probably 2007. I feel like a real adult now! It only took me until almost age 40. 

Willkommen!

Bricks!

The older I get, the better I have to become at accepting life's constant lack of closure--in friendships, work and home life. I do love the phrase "it's the little things". I have no idea who said it first, but it pretty much sums up my continuing attitude on this project. Much like an actor at an audition, focus on what you have control over and let the rest go...which is HARD. I may not be able to build elaborate shelves for my books or tile my shower, but I can sand, stain and paint until I break out in hives from some chemical in the oil based primer. (No really, that totally happened.) 

Peace, Friends. Go accomplish something small today. Like re-painting your bedside tables, or taking a shower. You'll feel better, I promise.

Grown. Up. Bed. 

Spring Awakening.

Weeeeeee...it's global warming spring time in Creede, which means the slow climb of progress can lurch on with slightly more gusto.

My last post was at the end of December. And now it's March. Crap! The truth is...not too much has happened. We did build a little masking for the refrigerator and add some trim on part of the hallway. New items for the house were acquired, thanks to a trip to Chicago to help go through my aunt Mary Lou's belongings. These things are always an odd process. Packing up the house of someone who didn't plan on dying so soon. It's frozen in time. You feel like you're invading their home.

Ahem...anyway...the stuff! My paternal great grandfather, Rush K. Berry, made a cedar trunk for his girlfriend Oletha, in 1912. Two years later they married. The trunk sits by our front door and holds winter items as well as a kick ass sewing machine, also from ML. She taught home ec for decades and had more sewing machines than I've ever seen one person own. Now I just have to get around to making something...

I like a good lookin' trunk. 

ML and my father's mother, Mary Ann Berry (Mamaw to the grandkids) was a tiny person. Maybe 5'1'' in her youth. Papaw made her many stools so she could reach items in the kitchen and elsewhere. We've got one of those too. Maybe the dog can learn a new trick and fetch us some crackers.

Stool Boom. 

As the weather has improved, we finally got around to cutting out the gingerbread for the back of the house. We're very close to finishing up the backside! A few trim and soffit pieces remain--to be put up so then I can then paint them. I know all anyone really wants in this life is a nice looking backside.

Nice ass, House!

I also want to introduce a SECOND blog that I have created:

It's called Onward and Upward. At the end of last year, RJ's parent's (Roger and Sheri) paid off their mortgage and decided to invest in a second property in Creede. They also decided to hire their first born, my dear RJ, to build it. It's going to be an epic addition to the Mann dynasty. We've already torn down some super old and crappy shit in order to make way for the new. This includes moving an entire structure around on the property. But more on that later. If you are interested in reading about more Mann shenanigans, stop over to this page...

End of the Year Schmear

To the Dear and Faithful Reader:

Ufffff, it's been a while since I've done one of these. And as I snuggle up in my comforter while it's minuswhateverbelow outside in Denver, I realize it's almost the end of frickin' 2014! It's the end of the third year we've been working on the house, and the one year anniversary of living in it. And I am...working in Denver aka not in the house. <tear>

But a lot was accomplished this year! We've been slowly chipping away at little and big projects, and with just a little more time and warmer weather, a lot of those projects will get finished. This is an ongoing process as you all know, but I've started to be more okay with the idea of constant transformation. (I may say this every year, but it does get more and more true...) It's just what this project is. Don't get me wrong, I can't WAIT for the house to be mostly done. But I've lightened up slightly re: the need to constantly explain to people why it isn't done. Most people get it and love the amazing things we've done so far.

This Year:
1. You can go potty and wash your hands in the downstairs bathroom. (The toliet flushes and everything!)
2. The trim upstairs is pretty much ALL INSTALLED!
3. We put up the siding on, and painted, the addition.
4. RJ created beautiful cedar trim for the living room.
5. Found an amazing deal on a wood pellet stove, keeping the house warm and toasty in the winter without using a ton of propane.

Recent Bits and Pieces:
1. We've put up a smidge of trim on the addition--but that's the main project where the weather just has to agree with us in order to move forward. And for most of the fall when we had time, the weather cried. And then I died...inside...Ahem.
2. RJ installed a couple more cabinet doors in the kitchen.
3. He replaced the boring-looking and kind-of-shitty IKEA overhead light in the dining room with a much cooler chandelier his parents found.
4. We temporarily fixed a couple of the hanging kitchen lights--shortening them and finally installing the ceiling covers to cover ragged, ugly drywall holes. A temporary fix until we can put up ceiling wallpaper, but SO much better looking.
5. A cool vintage light fixture on the back of house. Now we can see possible intruders! But mostly so we don't fall down if we have to go out the back door at night.

