We arrived back home late Saturday evening and then there was all the unpacking, getting showers and GOING TO BED! AHHHH!
My post will be about the adventures at my sister in law’s house, but first I wanted to share a sweet picture… Remember this dolly I brought home to see if I could fix her? Esther, one of Bithar’s little girls, marked on the face of Deborah’s doll and messed her hair up big time.
…and I managed to salvage her…
Well, finally this morning I saw Deborah and Esther and gave the dolly back to them.
Before I gave the doll back to the girls, I had a little talk with Esther and told her that she was a “big girl now and big girls didn’t mark on their baby’s faces.” I told her not to do that again and to treat the doll like mommy did their new baby sister. I said to keep her hair up in the pig tails and leave the ribbons alone. After I had that little talk with her she decided she wanted to sit with me in church. I guess she was still my friend! :o)
As I told you a few days ago, we left town on Thursday to go help my sister in law since her husband died. She asked us to help her with painting her front wrap around porch. So we took painting clothes and painting tools and supplies. Here’s a look at that porch…IT IS HUGE!
When we arrived, we found a young man painting the spindles so we thought maybe she had changed her mind on what she wanted us to do…This much was almost done…
…but there was still a LOT of porch to do…
When we went in the house, we found Gloria painting her master bathroom. She wanted something new in there and used a bright green color. The jacuzzi tub had been removed and her son-in-law had put in a shower unit. BUT… the unit was a bit too big and Peter hadn’t quite figured out how he was going to finish the edges…
ENTER… my hubby…it took a bit of figuring to know what to do. Where the tub unit stuck out on the right side (looking at it), there was about a 4″ area that made like a little shelf. The drywall up above didn’t extend out far enough and Gloria was thinking it would just have to be like a little area…that she could set something on.
As much as my hubby despises drywall work, he told her the best thing to do was to take that drywall down at the end of the shower and extend it out…
We had to stop and go get some moisture resistant drywall…and then the real work began…
I also used the same drywall to patch a hole that had been cut out at the side front of the shower unit.
With 3 heads put together and LOTS and LOTS of brainstorming, we decided to extend the wall up to the ceiling instead of having some kind of little hodge podge shelf at the top end of the shower. My hubby nailed 2 x 4’s together and built the wall out.
Then we decided it might be nice to just have a sort of “column” go all the way to the ceiling, as sort of a focal point. We had to make a 35 mile trip to the nearest Lowe’s in Rolla, MO. When we got there we were hoping to find a trim piece that was as wide as our column… we must have spent 45 minutes picking out different pieces and trying to make them work… finally we decided on a piece of PVC trim… so it would be waterproof as well.
We all decided it looked pretty nice and Gloria was really pleased…There was the usual cutting and fitting and testing and praying that it would all fit and work out. I call my hubby “Caulk King” and he truly earned this name on this one. He just has that special touch for getting it smooth in cracks and in this case, on the corner where the 2 pieces of trim met. They had a corner piece of trim but it was pretty big. We bought it, but after Gloria saw the caulk job, she decided she liked the smooth corner better.
Here is a picture of the bathroom on the other side. It’s not a very big bathroom…
We had a huge mess everywhere…
When we got the column figured out, we had to finish the trim work around the shower unit. The drywall stopped above where the unit went in, so my hubby had to add little strips of wood so the trim would lay straight on the edge of the shower.
We didn’t buy any trim at Lowe’s because when we were in the garage looking for some trim to finish it off, I saw 2 big long strips of something that “looked” like trim… it was white and it had grooves in it. It was flexible and ended up being 12 feet long. I showed it to my hubby and he said it was some kind of trim for a garage. It had a flange on one side of it but it was sort of embedded in the trim and he was strong enough that he could pull it out with a pair of pliers. It turned out to be a PVC trim and Gloria thought it was wonderful and said to use it if we could.
It was pretty easy to cut some angles with it using Larry’s old miter saw. So this is what it looks like now. We used Loctite Power Grab adhesive on the PVC trim and on the “garage door” trim that we found. We didn’t have to use any nails and it seemed to really hold well.
