A Tale of Two Toasters ...

 

A toaster ... I'd imagine most kitchens have one. I remember we had an old white one when we first moved into this house. When we switched out the appliances to stainless steel, I replaced the toaster to match (you can catch a glimpse of the replacement in the Pantry post).  It finally went out on us, so I ordered a new toaster off Amazon. 

I received some teasing about this bare bones tiny toaster ... "How much did this cost? $10?" It was actually $15.99, but yes, it was one of the more inexpensive (but still decently reviewed) ones there. But ... it's a TOASTER, what bells and whistles do you need?

There is actually one feature the family uses a lot. The "lift" ... bringing up the bread a bit higher, easing getting it out (we do have the little wooden tongs for when we still need additional help). The ends of the sourdough, or banana bread ... they are pretty small and that little boost is needed. This also had no "beep" when the toast is done (pros and cons to this, the old one was a little annoying with its beep). 

After some teasing, I told the others (Coop, Colton, Gray) that I was more than happy to let them pick out a different toaster. Cooper took me up on that. He saw a toaster on TikTok and it's all modern and digital with lots of options (although you do still have to push down the lever manually ... unless there's an app for that?) It does have the little lift ... so I'm happy with it.

Seedeem Toaster 

LCD Display & Touch Control: The wide slots toaster has a colorful LCD, so you can see the bread type, shade setting and the remaining time easily. You need to touch 6 buttons to select the mode you want. Memory function will keep the bread type and shade settings from the last toasting.

50% Faster Speed: Superior to the conventional toaster, the 1350W toaster has made a revolutionary breakthrough in toasting speed. It is 50% faster than leading toasters, which can get even toast and save you half the time of baking bread in the morning.

Special Mid-range: 7 Bread Shade Setting provides bread from light yellow to deep dark. The specially developed medium setting--4 gear, can bake delicious bread that is not too dry but full of burnt flavor.

Multiple Functions: Not only Cancel, Defrost, Reheat functions, we also specially added Bread Type and More Time functions. There are 6 types of bread to choose from, including bagel, white, waffle, eng.muffin, gluten free, grain. If you are not satisfied with the browning color, you can touch More Time to add time for 45 seconds.

Easy Operation & Cleaning: 1.5 inch wide slots can accommodate different thicknesses of bread. Flexible lift lever for smooth dropping and auto ejecting of bread. Removable crumb tray helps you collect and dump falling crumbs to avoid staining your desktop.

Who knew? A seven-bread-shade setting! And it's 50% faster (I actually DID notice that it seems super fast, and it's nice to have a countdown so you know exactly how much time is left). That "lift lever" though, that's the feature I'll look for on any future toaster purchases.

Colton moved into his college apartment in Oregon, and his roommates had the kitchen furnished pretty well ... but no toaster. Colton likes his cinnamon toast, and he asked me to order him one (as I now have all this experience with shopping for toasters). I had this one delivered to him ... I made sure it had the "Toast Boost" lift, and I even threw in a shaker of cinnamon sugar (not sure that the bachelor boy's apartment would have sugar, or cinnamon, or a shaker). Alas, he's too far away for my fresh sourdough!

Colton Goes to College ...

When Colton made his decision to play for Clackamas Community College, the main question was, "where will he live?"  Unlike my experience at Snow and BYU, where campus living/dorms are part of the experience ... CCC is more like SLCC, where it's a majority of students living at home, in the area. There were no dorms, no set housing.  There was another player coming from out of state, and another from Oregon, but not close enough to commute, so the three basketball boys planned on finding a place together. Sight unseen, with parents co-signing the lease, the guys had a three bedroom/1 bath apartment close to campus.

Conner (the Oregonian) had done most of the work getting everything set, and was able to round up quite a bit of communal stuff (couch, table/stools, kitchen and bathroom essentials), so that Colton and Kobe, coming from out of state, just brought their clothes and sundries. Once there, both families scrambled to get a bed, desk and whatever else was needed to set up the boy's bedrooms. 

I asked for pictures that would help me get a feel of Colton in his new place.

He obliged. 

Here's a little video tour ...

https://youtu.be/vM2hpGp3ERA

The apartment does NOT have air conditioning, as Oregon is pretty temperate. Most of the time. They were having a heat wave while Gray and Keaton were there helping Colton get settled (luckily the Vrbo had AC) and his first week+ there was HOT, even higher temps than Utah (where we have AC ... although out of possible commiseration with Colton the AC here at home decided to go out during this time too! We got it fixed pretty quick - Grayson has connections!)

There's not a washer/dryer in the apartment, but there's a laundry room at the complex. Two parking spaces and there seemed to be plenty of visitor parking too. I'm not sure how well I prepared Colton for living on his own. He CAN do his own laundry, although he doesn't have a lot of practice. Washing dishes ... cooking, shopping for groceries? It will be a learning and growing experience for sure!

 

Home Sweet ... Change

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes ... lots of shifting and adjustments to the abode(s) here in the first quarter of 2024. Keaton's lease was up and he was looking for a new place to live, and Landon decided it was time to try things out on his own. Both boys made moves, and that resulted in room rearranges here at home too ...