As we say goodbye to 2014, there's a lot more to do. But I'm (honestly) confident that by the end of 2015, we'll have most everything done. #famouslastwords

And in a year of tragic and difficult losses, I dedicate this final 2014 post to William Nunn, Molly Glynn, and Mary Louise Berry. Your lights continue to shine brightly in my heart.

Happy New Year, Folks.

Pellets!

Pretty light fixture in the ever more awesome living room

ohmygodadoor!!!

The Kindness of Creede, or The Benefits of Small Town Living

As I write a post about Creede from Colorado Springs, I'm pained that in my downtime, I can't work on the house. The show I'm doing, Psycho Beach Party, is going well and I'm having a hell of a lot of fun, but being away from one's handmade house creation has been difficult. RJ's working hard on other projects, meaning the house waits for me. Next weekend I'll be able to get to Creede to hopefully finish up the trim and soffit on the addition. Send good weather thoughts, everyone!

But on to the kindness part. Every once in a while, amidst the pain of waiting for things to get done or builder friends to have the time to help you, you get something amazing. Since last winter, we'd been looking into purchasing a pellet stove for the house. Our place is very well insulated (I should know) but winters in the mountains of Colorado give you several months of 40 below temps overnight. Up in the high country, the cost of heating a place can be pretty major.

When I lived in Chicago, I always lived in apartments with radiator heat. It was included in the rent and I typically lived on the top floor where I frequently found myself turning down the radiators as far as they would go and sometimes even opening windows. Heat was an abundance I didn't think much about.

Cut to five years ago when I moved into a cabin in Creede, where we lived for four years. There, I became much more aware of having to work for heat. The cabin is not really equipped for winter living. It's old, poorly insulated and drafty. It has a forced air furnace run by propane, but it's 40 years old and the pilot light blows out if any sort of wind picks up. It has an wood burning stove which is also old, and itself not terribly well insulated. It burns very hot for several hours, then usually goes completely out by the morning leaving the cabin at a chilly 50 degrees. Sometimes colder if the pilot light on the furnace has gone out. Suck City. Also, we would go through about 10 cords of wood each winter even with a backup source of heat. That's a lot. A LOT. Of wood.

In Creede, wood is basically free as all you pay for is the permit to cut the wood down. But what you save in money, you use in the manpower chopping down trees and cutting them into a useable size. You can easily spend an entire week doing this.

Figuring out how to heat your new home on a budget in the mountains is a huge consideration. The most popular ways are a wood burning or pellet stove (some daring mountain men of the wild west use ONLY this form of heat), radiant heat (aka in-floor heating, which is much more expensive up front to install), electric panel heaters (price based on cost of electricity), and propane. Forced air furnaces run on propane here. Each individual home has its own propane tank and it costs around $250 to $300 each time you fill it up. Depending on how well insulated your house is, you can go through that quickly. When we were delayed getting into our house last year--we aimed for October but ended up getting in there late December, well into the cold season--we had not stocked up on enough wood to heat the cabin. We went through over $500 in propane in one month.

Sorry for the mountain heating lesson. Most of you reading this have probably never thought this much about heat. I surely hadn't.

SO. After all this, we were looking into supplemental heat during the really cold months--typically Dec-Feb. Those are the months when the furnace is constantly on and with a pellet stove, it would cut down on propane costs immensely. Newer pellet stoves are fairly quiet, burn much cleaner than wood stoves and require much less installation and cleaning.  According to my research, the cheapest but still decent ones (from Home Depot) are about $1100--and the majority of good, solid stoves cost about $2500-$3000. Though it will save us money and pay for itself in the long run...Gah, that's a lot of money! Well, Creede kindness prevailed and a friend of RJ's happened to have a gently used, high quality pellet stove he wasn't going to be using. He recently sold it to us for $600 including installation as he knows how to do it properly. Once again, through the kindness and favors of friends in Creede, we were given an affordable option that will last and save us money for years to come. As you know, fair readers, I'm a Doer and not the most patient person in the world. But when I start to get depressed and anxious about how long this process is taking, RJ rightly reminds me that it does pay to be patient. So what I really want to express is Gratitude, Kindness, all those hippie dippy words that really do mean something in this magical place called Creede.

It's so cute! It still needs to be installed but this is where it'll live.
(Please excuse the dirty, pink chair. Mr. Dorky Doo has been using it as a perch while I've been gone. Ahem...)

My Kingdom for a Wrench!

Dammit. 

Dammit, dammit, dammit. 

Another (just peachy) variable in the house-building-saga would be the weather. RJ and I both have the day off today and the goal was to finish the soffit and trim on the outside of the addition. But...it's raining. And not like a-little-sprinkle-here-and-there raining. Like, a consistent drizzle and wetness all the livelong day. 