Here is a close up of the “garage door” trim we used…
We used what we had and Gloria was thrilled to have her new bathroom “almost” finished. (sorry Peter, we saved the doors for you!) :o)
So as we were there, Gloria had set aside some things of Larry’s that she wanted to give my hubby. All 3 days he was collecting little things here and there and adding them “to his stash.” When we got ready to leave, we had SOOOOOOO much stuff, Gloria was certain I was going to have to stay with her and George would have to come back and get me another time… There were cages, and tools and things for his chickens and I wish I had taken a picture of all the stuff setting out behind our car to be loaded into the trunk and inside. The biggest thing was a new 100 foot roll of fence wire that was my hubby’s favorite thing. He has big plans for it! You know him and his birds…
WELL, long story short, that wire was 5″ long and about 2 feet wide, so the front seat of the car had to be laid down and the wire padded underneath and all around so it didn’t mess up our seats. We packed our luggage inside wire cages, tool bags in any little crack we could find and I just wanted to show you my view coming home…
Yep, that’s my view from the “back seat”… behind my hubby, next to his favorite new roll of fence wire! I’m glad it was just a 4 hour trip!
Well, sorry this wasn’t about sewing, but this was my life this past weekend…
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a full and rewarding weekend you had, Jeanne! Bless your hearts, you two are so selfless and giving to anyone who crosses your paths!
Loved the cute picture of Deborah and Esther with those big eyes and sweet smiles!
Gloria has a beautiful home and the setting is gorgeous too! Do they have several acres or more? I know that is in a beautiful part of the state, and I’m sure fall will be spectacular with the leaves turning.
George gets grade A+ for the excellent work he did! It was so interesting to see how he progressed and finished the job in spectacular fashion. He needs his own HGTV show, hey, “Fixer Upper” is going to end after this season, so there you go!!
I want you to know that I really did enjoy your blogs the last few days even though it wasn’t all dolly related. I love “fix it up” things too, and it’s something we watch a lot of!
Hi Linda,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post today… I showed it to George and he said he thought there might be too many pictures…of course he wanted me to take out the pics of him.
He doesn’t think he’s very good at carpentry work… He says he’s a rough carpenter…chicken coops, bird cages, dog pens,…those kinds of things, but not fine carpentry work. I think he just needs more confidence in himself. So did Gloria.
Thanks Linda….I’ll tell him you gave him an A+!
Blessings, Jeanne
What a beautiful wrap around porch! Enjoying the view from the porch must be amazing! The bathroom looks nice and Gloria’s choice of color is very pretty. She must be very pleased with how the shower turned out. It looks very nice. I agree with Linda, EXCELLENT work.
Esther’s doll is amazing too! Gosh, the marks are gone and her hair style is nice and neat. I do remember the post about this doll. Esther and her sister must be so happy to have their doll back as well as seeing how nice the doll looks. It’s cute how she wanted to sit next to you at church.
Thank you, Jeanne, for sharing this post with us. Your posts are always so interesting.
Hi Paula,
The porch is the biggest one I’ve ever seen and yes, it is beautiful. She told me the view from the porch was what sold her on the place. It’s just so sad that Larry only had 1 and 1/2 years there.
Gloria worked after we left and got it almost completely finished…those shower door still have to be put on. I’ll probably share the 4 pics she sent me today. She is just thrilled!
Thanks so much, Paula,
Blessings, Jeanne
That’s a pretty amazing post.
I love that Esther wanted to sit next to you at church. Sometimes kids just seem to want real attention, and you were talking to her as if you really cared and she liked that. Who doesn’t want to be taken seriously?
What a lot of work you did — Gloria has a beautiful new bathroom. I hope you slept part of the way home. I suppose you didn’t stop for yard sales on the way back. Someone might have thought you were a wandering yard sale. What happened with the porch — you didn’t tell us if you had time to paint it.
You said I might want to re-post my Sunday post, so here it is, courtesy of an AGPT member who found it. I’m just passing the information on:
I just found out about this: http://mymodernmet.com/free-vintage-sewing-patterns/ Huge, huge numbers of patterns. Iām not sure if can really get the patterns or just look at the illustrations for inspiration.
It’s raining here. Looks like no yard work for me today
Hi Marilyn,
I was so happy that Esther wanted to sit with me. Once she told me she needed a drink of water so we did that… Then about 20 minutes later, guess where she needed to go? The bathroom.