Landon found an apartment at ParcView ... 4th (top) floor in Midvale. Close to the freeway with some nice mountain views. Pool and gym. One reserved covered parking spot. Not far from the family home, so he can still easily come to visit. Landon made the move on January 27. Dad brought the big trailer, and Cal, Keaton and Cooper all helped.

Landon added a cute coffee table after this picture was taken.

Here's a little video tour before moving in.

... I thought I had taken a picture of the guys in front of the trailer (like the one from Keaton's move, below), there was the pose and the click, or at least I thought there was. My finger must have missed pressing the button.  I asked Landon if he was lonely at all on his own, but he said it's been rather nice. Of course that was right before he was diagnosed with a torn ACL and Meniscus and would need surgery.  Then, living alone and on the fourth floor wasn't the best plan (there IS an elevator, but he came back home to stay for a week after the surgery). 

Keaton had been checking out a lot of places, not able to find the right fit, right price. He has a couple buddies from high school that he was thinking of getting a place with ... bachelor pad and all that.  Finally, it worked out. A townhome in Daybreak (again, not too far from us, so he can still drop by easily, yeah!) The move was Sunday, March 24. Landon was still stationary after surgery, but Dad, Cal and Coop (and I helped a little, but mainly just wanted to get some pictures) were there to move things, and it went really quickly. You can see his old place here (Keaton's Corner). 

Daybreak is a unique community - lots of walkways, no fences or personal yards. These townhomes are set up in rows, there's a street to access the garages/both sides of the street ... his place has a garage, although he has his car and a work van, so he has to find a spot on the street to park one of them. The entrances are accessible from a walkway on the other side (top right picture below).

This one is almost fully furnished (except for the bedroom) ... living room furniture, barstools, kitchenware, washer/dryer. So most of Keaton's furniture and kitchen supplies are now in storage. Nice shutters on the windows, Nest thermostat, gas stove (his first time with that). Two story, bedrooms upstairs. Keaton got the "master" with the private bath, and the other two bedrooms share a bath. There's a half bath on the bottom level. 

Landon had been in the front bedroom at the Blackham home ... Colton was in the other upstairs bedroom, and Keaton's former room downstairs was where we'd put the old king-size bed when we got a new bed set for the master. With a little wiggle room (the basement room/closet had some storage stuff in it - moved it to the vacated front bedroom) we let Colton move down to the basement bedroom. He gets the king sized bed, because as Grayson moved it down he said "I'm not moving this again" and Colton's old bed/room on the main floor is now a spare bedroom (which came in handy when Landon needed to "move in" for a bit after his surgery ... or when someone snores. I won't say who "someone" is ...)

Colton is pretty pleased with his new setup downstairs.

Larger bed, larger room, a little more secluded than the main level next to the master.

This basement bedroom #2 has had several uses/users ... it was unfinished originally, with shelves and storage. After we finished the basement (bathroom/hall and two bedrooms, the big family room had been finished earlier) we had boys in the corner bedroom (#1) and this was the "lego room" with tables set up for the kids to keep their creations on. It shifted into a few other things ... a scrapbook room for Jen, a den for Grayson. Ultimately, it became "middle earth" where everything/anything "precious" (or that we didn't know where else to put) was stored/stashed. When Landon came home from his mission, it was time to turn it into a bedroom for Callahan. When Cal married and moved out,  Keaton moved in(down) ... now it's Colton's turn. It's interesting to look back on the different posts and pictures and the different arrangements of this room. 2020/2021, 2017, 2014 ...

The main floor has three bedrooms - this one is down the hall next to the master. It's was Landon's room when he was little and we only had a couple kids. Then he shared it with Callahan for a couple years. It had a queen bed, and at one point, it was the bedroom of Keaton, Cooper and Colton! All bundled up on that one bed and stuff crammed into one closet. Then we got a bunk bed to replace the queen ... then moved the bunk downstairs (putting Cal and Keaton downstairs first ... then when Landon left on his mission, Cal moved to the front bedroom, Keaton moved into this bedroom, with a twin bed, and the two littles and the bunk bed moved downstairs to the corner bedroom).  

Check out previous posts/pictures: 2022 ... it was Colton's room, upgraded to a full bed. 2017 ... a slight switch-up (headboard/desk, still Keaton's corner) as we rearranged as Landon came home from his mission and needed a spot.  2016 ... a peek at the room as Keaton's room,  2015 ... when Landon left and this became Keaton's room, when we painted the wall. 2011 (mostly about the front room, but shows the queen bed/sleeping of this bedroom and some history). 

The front room has it's own history ... it was the Noah Nursery to start. Little Landon was a year old when we moved in (and he had the bedroom next to the master, when he wasn't sleeping in with Mom&Dad anyway) but as each baby came along, the front bedroom was the baby's room ... until 2011 when Landon was the first of the five boys to get his own room (then Cal, then Keaton, a school setup, and back to Landon). What to do with the room now? How about a den/library? Keaton's comfy chair from storage, the corner desk (which has made the round of rooms before). A spot for Cooper's computer, a place for anyone to work, new home of the color printer (and storage of an extra television).  The bookcases and books, which had been banished to Cooper's bedroom in the basement (just because there was some room there) are now more front and center ... fitting, with Jen's new Little Free Library and her renewed collection of physical books. 