I've gotten a lot better about being patient with the inevitable wrenches that get thrown into this giant undertaking. I am not the world's most patient individual to begin with and I've had to get used to the stopping and starting of a project like this; when often you can't work on the certain project that you want to due to any number of reasons--time, money, assistance, etc. 

But today is slightly more annoying because, in about 48 hours, I leave for a six-week, out of town acting job. My first since the spring of 2013. The first since we've moved into this house. The first since I've put more of myself--physically and emotionally--into this project than most any other project of my life. I don't often miss things, or people for that matter. I'm very good at being by myself. Maybe it's being an only child growing up. But I have a strong feeling that this time I'm going to miss the whole package--the home itself, the working-on-the-home in my spare time, and the person I work on the home with. 

I also HATE leaving a smaller project unfinished. Last fall, when RJ and I were full speed ahead on the house and he'd want to stop for a break, I'd usually prolong mine until I'd finished staining or sanding a particular pile. I like to tie up my little project into a nice, neat bow or I feel mentally unfinished and a little bit sad. Ridiculous? Maybe. OCD? Probably. But you can see why living in a house with a bunch of half finished projects in it has been an adjustment for my particular personality. 

So, leaving town with such a big portion of a project half done is really HARD for me. There's a lot of stuff wrapped up into this place for me. This is serious. This is home. 

Now please excuse me while I go move some lumber into the garage while the rain takes a breather...

Hey, at least I got to do SOMETHING today. 

And I guess these yahoos are ready to come in out of the rain too...

September in Creede. Time Is On Your SIDE. (Get it? No? Keep reading.)

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

September in Creede (and at CRT) is like a magical unicorn. You think you'll never see the day and then, out of nowhere, there it is. (Well...I have yet to see an actual unicorn, but I can imagine... Whatever.) Anyway...

The point is: summer is winding down here and my days are slightly more free for other things. Like the house. It's a constant project, people! And we've got about three specific projects going on at the right now, and though I thought about waiting a few more days until one was nearly completed, I remember that this is a blog about the journey, the progress, the process. So I'm writing now.

We've pretty much tapped out the small second mortgage, which is fine because save for a bit more cedar for the interior trim, we've got just about everything we need to finish up the big projects. Since we had company for a wedding a couple of weeks ago, the downstairs bathroom is about two thirds of the way done. You can do everything but take a nice, warm shower in it. And some custom switch plate action has to happen--we suffer for our unique ideas at times--but it's looking real fine.

On Monday, RJ and I finished putting up all but the gingerbread trim on the back side of the addition.

Last piece of long siding on the back!

The gingerbread will go up in that triangle at the top, and will look similar to what we have on the front, which is cream and purple. It's more consuming to make because we'll have to cut out a bunch of little cedar pieces individually. But yesterday, in spite of intermittent rain, we completed the siding and most of the priming on all sides of the addition. I'm not sure I mentioned this the first time around, but the primer is grey in order to make the red cover better. I've probably mentioned this before (I'm at the point in this project where every post is starting to feel like I'm repeating myself.) With bright colors, if you put them directly over pure white, it'll take coat after coat after coat to cover the white. If you tint the primer, you can get the look in no more than two coats. The primer is a bit of a pain. It's oil-based, for-the-outdoors which protects the wood really well from the elements. It's consistency is very thick and though you only need one coat, it is fairly laborious. I can't wait to start with the red. It'll be a easy breeeeezy.

We also took on the task of back filling the last side of the house. When you do an addition, you have to dig out a big hole so you can lay the foundation. Even if you don't have a basement, you still need to dig down so you can at least access plumbing under the house if you need to. The west side was still a pit, filled with random rocks we'd found, and a pile of dirt beside it taunting us with the threat of physical labor. For months. It was a pain to put up a ladder there because there was no even ground to balance on at all. As I was about to give RJ the first piece of siding for the west side, he said, "crap, do you think we should just go ahead and fill this in?" I agreed that we should. It'll make the whole process of putting up siding WAY easier. Off to get a shovel and away we went.  I threw more rocks in the pit (gives the soil something solid to pack down upon) and RJ shoveled dirt on top. This is the definition of hard labor folks. RJ told me a story about being in his early 20s working at the Wolf Creek Ski Area and having a 12 hour day when he just hauled 100lb oxygen tanks, among other supplies a mile up a mountain. For 12 hours. So very Greek. He also noted that he's not 25 any more...

But we did it and it's amazing.

Ahoy! It's dry and even land, Capt.!

The siding went up from there.

Yesterday, in between bouts of rain, we completed the siding on the final side. And as I write this, RJ is finishing up caulking the back side of the house and momentarily, I'll start painting! Then it's "just" soffit, gingerbread, and then onward to lower insurance rates! Wooooooooooo!