George and I chatted all the way home….him in the front seat and me in the back seat. We only stopped once because we were trying to beat the sun going down.
The porch is going to be finished by the guy we met when we first got there..and Gloria…
Thanks for posting the link to the vintage patterns again. I hope everyone at least takes a peek at some of the patterns.
Thank you Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Adorable picture of the girls and the dolly back from the spa. So sweet that Esther sat by you. Being the middle sister, I’m sure she is often forgotten and needs some special attention.
Wow, that is some big shower. What a wonderful job George did finishing it off. I certainly hope that the caulking of the shower door/wall goes well when completed, because yesterday, I started on cleaning a similar shower at the other house. And it wasn’t pretty or fun scrubbing hard water build up off of the trim with steel wool pads. It is a corner shower which makes the angles difficult and many places for water to leak out. Spent all afternoon and I only have the outside done. Looks so much nicer though. On to the inside this afternoon after we do a water test on the roof to locate a wall leak in the living room. Other person here has been ripping off that old paneling to prepare for drywall. And guess what? Our mummified rat count in the wall is now 3 1/2. We think they are at least 20 years old or more. They even managed to gnaw through a two by four from under the house. Can’t imagine the smell when they met their demise.
Really enjoyed seeing the fresh new shower. Looks so nice. And your ride home must have been so much fun. You know, poking George and pulling his hair! š That photo is a classic.
Hi Joy,
I’m glad you enjoyed seeing the girls with their new dolly. It really was precious seeing the look on their faces when they saw their new doll.
Thanks for the compliments on the new shower. It really did look nice …I hope yours has turned out as well. It’s work scrubbing out a grungy shower.
Oh dear…your rat collection must be something… :o)
I was in a prime situation to thump the back of his ears…that’s what he said his mom did to the boys when they were misbehaving….but I resisted… I was nice… :o)
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh Jeanne, what a wonderful gift you gave Gloria with helping her out so much. I would imagine she’s just head over heels happy with how well things worked out and the massive help job you and George gave her.
Today/this weekend, it became obvious that our nearly 20 yr old refrigerator was needing to be replaced. Although the job was far more minimal than what you were facing this past week, I am TOTALLY grateful for the help given me/us by our sons in regards to replacing this refrig. I was really stressing out about it-finding one, taking out a cabinet (small kitchen when refrigs were smaller), $ cost….let alone delivery, etc. Well, it all worked out and with the cool head of a male (son) here alongside, a new refrig was installed hours before the store had said it would even be delivered. I was mightily blessed after being so stressed. I can surely appreciate more fully Gloria’s gratefulness towards you and George and the help given.
Thanks for sharing your “times” with us….sewing for dolls is very fun and rewarding but good deeds are great to read about too….as well as the clean up/spa treatment on little miss doll for Esther. You’ve made my day by adding a “cherry on top” with your narrative.
Blessings.
Hi Becky,
Gloria was really thrilled with her new bathroom look and sent me some pictures today that I’ll share… It really looks very nice now.
Congratulations on your new frig! I bet every time you walk into your kitchen you just stare at it. I’m glad your son took charge and got everything done for you.
I’m so glad you found joy in the post today. I’m glad you all can find something fun to comment on even if it’s not about dolls or sewing… Thank you so much!
Blessings, Jeanne
Yay George! The shower looks so much better after he did his handiwork magic. I’m sure your SIL is just thrilled. So did you end up having to paint the porch? It looks like a really big job and I don’t envy whoever had to do it. All those spindles are labor intensive. I’m glad to see your hubby saved you a little space for the ride home! Lol.
Hi Carolyn,
No, we didn’t do any painting on the porch. Gloria was going to save it for the guy we met the first day we got there. Painting all those spindles really is a lot of work and I don’t envy whoever finishes it…
Thanks for bragging on my hubby. He really did a nice job….and it was nice of him to tell me how much he appreciated my help on the shower. I was his assistant…and he said he couldn’t have done it without me…
I was glad he saved me a seat too! Gloria was sue I was going to have to stay with her for a week or so till he came back…
Thanks Carolyn,
Blessings, Jeanne