I'm glad I've documented the changing of the rooms ... who was where, what the decor was, even the changing beds/sizes is interesting to note. The corner basement bedroom (currently Cooper's room) never got many pictures (do I have any of the bunk bed, upstairs or down?) and not many of the master (switched out the bed/bedset March 2023). 

All the posts above and more are labeled with Home Sweet Home ...

I need to create a post about the Courtney Court House, the Midvale House and the Linden Basement apartment ... not sure how many pictures there are of those.  You can go back even further and check out the post about the old Westra home where Jen grew up (The Hermitage House). 

As Landon moved out, he left quite a few clothes ... nothing like moving to make you examine if something is worth packing and lifting and finding a new space for.  I looked through them and had Colton double check a few (he kept some). As Colton moved his closet downstairs, he probably only took half of his stuff ... definitely time for a purge! That empty front bedroom came in handy as I filled it with stuff, and sorted it all into boxes and bags. I had Cooper go through his drawers/closet too, as long as we were doing this! 

Colton had quite a bit of Wolves gear (his basketball team) he'd outgrown. I contacted Coach Phil (who has a younger son, and younger Wolves) to ask if they'd like the clothes/uniforms to pass on to the next pack, and he said yes. There was a lot of West Jordan Jags stuff too ... again, I asked Coach Wouden to see if used but in great condition gear could be of use, and he happily accepted a bag full. I set aside some smaller, but good condition clothes for younger cousins on the Blackham side, and on the Westra side, I asked my brother Chris if any of his crew would be around, and if a detour to West Jordan would be worth it to look over anything. He said Camden and Cayson would be around and willing to come out, so again, I sorted ... things that really just needed to go to goodwill, and what was worth passing on (for them to look though, and then likely send a portion on to DI too!) Totally packed their car, from top to bottom! Camden even had a big box on his lap. And I still had a load for DI that filled up the Durango. But whew ... nice to get that done.

Not really related to the moves/rearrange ... but still home related, Keaton was over and noticed the dust collecting on the ceiling fan blades. He cleaned them all off ... what a great kid!  Next up ... addressing the mold situation in the basement bathroom. 

Diaper Daze ...

 

The Blackham Bunch has been done with diapers for quite a while, but Grayson/Symphony Homes discovered a diaper drive by HomeAid and participate, along with several other builders in the area. For the last 4 years, HomeAid Utah has hosted an annual Diaper Drive to support the Utah Diaper Bank. While there are programs to help families in need to cover the cost of food, diapers are NOT covered by government safety net programs and can be a major financial strain for families experiencing homelessness or housing instability.

In past years, one business or group would construct a diaper house, this year, it was a diaper house competition ... a Parade of Homes (built with diaper boxes) if you will. Builders had pallets of diapers for their home's construction. Each house had to be made up of 80% packaged diapers. Each company donated between 100 – 400 boxes of diapers ... approximately $10,000 worth of diapers.

Grayson and Symphony Homes weren't entering a house in the competition this year, but were a sponsor, and the official "counting team" and provided food trucks for the event. It was out in the warm sunshine at the soccer stadium in Sandy. Gray ran into quite a few old co-workers and friends and said it was a fun activity.  You can check out an ABC News Story HERE. 

Check out a little video recap ... GB is looking good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mlZvJpiVN0

... and the counted results are in.

760,957 Diapers

46,912 Wipes

373 oz of Formula

The LARGEST diaper drive in The Utah Diaper Bank’s HISTORY!

Keaton's Corner

 

Keaton had been thinking he'd like to try this "adulting" thing and get a place of his own. After looking at apartment possibilities for a few months, he found one he liked and signed a lease. He's not far, about 10 minutes away in South Jordan, just a little NorthEast of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  It's a house, and he's in a newly finished basement apartment. It doesn't feel like a basement though, there is a lot light. He has off-street parking, then he walks around the side of the house to a rear entrance. 

Here's a peek at the inside ...

Home Sweet Keaton Home.

Power Ponderings

 

Monday, April 24, early in the morning, there was that sound ... "shvooom" then silence. Everything in the house had powered off. It only lasted a moment, then "shvoom" and things powered up again. Lots of beeping. A grinding sound from the ice maker. The washing machine was agitating again on it's own. The clothes dryer required a manual restart. My laptop re-booted, but still needed a nudge to bring up the monitor. The older desktop computer was off, and I knew it's restart would probably take 10 minutes. It doesn't like not being turned off correctly. 

I moved to the microwave and hit the required buttons ... clock, the numbers for the correct time, clock again. At least it's easy. Next up, resetting  the stove. Let's see ... clock, start, 3 for a.m., now input the time, now clock again and done.... and "shvooom". Really? Again? I'm glad I hadn't even tried to turn on the desktop. I was heading out for a little while, and hoped things would be back on when I got back. "Shvoom" ... the power was on. That was good, as since Grayson changed out the garage door opener I'm not sure how to detach it and open manually to get the car out. 