More soon, folks...

Taking a break on the back of the truck. Doo too.

This One is for Molly

A few people have asked when the next house blog post is coming, and though I'm working on it, I wanted to get this out first.

A friend of mine from Chicago, Molly Glynn, who I have known for over ten years through other friends and her husband Joe, has passed away this morning from a freak accident. She was struck by a falling tree on her daily bike ride with her husband. I have mostly dealt with death in its most natural state. Meaning someone has been ill, or very old. Something that will happen to us all eventually. This is the first truly tragic loss I have experienced. It happened to someone who was vivacious, constantly working as an actor, had two teenage sons and a marriage to another amazing Chicago actor, Joe Foust.

I can't imagine what he, and their family are feeling right now. The hole, the loss, is inconsolable. I send all the love I am capable of.

When there is nothing to do for it, or help it, all I can think of to try is this: Tonight I will, to the best of my ability, with my fellow actors by my side, help bring the play Hope and Gravity to life. It's a piece centering around a very similar tragic event, and how those around it cope with the truly inexplicable. All I can hope for, all we can ever hope for, is that this helps people understand and connect with the human condition. This is truly what art is for. To bring the everyday, sometimes miraculous and tragic nature of life to others. I will do it for Molly. And Joe. For all of them.

Update: A memorial fund has been put in place for her family. Please consider donating here.

Radiant Molly.
Photo by Michael Brosilow

The Secret Affairs of Home Building

I may have just bought a couple of tops from Modcloth that have cats and dogs on them. Maybe.

But ANYWAY...

Progress is on the horizon! RJ's dad arrives in Creede tomorrow, along with RJ's nephew-age cousin (14 years young), and some shit is gettin' DONE! Particularly the siding on the addition, which I've been so anxious to get started on. This will not only make the house more aesthetically pleasing on the whole, but also lower our homeowners insurance--it will no longer be a home visually under construction. Along with the bonus of no more flapping house wrap.  We've got all the supplies, now we just need the Mann-power. (See what I did there?) I've also purchased the primer and the paint, and can't wait to get started on it in all my free time...oh wait, we're opening The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild on Friday, which gives me until about noon each morning. Well, we'll see what happens on my end...

I will be documenting all the home building deliciousness for the blog, so never fear. Another thing that should be happening (out of necessity) is getting the floor in the downstairs bathroom finished in order to hook up the toilet and a sink. The young cousin is supposed to stay with us for about 10 days, but we've all decided this is best only if he has a working toilet and sink close to the guest room. Our only bathroom is in our bedroom and in order to respect everyone's privacy, dis needz be done.

More soon.

PS. Everyone likes photos. So here's one. Ooooooh, in all its majesty...

Primer and Paint, READY!

It's Trim Time, Baby.

I want to add before I start that I am eating Zingers and drinking a slurpee like it's 1986. Up in here. Up in here.

As I type this, RJ's finishing nail gun shoots its rounds in the background. That's right, people, we're putting up interior TRIM! This is so exciting. One: because this is the biggest project he/we have had time to do in quite a while and Two: because trim is the glue that holds many home building processes together. Trim is what makes an unfinished corner look finished. It covers over the nasty edges of drywall and screws, or general unevenness and ugliness. It lines windows and doors and makes everything tie in and look special. It's kind of everything, people.

Our original idea was to paint all the trim white, so it'd look very classic. But RJ is creating all the moulding himself, meaning, he's found a way to put all the cool little decorative grooves in the wood without outside help. You can either buy moulding pre-made, which is expensive (and in many cases, the design is uninspired), or you can do it yourself. There is a machine that has super elaborate bits that create this look in one fell swoop, but it is also expensive to purchase the machine itself and each bit it uses is $100+.  RJ found some smaller bits his father had given him a while ago and realized he could make really cool trim just by using several different combinations of bits.

My finger is pointing to the blade that makes the design in the middle of this window trim piece, right above my thumb. 

It's, of course, more time consuming because you have to make several passes on the table depending on what the design is, but labor is free with this family. Another caveat working this way is that we've had to use cedar. It's a pricier wood but softer and therefore doesn't break easily when you try and carve things into it. It's also goshdang beautiful! So, we decided to leave it natural with only a coat of Watco danish oil to bring out the color. It's so pretty!

Fresh oil on the left, untreated on the right.

My favorite piece so far. That dark piece in the middle is also cedar. SO dark and red. Each piece is a little different.

I'm not sure how long this little work-on-the-house vacation will last, but anything is something at this point.

Trim added around the door.

RJ starting on the trim around the windows. Yes, baby jesus, YES!

The saga continues...