When I got back a while later, the microwave was blinking. I'd reset the clock there before I left (again) so the power had shut-off at least one more time while I was gone.  It continued to happed a few more times during the day. Once, while Cooper was on the treadmill running at a good speed. That is NOT a good time to have things come to a sudden stop. Luckily he was able to catch himself without injury. There in the home gym, the elliptical and the recumbent bike aren't plugged in, so even without electricity, one could work out with them. Of course normally we have the television keeping us entertained, and a fan blowing to keep us cool. 

I remember the tragedy of a power outage when the kids were younger. "What can we do?" I think I even had a list of things (play a board game, battery powered games ~ this was when the handheld Nintendo devices were popular. Now, everyone has an iphone, hopefully fully charged. Read a book, play ping pong, take a nap, play outside. This would also be impacted by the time of day (or night rather ... candles or flashlights needed?) and temperature (no a/c, thermostat) could be a complication with any extended outage. 

The off/ons continued Tuesday. Social media can help determine how widespread the issue is. This time, it seemed to just be our little neighborhood loop. Someone said they had made a call to Rocky Mountain Power to make sure they were aware and looking into the issue. Every time the power would cycle, the router would take several minutes to get back online. Thank goodness for cell service. It was also a perfectly nice day weather-wise. Not to hot, not too cold ... which made us wonder WHAT was going on as wind/snow/heat wasn't part of the problem. 

I was glad it was a "make" day for sourdough, as this would have made baking difficult (I did do some baking on Tuesday and had to turn the oven back on once after an outage to finish up my bread). The ice maker had been malfunctioning, and as I heard it "griiiind" every time it powered back up, I rather hoped this might kick-start it back into functioning (limited success here, it did start pouring water in, I got a huge hunk of ice). It's funny to notice the random little things ... like the heated toilet seat. So spoiled! You never know the joy of a toasty tushy until it's turned off. The master shower had recently been renovated and these power stops and starts screwed something up with it. Sometimes we can get too technical ... there are no knobs to turn the water on manually! It was able to get back in business after being unplugged for a bit. 

While this was really a minor inconvenience, it was annoying. I went ahead and restarted my computer and was writing an email to Gray to give him an update and 'schvooom' ... oh, I hope it had auto-saved my email! 

Power ... it's powerful. Happy that 99% of the time it's smooth sailing.

Home Improvement 2022

Hard things happening in 2022 ... like concrete and marble. The backyard area and driveway redone, and the master bath remodeled. Here's a peek at the process, the before and after. 

The Blackham backyard ... the back and side area. Once upon a time, when the kids were small, there was a swing set and a big sandbox here. As the boys got older, there was a trampoline. Gray almost put in an in-ground trampoline at one point.  Then came the ducks ... and for a few years, this was definitely duck domain! Then, it went a little wild. Time for transformation in 2022. Gray hired some guys to do a "cleanup" taking out all the trees/weeds and junk that had accumulated. The after was nice(er) ... but we knew it wouldn't stay that way. So we had concrete poured, a secondary patio, and also extra parking as needed. Let's see the weeds try to grow through that! 

The backyard patio was completed in June. 

... and as long as we were contracting concrete, might as well redo the driveway, right?

The driveway never looked so good ... seriously. On the original pour, the third car section got away and was lumpy/bumpy from the start (you can see it in the corner of one of the photos above).  The driveway was done at the end of September. 

Inside the house ... the master shower was getting a redo. A jetted tub can be nice. A shower/bath combo is fine. A jetted bath/shower combo ... no. The jets had become infested with yuck, just from the water from the shower coming down. We didn't dare use the tub ... so the tub had to go. Might as well have a nice roomy walk-in shower. Ala October. 

Gray and the boys tore the old shower/bath out. As the biggest piece of marble (back wall/window) was being installed ... crack. We could either wait for a new piece, or they could put a long piece over the defect ... we chose the latter option, and actually really like the look of the little ledge under the window. The new shower has two side sprays as well as the head, and it's all electronic. Just press a button, and the shower (within a couple of seconds) is at the exact temperature you have it set for. You can have two profiles, if you like different levels of warm/hot (and of course you can always adjust things manually). After Jen's fall in January, safety handles and a shower bench were additions. 

The two toilets upstairs (master and main) were also replaced ... fancy schmancy bidet for the master. It has a heated seat, and soft-close lids. They are both a little higher too.  What will the next home improvements be?

A Peek At Our Pantry

 

Pantry progression ... I don't remember when the first picture (on the left) was taken, but it had to have been before 2015, as that's when we lost our landline (A Farewell to Phones). The picture on the right is February 2022, after our pantry re-do.  It's something Grayson had on his to-do list for quite a while. His original plans and estimates were dated back in July of 2021. It started with sketches...

That last one looks cool, like a photograph, and looks a lot like how it ended up. We got back on a serious schedule at the end of 2021 and got on the calendar for early-January. We had installation set for a Friday. I planned on unloading everything on Thursday, then Gray would come and remove the shelves after work for the company workers to come in the next day, and hopefully we'd only have a day or two of chaos.

Unfortunately ...

So I put everything back. 

January 2022 was a bad time for Covid. In addition to our installers, Landon and Sol came down with it, as did Aunt Olivia, and my folks. Happily, everyone seemed to recover quickly and without complications. The company was actually planning on the installation the following Friday, but Gray and I hadn't got the memo (they double checked the morning of January 14 before heading out ... and good thing they did!) So, one more week, which was actually a CRAZY week at home (two trips into the Driver's License Division, hosting the JV basketball team on Thursday night, a repair for our oven), but we made it work. Gray stayed home from work Friday morning, we got the pantry completely cleared out. Gray stuck around to make sure everything was a go. After my Zumba class, I got to watch the progress and keep him updated as he headed into the office.

... then it was done and time to start putting things back. Now part of the whole pantry re-do process is a purge of what to actually keep in the pantry. We are lucky enough to have a basement room for food storage, so only the most used things were going to be kept close at hand in the kitchen. 

One of the things Grayson had really wanted in this pantry was a small shelf with an electrical outlet for the toaster or another appliance. We are lucky to have an in-house electrician who was able to add the outlet easily (thanks Keaton!) While I didn't understand Gray's distain for the toaster in it's old spot on the counter, I'll admit I've liked the change. The bread knife and cutting board are kept right there, as is the butter ... away from a certain little kitten who would sometimes jump up and give the butter a lick (we'd have to keep it covered - why does Joy like to lick butter?)

So Saturday was spent putting thing in place, rearranging some shelves and items. I was glad for the adjustable shelves on the right side, as I had a few tall items that needed non-standard heights. We had switched from baskets (in the original sketch) to pull-out drawers on the bottom-left side. I adore my big buckets (sugar, flour and bread flour) so that had been one thing I required (space for them to fit). Love the vertical storage for pans, lids, cooling racks, etc.  Stuck a lazy susan in one corner for easy access to spices.

It really has been a big improvement to the pantry! 

Home Improvements During the Pandemic

Here's a little look at the repairs/renovations and rearranging done 2020 and 2021.

As Covid hit and people were home more, home improvement projects were pretty common. Stores like Home Depot and Lowes were always crazy busy. We ended up with some pandemic projects, but the catalyst was Callahan, not Covid ...

Callahan was getting married. This meant he was moving out. As he packed up his room (he and Kate had bought a cute little house in Kearns), he took his big basketball frame (a Copper Hills basketball jersey given to him when he graduated) off the wall, there was a big black mold spot, and water damage that had been hidden. The kitchen sink was right above, and one of the pipes had sprung a large leak. Grayson ripped out the all the yucky drywall, repaired the pipe and made sure it got dried out and disinfected. 

You are likely familiar with the children's story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" right? Home improvement projects are like that. You start with one thing, and it leads to another (check out "A Plethora of Projects and a Pair of Parodies" on the Westra blog). The drywall was replaced, and then the wall would need paint. While just the one wall needed to be painted, why not paint the whole room? If we are hiring painters, let's have them do the entire basement. Where do you stop painting? Best to just continue all the way upstairs, right? With the fresh paint, the old carpet looks awful, so let's look into new carpet as well. Then how about some new lights (handy to have a couple electricians in the family!)

Keaton said goodbye to his room upstairs, and moved into Callahan's old bedroom. New carpet and paint, and it's cooler, more private, completely dark with new curtains (the upstairs room was never completely dark). His bulletin board made the move, but wasn't recreated with everything on it, so I grabbed a picture to preserve it as it had been. The upstairs room became the "school" room. We pulled the corner desk out of storage for Cooper, and pulled Colton's desk in too. Double desks, and plenty of dedicated school space, which was a good thing, as both boys were online at this point.

Prepping everything for paint and carpet was a lot of work. All the walls needed to be bare for paint, all the floors for carpet. The gym became the storage spot (no paint or carpet in there) for lots of things, and it was a time to purge. Scrapbooking supplies, books, toys, games, clothes ... we ended up replacing Colton's desk for something smaller, getting rid of the old entertainment unit, the basketball shot game. Offered some thing to friends, neighbors, had to make appointments for DI donation drop-offs (and sometimes they were booked out for weeks!) 

While we were switching things up, Colton's old twin bed got shipped out and he got a full, Cooper a queen. Keaton had purchased his own "purple" mattress a while back. We ended up moving the dresser from Coop's room to Colton's, so while Colton stayed put, there was some rearranging and a bit of a new feel for him as well. You can check out the great Room Rearrange of 2017 to get a glimpse of some of the past presentations and purges!.You can even look back to when the front room was the Noah Nursery when the boys were babies. The boys keep growing up, and things keep changing.

Upstairs, we didn't do any new flooring (yet), but did have the walls and the ceiling painted in the kitchen, front room, school room and hallway. So again, everything had to be pulled off the walls, all the furniture moved to the center of the room. My den didn't get any paint, but moving Colton's desk out of it into the new "school" room let me rearrange and set up a sewing spot. The office switch set-up from 2017 has been working out well.

I also repositioned our recycling (that took some getting used to as we'd go to the old spot out of habit), and made the coat closet a "cleaning closet" (and some extra storage for Grayson's gadgets). There was an old intercom system and phone plug that I just took off and covered up with cute Etsy crafts (the gadget there is a "Brilliant" light switch - high tech stuff, given to Gray as a perk of the job). Got a new, BIG clock (we'd lost our cute little apple clock in the great earthquake of March2020). We'd had a few big pictures/art around... they haven't made it back on the walls yet, not sure if they will. 

Downstairs ...

We had the ping pong table ... a birthday gift for me back in 2011. It's gotten a lot of use, off and on, over the years. It could be folded up, as could the basketball shot game (Christmas 2019). We kept the ping pong table, but the basketball shot was given away. There was some talk of getting rid of the arcade games, but they are unique. The old entertainment center ... it was gone. We had a little miscommunication and both Grayson and Keaton ordered a new set-up, and both were delivered on the same day, about an hour apart. I was a bit confused. We were able to return one. We hadn't really planned on upgrading the "video game" television, but the upstairs tv died. We bought a replacement while contacting the company, who ended up replacing the defective one, which left us with an extra. The basement room is much less cluttered now. We debated some sort of seating, but as ping pong has been happening a lot, we simply got two wheeled chairs that can be moved out of the way when anyone wants to play (ping pong that is, the chairs wheeled back in when one wants to play Xbox or Playstation). It was pretty funny how many ping pong balls we found stuck behind the entertainment center when we moved it.

Paint and carpet weren't the only upgrades ...

When Cal and Kate got married, I asked if they'd be interested in our washer/dryer set rather than buying some themselves. Being a frugal couple, they were. We got a brand new set. Our fridge (the old one we moved downstairs when we got a new one for the kitchen) wasn't working well, but we'd grown dependent on the extra space - so new fridge for the basement. Not pictured ... but we replaced the microwave as well. We weren't sure how long a repair would take (with Covid and supply chain issues) - Grayson was able to get a new one and Keaton installed it. We did need to have the dishwasher repaired (October 2020, and the oven early in 2022, dang appliances!) At the end of 2021, we noticed our water heater was leaking. We were able to get that replaced quickly (perks of Grayson being in the construction business with lots of connections). My elliptical had issues, and we looked at new ones, but ended up finding the needed part and Grayson got it up and running again. 

Grayson's garage got new garage door openers ... snazzy ones without the box on the garage ceiling.

That's a pretty complete recap of the renovations, rearranging and repairs.  

Next up? The pantry ...

Gray (and Grandapa's) Garage (and a Stairway to Nowhere)

Belated Blogging. This post will be backdated to the end of 2018.

In 2018 ... Grayson started his garage project. He'd always kept the garage quite controlled and clean, but he took it up a notch. He tore out all the old wooden shelves and pulled down the pegboard siding. He put a lot of stuff in storage and threw out a ton too. He invested in some new Gladiator slat-board for the walls, and some nice new drawer sets ... on wheels, for easy maneuverability. Pretty much everything either had wheels or was otherwise off the ground. He looked into painting what remained of the walls, then ended up going with some wood panel veneer on the top and bottom and any remaining wall space. Looked a little like shiplap to me (Gray was impressed I knew what that was).   He spent HOURS working in the garage, and spent a bit of money too, but it is his "spot" and he spends a lot of time there.

Anytime there is a delivery or something, I get comments on how nice Gray's garage is (especially from the men, but an occasional woman too). Some have even asked if they could snap pictures. 

I don't really have "before" shots, but here's the "after"

My folks came over to visit one day and I showed them Gray's garage. I didn't know WHAT I was starting. As others had been, they were very impressed and it inspired them to do something similar. The Grandparent's Garage was another big project. Gray was involved some, recommending products, doing some purchasing and picking up of items. Derek and Chris did a lot of the work there too.   Mom did take some before shots ...

Before ...

Lots of old apple boxes, pegboard to hang all sorts of items. That blue metal shelf with the saw on top? I remember that from the Hermitage house. It was out back under the deck and we used to keep  the "newspaper logs" in it.

During ...

Some of the same slat-material along the walls for hanging, and the same wood paneling for a more finished look. Some nice big lockers, and a similar set of shelves.  Cleaning off the shelves and replacing the boxes with crates, all the same size and color. Gray even got out his Cricut machine so the labeling would be professional and consistent too. 

... I still need to get some good "after" shots.

I think the garage was a little more my mom's thing ... I think my dad was fine with the way things were. He likes his boxes and his buckets. He's known for digging big holes around the yard. In fact, he has more than just a hole ... he has a cave. Nice stairs down behind the deck, and they lead down to the ultimate hole in the ground. My mom worried a bit about the stability of it. She didn't want it collapsing. They spent a bit of money shoring it up. Another place for my dad to keep his buckets and such. My brother Derek ended up writing lyrics and singing a song about his "Stairway to Nowhere" and I took the clips and photos and turned it into a video. Here it is ...

Office Space

Grayson FINALLY has a spot. He's wanted a little desk space at home for a long while now. His space. We've tried various options (Rearranging Rooms and a New Computer showcases a couple that didn't end up working out). I think this one will work. Finally. It is in our bedroom, where my computer was before. Simple set up. Basic. Uncluttered. That's how he likes it.

So where am I now? When Gray first brought up the idea of setting up a spot again, he mentioned moving into "middle earth" again (he had tried that area before). I knew that wouldn't work for him. The clutter drives him crazy. But me? It was doable for me. Now anyway. With our recent change from Comcast cable to Direct TV, my computer was now on the wireless network (where it had been wired directly before). So time for another room re-arrange. 

My new spot ... complete with cat.

We thought about getting a desk, but ended up just putting up one of Gray's old derby tables. I  covered it with decorative paper as it was discolored from years of graphite (and to combat the slight texture on top). It's cuter that way though, right? I have more space to spread out with the printer on the floor underneath (it was on the desk when I occupied the bedroom). While I don't have drawers, I was able to clean out several shelves nearby. I have spots for things I didn't before (montly bills, various chargers). If I'm a little cluttered, it's not right in Gray's line of sight. It's working out well.

There is still a window to let some sunshine in. I'm a sunshine gal. The bedroom has better view of the backyard, and I must admit, I will miss the easy glimpses of the ducks while working at the computer. Now I'll have to walk to windows or peek out the back door to see them. But there were times when Gray was resting when I wanted to work on the computer and didn't feel I could (didn't want to disturb), so this spot is better for that (although now he may have the same issue if he's awake in the night and wants to work).  I'd been occupying the bedroom desk pretty much since we moved in here (so 20+ years), and unforunately I was often in the way as Grayson would have to manuevor to his side of the bed. This arrangment solves that issue!

I'd always just used a simple kitchen chair at the desk, as I felt it was the least intrusive (but I still always ended up in the way). Now, both Gray and I could upgrade to nicer "office" chairs.  We took a trip together to Office Max and test some out. I discovered we have very different tastes, and that chairs are often angled more to men/women. I felt a little lost in some of the bigger chairs, and the one that I ultimately selected Grayson sat down in for one second and stood back up saying "um, that one is a definite NO". Based on the picture above, you can see that Oreo approves of my choice. I don't really approve of him commendearing my chair though. And it's fabric, so his shedding sticks! I've resorted to putting Cooper's basketball backpack on the seat when I'm not there to deter the kitties from settling there. 

While Gray seem to really like his new desk, he feels a little bad pushing me out (although I'm the one who volunteered the idea) ... it's really working out well for both of us though. 

Here's to office space!

(Have you seen my stapler?)

Room Rearrange 2017

I've written a few "Room Rearrange" blog posts over the years. The front bedroom (the red one in the lower right corner in the picture above) has been through the most changes. It was the nursery when we moved in over 20 years ago (The Noah Nursery). In 2011, we let Landon move in (New, U of U). It was his room for several years, until he left on his mission in February of 2015. We did a HUGE room re-arrange then. Callahan moved into Landon's old room, the two little boys, who had been sharing the back upstairs bedroom moved downstairs (to the room Callahan and Keaton had been sharing) and Keaton moved up to their old bedroom (Callahan and Keaton getting their own rooms for the first time). 

But two years has sped by, and Landon is coming home from Mexico. What to do? Where would we put him? Downstairs, there was an extra bedroom. Unfinished when we originally built, it had been a storage room. When we completed the basement, the extra bedroom was my scrapbook room, the "Lego" room, an office for Gray ... but it had evolved into "Middle Earth" ... a dumping spot for everything and anything. But now it was time for it to be a bedroom.

I'll admit, the thought of clearing everything out was daunting! I knew it would take me a while, so I started a few months before Landon's return date. The picture below shows some of the situation ...

The top picture is the room in question ... and that is after I'd cleared out a bunch of stuff. The bottom picture is the family room ping pong table, covered and surrounded with said stuff. Many trips to donate to DI. Postings on the neighborhood site for anyone who wanted to pick up some of our discards. 

We ended up stealing the headboard and switching desks (and the chairs that went with them) from the front bedroom into Keaton's back bedroom. I found a new headboard for the upstairs room on KSL classifieds, and it came with a bed frame which came in handy as we bought a new twin bed for the basement. I picked up a new comforter, and gave it to Keaton, moving his old one into Callahan's new room. I grabbed a new comforter set for Landon's room (as the one there was several years old). Then we moved all of Callahan's stuff downstairs, leaving the upstairs bedroom, Landon's bedroom, ready and waiting.

Cleaning out the basement room , attempting to find spots to save the things I wanted to hang onto (I'm not ready to give up all my scrapbook stuff yet) caused me to clean out the food storage room, space in the shed outside, the game closet, the storage closet ... even upstairs, I made changes, re-arranges, to the two closets (coat closet and den closet). One thing just lead to another, but finally ...

DONE.

whew ...

The A/C and Me

What? A post about air conditioning? Well I must admit, I L.O.V.E. A/C and am not sure how well I'd cope without out it. We HAVE had to live without it, for a few days here and there in past years, as our air conditioner would freeze up, and we'd have to turn it off for hours. 

Even when the A/C was working, the West side of the house (the kitchen/family room) was always hot. With the evening sun pounding on the many windows, and not enough vents in that area, the A/C just couldn't keep up. As it attempted, our bedroom (on the East side) would get pretty chilly ... which was actually okay with me, especially at night (I like to cuddle in my blankets). 

I remember being pregnant with one of the boys (probably Cooper) when the A/C wasn't working. Gray came home from work to find me outside sitting in a small patch of shade, looking miserable. He went out and bought a portable air conditioner and set it up in our room, so at least there was ONE place to escape the heat in the house.

That portable air conditioner moved out into the family room when the house one was back up and running. Just a little extra push in that area. The kids would often come in from outside and stand right in front of the machine. After several years of use and abuse, we replaced it with another portable unit.

A couple years ago ... we replaced the house unit and had additional vents placed in the kitchen and family room area. It's been pretty effective. The only drawback was now our bedroom doesn't turn into an ice box ... it's one of the warmer rooms now. I have to turn the thermostat way down to get our room cool. Mornings (as the sun comes up and hits the house are the worst. I like our Nest thermostat, so I can adjust it from my bed without getting up).

Keaton's new bedroom (also on the East side) suffers from the morning sun too. It's HOT on summer mornings! With the portable A/C not in use in the family room, we went ahead and set it up in Keaton's room. He had to move things around to make it work, but we actually like the new arrangement better.

Now the boy is jumping for joy in his COOL room ...

The Great Room Rearrange

There are six bedrooms in our house, but only four being used as actual bedrooms (the other two are the den/homework room upstairs and the scrapbook/lego room downstairs). So excluding the master, that means three bedrooms between five boys; two of the rooms have had double occupancy almost forever. When the kids were young, it was always the "baby" who had the third room to himself, but as we grew out of the baby stage, Landon received this honor.

With Landon off to Mexico for two years, it was time for the great room rearrange! Callahan would move into Landon's room, Keaton would move into Colton and Cooper's room, and Colton and Cooper would move downstairs into the room that Callahan and Keaton had been sharing.

Landon had packed up most of his things, he didn't have a ton of stuff. Many of the clothes he left behind would work for Callahan, so they were just left in the closet. We moved up Callahan's clothes and he was pretty much done. We didn't redo anything ... the same bed, comforter, desk, chair. It looks just the same. 

Then, in the closet and drawer space Callahan vacated (which actually wasn't much! As he took just his favorites to move upstairs, he left almost a full closet of clothes. Big piles of discards and giveaways ensued) we moved in Colton's clothes. With spots in the upstairs closet now empty, we moved Keaton upstairs. Then we moved Cooper's clothes down into the empty spot just vacated by Keaton. 

There was a little rearranging of furniture downstairs. We got rid of one of the old dressers (one that had been mine from childhood), but the rest of the room stayed much the same (bed, bookcase, dresser with the TV on top ... all in the same spot). There were piles and piles (and piles and piles) of clothes to go through from every closet/drawer move. These piles were all in the downstairs family room.

It was Keaton's new room that experienced some change. We had promised him we could paint the walls ...very needed. New carpet would have been great too, but that didn't happen. We pulled out EVERYTHING. The old queen bed C&C had shared. A dresser, multiple plastic drawers, a nightstand. Off to DI it all went (well, the bed went to the dump). Gray bought a twin bed, and we moved in an extra desk from the den. I ordered a new comforter, and picked up a cute lamp and locker-type nightstand.  We washed the walls, and did eventually get around to new paint. One accent wall in navy, the rest in a nice eggshell. At last ...

The new arrangement has been really nice. Keaton keeps his room nice and clean, much better than Colton and Cooper. The basement room actually works out quite well for Cooper. It was where we would have him retreat during storms anyway. He can't really see the lightening or hear thunder. I don't walk by the room as much, to notice the mess ... or smell.  Callahan ... he's not quite as clean as Landon was (I like to have the door open to let the natural light into the hallway, thus it's very visible). 

Previously ... I'd have to trek downstairs and wake Callahan in the mornings before school. Often this would require a couple of trips, as the boy likes to sleep. I'd attempt to tickle or spank him awake, but it was difficult wrangling with him on the bottom bunk there. It's SO much easier to attack him upstairs. I can just grab his legs and pull ... and he's out of bed (much to his chagrin)! The little boys are almost always up on their own, so I don't have to make a morning trek to the basement bedroom anymore. 

I also did eventually get through all the piles of clothes. It was good to go through all the closets, seeing what we actually have, what actually gets worn, getting rid of everything that was just taking up space. It is nice to just start fresh sometimes.

When Landon comes home ... I'm not sure what we'll do. We'll probably clean out one of the two "other" rooms and stick him in there. Who knows if he'll even be living at home, or be off to college. And Callahan would be leaving the nest around that time as well.

But for now, we're all rearranged, and it is good!